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Mugwort

16:25 / 06.07.04

Do any of you have any experience using mugwort as a "dreaming herb?" There are a ton of websites that mention mugwort, but it seems that most are re-re-plagarized from the same couple of sources.

Can anyone offer comparisons of tea vs smoke vs dream-pillows? Usage tips? Enlightening links? Medical cautions? Dream-stories? Any other dream-herbs that bear mentioning?

Thanks! Sleep well!

~L

11:28 / 07.07.04

It's good for opening yourself upto an increased psychic sensitivity. I haven't used it for dreaming but I have used it for working with Isis, but I'll keep it in mind. This is a bit cheeky but you could probablly eat loads before going to sleep, and thus indigestion spurs on a stranger dreaming!

How good are you with your psychic censor or do you wake yourself up? Sometimes I have no problems with memorising to the finest details and then some mornings its as if its a totally blank slate. Dream yoga can act quite good if you have a prepared mantrum.

11:43 / 07.07.04

It's good for opening yourself upto an increased psychic sensitivity.

This has got me interested. It's the reason why I'm taking Ginko Biloba... Where can you get mugwort? Is it readily available at nutrition shops?

I'd also like to hear people's results with this herb.

14:19 / 07.07.04

On a slight tangent- what is the best doseage for Ginko to increase sensitivity? I'd like to give it a shot.

15:20 / 07.07.04

I just take a capsule a day... I used to take 2 or 3 a while back but now my budget is a bit tight so I have to slow it down.

I do think the large dose had to do with the increased sense of "magick" in my life at the time, but I've no way to prove it.

23:15 / 07.07.04

Some seeds for siberian mugwort arrived in the mail the other day. I have no memory of buying them. Probably very bored in a meeting (go wireless network!)

I was quite surprised when I did a websearch to find out what kind of plant it was. Most of what I grow is just edible.

They are currently about 10mm high. So a while before useful for anything.

Is siberian mugwort what your're talking about here? Most of the websites about it seem to claim it's a weak pot substitute.

13:28 / 08.07.04

Interesting - where did you hear that Gingko Biloba increases psychic sensitivity, Imp?

15:36 / 08.07.04

Common Mugwort: Artemisia vulgaris
Here's as good a reference as any you'll likely find:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mugwor61.html

Common Mugwort, mind you; there are probably other plants containing the word 'mugwort' in their name.

Whatever proposed usage piques your interest, this plant is very easy to grow and is also found wild in many areas of North America, England, and similar venues. In other words, it is a weed.

One good strategy for Mugwort and other herbs that will grow in your climate and location is to find some plants -- even if you must pay for a couple specimen plants -- and obtain their seed, then broadcast seed in a number of nearby areas (parks, vacant lots, whatever); or coax friends to introduce the plant into their gardens or border areas. Then, you'll always know where to get some.

Mugword is easy to identify by its leaves that are green on top, but covered by tiny white hairs below ("dense, cottony down," as the reference above has it).

Another interesting use of Mugwort is in moxabustion. Dried "moxa" (mugwort)leaves are formed into a pellet or cone, then set alight and the glowing ash is held near various moxabustion points (same points used for accupunccture and accupressure).

I've found that mugwort is easy to grow and spread using the seeding method mentioned above. Other plants that seem happy to grow in the mix, so to speak, are Urtica d. (stinging nettles) and Burdock (get a pack of seed for the edible 'Tokinagowa Long' variety from 'Johnny's," etc., and you'll always have a source for this other useful plant.

Finally, hoping its not too off-topic, if the Mugwort fails to assist your dreams, perhaps the related Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood) will prove helpful :-) It, too, is fairly easy to establish in a garden, a bed, or in some out-of-the-way spot.

18:21 / 08.07.04

I really don't want Ginko to hijack this thread (as I'm planning on trying mugwort soon.)

But Finderwolf, a while ago I read in an article about GB that it increases blood flow (and oxygen flow) to the brain. And I figured that's gotta be good for the ol' psychic powers so I started taking it.

11:14 / 09.07.04

Well, I'm back. :|

I've been drinking mugwort tea before bed, with some small increase in remembered dream activity, but nothing profound. Last night I tried smoking it for the first time (two bowls, cut with mullein to mellow the smoke a little bit - it's kinda harsh, dried - mullein also has a reputation for protection from nightmares, which are a reported side-effect of mugwort use). Again, nothing profound, but it's been said that mugwort has a learning-curve, like any psychoactive, plus the dosage wasn't particularly high.

I think I was overtired, too, which I'm sure didn't help.

I've been training myself to wake up without my alarm clock (since I always forget to set it anyway), which should be an advantage toward increasing dream recall.

