Cannabis & the Goddess

Renee Boje
Aug 9
32 min read

Updated: Nov 12

Cannabis & the Divine Feminine —

"Plants which are receptacles of light, born three ages before the Gods, I honor your myriad of colours and your seven hundred natures. A hundred, O Mothers, are your powers and a thousand your forms. May you, of a hundred gifts, make whole what has been wounded."— Rig Veda Hymn to Cannabis, c. 1500 B.C.

The Rigveda - the most ancient of the Vedic Sanskrit texts - is a sacred song of the dawn of civilization. Its verses, born in the northwestern realms of the Indian Subcontinent between 1500 and 1000 BCE, were not first inked upon scrolls, but carried in the breath of priestesses and seers through the oral tradition, stretching back into the mists of the 2nd millennium BCE. It is within this lineage of living memory and sacred utterance that we honor the plant allies who have walked with humankind since time immemorial.

One such ancient ally is the blessed Cannabis - a green emissary of the Goddess. According to the wisdom of researchers from the University of Vermont, this plant’s lineage took root upon the high Tibetan plateau some 28 million years ago. From there, her pollen danced upon the winds, carried across mountains and seas, until she touched every corner of Mother Earth. She has settled into the hearts of humankind as one of the most beloved herbs upon this planet. Cannabis pollen, found near the shimmering waters of Qinghai Lake - the largest saltwater lake in China - whispers to us of her ancient migrations and her enduring companionship with the human story.

Cannabis is a healer, a guide, and a spiritual sister. For humankind - and for our animal kin - her blessings are many. Yet in this sacred space, we turn our gaze toward her feminine face, toward the ways in which she has walked beside women and the Goddesses themselves through the ages.

Of Women and Cannabis: Sacred Mirrors

Throughout the turning of time’s wheel, cannabis has been revered as a powerful ally to women. She mirrors the feminine in ways both mystical and molecular. Indeed, the very compounds she holds within her emerald body echo the structure of estrogen - the hormone that governs the rhythms of the womb, the cycles of fertility, and the blossoming of the female form.

Her seeds are brimming with Gamma Linoleic Acid (GLA), the omega-6 fatty essence also found in Mother’s sacred milk - the first nectar that nourishes the infant into life. In days of old, hemp milk was given to wean babes from the breast, guiding them gently into the next stage of growth. These GLA’s are more than sustenance: they weave magic within the brain, ease the fires of inflammation, and nurture the health of our skin, hair, bones, and womb - while tending the holy flame of metabolism.

Women, in their divine design, hold cannabis receptors in the sacred temple of the womb. The midwives of the ancient world - wise women and keepers of the birth mysteries - anointed their sisters with cannabis for the easing of menstrual tides and the sacred labor of childbirth. They crafted oils infused with her green spirit to massage the yoni, softening the muscles, opening the sacred gateway, and allowing new life to emerge with greater ease.

The yoni - in the sacred tongue of India - is the flower of the Goddess, the living symbol of Shakti, the primordial force of creation and love. Cannabis, beloved of Shakti, is consecrated in her rituals, its smoke and oil offered as devotion to her radiant power. The yoni is not only a vessel of life, but the symbol of feminine regenerative might, worshiped as a divine mystery in India and across the ancient world - even in the temples of Egypt.

Thus, cannabis is more than a healer of the body; she is a spiritual companion of the Divine Feminine. She walks with us as sister, mother, and guide - a green priestess whose spirit bridges earth and sky. In her, we find not only medicine for the flesh, but a key to the holy doorways of the soul.

Cannabis as Feminine Sacrament

Cannabis is not only medicine for the body; it is a teacher of the soul. Across centuries, it has been the green flame on the altar - the fragrant smoke rising toward goddesses of love, fertility, prophecy, and healing. Archaeologists have found its traces in temple offerings; historians have recorded its presence in the hands of priestesses. In its embrace, the veil between worlds thins, the heart opens, and the seeker is drawn into communion with the Divine Mother.

In what follows, we will walk the mythic paths of Santa Maria, Atargatis, Ishtar, Asherah, Bast, Magu, Amaterasu, Aphrodite, and others - goddesses whose stories are perfumed with the scent of cannabis, whose temples once rang with chants and song carried on its smoke. Their myths and rites, rooted in earth and carried in memory, reveal the deep and ancient marriage between the sacred feminine and this most blessed of plants.

Cannabis — The Green Goddess Herself

Sacred Correspondences of the Green Goddess

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient plant ancestor, 28 million years old, Tibetan Plateau
Sacred Colors	Deep green, gold, violet
Botanicals	Hemp flower, hemp seed, sacred resins
Season	All seasons; most potent at summer harvest
Symbols	Seven-pointed leaf, spiral, chalice
Animals	Bee, serpent, butterfly
Planet	Venus, Moon
Primary Aspects	Healing, vision, protection, pleasure, transformation

Long before her leaves were pressed into medicine or her fibers spun into rope, Cannabis was a goddess in her own right - the living embodiment of Mother Earth’s green magic. Born beneath the high, thin sky of the Tibetan Plateau, she carries within her the memory of primordial sunlight, ancient winds, and the first rains that fell upon fertile soil.

She is a plant of a thousand faces: healer, seductress, prophetess, protector. In her flowers, a perfume that calls the soul to soften; in her seeds, nourishment for body and spirit; in her resin, a key to the unseen realms. She is as changeable as the moon and as constant as the turning of the seasons.

Across time, peoples have met her in many forms - as a field of waving hemp beneath the sun, as fragrant smoke curling upward in temple shadows, as a vial of oil held in the hands of a midwife, as a cup of sacred drink offered at a Goddess Rite. In each, she wears the face of the culture that loves her, her essence is the same: a feminine force that heals, awakens, and transforms.

