¶ Intro / Opening
Different plants, different voices, and different ways of having conversations.
¶ Introduction to Plant Medicine
It's time to get personal with plant medicine. Welcome to Getting Personal with Plant Medicine. I'm your host, Diana, and today I am joined once again by Christian Brasmosen of Minnesota Nice Ethnobotanicals. That almost didn't come out of my mouth. It's kind of a mouthful, ethnobotanicals. Anyway, how are you doing today, Christian? I'm doing really well. Thanks for having me back. It's always good to talk with you. And you. And me, you.
All right. So we wanted to do this before Valentine's Day, but it didn't work out. But if you did catch our Valentine's Day gift guide, you might have seen that we recommended Blue Lotus on there. and I was able to try it thanks to you sending it to me.
¶ The Allure of Blue Lotus
So that's what we'll be talking about today. You have a lot of offerings, but this is one of them that I like, you know, I'm saying I'm obsessed, but it's in the mixture now. You know what I mean? Like now it's part of my routine. I like adding the Blue Lotus tea to other teas as well. Like combining like the kratom and the blue lotus or anyway. So enough about me.
¶ Personal Journeys with Blue Lotus
Can you share with us what drew you to the healing properties of blue lotus and how you became fascinated by it? Yeah. So I actually, I've known of, well, I mean, I've known of Amanita for a long time, but I've experienced blue lotus since, you know, I think I first started using it in my early 20s. So I've used it a lot longer than I've used Amanita, which is, of course, our bread and butter. Blue Lotus is a close second,
at least for sales for us. It's the second most popular product that we offer, products that we offer. And yeah, I mean, I started using it in my early 20s. It was, what I found was that, you know, I've discovered a lot more as we've gone along this journey. I think at that point in my life, I was more looking for something to, I mean, I was looking for more of an effect, I suppose, than the spiritual implications that it has. But I really enjoyed it. I mean, I would use it mixed with cannabis,
or you mentioned using it with other teas. We found that it's one of the best synergy substances out there. So it mixes really well with just about anything. It mixes extraordinarily well with traditional psychedelics. It adds this like empathogenic texture to it, I suppose. It just changes the experience. But yeah, I mean, I used it. I used it throughout my 20s, kind of sporadically. I'd get some and I'd enjoy it. I'd use it a little bit, but it didn't quite really take hold.
I guess I didn't quite understand what it was for at this point in my life, which was a very chaotic time period filled with addiction and other issues. And it wasn't until I really, you know, I got off of benzodiazepines, which we outlined in the last episode, which led me to Amanita. And during this period of.
Of healing my brain after getting off benzos, Blue Lotus came up again and again and again and again, similarly to Amanita, maybe not quite as powerfully as Amanita came up, but it kept cropping up. And I found this extract that was absolutely phenomenal. And this is the same extract that we carry now. And I learned a little bit more about its use and its efficacy.
And I learned more about the fact that it's used for for things like worship or spiritual practices when i was you know i've always been very spiritual but i was i was getting very into my spirituality at this point connecting to myself and and yeah my spirit and i started using it in that vein to to accentuate worship or to accentuate spiritual practices and it completely opened the door to a whole new realm of of use cases for me yeah and then you know i i i contacted this supplier
and we worked out an arrangement and it was the second product we started selling aside from you know after amanita and yeah the rest is the rest is kind of history we've we've learned so much over these years about its efficacy and use case and how how powerful it really is and you know one of the things i was always curious about was like because it's it's such a it's very mild you know it's very subtle in and of itself.
¶ Ancient Egyptian Reverence
So I was maybe confused for years about why it was the ancient Egyptians preferred plant medicine. You know, it's depicted throughout tombs. And like, I mean, it was a very revered plant medicine back then. And the more that I've learned about it, the more we've gathered anecdotes and I've experienced it.
And I know people that have experienced it, the more we realize that it really makes sense because it's such a powerful, tool to be used in adjunct with a spiritual practice because it increases the output of what one's looking to accomplish. It allows one to get into a very, very deep meditative state, very much calms the mind. And it really accentuates any spiritual practice or worship with its heart opening properties. And yeah.
