Do you remember what you dreamt about last night? How about the night before?

For thousands of years, we humans have placed a ton of value on the content of these bedtime reveries, deriving inner wisdom and even premonitions from them. Dreaming feels like a birthright, an extra sense that allows us to process both rationally and spiritually while our body rests up.

They are one of behavioral science’s biggest mysteries, with no agreed-upon theory of their origin and specific purpose. For some, dreams occur nightly, but others never experience them at all.

One thing is for sure – many who don’t dream wish they did.

Since I was young, I’ve had them on a regular basis, but have always known there were deeper places to go in this state of consciousness. The quest for many is to achieve the lucid dream, or “knowing we’re dreaming” inside the dream.

The lucid dreamers I know are able to navigate their dreamscape with an awakened mind, asking characters they come across pretty insightful questions about their spirit path. They can run, jump, and fly at will, gaining profound inner wisdom from the experience.

If you would like to dream more at night, and perhaps experience the magical lucid dream, there are three wild herbs that have been used throughout time to accomplish just that.

The herbs below are all 100% legal, and easy to get ahold of. However, please do your own research before trying any of them – herbs are medicine and they should be treated with proper caution. These plants each have a variety of other medicinal uses, but we’re focusing solely on their dream-enhancing effects.


Wild Asparagus Root – Asparagus racemosus

The Chinese word for wild asparagus root is Tian Men Dong – or heavenly spirit herb. For millennia, it’s been cherished by shamans, monks, and yogis for its heart-opening effects.

Also known as “The Flying Herb”, it’s believed that wild asparagus root helps one fly through the universe at night, achieving magnificent dreams. The wisdom schools of ancient China placed much
value on dream work, namely lucid dreaming.

In Chinese folk medicine, it is believed that this particular herb has a direct and positive effect on the heart energy, dissolving the dualities that come with our physical incarnation – black and white, left and right, inside and out. This allows our consciousness to blossom into infinite space while we sleep.

Preparation: the best way to use wild asparagus for this particular purpose, is to brew a tea of either the fresh or dried root. Keep in mind that a tea from the freshroot will be much more potent.


Valerian Root – Valeriana officinalis

This herb has been used in folk medicine for centuries as a calming aid, muscle relaxant, and to promote deep sleep. Because lucid dreaming usually requires a heightened state of slumber, it has become a commonly reported side effect of valerian root.

Many also report that valerian greatly improves the ability to remember their dreams. Robert Monroe, a famed specialist in Out Of Body Experiences, once said “Most of us dream, and those who don’t simply are not remembering them.”

Imagine an herb that not only promotes deep states of sleep that are fertile ground for vivid dreams, but also boosts our ability to remember what happened the morning after. Valerian might be just that.

Warning: Because there isn’t enough information available regarding its effects during pregnancy, women who are expecting are better off avoiding it altogether.

Keep in mind: If you already experience extreme dream states, you might think twice before trying valerian. It can intensify your nocturnal adventures quite a bit – which is wonderful when you’re having a good dream, but not-so-great if you’re having a nightmare.

Preparation: Valerian is most commonly brewed in a tea, but be careful to use water that is hot, but not boiling, in order to preserve the delicate oils in the root. Some also prepare a tincture from the dried or fresh root (this can usually be found at health food stores).


Mugwort – Artemisia vulgaris

Very common throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, mugwort has a rich history of use, both as a medicinal and metaphysical ally. In the middle ages, it was known asCingulum Sancti Johannis, because Saint John the Baptist famously wore a belt of it whenever he traveled through the woods. It is referenced often in Celtic and Norse mythology as a magical plant that can ward off evil, and was hung in doorways and burnt as incense to clear stagnant air and prevent illness.

Mugwort is known as “Molush” by the Chumash Indians of California, and its Paiute name translates literally to “Dream Plant”. It’s often smoked in indigenous ceremonies, and interestingly, is also hailed by various tribes for its power to ward off evil, bad spirits, and disease.

Known for its dream-enhancing effects, many report that it magnifies the brilliance of color and overall duration of their mid-slumber journeys. On a personal note, I’ve had some lovely experiences with this one

Mugwort grows just about everywhere. You’ll often find it underfoot, whether in the woods or walking through an overgrown urban environment. Is it sheer chance that this sacred herb that reportedly heightens consciousness is sprouting up all around us?

