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Has anyone used Calamus root?

M

Mycophile

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Mar 3, 2014
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Not sure if this is the right forum for it but I have read that Calamus root can have psychoctive and stimulant effects if it is chewed.

There was some famous poet, it might even have been Whitman actually, I think it was either him, Emerson or Frost, who used to chew it for effects and swore by it.

Has anyone here ever tried Calamus and if so, what were its effects like?

Since it's legal and I've never heard of anyone using it other than the aforementioned poet I'm guessing it's no big deal, but I am thinking there must be SOME truth to the myths.
 
I have chewed calamus quite a bit. Most of what's on the market is the Indian variant, with different alkaloids than the American variant. Some say that the American is much better, and has a better taste. Also, supposedly the effects are best when it's fresh root (not dried). I've only tried with dried root, presumably Indian in origin.

It's certainly not psychedelic or trippy but it does indeed have effects. Subtle enough that they could easily be overlooked. I would say the main mental effects are of "opening", kind of like quieting the monkey mind and allowing a zen like feeling to flow through if you allow it. Also, it's a great antiviral and chewing it will keep away infection.

The main thing is that it's a magical plant. Calamus has a distinct spirit, it's a "teacher" plant like tobacco. Teaches the right way to live. I would highly recommend working with calamus if it calls to you. It's not a quick high or something like that though. Hope that helps. :)
 
Bluuberry said:
I have chewed calamus quite a bit. Most of what's on the market is the Indian variant, with different alkaloids than the American variant. Some say that the American is much better, and has a better taste. Also, supposedly the effects are best when it's fresh root (not dried). I've only tried with dried root, presumably Indian in origin.

It's certainly not psychedelic or trippy but it does indeed have effects. Subtle enough that they could easily be overlooked. I would say the main mental effects are of "opening", kind of like quieting the monkey mind and allowing a zen like feeling to flow through if you allow it. Also, it's a great antiviral and chewing it will keep away infection.

The main thing is that it's a magical plant. Calamus has a distinct spirit, it's a "teacher" plant like tobacco. Teaches the right way to live. I would highly recommend working with calamus if it calls to you. It's not a quick high or something like that though. Hope that helps. :)
Click to expand...

Interesting.

I might consider buying a little.

Can it's effects be compared to anything else though?

Is it kind of like drinking a nice cup of green tea or some chamomile or maybe taking a VERY minor dose of some green or white vein Kratom or something of the like?

Or maybe it is more like the nice stimulated feeling you get when you eat some spicy ginger that only seems to last about a minute? (I've always loved ginger and would consider it to be mind altering in the slightest possible extent, but so incredibly short acting most wouldn't consider it so...)

Also, what do you mean when you say that it "teaches the right way to live" and that it is "a teacher"?

I've heard it referred to as such by poets and thinkers who chewed it but it's kind of hard to understand how something that has effects almost so mild as to be akin to placebo to being able to teach one something.

I guess it's just a different way of thinking about things, more the way Native American shamans and other shamans regard plants with spirits and the whole Carlos Castaneda way of thinking.

If I were to order any would you suggest American or Indian, dried or fresh root?
 
Yeah, you could compare it to eating a bunch of ginger in terms of intensity. The effect is not like ginger though.

The effects are only so mild to be confused with placebo if you are not used to working with plant spirits. Chewing a root for it's spiritual value is a very different practice than chewing a tab of acid for it's hallucinogenic value. It's a relationship developed over time between you and the plant. "Plant Spirit Medicine" by Eliot Cowan is a good book to check out if you are interested in this sort of thing. I highly recommend it.

Regarding "teacher" plants: When working with plant spirits over time, sitting in meditation with them, some plants moreso than others will help you understand life. Tobacco is the best example I can give. If one works with the spirit of tobacco, giving gratitude and following through with any tasks the plant spirit may ask of one, one can sit in meditation with the tobacco spirit and receive wisdom. Maybe you will learn a lesson about how to treat other people, or about how to take care of your body, or how to properly show gratitude to a particular spirit, or what the next step on your path is.

It's sort of hard to explain how these things work. For example, stones can be teachers. You don't even ingest the stone or crystal, you are just sitting with it or perhaps near it in the case of a boulder. If one can slow down enough and tune into the right frequency, communication with just about any part of Pachamama is possible. We just forgot how to do this as human beings. It's something that humans have always done in the past, one just has to practice and remember.

It's not the effects that teach you a lesson, it's the spirit of the plant. One could receive the lesson without even ingesting the calamus, by sitting with the live plant in the wild. Give the plant an offering of something that is important to both you and the plant and ask for guidance and sit in meditation.

If I could find the American variant, I would order that personally. It's said to have a better flavor and effect, but as I said I never got around to trying any, mine was always just the presumably Indian stuff (they grow most of the calamus on the consumer market) bought from a local herb store. I haven't even seen a source to buy fresh root online but it's probably out there. Calamus grows wild in the US still, I'm not sure what region you are in but I believe it grows throughout the midwest. I think the best would be finding the plant and harvesting yourself.

Here's an article that will clear things up for you. It's really good and worth reading the whole thing.
http://www.herbcraft.org/calamus.html

PM me if you have further questions about herbs or working with plant spirits, etc. :)
 
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Maybe he meant it would be good to use while tripping? Which would be a true assumption! Again, it's not hallucinogenic. It would be like saying ginseng will make you trip. This doesn't mean it's not an incredibly useful herb with unique properties and effects.

Here's an excerpt from the article I posted regarding the effects. You should really just read the whole article if you've come this far though.

Hmm… some words to describe the effect of Sweet Flag: Calming. Centering. Perspective. Joyce Wardwell once used the word “Resolution”… that’s a good one. It’s tempting to say that it instills “focus”, but focus isn’t quite the right word. “Focus” implies fixing the perception on a certain aspect of something, and Sweet Flag tends to open one’s awareness so that they’re able to take in what’s going on around them (or within them) with great clarity, without singling out any one aspect. So perhaps saying it instills clarity of perception is more accurate. I like to use borrow the concept of "depth of field" from photography... a narrow depth of field implies a narrower range of focus; broad depth of field a broader, more inclusive focus... this isn't meant to imply a purely or predominantly visual effect; I think of calamus as increasing one's perceptual depth of field.

-Jim McDonald
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Acorus calamus oil is to TMA-2 as sassafras oil is to MDMA.
TMA-2 and MDMA are both psychoactive, obviously.
Swallowing asarone or safrole (I've done both) gives, at best, slight color enhancement.
But yes, they both come from sacred plants.
 
What is TMA-2?

I don't know anything about chemistry.

Also, while it doesn't seem like this stuff would have any bad side effects, can it be used while on an SSRI?

I'm on lexapro.

And does anyone think it might be good while on Kratom?

Also, I've heard it helps one run long distances, so could it possibly be something that could be helpful for athletic performance?

I do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so maybe it could be a mild PED which might be cool.
 
Not sure about calamus but osha root is another sacred plant with a powerful aromatic root that can be chewed. One proven effect of osha is increased oxygen in the brain directly after chewing a bit. So it's great for enhancing athletic performance. Bear medicine they say. It will certainly make you feel like you have the strength of a bear.

I have no idea about SSRI interaction to be honest. It's something worth looking into but I would guess that it's probably ok, but again I don't have specific knowledge of yes or no.
 
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