Find out about the important role cannabis played in helping to develop modern medicines through alchemical works. Although little known, cannabis played a very important role in alchemy, and appears in the works of such figures as Zosimos, Avicenna, Paracelsus, Cardano and Rabelais. Cannabis also played a pivotal role in medieval and renaissance magic and recipes with instructions for its use appear in a number of influential and important grimoires such as the Picatrix, Sepher Raxiel: Liber Salomonis, and The Book of Oberon.  Could cannabis be the Holy Grail? with detailed historical references, the author explores the allegations the Templars were influenced by the hashish ingesting Assassins of medieval Islam, and that myths of the Grail are derived from the Persian traditions around the sacred beverage known as haoma, which was a preparation of cannabis,opium and other drugs. Many of the works discussed, have never been translated into English, or published in centuries. The unparalleled research in this volume makes it a potential perennial classic on the Subjects of both medieval and renaissance history of cannabis, as well as the role of plants in the magical and occult traditions.

Chris Bennett's profile page

Chris Bennett is an expert in the use of ethnobotanicals. He has contributed articles to numerous magazines, including Cannabis Culture and High Times, and he is the author of several books, including Green Gold the Tree of Life: Marijuana in Magic and Religion and Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Bennett has done it again. Going right to the primary sources, he has produced an extraordinary volume outlining the history and occult secrets of cannabis. … Should you be interested in knowing how and why cannabis found employment in the occult arts throughout history, take heart in knowing that you hold in your hands the definitive work written by a brilliant historian.” —Tom Hatsis, author of The Witches' Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic (2015)