his little excerpt was originally written for a 4/20 newsletter but I decided to share this content on my blog for all to see.
Cannabis has played an enormous role in my life and 4/20 has been a celebratory day for me for years. At one point, I would have considered myself an inveterate student of Cannabis; I smoked Cannabis daily for almost 17 years, I have specialized in Spagyric Research and Extraction Methods of Cannabis, taught many of the modern Spagyric Producers how to work with Her, and spent time growing and harvesting continuous rotational crops of Indoor Cannabis for several years (as you can see in the photo below). Even though I stopped my regular smoking habit some time ago, I still have a deep connection with that plant and She was heavily influential in my development as a human being.
What's really cool about Cannabis is that every single part of the plant is profoundly medicinal. At the time of writing this, so many people are focused on the medicinal properties of the terpenoids and terpenes that can be extracted from the Flower of feminized plants, but that's literally just the tip of the iceberg for those of us who know the plant intimately. These days, so many people focus on growing Female Plants because of the Seed-Free Flower Buds they produce for combustion and extraction purposes, but Male Cannabis Plants also produce flowers and are the most common source for the seeds. Cannabis Seeds are PROFOUNDLY nutritional! It's rare for growers of Delta-9 THC-containing strains to grow male as you EITHER grow Female Flowers for Combustion and Extraction OR grow Male Flowers for Hemp Seed otherwise Males in the mix cause the Females to produce seed material, which is undesirable. Old Timers and "hippies" can tell you that male flowers are "all sticks and stones" meaning that the stems and seeds are abundant in the flower, which makes the bud quite unpleasant and harsh if used for combustion and inhalation. But males are grown exclusively for the seeds; surely you have heard of Hemp Hearts and have used them to sprinkle on yogurt, salads, and in tons of other preparations. In the cosmetic industry, the Oil that is pressed from the Hemp Seed is equally as amazing for topical applications to hair, skin, and nails. Hemp Seeds have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years and are known to tonify Yin; in Western Medicine and Nutrition, they are an AMAZING source of completely balanced proteins and fats, containing a great deal [and a perfect balance] of Omega 3's, 6's, and 9's. Their protein content is also very significant and one of the healthiest forms of protein available, as well as being chocked full of numerous minerals and phytonutrients.
The roots also have a great deal of medicine and contain some very unique concentrations of terpenoids and phytochemicals that are exceptional for pain, rheumatism, scoliosis, and other musculoskeletal afflictions. I remember when I lived in Portland that a chemist I knew was isolating CBL [cannabicyclol] from the Roots of the plant; this is really interesting because it is generally conceived that Cannabis contains really low levels of CBL, but that is, according to my chemist acquaintance, only true for the aerial parts of the plant. He found an abundance of it in the Roots of particular species that still grow wild in India today. His CBL isolate was infinitely more effective than over the counter painkillers at squelching the pain of arthritis and joint pain for the many clients and research subjects he was working with. Furthermore, Campesterol, CBC, CBDA, CBG, CBN, and Delta-8 THC are also found in significant quantities within the Roots, and therefore have a unique concentration and proportion of cannabinoids and phytonutrients than the Flower and aerial parts. Campesterol, for example, is great at significantly lowering "unhealthy" Cholesterol levels. In terms of Spagyria, a Spagyric Clyssus containing the Roots is able to extract all of these phytochemicals and this is something that needs to be explored in more depth. A Clyssus can be produced from the Cannabis Roots in the same way that the historical Angelica Root Clyssus is made.
The Leaves are amazing to use in Cold-Pressed Green Juices and contain a great deal of cannabinoids that are usually not found in the flower, either. I know many people who firmly advocate growing a mother plant from which clones can be taken and grown exclusively for the collection of leaf material for juicing. They contain some unique Cannabinoids such as Canabispiran and Cannabamine A, Cannabamine B, Cannabamine C, and Cannabamine D; none of these cannabinoids have a lot of research behind them in terms of their nutritional, therapeutic, and medicinal values, which an area that is altogether unexplored. In terms of Spagyria, a Spagyric Ens Tincture [and also a Primum Ens] of the Leaf can pull out some really unique medicine. Though the leaves do contain a wee bit of essential oil, they don't contain a lot of it especially if harvested during early plant cycles, and therefore make great leaf material to use in the production of a Primum Ens. Like Lemon Balm Leaves, they are aromatic, but don't contain a great deal of Essential Oil. This is a form of Spagyric Extraction of Cannabis that is, to the best of my knowledge, not performed very often at all. If it is, it isn't talked about much. The Young Shoots also contain some really unique Cannabinoids that are not very well researched. We know they contain the relatively rare cannabinoids called CBDV [Cannabidivarin] and CBDVA [Cannabidivarinic Acid] and extraction of young shoots is very rarely, if ever, performed and studied. So there are still TONS of opportunities to engage in this research.
In the Vedic Tradition, there exists Bhang [a sacred drink with Cannabis that is considered sacred to Lord Shiva] and Vijaya that were used and explored in countries with large Hindu populations. Both Bhang and Vijaya [both of which I have used myself in the past] are PROFOUNDLY psychedelic, so much so that they were too intense for my liking and something that should only be ventured into if you have 24-48 hours where you do nothing but meditate with them. In the Mythology and Legends of the Indian Subcontinent, it is said that Lord Shiva would drink Bhang and not be altered at all because his level of expanded cosmic consciousness was already so developed. All I can say is that He must surely have activated all his Cannabinoid Receptors through meditation to such a degree that the potency of the Cannabinoids didn't do anything that wasn't already happening. And that is quite a feat!!!! In the days where Cannabis was strictly illegal and not available through legal channels at all except in the Pharmaceutical Industry or else Universities for Scientific Study, there wasn't a lot of Exploration of this plant. Since its criminalization due to Harry J. Anslinger, it wasn't extracted a lot, though it was once included in most pain, sleep, and sedative formulas in the 1800's and early 1900's. In the Alchemical History of the Plant in the West, there wasn't a whole lot of items of pharmacopoeia that were historically discussed. But in the 1990's, an author named D. Gold wrote the book called Cannabis Alchemy, which opened up a lot of doors for modern Alchemists. He wrote mostly about Hashish Oils and the THC Acetate pathway. In more modern times, I ended up teaching a very good portion of the modern Cannabis Industry about Spagyric Cannabis Extraction, with many producers of Spagyric Cannabis Products in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon dispensaries having learned from me. In fact, most of the Immersion Study students I took on between 2015 and 2021 were interested in learning how to work with Cannabis. It just so happens that Cannabis lends itself PERFECTLY to Spagyria and Alchemical work because of the abundance of reactive substances. I also have worked as a consultant and R&D technician for multiple Hemp Extraction businesses as well. And of course, a very clever book by "Noah Fence" that was released in 2018 called Philosophical Preparation of Cannabis Sativa: Quintessence of the Great Cain showed a very unique pathway inspired by the Atrahasis Creation Myth of Ancient Sumer. Furthermore, Warren of Evolved Alchemy has done some very cool work concerning the GCMS analysis of Spagyric Tinctures and Extracts of Cannabis, showing that the process of making a Spagyric Tincture actually synthesizes Delta 10 THC, which was heretofore unbeknownst to anyone and still has yet to be acknowledged by the scientific community at large. But he has shown it to be present time and time again. So these days, especially with the recreational legalization of Cannabis in so many states in the United States, there are a LOT of people experimenting with this plant within Spagyric and Alchemical context.
