Yay! Or Nay! To Drugs?, pros and cons of using mind altering drugs for magical purposes Options

Forget right and wrong....do drugs help or hinder the magical process????

as loosely defined by our dear friend Wikipedia (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) a drug is:

"any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function"

I've narrowed it down to 'mind altering' in the description column but by no means do I wish to exclude even minor drugs like aspirin or even caffeine...because we all know that these ultimately affect the 'state' in which we perform our various agendas.

i have so many questions that could be answered.

how do drugs, (and which drugs) help the process?
is it necessary to use drugs to obtain an experience, or certain experience, for some people?
do drugs hurt or help ALL spiritual practices, or only certain ones? which ones are these?
which drugs are better, which drugs are worse for magick purposes?
do some of you use drugs ONLY during a ritual...or do you uses it for recreational purposes as well?
if you use drugs to induce certain experiences, do you feel like every time and every experience is valid?
How can you distinguish true from false, and what is the consistent mentality behind accepting what you experience?
do drugs open up gates, or do they tear down the walls of your mind, or do they close doors?
what is the theory behind the spiritual quality of drugs (or perception thereof)?

i am eager to hear what you guys have to say!!!!


(ooops. look like there was already a post like this. sorry guys. i have no idea how to unpost this...nvm haha.)
I like the topic, so I'll keep it up unless the author strenuously objects or a mod rules otherwise...-Bym

This post has been edited by bym: May 13 2009, 11:27 AM

Forget right and wrong....do drugs help or hinder the magical process????

I can't speak for the other substances, but for the limited time I was on it, I found marijuana useful, all things considered. I had what was probably the single most important recurring dream of my life during that period, (even if I can't entirely figure out what it meant) which dictated the theme of a lot of other dreams that I've had since.

The other thing that marijuana did for me, I feel, is that it allowed me to get nearer to a...primordial type of feeling, I guess is the best way I can put it. It's very difficult to verbalise exactly what I'm talking about, but some psytrance triggered it while I was smoking, and I can still get hints of it occasionally now...I went back to that very strongly when I first read the Devi Mahatmaya, as well.

To me what weed did, was it helped show me a useful state which I've since been able to get back to at times on my own. So it's good for the purposes of giving you a taste of something unusual on a temporary basis, which you can then learn to reproduce on your own.

I don't recommend marijuana on anything other than a temporary basis, however; it starts to develop some less than desirable side effects if smoked long term. To me that is a rule of thumb with any substance I've even heard of, so far. Drugs to me are ok, and I'm not going to condemn them or anyone who uses them, but they do have to be used in the right way, and generally also only for special occasions. Practices like the "brekky bong," are not cool in my mind. I've read enough about the others to know that if you don't respect them as well, they will also bite...sometimes very hard.