Do You Believe in Magick?
( or a short History of the use of Entheogens in Ritual Magick )

> The progress that has been made rolling back the frontiers of objective knowledge of the world we live in has been relentless. Our horizons have broadended into space & zeroed in on atomic structure. Our world is in a constant state of flux. The strength of the straight-jacket that has always bound us to our objectivity, to the "triva of everydayness", as Heidegger put it, has, however, remained unchanged.

> Seeing life thru the wrong end of a telescope, is the situation in which people generally find themselves. Getting up, going to work, paying bills, fixing the car - all these things crowd in on us, and in a sense, this pressure helps us ( well, some of us ) retain our sanity, "earths" our consciousness and stops most of us from blowing a fuse.
But ultimately, the preoccupations along a narrow tunnel, which dominate what we deem important, begin to seem meaningless, and above all, DULL.

> However, there have always been men and women, the magicians, the mystics, the witches who for whatever reasons, have cut themselves off from "normality" in an attempt to "See" their universe rather than be just onlookers. And as an integral part of the "Seeing" exercises, often it was essential to perform exquisitely complete synthesis with nature by consuming plant-based "hallucinogenic" substances.

> the use of drugs for consciousness raising purposes has only recently constituted a new field of scientific study ( 1943 - Hoffman - L-S-D ) but in another way, it is as old as the Human race itself!

> Magick, Mysticism & Religion all spring from the feeling that there is more to life than the preoccupations of the rational mind. Plants that alter the preoccupations of this rational mind have been used since before recorded history all over the world for healing as well as for magical and religious rites. Indeed, Magick, medicine and religion were virtually inseparable thru-out the ages, in a practical as well as spiritual sense, because the practitioners themselves were invariably the same individuals. For many ordinary people medicine men, shaman, witches etc. with their herbal remedies were the only Doctor's they knew!

> There is no doubt that for us mortal beings to be able to walk with the "Gods", rather than just talk to them ( "the white man goes to his church and talks to Jesus, the Indian takes Peyote & talks WITH Jesus!" Chief Q. Parker ), Drugs that induce an altered state of mind play a vital role. The whole operation would have been impossible without them!

To Quote an early Gnostic Greek Text... "If you do-not make yourself ONE with "God", you can-not apprehend "God", for like is apprehended by like. Out-leap all body and expand yourself to the unmeasured greatness; outstrip all till you become one with eternity. So you shall apprehend "God"... Be simultaneously everywhere, on sea, land, sky; be at once unborn and in the womb, young and old, dead and beyond death; if you can hold all these things together in your thought at all times and places and substances and qualities and quantities - then you can apprehend "God" - this text was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical sage, whose writings exerted a powerful influence on all ritual magick thru the days of the Golden Dawn & Alister Crowley.

> This passage states that the essence of Ritual Magick ( it being neither satanic or demonic in that the knowledge of "God" is central to it's theme ), is active rather than passive unlike most religions, therein lies the main difference between them. Magick demands we become one with "God" in order to understand "God", ( rather than demand adherence to a cult of sub-servance ), achieving this thru rituals and initiation, the roots of which are found in Shamanism. The Shamanistic mind was the wellspring from which all humankind's efforts at attaining "Oneness with the Cosmos" have come! Shamanism is not really a "religion" in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather a worldwide "metaphysical" belief dating back to the old stone age, and shared by many "primitive" cultures, that "All is One."

> the Shaman can put oneself in trance-state, leave the physical body, visit the spirit world - a master of many powers, Powers honed to a keen edge by use of Ayahusca & other etheogenic plants in South America, Amanita Mucaria in Siberia, to give but two examples. Shamanistic rituals are intended to sharpen the mind to the N-th. degree! Some initiation rites involve long and dangerous "vision quests", fasting, immersion in freezing waters, rubbing away a layer or two of skin, enduring the bite of poison snakes and many other tests of endurance!

> What is important, is the shaman does not put oneself thru hellish initiations only to have the brain dulled into passivity by drugs. the strong purpose behind the ritual drug use prevents any diffusion of effort and contrast sharply with drug use whose only purpose is escape. True, the shaman seeks to escape from the earthbound body, but for those without the rigorous and structured training, experiences and visions wash over the brain unchecked and uncontrolled. The shaman on the other hand, is completely in control.

> The early Shamans & primitive humans in general, seem to have the same intuitive faculties as animals, & this ties in neatly to Empathy with ones environment & the narrowness of the horizons they had to control. But as Humanity became more complex, sought greater control over the environment and broadened their horizons, more "Gods" were needed for each new enterprise. In the new cities that began to emerge from about 4000 B.C. onwards, Shamanism was largely replaced by Magic & Sorcery, distinguished from Magick by it's use of potions, charms, spells, and so on. There was a very definite link in people's minds between sorcery and knowledge of drugs - the Latin for sorcerer was pharmacus. Sorcery started from everyday consciousness; the desire for power, wealth, possessions and gratification of basic instincts devoid of any transcendental or mystical elements.

> Before they degenerated, the priests of Zoroaster, the Magi ( who gave their name to Magic ) were about the only city priests to retain elements of Shamanism. They had no temples, worshiped on mountain tops & were natural mystics.

> Much information on entheogenic drug use in the Near East has come from the excavations of the Assyrian city of Nineveh, going back as far as 2100 B.C. - written refrences have been found to mandrake, henbane, belladona, cannabis and darnell grass ( a known host of ergot, which also contains LSA, found in morning glory seeds used by the Aztecs ). Knowledge of ergot can be traced back to the Babylonians who gave ergot it's own Goddess. 0pium was known as "the plant of life", & the Mesopotamian Tree of Life is shown as a tree with poppy pods. the blue water lily contains apomorphine like alkaloids & this may have been the "Gokam", the water plant of eternal life sought by Gilamesh.

