A Master Plant Dieta with Cannabis/Ganja
By Neil Kirwan
I still remember the first time I sat with Cannabis in ceremony many years ago, working with full spectrum RSO (Rick Simpson oil), which is a method of oil extraction developed by Rick Simpson to treat cancer.
It was most amusing, and sweet. I had all my means of creativity, from art materials and musical instruments, ready to go. Being the plant perhaps most closely linked to human creativity, and accepted to be a catalyst for some of the most cherished music and art we humans have been gifted, I was fully expecting an art extravaganza to flow through me.
It turned out very differently. In fact, I got turned inside out and upside down. Well-known entheogenic explorer Aubrey Marcus often describes his journeys with Cannabis as his most difficult, even more so than Iboga and Ayahuasca… and I can understand why. The plant is very close to human consciousness and has been for who knows how long. She knows us intimately, and that includes our shadows and what makes us tick.
She also carries a trickster energy, an energy that can spin us upside down with ease. So my first ceremony became a deep dive into shadow work, into the dishonesty I was carrying in myself. It was brutal. In the end, she made me repeat a mantra over and over again, ‘Here’s the deal: you use me to heal.’ I continued to work with Cannabis, but as my work with Ayahuasca deepened, my relationship with Cannabis fell away.
Getting to Know Cannabis, AKA “Indricana”
Years later, I found myself living on a plot with more land, which meant I took to gardening with great enthusiasm. I branched out from tomatoes and carrots and tried growing my own Cannabis for the first time. This process took me much more deeply into my relationship with the plant. As I harvested and grew more, I began to receive direct instructions and moved into doing my first dieta with Cannabis, who by now I knew as Indricana.
Whether Cannabis, Ganja, Marijuana, Santa Maria, or the jukebox of other names Cannabis goes by, I always ask a plant or tree what name they would like me to use. Mugwort, for example, prefers Artemesia, although many are happy enough with the ones we regularly use.
Cannabis who has many names was clear to me, ‘Indricana is my name, my oldest name.’ It’s what I call her now, though, of course everyone is free to call the plant as they please; asking is a good idea. You may well get a different name. Weed, meaning an uncultivated or unwanted plant, seems unfair and disrespectful to me, and is often used by those that abuse her.
This is essentially what makes working with Indricana all the more tricky: years of abuse and misuse. Not just in how we consume her but in how we grow her. Many of the plants you can purchase have been grown under lights and in pots. Think of a human living in a factory with no natural sunlight and being force-fed to grow fat and produce. What kind of human do you think they will be? What kind of energy do you think they will carry? Now consider a plant; its core needs are water, soil, and sunlight. We switch out a core need for our own selfish purposes. Plants grown in sunlight have a very different energy.
This was the second rhyme I received from Indricana, ‘Feet in the ground, face in the sun, that’s the way I like it done.’
Wellness influencers have long been espousing the importance of grounding with the earth and natural sunlight… the plants agree. And Indricana is a lot happier when she’s grown up with access to these things.
How Indricana Prefers to Be Grown and Treated
Creating a sacred relationship with the plants is a priority. Music and singing to the plants as they grew became an important part of the ritual, the plants and their guardians love it when we sing to them. Growing Cannabis has become both a science and an art. There are infinite options when it comes to chemical fertilizers to achieve maximum growth.
Her response to me on this subject was again very clear, ‘Stop treating me like a whore.’
We grow from our own greed, bigger buds, and stronger effects, which is directly linked to sales and money. The plant is grown for greed, not for its healing potential. So, instead, we made homemade fertilizer from Comfrey and Nettle to help feed her and help her flourish.
And that’s perhaps the most challenging part about working with Indricana. The kind of energy we receive from the plant can vary dramatically depending on how the plant is grown and cultivated. Like all good tricksters she will hold a mirror to us. A mirror that tells us who we are and how we do things.
Dieting Indricana
It was made very clear to me when I began my master plant diet, that I wouldn’t be smoking the plant at all. Instead, I would be ingesting oil every morning and throughout the day as required.
Scientifically speaking, when we ingest instead of smoking, the THC breaks down in our liver instead of in the bloodstream when we smoke. As an oil-soluble compound, it survives much more easily in the liver and is able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Shamanically speaking, when you ingest, you receive the full spirit of the plant rather than part of it. For me, the difference is similar to DMT vs Ayahuasca. When you ingest it, the plant becomes a master teacher plant.
Interestingly, Indricana only gave me two restrictions for my dieta. I could eat as I wished with some guidance from her; sex was on the table and encouraged. The restrictions seemed easy at first, but as the diet went on it became much more trickier. The tests and traps she laid for the purposes of teaching began to unfold.
The Intimacy of the Diet
Whilst on dieta with Indricana she will turn over all the human aspects of your life. How you live, how you love, how you lie. And she knows exactly which way she needs to spin you in order to strip away all your usual defenses.
The plant is often described as sticky, and she will no doubt make her presence felt. I remember on day two, heading out for a run, I’d not gone 500m from the house before I was pulled up with the question, ‘Is this really the best thing for your body today?’
I was hauled back to the house and lowered into a deep and nourishing yoga practice. Being on the yoga mat with Indricana is like having a yoga teacher inside your body. The tiniest micro adjustments bring each pose into alignment.
She will happily tune into all your relationships and become the closest friend you’ve ever known, never afraid to level the uncensored truth on your lap. It can be hugely confronting at times, and yet my mantra with the plants always remains, ‘they have our best interests at heart.’ Which is why they ask us to confront and work. To take on the things in our lives that are creating blockages and reoccurring problems.
Her reputation often precedes her, she has no doubt been present for many dark nights of the soul, psychosis, paranoia, and all the incredible breakdowns she dances out to those who abuse her. And yet, when we come to this plant with respect and reverence, when we treat her ceremonially and as the master healer she is. When we cultivate her with love and care, the vibration is heavenly. Pure bliss in every cell and a plant ally that we can lean on in all kinds of turbulent times
If you’d like to dive deeper with this incredible plant, then you may like to join our intimately held group container this March, where we’ll be dropping into a respectful and nourishing Master Plant Dieta with Indricana.
About the Author
Neil Kirwan has many years of experience behind and in front of the altar, apprenticing with Ayahuasca in the Shipibo-Conibo and Huni Kuin traditions. He has completed multiple Master Plant Dietas, including work with the potent, transformative Noya Rao tree. Neil is a trauma-informed, highly compassionate shamanic coach and guide, with an expertise in helping folks prepare for and integrate challenging Plant Medicine ceremonies, as well as leading Master Plant Dietas with dreamy, psychically connected Mugwort.
