Hemp – A Connection to the Great Mother

The Endocannabinoid System?

Not for much Longer.

Research into cannabinoids has transformed our understanding of the physiology of our bodies. We discovered the most primal system, with the most receptors, that regulates the entire body: the endocannabinoid system. Research is only in the beginning stages, yet leading scientists, researchers, and medical professionals are already asking for the endocannabinoid system’s name to be changed from the Endocannabinoid System to the Endocannabinoidome. This is because “ome” is all encompassing, a much better phrase than “system”, for describing that which regulates all other systems of the body – it is the mega system / the super category.

When I first was introduced to cannabinoid science it was only speculated that it was the cannabinoid receptors which caused the “runner’s high” instead of endorphins. Well, research has now proven that to be true. Scientists ran an experiment where runners ran, while taking drugs which shut down the endorphin receptors, and guess what? They still got high. It was not the endorphins or the opioid receptors regulating “the runner’s high” it was the cannabinoid receptors! Check out the research here: Science Direct

Additionally, the endocannabinoid system has many targets outside the cannabinoid receptors. Another reason as to why the system’s name should probably be changed to “The Endocannabinoidome”. CB2 receptors (which CBD specifically works with) help the brain produce GABA and Serotonin – the two best fighters of depression and anxiety. CB2 receptors work with inflammation/stress of the body and the mind, creating balance at a cellular level, and, as most all diseases arise out of and deteriorate the body through inflammation, this is the best preventative we know of today. Check out CBD & Inflammation to learn more about inflammation in the body

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Cannabinoid Research as a Portal to the Great Mother.

Due to propaganda stories told about this plant, people are deeply untrusting of this medicine which really does heal. Hemp is a gift from the Great Mother – yet we reject it. We don’t just reject the Great Mother’s medicine – we reject the Great Mother herself. We reject her because Gaia holds many still unexplainable phenomenas, and the rationalistic psyche of the day demands order, facts, and logic.

We have the most amazing science the Earth has yet seen. We are beyond lucky to have the best medical treatments, means of traveling, and radiant messengers ever known to this earth. This has given us the freedom to be anything we want. But that’s just it – we have found control and in that we forgot about nature, we don’t address the aspects of life we do not fully understand.

This is where CBD comes in, it fuses the known and the unknown through intuitive healing. While we are only about 10% into understanding what the endocannabinoid system and the cannabinoid receptors are responsible for, we do know they are extremely important. It is the cannabinoid receptor on the uterus wall which lets the sperm implant to create new life, there are a plethora of endocannabinoids in breast milk to help build the infants immune system, and it is the cannabinoid receptors which control inflammation levels of the mind and body throughout life (lessening inflammation where there is too much and heightening it where there is not enough).

Synthetic/Pharmaceutical cannabinoids don’t work as well because they blindly turn on and off cannabinoid receptors. You see, when you give the body phytocannabinoids (cannabinoids from plants), the body is able to intuitively bring the cananbinoids exactly where they are needed – the body has an intelligence we are unaware of. Synthetic turning on and off, without specification of the individual body’s particular needs and disregarding the body’s own intelligence, pharmaceutical cannabinoids can lead to serious health consequences. CBD isn’t like that as it is guided by the body and the body knows exactly which receptors need to be activated.

Additionally, phytocannabinoids are not only relieving a person of symptoms, they are helping to replenish a system that is responsible for cellular health at the most primary level – the root. Because this system controls stress of all forms, it can become depleted in the over stimulation of the modern world. Coincidentally nature’s medicine, hemp, is the perfect antidote. CBD replenishes the body’s supply of cannabinoids and this is why the dose of CBD goes down over time – it is revitalizing the Endocannabinoid System and there is no longer a need for the CBD!

In conclusion, these plant cannabinoids ask us to trust in nature, in the unseen, and the not yet understood. Additionally, this medicine is so individualized that it asks us to get in touch with our own body and see if we need more or less dosage. Hemp teaches us to trust- we put faith in the Great Mother and our own intuitive understandings.