So not to cut you off, but now you've got me thinking, wondering, I mean, I have been wondering for a while now, but when you said that you used it with cannabis, did that mean that you smoked it or did you use it in an edible? Like what was the method of consumption when you first began? Yeah. So back, back then I only had access to the flowers. So I would either smoke it with cannabis or I would brew a tea while I was using cannabis.
Yeah. But it adds, like, like I mentioned, it adds a different texture to the experience. It's kind of hard to quantify and it's almost intangible, but it adds this heart-opening.
Aspect to it that you that you don't get otherwise and it's it's really it's really pleasant like mixed mixed with anything it's very very powerful and this this also ties into the to the ancient egyptians and it's very likely that they were mixing it with other other plant medicines and compounds yeah yeah i mixed it with hibiscus flower tea yeah a couple of nights in a row and I really liked that. Like at night I do it. But is there like a preference?
Do you have a preference during the day, at night? Is it another adaptogenic where you have, it's depending on what you want the outcome to be? Yeah, I mean, somewhat. Me personally, I use it for spiritual practice now. Like that's really all I use it for. Like before meditation, it helps me to get so much deeper and unlock so much more before doing any sort of ritual or, or really, you know, any, even if it's something like therapy or communication with a loved one, it just opens the heart.
So it allows one to, to open up a lot more. That being said, I think most people, most people will use it at night. Although there's a lot of people that use it during the day, we have a lot of people that take the gummies relatively consistently just because it has such a great, you know, when your heart's more open, your anxiety levels go down, your confidence rises, et cetera, et cetera.
But one of the really unique fun things that we found that I don't know, I haven't read about anywhere, and this was kind of a revelation for us. And it came from a customer actually that, that claim that they use, this is before we had the gummies, but they use the extract and a tea in very low doses consistently throughout the day, like they would use Amanita for a micro dose, where they take three doses of a very low dose, you know, spread throughout the day, every day consistently.
And they claimed that by the end of it, their heart was just like blasted open, essentially after a few weeks of this. And so we, you know, naturally we decided to test it on ourselves and we all came to the same conclusion.
And that's been relatively consistent across the board with people now, at least with the anecdotes that we gather through our customer base that, yeah, when, when used consistently, it seems to open the heart up quite a bit and raise people's capacity for love and compassion and so on and so forth. So it doesn't necessarily make you tired. I mean, I don't think that it makes me sleepy. That's one thing I have noticed. I actually have taken it during the day and I was fine.
¶ Consumption Methods and Recommendations
But what would you say as far as. The amount to start like what would be if you're doing the extract because that's in powder form if if someone buys it from you correct what would your recommendation be i know everybody's different and and but like what do you what would you personally start with if you never tried it before yeah so i mean we make our gummies for instance at 300 milligrams of the extract which is about the equivalent of three grams
of the raw flour now this being said with there there are two main compounds in blue lotus. One is water soluble and the other is ethanol soluble. So when you brew a tea out of it, you only get the water soluble compounds. You're not actually getting the full effect of the plant. It still can be very pleasant, but with something like the extract, it's a full spectrum extract. So you get both of those compounds. So when I say 300 milligrams is equivalent to three grams of the flower, it is.
But that being said, when you make a tea out of the flour, you're only getting half of the equation. So that's why a lot of people find that smoking it produces more of an effect because they're getting both of those compounds. However, it's a lot to smoke three grams of flour. Like that's a lot of flour to ingest. It hurts the lungs. It's a little bit rough. But yeah, so I think 300 milligrams is generally a good starting point with the extract.
That being said, it seems to have diminishing returns after a while. So my sweet spot is one and a half to two grams of the extract, it seems, which is, you know, the equivalent of 10 to 20 grams of flour. It's a lot of flour. With extract, it's easy. You know, it's easy to consume. The extract mix is great in hot water. It tastes wonderful. It wonderfully has a tea. The gummies taste good. But then like four grams doesn't seem like it's nearly twice as strong as two grams.
