Thread: Calea Zacatechichi

Just wondering if anyone has tried this?
I am planning on trying it soon.

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Calea zacatechichi is a medium sized shrub that has reportedly been used by the Chantal indians of Mexico as a hallucinogen. Its dried leaves are used before sleep to increase dreaming. Its effects are not well documented.

Here's a guide from Erowid...
EXPECTED RESULTS
Every person's body has a unique physiology, and a unique chemistry. Therefore, your results may vary. These results are typical, however.

MILD EUPHORIA
Especially when smoked in a large-enough quantity, Calea Z can produce a REALLY mild cannabis-like euphoria, but without the apathy. It's not the same thing, so don't just buy a ton of Calea Z. to smoke because 'budz' is illegal. You will probably not get the same effect just by drinking the tea, since the stuff tastes so terrible that the psychological effect of the bad taste offsets the euphoric feeling one might otherwise encounter.

MENTAL CLARITY
Strangely enough, I've found that using Calea in ANY form tends to clear the mind. It alters the perception of time so that it appears that time is passing more slowly, and it makes one feel more 'in control' of things.

VIVID DREAMS
This should be obvious, since this is a Lucid Dreaming Forum. Now you won't AUTOMATICALLY become lucid in your dreams, but your chances of lucidity are greatly increased. Furthermore, your dreams can seem so realistic (in some cases) that they are actually MORE enjoyable than a normal lucid dream where the level of clarity is not as high. The level of clarity, or continuity produced by Calea Z. is due to the fact that the 'Memory Continuity Facilitator' function is turned ON by Calea Z. and therefore MCV jumps (jumping from one time/place to another time/place suddenly in a dream) are not as likely.

SIDE EFFECTS
None noted, unless you have an allergy to the stuff. There are no reports (or suspicions by scientists) of ill effects resulting from the use, long term, or short term, of this herb.

PREPARATION & DOSAGE
I will list the three most common methods, then my new method.

1.) SMOKING
Smoke one or two cigarretes of the leaves/flowers. It's a little bitter, but not too bad. Do so right before you are going to sleep, but do NOT smoke it in bed.

2.) TEA
If you are brave, and want to try the tea, take about 3 grams of calea leaves and steep them in simmering (not heavily boiling) water for about 15 minutes. Add honey, sugar, or whatever else you can find to make the stuff taste better, but for the love of God, don't add citrus. TRUST ME. There are various herbs and berries you can add to this to make it taste better. One such berry is called 'magic berry' but unfortunately, I don't have it's latin name. I'll post more about that issue later.

3.) ALGAE CAPSULES
You can get algae capsules at your local herbalist, or maybe even wal-mart. Alternatively, you can empty some capsules of other herbs or supplements that you have found useless, and repack them with Calea Z. insted. Get about 1 gram, and fill two capsules. Ingest about 30 minutes before bedtime.

4.) RESIN RECIPE
Procure a bottle of 190 proof (95%) alcohol such as Everclear. Brand is completely unimportant, so get the cheapest crap you can find. Be REALLY careful, though. This stuff is as flammable as gasoline (petrol, for those of you in the UK.) Place 1 part Calea Z. Leaves in 2 Parts Alcohol in a sealed jar. Leave it for 3 days. Filter out the leaves with cheesecloth, and pour the resulting liquid into baking pan(s.) Allow the stuff to evaporate, and you will be left with a nice disgusting goo. Scrape that stuff into capsules and voila. Uh.. but be careful, and keep in mind that this will be about 5x as potent (maybe more, perhaps a lot more) than just the tea. So remember, the resin resulting from 1.5 grams MAX should be your starting dose. If you MUST, you can fill the algae cap the rest of the way with sugar or whatever else is lying around.

5.) EXTRACT RECIPE
Get the cheapest bottle of Vodka you can find. That suff is about 100 proof, which means it's 50/50 water/alcohol. Use 1 part leaves of calea Z. and 2 parts Vodka. Place in a jar, shake once daily, after one week, strain, pour into a baking pan, allow the alcohol to evaporate, bottle for use. It's less potent than resin, but more potent than tea. I haven't tried this because I don't see the point. It will still taste only slightly better than donkey feces.

Well, that's it. I hope you've found some useful information here. If I missed anything, or if there are any unanswered questions, let me know. I didn't mention anything about combining methods or dosage to results ratios, so if you're interested just ask. Furthermore,I've tried this in conjunction with several other herbs/minerals/vitamins including.. L-hydroxytryptophan (5-htp), vitamin b, kava kava, valerian, neem, echinacia (lol, yes, echinacia.) Let me know if you wanna know the results. I would have posted them all, but I don't want carpal tunnel syndrome.