Erowid
 
 
Plants - Drugs Mind - Spirit Freedom - Law Arts - Culture Library  
using Valeriana officinalis, Melatonin, and Vitamin B-6
by Arthur C. Hastings and Unknown Author
That's an interesting item on Intense Dreams that you faxed me. I do have some associations to it, so if you have the occasion to send [C] a response, here are my comments.

1. Those are high doses of all three substances, and all three are psychoactive, B-6 and melatonin specifically on dreams. He may have discovered a new technique for intense self exploration

2. 50 mg of B6 is a normal dose, and is known to enhance dreaming, including dreams in noticeable color. I often tell persons who have difficulty remembering dreams to take 50 mg of B-6 for a few nights. One gram is a massive dose. Lord knows what it will do, or maybe [C] has found out! I'm inclined to think that this is the major component in his experience.

3. Valerian was used as a tranquilizer in Europe long before Librium and valium (the name Valium however does not come from valerian). My own phenomenological experience with valerian effects indicate: 1) It is mildly psychedelic, causing slight visual imagery and lines in the visual field, especially in low light. 2) it can create a spacey feeling, or one might say it makes spacing out easier. From this I would expect it to add to the dream effects, but not cause them directly.

4. Melatonin, from my experience, will often result in more dreams, and dreams from a deeper level of the psyche. That is, it seems to both access dreams and also stimulate more meaningful dreams, though I don't want to speculate as to the process involved. but sometimes this happens and sometimes not--I have also had the experience of falling deep asleep and remembering no dreams on melatonin. some sexual dreams occasionally occur on melatonin, but I believe this is dependent on whether there's sexual energy that craves expression for the person at that time

5. Any time one gets intense dreams, it is worthwhile to do some interpretative work with them, and find out if they reflect feelings relationships, body states, psychic information, transpersonal levels, etc.

by : Arthur C. Hastings
Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
author of "With the Tongues of Men and Angels"


I ran a brief series of experiments of successive nights to see what I could find.

Night 1: 530 mg Valerian, 1g B-6, 5 mg melatonin (digested, not sublingual)

Without question this was the most intense dream-night I have ever had. My brain was extremely active the entire night, yet I awoke pretty well rested considering. I awakened several times, shocked by the intensity of somethingorother in the dream, but each time the awakening was quite different from a normal "oh, huh? reality! I was dreaming" sort of awakening. I was much more aware of a continuum of experience between dream and reality. When I stumbled at one point into the bathroom to relieve myself, the dream continued unabated by the fact that I was up and walking around eyes open! I have never known dreams this intense before. I experienced also the sort of twilight sleep that Pedro describes.

Night 2: 530 mg Valerian, 500 mg B-6

Bare shades of the previous night. I recalled one very long dream which seemed to last for the duration of the entire sleep period.

Night 3: 250 mg B-6

Normal sleep.

By : Author Unknown