High & Mighty

Explicit content warning

07/04/22 • 52 min

The puritanical roots of western colonialism may have obscured this for some, but several religious traditions are tightly tied to the use of hallucinogenic substances. Some may find that their origins are reliant on them. In this week's episode, we explore the phenomenon, as well as a quick survey of those who might protest too much... and this time, Katie's had a bit to drink.

Entheogens are a trippy way into religion--or at least cosmic faith. Religious intoxicants aren't exactly common, but they're certainly not an oddity in the wide array of traditions on this planet. Sacraments can take a great variety of forms, from DMT to mescaline, to cannabis (marijuana), to mushrooms. Who are we to judge what others have believed for millennia? We look at sacraments of the Rastafarians, Indo-Arab Aryans, Wixáritari, and the Greeks. We also examine the American "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" of 1993.

All this and more....

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[00:00:01] Katie Dooley: Hey Preston.

[00:00:12] Preston Meyer: Hey, Katie. You look a little, uh, prepared.

[00:00:16] Katie Dooley: I am very prepared for today's episode. Accidentally prepared. Um, I'm so sorry. On today's episode of.

[00:00:29] Both Speakers: The Holy Watermelon Podcast.

[00:00:32] Katie Dooley: So today we're talking about drugs and religion. I had a cider on an empty stomach, so I'm a little tipsy recording this. Oops. But let's just get. I'm just getting into character. Just getting into character for the today's episode. So sorry. Um.

[00:00:56] Preston Meyer: What's terrible is that if there's going to be positive feedback about. Hey, Katie should be tipsy more often for this show. We'll have so many episodes to record before this actually airs that it'll be a little bit weird going back to it.

[00:01:11] Katie Dooley: I like it. I approve. So people, including Katie have been altering their state of mind for a very long time. And for many different reasons. Some religions are entirely based on drug use, which we'll get into. And every religion has a stance on whether or not you should be taking drugs or alcohol. So I say this episode is about drugs, but we do address alcohol consumption as well.

[00:01:34] Preston Meyer: Yeah, so kind of interesting to go through and research all of this. I've learned a little bit more than I knew before.

[00:01:40] Katie Dooley: Yeah, absolutely. Especially I mean, I knew Christianity was a gray area of religion, but Hindu has a great stance.

[00:01:47] Preston Meyer: Mhm.

[00:01:49] Katie Dooley: Which we'll get into.

[00:01:50] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Let's start taking a look at those religions that are more generally opposed.

[00:01:58] Katie Dooley: Yeah. We're going to talk about, um, just the larger world religions that we talked about last year, as opposed because there's hundreds of religions that would take us forever to go through each stance. But we're going to go through the big, uh, I think big six today.

[00:02:15] Preston Meyer: All right. So Buddhism, if you remember our Buddhism episode numbers, is a big thing. And on the Eightfold Path there is a principle of right livelihood. And there's a few businesses they should avoid to be a quote unquote, good Buddhist.

[00:02:33] Katie Dooley: Yes. So to have your right livelihood.

[00:02:36] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

[00:02:37] Katie Dooley: Now, quick, run through. Don't trade in weapons. Don't trade in human beings. Meat.

[00:02:47] Preston Meyer: Yeah. It expands into slave trading, prostitution.

[00:02:52] Katie Dooley: And human trafficking.

[00:02:53] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Just generally...

[00:02:55] Katie Dooley: Don't buy and sell other people.

[00:02:57] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

[00:02:58] Katie Dooley: It's terrible. Businesses in meat. Meat referring to the bodies of beings after they are killed. So, or breeding animals specifically for slaughter. So this is where obviously vegetarianism come...

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[00:00:01] Katie Dooley: Hey Preston.

[00:00:12] Preston Meyer: Hey, Katie. You look a little, uh, prepared.

[00:00:16] Katie Dooley: I am very prepared for today's episode. Accidentally prepared. Um, I'm so sorry. On today's episode of.

[00:00:29] Both Speakers: The Holy Watermelon Podcast.

[00:01:34] Preston Meyer: Yeah, so kind of interesting to go through and research all of this. I've learned a little bit more than I knew before.