Preparation: Like the two plants mentioned above, Mugwort is quite often taken as a tea, but can also be smoked in a pipe. The leaves of the Mugwort plant are what contain the active chemical constituents.

I wish you wonderful and wisdom-packed journeys tonight, and many nights thereafter. Remember, like any good herbalist, we each need to do careful research on the medicinals we choose to work with – this is a central pillar of the plant path.

Everyone deserves to dream


Grow Your Own Lucid Dream Garden

Yes that’s right there are herbs for lucid dreaming! and.. you can grow them yourself!

First let’s look at what Lucid Dream Herbs are and then will look at which ones you’ll need to grow!

Dream herbs are otherwise known as “oneirogens”. From the greek language “oneiros” to dream and “gen” to create. This word refers to any substance that produces a dreamlike state. From herbs, supplements and vitamins.

Today we’re just focusing on the Dream Herbs for your lovely lucid dream garden! These are found throughout the world in many different countries and have been used in traditions for thousands of years. Dreaming can play a big role in the overall health of humans emotionally and physically. Since these dream herbs have such a long history of use it’s safe to stay they’re here to stay and now you get a chance to grow them yourself. Not only do these plants enhance your dreams, most all of them have other health benefits to boot!


There is a large number of herbs used for dreaming so we’re going to focus on the most effective and widely known ones. Below there is also a list of other dream related herbs for your Lucid Dream Garden!



Lucid Dream Garden Plant #1- Mugwort

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a well known european herb that has naturalized in many parts of the world. Otherwise known as cronewort it has quite the ability to increase lucid dreaming. It can bring up the darker side of your subconscious so that you can deal with it naturally. Most of the time people just experience a heightened sense of awareness in their dreamworld making it easier to fly around and do as you like. It also has other medicinal applications as well!

How to Grow- Full sun, low water. Sow seed indoors or directly unto soil. Plant in a location that has full sun. As a rough idea of the types of climates Mugwort does best in, check to see if your local area is within USDA Hardiness Zones 4 and 8. Mugwort is a hardy plant and can survive close to or freezing temperatures. It has silvery green foliage and unique blossoms. A friend to the birds and bees. Harvest leaves when the plant first show signs of flower buds. This plant is very easy to grow!




Lucid Dream Garden Plant #2- Dream herbs



Dream herb (Calea zacatechichi) is a sacred herb originally from Oaxaca, Mexico where it is used as a sacrament in order to speak with god. The indigenous name for this special herb is “the-pekano” which translates to leaf of god. It is used to increase lucidity and receive important message from the spirit world by means of dreams. It is also great for digestion and fevers. It’s quite the bitter tea, so you may need a lot of honey or to put it in capsules.

How to grow- Full sun to partial shade, moderate water annual. Sow seed indoors, plant after the danger of frost. It is from a subtropical region however it acts an annual anywhere it will snow or freeze so if you’d like to keep you dream herb for the next growing season be sure to bring it in during those freezing winter months. It has unique off white feathery flowers(make sure to collect seeds as this plant is fairly rare!) Harvest after the plant goes to seed. This plant is fairly easy to grow.




Lucid Dream Garden Plant #3- Xhosa Dream Root

Xhosa Dream Root (Silene capensis/undulata)- This is one of my favorite dream herbs. it’s easy to grow and is very ornamental. Originally from the Eastern Cape of South Africa where it is used as a holy sacrament for special dream divination ceremonies. From increase OBE’s(Out of Body Experiences) to dream recall this herb is by far one of the most powerful dream herbs out there!

How to grow- Full sun to partial shade, low water perennial. Sow seeds indoors before last frost, plant in full sun location. Preferably in pots for easy harvesting. It is an annual where there is long freezes so you can bring them in to keep them for the next growing season. The plant has very beautiful fragrant jasmine scented flowers. Be sure to collect the seed as this is another rare species! Harvest root the second year for best results.

