Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
The plant known as marijuana has long been known in the indigenous world to carry a seductive feminine energy that creates dependence, while at the same time appearing to enhance spiritual expansion. The energies of this plant, while perhaps occasionally useful in a limited ceremonial context, typically create weakness in the individual’s medicine body (energy or auric field) which allows dense or heavy energies to intrude. In other words, this plant can create a sense of expansion, relaxation, etc., but in truth the user ends up with holes in the auric field and energetic intrusions from other people. The healers I have worked with in the Amazon and elsewhere are adamant about the spiritual illusions and dangers associated with this plant. There are many ceremonial plants that are cleansing, visionary, healing, etc. Marijuana is not one of them. Across cultures, I have never heard a healer or medicine person of any stature suggest that using marijuana enhances their ability to help others heal. On the contrary, it is seen as a detriment for anyone aspiring to be a spiritual, energetic, or psychological practitioner.
I am not in judgment of anyone choosing to use this plant recreationally or as an adjunct to western medical treatments for pain, nausea, etc. However, that person should not also be engaged in a healing or therapy profession.
I am in the business of training wise and professional healers and therapists. That means individuals who have deep spiritual wisdom, wide-ranging psychological knowledge, strong ethics, and excellent self care. Self-care does not mean using marijuana to self-medicate for anxiety or for any other reason. Self-care means engaging in practices which clear the medicine-body and strengthen the energy field. It means being able to accurately perceive what is occurring with one’s clients. It means having laser-beam perceptions and interventions. It means having a strong inner core that is not shaken by other people’s stress.
In the current chaos we are witnessing in our society, I expect our students to aspire to be the very best therapists they can be. When they feel anxious, I expect them to consult with their supervisors, peers and personal therapists and healers. I expect them to rally their self-care strategies. I expect them to pray, to meditate, to do ceremony–whatever it takes to come back to center.