And then eight grams isn't nearly twice as strong as eight grams or as four grams. So it has diminishing returns after a while. Yeah, two, one and a half to two grams is my personal sweet spot. As you said, everybody's physiology is different. Some people might notice a much stronger effect from, you know, half a gram or other people might need, you know, closer to a few grams. Fortunately, it's, it's pretty affordable. So it's, you know, it's able to be experimented with.
But yeah, and then the other method around this solubility issue is, and what the Egyptians would do a lot is they'd brew their blue lotus in wine. So you have ethanol and you have, you know, water. So you get both of the compounds extracted into the liquid medium, and then they drink the wine in their ritual, whatever it may be. So that's another method that a lot of people use. I don't drink alcohol, so it doesn't work for me. But, you know, a lot of people really love using it.
That is so smart. I mean, personally, I'm starting to have an issue with those types of extractions because I don't drink alcohol anymore. And I don't know, I think I'm more sensitive to it than I ever have been, you know. But I am curious because I haven't tried the extract yet. So I'm wondering, like, how should I prepare it? Yeah, just just mix it in some hot water. That's the best way to do it. It tastes good. It's florally.
Certain batches can be a little more bitter than others, which is, you know, any plant extract batch is going to vary a little bit from batch to batch. But generally, it tastes pretty pleasant. And yeah, I would start with that 300 milligrams to a half gram in some hot water and just sip it as a tea and note how you feel. And then, you know, up it as necessary. All right. I like that.
¶ Precautions and Psychoactive Effects
I mean, because nothing too wild will happen at first right I mean like what do you think the precautions should be like what should people keep in mind before they begin this journey.
Fortunate it's such a subtle ally it's so subtle like there's there's this there's this noticeable for most people body sensation that feels almost akin to something like kratom but not but it's more subtle where it's it's this warmth but it it centers in the heart and there's this heart opening people find that they're more loving and more sociable and then yeah as i mentioned it works it works so well in conjunction with something like meditation or lucid dreaming
or astral projection or whatever spiritual practice one is doing but as far as precautions i i mean i can't really think of any off the top of my head it's i i i'm not concerned about driving under the influence of it or anything like that like i'm not gonna i'm not gonna be acting weird it's such a subtle it's such a subtle thing that it's it's kind of like maybe like a really potent cup of chamomile tea in essence where like you know you're still functioning just fine yeah so
there's you know as far as precautions i think there's concern about people taking antipsychotics utilizing blue lotus because it hits a lot of the same receptor sites that that antipsychotic medications hit which actually make it it makes make it a really interesting potential that makes it a potential use case as an antipsychotic. But yeah, other than that, there's really not many known interactions or worries that I would have. But it is considered psychoactive, right?
And I know that means that it just changes the way that your brain is working, basically. But when people hear that word, they might be a little bit like, oh, well, you know, maybe I shouldn't mess around with that. So what do you say to those people that are a little bit afraid of that term, that word, psychoactive?
Yeah, I mean, I understand that as a thought. But look, I mean, like caffeine is psychoactive and everybody in this world, nearly everybody in the Western world utilizes caffeine daily. I mean, there's a plethora of sugar is psychoactive. I mean, food is psychoactive. Like everything changes the biochemistry.
And with that being said, if one is really not looking to alter their brain chemistry as much as possible, then yeah, maybe stay away from more psychoactive substances or as much as you can. But I mean, it's in the end, I believe that these substances are here for a reason. And if one is feeling my new calling to them, then there's probably something there to explore for them.
¶ Connection and Libido Enhancement
Well, I appreciate you taking your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add about the Blue Lotus experience? I think that it's just it's like, you know, I want to keep reiterating the power behind it used in conjunction with something like like worship or or connection or, you know, meditation. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I don't mean to cut you off. I'm like, duh.
Yeah, we talked about Valentine's Day, guys. So let's talk about that a little bit more, the connection part of it, because people do use it for, like, helping with their libido or just helping with amorous feelings, I guess, right? I think it helps me at least be in a better mood. I mean, it wasn't anything like super, like you said, it's very subtle. So I couldn't pinpoint exactly if it was just part of like an entourage effect with the other things I was using.
But what do you say about that part of it? Because I'm sure you've heard some of your customers say they've used it for that, for helping with libido and such.
