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Silene Capensis - Xhosa Dream Herb

Migrated topic.
Dee Em Tea

Dee Em Tea

Rising Star
Hey, I found this rather interesting at www.herbalfire.com that also produces some amzing effects.:shock:

Silene Capensis (Xhosa Dream Herb)

Silene capensis is a tender perennial native to Eastern Cape South Africa where the “Xhosa” regard it as a sacred plant with the ability to induce remarkably vivid and prophetic lucid dreams. Silene capensis is regarded by many as a more powerful inducer of lucid dreams than even Dream Herb (Calea zacatechichi) or African Dream Herb, Entada rheedii.
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Does anyone have an idea what alkaloid it is that produces these dreams:?:
 
Thanks Traveler, for doing that Google search for me.:oops:

But after looking in to it a bit more, I found some more information on
psychoactive herbs

African Dream Root, Silene capensis (Ubulawu)

Possibly more effective than the better known Dream herb Calea zacatechichi, this is the first time that this unique and rare ethnobotanical is offered for sale and made available outside of Africa. Normally only the seeds are available but we have finally managed to locate a supply of the actual root which is used by African shamans for accessing the dream state.

This sacred plant which shamans of the verdant river valleys of the eastern cape province of South Africa has the ability to induce remarkably vivid dreams. A web site describes this plant:

"This obscure flowering species is regarded by shamans of the South African region as a type of "Ubulawu" or medicinal root that they call "Undela Ziimhlophe," which translates literally as "white paths" or white ways." It is suspected that this sacred plant's oneirongenic, or dream-inducing activity is likely due to triterpenoid saponins contained within its roots. Relatively small amounts of root (250 mg range) are reported to be active. The plant exerts only minimal alterations in waking consciousness, yet the effects upon the dream state can be profound.

How to prepare Silene capensis (Ubulawu)

Method 1 :
Half a teaspoon is mixed with half a cup of water. This is drunk early in the morning upon waking, while the stomach is empty. When you feel hungry it is safe to have breakfast.

Method 2 :
A heaped tablespoon is mixed with half a liter of water, and the water blended until a froth is formed. Keep sucking the froth off the container until you feel bloated with froth, and then go to bed.

Expected Results :
While sleeping, your dreams will be exceptionally colorful, and will be remembered upon awakening. (A good idea is to keep a notebook handy for writing down the results.) Ubulawu is traditionally used to access dream-time and to communicate with ones ancestors.

Precautions :
Use the recommended amounts only; the actives are active in these doses. Larger amounts will have a purgative action, however there are no fatalities or harmful side effects reported, only a good vomiting and cleansing out of the stomach. Small doses over several days will affect even the most insensitive person, so there is no need to take a large amount.

Drink it on an empty stomach, and then when you feel hungry, you can eat. This will give the alkaloids time to travel through your system. The effects will be felt that night. The alkaloids travel quite slowly through the blood system, so it won't get excreted out during the day. Before going to sleep, focus on a question you want answered by the ancestors.

One of the ancestors will appear in your dream with the answer. This plant is not just used for vivid dreams, but as a divination tool. For more insensitive persons, or for people who use other alkaloids or have other alkaloids in their system. A more `clean' person would be more sensitive. The alkaloids from using some over a few days would build up in your system.

A personal report from someone who was initiated as a sangoma (traditional healer) says the group he was with used 1/5tsp. (powdered) over the course of a week. He felt effects from day 3, and everyone in the group felt effects during the course of this week. We now offer Silene capensis in an easier to use powder form!!
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For sure I'll be trying this one day.:lol:
 
Good on you Traveler :lol:

Make sure that you post us the results. 😉 I'm also finding this a very interesting root.

Slaaplekker 😉 (sleep well)
 
Ah yes.... I have recently become familiar with this root... it is a nice one, and for me it definitely did produce vivid dream and help with dream recall (and it tastes good to boot!). However, I didn't seem to get any chaotic nightmarish stuff that i've heard other people associate with this stuff.

The most bizarre dream for me.... each night when going to sleep, i sort of say a little prayer (for lack of a better word), and just send out a blessing to those in my life. so anyway, this time i began drifting off to sleep while saying my prayer (in my head), and i dreamed that i had to pay to say my prayers, and so i put some dollar bills into the machine, and then when i was finished, it gave me change.
 
Nice story twinkletoes.

I recieved my small amount of the root last tuesday. I think Tomorrow will be the first day I use the product.

The thing is that they seem to think that the active ingredients are triterpenoid saponins, which is something very special. It is good as a viral inhibitor (e.g. Herpes Simplex Type 1, HIV and influenza), a strong antioxidant, a cleaner of cholesterol, etc. I'm just not sure if they got this correct or even where this 'evidence' is coming from.

It is also said it will not work directly, you have to use it for a few days to become active. You make a tea in the morning and take it on an empty stomach.

I'll let you all know how things will work out for me.
 
Allright, yesterday I tried Silene Capensis for the first time.

In the, err, morning around 12:30 I made a tea for me and my girlfriend. Per cup of tea I used 250mg of the root and added some Rooibos-tea for good taste. After letting it rest for about 5 minutes I added some honey to it and we drank the resulting tea. Together with the Rooibos and the honey is tasted quite ok.

During the day the tea seemed to give a little relaxing spirit, a little betablocker idea I guess.

In the evening we went to sleep and I have to say it, the dreams I had were quite vivid and colourfull compared to what I was used too. Also, I could remember them much better then normal. Maybe it it because my mind is really set to it but the difference with my normal dreams were quite clear.

Normal dosage is said to be 500mg per person but we only used 250mg per person and it still worked. It is also said it builds up if you use the Silene Capensis several days after one another so I wonder what this night will be revealed in my dreams.

