Trees have so much to teach us. May we be like trees, standing firmly, roots digging in the ground, letting our branches reach for the sky and sway in the wind. We could weather any storm. This is the essence of strength on this planet. Trees operate from their center naturally; they don’t know any other way to be. This speaks to a very important notion, “as above so below.”

Our center is our heart chakra. Interestingly enough the color associated with the heart chakra is green. When we operate from our heart chakra, from our center, we bring the energy from above down and the energy from below up. Spiritual purpose is not all about living in the upper chakras, it is about blending the spiritual and the physical at the center. This is something to strive for and trees are everywhere to remind us.

The heart chakra is a melting pot where everything comes together in unity and from that mixing of energies comes oneness and unconditional love. The United States is also described as a melting pot. A place where everyone, from all over the universe can come together and blend, creating a sense of unity and eventually perhaps the acknowledgment that we are all one. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be working that way yet. That is because of the lies that divide.

In this way though, our country is a representation of the heart and the possibility of coming together and loving each other unconditionally. We can still be the beacon of light in the world, the place that promises freedom and always considers humanity. But we are divided and we have a long way to go. We can begin to strive for better though; starting with each of us as individuals in our own lives. However trivial we may feel at times, we can all create change.

In this life we have also been given tools that can help create change. Many of those tools come from the plant kingdom. These tools have the potential power to heal us both physically and spiritually. There are too many to discuss all in this one piece. But the most well-known and the first on the food chain of psychedelics is cannabis.

You’ve seen signs that say “hemp can save our world.” What if hemp can save the planet and greatly assist its inhabitants? Unfortunately it is illegal in most parts of the world. How can cannabis save the planet when it is not allowed to exist? And why is it not allowed to exist?

The only reasons for the stigma attached to cannabis were intentionally and maliciously created. The gentleness of this drug, its positive affects on people, its healing benefits and just its general popularity have given it great power. The power of cannabis is so great it could not be repressed. People from far and wide enjoy this drug, people from vast reaches of the planet need this drug, people from the traditional to the unconventional, religious types and atheists alike. At the end of the day, or at least at the end of my days at work, the one thing that connects us all is cannabis.

I never thought when I started using cannabis as a teenager that the world would be the way it is today. It’s one of the few areas in which we as Americans have truly made some progress in the last 10 years. Five years ago we were all anticipating the election and Colorado was about to legalize marijuana. Of course many of us were already knees deep in medical cannabis. So having the right to work with and use cannabis was not new to us. Some in the community weren’t thrilled about the potential switch to recreational sales because of the headaches that would come with transitioning.

But regardless of that it had to happen because it meant progress. Cannabis has medical benefits and great significance as a serious treatment for an array of ailments. So it made sense that it would first become legal through that doorway. But the truth is that marijuana never should have been illegal in the first place! We can thank yellow journalism for that; fake news was the undoing of the reputation of cannabis in the 1930’s. Every human adult deserves the right to decide whether or not they choose to consume cannabis just like they have the right to choose to drink alcohol or caffeine.

It’s ultimately a bodily issue. We never really hear this argument but it’s my body! I can choose to do with it as a wish. Keep your hands off my body, my mind, my consciousness and my right to expand my consciousness. Clearly the government does not make drugs illegal when they prove harmful otherwise alcohol would be illegal. Do you think they are working on making pharmaceutical opiates illegal right now in the midst of a massive crisis? Probably not, these drugs are legal meanwhile we are in a state of emergency because of opiate addictions. People are dying rapidly while CEO’s of big pharma companies are probably poolside at their mansion. At the same time petty marijuana offenders are sitting in jail. The whole thing is a total joke.

I went off on a rant there but back to the right to choose. Every person deserves the opportunity to make decisions about what is best for them without being lied to and having certain drugs pushed on them over others because of special interests. It is unfair, unjust and the time has come that we wake up and take our consciousness back. They want us to sleep. When we are asleep they get what they want. When we are awake we get what we want.

The cannabis plant is a beautiful reflection of the divine feminine. Every plant that flowers is female and the plant realm is very goddess filled in general. Cannabis has the power to bring forth and awaken so many things in individuals and within a society. Much of what it provokes falls in the realm of what I have described before as being the repressed feminine. Seems like it’s always big businessman who historically enjoy repressing the feminine.

Further, cannabis speaks to the heart chakra. She is a plant that encourages peace and unity. Cannabis plants stand tall, like beautiful trees. They represent strength and the beauty of flowering, the ability to grow and evolve. We are mirrors in some way. We are what we eat. And that term could not apply more than we are talking about what drugs we eat. Feed your head, feed your heart.

Cannabis was placed on this planet by the great goddess and she is also a great goddess. Cannabis is queen because she has the power to bring people together from different walks of life, the power to heal people physically and emotionally, the power to stimulate the heart chakra, the power to save millions of other trees from dying on this planet. She has the power to soften and awaken each of us individually and potentially collectively. At some point we all have to start tuning to a new frequency, tuning to the same frequency and altering consciousness is a part of that journey.

