Calea Zacatechichi Guidelines – Safety and Dosage
More Dreaming Herbs at I Am Shaman
There are a few safety considerations when working with Calea Zacatechichi:
- Having an allergic reaction
Allergic reactions are rare, but very real to those who experience them. A good rule of safety is to try out a very small dose the very first time before taking a “real” dose, simply to see if the body suffers from any unique allergic reactions to Calea Z.
Read about an allergic reaction to Calea Z.
- Damage to the lungs caused by smoking
For those concerned with this, options include capsules, resins, and tea.
- Nausea
Most people find the tea extremely bitter and quite unpleasant, sometimes causing an upset stomach or feeling bloated.
- Overdose?
There are no documented cases of overdosing working with Calea Zacatechichi.
Dosage Guidelines
“…Crushed dried leaves are infused in water, and the resulting tea is imbibed slowly, after which the native lies down in a quiet place and smokes a cigarette of the dired leaves of the same plant. The Indian knows that he has taken a large enough dose when a sense of repose and drowsiness is experienced and when he hears his own heart and pulse beats. The Chontal medicine men, who assert that this plant is capable of “clarifying the senses”, call it thle-pelakano or “leaf of god”…”
- a lovely quote from “”The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens”
Effective dosages vary wildly with different people. Dosage guidelines are best seen as a reference point for determining what works for individuals.
Experiences reports show dream herb effective at half a gram.
Most users tend to ingest between 2-3 grams as a starting point when working with dream herb, and then go from there.
For enhanced pills or resins, many vendors make suggested dosage guidelines.
For the benefit of everyone, please share your own personal dosage experiences – what works and what doesn’t.
(Anyone reading this can add this using the comment function below.)
“The human dose for divinatory purposes reported by the Chontal informant is “a handful” of the dried plant.”
June 17th, 2008 at 1:08 am
great to know im not the only shaman in the world im starting a ranch in florida orf shamanistic plants.
August 16th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I myself am a smoker rather than a tea drinker, but recently have been drinking rather than smoking.
Especially with Calea.
When I first purchased calea I was told i could just smoke it but i found it had no effect what so ever,
not even after a few joints of calea.
so i would highly recomend drinking it and not smoking it, for smoking it wastes it you do not benefit.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
i just smoked 4 joints and about 3/4 of a gram all up. I weigh 50kg. I feel very sensitive and drowsy. Good buzz. I didn’t need much.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I will be trying the 20x resin of Calea this weekend with my girlfriend. I hope the amount we will smoke will be okay for our safety. We will be smoking 2 joints. Each joint has 1.1 grams of 20x resin.
March 27th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I just purchased some Calea Z seeds, along with some Wormwood Absinth seeds and we are getting ready to grow some here in California. I can hardly wait!
March 31st, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I have made the tea but it was very unpleasant, bitter, and even with sugar and sweet and low it was foul to say the least. Smoking was easier to ingest but the effects were not as strong even after smoking quite a bit. I suggest the tea if you have a good stomach but for weak stomached individuals I say get a water pipe or a vaporizer. Happy dreaming
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I found some dream tablets on line that contain 550mg (1/2 gram) of Calea Zacatechichi per tablet. Each tablet also includes mugwort, wild lettuce, passionflower, l-5-htp etc.
It is way more affordable for me because you get 30 tablets for only $15 (on sale in my town) and at the website on the bottom of the page you can search for a local retailer so you don’t have to order online. It is called dreamboost (see dreamboost.com)
Anyway the tablets have been very effective for me and it works for me to only take one tablet every other night.
I have always had a lot of dreams but these ones seem to last longer and be more vivid. Last night in one of my dreams I was looking up at the stars and noticed a portal opening and spinning. I did not realize it was a dream (it was not lucid) and I pointed the portal out to someone in the dream…but I eventually woke up.