When we call upon Cannabis as Goddess, we invite her to open the gates of perception, to anoint our bodies with peace, to steady our hearts in times of pain, and to remind us that pleasure is holy. She is the thread that weaves through the stories of every goddess in this work, the common root from which they all draw.

Seshat — Lady of the Sacred Script

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Seshat

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Egypt, Old Kingdom (c. 2700 BCE)
Sacred Colors	White linen, lapis blue, gold
Botanicals	Cannabis, papyrus, acacia, frankincense
Season	Season of Akhet (Inundation of the Nile)
Symbols	Seven-pointed emblem above her head, palm rib for marking years, leopard skin
Animals	Ibis, cat, lioness
Planet	Mercury
Primary Aspects	Wisdom, sacred geometry, writing, timekeeping, building consecration

Among the pantheon of Egypt’s great deities, Seshat stands as a quiet yet profound presence - the Lady of the House of Books, goddess of writing, wisdom, architecture, and the sacred measure of time. Crowned with a mysterious emblem - often interpreted as a seven-petaled flower or star - she presided over the recording of all that was worth remembering.

Seshat was the keeper of the cosmic order through language and number. In temple reliefs, she is shown marking the years on the notched palm rib, measuring the ground for new temples, or recording the pharaoh’s achievements. She was the bridge between the mortal and the divine record - ensuring that what was done in this world was inscribed in the eternal.

Cannabis may have found its place in her rituals in two ways. First, as a plant of vision and clarity, it could aid the scribe-priestesses in entering meditative states where inspiration and divine dictation flowed more freely. Second, as part of the sacred incense blends burned in temple libraries and scriptoria, cannabis resin could have been mixed with frankincense and myrrh - a perfume that both purified the space and lifted the mind toward the realm of the gods.

The very symbol above Seshat’s head - that seven-pointed star - resonates with the seven serrated leaves of the cannabis plant, a synchronicity not lost on some modern priestesses who work with her energy. Just as cannabis opens the channels of creativity and memory, Seshat governs the eternal archive of knowledge.

To commune with Seshat through cannabis is to invite the Green Goddess into the mind’s library - to sharpen focus, to enhance memory, to link inspiration to discipline. She reminds us that the visions we receive are seeds, and that it is our sacred duty to plant them in the fertile soil of form so that they may nourish generations to come.

Isis — Great Mother of Magic, Healing & Rebirth

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Isis

Aspect	Correspondences
Culture/Origin	Ancient Egypt (worship attested from Old Kingdom c. 2500 BCE, prominence through Greco-Roman period)
Domains	Motherhood, Healing, Magic, Fertility, Protection, Rebirth
Symbols	Throne hieroglyph (𓇓), Ankh, Solar Disk, Cow Horns, Wings
Colors	Gold, Deep Blue, Emerald Green, White
Botanicals	Cannabis, Myrrh, Blue Lotus, Papyrus, Acacia
Sacred Animals	Cow, Kite (hawk-like bird), Cobra, Scorpion
Sacred Season	Inundation of the Nile (Akhit), marking fertility and renewal
Offerings	Milk, Honey, Incense, Flowers, Cannabis Resin

In the shimmering dawn of the Nile’s ancient flow, Isis arose - Mother of Pharaohs, Mistress of Magic, and She Who Restores the Broken. Her name was spoken with the same reverence as the rising sun, for she was not merely a goddess to the people of Kemet, but the very breath of life itself.

She is the healer who knew every herb’s song, the enchantress whose words could bind chaos and call the soul back from the brink of death. Temples to Isis stood from Philae to the far shores of the Mediterranean, their inner chambers steeped in the perfume of sacred smoke.

Among the resins, flowers, and precious woods burned in her honor, there is compelling evidence that cannabis — known in Egypt for its pain-easing, womb-soothing, and vision-opening qualities - was part of her healing and magical pharmacopeia. Ancient medical papyri, such as the Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), record cannabis preparations for easing inflammation, calming the womb, and uplifting the spirit.

Priestesses of Isis were midwives, herbalists, and keepers of sacred rites. In birthing chambers, they may have anointed the mother’s body with cannabis-infused oils to ease pain and help the yoni open in the sacred passage of life. In the temple’s inner sanctum, the same plant spirit could be burned with myrrh and blue lotus, its ascending smoke carrying prayers to the realms where Isis wove her spells of healing and resurrection.

To commune with Isis through cannabis is to step into the current of her timeless magic - to feel her wings wrap around you, to be restored, protected, and reborn. She is the emerald light in the heart of the temple, the soft murmur of the Nile at night, and the eternal Mother who whispers: "All that is broken may be made whole again."

Ishtar — Queen of Heaven and the Green Incense of Ecstasy

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Ishtar

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria) — c. 3000 BCE and later
Sacred Colors	Cobalt blue, gold, crimson
Botanicals	Cannabis (qunnabu), myrrh, frankincense, balsam
Season	Spring equinox, Beltane
Symbols	Eight-pointed star, lion, rosette, bow & arrow
Animals	Lion, dove, owl
Planet	Venus
Primary Aspects	Love, fertility, war, ecstatic union, descent & rebirth

To walk through the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon was to pass into a world of color and majesty - cobalt tiles gleaming in the sun, lions and dragons guarding the way, the air rich with the perfume of sacred incense. Here reigned Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, revered across Mesopotamia for her fierce compassion, her powers of love and war, and her ability to heal the body and transform the soul.

Her temples were alive with music, offerings, and the intoxicating smoke of Sim Ishara - “the aromatic of the goddess Ishtar.” The Assyrian scholar Dr. Erica Reiner identified this as likely being qunnabu, the Akkadian word for cannabis. In these sanctuaries, the burning of cannabis was not casual - it was an act of invocation. The smoke was her breath, her veil, the medium through which priestesses and devotees could step into her presence.