While we're on the subject of dreams, I did have a new dream experience earlier in the week (two nights into drinking mugwort and using my dream-pillow): an extremely vivid phone call in which I was given some very good news. While I don't think it's generally that uncommon for people to dream about phonecalls, I never have - and the "reality" of the experience held for the entire conversation, again unusual in my warpy little dreamwork. I don't know whether I can attribute this little touch of added depth to the mugwort, though: this good news represented the intended outcome of a magickal working I had done only a couple days before, and had reinforced that morning (in fact, I was acutely aware of this in the dream - I'm taking it as a sign that things are moving forward). But, mugwort or no, it was a notable dream event for me.

Hmmm. I really oughta check Erowid on this. I'll be back.

*goes and checks Erowid*

~L

14:39 / 12.07.04

You can obtain mugwort from any known herbalists, if you get a good picking book you could pick it up out on the countryside as long as it's not near busy roads and farmer's fields that have heavy use of toxic agents. I've done ginseng tea which was a good mood enhancer. Never done ginkoa bilboa (is that how you say it?). I'll pop my hands up yep in the good ole days when I was a raging hashead quite a few of us had smoked mugwort mixed with skullcap and valerian, it certainly had an effect. Which brings us onto Chemognosis. I would rather use it for astral visionquests rather than dreaming, but then that's my personal position.

19:30 / 13.07.04

Well, I've gotten it from several sources that Mugwort is definitely an herb to get aquainted with over a period of time, rather than expecting an immediate effect. I've been smoking a blend of mugwort and mullein for about a week (I added some anise last night for flavor, and because anise is used for "psychic vision" work in hoodoo), and drinking mugwort tea on alternate days. Morning events have gotten in the way of recall (e.g. waking to the baby crying, starting awake and realizing I needed to be at work in 15 minutes, etc.), but I have had a few standouts (some possible spirit-contact relevant to another working, and a vivid sexual encounter - which in the past has usually preceded periods of semi-lucidity).

Anyone else currently trying this?

~L

19:50 / 13.07.04

Can this be taken in tablet form? I'm not too keen on smoking or drinking it. Would that affect it's effect?

02:07 / 14.07.04

Impulsivelad: there may be Mugwort capsules or something, but I've never seen them (there are a lot of obscure herbals out there, though). My suspicion, though, is that the closer one gets to the plant itself, the better it's going to work - but I'm looking at this in terms of getting to know the plant spirit. Physiologically it may boil down to whether the processing extracts or eliminates any of the necessary phytochemicals (IIRC, many kava extracts, for example, don't give the full benefits of the kavalactones because some are water-soluble and some are fat-soluble, and the commercial process uses one or the other). Drinking it isn't too bad, though - some people say it's bitter, but IMO it's less so than a cup of oversteeped tea. A little lemon or honey takes care of that.

If you're reluctant to go internal, try a dream-pillow stuffed with it.

-L

08:18 / 14.07.04

Very interesting thread, Lep. Currently trying to get back into dream recall myself with some small success. (Not like it used to be though, when it felt like I recalled everything). I would guess, hypothesising from my own experience, that the phone ringing thing in your dream represents some sort of contact with your dreaming psyche - the "other" part of you that produces the dreams, however you want to think of it. I've often had dream contacts where messages have been conveyed through phone calls and the radio. Seems obvious really - they're carriers of information in my waking life, why not in dreams? Seems to something about the auditory nature of such phenomena as well - things seems more likely to manifest like this than the whole "vivid vision" thing. Seems to me the dream is a nice metaphor for what you're trying to do.

I would also attribute significance to the nature of the message ie. success of the working. My psyche seems to take more "notice" of magical events, and produces relevant dreams, probably because of the significance and interest they hold for me.

09:47 / 14.07.04

Mugwort also responds well to being done up as a tincture; steeping a bit in alcohol. Did this to make Maywine one year; the brew was mugwort, damiana, rosehips, and some others in mead. Vodka would do, as well.

I've smoked mugwort a few years ago, back when I was first going psychonaut, and one effect I remember is that it brought down my menses early; only black cohosh and pennyroyal (please don't go there) were used for that by the women I knew, but it happened to me.

A mugwort salve, perhaps, as another ingestion alternative?

My best results with dreamwork was to wear a perfume oil to sleep, and only to sleep, and to waft a bit under my nose upon waking to re-enter the dreams... I can't remember what mugwort smells like, but I wonder...

14:50 / 14.07.04

beautifultoxin: yes, the menstruation effect is well documented, and Mugwort is strongly contraindicated for anyone who is or might be pregnant as it can be an abortifacient.

I've been thinking of making up a dream oil, too, so this is very encouraging.

~L

11:31 / 15.07.04

Okay, I'm waking up every morning now with the feeling that I've just been all kinds of busy - lingering traces of associations and in-dream motivations but #$@%&!-all for actual recall.

