Group Uses Marijuana as Sacrament

[Dragonfan]

Bangor, Maine, USA

 

Temple of Advanced Enlightenment seeks religious exemption from DEA

Judy Harrison

BDN Staff

 

Every Tuesday and Sunday afternoon the living room in the Rev. Kevin Loring’s apartment becomes a tiny house of worship.

 

The head of the 3-year-old Temple of Advanced Enlightenment earlier this week stood next to a round table as five others sat on sofas and chairs pushed back against the walls. They formed an uneven circle in the second-floor walk-up.

 

“We use music as a form of prayer,” Loring, 28, told them as the service began. “It helps us to see a little bit more clearly.”

 

He played Ben Harper’s “I’ll Rise” as the worshippers bowed their heads. After the song, the minister gave thanks to the Pure One and to Mother Earth. Then the minister prepared the sacrament by placing a small amount of marijuana in a wooden pipe.

 

“The taking of the sacrament is a very serious tradition,” he said. “It’s a very holy spiritual tool. It is with great respect that we take part in the sacrament.”

 

Loring lit the pipe at 4:20 p.m., inhaled, exhaled, then took a drink of water from a large clear glass. The minister passed the pipe and lighter to his fellow clergyman, the Rev. Garrett Wozneak, 28, of Glenburn. Wozneak inhaled, exhaled, passed the pipe and drank from the glass Loring offered as they participated in the Sacred Smoking Circle.

 

In smoking marijuana followed by taking a drink, participants take in the four elements — marijuana from the earth, fire to light it, wind to inhale and exhale the smoke and water, according to Loring.

 

“Cannabis is the Divine Inheritance given to all people by Mother Earth so that we may unlock the mystery of the many and varied messages of the Pure One,” the group’s Web site states.

 

Responsible use of marijuana for spiritual enrichment is at the center of the religion that Loring, a Penobscot Indian, and others founded about three years ago. Members do not advocate for the legalization of marijuana because they believe its use requires spiritual guidance, the minister said.

 

“It’s important to take one eye from the physical realm to see more clearly in the spiritual,” Loring said. “That may sound like you are half blind, but you really are taking your focus from one place to another — a place where you can see real unconditional love.”

 

The use of marijuana as a sacrament by members is carefully monitored, he said. Temple members must be at least 18 years old and have completed basic religious studies of the Temple before they engage in rituals such as the Sacred Smoking Circle, Vision Quest, Blessing of Meals, Blessing of Home, Holy Anointing and Honoring the Deceased, which are religious rituals similar to those practiced in mainline religions.

 

Samantha Bailey, 20, of Winthrop met Loring online. Bailey said Tuesday that she was not raised in a religious tradition, but the Temple’s beliefs were “something I could wrap my brain around.”

 

“When I take in the sacrament,” she said, “it opens up my mind to different possibilities. When I blow out the negative energy, it really feels that way to me, like I’m expelling the bad.”

 

The Temple of Advanced Enlightenment will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, at the Union Street Brick Church on the corner of Union and First streets in Bangor. For more information, visit www.templegreen.org.

 

Goals of the Temple of Advanced Enlightenment:

 

• Seek a spiritual use exemption from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

 

• Offer drug abuse intervention and mentoring.

 

• Promote cannabis as a narcotic replacement therapy.

 

• Distribute medical marijuana free.

 

• Educate public on spiritual use of marijuana.

 

• Partner with houses of worship, lawyers, colleges and universities.

 

• Seek a $60,000 grant from the Marijuana Policy Project.