DOSE:

1 seed

oral

Entada rheedii

(tea)

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

African Dream Herb

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/*Preparation*/

I prepared the dose by cracking the shell of the seed with a hammer, collecting the hard, yet chalky-looking, shards of meat inside, and pulverizing them in a mortar with a pestle.

15 - 20 minutes of grinding.

Once I had a finely ground powder I poured all of it into a mug of hot cocoa.

10 - 15 minutes letting the powder infuse and hot cocoa cool down

The flavor of the hot cocoa hid most of the bitterness of the ground seed-meat however, as I drank I discovered most of the powder had collected at the bottom of the mug and every sip got more and more bitter.

20 - 30 minutes sipping infusion

By the time the bitterness was more than I could handle, I started feeling 'heavy', a sort of body high. My veins dilated, fingertips got very warm and I could lightly feel my heart beating in my chest.

5 - 10 minutes between last sip and going to bed

I laid down to go to sleep, willing away any distracting thoughts, focusing on sleep. As I lay there I could feel my heart beat more strongly.

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/*Results*/

~9 hours of sleep

Sleep came easy and quick. When I woke up I was in the same position in which I had fallen asleep, which is quite unusual for me. I felt fully rested and even though I didn't have a lucid dream, I remembered enough of my dream to consider my experiment with Entada rheedii a success.

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/*Context for Experiment*/

My purpose for experimenting with the African Dream Herb was to attempt a deeper connection to my dreams. My dreaming patterns tend to depend on the overlaying lifestyle I happen to be living at the time. I do long-distance hiking, sometimes being out for months at a time, and my dreams during these times are magnificently vivid and detailed, with very recognizable plots, scenes, actors, and constructs. By comparison, when I am at home and working, my dreams can be just as vivid but tend to generally be distant and unfocused.

I have read that Entada rheedii can help one have lucid dreams as well as generally making dreams more intense or vivid. I figured the more vivid a dream, the easier it should be to remember.

I didn't expect to be forced into dreaming lucidly, I had hoped that I would be immersed in my dream enough to give me a good chance to become lucid. My dreams as of recent have been quite weak. In this experience, using this herb as I have prepared it, has definitely had an intensifying effect on my dreaming.

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/* Author's additional comments*/

I will use this herb again but I will prepare it differently. I've read that the chemicals assumed responsible for intensifying dreams are soluble in an organic solvent. This is quite different from traditional usage in which the seed-meat is eaten raw (yuck), ground and made into tea, or ground and smoked with tobacco.

Exp Year: 2015	ExpID: 107365
Gender: Not Specified
Age at time of experience: 22
Published: Mar 22, 2016	Views: 8,171
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