The Hashish Trail - Chapter Six - Ouija Board Revelations

We sailed through customs in Montreal, checked into a hotel and got unstrapped from our treasured burdens. With great relief we dealt with the stress and jetlag in dreamless slumber.
Well rested we decided to look up some contacts and go to a familiar nightclub to unwind. It was there that we met Norman and Don, with whom we became great friends over the next two months in Montreal. Don and Vosharnia became an item, but Norman seemed to love us all and was happy to spend time with any of us. Well, after a few dinners together it was decided that we should all stay at Norman’s place as he had a huge penthouse apartment and would love the company. So complete with our now somewhat broken blocks of hashish, we moved into Norman’s place. He was completely sympathetic to our cause (to sell the hash) and we did manage to sell a lot of it. Most people, however, seemed to want an intact pound and weren’t too interested in the altered product!
Norman lived well – not only did he have a 3 bedroom penthouse in Sherbrooke, but he also had a maid who came in daily and did all the housework. We could not believe our good fortune! We kept a supply of kief in the kitchen and would leave our pipes and other paraphanalia used during the evening on the kitchen table or in the living room, and by the time we got up each day she had neatly stacked everything we needed on the kitchen table in preparation for our indulgences of that day! We spent our days as we chose, but were beautiful and ready to go out when Norman and Don came home from work and suggested we go out for dinner. We listened to Abbey Road by the Beatles so much during those two months that we knew it by heart! It somehow went along with our quest for true love. Even now some 40 years later the first notes of “Here Comes the Sun” will take me right back to Norman’s living room and to the adventurous space we were in. Most of our lives were still ahead of us, and we were confident that we would discover the entire meaning of life on our journey! I must say that although the entire meaning of life remains a mystery, our consciousness certainly expanded beyond self-centredness to a desire to learn how to serve humankind in some way.
While at Norman’s house, and during the day while he was at work, we began to play with the Ouija board. I’m not sure where it came from, and at first I was spooked by it because I had always been taught that it was of the black arts and a tool of the devil. But I had already done so many things that were classified “wrong and sinful” that I didn’t think one more thing would make much difference. I always believed that God loved me and would work things out for my good, even if I did things that were considered wrong. In any case, we were hoping to receive some sort of mystical direction as to exactly where we should go next. Over the next two months letter by letter it spelled out our new names (the names used in this story) complete with background information, such as things like where and who we were in former lifetimes, which directional pull each of us responded to, what our individual colors and metals were, and much more fascinating information. It was pure fiction, and although we agreed it was only our own energy propelling that pointer, we wanted to believe its message and we did. One day we asked who we were talking to and it began to repeat over and over again, “mama, mama, mama.” When we asked for direction it said, “Go home, go to India.” We wanted clarification so it pointed out, “Go to India, Go find God.” While none of us had any prior experience with the likes of Ouija Boards and recognized that it is merely a game, I fully believed that God could use any means to direct us. And so India became our goal.
One day Norman decided that he should invite his family over. They had been asking him to introduce his new roommates to them and were very curious about what we were doing there and why Norman was such a changed man. You see, when we arrived at his house he was a very ordinary looking Jewish guy, somewhat overweight with low self esteem (but much bravado), who didn’t have much fashion sense. Vosharnia was our fashion consultant, and it was she who took Norman to the stores where he would get the clothes to go with the new man he had become. (Incidentally, Vosharnia very nearly stayed on in Montreal to accept an offer to open her own fashion shop in Sherbrooke.) And so by the time his family came over he was dressed in the latest and hippest clothes, had grown his hair and had his stylist give him a more fashionable do, had lost a lot of weight and was looking “groovy”. Norman’s family were a conservative group but open to learning more about hippies and just being hip! We had dinner and then some wine; of course we offered them some hashish and were somewhat surprised when they agreed to try some! The results were entertaining and unforeseen. One couple could not stop laughing for the better part of the evening. They all wanted to know all about our plans, where we had been and where we were going, our Ouija experiences and our philosophies on life, love and the pursuit of truth. Well, we visited until none of us could stay awake any longer, promised to spend more time together, and sent them merrily on their way with chunks of hashish stashed in the ladies’ handbags. The evening was a complete success and was no doubt recounted in Montreal’s Jewish social circles for months to come!
