This article introduces you to herbs and plants that have traditionally been used as an aid for lucid dreaming, dream divination, and dream recall.

This includes the following plants:

• Calea Zacatechich
• African Dream Root
• Mugwort, Valerian Root, Turmeric

We will address them in order of effectiveness and popularity, starting with Calea Zacatechichi, also simply called "the dream herb." That's a good sign. :)

Calea Zacatechichi is probably the most popular plant / herb available for its effects on dreams. It's claim to fame is that it's known to be used by the Chontal Indians in Mexico for dream divination. The story goes that an individual seeking information in the dream world would sip on Calea Zacatechichi tea while smoking a cigarette of its leaves, and then gently nod off to sleep.

Amazingly, a few decades back there was a Calea Zacatechichi study published showing its effectiveness in dream recall and increasing the vividness of dreams.

These days you can easily find Calea Zacatechichi on the internet. It's available as a dried leaf, a 10x or 20x extract, a capsule, and also a resin. The leaf itself can be either smoked or made into a tea.

Note that the tea is said to be very bitter!

African Dream Root is not as well known but is said to much more potent than it's more popular "cousin", Calea Zacatechichi.

Also known as Silene capensis and Ubulawu (meaning "medicinal root"), this plantcomes from the Eastern Cape of South Africa and was traditionally used as part of the shamanic initiation process by the Xhosa people.

Those wishing to induce its effects on vivid dreams and lucid dreams combine the ground up plant with water and consume it slowly over a day, starting in the morning on an empty stomach. This process can be repeated for several days, and while it has minimal to no effects on waking conscious, the real effects come out once the user has fallen asleep.

Lastly, there are many more well known herbs and spices associated with dream recall, vivid dreams, and lucid dreaming.

Three of these are mugwort, valerian root, and turmeric.

While their effectiveness is at times dubious, all of these have a history of association with dream properties, and may be the first herbs tried as they are readily available in most peoples kitchens.

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Happy Dreaming!