5 Plant Allies for Dreamwork

Today we talking all about potent plant allies for dream work and sleep assistance. I’ve carefully chosen some really powerful and magical plants that are also accessible to buy or harvest.

When we are asleep, we enter into our inner world and can have incredible, vivid experiences that sometimes don’t make a lot of sense. When we begin to incorporate things like an intention and plant allies before we fall asleep, we can allow ourselves to go deeper within our dream worlds to explore our selves, the universe, new timelines and download information and wisdom that can assist us in our waking lives.

As well, it’s really common for people to not dream at all or not remember their dreams, and these plants and herbs can assist with changing those things.

All of the plants that I’m going to talk about can be used in a variety of ways. They can be consumed for example via teas, tinctures, herbal smokes, and food. Or, they can be used energetically. The plants can be placed near you while you sleep, use sprays or you can work with the smoke that comes from burning them dried. Whenever you’re consuming plants and herbs, make sure that the quality is as good as possible and always do your research to make sure that it’s safe for you to consume for example, that it doesn’t disrupt any medications or cause conflict with your health. So if consuming these herbs isn’t an option for you, working with them energetically might be preferred. 

Now, I’m not going to be diving into the scientific features of these allies such as how they grow or how to forage for them but talking more specifically about their energetic, spiritual and magical properties.

So before we get into the list I want to quickly touch on chamomile and lavender. I’m not including them in this list because they are pretty basic herbs that we all know can assist us with calming our mind and body for sleep. Both chamomile and lavender can be used together and with all of the plants in this list. In fact, all of these plants here work together or on their own. So I just wanted to acknowledge the magic of those herbs, but I want to this use opportunity to dive deeper into more complex plant allies for dreamwork and sleep.

Wild coastal mugwort

1. Mugwort (artemisia vulgaris)

Abilities: lucid dreaming, visions, womb healing, dream work

Mugwort is, in my opinion, the master dreamwork plant ally. It is an absolutely incredible ally for inducing lucid dreaming, dream awareness and insights and carrying your intentions through to your dreams. 

Mugwort can not only help to induce vivid lucid dreams but it can also make dreams more colorful in its visuals. It can induce the frequency and clarity of your dreams as well as help with dream recall the next morning. It’s so powerful that it is also used in shamanic work to achieve trance states.

There are actually several different types of mugwort and each one has a different level of potency that can assist you in its own ways. So variants like wormwood, sagewort and coastal mugwort can be included in this one! 

Mugwort is also an ancestral herb, so paying attention to where your mugwort is harvested and showing gratitude to that land can really assist you when working with mugwort as an ally. To get the most out of mugwort as a dream ally, I would suggest consuming it if that’s an option for you. Mugwort teas, tinctures and herbal smokes are among the most potent ways to consume this plant. As well I always want to issue a warning with mugwort to not consume when pregnant as it can induce uterine contractions and keep in mind that mugwort can be a diuretic so stay hydrated when consuming it

I want to share a pretty intense dream experience that I had using a mugwort tincture. 

I consumed the tincture in the forest with the mugwort plants that were in the tincture. and I took several droppers over about a half hour in the middle of the day. Later that night I had what is called a false awakening - it’s an aspect of lucid dreaming. I woke up within my dream. I was wearing the same clothes, my room looked as it did, I was having an experience where my spirit was witnessing myself in some way. I realized I was awake within my dream and then I woke up in real life and it happened all over again. It was so moving and when we have experiences like this, it can really expand our awareness and curiosity too.

I have an entire video on the magic of mugwort, so definitely check that out and the link is for you below.

Dried blue lotus

2.  Blue Lotus (nymphaea caerulea)

Also known as the Blue Egyptian Water Lily.

Abilities: Sedative, calming, destressing, anxiety reducing, psychoactive, euphoric, promotes lucid dreaming.

Blue lotus is a psychoactive and it can provide mild states of euphoria, that can be compared to a psilocibin micro dose. Super mild in comparison, but if you are feeling grounded and clear when ingesting blue lotus then you’ll be able to feel that state of euphoria more deeply and it feels really good when you’re about to fall asleep.Blue lotus is so powerful for inducing vivid lucid dreams because of its psychoactive properties and how sedative it is. It promotes a deep sleep in addition to allowing your mind and third eye to explore your inner worlds.