Yeah i mean it's a potent aphrodisiac i think you'll find a lot more efficacy from the extract it's just it's so much more potent you're able to get much more of the experience out of it but yeah i mean it's it's it's really wonderful for that for connection and love like you know if opening the heart is such an important aspect to any sort of connection with any individual whether it's romantic or not and it just has such a profound heart opening capability to
it yeah and on that note i mean i i work i work with the with a church out of out of georgia they just opened up and they're called blue lotus ministries and they worship with blue lotus and so they do they do all of their they do all of their worshiping with blue lotus they do all of their sermons with blue lotus it's a non-denominational church but this this individual that started it I mean, Blue Lotus, it was a similar story that I had to Amanita with him and Blue Lotus.
It completely, it turned his life around. He's a very, I don't know the ends of the story, but he's a very spiritual guy. And I assume that, you know, it opened him up to his spirit in such a way that allowed him to really begin his own personal healing journey. And yeah, he developed this church because of its profound impact. And they've, you know, they have individuals that come and worship with Blue Lotus. And so like that's part of that heart opening and connection.
And if one can worship in that sense, then, you know, the effect that it can have on your day-to-day life with your spouse or your children or your friends or your boss or whomever, it can be pretty profound as well. So how do they work that? And now I'm really curious. Is it like part of their communion or I mean, do you have a drink of it before you start the service? Do you know how that works with them? I don't know entirely, but that's my assumption. Yeah, that's my assumption.
Do they use like the flower? I don't know. I'm getting really specific here, but I'm just curious. Like, does everybody, like, is it prerequisite? I mean. He purchases and we donate flower. Okay. So yeah, yeah, yeah. They're using the flower. I think I've sent him some extract. I'm getting him turned on to Amanita right now too. I need to go down to Georgia and visit and see what he has, see his operation. And he does a lot of really cool stuff, or they do a lot of really cool stuff.
They donate food to various organizations. They shelter people. I mean, he's a really, really profoundly tapped in and compassionate individual. To me, it's a testament to really the capability of it being a connector and a heart opener. The fact that this individual had such a profound experience with it that he decided he wanted to open up a church that's revolving around it, you know, which is, it's really, really amazing.
I mean, that I have never heard of. I've heard of people having the cannabis-centered churches. Mm-hmm. But that's interesting. And I wonder if it's like all botanicals that are things that help with, you know, spirituality. Like, I guess you might be expanding, it sounds like. But that's really interesting. I'm definitely going to be researching it later. Yeah, yeah. Blue Lotus Ministries.
¶ Amanita Research Initiatives
That is so interesting. So you mentioned Amanita. Before we end, let's talk about what you have going on with Amanita Research.
Do you want to talk a little bit about that? yeah please so we're we're so fortunate i don't know how the universe just lines this stuff up but it just does for us i mean we're on a i'm on a mission you know and i guess it's the mission is supported so but yeah we got connected with with these guys out of california that connected us with a group called brain mechanics brain mechanics is a toronto-based company they've developed,
the owner of Kamir has developed and patented this system that can track every physiological system in the body from the cannabinoid system to the GABA system to the cardiovascular system to the electromagnetic output from various chakras in the body. So he can track and trace physical systems and then more spiritual quote-unquote systems, even though they're still physical systems. They're just not in the current Western paradigm of understanding.
And they can do this for really affordable prices. And furthermore, Khmer is completely turned on to Amanita. I'm sure we discussed in the last podcast when somebody gets it with Amanita, it's as if a switch gets flipped. And they're on the mission because they see the potential of this to really have such a profound impact on the world.
And then kamir's that switch has been flipped for him so he wants to help and they're willing to do these studies at really really affordable reasonable prices so like if we were to go to university and try and get you know just one of these initial studies done it would cost a million dollars you know easily however with kamir we're able to do these for 10 15 000 very very cheap which is incredible. So we've started raising capital to do these. We have to fly there.
I think that the company was formulated in Toronto, but they're in the Dominican Republic right now, or that's where he is. And the system is portable. So he brings it around with them. So we're going to be going down there in the next few months. We've raised, you know, we've raised a good amount of, we've raised a small amount of capital through our, through our customer base.
