Dear Drugs-Forum readers: We are a small non-profit that runs one of the most read drug information & addiction help websites in the world. We serve over 3 million readers per month, and have costs like all popular websites: servers, hosting, licenses and software. To protect our independence we do not run ads. We take no government funds. We run on donations which average $25. If everyone reading this would donate $5 then this fund raiser would be done in an hour. If Drugs-Forum is useful to you, take one minute to keep it online another year by donating whatever you can today. Donations are currently not sufficient to pay our bills and keep the site up. Your help is most welcome. Thank you.
Mugworts main psychoactive use is as a dream enhancer. It can be smoked, brewed as a tea or placed inside a dream pillow and put under pillow before going to sleep.
Users claim it can produce lucid and colorful dreams, prophetic dreams and astral travel.
It was once referred to as sailors tobacco, as it was smoked by sailors a an alternative to tobacco and/or cannabis. When smoked, Mugwort gives a very mild high, similar to Wormwood. In fact, Mugwort is very similar to Wormwood.
Mugwort was also used to make beer before the introduction of Hops.
As for why it works when placed inside a pillow, I am not sure, but would assume the actives fill the air surrounding the pillow and are inhaled by the sleeper when he breaths.
Swim has experimented with Mugwort, he combined all three methods of use and said he felt a sensation of blasting off into flight when drifting off to sleep. This feeling was so intense that swim kept waking up with a fright.
SWIM once experimented in-depth w/mugwort. He cut out all pot smoking, and started his new smoking habit by combining sage and mugwort into rollies at a 50-50 ratio. With no THC to cloud the issue, one doob of this combo gave a nice relaxed, semi-stoney feeling, with real restful sleep at night. No noticably increased dream activity. Later SWIM cut out the sage,as he got a little tired if the taste and it was kind of harsh. He substituted green teas and black teas, eventually settling on green, and also added a sparkle of catnip.
Im not gonna bore SWIyous with all of the details, just the conclusions.
-Mugwort for SWIM is a real smooth tasty smoke. Dream enhancement for this individual was minimal, at best.
-SWIM does NOT smoke cigs OR pot, and this combo, done once a week (no more than twice), always results in a very nice, mellow, relaxed "high" that lasts for 30-60 minutes with no paranoia, no "dumb" feeling, no hangover, and no breaking of the law (a pleasant aspect if you ask SWIM).
So have SWIY simply mix up even amounts of catnip ("Cosmic Catnip" being SWIM's favorite brand, mostly cuz of the name and the pie-eyed cat sitting on a rainbow that adorns the package. SWIM never had the best luck with fresh.), Mugwort (SWIM mail-ordered his), and generic green tea, and twist up a smoke (SWIM goes pretty small, about 1/4" diameter cuz it'll burn better). Sit back and enjoy.
Sorry to be off-topic, SWIM does not know what class of psychoactive mugwort is, if it even is one!
Mugwort's main active ingredient is thujone, which has some chemical relation to THC but is not experientially very similar, and is not as safe. Thujone builds up in the body and there are reports of overdose [convulsions] after a month of use of small amounts due to buildup so regular use is not recommended.
Since the amount available for ingestion simply from using a mugwort pillow is very small it's hard to see how it could work, but anecdotal evidence suggests it may.
I believe the relation of Thujone to THC theory has now been discredited. Mugwort contains less Thujone than Sage or Rosemary, perhaps there are other actives involved besides the Thujone?
I believe the relation of Thujone to THC theory has now been discredited. Mugwort contains less Thujone than Sage or Rosemary, perhaps there are other actives involved besides the Thujone?
Thujone and THC are certainly chemically related. The idea discredited is that thujone activates primarily cannabinoid receptors as its now known it activates primarily GABA receptors so its effects are not substantially similar to THC.
It's very possible mugwort contains some other actives but its psychoactive effects are primarily similar to other thujone plants like wormwood [absinthe], some sages, I think dogwood, mistletoe, and others. All these contain enough thujone so that extracts and other preparations can deliver significant doses of thujone and those doing much experimenting with thujone would be well advised to reserach its ability to build up in the body as a cumulative toxin over time. Hope this helps
Thujone is not very psychoactive anyway. It is far more physiologically active. Search 'thujone absinthe' for several threads discussing this already. it is likely some other substance that is responsible.
I consider thujone significantly psychoactive though less so than THC, alcohol etc - more along strength of sinicuichi, dagga, etc.
But it's not generally associated with enhanced dreaming and any doses available through the air from a pillow seem unlikely to be effective. So mugwort's dream enhancement is likely either mythical, or due to something else.
Amounts of thujone in absinthe are not thought to be enough to have significant psychoactive effects and much recent discussion assumes absinthe's effects are essentially from alcohol and placebo effect. Personally I consider the 19th century anecdotal consensus including from many users familair with various psychoactives fairly convincing that absinthe had effects distinct from alcohol alone. Maybe an interaction between alcohol and thujone? Or modern estimates of thujone content that was in absinthe are too low? But I'm in the minority on this.
besides thujone also contains cineol aka Eucalyptol, which as an essential oil is probably psychoactive; pinene, and amyrine, neither of which seems likely psychoactive.
