Opiate Addiction
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@Luce said
"Yikes, I really thought I'd be able to assign addiction to some aspect on the Tree or deficit thereof. I wonder why there is no such association. If the Tree is such a perfect picture of human consciousness, and addiction is such a common experience, you'd think it would fit SOMEWHERE. To be honest, I thought every experience could be placed somewhere, however small. Why is addiction the exception? Is it that if is a combination of so many things?"
Addiction should be assigned to Malkuth and Y'sod. Malkuth for the purely physiological effects of addiction and withdrawal, Y'sod for the psychological elements of dependency.
But, unless I misread, you weren't asking for where to assign it to the Tree, but for magical means to overcome it. That's where you hit a roadblock because the addiction fights exactly those parts of yourself that are most needed for magick. You can't (for example) break your leg and heal it by doing a magick dance hopping around the room on that one leg - you just damage yourself more.
Trying to use ceremonial magick to overcome heroin addiction is like trying to fix a broken leg by hopping around the room on the broken leg.
The exception to this is that anything you do that improves your overall health and overall centeredness, and draws you temporarily out of interior worlds into the nuts-and-bolts physical world will help.
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Opiates can create visions when you're on them, but they also shut down brain centers that normally let people do this, once you're off the drug. It takes a while for them to come back.
I'd have tried a non-addicting drug like classic psychedelics (LSD, 'shrooms, peyote).
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Even good change is stressful.
One antidote is carefully filling your life with new activities that inherently demand total sobriety. For example, I've been learning Argentine Tango for the last month. It's a fairly sober culture, because being even slightly impaired severely inhibits the ability to do all the things that the dance demands (you have to be socially perceptive to get to dance, you have to have high focus during the dance, etc.) even having your cell phone out severely impacts the experience. Even one drink can make a person a bit sloppy. It's that subtle.
Subtle experiences makes sobriety fun.
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@Luce said
"I was wondering if anyone had any tips on what specific practices, rituals, or techniques are useful in gaining freedom from opiate addiction. Specifically, what can help strengthen the will to stop using, what can minimize cravings, and what can reduce withdrawal symptoms and help someone regain physiological stability again? Are there any particular Libers that would be good to practice or meditate on?"
Opiates are not fun to part with, though 'crack' is worse. The best way to get rid of them is to get rid of the supply line(s). Then it's just a matter of suffering through the withdrawal phase of craving. Raja Yoga is a good diversion.
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One of the biggest problems with drugs is that they encourage the belief that the current moments spent on them are "special." From thus comes craving and addiction at the psychological level. Enjoyment informs the brain to form patterns of habit and abuse. The physical feelings and substance of the addiction then play the dual part with the psychological one, creating the dilemma. Yes, near-terminal toxicity requires chemical/mechanical aid that can not be produced by the body and nice wishes. Takamba's advice is well and true.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Opiates can create visions when you're on them, but they also shut down brain centers that normally let people do this, once you're off the drug. It takes a while for them to come back.
I'd have tried a non-addicting drug like classic psychedelics (LSD, 'shrooms, peyote)."
Not to give away cheat codes, but...
These classic psychedelics let one slide on and off opiates with ease, with moderate to high doses, if you've got the spirit and the balls, (or egg-kickers). They are that powerfully physically healing, and I can attest to needing 100+mg morphine daily, to needing none at all with a couple very strong psilocybin mushroom experiences. I mean, cancer is cured with ayahuasca in S. America, as long as the person isn't a complete piece of shit with -999999 karma, and as long as they're not in the last throes of it. So, same goes for curing addiction.
Aside from that, Kratom, and a couple other herbs will let you slide off the train. PM me if you need more info. (Bali is the cheapest, but dopiest and will do you the best.)
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@seekinghga said
"One of the biggest problems with drugs is that they encourage the belief that the current moments spent on them are "special." From thus comes craving and addiction at the psychological level. Enjoyment informs the brain to form patterns of habit and abuse. The physical feelings and substance of the addiction then play the dual part with the psychological one, creating the dilemma. Yes, near-terminal toxicity requires chemical/mechanical aid that can not be produced by the body and nice wishes. Takamba's advice is well and true."
So you think that the refreshing, sublime feeling one gets from drinking water when one has been working in the hot sun all day is a dirty trick of nature too? And I guess when the brain releases dmt during rem sleep and produces experiences too wonderful to remember is just a trick designed to trap the soul in some horrible box of repetitive $hit?
