First let’s clear things up – blue lily is not a lotus – it is a lily! Blue lotus is the name often used, but its real name, in fact, is blue lily. The lily grows its blue, deliciously aromatic flower high out of the swamp, not on the surface like a lotus does.
So what are the effects of blue lily (Nymphaea caerulea)?
Well in a nutshell blue lily is relaxing, however if you’re not expecting too much from it,
it can be perceptibly transporting.
You can smoke it or drink it in tea, but the relaxing effects are hardly noticeable…except in a concentrated form.
Blue Lilly works far better in alcohol, especially white wine, because its bitter taste really ruins a red wine.
Better yet– soak it in vodka!
So how do you do this!?
Cover 10 grams of the herb with vodka or white wine and if you’re keeping the alcohol in a bottle, use something like a chopstick to poke the herb down into the bottle and then seal it. The longer you leave the herb covered with the alcohol the better.
However if you can’t wait to try it – remember it is said that a sign of maturity is being able to delay gratification – even a few hours of soaking the herb will give you something!
Blue Lily Magic
I was serving blue lily vodka at a rave once, and a friend’s brother and his new friend came up to me for some, but I’d run out. He was so disappointed, he pleaded for some, so I added more water to the mulch to make a kind of very weak tea out of it.
I saw him the next day and he was just illuminated! He said he had the most amazing time. He and his friend sat outside all night and talked and looked at the stars, and only realised how long they had been sitting there when they saw day break coming! The flower had transported them to a beautiful place, and that is what I find so unique about blue lily.
Blue lily is extra special, in fact one of the most magical herbs.
You just can’t pin it down! It is as elusive as that.
It is so spiritual, it is ethereal and is divine in that way! And yet you can’t really remember it, you just know it is special and highly regard it.
The way it grows out of swamps, out of the muck and filth, in a way is reflective of us! As I walk around now, I am fully aware that there is muck forming in my body, and from these “swamps” blue lily emerges and flowers, like we humans emerge with our flowering brain.
I believe the lily represents our human transformation from basics to beauty.
The Ancient Egyptian Dream Flower
Interestingly the blue lily is engraved into many Egyptian pyramids, and similarly the white lily is depicted on Mayan temples! Archaeological evidence indicates that
Cleopatra was into it too!
An excerpt from a text about blue lily*: “The Egyptians saw that the blue water lily opened up each morning, seeing the intense golden centre set against the blue petals,
seemingly an imitation of the sky that would greet the sun, releasing sweet perfume.
Each afternoon they would close again, only to open again each day. The flower was therefore firmly linked with the rising and the setting of the sun, and thus to the sun god and the story of creation. The religious significance of the flower was great – many columns of the Egyptian temples had water lily capitals crowning them.”
Modern Day Blue Lily
An herb wholesaler in the U.S. who I used to buy herbs from started selling blue lily and then got really into it and became fascinated by the whole lily family– so much that, although he used to sell us other herbs, he now only sells lilies. From working with the lilies, he became increasingly aware that our dream time state could be our actual reality, and this daytime world we live in is a dream.
It truly is the most unrealised and unappreciated plant, although lots of us do think it’s special.
Same goes for the people who used to harvest it for us, who were in a dangerous profession– they’d go into the swamps to pick the flowers, where brown snakes lay in wait for rats! But they would do it because they, too, were captivated with the blue lily!
Blue lily is subtle, ethereal and relaxing. Some won’t really notice it, but it makes such a relaxing drink – a little dreamy, giggly, chilled or “tiddly,” perhaps even sensual.
But, if you’re lucky and in the right place and company (set and setting), you will be ethereally transported!
Happy Herb Shops carries it as a dried herb, spagyric, and extract, so you can enjoy the effects of this happy herb in your favourite way.
*Text about blue lily: http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_waterlily.html#.XSeNo
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