As a goddess of fertility and ecstatic union, Ishtar’s rites were deeply embodied. Cannabis may have been part of the sacred intoxication that allowed worshippers to transcend the ordinary self, entering a state where body and spirit mingled with divine currents. In these altered states, the heart could be pierced by her love, the mind flooded with her visions.

Her myths tell of her descent into the underworld - stripping away power, adornment, and identity to stand naked before the Queen of the Dead, only to return renewed. Cannabis, too, can be a guide through descent - softening the journey inward, offering courage in vulnerability, and carrying the seeker back toward light.

Her influence rippled far beyond Mesopotamia. Goddesses such as Aphrodite, Astarte, Inanna, and Eostre all bear her qualities. Even the legendary Queen of Sheba, whose gifts to Solomon may have included the sacred herb, walks in her lineage. In this way, Ishtar stands as one of the primal archetypes of the cannabis goddess - the one whose temple smoke still rises in the memory of our species.

Enarei — Scythian Priestesses of Cannabis Smoke & Prophecy

Sacred Correspondences for the Priestess Enarei

Aspect	Correspondences
Culture/Origin	Scythian (Eurasian Steppe, c. 7th–3rd century BCE)
Domains	Prophecy, Spirit Journeying, Funerary Rites, Transformation
Symbols	Bronze incense cauldrons, Hemp seeds, Ritual tents, Wind across the steppe
Colors	Smoke-gray, Gold, Deep Green, Earth-brown
Botanicals	Cannabis (qunnabu), Juniper, Artemisia
Sacred Animals	Horse (travel between worlds), Eagle (spirit sight)
Sacred Season	Late summer harvest (for hemp seed and resin)
Offerings	Burning hemp seed and resin in cauldrons, libations of fermented mare’s milk

The Enarei were the mystics of the Scythian people - an ancient nomadic culture whose domain stretched from the Black Sea across the vast Eurasian steppe. Unlike most male warriors of their tribe, the Enarei walked between genders, often adopting feminine clothing and roles, and between worlds, serving as seers, healers, and spiritual intermediaries.

Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote of the Scythians’ cannabis rituals: large felt-covered tents were set up, and beneath them bronze cauldrons filled with red-hot stones. Onto these, hemp seeds were cast, releasing a fragrant, intoxicating vapor. Enclosed in this cloud, the Enarei would sway, chant, and enter trance - calling the spirits for guidance, honoring the dead, or cleansing the living.

To the Scythians, death was not an end but a passage, and cannabis smoke was the bridge. In funerary rites, the Enarei purified mourners and warriors before their burial, ensuring a safe journey to the other side. In prophecy, the vapor opened the eye of the soul, bringing visions from the spirit realm into the waking world.

Today, the Enarei stand as a testament to the ancient union of sacred plant medicine, gender-fluid priesthood, and the art of crossing thresholds - whether between life and death, man and woman, or mortal and divine.

Asherah — Lady of the Tree of Life

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Asherah

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Canaanite and early Hebrew traditions (c. 1800 BCE and earlier)
Sacred Colors	Emerald green, ivory, ochre
Botanicals	Cannabis (kaneh bosm), myrrh, balsam, frankincense
Season	Late spring, early summer
Symbols	Tree of Life, pillar, lioness, crescent moon
Animals	Lioness, dove, ibex
Planet	Moon, Venus
Primary Aspects	Motherhood, fertility, creation, sacred union, divine protection

Long before the patriarchal reshaping of scripture, Asherah was honored as the Great Mother of the Canaanites - wife of El or Yahweh, mother of gods, and living embodiment of the Tree of Life. Her image stood in sacred groves and temple courtyards, carved into wooden poles or painted upon walls, a reminder that divinity was rooted in the fertile earth and the cycles of creation.

Although her name was later erased from the Hebrew Bible, traces remain. In certain ancient texts, offerings to Yahweh and Asherah are recorded side by side, revealing her once-central place in the spiritual life of Israel. And in the Song of Songs, her essence lingers in the lush garden imagery - fragrant plants, flowing rivers, and the intoxicating breath of sacred herbs.

The Polish anthropologist Sula Benet brought forth a provocative insight in 1936: the biblical “calamus” in the holy anointing oil may not have been reed at all, but kaneh bosm - fragrant cannabis. If this is true, then Asherah’s association with the Tree of Life becomes all the more literal, her sacred resin mingling with myrrh, balsam, and frankincense to anoint priestesses and kings.

Author William Emboden expands the vision: Asherah’s priestesses may have burned this resinous mixture in incense burners, inhaling the sweet smoke as part of their rites, and anointed their skin with the same oil to heighten their communion. In this way, cannabis became both the perfume of the goddess and the key to her mysteries.

To approach Asherah is to stand beneath the great canopy of life - to feel the pulse of creation moving through root and branch, womb and heart. Cannabis, in her service, is a leaf from that eternal tree: a healer, a protector, a bringer of visions, a reminder that we are rooted in the same divine soil.

Rhea Krona — Scythian Mother of Life, Death & the Hemp Scythe

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Rhea Krona

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Scythian nomadic cultures (1st millennium BCE Eurasian steppe)
Sacred Colors	Rough earth tones: ochre, russet, deep green
Botanicals	Cannabis, willow, steppe grasses
Season	Funeral rites and death rituals, cycle of decay and renewal
Symbols	Scythe (harvest emblem), Tree of Life, severed head
Animals	Horse, feline, serpentine figures
Planet	Earth, Pluto (underworld)
Primary Aspects	Life‑death transitions, cosmic harvest, fate, ancestral power

From the windswept steppes, the nomadic Scythians carried a potent vision of the sacred feminine: a Mother of Life and Death, wielding a scythe that is said to be derived from the cannabis - harvesting tool. In esoteric sources, Rhea Krona - or archetypal Scythian “Goddess Mother”- is seen as the reaper of her children into the void and the righteous force of ancestral renewal.

