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Charlie
03-14-2003, 01:07 AM
Has anyone else had experience with this--commonly known as Mexican Dream Herb? I found it to be pretty amazing. Below is the report I just sent to Erowid--don't know yet if they'll post it online or not.
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How bad can boiled leaves possibly taste? So bad you’d want to chuck everything you’d just bought into the trash…

I made a spliff out of dried leaves and flowers first. I would register this as “no effect”, although I felt slightly light-headed afterward. I attributed this to the fact that I am a non-smoker, and inhaling anything rather than pure air would do the same.

That night I made tea, measuring about 3 large tablespoons to a liter of water, for my wife and I. I put a ton of honey in it, but it was still God-awful--unbearably bitter and nasty tasting. I normally dream quite a bit, and so does my wife; that night was normal, a few dreams, nothing especially intense. We were disappointed; I thought perhaps what I received was old product, or I hadn’t made the tea strong enough.

Two nights later I crushed and chopped a large handful of leaves and flowers as finely as I could, and stuffed it into capsules. I ate two before going to bed; my wife declined. During my very first dream (that I remember, anyway), I suddenly realized I was dreaming. I thought “lucid dream!” and tried some tricks to stay there, like looking at my hands and feet; I was too excited though, and woke up. However, my wife looked strange in bed next to me, and both our children were in the bed as well, crying. I didn’t know I was still dreaming. Finally, I really woke up.

I got out of bed and expected to feel strange, like I was high or hallucinating still from the plant. However, I felt completely normal. I find it amazing that this plant could only be psychoactive when dreaming, but that was the effect with me. When I went back to sleep, I continued to have intense dreams, but none were lucid. The next morning I awoke feeling normal, no residual physical or mental effects.

I will certainly try the capsules again, but am not sure if it’s necessary to wait a length of time, or if repeated use has reduced effects, or can be harmful to my mental or physical health in some way. Instinctively, I tend to doubt it. All in all it was pretty amazing, since I have had lucid dreams only once or twice in my life.

sire_012
03-14-2003, 07:15 AM
i just came across Calea on the internet the other day, what a surprise to see someone writing about it here! thanks for the report, will you please post more reports as you experiment???

i once got in the semi habit of using sugar to induce dreams... there's a theory that says lack of sugar in the brain causes dreaming. so before i'd go to bed i'd put like 8 tablespoons of sugar in a glass of water and pound it. the idea was an initial onslaught would cause the feeling that sugar was lacking when the chemical dropped out of the brain. this was an extremely effective technique, however, i wasn't too excited about hammering my body with that kind of abuse on a regular basis so i stopped. if the Calea pans out i'm all over that!!

thanks for the info!