Drugs in the Magick and Initiations of Count Cagliostro

CANNABIS CULTURE –  Cagliostro (1743-1795), is an interesting figure, as he bridges the gap between alchemy and secret societies of the Masonic persuasion. As P.D. Newman has recently noted in Alchemically Stoned, there are indications of psychoactive elixirs in Cagliostro’s branch of Egyptian Masonry, and these may have included various preparations for different purposes and as Liber 420 shows, 19th century accounts refer also to the use of hashish by Cagliostro for both initiation and summoning…