Scythian rituals, vividly documented by Herodotus and validated archaeologically, embraced cannabis as sacred smoke in death rites - its vapor rising from tent-censers, inducing trance and ecstatic laughter among shaman‑priests who guided souls through transformation.

In some mythic depictions found in cave art, a Tree of Life is held in the outstretched hand of the Mother Goddess, with a horseman approaching - symbolizing the cycle of death, rebirth, and divine communion.

To stand with Rhea Krona is to honor the inevitability of endings as thresholds to new beginnings, with cannabis as the sacred teacher who blurs the lines between worlds. She is the ancient harvester of souls, the mother who gathers her children into renewal.

The Oracles of Delphi — Daughters of Gaia and the Sacred Smoke of Vision

Sacred Correspondences for the Oracles of Delphi

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Greece (1700–1400 BCE origins, Classical period prominence)
Sacred Colors	Deep green, laurel gold, white marble
Botanicals	Cannabis, laurel, barley
Season	Autumnal equinox, festival seasons of Apollo
Symbols	Triple spiral, serpent, laurel wreath, omphalos stone
Animals	Serpent, swan, raven
Planet	Sun (Apollo), Earth (Gaia)
Primary Aspects	Prophecy, divine speech, initiation, death & rebirth

Before Apollo claimed the temple of Delphi, it belonged to Gaia, the Earth Mother, and her serpent-son, Pytho, guardian of the oracle. In those early days, the high priestess Daphnis served as Gaia’s voice, speaking from a place where the living pulse of the Earth rose up from the deep - carrying visions, warnings, and blessings.

Later myth tells us that Apollo slew the serpent and took the temple as his own, but the Oracles of Delphi - the Pythia - still carried the ancient lineage of the Earth Mother. They sat upon the sacred tripod above a cleft in the rock, where intoxicating vapors rose from the heart of the mountain. Inhaled, these vapors brought the Pythia into trance, her words spilling in divine frenzy to be interpreted by the temple priests.

The poet-scholar Robert Graves recorded a striking detail from Classical times: the fumes included barley, laurel, and hemp laid upon the embers. This triad was no accident - barley to ground, laurel to invoke Apollo’s truth, and cannabis to open the gates of sight. Together, they wove the sacred state in which the oracle could stand between worlds.

Cannabis here served as a bridge - carrying the priestess’s spirit beyond the rational mind into the luminous currents where gods and humans meet. Inhaling its fragrant smoke, she became a vessel for the words of the divine, her body a living omphalos - the world’s navel.

Though Apollo’s cult reshaped the rites, the whisper of Gaia still lived in those chambers. Cannabis, as an herb of prophecy and altered consciousness, carried forward the older mystery: that true vision comes not from domination, but from deep listening to the Earth.

Bast — Lady of the Ointment Jar and the Solar Purr of Protection

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Bast

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Egypt (worship recorded as early as the Second Dynasty, 2890–2670 BCE)
Sacred Colors	Gold, black, lapis blue
Botanicals	Cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, blue lotus, cinnamon
Season	High summer, festival of Bubastis
Symbols	Cat, lioness, sistrum (ritual rattle), ointment jar
Animals	Cat, lion, serpent
Planet	Sun
Primary Aspects	Protection, sensual joy, healing, music, domestic harmony

In the bright sun of ancient Egypt, Bast moved between the shadows and the light - a goddess who could purr with affection or roar with ferocity. First depicted as a lioness and later as a sleek black cat, she was both protector of the pharaoh and guardian of the home. Her name, “She of the Ointment Jar,” speaks of her role as a healer, perfumer, and mistress of sacred anointing.

The great Festival of Bubastis, held in her honor, was one of the most joyous celebrations in Egypt - filled with music, dancing, wine, and the exchange of perfumes. Cannabis, widely used in ancient Egypt as medicine, may well have been part of these offerings. The Ebers Papyrus, dating to around 1550 BCE, lists cannabis remedies for inflammation, pain, and depression - many of them for ailments of women.

Evidence from Egyptian mummies, including the discovery of cannabis pollen and even THC in preserved lungs, suggests that the herb was both smoked and ingested. While direct proof of Bast’s priestesses using cannabis is scarce, the alignment is striking: a goddess associated with healing ointments, pleasure, and protection in a culture where cannabis was medicinally and ritually valued.

In temple context, cannabis could have been consecrated to Bast as an anointing oil - rubbed into the skin for both sensual delight and medicinal relief - or burned in censers as part of music-filled rites. Just as cats are attuned to subtle shifts in energy, cannabis would have helped her devotees slip into the relaxed, open state in which the goddess’s presence could be felt most keenly.

To walk with Bast is to walk in the warmth of the sun with the awareness of the night - to be joyfully alive yet fiercely protective. Cannabis, as her ally, carries both of these qualities: soothing the body while sharpening the inner senses, offering pleasure without surrendering vigilance.

Magu — The Hemp Maiden of Longevity

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Magu

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Taoist mythology, China (legends dating from c. 300 CE or earlier)
Sacred Colors	Jade green, pearl white, gold
Botanicals	Cannabis, peach blossom, chrysanthemum, pine
Season	Late summer, festival of the Double Seventh (Qixi)
Symbols	Hemp stalks, peach of immortality, deer, crane
Animals	Crane, deer, tiger
Planet	Moon, Jupiter
Primary Aspects	Immortality, youthfulness, healing, harmony with nature

High among the cloud-wrapped peaks of eastern China, legends tell of Magu, the Hemp Maiden - a beautiful, ageless woman with the gift of bestowing health and longevity. In Taoist lore, she is a semi-immortal or goddess who presides over sacred mountains and the life-giving plants that grow there. Her very name, Ma (hemp) and Gu (maiden), ties her essence to cannabis.