To read more about the Propaganda around hemp and how it got such a horrible repudiation check out: Fear, Propaganda, and the American Psyche

Who is the Great Mother?

The moon, nature, water, emotions, beauty, nourishment, art… What do all these words have in common? They belong to the Great Mother. The Great Mother is not particular to any religion, philosophy, or culture – The Great Mother is an archetype which extends from before we got here and will continue to exist long after we take our exit. The Great Mother lives inside, around, below, and above us all. Yet we have forgotten her, degraded her, buried her in the depths of our psyches, only letting ourselves see her most shallow, archaic, and literal sides. Regarding a body as something to impregnate, rather than a body that is a creatrix – creating life from itself. Regarding emotions as mere epimethean bandages, rather than guiding lights. Seeing only age and never wisdom.

It’s funny how people deny the importance of emotions, when psychological research has proven that we have emotions before we think. Our emotions are directing our thoughts all the time. The great mother is unappreciated, unseen, yet she is guiding us. By ignoring her – we are sailing blindly.

This is changing. People are growing aware of the lessons held inside the forests. Modern people are becoming compelled towards protecting what indigneous cultures we have left. These cultures hold a secret, and they want to tell us. They hold the secret of the Great Mother. They see how she has enchanted the spirits of the lands, the plants and the animals. They see her everywhere and that is an invitation for us to remember her so that we can see her too. They also know many medicines of the plants, this is one thing really devastating about the take down of the amazon – these people have wisdom and herbal medicines that we don’t know of, what are we losing by destroying nature? Destroying the Great Mother herself?

Photo by Berend Leupen on Unsplash

Spiritual leader “Mamo” of the Kogui indigenous people at the Lost City, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

What does the Great Mother offer us?

Beyond great reverence and connection to and for nature and the unexplainable, she unlocks gateways to the earth and the skies. It’s beyond the humanistic “organismic experience” (a connection to a self that has not been programmed through conditional love) that is the bedrock of most psychology today. The word “psyche” isn’t even right because that word limits what I am talking about. What I am talking about doesn’t have bounds, and I guess that’s the freedom of the Great Mother. She takes us diving into the depths of our consciousness, and perhaps the conscious relationship to the Self.

She silvers the personal experience of the world; souls and mystifies it. A dream is no longer something to be defined. The impulse to interpret it makes a full stop. Instead The Great Mother asks about the details or elements of the dream – hoping to dive further into the picture. The moment the label is put on, the film becomes static. Instead of grabbing for a definition, the Great Mother hopes to interact with the moving images by looking deeper.

The Great Mother weaves her way into life through synchronicities. Entwining dreams with reality. The physical reality becomes conjunct with the stories of the lunacy of the moon; doing everything to get you to pay attention. Ultimately the Great Mother paints a world and where things are not separate.

My dad always told me “Evie, what do you learn when you’re talking? Nothing.” I think I finally understand what that meant. Sometimes you have to stop talking to reality and let the reality talk to you.
 

I was on a hike with my dog and a friend this last weekend, and we were visited by a coyote. Before I was introduced to the Great Mother it would have been just a cool sighting of a beautiful animal. Now it was a mythopoesis. I watched the coyote, its movements and characteristics, to see what it had to show me. I now could see it as a part of this Earth, as I am part of this Earth, the Gods ruling us from below. The Earth connected the coyote and I in the waking dream that is life. The animal was there to show my friend and I something. Upon leaving, the coyote smiled as it looked back at us, and we remarked how we wished we could take it home. Oh that tricky coyote.
 

Suggested Reading to Connect with the Great Mother: 

– Women who Run with Wolves -Clarissa Pinkola 

– Psychology and Alchemy – James Hillman

– Myths Among Us – Craig Chalquist

– Anatomy of the Psyche: Alchemical Symbolism in Psychotherapy – Edward F. Edinger 

Photo by Tolga Ahmetler on Unsplash