Entheogenic Healing in Rastafari: Decolonization through Cannabis, Consciousness, and Collective Ritual
June 16, 2025 Anna Waldstein, Caley Cannon
Rastafari is a Pan-African spiritual, socio-political, and ecological movement that uses Cannabis (the Herb) as an entheogenic agent to decolonize consciousness and promote well-being. The movement counters historical oppression from the trans-Atlantic slave trade by drawing on African "livity," a core spiritual lifestyle challenging global Black oppression. Smoking the Herb is a practice of knowing, healing, and decolonizing, enhanced by "reasoning" (a discursive process identifying root causes of injustice) and Nyahbinghi drumming, chanting, and dancing. These rituals foster InI-consciousness, an entheogenic connection between individuals and the divine. Rastafari language shifts consciousness toward positivity, forming a decolonial mindset that combines Herb effects with music to enter altered states producing healing and transmitting knowledge.