So now you have 3 really easy to grow plants for your dream garden! As you may already know there are many other lucid dream plants out there for you growing and dreaming pleasure. Some are easier to grow than others. Here is list of dream herbs that you can also plant in your lovely Lucid Dream Garden!


Acorus calamus (Calamus root)
Asparagus cochinchinensis (Wild Asparagus)
Verbena hastata/officinalis (Vervain)
Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood)
Celastrus paniculatus (Celastrus Seed)
Cymbopogon densiflorus (Lemongrass)
Cyperus articulatus (Piri Piri)
Entada rheedii (African Dream Herb)
Helichrysum spp. (Imphepho)
Hemidesmus indicus (Indian Sarsaparilla)
Humulus lupulus (Hops)
Ilex Guayusa (The Watchman’s plant)
Kaempferia galanga (Galangal Root)
Lactuca virosa (Wild Lettuce)
Matricaria recutita (Chamomile)
Ocimum sanctum (Holy Basil)
Passiflora incarnata (Passion Flower)
Pogostemon cablin (Patchouli Leaves)
Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary)
Synaptolepis kirkii (Uvuma-omhlope)
Tagetes lucida (Mexican Tarragon)
Turnera diffusa (Damiana)
Valeriana officinalis (Valerian Root)
Verbena hastata/officinalis (Vervain)
Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha)

Yea don't have the time to read it fully but this area intrigued me immensely.

Meditation is a practice that deff enhances sleep quality and dream recall

I am glad that you found my post intriguing
yes i believe in the power of meditation too and both meditation and the help of this plants will make the experience much more vivid and beautiful!
much love to you <3

Wonder what the neurological differences are between a sleep with vivid dreams and the same sleep without these practices.

Does vivid dream and these plants increase anything else in life? Memory, or any other working part of the mind you think? Does it transition to our waking life?

As someone who never (or very rarely) remembers there dreams. Im definitely looking into trying these.

Keep me posted when you do 😍😍😍😍🦄🌀✨

I hope you have time to read
Though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dreams. And that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are )

By the first century B.C., the Roman poet Lucretius was one of the first to observe rapid eye movement (REM) sleep when he wrote of watching one of his hunting dogs twitch as it laysleeping by the fire. As Lucretius observed his dog's eyes dart back and forth beneath its closed eyelids, he noted, “the animal appeared to be chasing some type of phantom prey in its mind.” To the best of my knowledge, this is the first documented observation of REM sleep in a human or animal.

Surprisingly, modern scientists didn’t realize the significance of REM sleep until 1951. REM is the phase of nightly sleep when we do our most vivid dreaming and replay the events of the day through our nightly dreams.

Recently, a team of researchers have proven, for the first time, why REM (theta brain wave) sleep is believed to be a keystone of memory consolidation in all mammals, including humans. The researchers at Douglas MentalHealth University Institute (McGill University) and the University of Bern used state-of-the art optogenetics to confirm a causal link between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and memory formation.

The May 2016 study, “Causal Evidence for the Role of REM Sleep Theta Rhythm in Contextual Memory Consolidation,“ was published in the journal Science.

Cycles of REM sleep occur cyclically every ninety minutes and last for about twenty to twenty-five minutes. REM is the heaviest period of dreaming and learning during the sleep cycle. Within the rapid eye movement cycle, your eyes move in bursts occupying about one-third of REM sleep. Four of the five stages of sleep are non-REM. Adults spend about 25 percent of their nightly sleep cycles in REM sleep.

REM Sleep, Theta Rhythms, and Dreaming Consolidate Memories

Long before the advent of optogenetics, Rumi prophetically observed, “Though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dreams. And that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are.”

For over a decade, sleep researchers have hypothesized that REM sleep is correlated with memory consolidation. But, as we know, correlation does not mean causation. What makes the new optogenetic study so groundbreaking is that prior to this revolutionary technique, establishing direct causality between neural activity during REM sleep and memory consolidation has been almost impossible because of the paradoxical nature of REM sleep.

In recent years, hundreds of various studies have tried unsuccessfully to isolate neural activity during REM sleep using traditional experimental methods. In this new study, the researchers used optogenetics, which allowed them to target a precise population of neurons and control neuronal activity using light.