I payed about 25 euros for 10g, good for 40 doses. The site I got it from has several quality ratings for their products and this one was "TOP", the highest rating afaik.
 
Suppliers? I'm assuming the site referenced in Dee Em Tea's post, but they're currently sold out of the 10 gram package, and I can't spend $50 right now...The only other website I found that sells it powdered was a wholesaler, and they had a link to the other site as their own retail site...Would there be anything to stop me from just buying the root and powdering it myself? Would there be somesort of quality/quantity loss? And would it be more cost-effective to just powder it myself?
 
The second day was less with the vivid dreams.

I think that is because of the following:
* I only had the root for a few minutes in the hot water before I drank the tea
* I ate very quickly after drinking the tea

Today I let the tea soak in the water for about twenty minutes up to half an hour. Still took some food 10 minutes after I drank the tea though. Tomorrow I'll let you know how my dreams were.
 
Captains log, day three:


I gave the tea a much longer warm bath, about half an hour. It seemsthis works quite OK since my dreams were once again very vivid and colourfull.

Resume:
With a bodyweight of 82kg I use 250mg per tea and soak it half an hour before I drink it. This works ok for me. I don't see a reason yet to up the daily dosage.
 
The Traveler said:
I gave the tea a much longer warm bath, about half an hour. It seemsthis works quite OK since my dreams were once again very vivid and colourfull.
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That's great to hear Traveler :lol:

The only thing I was wondering is, about your way to make the tea in hot water.:? From what I read it say's nothing about any hotwater preporations.
Traditional preparation :

A small piece of the root is placed into a container of water and then stirred rapidly with a stick. This causes the water to foam or froth up - caused by saponins in the plant matter. (Saponins are a highly bioactive group of molecules. Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibiotic and immuno-regulating effects have been ascribed to saponins.) Because of this foaming action, these medicines are also sometimes referred to as `bubbling medicine'.
`Undlela zimhlophe' makes strong and stable bubbles, hence it is considered by some sangomas (traditional healers) to be one of the best ubulawu plants.

Other preparation methods :

Mix half a teaspoon with a cup of water. Drink or eat the foam that forms. Then go to sleep. (One can add more water to make more foam; one can also eat as much foam as one likes.)

Mix a heaped tablespoon with half a liter of water, and blend the water until a froth is formed. Drink or eat the foam that forms. Then go to sleep. (One can add more water to make more foam; one can also eat as much foam as one likes.)

Chew and eat 50mg or more of root before bedtime. This can be done daily. One bio-assayist reported that the effects become especially enhanced after doing this for 2weeks.

So it seems that the best way is to drink the foam, or eat 50mg. Nowhere I read about cooking it.:?
Are you sure this is the best way to use this bark to its full potential?
 
Dee Em Tea said:
So it seems that the best way is to drink the foam, or eat 50mg. Nowhere I read about cooking it.:?
Are you sure this is the best way to use this bark to its full potential?
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Now you mention it, I really have no idea WHY I make a tea out of it. Maybe it was just an assumption of me (oh dear, he we go with El Ka Bong and "Why do you all just cook things?" ;)).

Funny thing is that it works though, even with 250mg instead of 500mg. For the record I prepare the Silene Capensis tea about the same way as a normal tea: Boil water, pour in a glass and add the SC. Wait half an hour (liquid cools down), add some honey and then drink it.

Maybe after a weak I'll try the other methods, I'm not sure yet.
 
Captains log, stardate one, two, three, four, dot, five:

Tea with long soaks worked; dreams were quite ok.

Today at about 7:45AM I took my tea. At around 18:00, due to todays toll on spirit and emotion I decided to take a small nap for about an hour.

The dream hit me quite fast, I was in the flat I was raised and I looked upwards into the stairways. I thought to myself "Ok, so this is what I'm dreaming.. Interesting". But instead of going into a direct lucid dream I just kept on doing my normal dreaming. Only after I woke up I thought about how strange it was not to do anything with the fact that I realised I was dreaming.

It must have been that I was dreaming I realised I was dreaming, it just kept being on rails.
 
This past week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I took a 500mg Silene Capensis tea. (1.5g in total during the week)

During this week the dreams were vivid and sparkling, as expected from my earlier experiences with it.

Then at the end of the week a problem arose: My blood pressure rose, I don't know how much exactly but I can definitely feel it in my head. It isn't giving me a headache (I seem to be invulnerable to that) but I can feel an unpleasant pressure on my eyes and when I take a bow, the pressure in my head is building up immensely.

I'm thinking towards the idea that Silene Capensis is a MAO Inhibitor.
This seems to be supported by the fact that the blood pressure was rising after eating pepperoni, a food source containing large amounts of tyramine and after drinking lots of coffee.

That Silene Capensis is a MAO inhibitor also explains it workings: DMT is released during dreaming, when there is a MAO inhibitor active, the DMT will not be broken down as fast as usual resulting in more vivid dreams.

---------------

Resume:

* Monday, April 7th: 500mg Silene Capensis Tea in the morning
* Wednesday, April 9th: 500mg Silene Capensis Tea in the morning
* Friday, April 11th: 500mg Silene Capensis Tea in the morning

* Saturday, April 12th: Blood pressure rising after eating pepperoni
* Sunday, April 13th: still feeling the heightened blood pressure
* Monday, April 14th: still feeling the heightened blood pressure after drinking coffee (took 5 cups of coffee, hey I'm a programmer you know ;))


Preliminary conclusions:

* Silene Capensis is a MAOI!
* Compared to Syrian Rue its working much longer.
* If you stick to the MAOI-diet it’s not a problem to use Silene Capensis.

Sidenote:

* It's still working three days after the last tea, I'll keep you all informed about how long it will last in total.
 
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