Another significant thing that happened while we were in Montreal was that we went to McGill University to hear a lecture by Richard Alpert who had travelled and studied extensively in India. Dr. Richard Alpert (born April 6, 1931), also known as Baba Ram Dass, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who wrote the 1971 bestseller Be Here Now, which teaches the harmony of all people and religions. He is well known for his association with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, both having been dismissed from their professorships for experiments on the effects of psychedelic drugs on human subjects . The lecture was about his LSD experiments which led to his spiritual quest in India. His studies under his Guru in India had led him to the realization that since now is all that we have we should strive to stay in the moment. He also made reference to Christ’s statement that we should not worry about tomorrow but should trust in God to feed and clothe us. As he sat cross-legged on that huge stage, dressed simply in the white cotton pants and shirt that is common in India, we were granted a glimpse of Eastern mysticism in his eloquent monologue. His was a spiritual quest I was not familiar with; it was un-churched, yet deeply religious, and profoundly disciplined. The idea of the pursuit of God through long hours of meditation and service to others drew me. I pictured myself as a mystic, in some Himalayan retreat chanting Om, and through meditation and spiritual service to humankind finally becoming enlightened. I longed for authenticity in others and to be authentic myself. Of course I later found myself to be less of a mystic and more of a dreamer, and unwilling to lose myself in the pursuit of Godliness!
And so we tried very hard to unload that hashish and get back to Gidonia in Spain. The retreat in the Himalayas would have to wait.
Meanwhile, Ladonia flew back to Vancouver and was able to sell the rest of it through one of her contacts there. While there she called to say she would meet us in the Bahamas as a few of our mutual friends were going there on vacation and wanted us to join them. By this time it was February of 1970 and very cold in Montreal – it sounded like a divine plan, and so we made our travel arrangements, and after fond farewells and promises to meet again, we flew out of a Canadian blizzard into the balmy softness of the Bahamas and landed in Freeport. I have never before or since seen such a beautiful ocean as the Caribbean, with its turquoise waves washing up on sparkling white sand. I remember going out on a boat with a clear plastic bottom through which I could see hundreds of feet to the bottom of the ocean because the water was so clear, and could watch the array of vividly colored fish and other ocean life unobstructed by pollution. I wonder if it’s still that clean today. Days were spent at the beach, evenings in the casino, and I thought that I would travel forever, follow the sun and never return to the cold!
While we were in Freeport Vosharnia met a young man named Hebert who was from Lebanon. They were very attracted to one another and he invited us all to stay with his family in Lebanon if we travelled that far East, which we eventually did. Ladonia also found an interesting young man in Freeport. His name was Willie (who later became Ronae). He was a scuba diving instructor, but earned money in many creative ways. He even sewed his own clothes and was a fabulous cook. Many years later we would meet up with him again in White Rock, B.C. In fact, Ronae is one of the few people we met on our trip that we ever saw again. I had a wisdom tooth that began acting up while we were in Freeport, and Ronae directed me to a dentist he knew. This dentist gave me a shot of Demerol and between moments of fondling my breasts removed that tooth for me. I was so high on the drug that I was amused by his sexual advances rather than angry. I had never had Demerol before and for the next 12 hours Ladonia and Ronae babysat me while I basked in the euphoria of my trip. But the next day when I went back for more, predictably the Dentist refused my request and I was forced to resort to ordinary pain killers. Many years later (in 1975) when my daughter was born, they offered me Demerol and I jumped at the chance – it was an easy delivery, and I was sure that the euphoria of the drug contributed to that!
After three weeks in the Bahamas and remembering that Gidonia was still waiting for us in Spain, we finally pulled ourselves away from that tropical paradise and headed East once more. I always thought I would return to those lovely waters, but so far have had no opportunity to do so. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime places I guess.