CANNABIS SPIRITUALITY : THIRTEEN GUIDELINES FOR SANITY & SAFETY

SIGNED by STEPHEN GASKIN

SIGNED by COVER ARTIST ALEX GREY

Published by High Times Books New York 

1996  FIRST EDITION

This small book is the Very Scarce HARDCOVER (half cloth & boards) with 136 pages. There is evidence of slight waterstaining in the lower blank margins in the latter half of the book, but it is rather unobtrusive; also a few stains on the top edge slightly visible on  the upper edge of the front endpaper.

Size 7 inches by 4 1/2 inches

The dust jacket reproducing the famous poster by world famous Psychedelic Artist Alex Grey of a very stoned woman radiating glowing energy who is virtually made of marijuana leaves is in very good condition.

Overall  a nice bright copy of the scarce Hardcover issue of this contemporary classic of cannabis literature.

First Edition, Hardcover Issue.  Subtitled, “13 Guidelines for Sanity and Safety,” the Counterculture legend offers advice for everyday use of cannabis and the value inherent in this practice.  

The spiritual aspects of the plant are emphasized, but others aspects from making love to raising children are presented, drawing on his personal experiences.

Gaskin’s eloquence and long immersion in the cannabis counterculture, stemming back to San Francisco in 1960s (that portion depicted in his Amazing Dope Tales and Haight Street Flashbacks) and decades of communal life in Tennessee impart much wisdom to this book.

The author, a counterculture legend,  approaches the use of marijuana from both a spiritual and practical perspective.  Cannabis Spirituality “explains how the world’s most beneficial plant can improve your family communications, your love life, and your relationship with God.”  If marijuana was legal, this book would probably have been selected for Oprah’s Book Club.

MORE  ABOUT  == Stephen Gaskin (born February 16, 1935 to July 1 , 2014 ) is a counterculture hippie icon best known for his presence in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the 1960s and for co-founding "The Farm", a famous spiritual intentional community in Summertown, Tennessee. 

He was a Green Party presidential primary candidate in 2000 on a platform which included campaign finance reform, universal health care, and decriminalization of marijuana.  He is the author of over a dozen books, a father, a grandfather, a teacher, a musician (drummer), a semantic rapper, a public speaker, a political activist, a philanthropic organizer, and a self-proclaimed professional hippie.

Gaskin was born in Denver, Colorado and served in the US Marine Corps from 1952 to 1955. In the 1960s, he moved to San Francisco and taught English, creative writing, and general semantics at San Francisco State College, where he was a student of S. I. Hayakawa.  His writing class became an open discussion known as Monday Night Class, which involved up to 1500 students.

In 1970, Gaskin was part of a caravan of 60 vehicles that crossed the United States to settle 60 miles south-west of Nashville, Tennessee, forming a community called "The Farm", which the Wall Street Journal came to call "the General Motors of American Communes". 

This community was "a platform from which to launch efforts to improve the lot of poor and indigenous peoples, whales, and old growth trees".  For example, raising 1,200 earthquake-resistant homes in Guatemala as well as several public buildings and water lines to 5 villages, sending independent dosimetry teams after the Three Mile Island accident and the Chernobyl disaster, or giving the Rainbow Warrior equipment to escape from a Spanish harbor.

He went to prison in 1974 for marijuana possession, as members of the community had, against his recommendation, planted several marijuana plants on the property.  He served one year of a three-year sentence.  While in prison, a class action suit on his behalf returned voting rights to more than a quarter of a million convicts.

In Volume One: Sunday Morning Services on the Farm and earlier talks, Stephen Gaskin produced a substantial body of spiritual teaching. His ideas are now contained in books and tapes of the Sunday Morning Services which were published by the Book Publishing Company on The Farm. They speak of magic, energy and life in community as well as of service to humanity.

Gaskin was recipient of the first Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) in 1980 and an inductee into the Counterculture Hall of Fame in 2004. He was awarded the Golden Bolt Award by The Farm Motor Pool (for helping buy a lemon semi), and won the Guru-Off (without even entering), racking up 77 points to Krishnamurti’s 73.

Gaskin works as an international activist and speaker, and he continues to write. His topics range from advice on all aspects of communal life and farming to CB radio, the psychedelic counter-culture, spirituality, drug law reform, and social and spiritual issues. He was a drummer in The Farm Band, an early Jam Band which toured in the seventies and eighties. His most recent books are revised and annotated versions of Monday Night Class and The Caravan.