Opiate Addiction
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@Luce said
"Jim, this is what I had emailed you about but I know you weren't willing to communicate via PM. Do you have any tips for me with regard to where opiate addiction falls on the Tree of Life, what planet or tarot card it might be associated with, etc.?"
Not really. I've known a lot of magicians addicted to heroin and they tried all sorts of things except actually getting clean.
I recommend you pursue this through a good medical treatment program.
Of course, there are all sorts of generic things you can do that might help because they are compatible with conventional treatment. Systematic relaxation, rhythmic breathing exercises, and still meditation, for example. Avoid things that are too vivid, to inciting of intense and colorful imagery, so I wouldn't even recommend Tarot card meditations. Whatever you do should be as disciplined as possible, e.g., meditation only for a fixed, predetermined period. But, generally, rely on people who have dedicated their lives to helping people with this kind of problem.
Drink lots and lots of fluids, especially once the projectile diarrhea starts.
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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.