And then, you know, we'll, we'll be, we'll be matching as we can, as we go along as well but then we also had a wonderful surprise by a large benefactor coming in who wants to support everything and is willing to fund the first round of studies. Now, the studies are going to be extensive and never-ending, really. The first study will be just to track and trace all these physiological systems and see what's going on in the body.
The next study will probably focus on benzo withdrawal, because that's what brought me into this in the first place. It's an epidemic that needs a solution, and there's no hard data, even though we have thousands of anecdotal reports about the efficacy of Amanita. There's no data about it. So then we'll get a benzo withdrawal study done, and then we'll move to other things, because there's an infinite amount of studies we can do.
As long as the capital is there, we're going to do it. We're going to make all the information open source. We're going to spread it via our own capital through PR campaigns. And it sounds like they can help us get the studies published in medical journals. And so, yeah, I mean, we're hitting the ground running with this. And we want to, again, we're on a mission. So I want to have the largest possible impact on the world.
And Amanita is the tool to get that done, at least at this stage in my life. And this is the way to get some concrete evidence that can be shared with professionals and potential consumers or interested people. So yeah, it's very exciting. And how do people get involved? There's a GoFundMe page on our website. I think it's on the top bar. I'm happy to send that over to you if you want to post it in the link of this as well. Oh, yeah, I'll post it in the show notes. I know it's on your website.
I just wanted to make sure people know. Yeah, and I mean, if anybody has any thoughts, I want this to be as open source as possible. So if anybody has any suggestions or thoughts as to what they want to see or suggestions as to how to do things the most efficiently as we can. We're open to discuss this stuff with anybody. So anybody can reach out on our contact form or email us.
Yeah, this is not for, you know, there will be some implications for us as a business, of course, like it can help with marketing and so on and so forth. But that's really not the intention behind this.
¶ Engaging with the Community
We want this data to be able to be presented to the world so that more people can be opened up to the potential of utilizing this most sacred, iconic mushroom for their own healing journey. Okay. Well, I love that. But I do have one more question. So you said people can reach out. So I do wonder, can people reach out to you if they have questions about how to consume Blue Lotus?
I mean, I know there's a lot of red tape about what you're allowed to tell people when it comes to how they consume and and what have you but that aside do you have like an open, an open source you know i'm not coming up with the word i'm trying to find right now but it seems like you're pretty available for feedback so i'm just wondering if people have questions who can they talk to, Always. Yeah, yeah. Reach out on the contact form, email us. We're always available to answer any questions.
Sometimes we have to dance around our responses a little bit. Yeah, there you go. That's a better way to say it. But, you know, that's okay. We've gotten very creative at how we do that and we're able to answer really any questions. So yeah, if anybody has any curiosities or questions, just reach out and we're happy to provide anybody with some info. I appreciate that because, as you know, when you're when you're shopping for botanicals or ethnobotanicals, it can be a little confusing.
And one thing I really like about your website is that you really detail the benefits and the potential outcomes and you give your own personal anecdotes. And I just really appreciate that because I find that that's not very common. So I figure since you're so open on your website, you probably are also open in real life to people reaching out. Yeah, and we're always looking for better ways to be able to explain this stuff.
And, you know, it's taken a lot of time for us to build the website out to where it's at. You know, it's been a lot of effort and it's all very worthwhile effort and stuff that we're very happy to do. But there's a lot more that we want up there. So we're always putting out new information. At some point, I'd like to have a full Blue Lotus guide, you know, to instruct people through how to navigate this new ally to them, at least. And yeah, but so we'll get there.
But yeah, there's a lot of info on the website and we're happy to answer any questions at any point. Well, I appreciate that. And I appreciate you spending time with me again today. Come back anytime. There are a lot more things to talk about. Yeah, yeah. I'm looking forward to it. I'm happy to. Your Highness Media, subscribe to our podcast. Why don't you subscribe to Your Highness Media? This podcast has been a product of Your Highness Media.
Each episode is written, produced, and edited by Your Highness Media. Thank you for listening.