Stories of Magu vary from province to province, but in each she appears as a beneficent spirit, compassionate toward humans, offering them medicines from her gardens. In some tales, she tends the peach trees of immortality, serving their fruit in banquets for the immortals. In others, she is seen gathering hemp on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month - a date still associated with love, weaving, and blessings in Chinese tradition.

The great sinologist Joseph Needham noted that ancient Taoist texts speak of cannabis being burned in temple incense burners, its smoke aiding in mystical communion and vision work. Magu’s association with hemp places her directly in this lineage - as a keeper of the plant’s spiritual and medicinal powers.

In Taoist tradition, the body is a garden of energy channels, and cannabis was believed to harmonize these flows, restoring balance and vitality. Magu embodies this principle: her presence is like the scent of hemp flowers on a mountain breeze - calming yet enlivening, grounding yet expansive.

To call upon Magu with cannabis is to invite a renewal of life force, a return to the supple joy of youth. She reminds us that aging need not be a decline, but a ripening - and that certain green allies, when approached with reverence, can help us live in harmony with the cycles of nature for many years.

Shakti — She Who Is Power

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Shakti

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient India, Vedic tradition, worshipped across Hindu, Tantric, and folk traditions
Sacred Colors	Red, gold, deep crimson, saffron
Botanicals	Cannabis, hibiscus, jasmine, sandalwood, sacred basil (tulsi)
Season	Spring equinox, monsoon season
Symbols	Yoni, trident (trishula), lotus, flame, serpent
Animals	Lion, tiger, cobra, peacock
Planet	Moon, Venus
Primary Aspects	Divine feminine power, creation, destruction, regeneration, kundalini awakening

In the vast and ancient spiritual tradition of India, Shakti is not merely a goddess - she is the Goddess, the primal force from which all deities, all worlds, and all forms arise. Her name means “power” or “energy,” but this is not the power of domination; it is the power of birth, of transformation, of the constant, creative pulse that animates the universe.

Shakti is worshipped in countless forms - as Parvati, the gentle mother and consort of Shiva; as Durga, the fierce warrior who rides a lion; as Kali, the liberator who dances time into dissolution. In each form, she is both immanent and transcendent, flowing through every cell of the body and every star in the cosmos.

Cannabis has been sacred to her for millennia, particularly in the form of bhang - a drink made from cannabis leaves, milk, and spices - offered during festivals such as Maha Shivaratri. In the stories, it is often said that Parvati herself prepared bhang for Shiva, knowing it would soothe his mind and open him to divine bliss. By extension, cannabis became a gift of Shakti to humanity - a way to awaken the inner union of body, mind, and spirit.

In Tantric traditions, the yoni - the sacred portal of the feminine - is honored as Shakti’s living symbol. Cannabis, with its profound effect on softening the body, expanding the senses, and quieting the thinking mind, has been used as an anointing oil and incense in yoni pujas (rituals of honoring the feminine). Here, the plant is not a mere intoxicant, but a means of entering into deeper communion with the creative life-force.

To work with cannabis as Shakti’s ally is to invite her current of kundalini - the serpent energy coiled at the base of the spine - to awaken and rise. It is to embody the truth that the feminine is not passive, but an active, creative, ecstatic power that moves worlds into being.

Demeter — Keeper of the Grain and the Mysteries

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Demeter

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Greece, Mycenaean roots (c. 1500 BCE)
Sacred Colors	Gold, green, deep brown
Botanicals	Cannabis, barley, wheat, poppy, mint
Season	Harvest season, autumn equinox
Symbols	Sheaf of wheat, torch, cornucopia
Animals	Serpent, pig, bee
Planet	Earth, Saturn
Primary Aspects	Fertility, agriculture, life cycles, initiation, rebirth

Demeter is the Greek goddess who feeds the world. From her hands come the grain, the fruits, the flowers - all the sustenance that allows human life to flourish. She is the quiet, steadfast power of the earth’s fertility, and the tender yet unyielding mother who governs the great cycles of life, death, and rebirth.

Her most famous myth, the abduction of Persephone, tells how the loss of her daughter plunged the world into winter, and her return brought the spring. But Demeter is also the patroness of the Eleusinian Mysteries - initiatory rites so profound that those who experienced them spoke of losing all fear of death. These rites were plant-based in their sacraments, blending psychoactive preparations with ritual to open the initiate to divine truth.

Although cannabis is not named directly in the surviving texts of her worship, scholars such as Carl Ruck have suggested that it may have been one of the sacred plants burned or infused into these mystery brews. Cannabis, like the grain she guards, is a gift of the earth with both nourishing and transformative properties - feeding the body and expanding the spirit.

As goddess of the harvest, Demeter’s connection to cannabis is also practical: the plant’s seeds are rich in nutrition, its fibers strong and versatile, and its flowers a source of medicine. In ancient agricultural societies, such a plant would naturally fall under her domain, honored alongside barley, poppy, and other cultivated gifts.

To offer cannabis to Demeter is to honor the earth’s abundance and to acknowledge the cycles of planting, tending, reaping, and letting go. In her presence, the plant becomes a sacrament of gratitude - a green reminder that we, too, are part of the great turning of the seasons.