Might want to go the full length with all of the sacraments of Nuit, "wine and strange drugs" before throwing advice someone may take seriously. Bad dog.
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@ThelemicMage said
"So you think that the refreshing, sublime feeling one gets from drinking water when one has been working in the hot sun all day is a dirty trick of nature too? And I guess when the brain releases dmt during rem sleep and produces experiences too wonderful to remember is just a trick designed to trap the soul in some horrible box of repetitive $hit?
Might want to go the full length with all of the sacraments of Nuit, "wine and strange drugs" before throwing advice someone may take seriously. Bad dog."
We were talking about the dangers of addictive usage of drugs that are harmful. If that's your bag then have at it. For surely: "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt."
(Please see the title of the thread and OP if there are any questions or concerns.)
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Yep, the thread is about tips to help with opiate addiction (which drives 80% of the almost 50,000 per year drug overdoses per year in the US). Posts about whether opiates are harmful or addictive would seem--to me, at least--to be Off Topic to this thread.
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"Posts about whether opiates are harmful or addictive would seem--to me, at least--to be Off Topic to this thread."
Exactly. The OP sets the tone of the dilemma in regards to the topic of this thread quite plainly: they are and they are (harmful and addictive}.
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Then I suppose Jim was off topic when he suggested trying a non-addictive drug instead?
C'mon. You can't throw a garbage paragraph out like "experiences while on drugs are meaningless" and then blame the obvious "acceptable" counter to it off-topic.
I'm sure all the op, who probably spent years of their life trying different drugs and having many varied experiences, some probably mind-blowingly beautiful, wants to hear at this point is his entire experimentation was meaningless.
BS. Bad dogs.
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ThelemicMage, there are other threads to post the virtues of certain drugs in. Believe me, I don't deny those. Post them elsewhere, don't throw your stones at this glass castle. Surely, you of all people can understand the fatality of the uncontrolled abuse of harmful and addictive drugs? Help us sing the key to love; we want no fear, in regards to drug abuse. We don't want that. We want "love under will."
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Agreed.
Indeed, Do What Thou Wilt, Love Under Will.
I agree about the intrepidity of drug usage, so much so that after awhile, one gets used to the slings and arrows and ghastly sleepless eternities brought on by one's own curiosity of the sacred poppy circean. However, one eventually gets bored of the pain, and used to it. It is used on and off again at intervals of the magician's own will, and he can never get out of his own habits until he is tired of them.
This is the fearlessness you speak of, though maybe not what one in the throes would wish to hear. I needed to hear this years ago, as I did, and could not completely understand until I had had my fill and will of it all.
Aside from being careful, I would suggest what I suggested before, along with keeping a generous stash of Kratom available, as even ungodly abuse can be tamed with this plant teacher.
Do What Thou Wilt
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I agree that if you are seriously addicted and wish to get out of the vicious cycle then perhaps medical assistance from an M.D. who is used to treating addiction may be very beneficial. Medical knowledge regarding treatment of opioid addiction is much greater now than it was even a decade ago. I wouldn't recommend going the methadone route of substitution treatment since methadone can be even harder to get off of than heroin is. However, these days many people have found the fairly new drug Suboxone to be an effective treatment. Not just any M.D. can prescribe suboxone, only M.D.'s who are specifically licensed to use this drug are allowed to administer it. Help in finding a local doctor who is qualified to provide this therapy can be found here;
www.suboxone.com/treatment-plan/find-a-doctor
Wishing you all the best, overcoming opioid addiction can be a real challenging ordeal but not impossible. It will require real commitment on your part but it definitely can be done.....Stay Strong.
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If you want to puss out, then yeah suboxone would be an option. I mean, if you started H, your Angel was preparing and guiding you to and through many paths, but especially those around and through the abyss. (Not to mention paths of death, darkness, and water.)
I've tried buprenorphine, (active in subs,) and can honestly say it's a perceived easier cheat, but will land you in worse shape, when you try to taper or come off it without another opiate handy.
Basically, it's just another invention of big pharma to take money from enlightened souls who think they can't procure their own dope on their own, away from the streets and the pusher. (Which is easy.) (Goddãmn the pusher.)
If one looks, really searches with their heart, this wonderful plant teacher will show you anything. The ways and means to getting it, and otherwise.
Goodnight Everybody!