Calea Zacatechichi 01/08/2019

Calea Zacatechichi is a tall branched shrub growing to a height of up to 3 meters. It occurs mainly in the territory of today's Central America, especially in Mexico. In these areas, the plant has been used for centuries – since the time of the original Aztecs, who also gave the plant its name. It can be loosely translated into Czech as "Calea Zacatechichi", which is the corresponding name given its strongly bitter taste. It blooms with yellow flowers, and its egg-shaped leaves are the most important part of this plant. They contain those magical alkaloids that act on our nervous system.

HISTORY

The original Aztecs used the leaves of this plant in their ceremonies to prepare the brew that they drank. In some cases, the leaves were also smoked. The plant served as a tool for communication with nature and it helps evoke visions. It was also part of traditional healing, where it served as a cure for nausea, fever and headaches. Today, this plant is particularly popular as a tool for inducing lucid dreaming.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND EFFECTS

The plant mainly contains the compounds germacranolide and caleicine. These substances have a hypnotic and hallucinogenic effect on the nervous system. Other substances are flavonoids – antioxidants that positively affecting the health of the organism.

Calea Zacatechichi is especially popular for its dreaming effects. It serves as a hypnotic, evoking visions behind closed eyes. It pleasantly calms you down and after falling asleep, dreams come alive, colorful or even lucid. As a rule, these effects cannot be achieved after the first use, therefore it is necessary to take the plant several evenings in a row.

PREPARATION AND DOSAGE

Crushed herb

Prepare the herb brew by pouring 3-5 grams of dried leaves over 500 ml of boiling water and allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Drain the resulting drink. Because of its very bitter taste, we recommend flavoring with honey.

If you want to get closer to the traditional way of using, the dried leaves can also be smoked while drinking the brew to promote the desired effects. However, the leaves themselves are not recommended to smoke – the effects are not intense enough.