Mami Wata — Mistress of the Deep Waters

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Mami Wati

Element	Correspondence
Origin	West and Central African spiritual traditions (oral origins, thousands of years old)
Sacred Colors	Turquoise, white, coral red
Botanicals	Cannabis, kola nut, hibiscus, frangipani
Season	Rainy season, full moons
Symbols	Mirror, snake, comb, flowing water
Animals	Snake, crocodile, fish
Planet	Moon, Venus
Primary Aspects	Fertility, healing, wealth, transformation, seduction

Mami Wata is one of the most widely venerated spiritual beings across the African continent and the diaspora. She is a goddess and spirit of the waters - rivers, oceans, and the psychic depths of the human heart. Her beauty is said to be so radiant it can steal one’s breath, and her presence so potent it can change the course of a life.

She appears in many forms: sometimes as a mermaid with a gleaming fish tail, sometimes as a beautiful woman draped in fine cloth and jewels, often accompanied by a serpent coiled about her shoulders. The mirror she carries is a symbol of self-reflection and transformation - for those who gaze into her eyes, or her waters, may see the truth of themselves revealed.

Cannabis enters her tradition as one of the plants used in healing and spirit-work. In certain West and Central African ceremonies, cannabis is burned to create a sacred atmosphere, to purify space, and to open channels of communication with the spirit world. Its calming and trance-inducing qualities make it a natural ally for mediums and healers seeking to bridge the worlds of the living and the ancestral.

Like the flowing waters she governs, cannabis can carry the mind into altered currents - where visions rise like bubbles from the deep, and where healing flows from spirit into body. Mami Wata’s devotees speak of her dual nature: she can bless with abundance, health, and love, but also challenge those who approach her without respect. Cannabis, in her rites, carries this same lesson: approach with reverence, and the gift will be great; approach carelessly, and the lesson may be harsh.

To offer cannabis to Mami Wata is to make a fragrant wave upon her waters - a sign of respect to the depths, and an invitation for her to cleanse, heal, and renew the soul.

Freya — Lady of Love, Seiðr, and the Green Magic

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Freya

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Norse mythology (attested in the Poetic and Prose Eddas, c. 800–1200 CE)
Sacred Colors	Gold, amber, deep green
Botanicals	Cannabis, flax, apple blossom, birch
Season	Midsummer, spring equinox
Symbols	Brísingamen (amber necklace), falcon cloak, chariot pulled by cats
Animals	Cat, boar, falcon
Planet	Venus, Moon
Primary Aspects	Love, beauty, magic, fertility, war, death & afterlife

Freya is the shining heart of the Norse pantheon - a goddess of dazzling beauty, boundless sensuality, and deep magical power. She belongs to the Vanir, the tribe of gods most closely tied to fertility, prosperity, and the natural world, yet she moves easily between realms, practicing the high magic of seiðr - a form of shamanic sorcery that weaves fate itself.

She rides in a chariot drawn by great cats, wears the famed necklace Brísingamen that glows like the sun upon her chest, and possesses a falcon-feather cloak that allows her to fly between worlds. Her dominion is vast: she is patroness of lovers and warriors alike, receiving half of the battle-slain into her hall of Sessrúmnir, even as she blesses fields and wombs with fertility.

Cannabis fits naturally within her magical and sensual domain. While not named directly in surviving Norse texts, it would have been known to the Norse people through trade routes connecting them to cultures where the plant was sacred and medicinal. In the practice of seiðr - which often involved altered states, chanting, and visionary travel - cannabis could have been a plant ally, helping to open the mind’s gates and deepen the trance.

Freya’s cats, symbols of both sensuality and mystery, also echo cannabis’s own dual nature - soothing and tender, yet capable of unleashing deep, transformative experiences. As a goddess of love and erotic pleasure, Freya would recognize cannabis as a plant that softens the heart, heightens sensation, and invites deeper intimacy. As a sorceress, she would value its power to shift consciousness and open pathways to the unseen.

To make an offering of cannabis to Freya is to invite her gifts of passion, beauty, and vision. The smoke that rises is like the mist of the Norse otherworlds - carrying prayers and desires to the goddess who weaves fate with a golden thread.

Äkräs — Finnish Goddess of Hemp, Flax & Fertility

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Akras

Aspect	Correspondences
Culture/Origin	Finnish & Karelian Mythology
Domains	Fertility, Agriculture, Hemp & Flax Cultivation, Abundance
Symbols	Hemp stalks, Flax flowers, Seed pods, Green sprigs
Colors	Green, Gold, Soft Blue, Brown
Botanicals	Hemp, Flax, Cabbage, Peas, Beans
Sacred Animals	Hare (fertility), Bee, Stork
Sacred Season	Early Summer planting season
Offerings	Bundles of hemp and flax, milk, honey, fresh vegetables

In the old lands of Finland and Karelia, where the summer sun lingers long over lakes and forests, Äkräs is remembered as the bringer of green abundance. She is the quiet, steady goddess of the farmer’s field, the spinner’s wheel, and the weaver’s loom - patron of peas, beans, cabbages, flax, and above all, hemp.

To the people of the north, hemp was not merely a crop - it was thread for clothing, rope for nets, oil for the lamp, and seed for the table. And in the old ways, all such blessings were the gift of Äkräs. Before sowing hemp seed, offerings were made at the field’s edge - milk poured into the earth, honey left on a flat stone, whispered prayers for strong stalks and heavy seed-heads.

In her aspect as a hemp goddess, Äkräs embodies the cycle of tending, reaping, spinning, and weaving - a cycle mirrored in the weaving of life itself. While there is no direct record of psychoactive use in her rites, the sacredness of hemp in her mythology opens the possibility that its resin, smoke, or seed oil may have been offered in thanksgiving, especially in shamanic or seasonal festivals.

To work with Äkräs is to enter the deep rhythm of the earth - to plant with intention, to tend with patience, and to harvest with gratitude. She is the hum of bees in flax flowers, the rustle of hemp leaves in a summer breeze, and the promise of abundance in every green shoot.