[00:01:40] Katie Dooley: Yeah, absolutely. Especially I mean, I knew Christianity was a gray area of religion, but Hindu has a great stance.

[00:01:47] Preston Meyer: Mhm.

[00:01:49] Katie Dooley: Which we'll get into.

[00:01:50] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Let's start taking a look at those religions that are more generally opposed.

[00:02:33] Katie Dooley: Yes. So to have your right livelihood.

[00:02:36] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

[00:02:37] Katie Dooley: Now, quick, run through. Don't trade in weapons. Don't trade in human beings. Meat.

[00:02:47] Preston Meyer: Yeah. It expands into slave trading, prostitution.

[00:02:52] Katie Dooley: And human trafficking.

[00:02:53] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Just generally...

[00:02:55] Katie Dooley: Don't buy and sell other people.

[00:02:57] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

Previous Episode

Hermetic Appeal

After a brief look at the occult last fall, we're taking a closer look at the Hermetic tradition, including some of the most popular literature on hermeticism and a survey of some of the sources behind the mythical figure of Hermes Trismegistus.

We explore some of the pseudepigraphical writings like the Emerald Tablet, the Corpus Hermeticum, and the Perfect Sermon, and the wild figure of William Walker Atkinson (AKA Magus Incognito, Yogi Ramacharaka, and many other names), who had some professional connections with the Freemasons.

Hermeticism is more than alchemy and astrology, and even these aspects have allegorical utility in addition to their physical scientific claims.

All this and more....

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[00:00:16] Preston Meyer: Kermit the Frog.

[00:00:18] Katie Dooley: Hi ho! Kermit the Frog here.

[00:00:20] Preston Meyer: I was actually just reading a thing earlier today that every time somebody does an interview with the Muppets, they always forget the Muppets aren't people.

[00:00:29] Katie Dooley: You know what I'm going to tell you that like, it was far too late in my life when I realized how Muppets work. Because, like, I knew they weren't real, but I didn't know how they were not real. You know what I mean?

[00:00:43] Preston Meyer: No. You're gonna have to tell me more.

[00:00:45] Katie Dooley: Like like I was like, it's clearly a puppet, but I can see his legs and he's talking, and he's sitting in a chair with Stephen Colbert. So where is the puppet master. I was just, like, always very. I was like, I recognize they can't be, but how are they not.

[00:01:09] Preston Meyer: Okay.

[00:01:11] Katie Dooley: And then I looked up how Muppets work.

[00:01:13] Preston Meyer: Yeah, I think it's funny when they put the microphone on the Muppet instead of on the person providing the voice, and then wonder why the sound is bad.

[00:01:24] Katie Dooley: So you gotta get the Muppet a fake mic.

[00:01:27] Preston Meyer: Yeah. For sure.

[00:01:29] Katie Dooley: Uh. Suspend disbelief. Yes. And then put one on. Frank Oz. Frank Oz is dead. But whoever it is now.

[00:01:36] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

[00:01:40] Katie Dooley: Muppets, man, I fucking love a good Muppet.

[00:01:42] Preston Meyer: Mhm or when they're recording an ad and the director shouts at the puppet instead of redirecting the voice at the person controlling the puppet.

[00:01:54] Katie Dooley: Right. I also think I would have been a very good puppeteer.

[00:01:58] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Have you done a lot of puppeteering?

[00:02:01] Katie Dooley: No. But from what I have done, I think I'm quite good.

[00:02:04] Preston Meyer: Okay.

[00:02:05] Katie Dooley: I think with some practice and some lessons, I could have been a great puppeteer.

[00:02:09] Preston Meyer: Sure.

[00:02:10] Preston Meyer: Because I'm dramatic, but I don't like being the center of attention. So I could live vicariously through my puppet.

[00:02:16] Preston Meyer: I get you. I mean, that's I feel like that is very much the way Grover lived his life. Or the person underneath Grover.

[00:02:27] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Anyway, we're not talking about Muppets today.

[00:02:31] Preston Meyer: No Kermiticism. Better pronounces Hermeticism.

[00:02:35] Katie Dooley: Hermeticism, oh, man. Is Bryant going to elave the entire preamble about me and the Muppets?

