How Witches Have Been Incorporating Cannabis into Their Rituals For Years

There is a long history of spiritual practitioners, like witches and healers, around the world using cannabis. Used as a key component in rituals and ceremonies in various religions, dating back several thousand years, people have long spoken to the benefits that cannabis could have as a tool in healing people. To many, it has been regarded as the holy and divine herb and something that should be respected. Here in North America, more people are exploring modern-day witchcraft and looking at how the plant can be incorporated into their ritualistic practices. For many, the plant helps them tap into a more somatic sensation, providing a sense of deep relaxation and spiritual realization.  Although individually cannabis and witchcraft can be misunderstood, the two combined are both tools for healing and still something many need to be educated on.

Gabriela Herstik is an L.A.-based witch who writes for places like High Times and Nylon Magazine. Herstik explains to me, “I feel like cannabis is one part of a bigger kind of connection to plant medicine,” explaining that many sacred plants have different psychoactive properties including ayahuasca (used in Peru), peyote (used in religious ceremonies by the Native American Church) and mushrooms. “Cannabis is just one part of that, and many of us are just working it into our practice and using it as a tool to kind of transcend and become more connected to our bodies.”  

Using cannabis in this way, as mentioned, can be a more somatic experience to connect to one’s body. For many people, this can be a form of healing and using cannabis (on its own) can help with anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and physical syndromes like chronic pain, migraines, and fibromyalgia. Herstik explains, “The ritual of smoking weed like this has helped me with my anxiety and is just something that I enjoy. So naturally, it has found its way into my practice.” After she smokes, Herstik finds herself approach her magic in different ways, and setting different intentions.

For as long as we’ve been smoking cannabis, weed rituals have been taking place. The process of smoking has become so ritualized, just while being in social setting, surrounded by friends and peers. But when it comes to rituals of a magic intention, Vanessa Neshevich of Green Moon Apothecary Ltd., a women-run green witch holistic wellness subscription box based out of Toronto explains to me, “My business partner Amanda and I really viewed the cannabis plant as a great ally. The smokable part of the plant is female. And when growing this plant, you have to elevate the females in order to be successful.” Neshevich explains that modern women and modern witches can really shape and utilize how they want to celebrate the plant and ritualize it noting, “For us, it's all about celebrating the spirit of the plant and really utilizing that mindfulness when using cannabis - that is really key to us.”

If you want to infuse a bit of magic into your next cannabis sesh, it can be done with intention. Neshevich shares that one thing that she likes to do is charge her cannabis, and clear the energy it may be carrying. She’ll place her cannabis into a container, and add a crystal into it to cleanse the energies from it. “The crystal can really cleanse that energy from the plant and take away any of those negative energies the cannabis may have collected while going from hand to hand. Being able to take away any of that negative energy and put my own personal intent is very comforting.”

Herstrik takes comfort in the rituals that connect her to others, mentioning that she loves to smoke joints and bongs. “The ritualistic act of grinding my cannabis and grabbing the flower and grinding my cannabis,” she explains that it’s just setting an intention in a smoke session and knowing that this session is something bigger. “We do it for comfort, but we also do it with purpose.”

While individually both cannabis and witchcraft both seem to still be misunderstood, it’s more about building awareness and breaking down the stigma. Neshevich believes for many it comes from curiosity and confusion, but really it’s about bringing people in and sparking their interest to learn more. One might say that cannabis is an essential component of the wise witch’s toolbox, and we’d have to agree. With more modern-day witches setting their intentions to get high, with purpose, we’re here for this new revolution of magic makers.

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This article was written by Amanda Scriver.

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This article was published October 30th, 2019.