Santa Maria — The Green Mother of the Heart

Sacred Correspondences for Santa Maria

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Syncretic Virgin Mother figure, Latin America & global folk Catholicism
Sacred Colors	White, gold, emerald green
Botanicals	Cannabis, roses, basil, cacao
Season	Spring & early summer
Symbols	Heart aflame, mantle of stars, blooming roses
Animals	Dove, hummingbird
Planet	Venus
Primary Aspects	Compassion, healing, unconditional love, inner sanctuary

In the secret groves of Latin folk tradition and the heart-led ceremonies of plant medicine churches, there is a name whispered with reverence: Santa María. She is the Virgin Mother, the Divine Woman clothed in stars, the immaculate heart whose love enfolds all beings. And to many who walk the green path, she is the living spirit of cannabis itself - the herb as mother, teacher, and healer.

In these sacred circles, cannabis is not merely an herb; it is her - the very embodiment of the Great Mother’s tenderness and wisdom. As the fragrant smoke curls skyward, the heart unfurls. Songs are sung - icaro and hymn alike - calling her presence into the space, weaving a net of compassion so palpable that even the most guarded soul softens.

In ceremony, devotees speak of feeling her dwelling in the chest - a gentle yet unshakable presence in the heart chakra, radiating peace and acceptance. Her medicine is one of remembrance: that we are loved, that we are never alone, that the Earth herself holds us as her children.

The reverence for Santa María as cannabis is so deep in certain traditions that the very buds of the plant are called by her name. In this way, plant and goddess are inseparable - each a reflection of the other’s grace.

For me, she is more than a symbol; she is a living ally. The statue of Mother Mary I carried home from Mexico, crowned with a sativa leaf and draped in color, has stood at the center of my ceremonies for years. She has witnessed countless prayers, tears, and songs of gratitude. She has traveled with me to sacred gatherings, her gaze ever-soft, her presence constant as the scent of the herb that bears her name.

To commune with Santa María through cannabis is to enter the temple of the heart - a temple where all are welcome, where all wounds are seen, where all love is possible.

Atargatis — The Mermaid Mother of the Fertile Waters

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Atargatis

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Assyria & Syria (3rd century BCE), Mediterranean cults
Sacred Colors	Sea green, turquoise, silver, coral pink
Botanicals	Cannabis, myrrh, lotus, seaweed
Season	Spring tide, midsummer
Symbols	Mermaid tail, lion, mural crown, sacred pool of fish
Animals	Dolphin, lion, dove, sacred fish
Planet	Moon
Primary Aspects	Fertility, protection of waters, ecstasy, transformation

Atargatis rises from the mists of the ancient Near East as the Great Mother of the Waters - a mermaid goddess whose temples shimmered with gold and echoed with the sound of waves. Worshipped across Syria, Assyria, and far into the Mediterranean world, she embodied the abundance of fertile rivers, the sensual mystery of the sea, and the inexhaustible womb of creation.

The oldest myths speak of her sacred pool at Hierapolis - a temple so dazzling it was said to be made entirely of gold. At its center, fish swam in consecrated waters, each believed to carry the blessing of the goddess. Pilgrims traveled great distances to reach this sanctuary, offering prayers, music, and incense in hopes of receiving her favor.

It is here that many scholars believe cannabis smoke once rose into the temple air, curling toward the ceiling like ocean mist. Burned as sacred incense, it opened the minds and hearts of her devotees, easing them into trance-states where Atargatis could be felt and heard more clearly. In the hypnotic mingling of drumbeat, chant, and fragrant smoke, the worshipper was said to “swim” through the invisible waters of her realm, emerging transformed.

Her imagery - a mermaid tail entwined with the body of a woman, a mural crown upon her head, sometimes riding a lion - speaks of her dominion over both water and land. She is the bridge between realms, the mistress of threshold places. Like cannabis, she softens the boundaries between the mundane and the mystical, inviting those who approach her to slip beneath the surface into deeper knowing.

Amaterasu — Radiance of the Rising Sun

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Amaterasu

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Shinto religion, Japan (ancient oral tradition, first written c. 8th century CE)
Sacred Colors	White, gold, crimson
Botanicals	Hemp, sakaki branches, rice, chrysanthemum
Season	Summer solstice, New Year festivals
Symbols	Rising sun, mirror, sacred rope (shimenawa)
Animals	Rooster, horse, sacred koi
Planet	Sun
Primary Aspects	Purity, illumination, order, vitality, divine authority

In the ancient Shinto faith of Japan, Amaterasu Ōmikami is the sovereign of the heavens, the radiant sun goddess whose light nourishes all life. She is the ruler of the kami - the nature deities - and the ancestress of Japan’s imperial line. Her name means “She Who Shines in the Heavens,” and in her myths she brings warmth, clarity, and order to the world.

Hemp holds a special place in Shinto tradition, valued not only as a strong and versatile fiber but as a plant of profound symbolic purity. For centuries, hemp fibers have been used to make shimenawa - the twisted ropes that mark sacred boundaries and spaces in Shinto shrines - as well as the ritual garments of priests. In Amaterasu’s honor, hemp represented sunlight made tangible: clean, unblemished, life-giving.

Though cannabis in its psychoactive form is less documented in Japanese ritual than in other parts of the world, historical sources suggest that hemp was burned in purification rites to cleanse spaces of spiritual impurity and to prepare worshippers for communion with the kami. In the symbolic language of Shinto, the rising smoke of hemp carried prayers upward to the sun goddess herself.

Amaterasu’s most famous myth tells of her retreat into a cave after a quarrel, plunging the world into darkness. The other gods lured her out with laughter, music, and the promise of beauty - hanging a mirror outside the cave so she might glimpse her own radiance. In a similar way, cannabis, when approached as a sacred ally, can draw us from the shadows of fear or stagnation back into the full light of our being.