> A controversial 13th. century French fresno depicts the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden as uncannily similar to Amanita Muscarita.

> Cannabis, known as azalla & quannapu in Near Eastern writings, seems to have been used not only in Ritual Magick, but as a Cure-All. Depending on the symptoms it was prescribed for... bronchial pain, bladder trouble, difficult child birth, depression, insomnia & bewitchment! As well as externally for arthritis & swelling! No wonder it was worth more than silver in Babylon, an irony that would not be lost on a Rastafarian!

> Ancient Egypt was virtually the home of Magick, much use was made of "magic herbs" for divination - the fumes helped the priest "see" the appropriate "God." Mandrake, henbane, hashish, opium & thorn apple ( datura ) featured heavily in Egyptian prescriptions and one method of healing made use of the "narcotic" properties of the blue water lily in a process which involved prayer, hypnosis, exorcism and sacrifice! the priests also discovered herb extracts which could induce temporary clairvoyance, usually administered as a sacred potion.

> In Ancient Greece, the ecstatic techniques of Magick were no better demonstrated than by the Eleusinian Mysteries, in which the initiates took a ceremonial drink called Kykeon containing water, flour & mint, Which caused intense visions, which were believed by Wasson, Hoffman & Ruck to be due to the presence of ergot. For well over 1000 years ( until the 4th. century A.D. ) the rites, which centered around worship of the Goddess Demeter were celebrated & many of the most famous Greek & Romans were initiates, including Alcibiades, Aristophanes, Cicero, Plato, Pliny, Plutarch, Socrates, Xenophon & many more!

> R. G. Wasson also believes the Soma of the Hindu Rig-Veda text to be amanita muscaria. In India, to this day, there are those who still worship the "Gods" thru use of large amounts of Hashish.

> There were other mysteries such as those of Mithras, Attis & Cybele and all were eagerly lapped-up by the Romans. Rome experienced an "occult" revival similar to the youth culture of the 1960's. It emerged in the wake of scientific progress, the decline of traditional religion & a dissatisfaction with rationalism. There was much talk of a new "Golden Age" and many cults sprang-up based on Eastern religions.

> With the passing of the Roman era, Europe went into decline, broken apart by warring fractions - the Dark Ages. Yet whatever the political or economic climate might have been, Ritual Magick continued to flourish. However, it now had to face it's biggest threat to it's existence so far - Christianity.

> In earlier days, Magick & sorcery had been sanctified at the highest levels, but the situation changes as what began as a politically motivated attack by the Church & the State against Magick in general & specific sects like the Cathars, Templars & Waldensians in particular, culminated in hysterical vendettas against hundreds of thousands of innocent people, condemned to death by being branded as witches.


> One of the main charges against Joan of Arc when she was sentenced to be burnt at the stake was using "Witch Herbs" to obtain "Visions from the Devil."

> Theories about Witchcraft & the nature of witch hunts are many... Witchcraft, like Magick, operates on two levels. the first is the witch as healer and, as they were normally women, as sorceress; making up potions and remedies to cure or kill in the traditional "hubble bubble" sense. Mandrake root was a central plant in the witch pharmacopedia and great ritual was attached to it's gathering, similar to the Peyote hunts of the Huichol indians in Mexico.

> Witchcraft also operated on a higher level of Ritual Magick. If the old hag stirring her pot was one major component of the popular image of the witch - then the flight to Sabbat on a broomstick was the other. Obviously, the reality of such a happening is nonsense, unless one considers the question in relation to the drug experience & astral projection.

> Battista Porta, in 1568 describes the use and prepartion of
"Flying Ointment"... 3 grams oeanthol, 50 grams opium, 30 grams betel, 6 grams tannis leaf, 15 grams henbane, 15 grams belladonna, 250 grams hashish, 5 grams blister fly tragacanth, powerderd suger.
Porta then paid the witch to demonstrate the anointment procedure, she demanded to be left alone in the room, but thru a crack in the door, Porta watched the witch strip naked and rub herself all-over ( not just in and around her ummmm... "privates", which allows the broom rightly or wrongly to be regarded as a phallic symbol. )
Apparently the witch fell into a deep sleep and awoke later to give a garbled account of flying over the mountains to a sabbat with Diana, the witch Goddess.

> Amanita Muscarita, thought to stimulate ESP, also turns up in 15th. century witch recipes, Henbane drinks were offered to young initiates during the induction ceremony prior to membership in a wicca circle, and a drug induced sabbat is vividly described in Valery Brussor's novel "Fiery Angel" which Prokoviev turned into an opera.

> Such evidence as there is, therefore, suggests an "Astral" sabbat coexisting with whatever may have taken place on the physical plane.

> Humanism & the growth of science & rationalism contributed to the decline of Magick from the 16th. century onwards, but paradoxically humanism is re-kindleing the belief in the power of humankind & our importance in the Cosmos.
Magick is once again becoming fashionable and the culture of the Shamans & their belief that "All is One" is again venerated! As creative "psychonauts" re-discover the ancient entheogenic drug experience's, as well as some new ones!

Some Sources; the Archaic Revival, the Age of Entheogens, Dogme et Ritual de la Haute Magie, Hallucinogens & Shamanism, History of Magic, the Morning of the Magicians, the Nature of Shamanism, Plants of the Gods, Phantastica; rare and important drug literature 1700 to the present, the Road to Eleusis, Where the Gods Reign, the Witch-Cult in Western Europe.