How one northern Colorado individual has elevated her spirituality with cannabis: A conversation with Nichole Clancy
Nichole Clancy is a resident living in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is a reserved, thoughtful and unbelievably kind Virgo. She grew up as a Christian, but in recent years, she has broken free from the religion and opened herself up to, what she refers to as, “ambiguous spirituality.” We talked in the comfort of my living room and each shared our experiences. We discussed how cannabis can be a tool in achieving spiritual enlightenment, but agree that sober work is also necessary. Nichole shared her personal ritual she performs when she smokes and told me all the details about her preferences. She also shared a chill inducing experience she had while high. Nichole is open and honest about her cannabis consumption and wants others to harness the herb’s potential for their own growth.
Now let’s get to the interview:
Danielle: What does your spiritual cannabis consumption look like? Walk me through your ritual.
Nichole: I smoke probably 3 to 4 times a week. I usually smoke at night for my wind down routine. Usually I smoke flower; I don’t like to take edibles because they have a longer waiting period.
So step 1 is lighting incense, that has such a big impact on me. My favorite scent is dragons blood. That just absolutely sets the mood.
Step 2 is getting the right lighting in my room, because that is the second biggest thing for me. Usually there are specific colors I gravitate to, but it’s leaning into what my spirit is called to in that moment. I’ve been using colors to connect with myself lately so whatever colors my heart feels like it needs at that moment, that’s the vibe I’ll lean into. And lately it’s been reds and purples.
Sometimes I will do some breathing exercises, because with smoking flower, my lungs are not the happiest they can be. So deep breathing exercises are nice. They make me feel more connected with myself and to get that lung capacity back up and functioning.
I also love doing stretches as part of my ritual. I love increasing my flexibility, and it’s easier to do when I’m high. And combining that with breathing exercises feels like a meditation. It’s really special.
Music is really important to me too. A lot of the time it’s groovy music such as “Palms” by Gus Dapperton.
I definitely love my space being clean, that is a huge one for me. Really leaning into the virgo there. It’s funny cause sometimes my brain feels torn because I want my space to be clean by the time I smoke and sometimes I enjoy cleaning while I am high.
Danielle: Do you consider that meditative, cleaning while high?
Nichole: Yes. 100%. I totally get into the zone. And I don't mind tidying to begin with, but it definitely is more zen when I am high.
Danielle: I love how you create this atmosphere and set up a whole mood for your high, were you always smoking like this or is it a new thing?
Nichole: It’s a little more new. Having my room clean and lighting have always been important, but being intentional with lighting the incense and connecting with myself and having that quiet time with me, that hasn’t always been there. That started in January, just really needing to connect to myself and take that time for myself.
Danielle: How do you see your perspective around weed has shifted?
Nichole: It has changed a lot over the years, I used to view it as something that I could get addicted to and didn’t want to get addicted to so I was very conscious about only smoking when I went to parties, every other weekend, or once every 2 weeks. That was in high school and over the years is has become more “okay, this is kinda vibey, I don’t mind this.”
It was also something I would do out of boredom during COVID. It would spice things up, since our days at home didn’t have a lot of variation, weed was a source of variation for me. Then in January, I had a realization that I could use it to connect with myself more.
Danielle: Have you felt more spiritual outside of when you are high? Due to setting intentions and creating an atmosphere?
Nichole: I think whether I am high or not high, if I am spending time with myself and I am being intentional with my spirituality, then 100% I do feel more developed. There are times I want to sit with myself and have a spiritual moment when I’m not high. Two days ago I went outside to meditate and do some breath work and decided that I wanted to experience it not high and I ended up walking away from it feeling high, I felt like “spiritually high.” It was really cool.
Danielle: Do you think you wouldn’t have had that experience if you hadn’t used weed as a tool to increase spirituality and have those experiences high first?
Nichole: I think I still would experience spiritual development even if I didn’t smoke weed. It would just be a completely different perspective. I have seen a lot of people on Tik Tok talk about how they avoid weed when they are developing their spirituality because for them, spiritual practices can get muddled. But I think I would still be spiritual and moving forward in that, but just differently.
Danielle: How can others change their perspective of weed, seeing it as a spiritual tool instead of just recreational?
Nichole: I think it’s important to try sitting with yourself and having the intentions, the most important thing. In order for someone to change their perspective, maybe it is important to experience it.
Danielle: What advice would you give someone who is looking to have a more spiritual high?
Nichole: I would say, connect to your intuition and feels what feels good and maybe journal about it, think about it, sit with what could feel good before you smoke. And the, smoke and see how you feel when those things play out.
Danielle: Do you have any examples where anything has anything really stood out as spiritually enhancing while you are high?
Nichole: Literally the other day, I smoked and I was making an altar for my cat. She passed when I was 17 or 18 and she is the closest thing I have ever experienced to a soulmate. I’ve always had a picture of her in my room with a couple crystals in front of it. I wanted to dedicate a more apparent space for her, so I cleared out a shelf in my room and posted some pictures on the wall of her. After I was done putting up the altar, one of my pendulums that I have hanging was swinging and it totally felt like it was her coming through and it totally scared the shit out of me. I took a video. It was scary.
That kind of communication scares me because I don’t have a clear boundary between communicating with a loved one or a spirit from my higher self team and just some random random entity. So, right not I’m scared to work with pendulums, but it felt really cool. I felt really connected to her. It felt like she was saying hello.
Danielle: Do you see your cannabis ritual as a religious act for you, or how would you label your spiritual cannabis use?
Nichole: I don’t identify with a religion. I used to be Christian for most of my life. When I moved here at 19, that’s when I started to walk away from it. I started waking more towards ambiguous spirituality. I wouldn’t call it a religion for me, but more a practicing part of my spirituality. I think my spirituality is bigger than weed. But, my experiences on weed are an integral part of my spirituality.
Danielle: Do you think there are negative effects of cannabis and if so how do you combat them personally ?
Nichole: Yes, 100% there are in my experience. One of them is the breathlessness, that’s why I do breathing exercises. And memory loss is a big one. I struggle with remembering little details sometimes. But I combat that with affirmations and telling myself it’s something I can work against. I do little mind games on my phone to help exercise the muscles in my brain.
Another thing I experience is “morning weed hangovers.” If I go to sleep high, I feel way more groggy in the morning. I’ve talked to other people about that and it sounds like there are varying degrees of it and I seem to lean towards the more affected side. So, if I smoke at night, then I will wait until after the peak, until I am about 45% high still to go to sleep and that helps with waking up in the morning.
Danielle: Were you aware of the different religious groups that use cannabis to enhance spirituality, such as Rastafarians, Native Americans and Hindus? And did that influence your cannabis experience at all?
Nichole: No, I actually had no idea. That’s so cool though.
I’ve heard of individuals developing their spirituality through weed, but not religions being open to it as a whole. From my perspective, I think it’s maybe just a sheltered perspective, and maybe on par with Christianity, but Christians think that they are the only religion in the world. And they view altering substances as bad. So, weed is looked down upon and a lot of people use it, but it’s taboo and they don’t talk about it. They hide it. I thought that was the perspective of every religion and no one was open to it and it was criminalized in every way.
I thought it was more of a cultural thing among Rastafarians, for example, than their religious thing.
Danielle: So, in conclusion, do you believe cannabis has been a useful tool in enhancing your spirituality all around?
Nichole: Yes, 100%. It has helped greatly, like I said earlier, I think my spiritual journey would have been different without weed, but I don’t know what that would have been like.
This piece was edited for space. For a research study about spiritual cannabis use, check out this article here. Find Nichole on Instagram.
