Cannabis Magic: Was the Oracle of Delphi Just a Huge Stoner?
Cannabis Magic: Was the Oracle of Delphi Just a Huge Stoner?
To celebrate High Art 2020 and its new theme of Magic, we wanted to look at how cannabis and the supernatural have intertwined. Remember to enter High Art on February 20th for a chance at some of the $50,000 in prize money! It’s free to enter; open all artists anywhere in the world, 18+.
A wonder of the ancient world, the Oracle of Delphi was a priestess known as The Pythia. She held court at Pytho, a sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo, in Delphi. It was believed that she channeled prophecies from Apollo himself, while deep in a dreamlike trance. People from all over would come seeking her advice.
To enhance her visions, the priestess would sit suspended over a crack in the earth from which emitted smoke. Here’s where the speculation comes in…what was in the crack? Some say mildly toxic natural gases came up from the earth in that spot, while others suggest that hallucinogenic plants were burned. It’s even said that she could’ve smoked or ingested edibles before her “visions” took hold as well.
When it comes to hallucinogens of that era, it’s quite possible that cannabis was used. Dr. DCA Hillman, a bacteriologist and classicist who has written about drug use in the ancient world, has said there’s evidence cannabis was burned to induce the Oracle’s trance since it was already introduced to Greece by central Asia.
Whether or not the Oracle was eating and smoking cannabis, she was definitely tripping on something. Her counsel began wars and changed the course of countless lives with her cryptic visions, which is why it is not suggested to take advice from someone perched over a hole in the ground huffing fumes.
Want to know more about witchcraft and weed? Check out this article from VICE.com!
Looking for a visionary trance? We’ve got strains for that! Come see what new THC-rich strains are in stock now!