# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Lucid Aids >  >  African Dream Root

## DrTechnical

*Overview:*
Summary of my 7 day experiment with African Dream Root (ADR). The results were encouraging, 
certainly better than my experiences with Calea Zacatechichi.

*
Cost/shipping:*
I purchased 50 grams for &#036;87.00. When the bag arrived, it was just shy of 2 ounces. After seven days
of taking 1/2 teaspoon per day, I hardly dented the bag. I probably consumed 1/10 the bag, putting the cost
at roughly &#036;1.00 per day, give or take. Shipping and billing was discreet, though this substance is not illegal
in the US. There were no ordering restrictions listed, so I suspect it&#39;s legal elsewhere.

*Dosage/administration:*
Starting early Tuesday morning, I took 1/2 teaspoon on an empty stomach. I repeated that every morning
up to and including monday (today). There was a warning on the web site not to exceed the recommended
dosage due to possible nausea. I used the suggested dose and had no such issues at all. The shredded root
is mixed with water. It does not dissolve at all.

*Expected Results:*
Pretty much every web site that sells this, has the same write-up on usage. You are told that the alkaloids
must build up for a few days, and that by the third day of usage, your dream should be more frequent
and vivid, with claims of dead relatives coming to visit, etc ...

*My Experience:*
I typically have 2-3 dreams per evening, and have about 2 lucids per week. So what&#39;s of interest of course
are the results relative to those numbers.

On average, I was having 3-4 dreams per night. There was a tendency to have more cohesive story lines - 
though it&#39;s hard for me to prove that of course. I definately had more dreams though. 

So for me, full effect should have been realized by thursday evening. Here&#39;s my lucid/near-lucid summary:

Thursday evening, I had a near lucid where I was on my porch looking at the furniture. It was not arranged
correctly and my daughters pink toddler lounge chair was there as well. I was trying to rationalize how this
could possibly be? I was probably a few seconds short of concluding "it&#39;s a dream" before I woke up.

Friday night, I had an outstanding lucid. I had pre-determined that if I get lucid in my house, I would try to
pass through a particular wall. This location was chosen because there&#39;s nothing on the other side of the wall
to get in the way. I got lucid, went to the wall and put my hand on it. I pictured the wall dematerializing.
It took on a jello-like feel. I pushed my self into the wall. When I was in it, I had this electric buzzing sensation
around me. More intersting, I had this swoosh of sound that echoed as I passed through. I think this was
my brains way of simulating the event of passing through time/space (I&#39;m a big sci-fi fan). It almost sounded
like the molecules were re-aligning to a different time space location. When I got to the other side, I was not
outside my house - but rather in a room reminiscent of my parents bedroom. It was decorated very old fashioned.
There were a few other elements, but that&#39;s the gist.

Sunday evening I had a WILD. I am no expert at this technique. It was brief (maybe 1 min), but the visuals 
where cohesive enough to call a dream. I was emersed in the scene (it was all around me). I did not have 
bodily substance, it was more like an OOB. I remember reading a paper by the lucidity institute in which they 
claim this is very common. I was along a river, in NYC I think. The land was actually a strip of runway that I think
I seem to remember from a previous dream. My perspective was from within a car driving along the runway.
Suddenly, a small boat came flying across the runway and landed in the river. I was not startled by this, knowing
it was a dream and could not hurt me.

*Summary/conclusions:*
So in 3 days of dreaming where I had enough ADR built up in my system to have full effect, I had 1 close call,
1 DILD and 1 WILD. Dream recall was improved by at least one additional dream per night. The tendency was
toward dreams that were a little more cohesive in nature.

These results are noteably better than anything I achieved with Calea Z. I have a 10x extract still laying around.
My past results with that herb were marginal at best.

Calea works because it&#39;s a mild stimulant. There&#39;s actually a fair amount of real scientific data on this subject.
By increasing the number of awakenings during the night, you tend to remember more dreams.

I suspect ADR works via the same mechanism - at least to some degree. There are several alkaloid based
compounds in it. These probably tend to have a stimulant effect. Personally, I noticed that by Saturday night, I was 
having trouble falling asleep. My guess, is this might continue until I ramp down from the substance (within
a couple days or so). If you&#39;re not sleeping, you&#39;re not dreaming. So my speculation is that best results are
obtained with about a 5-6 day usage. I&#39;ll experiment some with that idea.

Overall, I found my expererience with this substance to be productive. Very encouraging - certainly more
helpful than the better known Calea Z.

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## Spamtek

Nice writeup.

For taking the suggested dose every day for _a week_, those results actually sound a little depressing... at least compared to some of the things I&#39;ve read on the erowid vaults.  I&#39;m about gearing up to fly through the zenith of my second Silene session (can you call it a trip?); I ingested on Sunday morning so tonight will be night 2, and I&#39;m eager to see what happens.

I think we ought to have a sticky for each of the well-known dream herbs, rather than having each person post up a new thread about their own experiences; it would be a lot more cogent.

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## VPedretti

> I purchased 50 grams for &#036;87.00. When the bag arrived, it was just shy of 2 ounces. After seven days
> of taking 1/2 teaspoon per day, I hardly dented the bag. I probably consumed 1/10 the bag, putting the cost
> at roughly &#036;1.00 per day, give or take. Shipping and billing was discreet, though this substance is not illegal
> in the US. There were no ordering restrictions listed, so I suspect it&#39;s legal elsewhere.




Dr. Technical, 
I am curious to know if you used powdered ADR or if you shredded whole root? And if possible can you recommend a reputable website that carries it? 

Thanks,
Vic

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## catzisconfus

how did you buy this?

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