The biggest difference with the mugwort that I have seen so far is: in the recent past my poor dream recall wasn't framed as relevant, and I didn't even give it any thought when I woke - now I feel like I'm really missing something important and interesting. :P

Well, it's a step. It may be the one step forward after ten steps back, but it's a step.

Hoo-Ha.

~L

Unconditional Love

11:53 / 15.07.04

try waking up very slowly and without an alarm clock if you can manage it, i find alarm clocks destroy those latent dream memories, as do cats that want too be fed, another way is to try to relax into sleep again, just lay there, try to become aware of the morning consciousness clicking in, but just watch it, without becoming it, eventually your dreaming personas can become just as "real".

Unconditional Love

12:01 / 15.07.04

i am thinking you may also find this chemical intresting last i new it was not avalible in the uk, but i am sure if you hunt around online you may find it. melatonin dreams

melatonin facts

an account.

22:53 / 18.07.04

Perhaps slightly OT but me and my partner both noticed *much* more vivid dreams when we started taking Vitamin B complex.

We were initially attracted to it because, as you may be aware, after several weeks of taking it daily, the body is said to exude a natural insect repellent (no shit) and we were about to go to Vietnam for a few weeks. I remember reading reports about it encouraging dream-activity that I ran into when I was interested in lucid dreaming a few years ago - so I may have been somewhat primed. But my GF also said she was having wacky, vivid dreams. We both laid off it because we felt less well-rested.

I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in increasing dream activity/recall - although for lucid, nothing whacks the mid-morning snooze on the sofa..

Unconditional Love

10:02 / 19.07.04

hi,

how much vitamin b daily were you taking? id be intrested in trying this.

22:25 / 19.07.04

Wolfangel:

I've been digging around the place but can't find the fecking things... We basically wandered into Boots and asked if they had any of that Vitamin B stuff and told them we were interested in the insect-repelling properties. You'd probably get funny looks in Boots for saying you wanted to crank your lucidity ratio - though why the hell not?

Anyway, it was a straight-off-the-shelf B complex and we took one big fat pill a day. Once I noticed the effect, I started taking mine last thing at night to dig the oneironaut adventures. You can get some dosage recommendations at a lucidity FAQ (why do dream -related sites always have crap psychedelic page backgounds?)

I'd be very interested to hear your experiences one way or the other - feel free to message me (that goes for anyone else who tries it). Of course, YMMV...

13:23 / 20.07.04

I've used B vitamins myself in the past, to great effect. Dreams were quite often vivid and easily recalled. I will probably return to the B's after a while with the mugwort (unless the mugwort really starts to work for me), but I wanted to experiment with something different.

If anything, it seems like my dream recall now is worse than it was before I started working with mugwort - at least before, I occasionally remembered my dreams. Either the mugwort and I don't "see eye to eye," or I have some kind of blockage going on (otherwise, my sleep habits haven't significantly changed, nor has my diet, etc. Stress levels are actually somewhat less, and I wonder if that might make a difference? By sleeping "better" I'm burying my dreams?).

Time to resume pranayama before bed.

Ciao!

~L

12:06 / 21.07.04

Oh hey, this might make a difference: I changed herbal supplier yesterday, and this morning I woke up to the most dream recall I've had in a month.

What I had before was definitely Mugwort, but she was whole-plant cut'n'sifted from a big herb wholesaler, and dryyyyyyy. The new Mugwort was wildcrafted and cured by the proprietor of the shop, and is leaf-only. The difference in colour and consistency is amazing, and the scent is ten times stronger (I wouldn't think it was even the same herb, were it not for the scent/taste). I'm guessing the oils are fugitive under some drying conditions, or over time (and the local Mugwort is fresher).

I only mixed a little bit with my existing smoking mixture, but it made the difference (it burned better, too).

A word to the wise: burning Mugwort smells inconveniently like marijuana. While no one who has ever seen pot could confuse the two on sight, a little discretion might save you some trouble with your landlady/parents/police, etc.

Another observation: when I drink Mugwort tea or take the first couple hits of smoke, I get a strong sensation of... it's not quite pressure, but it's the best I can think of right now, in the center of my forehead, just above the brow-line. I have also gotten the same sensation when I think or talk about Mugwort (like now, for instance). It's not painful, but it feels a little like those odd muscle twitches you can get after sitting in one position for a long time.

~L

16:35 / 28.07.04

Well, that settles that.

The last few nights I've dropped the Mugwort and gone back to my B-complex vitamins, and my dreams have been vivid, memorable, and personally significant.

I do like some of the other effects of Mugwort (notably a strong upsurge in waking psychic effects), so I will likely keep it around, but not for dreamwork.

Anyone else gotten around to giving it a shot?

Have fun!

~L