DOSE:	10 g	oral	Calea zacatechichi	(tea)
		smoked	Calea zacatechichi

BODY WEIGHT:

75 kg

First Time Calea

I don't even have dreams, rather I don't remember having them. For me, night is almost always about closing my eyes and opening them again in the morning, partly because I don't sleep much. There are days when I don't have to work in the morning and I can sleep some more... but still when I wake up I only have bits and pieces of dreams, if any. That's why I decided to try the Calea, because of the need to see the dreams... which are an important part of us, a "dream" reality but in the end it's real and necessary.

In this case I'll start with the end of the experience as it didn't have any "effect" on me. And the truth is that it didn't surprise me much, becausereading other people's experiences with Calea there is a high index of people who didn't get the desired effect either if we compare it with other plants.

The information says that you have to take it as an infusion (leaving the leaves for 10-15 minutes in boiled water) several days in a row, between 3 and 6, before sleeping to obtain the desired effect. You can also smoke it to boost the effect. On the other hand I have read other sources that say that the most effective way is to take it about 3-4 hours before getting up; that is, to go to sleep, set an alarm clock at the calculated time, take it and go back to sleep. In my case, I didn't see much point in doing the latter since I usually don't sleep much, about 6 hours before going to work, and I didn't even feel able to hear the alarm clock... so I decided to do it the simple way. Another thing they say is that if you take too much or for too long it can make us wake up as if we had spent the night awake as it seems that we did not reach the deepest sleep phase.

After considering several options on the Internet I decided to buy Calea in a 50 gram format. I found it cheaper in bulk but I did not feel confident and this brand seems to have been selling different herbs and seeds for a long time and has a good reputation (at least from what I have read).

The presentation is correct, it comes in a semi-rigid bag with a zip closure (I think that's what it's called) that allows it to be handled and stored without problems. In the instructions it only says that you have to make a tea with 3 grams of calea. At this point there is a discordance with the information read on the Internet, since they talk about making infusions from 5 to 20 grams. I decided to opt for something "intermediate" and the methodology I used was to take 9-10 grams per night for 5 days... and thus end up with the bag.

The contents are not only leaves, there are also small orange flowers in the form of bunches and branches, and everything is perfectly dried.

To make the tea every night I filled a normal glass up to 3/4 of the Calea (without crushing it) and poured boiling water into it until the glass was full. While I let the tea rest for 15 minutes, I made a cigarette with the chopped leaves and a little tobacco to give it consistency.

The taste of Calea when smoked is mild, it can be smoked perfectly and it does not slit the throat. In the first puff its taste gave me an air of eucalyptus but not afterwards; I wouldn't know what other plant/spice it reminds me of but its smoked taste was familiar, as if I had already tried it before.

When the waiting time was over, I passed the liquid into another glass and squeezed the leaves to release as much liquid as possible. Here the thing is complicated because the taste of Calea tea is extremely bitter, I would say it is simply pure bitterness. When I am drinking it it is very bitter, and after each drink that bitterness is multiplied X10 at the bottom of the mouth (beginning of the throat). It's no use throwing sugar, honey or sweeteners at it... what's more, it only makes it worse as I get a very bitter and cloying concoction. The best way to drink it is undoubtedly as fast as possible, without thinking about it, since the more drinks I take, the worse the taste. It also helps that the tea is not too hot, I can switch to another glass if after 15 minutes it has not cooled down enough. After drinking it I feel like salivating and spitting because the taste stays in my mouth/throat; it worked for me to drink some juice right after. I also thought it would help a lot to gargle with a mouthwash, but I didn't get to try that because I didn't have any at home at the time.

The first day after drinking it I woke up sweating. I thought it might be a coincidence but the second day it happened again and considering that it was november (Europe) it couldn't be because of the ambient heat. The third night when I went to bed, images started to come to my mind, like fragments of film scenes... something was happening, but it didn't go away, soon everything became dark until the alarm clock went off to work. On days three and four I felt symptoms of tiredness and a little of that spice of "clarity" that occurs when I don't sleep; I was also entering the web after dinner and it was hard to focus my eyes and read clearly.

So far, everything... despite not having achieved the desired effect I am not discouraged and I think about trying again but this time in better conditions. I think that in my case the problem was the few hours of sleep and the accumulated tiredness... so next time I plan to use the method of getting up, taking it and going back to bed. For this I will have to wait until I have at least 3/4 days without work (a bridge or a holiday) and forget about alarm clocks to be relaxed and leave the body to its own rhythm. I've seen that they also sell Calea extract, it can be a good alternative to tea, although I'll study that in due course.

Thanks for reading.

Exp Year: 2020	ExpID: 115011
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 40
Published: Dec 19, 2020	Views: 920
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Calea zacatechichi (97), Dreams (85) : Multi-Day Experience (13), First Times (2), Alone (16)