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BACKGROUND
I have been interested in dreams since I was a child. My first memory of a dream was of
being amongst dinosaurs. What struck me was the vividness and how real it seemed. Human
existence did not coincide with the living dinosaurs, yet our mind, while dreaming, can create so
perfect a picture as to fool us to believing that it's possible we did. Another dream involved
flying. Like many young boys, I was obsessed with Superman. I became convinced that I really
had flown and that one day I would again. I stopped short of attempting to repeat the act in
waking life (and probably saved myself from serious injury). The dream world became a place to
act out fantasies that would forever be out of reach while awake. I have flown in dreams many
times, including lucidly, and it is always a fun and energizing experience that assures a good
mood upon waking. I began documenting my dreams after discovering the writings of Jack
Kerouac, William Burroughs, and other "beat" writers who advised the keeping of a dream
journal to aid in writng and test precognition. Also, I have been interested in the brain/mind, how
it works, and the potential of it's hidden powers for most of my life.
My research included the reading of several dream-related books and various material to
be found online. My focus was on the more scientific/empirical sources I could find regarding
how dreams are formed, why we dream, and what can be done to improve recall, but I was also
interested the historical record of dreams throughout history and how other cultures view
dreams. I tried to avoid so-called "dream dictionaries" and any literature involving the
interpretation of dreams. My view on dream interpretation is that each individual should
interpret their own dreams based on their personal life experiences. Wish fulfillment may
play a large part in our nocturnal wanderings, but I doubt it deserves the emphasis that Freud and
his followers suggest. What's more important, I feel, is how our dreams affect our waking
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consciousness, how we use them to improve our waking lives, and what this means to humanity
in general regarding the mystery of consciousness. The importance of dreams in western culture
has steadily diminished, it seems, as emphasis on materialism has risen. In my research I have
found that for the most part, throughout history in various regions of the world, dreams have
been believed to have come from a divine source and/or have been considered as important and
real as waking life.
"The main reason we forget our dreams is simply that we do not regard them as important enough. Compared with other
cultures and times, the modern Western lifestyle fails to recognize the power of dreams. It woud be inconceivable for an
Inuit or a Xhosa to say that he or she never dreamed, or that he always forgot his dreams. As a child, he would have learned
of their importance, especially as a way to get closer to the spirit world. Most Westerners, by contrast, are brought up
to believe that dreams serve no real purpose, and should not be taken seriously" (Fontana 1997, 38).
While I may agree that if you consider dreams to be important and that it is important to
remember them, you are more likely to be able to remember them, there are also physiological
reasons for forgetting dreams upon awakening. This pertains mainly to what stage of sleep a
person is in when awakened. Most people will experience a higher rate of recall if awakened
during REM sleep. "And because the cortical neurons that control the initial storage of new
memories are turned off during sleep, we typically forget our dreams upon waking unless we
write them down or immediately recount them to someone else" (Wade & Tavris 2000, 158). As
far as cultural differences regarding the importance of dreams, one need only look to the many
inventions discovered and problems solved by sleeping minds throughout history, such as Elias
Howe and the sewing machine.
"He was stymied by how to secure the needle to the machine in a way that allowed the needle to easily pass through
the fabric, because he was still following the model of handheld sewing needles, where the hole for the thread is located
at the end opposite the needle's sharp point. The answer came to him via a dream in which he was surrounded by savages painted
with war paint who were leading him to be executed. As he was being led to his death, he noticed that the warriors were
carrying spears with eye-shaped
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holes near their pointed tips. Awakening from the dream, he realized that the needle for the sewing machine should be
modeled after the spears in his dreams, with the hole for the thread located near the pointed end, and that was indeed the
solution that worked" (Rock 2004, 141).
The old Testament suggested that the loss of dream recall was a punishment from God (I
Sam. 28:6)" (Delaney 1998). Whether dreaming be divine intervention, the soul traveling out of
the body, or random firings from the brain stem, it is a phenomenon worth taking advantage of
by all peoples. And no theory or explanation of the cause of dreaming can render our nightly
visions meaningless.
I would like to clarify the definition of some terms I will be using. Consciousness is to be
regarded as the quality or state of being aware of what passes through one's mind. I consider
sleep to be an altered state of consciousness in which we can attain direct communication with
the unconscious--that which one is not aware of, but nevertheless influences one's feelings and
actions. Lucid dreaming is simply becoming aware that we are dreaming while dreaming. There
are various levels of lucidity that I have experienced myself. Sometimes I am able to control the
environment and action of a dream. Other times I am powerless, yet still aware that I am
dreaming. I consider this to be one of the worst situations to find oneself in. You know what is
happening isn't "real," yet you can not wake up. Your best bet is to hunker and down and prepare
for whatever your mind, which you are temporarily trapped in, may introduce. A potentially
frightening experience, but also highly rewarding if the consequence is further development in
facing one's greatest fears.
Along with my interest in dreams, I have been interested in the usage of various plants
used in tribal societies as means of exploring altered states of consciousness. Be it the psilocybin
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mushroom or ayahuasca vine of the amazon, there is much to learn from so-called "primitive"
cultures. I am willing to accept a shamanic map of the cosmos, in which the material world exist
between upper and lower realms, which can be accessed via the altered states opened up by
intoxication of these plants and in dreams (Pinchbeck 2002). I used calea zacatechichi (C.Z.) in
my experiment. It is a plant used by the Chontal Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico to obtain divinatory
messages during dreaming.
