Sacred Smoke: Eleventh Grade Journey with Plant Medicine

Unexpected Invitation

In the quiet corners of adolescent exploration, sometimes the divine offers unexpected gateways to deeper understanding. When I was in 11th grade, I encountered a sacred plant that many have vilified, yet few have truly understood in its spiritual dimension. Can you sense it? That gentle invitation that sometimes comes wrapped in unconventional packages, challenging our preconceived notions about spirituality and consciousness?

The first time the sweet, earthy aroma of marijuana entered my awareness, I stood at the threshold between curiosity and trepidation. The comfortable limitations I had constructed around my spiritual practice suddenly felt like prison walls rather than protection. Perhaps you've experienced similar moments of recognizing that the divine sometimes speaks through channels our religious conditioning has taught us to fear.

Breaking Through Sacred Illusions

Our collective consciousness has masterfully constructed illusions of separation—between sacred and profane, between acceptable and taboo spiritual practices, between institutionalized religion and direct mystical experience. These artificial boundaries serve systems that benefit from our disconnection from diverse pathways to the divine, systems that weaken when we remember the words of Genesis 1:29: "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth."

This remembering isn't always comfortable. My limited experiences with marijuana in 11th grade weren't about recreation or escape—they became unexpected portals into states of consciousness where the veil between worlds thinned considerably. While I didn't partake often, each encounter became a teacher, revealing aspects of spiritual awareness that transcended ordinary perception.

Divine Technology Within

Together, we are remembering that sacred plants have served as technologies of consciousness across countless indigenous traditions. Together, we are healing the artificial divide between nature and spirituality. Together, we are rediscovering what the psalmist intuited in Psalm 104:14: "He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man."

Through mindful communion with this plant ally—approached with reverence rather than casual consumption—I glimpsed the possibility of expanded perception that many mystics describe. Time's linear progression surrendered to the eternal now. The boundaries between myself and the natural world dissolved into a recognition of our inherent oneness. Sensory perception heightened to reveal the miraculous in the mundane.

I've witnessed this phenomenon in sacred circles worldwide: the respectful use of plant medicines creating openings for genuine spiritual insight. When approached with intentional awareness rather than escapism, marijuana occasionally offered me a glimpse of what St. Paul might have meant in 2 Corinthians 3:18 when he wrote of "being transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

Responsibility of Sacred Exploration

With any consciousness-altering practice comes profound responsibility. As my brief exploration revealed aspects of non-ordinary awareness, I also recognized the shadow potential of using any substance to numb rather than illuminate. Each sacred tool can either elevate or diminish depending on our intention, our context, and our integration of the experience.

True spirituality isn't an escape from life but a deeper immersion into its magnificent complexity. The path forward isn't about transcending our humanity through external substances but embodying it fully—embracing our capacity for expanded awareness while honoring the vessel of our physical form.

In those rare moments of marijuana-facilitated awareness during my 11th grade year, I began to understand what Ecclesiastes 3:11 points toward: "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." The plant occasionally served as a window into this eternal dimension that already existed within me.

Integration of Sacred Wisdom

Our individual journeys with consciousness are far from isolated paths; they are vital tributaries flowing into the river of collective awakening. This exploration wasn't merely about personal experience—though that remains essential—it's about recognizing how various pathways to the divine serve humanity's grand remembering.

The challenges before our collective spiritual understanding require nothing less than our complete presence and commitment to discernment. Each time we choose conscious exploration over unconscious condemnation, compassionate understanding over judgment, or presence over distraction, we recalibrate our internal systems toward greater harmony.

My limited marijuana experiences in 11th grade taught me that the divine often speaks through unexpected channels. While this path wasn't meant to become my primary spiritual practice, it offered valuable insights about the multidimensional nature of consciousness that Scripture itself hints at in 1 Corinthians 2:14: "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."

Invitation to Conscious Discernment

As we navigate the complex territory of spirituality in a world of diverse traditions and practices, I extend an invitation to conscious discernment rather than reflexive judgment. The sacred resides in unexpected places, often most powerfully in the territories our conditioning has taught us to fear or dismiss.

The journey won't always align with conventional understanding, but conventional understanding has never been the sole purpose of a soul's incarnation. We came for transformation—our own and that of our collective understanding. We came to remember, to heal, to create new paradigms of sacred relationship with all aspects of creation.

Looking back at those brief explorations in 11th grade, I recognize them not as detours from spiritual development but as unexpected teachers on the path of expanded awareness. The divine communicates through myriad channels—sometimes through scripture and sermon, sometimes through silent meditation, and occasionally through the sacred smoke of a plant that deserves our respectful understanding rather than our fear.

With profound love and reverence for your unique spiritual journey,

Mitchell Royel