[00:02:42] Preston Meyer: I'm okay with that.

[00:02:44] Katie Dooley: I kind of am, too. Yes. So we talked briefly about Hermeticism in our Occult episode, but we actually think it deserves an entire episode on today's.

[00:02:57] Holy Watermelon podcast.

[00:03:01] Preston Meyer: Yeah, there's there's a lot more to it than our very brief gloss back in. What was it, October?

[00:03:08] Katie Dooley:

Next Episode

Discernment House Dropout - an Interview with Vernon Boldick

This week we have the pleasure of interviewing another friend. Vernon Boldick shares with us the details of his journey preparing to enter the seminary and the priesthood of the Catholic church, only to find his faith shaken. He tells us his story of religious and philosophical reflection that led him from devout Catholicism to atheism. Becoming more involved in his faith in high school, by University Vernon felt called to be a priest, even though he was reluctant. When its evident the priesthood isn't for him, Vernon goes on a spiritual and intellectual journey to figure out what he truly believes.

Spoiler alert: Today he's an atheist (and a bit of a nihilist). The journey is what we're here for.

This interview continues on Patreon

You can also watch this interview on YouTube.

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[00:00:12] Preston Meyer: All right. I see the red dot. That must mean we were recording now.

[00:00:16] Katie Dooley: Yeah. We're live. Preston, how are you?

[00:00:19] Preston Meyer: I'm doing great. How are you, Katie?

[00:00:21] Katie Dooley: I'm awesome. Mostly because we have another guest today on the.

[00:00:26] Both Speakers: Holy Watermelon podcast.

[00:00:30] Preston Meyer: I don't think we synced up very well at all this time. Oh, well.

[00:00:33] Katie Dooley: No, it's hard when we're recording. Welcome to Vernon. Vernon is...

[00:00:38] Preston Meyer: Hi!

[00:00:39] Katie Dooley: Vernon is a good friend of mine. I didn't ask you for a bio. What do you want us to tell people about yourself before we get into the nitty gritty of your.

[00:00:48] Vernon Boldick: Oh. Thank you. Uh, yeah. My name is Vernon. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be on the Holy Watermelon Podcast. I heard a lot of good things. Listened to it. Uh, something to subscribe to. I a little bit about me. So my background is really theater and acting and performance. Um, and as we're going to talk about Catholic Church as well. And so we got a lot of, uh, you know, that's I think, a good place to play my background is that I really like to perform, and I think that's part of what attracted me to what we're going to talk about.

[00:01:21] Katie Dooley: Awesome. Do you want to talk about any current projects or want to leave? Want to leave that out?

[00:01:27] Vernon Boldick: Uh, I'm going to leave it out for now, but I appreciate the general, uh, offer to promote myself within your show.

[00:01:34] Katie Dooley: I mean...

[00:01:35] Preston Meyer: No shame

[00:01:36] Katie Dooley: Right? We promote ourselves every episode.

[00:01:39] Vernon Boldick: As you should. Uh, click like, if you like this.

[00:01:44] Katie Dooley: I mean, yeah, seriously. Click like. Uh, yeah. So we're going to get started. We wanted to have Vernon on our podcast because he's had a really interesting journey from the Catholic Church, and now he identifies as an atheist. But you got really deep into the Catholic Church. Is that the right way to word it?

[00:02:07] Vernon Boldick: You know, it's funny. People will say stuff like that. And I'm like, no, not really. But like, I guess I did compared to a lot of people like you don't think it when you're living it. It's like, this is just who I am. I'm just a guy who does rosary every day and goes to church and prays multiple times a day, and that's just who I am. And people are like, oh, that's really extreme. I'm like, no, but I guess on vantage point, yeah. To me, I was just another guy.

[00:02:34] Preston Meyer: An awful lot of people only go to church on Christmas and Easter. So relatively speaking, to go as far as you did. That's extreme for a lot of people.

[00:02:44] Vernon Boldick: Yeah, it really is. And you don't think about that. You're right. Like the C and E Christians as they're called, right?

[00:02:49] Preston Meyer: Yeah.

[00:02:50] Vernon Boldick: And uh, or whateve...