Nelumbo Caerulea. The Blue Lotus
Recently many of us have had a great deal of time on our hands due to the Covid-19 lock down, especially here in the UK. I have been bouncing from meditating to gardening to reading to cooking as each day has passed trying to make productive use of the confinement. With a surplus of time to meditate on hand I have been incorporating things like binaural waves as well as Blue Lotus into my day to day routine to see how well these things work when attempting to reach different states of consciousness. So in this post I'm going to go over the use of Blue Lotus and what effects I've experienced with this as an aid, as well as other uses I've happened upon.
The History Behind The Blue Lotus
The Blue Lotus, and other varieties of water Lilly closely related can be found throughout Ancient Egyptian and Mayan art. One of the most common uses behind it was as an aphrodisiac and there are countless depictions of orgies where the Blue Lotus is depicted. It's a safe to assume that this may have been a driver behind the veneration of the plant. The plant itself contains a high concentration of Apomorphine which has been used for erectile dysfunction as well as a sexual stimulant. In 200 the FDA studied its uses for treatment of erectile dysfunction. The Egyptians knew this and often paired it with wine when they would consume it.
Using The Plant
Besides using this plant as a way to turn yourself into a kick stand it has other uses. It has also been used for lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming and getting to a point where you can control your experience in that state does take a lot of work. I've plugged at it for years with as much consistency as I can can and I was curious to see how this particular plant aid impacted the experience. Normally it's a state of consciousness to unpack in, to take problems and concepts and unroll them then hold them up against certain backgrounds that will hit the issue like a prism where every time you turn it a different view is presented. In this regard it's a useful state to work towards.
The main way the Blue Lotus is consumed is by creating a tea out of ten grams of dried flower. Some prefer to smoke it but I didn't use this method. So I consumed a strong tea that I steeped for about half an hour and left my partner down stairs reading while I went upstairs and laid down. I put in noise cancelling head phones, turned on Theta binaural sounds and began to drift off and in.
First off slipping into and maintaining a lucid dream state was incredibly easy. Within a hour I was in that free and deeply controlled state. Usually maintaining a lucid dream state can be difficult as it can slip away, but the Blue Lotus does make maintaining it a lot easier. After a couple hours I came out of this state and went on in a groggy fashion about my day.
I did find there were unintended effects from this exercise. First off it does do what the Ancient Egyptians used it for. I wouldn't advise using it if your partner or spouse isn't home. You will miss out on a lot of fun after your lucid dreaming session. But above all it really worked as a pain reliever.
I have arthritis from having shattered ribs on one side and broken ones on the other from a series of injuries when I was younger. I also have a foreign object lodged next to my spine which day in day out hurts. The weather can make the pain worse, and winters tend to suck. Most days this is background noise and though over the years I've been prescribed some pretty heavy pain killers, I don't take them. There to debilitating.
After the Blue Lotus took effect I did notice the pain dialled back quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't go operating heavy machinery or anything after taking it as you're a bit fuzzy. But it was a surprising/pleasant effect. My partner used it for her menstrual cramps as well, and found it better than anything she's come across before. It was an unintended discovery but it will certainly be useful later.
Over all I did find this a worth while experiment and will probably continue to use it. Granted the tea tastes like crap, but over all it's worth it. I ordered mine from Zamnesia as they are a reliable vendor if you live in the EU or the UK. I wouldn't recommend using Avalon Magic Plants as they have developed a reputation of taking crypto payments and not sending the products you purchased, even if they are legal to ship to the UK. They have done it to me among others I know.
Well guys, that's it for this post. Just a quick write up on the Blue Lotus and what uses I've found for it. Like with all things like this it's best to start with a little caution and use common sense. The good old adage of don't be daft basically. However it is rewarding to work with. Thank you so much for giving my post a read and looking forward to checking out all you guys awesome content. 😁
Image Credits:
wikipedia
World Of Lucid Dreaming
SmartNora
Pixaby
and my phone