New Age, Activist Nuns Are Growing Cannabis

They really want the media to move on about the whole nun thing. Their mission is more important: reshaping the tarnished reputation of a plant that provides numerous health benefits. “The Cannabis plant,” writes Sister Kate in a forum post on their website, “has, against science and truth, been maligned and lied about for seventy-five years and the lights have now gone on, and it is time for everyone to know, for everyone to see. So we try to bury our indignation, when our earnings are over-stated or our mission is made to look greedy and capitalistic, because their spin is getting the conversation going.”

Selling CBD oils, balms, sage sticks, and other smudges, Sister Kate and Sister Darcy now do steady, sustainable business in the central California community of Merced after beginning their operation in 2015. In their first year, they grossed $60,000. Now in their second year, they take in as much as $40,000 per month.

Some ignorantly believe that the Sisters have adopted their lifestyle in order to gain status as a religious non-profit. “We are NOT a non-profit,” writes Sister Kate,” that would put us in the same category as the NFL … We are NOT a religion, because that would put us squarely in the same category of those who have been justifying ravaging mother earth and her children without missing a moment of a nights’ sleep … We are a one hundred percent woman owned LLC and we pay all taxes just like any other legitimate business…” But anyone would have to admit, it’s an ingenious idea.

The Sisters of the Valley do not affiliate themselves with the Catholic church, and they are quick to point out that the concept of a sisterly order hardly originated within the Catholic church. They wear blue denim skirts, which best “represent[s] the ‘cannabis is agriculture’ movement. We wear white blouses and white head coverings in order to set ourselves far apart from the Catholic sisters who have never, to our knowledge, worn such a combination,” writes Sister Kate in a blog post.

The two nuns (who have recently added a third to their order, and report more to come) do not follow the doctrine of any specific religion. “We believe in and promote religions of one. What Sister Darcy and I do in our prayers is not ‘religion.’ What we do is practice our trade, our gift, our calling, and we practice it in silence, prayer, and meditation.”

While they have sought to distance themselves from organized religion, they remain devoted to their own cause: “We live together, we work together, we take vows,” writes Sister Kate. “Chastity, obedience (to the sisterhood and the medicine-making and planting moon cycles), servitude, simplicity, ecology and activism. We are a new age order of activist Sisters, with a private organization that is 100% women founded and women-run, unaffiliated with contemporary (traditional) religions

User testimonials have praised their products as effective relief against arthritis, muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, chemotherapy, joint pain, and allergic reactions, among other things. One client writes: “I burned the inside roof of my mouth with too hot pizza and immediately got a blister. I started rubbing the salve on my mouth, a little bit every few minutes for an hour, and not only did it relieve the pain, but I felt the blister gently deflate. When I woke the next morning, there was no evidence of ever having a burn.” Another user reports success rubbing it on a dry patch of scalp where her hair had been falling out. The skin healed and she no longer faces bald patches.

None, perhaps, have plumbed the depths of the benefits of Sisters of the Valley CBD oil. Now that their product and operation will be completely legal, there’s no reason not to order—they ship internationally.