Cannabis Alchemy

Bennett, Chris, Lynn Osburn and Judy Osbum. Cannabis the Philosophers Stone. The Knights Templar and cannabis. Alchemy J2, no. 3 (May/Jun 2001). rhttp //www.alchemvlab.com/AJ2-3.html. 

Paracelsus, often regarded as the father of alchemy, first became acquainted with Cannabis products while in Basel, Switzerland, where the pharmaceutical firm of Sandoz now stands. It was also there that the botanist Leonhardt Fuchs sketched a charming, classic drawing of the sativa plant in 1543- By this time, the inebriating effects of sativa % resin had been discovered by Europeans. Francois Rabelais, writing in the early sixteenth century devoted three small chapters of his Third Book of Pantegruel to this herb s botanical and psychoactive properties. 

However, by the first century A.D., Taoists became interested in magic and alchemy, and were recommending addition of cannabis seeds to their incense burners. The hallucinations thus produced were highly valued as a means of achieving immortality. 

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