"Dreams are important in mesoamerican cultures. They are believed to occur in a realm o of suprasensory reality
and, therefore, are capable of conveying messages. The use of plant preparations in order to produce or to enhance dreams
of a divinatory nature constitutes an ethnopharmacological category that can be called "oneiromancy" and which
justifies rigorous neuropharmacological research. There are several plants used in Indian communities of Mexico to obtain
divinatory messages from dreams" (Mayagoitia 1986, 2).
C. zacatechichi is a plant of extensive popular medicinal use in Mexico (Diaz. 1976, as cited in
Mayagoitia 1986). The leaves of the plant are either smoked or drunk as an infusion to obtain
divinatory messages. It is used to discover the causes of illness and the locations of distant or lost
persons. Sometimes the dry leaves are placed under the pillow before going to sleep. Reportedly,
answers come in a dream. An infusion of the plant (roots. leaves and stem) is employed against
gastrointestinal disorders, as an appetizer; antidysentry remedy, and has also been reported to be
an effective febrifuge. The name of the species comes from Nahuatl "zacatechichi" which means
"bitter grass" and is the common name of the plant all over Mexico. (Mayagoitia 1986). There
are several reports on erowid.org of experiences with C.Z. to various degrees of success: from
"this plant does really work to induce dreams" to "no noticeable effects whatsoever"
(http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=2266).
In the experiment described in the Mayagoitia article, subjects reported a significantly
higher amount of dreams with C.Z. than with the placebo. The results show that C.Z.
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administration appears to enhance the number and/or recollection of dreams, which is in
agreement with the oneirogenic reputation of the plant among the Chontal Indians. A controlled
nap sleep study in the same volunteers showed that C.Z. increased the superficial stages of sleep
and the number of spontaneous awakenings. The subjective reports of dreams were significantly
higher than with placebo, indicating an increase in hypnagogic imagery occurring during
superficial sleep stages (Mayagoitia 1986, 2).
HYPOTHESIS
The ingestion of the calea zacatechichi plant material before sleep increases power of
dream recall.
METHODS
The experiment was carried out via naturalistic observation (subject slept in his own bed,
carrying on with normal routine of life. Two grams of dried C.Z. plant material were crushed
and placed in to gel caps, as well as dry rice for a placebo. Envelopes marked "A" and "B" were
distributed to myself (Subject A): male, age thirty-one. Subject was unaware of which envelope
contained C.Z. or the placebo. A list of five questions was included, to be filled out by the
subject upon awakening: 1. Total amount of hours slept? 2. Number of awakenings? 3. Number
of separate dreams? 4. Nature of dream: Normal events or bizarre circumstances (circle one)? 5.
Describe dream.
RESULTS
On the first night, March 7th, Subject A, consumed a gel cap from envelope A directly
before bed. Total time of sleep was seven hours. Subject awoke four times throughout the
night/morning, but no dreams were reported (a value of "zero" on graph). On the second night,
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March 8th, a capsule from envelope B was chosen. Subject slept for eight hours, and reported
three dreams being of a "normal" nature that did not detract from waking reality (a value of
"three" on graph). Many friends, a waitress, and a dog were encountered in the dreams described
on this night. On March 9th, a capsule from envelope A was again chosen. Total time of sleep
was approximately six hours and thirty minutes. Subject awoke twice and two dreams were
reported, being of "normal" events, but with far less detail. Subject describes the dreams of this
night to be of more conceptual thoughts/plans, rather than images. On March 10th, a capsule
from envelope B was consumed, subject slept for eight hours, awoke four times, and reported
four dreams being of a "bizarre" nature. A giant was encountered in one dream. In the final
dream of this night, subject dreamt of acquiring many items (clothes, CDs, records, dvds) from
an old man who was expecting to die soon. The next day, subject received a telephone call
indicating that his grandmother had passed away. On the night of March 12, the final capsule
from envelope A was selected. Subject slept for seven hours and thirty minutes, awoke twice,
reported two dreams of "bizarre" nature, but could not recall details (therefore a value of "zero"
was assigned for this night on the graph). One capsule remained (in envelope B) and this would
reveal to the experimenter which envelope contained the C.Z. and which held the placebo.
Envelope A had contained the C.Z., envelope B the placebo.
CONCLUSION
Based on the data collected, one would assume that envelope B contained the C.Z., but it
turned out to be the placebo, thereby refuting the hypothesis. My conclusion is not that Calea
Zacatechichi does not improve dream recall (other studies have shown just the opposite), but
that circumstances and details of the experiment should of have been handled differently. For
one, more subjects should have been used (and were, initially, but results were witheld from the
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experimenter), and I believe that the initial disappointment on the first night with envelope A
created in the subjects mind the idea that that must be the placebo and that, therefore, the subject
would remember his dream the next night. Ofcourse, that expectation did, indeed, improve
subjects recall, and established a pattern that reveals more about the power of suggestion than
the effects of the C.Z.. Also, the dosage may have been too small. Normal human dosage is
reportedly a gram of plant material. The subject was consuming approximately one-sixth of that
in each gel cap. Or, perhaps rice (the placebo) increases dream recall(?)! Too many variables to
draw specific conclusions. I plan on experimenting further with C.Z. and increasing the dosage.
REFERENCES
Delaney, G. (1998). All about dreams: everything you need to know about why we have
them, what they mean, and how to put them to work for you. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Fontana, D. (1997). Teach yourself to dream. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Mayagoitia, L., Diaz, J., & CONTRERAS, C.M. Psychopharmacologic analysis of an alleged
oneirogenic plant: calea zacatechichi. [Electronic version] Journal of Ethnopharmacology,
18, 229-243.
Pinchbeck, D. (2002). Breaking open the head. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
Rock, A. (2004). The mind at night: the new science of how and why we dream. New York, NY:
Basic Books.
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (2000). Psychology, Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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