In Search of Magu, Daoist Hemp Goddess – Hashish & Tech Right now

Q&A

Hashish & Tech Right now: You’ve talked about creating various narratives round hashish tradition as a substitute of repeating the identical drained scripts round extra, burnout, and escapism. What tales do you continue to really feel are lacking from the mainstream dialog round weed, therapeutic, and neighborhood?

Christina Wong: I feel we want extra numerous narratives and tales as a result of what we’ve seen mentioned about hashish in popular culture is the stoner trope. After I lookup and see who’s speaking about hashish in mainstream media, it’s a number of the identical male white-dominated faces speaking about the identical issues.

I don’t wish to see that being a stoner means you’re lazy or dumb as a result of that’s not how I really feel once I’m smoking. I really feel wildly impressed and inventive. I wish to see the attitude of mothers. There’s a lot stigma round mothers and hashish use. I wish to see completely different voices and views and the other ways hashish advantages individuals.

Hashish has at all times been a part of medication and tradition, however these tales had been erased. So now we have to inform them once more. That’s what we’re doing with Mogu Magu. We’re uniquely within the story of Magu, the Taoist hemp goddess of longevity, as a result of hashish began in historic Asia. Following these tales and tracing how hashish traveled by means of the world is fascinating to me as a result of I’m bored with solely seeing this one U.S. Battle on Medicine perspective of hashish.

C&T Right now: Your use of Magu as a framing gadget feels extremely intentional. Why her particularly? What does she help you discover {that a} extra typical hashish present by no means may?

CW: Chef Wendy and I are focusing this yr on a food-and-travel docuseries known as In Search of Magu. We filmed a summer season street journey from Los Angeles as much as Humboldt. It’s actually a love letter to weed nation. In every episode we cease at a distinct farm and present how that farm grows from their very own distinctive perspective. Then we prepare dinner a meal that’s very farm-to-table, however make it Asian and fabulous.

We did a number of analysis into different hashish journey reveals and located that when it comes solely from a hashish perspective, it might turn into inaccessible. Should you don’t already care about weed, it’s arduous to attach with. So we actually needed this to really feel like a food-and-travel present first. Extra Anthony Bourdain, however make it Mogu Magu. We needed to point out individuals serious about meals, journey, wine, and tradition that hashish can exist in that very same stunning method.

And Magu grew to become the right information for that. She’s this unbiased feminine deity who lives within the mountains foraging for hemp flowers and fungus to brew the elixir of life, which she makes use of to heal individuals. The tales about her generosity and care actually resonated with me. She wasn’t therapeutic individuals as a result of she was making an attempt to save lots of the world or due to a person. She did it from kindness and take care of her neighborhood. That’s how she grew to become elevated to deity standing. That actually conjures up me for the way I wish to transfer by means of the world.

C&T Right now: There’s a type of worldbuilding taking place by means of Mogu Magu that feels creative, non secular, entrepreneurial, and communal suddenly.

CW: 100%. Typically our occasions really feel like we’ve created a portal right into a celestial kitchen the place we get to play and experiment. And what’s actually vital to us is that we don’t use a standard sponsorship mannequin. We’re not making an attempt to get as many sponsors as potential. We would like the appropriate manufacturers and companions who genuinely match our narrative and values.

So whenever you see a model at one in every of our occasions, it means one thing. Moon Made Farms is a good instance. Tina from Moon Made is Magu to me. She’s turn into such a fixture at our occasions and other people join together with her so deeply. That kind of loyalty and emotional connection, you possibly can’t replicate that.

Wendy and I each got here from company backgrounds. She labored in media analytics and I labored in PR, so we perceive advertising rather well. However we’re making an attempt to create one thing past efficiency metrics and ROI monitoring. How do you measure loyalty? How do you measure modified hearts?

Learn extra: Why Each State Wants a Hashish Ombudsman – Hashish & Tech Right now

C&T Right now: Somebody lately described your gatherings as “experiential medication.” That feels deeply linked to the second we’re in culturally.

CW: I cherished listening to that as a result of it truly is what we’re making an attempt to do. What I’ve observed is that hashish is commonly a really solitary expertise. Folks eat alone. Develop alone. Conceal it. Even a number of consumption lounges nonetheless really feel transactional. However consuming hashish with different individuals may be extremely joyful and therapeutic. There’s one thing magical that occurs. I feel persons are craving extra human connection proper now. They need areas that really feel intentional and alive. That’s what we’re making an attempt to create.

C&T Right now: You’ve additionally spoken about how ladies customers, particularly ladies of colour, are sometimes neglected in hashish tradition regardless of being such a significant a part of the viewers.

CW: Completely. Ladies are making so many buying selections in hashish, however a lot of the advertising nonetheless feels geared towards males. And I feel there’s additionally this large lacking hole round cultural house. Mogu Magu initially began with Wendy, myself, and a handful of our Asian American mates in hashish. We targeted on East Asian holidays as a result of that’s who we’re.

However over time we began increasing and collaborating extra with different communities. We’ve achieved occasions honoring Día de los Muertos, collaborations with Latinas in Hashish, and gatherings that discover the overlap between Asian and Latino tradition in Los Angeles. That’s been extremely fulfilling as a result of these intersectional areas assist us turn into extra empathetic individuals. I hope our work encourages others to discover their very own cultural tales and communities too.

C&T Right now: Whenever you think about the way forward for hashish ten years from now, what do you hope survives and what do you hope we collectively go away behind?

Christina Wong: I hope craft sungrown hashish survives. It’s turning into tougher and tougher to search out. The farmers are getting squeezed out. So many dispensaries nonetheless don’t carry the perfect sungrown hashish on the earth. That data and experience, you possibly can’t substitute it.

I additionally hope we go away behind the reefer insanity and misinformation. I hope we will lastly transfer past the demonization of this plant and the lies created throughout the Battle on Medicine. Individuals are nonetheless in jail over this plant. Folks have died due to these insurance policies. I hope we transfer towards extra schooling, extra analysis, and a more healthy relationship with hashish general.

C&T Right now: If Magu herself attended one in every of your gatherings right now, what do you assume she’d acknowledge instantly about fashionable individuals? And what would fully confuse her?

CW: I feel she’d be delighted that persons are nonetheless looking for therapeutic and nonetheless resonating together with her story. I feel she’s already there at each occasion. Perhaps she’d be stunned by all of the know-how round hashish now, the vape gadgets, dabs, all these fashionable methods of consuming. Or perhaps not. She’s a goddess. Perhaps she already is aware of. However I do love desirous about how, within the tales, Magu brews this elixir of life in her celestial kitchen and it’s too highly effective for mortals until it’s diluted. So I at all times joke that perhaps Magu made the primary hashish drink.