Divination Tea

Since I've joined Tumblr, its users have been asking things of me from time to time. This time, it was someone interested in a herbal infusion, or tea, that would aid in psychic, visions-related work and divination.

Now, I don't usually practice this, so please keep in mind that I don't have as much experience here as, say, in making soup. (Or pasta. I have enormous experience in making pasta. Mmm... pasta...) Anyway, I've researched the topic a bit, dusted off my old herbaria, and before I knew I came up with an essay on the subject. So here it is, so that You never miss anything that might be interesting over there, if You only come here.

There are many herbs that can be used for this purpose. It depends on how do you want to approach it.

• Quite often, the herbs used for divination and psychic stimulation are potent psychedelics. This is a common approach and based on many traditions, which independently worked out that some substances can have this effect. However, I never recommend self-use of these plants, because calculating the right dosages can be tricky and they can be very dangerous.
• Another way to go about this is deep relaxation. To open up your mind means you must first leave the mundane worries aside, and the right herbal relaxants can be really helpful here (the wrong herbal relaxants will just put you to sleep). Especially if you intend to use meditation as well, this is a very good choice. Herbs like lavender and vervain are great here, because while they have a calming effect, they have an aroma that will not make you drowsy. Add some mint and you’ve got yourself a nice tea that will relax you and help you leave stress behind. (Don’t use such relaxants as hops or other strong somnifera, and don’t use things you don’t like the taste of, because unpleasant taste will cause stress and keep you anchored to your grumbling body.)
• Thirdly, there are herbs magically associated with divination and auguries. They differ depending on tradition, but the ones I know of are sage, mugwort, dandelion root, chase-devil, thyme, hibiscus flower… a lot of them, in fact, way too much to list here.

What I propose for you is to mix the mild relaxants with the divination ingredients. You could just throw them all together, but there are some practical considerations to keep in mind here, such as taste. Hibiscus will drown most other tastes, to that’s good if you like it (mugwort tea is kinda eww, anyway). Too much lavender can make for a bitter infusion. A lot of these are also diuretics, so give too much and your visionary awakening will happen in the toilet.

So, a sensible tea mix with these would be something like:

• one teaspoon of vervain,
• half teaspoon of lavender
• half teaspoon of peppermint
• half teaspoon of sage
• half teaspoon of chase-devil

You can substitute the last three with things like mugwort, hibiscus etc., (though if you want to add dandelion root, give even less) but I’d advise against using more than five ingredients, because you’d either have to make a huge pot of it or it will be too strong and unpleasant.