In the modern Shinto revival of hemp cultivation - now slowly re-emerging despite decades of prohibition - there is a quiet honoring of Amaterasu’s gift. Hemp is once again being woven into ceremonial ropes, offered at shrines, and recognized as a sacred plant of renewal and connection to the divine order she upholds.

Aphrodite — She-Who-Rises-from-the-Seafoam

Sacred Correspondences for the Goddess Aphrodite

Element	Correspondence
Origin	Ancient Greece & Cyprus, worship dating back to at least the 8th century BCE
Sacred Colors	Rose pink, seafoam green, gold, ivory
Botanicals	Cannabis, myrtle, rose, apple blossom, frankincense
Season	Spring, early summer
Symbols	Seashell, dove, mirror, apple, girdle
Animals	Dove, swan, sparrow, dolphin
Planet	Venus
Primary Aspects	Love, beauty, sensuality, fertility, desire, harmony

Born from the foam of the sea, carried to shore upon a scallop shell, Aphrodite entered the Greek pantheon as the embodiment of love, beauty, and the art of sacred pleasure. To the ancients, she was far more than a symbol of romance - she was the divine force that drew all beings toward union, harmony, and creation.

Her temples, especially those of Aphrodite Urania in the Eastern Mediterranean, were places of both beauty and mystery. Historical accounts and the scholarship of Dr. David Hillman suggest that cannabis played a central role in her rites. The air of these sanctuaries was thick with incense - myrtle, frankincense, and the fragrant resin of cannabis burned day and night. Worshippers and priestesses alike inhaled the smoke to enter altered states, inducing visions, deepening sensual connection, and sanctifying erotic union as a form of divine worship.

These priestesses, sometimes called “wolves” in ancient texts, were trained in both the oracular arts and the sacred sexuality of temple service. Cannabis, along with other entheogens, was a key to opening the senses beyond the ordinary - allowing touch, sound, and vision to merge into a state of mystical rapture. In this way, lovemaking in her name was not indulgence but invocation - an offering of pleasure back to the goddess from whom all pleasure flows.

In Greek herbal tradition, cannabis was also revered as an aphrodisiac, known to “quench the flame” in the language of the temple - a poetic way of describing the fulfillment and release it brought. This aligns with Aphrodite’s role as a goddess who governs both the longing and the satisfaction, the yearning and the peace that follows.

To commune with Aphrodite through cannabis is to let the heart bloom and the body sing - to remember that beauty is not superficial, but a radiance that arises when we are fully present in love, in touch, in joy. She reminds us that pleasure is holy, that the body is a temple, and that the green smoke curling upward is as sacred as the prayers whispered in silence.

Closing Invocation: The Green Thread of the Goddess

Across the ages and across the Earth, cannabis has been more than leaf and flower - she has been a green thread, woven through temples, hearths, and hearts, binding us to the goddesses who have shaped our stories. From the sunlit fields of Seshat’s Egypt to the misted mountains of Magu’s China; from Shakti’s sacred yoni rites to the smoke-filled prophecy tents of the Enarei; from Freya’s meadows of magic to Santa Maria’s heart-centered hymns - her fragrance has risen like prayer.

She has healed wombs and opened visions, softened grief, deepened pleasure, and anchored the soul in the body. She has been the herb of lovers and prophets, midwives and warriors, queens and peasant women alike. In her green body, we remember that the Divine Feminine is not a relic of the past - she is alive, rooted, and flowering in us now.

In this time of great change, when Mother Earth herself calls for healing, cannabis offers us a way back into right relationship: with our bodies, with the divine feminine and masculine, with the land, and with the unseen realms. To partake of her as our ancestors once did is to step again into the temple, to sit at the feet of the goddess, and to listen with the whole heart.

May we honor her not only in word, but in the way we live - cultivating beauty, creativity, compassion, and heart-felt joy. May the smoke of her blessing carry our prayers to the heavens, and may her roots hold us steady as we walk our sacred path on Mother Earth.

In the temple of the Great Mother Cannabis, each leaf is a prayer, each breath a thread of golden light. She moves through us as a muse - a whispering spirit who loosens the knots of the mind and lets the river of creativity flow unbound. She paints our thoughts in colors we did not know we carried, sings us into the poem we were born to live.

When her fragrant blessing touches us, she opens our heart like the first rose of summer - vulnerable yet eternal - revealing the wellspring of divine love that has always been our source. In that opening, we feel the presence of the Mother Goddesses: Isis with her wings outstretched, Freya with her cats and her golden tears, Shakti in her radiant dance, Santa María with her mantle of stars. Through them, we are held in the embrace of the Great Mother herself - a love vast enough to cradle galaxies, and yet tender enough to soothe our smallest wounds.

In her embrace, we remember: bliss is not a stranger but our native tongue. This sacred ananda - the pure joy of being - is not a distant dream, but the birthright of every soul. Yet in this world, where so much is turned upon its head, it takes a warrior’s heart to choose happiness. To keep the flame of joy alive is an act of devotion, an offering at the altar of life.

Cannabis comes to us as a green balm for the weary spirit, a gentle warrior’s ally. She quiets the noise so we may hear our own heartbeat; she softens the hard places so the light may enter; she reminds us that even in the darkest season, the seeds of bliss lie sleeping, ready to rise. She calls us to return - again and again - to the holy ground within, where we stand whole, radiant, and free.

May her blessing be upon all who seek beauty, all who choose love, and all who dare to dance in the joy that is their truest self. And may we walk forward in her light, crowned with the green flame of remembrance, until the world itself remembers its own divine heart.

-Written by Renee Boje with Love & Devotion for the Cannabis Plant & all of her Divine Feminine Archetypes.

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