Datura Oil, Brugmansia and Those Enchanting Nightshades

[Ishmael Fleishman]

Recently I have been interested in Brugmansia and Datura, it is mostly an academic interest that came about from a friend wishing to grow them for the aesthetic value of the flowers. However in the process of discovery I became fascinated particularly with peoples fear of these plants. I have a friend who will not even touch this plant or even go near it he says it gives him a headache.

Then how broadly the Tropane alkaloid are used in pharmaceutical industry for a broad range of medical uses and are part of World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. I was going through a local chemist and found anti-nausea medication containing Hyoscine hydrobromide 300 micrograms. For $7 you could buy 10 tablets. The recommend dose was 1 tablet with a max of 4 tablets in a day, however the toxic dose was listed at 4 tablets. Now was the toxic dose only the dose it became psychoactive or the fatal dose. Leaving me questioning how dangerous these drugs are if they are sold over the counter - why are people not simple buying these over the counter as recreational deliriants. Found one trip report on Erowid https://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=27661 - Which is interesting because he claims to have consumed 20 tablets at 300 micrograms each which I think was rather reckless first time out.

 

Now reliable information on these plants are hard to come by beyond the almost hysterical bad trip reports. What I have figured out so far is people treat it as a psychedelic which it not, and they prepare and utilize the plant incorrectly resulting in overdoses which probably explains the bad trip reports. As Torsten Wiedemann says prepare 50 times or more plant material then you need for a dose then mix extremely well to arrive at a standardized product and then start the titration of doses working your way up to gauge the potency of the batch.

 

Then I cam across this https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00002018-200730050-00002 - "unexpectedly wide variation in hyoscine hydrobromide content between individual tablets within single packets" so even pharmaceutical manufactures stuff of the potency of their own preparations.

 

Then their is Duboisia myoporoides which is Australias contribution to the worlds legitimate Tropane industry. Australia is a real raw materials powerhouse for the pharmaceutical industry. Tropanes, Opiods, and hopefully one day cannabis, psilocybin and more.

 

I have been reading about of flying ointments, here I seem to run into a broken tradition of Western witchcraft, with ideas and knowledge garnered from secondary historical texts. Then used to produce a flying ointments that are sold as almost curiosities. Often with the disclaimer that they are not fit for human use and use at your own risk.

 

Then I  happen to come across this recipe via YouTube for Datura Oil. It seems that in ayurveda and in India they have a far more positive relationship to Datura using it in a wide variety of conditions. While many of the adjunct herbs are probably hard to get outside India. I think the process is a good working model for experimentation. Here is the recipe:

 

This herbal mixture can be used as massage ointment for joints aches and pains. I am actually keen to try this myself due to some personal age related joint condition.

 

Preparation procedure:

 

*   Cut all parts of the Dhatura Plant (Dhatura alba L) including root, trunk, bark, flower and leaves.
*   wash the plant parts in water
*   Boil them in ceramic utensils with fresh water
*   After boiling for 1 hour take out the plant parts and crush them to a pulp with mortar and stone
*   Then add 10 grams each of the following herbs: caraway, chandrasur, kaali haldi, van champa, saunth (Dried Ginger), kaifal, magrela and malkangani.
*   then transfer the mixture back into the boiling water in a metal vessel. Add half a litre of sesame oil and bring the mixture to a boil.
*   When the water has evaporated completely, take the mixture off the heat and wait for it to cool.
*   Then add 3 grams of adwain satva to the oily mixture.
*   Then pour it out into a bottle. It is now ready for use.

 

 

The other one I found was Torsten Wiedemann - Enchanting Nightshades

 

 

How much if any experience does anyone have with these plants?

Edited February 17 by Ishmael Fleishman

[Needfulalterego]

Great plants... medicinally good for stomach cramps and nausea, as well as smoked as a bronchodilator (used to mix it in spliffs rolled for asthmatic friends) when you're with someone who is in a bind without a ventolin and freaking out.

In terms of experiences maybe have a read of this.  Was written by somebody I used to know in his youth, whom I barely recognise anymore, but anyway people told me it was well written and I can assure you it wasn't embellished. There is a key point though - the alkaloid content is dramatically variable. Same plant, same quantity, picked at different times of day caused dramatically different levels of intoxication unless there was a compounding effect where it built up in my.. I mean his.. system.

[Ishmael Fleishman]

The trip experience and its reference to perceiving talking with "real" friends / family / people that are not presently in the room at the time seems to be a common experience.

 

I was thinking that the account of the terrible darkness brugmansia (Toe) shows you. Might be interesting, to maybe break down the traveler in a safe space under guidance and then to reconstruct them. However it would take a Toe shaman to do it.

 

I believe that plant teachers show us parts of ourselves and if we do not want to admit to these parts and if we deny them, the plants can hurt us.

 

I can see its value when combined with Wachuma. Wachua is such a healing plant combined with something like Toe that rips us apart only to be protected, loved and guided by wachuma through the process.

 

However I would not consume Toe without a guide.

 

For the moment my interest is more in its use as a non-psychoactive substance.

 

The fact that this most powerful and deadly plant is perfectly legal is fascinating. Where coca is schedule 9. Go figure.