The ancient Egyptians were known to use blue lotus to expand their consciousness and third eye and it was a symbol of immortality and the afterlife within that culture. 

I love to pair blue lotus with mugwort, because together they have the ability to create incredibly vivid dream experiences. My favourite way to pair these two together is through a smoke blend. my go to dreamwork herbal smoke blend is coastal mugwort, blue lotus and rose petals. I smoke it before bed as I’m unwinding and let the smoke wash through my body and release energy that needs to go so that while I sleep I can be a clear channel to receive and remember my dreams and to also invoke vivid dreams that can take me on wild ride. I love that.

As well, both blue lotus and mugwort are great to introduce into your life if you don’t experience dreams and you want to.

Valerian plant

3. Valerian (valeriana officinalis)

Abilities: Insomnia, dream recall, muscle relaxant, longer sleeps and longer dreams and provides an over all sense of calm.

Valerian can help you fall into a deep sleep, stay asleep and remember your dreams upon waking. So it’s a really great sleep aid that can assist with dreamwork basics like staying within a deep sleep to be able to have meaningful dreams and insights and then remembering them upon waking. Because Valerian assists with keeping you in a deep sleep, I consider this herb a great ally for lucid dreaming in particular because when we’re trying to achieve this state of dreaming, we want to be in a deep slumber and not interrupted if possible.

I have valerian tea with passion flower every night before bed because I’m a life long night owl and insomnia is something that I battle. My creativity really comes to life at night so I can stay up all night. so I make a valerian and passion flower tea about an hour before I’m preparing to go to bed which helps me go to bed earlier and fall asleep quicker. Valerian, smells…really really bad which is why I choose the valerian passion flower blend that you can get from the store.  Valerian on its own smells like a wet dog, but it does work. The reason that passion flower isn’t in this list, is because in my experience it’s the valerian that is the more powerful dream work ally.  As well, I’ve suffered with really intense nightmares in the past and I’ve found that consuming valerian every day has really assisted with calming those nightmares. So it’s not just calming in the sense that it relaxes your body and muscles but it can also relax your mind and your shadows.

Garden lemon balm

4. Lemon Balm (melissa officinalis)

Abilities: Calming, banishes nightmares, muslce relaxant, sweet dreams, anti-anxiety.

Lemon balm is such a calming and relaxing herb and it helps to clear out mental clutter. It can also act as a sedative for your mind and body. For these reasons, it’s really great to consume before bed because it’s often when we’re trying to sleep that our mind goes into over drive thinking and thinking. 

Lemon balm can help cut out that mental clutter so that you can enter into your sleep with less stress, anxiety and thoughts. This can ultimately help you receive dreams that are not so much based on those anxieties and stressors. 

In addition to its calming abilities, lemon balm can also improve mood and just over all it encourages a well rested sleep which can assist with the state of our nervous system. These properties can help us with our dream work because it sets us up for a healthy and calm state of body and mind. Lemon balm is so calming, that its ability to keep you in a deep sleep can actually limit your dreams so this is another herb that I use to assist with my nightmares. I find that if I consume lemon balm on its own my dreams are really mild, so I’m able to have a really deep rest but also have dreams that don’t induce anxiety. Sometimes, with lemon balm, my sleep is so deep that I barely even remember my dreams if I had them which is abnormal to me. So this herb is super helpful if you are looking to limit your dreams in any way. 

Yellow yarrow

5. Yarrow (achillea millefolium)

yarrow is an incredible herb for amplifying visions and also for divination, so it pairs well with dreamwork as our dreams are a direct link to the wisdom of our higher self, other wise known as our purest state of consciousness. Yarrow is quite a hearty plant, it’s very strong and resilient and I think these characteristics can also assist us in our dreams. yarrow can strengthen our state of mind, which can allow us be grounded, clear and resilient within our dreams. This might assist us if we are trying to achieve lucid states, go on adventures or trying to gain control within a dream. 

Because of the strength of yarrow, it can also act as a dream protector. So this is a really great herb to keep near you while you sleep or use in sleep spellwork. 

Check out my video detailing these herbs on youtube!