3 Plant Medicines To Help You With Lucid Dreaming

By Bill on October 6, 2011 http://www.shamanswell.org/shaman/3-plant-medicines-help-you-lucid-dreaming

For those new to lucid dreaming, here's a quick description from AuraThirdEyePsychic.com:
http://aurathirdeyepsychic.com/exploring-the-world-of-lucid-dreaming

Lucid dream, also called conscious dream, is a state of mind where a person is dreaming but is also aware of his/her dreams and can actually sense the progress of the dream. When a dreamer is in a state of lucidity, he can as well participate in the dream sequences as well as manipulate all the fantasies that they're experiencing. A lucid dream is often real and dramatic and is highly dependent on one's self-awareness while dreaming lucid.

Below we list out 3 plant medicines that can help with a link on where you can find some.

Guayusa
From Ayahuasca Shamanism:
http://ayahuascashamanism.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/plant-spirit-shamanism-teacher-plants-1

GUAYUSA: FOR LUCID DREAMS

This is a good plant for people who suffer from excessive acidity, digestive, or other problems of the stomach and bile. It also develops mental strength and is paradoxical in the sense that, just as chiric sanango is cooling and warming at the same time, guayusa is both energizing and relaxing.

Guayusa also has the effect of giving lucid dreams (i.e. when you are aware that you are dreaming and can direct your dreams). For this reason it is also known as the ‘night watchman’s plant’, as even when you are sleeping you have an awareness of your outer physical surroundings. The boundary between sleeping and wakefulness becomes more fluid and dreams become more colourful, richer, and more potent than before. For those interested in dreams or ‘shamanic dreaming’, this is the plant to explore.

In the Western world, bracken, jasmine, marigold, rose, mugwort, and poplar, will produce the same affect of lucid or prophetic dreams. The leaves and buds of the latter were often a key ingredient in the ‘flying ointments’ of European witches, who used it for what we would call astral projection. A mixture of these plants can be used to produce a liquid (either fresh or in alcohol) that can be taken in the same way as the examples above. It is also possible to prepare them in a way that practitioners of Haitian Vodou use for working with their native ‘dreaming plants’, by making a bila, or dreaming pillow, by taking small handfuls of mugwort and poplar and blend them together. Sprinkle the mix with neroli, orange or patchouli oils (aromatherapy oils are fine) as well if you wish and, as they do in Haiti, a little rum and water to bind the mix together. Put your intention into this as well – that these herbs will help you to dream more lucidly and gather information from the spirit world – then allow the mixture to dry for a few days. When it is ready, crumble it into a cloth pouch and place it beneath your pillow. Keep a dream journal next to your bed and, as soon as you wake up next morning, immediately note down your dreams and your first waking sensations.

Here's a web site (StashTea) that sells the Guayasa tea if you are interested in trying it out. I've never used the site, so I can't vouch for its quality, but a few reviews I've seen out there say its pretty good:

http://www.stashtea.com/Pure-Guayusa-Tea/dp/B005DM5GJA

Calea Zacatehichi
IAmShaman likes Calea zacatehichi (also known as Dream Herb):
http://www.iamshaman.com/blog/?p=102

When I’m looking for a good tool to help with dreams and dream recall, I look no further than cultures who revere dreams as a way to speak to ancestors or for divination. Several cultures come to mind; African, Mesoamerican, and American Indian. Each culture, especially the African culture, believes that dreams are the gateways to the realm where our ancestors speak to us. So naturally, these cultures are going to seek out and eventually cultivate the plants that help them achieve this goal.

And this is where a foul-tasting, but highly effective plant comes in; Calea zacatechichi or Dream Herb, as most know it. Calea has been used by one of my favorite peoples; the Chontal Indians in Oaxaca, Mexico (which also happens to be the home of my most revered Plant Teacher; Salvia divinorum) for thousands of years to both help aid in dream recall and to help induce lucid dreaming. Recent scientific research has backed up what the natives have known for many, many years; that Calea zacatachichi actually works.

IAmShaman has some Dream Herb for sale here:
http://www.iamshaman.com/eshop/10Browse.asp?Search=Dream%20Herb

Silene Capensis
World-of-lucid-dreaming suggests Silene Capensis:
http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/silene-capensis.html

Silene Capensis has been used for millennia by shamans of the river valleys of the eastern cape province of South Africa. They say this sacred dream herb induces spectacularly vivid dreams, calling it Undela Ziimhlophe or "white paths".

Also known as African Dream Root or Ubulawu, Silene is lesser known than its Mexican cousin Calea Zacatechichi - and yet it more potent.

Scientists say that the dream inducing ingredient in Silene Capensis is contained within the roots. While this dream herb has barely any effect on waking consciousness, the effects within the dream state are profound - and that includes producing lucid dreams.

While sleeping, your dreams will become exceptionally colorful, and you will remember them vividly on awakening. Shamans use Silene Capensis to access the Dreamtime and communicate with lost ancestors. If you focus on a question you want answered first, the answer will come to you in your dreams.

IAmShaman has Silene Capensis on sale here and includes instructions on how to prepare a tea from it:
http://www.iamshaman.com/eshop/10Expand.asp?ProductUID=1672&ProductCode=SWR-1OZ&A=1158