Yesterday I heard my friend, Meerca, a Romanian Healer from Transylvania say this:
"The PAST is for learning...
The PRESENT is for feeling...
And the FUTURE is for direction."
It means to live in the moment, not in the past nor in the future. If you have expectations of the future you will only get disappointed. Yesterday, while I waited in a surgical waiting room of the hospital, I was in the moment. I was feeling. I did not dwell in the past of our lives together nor what the future would bring. I was there for Rick in body, mind and spirit. I was in the moment. The energy was all around . The energy was from all those people in our lives who sat in silence and meditated for both of us. It made me feel warm to know there are people who truly care. There was kindness, love and sincerity. What more could I ask for. I asked for nothing. I knew ...
O! mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In herbs, plants, stones,and their true qualities;
For nought so vile that on earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give
Within the infant rind of this weak flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power:
Romeo and Juliet, II, iii
This verse was always a favorite of mine during my English Literature courses in college. I loved any play that involved poison from an herb/plant. In 1720, The Christian Philosopher and Clergyman, Cotton Mather described a hallucogenic plant, Datura, by stating this...
In Virginia there is a plant called the Jamestown weed (Jimsonweed, Datura stramonium) whereof some having eaten plentifully became fools for several days, one would blow up a feather in the air, another sit naked, like a monkey, grinning at the rest, or fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces.
I feel this could describe any gay individual on Fire island after a night of drinking and drugging. There might not be Datura, but there are certainly other hallucinogenics available today as well as alcohol. Datura was used universally but upon my vast reading I have found that three preparations by the Aztec were equally effective and used in sacred ceremonies. These are Ololiuqui, teonanacatl, and peyotl.
It seems that Ololiuqui was one of the most important Aztec herbs or magical brews. Botanical Medicine can be magical depending on the herbs studied. I find this aspect fascinating. Perhaps for me, being sober it is the most intriguing. I know an herb is a drug, so I have fear if herbs are to be ingested by sober individuals. In both sacrificial ceremonies and divinatory activities, the seeds of the Morning glory plant Rivea corymbosa have been used. Most accounts speak of intoxication and hallucinations. Many other types of morning glory were used especially a native species Ipomoea violacea. These two plants were widely used and names given to them are even used in old textbooks today like 'Seed of the Virgin.' In the 1950's the chemical found in Rivea corymbosa closely resembled the structure isolated in 1938 called lysergic acid diethylamide. This is also known as LSD. The seeds of R corymbosa are twenty times less potent than LSD, the origins of hallucinogenic effects experienced by the Aztecs is noted. It also has been demonstrated that various species of Ipomoea also resembled the structure of LSD.
Lets face it and get real. Timothy Leary a lecturer in psychology at Harvard did much to popularize the myth of LSD and his users (among many infamous- as Cary Grant, the Beatles, et al). This drug allowed them to be more spiritual according to Leary. It helped the hippie movement as was definitely present during the 1969 Woodstock Festival. The Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is the product of an LSD trip with its tangerine trees and marmalade skies. A great song!
As usual the government found this behavior subversive. Not much unlike what we find in the government.
I find the historical aspects of plants to be cultural and informative. I feel it should be told. And shall it will be told.
Until tomorrow...
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