Two nights ago I had a lucid dream and figured out it was a dream so jumpd in the air and started to fly. But this dream seemed to be at a very low level, everything was dim, not bright, and it seemed to be a lower astral level. But it was scenic (a lot of hills and valleys). There were a lot of people there walking around going somewhere with backpacks on and we all seemed to be getting off of a train or something, and there was a huge mountain off in the distance and I decided to fly to it but when I got to it it was a huge pile of stuff like cars, toys and so on.
I eventually lost site of the lucid dream and forgot i was dreaming and became involved in the dream and then eventualy woke up.
Anyway these dreamboost tablets seem to be working for me but there is no need to take more than 1 every other days (and I weight almost 190 lbs).
April 27th, 2011 at 5:08 am
On the topic of calea zacatechichi dosage, Grant adds that:
“I am reading the various experiences and I wanted people to think of Calea like drinking alcohol for instance. There is an amount you drink for a buzz, a drunk and if you drink too much you can pass out. I am trying the tea and smoking Calea for the first time. I had trouble swallowing the tea so I was not using very much. Just a pinch in a tea bag, and its still hard to swallow. I also mix it sometimes with things like, Valerian Root, Wild Dagga, Passion Flower. It definately doesn’t help the taste but last night I dosed off with the T.V on and I had an immediate, vivid and somewhat lucid dream. The T.V was on Cold Case files and the commentary from the show was showing up in my dream. I woke up and realized what was happening. I didn’t use much. Just a pinch. Right now I’m sipping this nasty tea, again just a pinch and rolling a joint of Calea. It seems I had dosed off for about an hour. Actually my tea is a pinch of calea, a pinch of wild dagga, 2 pinches of passion flower and a small chunk of Valerian root.”
June 26th, 2011 at 6:30 am
I’m having my first ever cup of the tea. Boiled three grams for 15 minutes. I used a lot of honey with it. I gotta say, I’m not getting this so-nasty-it-makes-you-puke taste at all.I don’t think I have a super srtong stomach either.
Hmm, not sure what all the fuss about the taste is.
oh well, nighty-night!
August 3rd, 2011 at 4:50 pm
I used to smoke up to 4 joints of CZ mixed with Salvia D at a sittingand I never really noticed any difference to pure Salvia. I also tried the tea on several occasions using a heaped tablespoon of CZ powder (sometimes more) but I can’t say I ever noticed any effects of consequence. The CZ was not fully dried out so I am sure it was fresh. Maybe I just have an unfortunately high tolerance?
August 28th, 2011 at 10:28 am
I had purchased 2 grams of Calea Z extract powder from a site online. I heard that the taste of the tea and even the smoke is extremely horrible, so to avoid having to experience the taste I emptied a vitamin capsule and packed it full with the “dream herb.” I often lucid dream naturally, and I just think it’s the greatest experience! So when I found out about this sacred plant, I was of course very eager to try it.
After ingesting the large capsule of extract, (the strength of which is actually unknown to me) I got comfy in bed, put on the movie Vanilla Sky, and relaxed. About 45 mins later I began to feel its effects. My eyes got heavy, and all I could really hear and feel was my heart beating. It was so loud in my head, but I felt very calm. I started to get the weird feeling in my stomach that I always get right before I lucid dream, it’s hard to describe, kind of like my insides are twisting and turning about in my belly.
And as soon as I closed my eyes, I mean in an instant, I was lucid. I began to float above my body. I could see my sleeping self below me peaceful in bed, my cat asleep in my arm, Vanilla Sky on my laptop. I started to fly all around my apartment, up the stairs and out the window, then all around my little town. It was magical, it felt so very real! Sad thing was it didn’t last long at all.
I awoke abruptly and looked at my clock to see only 40 minutes had passed since I first closed my eyes. I was in kind of a haze, got up and walked to the bathroom, then climbed back into bed. I fell back to sleep very quickly but did not lucid dream again that night.
In retrospect I feel I did not ingest enough. Tonight I will be swallowing two capsules. In fact, right now. See you all later