When these mice were in REM sleep, the researchers used light pulses to turn off their memory-associated neurons to determine if it would affect their memory consolidation. The next day, the same mice didn't succeed at the spatial memory task learned on the previous day. Compared to the control group, their memory seemed to be erased, or at least impaired.

"Silencing the same neurons for similar durations outside REM episodes had no effect on memory. This indicates that neuronal activity specifically during REM sleep is required for normal memory consolidation," the study's lead author Richard Boyce, said in a statement.

We Learn When We Dream: Our Vivid Dreams Shape Our Memories.

The process of hammering and forging our daily experiences into long-term memory through REM sleep is how we learn to master any sport, art, musical instrument, surgery, etc. through daily practice. REM sleep is a fundamental part of mastery.
"I Can't Get No Satisfaction" Came to Keith Richards In a Dream

William Shakespeare wisely noted, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life, is rounded with a sleep.” The time we spend dreaming during REM is probably the most creative state-of-mind we experience within any given 24 hour period. For example, Keith Richards came up with the song "Satisfaction" in his sleep and recorded most of the song into a tape recorder by his bed.

The scientist Claude Bernard wrote extensive medical notes in a red book he kept by his bed and claimed to come up with most of his medical insights during his dreams. Not surprisingly, it turns out that the cerebrum and hippocampus play a role in cerebral long-term memory when you sleep. The cerebellum is also believed to play a key role in encoding procedural memories when we sleep.

There are thousands of anecdotes of creative greats having eureka moments when they dream. Each of us knows from first-hand experience how our imagination streams unrelated ideas together when we dream. Regular aerobic exercise, sleeping well, and vivid dreams go hand-in-hand. Regular exercise allows you to sleep deeper and dream better. The more regularly you exercise, the better you will sleep, the more you will dream during REM sleep, and the more of a creative powerhouse you will become. 😎

All that we practice and all that we eat affects our journey
And there is no seperation between awakened life or dreaming
They are all one
And all that we live and do help ua tap more into our being and existence and awaken more of our consciouness of the gret Mind

Nice posting. Welcome to the Nexus!

From a long-time lover of the mugwort.

Definitly looking more into this. Thank you for the post!

Thank you dear
I am so glad to join this community 😍😍😍
Yeah i am a great lover of the sacred mugwort too 🌱
💜💜💜

I am so glad to share with you
Keep me posted!
Thank you 💜💜💜

I love Calea Z and Blue lotus together.

I will try them together )
Thank you for sharing <3

saw a bag of asparagus racemosus in a shop yesterday fot ten bucks, remembered this thread, curiosity got the best of me
anyone willing to share fp accounts of using this plant?

Nicotine/tobacco can be used as a Nootropic and Lucid Dream Supplement. Well if you take it the right way.

and what would the right way be?

I have a good bit of experience with the xhosa and calea but never really approached tobacco with the aim of lucid dreaming. Haven't really ever heard it mentioned as useful for that purpose that I recall to be perfectly honest.

However, I had a hospital stay awhile back and for some reason they dont let you smoke in there. but they will give you nicotiene patches. I think it was the second or third night where I had a very lucid/vivid dream. One of those ones that is hard to get out of and wake up, sometimes dreams can be so lucid you can't wake up from them no matter how hard you try.

I happened to mention it to the guy who was watching over me, a younger guy and he said it was probably because I was sleeping with that patch on and getting a constant stream of nicotiene while I was sleeping. I kind of shrugged it off, thinking it was because of other reasons but seeing this thread Im thinking he had a point.

We chatted and he mentioned he had some friends that explored the lucid dreaming thing, but that he never had, but he had a sort of younger more open mind to him that I dont usually pick up from older doctors.

I purchased some mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and scullcap (scutellaria lateriflora) in the hopes of achieving lucid dreams but resulted instead of strange short dreams but it did work when made into a tea or smoked shortly before bed.

Any incense you guys are fond of?

I've had good results with the wild asparagus and mugwort but I just got some of this, dried. It literally smells like shit, stinking my house out through 3 layers of plastic. Putting this stuff in my body is going to take more courage than doing dmt. Would putting it in caps make it bearable?