September 15, 2025 - In Hinduism, cannabis is associated with Lord Shiva and is consumed during religious festivals as a sacrament. The plant appears in the Atharva Veda as one of the five sacred plants, where it's described as a source of happiness and liberation.

Vedic texts describe the sacramental use of soma, a ritual drink pressed from a plant of the same name, said to confer power, inspiration, immortality, and access to altered states and divine visions. Despite ample textual description of its myth and ritual, there is no academic consensus as ...

July 25, 2023 - In the Vedas, cannabis is referred ... grass, and mudga (a type of bean). Bhang was revered for its psychoactive properties, which were believed to bring people closer to the divine realm....

June 5, 2025 - NAC incorporates peyote cactus as its sacrament, which is eaten or brewed in all-night prayer ceremonies. During an era of great trauma, when U.S. policies forced indigenous peoples onto reservations and banned their customs, peyote ceremonies ...

March 13, 2025 - The insights gained from the marijuana high by the ancient worshippers were considered to be of divine origin and the plant itself an "angel" or messenger of the gods. The sacramental use of marijuana predates written history and this tradition continues with diverse tribes in Africa, certain Hindu sects, Muslim fakirs and Sufis, Rastafarians, as well as modern Occultists and Pagans.

April 15, 2018 - Like nearly all spiritual traditions, ... in their ritual practices. Several Hindu schools of thought make regular use of psychoactive plants as sacraments that allow them to get closer to the divine....

Psychoactive plants, particularly ... often referred to as plants of the gods, plant teachers, or magical and healing plants. These plants are sacred because they allow the living to contact and commune with gods (entheogens) or drive out evil spirits....

February 5, 2021 - Atharva Veda not only mentions Cannabis to be one of the five sacred plants but signifies cannabis leaves as the guardian angel. In certain Vedic rituals, cannabis stems were thrown into the yagna (ritual fire) to overcome enemies and evil forces.

September 1, 1996 - Cannabis (hemp, marijuana) is one of the oldest and most widely cultivated plants, valued in many cultures as medicine, food, fiber, and sacrament. It is said to have been used as an adjunct to prayer in ancient Taoist, Vedic, and Sufi practices, ...

January 17, 2024 - The purpose of this article is to study the 'sacred' plants, diverse from those exclusively medicinal but with an unquestionable ethnobotanical value because, added to their healing properties, they develop mystical experiences and altered states of...

August 4, 2025 - The Aztecs revered peyote, believing it connected them to the divine realm. Ancient Greeks incorporated laurel into their rituals. Priestesses at the Oracle of Delphi chewed laurel leaves to induce prophetic visions. In India, the use of soma, a plant-based substance mentioned in Vedic texts, was central to religious ceremonies.

July 1, 2016 - Results: Haoma serves as a vital symbol of immortality, purity, and divine connection in Zoroastrian rituals. While various identifications exist, the research endorses Ephedra due to its historical importance and psychotropic properties, highlighting parallels with the Vedic Soma and emphasizing the broader religious implications of sacred plant compounds.

Cannabis plant is mentioned under Atharva veda book 11 hymn 8 or verse 15 [ kand 11 sukta 8, 3177]. The thing which one should notice that in Vedic text Halfa grass. oats, paddy, cannabis and Epidara Gerardiana [Somlata] are mentioned, but here ...

January 1, 2005 - Psychoactive plants have played an important role in medicine, religion, ritual life, and recreation since ancient times. In shamanic religions, which appear to have dominated throughout much of human pre-history, trance induced by psychoactive plants and other techniques permits direct contact with the divine.

July 2, 2024 - Pre-Incan civilizations consumed the San Pedro cactus, which contains mescaline; Vedic and Zoroastrian traditions consumed soma, which some scholars believe may have been based on mushrooms containing psychoactive ingredients; Bantu diviners ...

June 8, 2019 - And smoking marijuana was akin to being in communion with the spirit of Shiva. In the Yoga Sutras, chapter IV verse 1, the sage Patanjali writes janmau adhi-mantra-tapah-sam dhij h siddhayah.

June 25, 2025 - Cannabis, known as “ganja” or “bhang,” is associated with Lord Shiva, one of the principal deities in the Hindu pantheon. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva consumed cannabis to enter states of deep meditation and divine communion.

November 22, 2024 - Jasmine, also identified with Lord Shiva, according to the Vedic texts, is effective in controlling the mind, by acting on the receptors in mind through it’s aroma. Jasmine, as a sacred plant, also has ample medicinal qualities, such as, it offers cure for breast cancer, by acting on the lymphatic system.

February 11, 2023 - The most powerful of those plants, which are known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness, have always been regarded as sacred. In this book, the world’s most renowned authorities on psychoactive flora provide a fascinating and moving testimony of these “plants of the gods”, tracing their use throughout the world and their significance in shaping history and culture.

March 17, 2026 - There are many theories about the recipe of Soma. Non-Indian researchers have proposed candidates including Amanita muscaria, Psilocybe cubensis, Peganum harmala and Ephedra sinica.