Fortunately for us, despite so many forces actively working against cannabis, the truth will always be revealed. I also believe that no matter how long it takes, the scales will balance out eventually. Certain people will continue to try to keep our world out of balance but in the end, they will fail. The betterment of humanity will win.

Something that was new to me in my college years was staying up all night. There is a magic in watching the sun rise, never having gone to sleep the night before, never having laid your consciousness down to rest. Those nights when you just seamlessly move into the next cycle of light. Toward the end, I realized there were two very different ways I’d seen the sun come up, and both had to do with drugs.

The first drug that kept me up all night was alcohol, mixed with a little lust and desperation. The sun was not as kind on those mornings. The second way I experienced the sun rise was after taking LSD for the first time in April of 2006.

I remember walking down the stairs of an apartment building in Boulder, after having been up all night tripping, and seeing the lights on in a main-floor unit with empty beer bottles scattered about. It was immediately apparent to me that I was feeling a lot different than whoever was passed out in that apartment and better than my former selves who had done the same thing. That morning I felt clarity, light, joy…

This feeling stood in stark contrast to the sleepy, drained, depressed feeling I had after drinking all night. Am I suggesting LSD become the new preferred drug over alcohol? Not exactly. That would be quite a battle, taking on the most accepted and marketed drug of all time. Cannabis has a better chance of wining that battle.

But if more people ingested acid than alcohol, would we better off in any sense? I say yes. Psychedelics have the power to transform humans in a profound and fundamental way. Cannabis is our gentle healer, she is transformational but on a smaller scale. LSD and alcohol can transform your life on a major scale, sometimes overnight. However they use their powers of transformation quite differently. One helps you understand the world around you and one strips you of awareness of the world around you. Having less inhibition is a great feeling but one that moves you further away form being your best self.

Maybe it seems to odd to be comparing LSD and alcohol, such different drugs, they are like day and night. And they don’t serve LSD at Chili’s. But after my first time using acid, the universe made that comparison for me, and so clearly that I could not ignore the significance of the message. It was trying to tell me something very important about these drugs and their affect, not only on our society and psychology, but on our history and our future.

On a basic level, it’s very important to not put all “drugs” together in one pile and people usually leave alcohol off the list, foolishly. I love when people say “I’ve never done drugs” with a glass of wine in hand. That’s ok though, we are all drawn to different drugs, for one reason or another. But perhaps the main motivation, whether we realize it or not, is that we desire to play with our consciousness. It’s malleable and fascinating to watch it relax, and then contract or expand.

All drugs have “spirits”, different liquors do too, and just like humans, the varying inclinations of their spirits affect the type of drug they are, and how they interact with the human spirit. There is no judgment here, the alcohol spirits lure me more than ever. But I think back to that morning when I realized that some drugs contract our consciousness and some expand it. Mind expansion is possible with use of certain tools. “Remember what the door mop said, feed your head, feed your head,” (White Rabbit).

Mind contraction is possible too. Alcohol, stimulants, and opiates are the first that come to mind. These drugs darken your worldview over time, contract your mind, bring you down; these drugs want you to only focus on them. These drugs have the ability to turn us into addicts, where all we want is more and more of them, and less and less of the life around us. They teach us little except how to suffer. That is their power, for it is great, and in many places these drugs are winning. They cleverly keep people from being who they were truly meant to be.

Of course alcohol doesn’t have to always go that far, but it has ruined a great many lives. And yet, a glass of rosé is so sweet and innocent. It is a great magician. However, it is important to note too, that drugs are only the first part of the equation, the soul and consciousness with which they interact are the second.

We all have different body chemistry, different brain chemistry, different genetics, different life experiences. We don’t all react the same way to the same drugs. There is a dance that takes place between us and them. Regardless, the fact remains: some drugs contract and others expand. The ways in which they may are infinite. As infinite as the personalities on this planet.

The point of this is not necessarily to encourage people to take psychedelics, but to draw attention to the possibility that things are not always what they seem. What is casually deemed as common and innocent can actually be harmful and dangerous. And what is deemed as scary or outrageous might actually be hugely beneficial. This is the major crux when it comes to drugs in our society. It is a great game of misperception, mislabeling, and perhaps a desire by some, to keep people from truly expanding their mind, truly discovering the mysteries of this world, and gaining direct access to spiritual answers and experiences.

Later in the summer of 2006, I had spent another night awake on LSD with my neighbors, and as the morning came closer, I wanted to escape them and be alone. I was always searching for something back then, something magical. Around 7am I put on my headphones and got ready to walk up toward campus. “It’s a beautiful morning” came on my shuffle, “I think I’ll go outside for a while, and just smile.”

A white cat with blue eyes had come up on our porch. He had chosen us as his new owners. I continued on my walk anyway, looking for someone I always hoped to find, but never did that day. I was beginning to realize though, I had found something else and it was helping me discover more than I had ever imagined.