Masters of the Dream.

What is ubulawu?

Among the Xhosa and the Zulu of South Africa, ubulawu gathers the plants of the dream: mostly roots, sometimes stems or bark, beaten in cold water with a stick until a white foam rises (Sobiecki, 2008, p. 336). The word is said to come from the Xhosa verb ukulawula, “to control”. For diviners, ubulawu casts “a white light” on the dream, ukukhanya okumhlophe: dreams grow more vivid, and you remember them when you wake (Hirst, 2005).

It is the medicine of diviners, the Xhosa amagqirha and the Zulu izangoma. It accompanies their initiation and treats intwaso, the calling illness through which the ancestors choose a future diviner (Sobiecki, 2008; 2012). Among the Nyuswa Zulu, they are sorted by colour, black, red or white, always moving from black towards white (Ngubane, 1977, p. 109).

The plants of the family

• Undlela Ziimlophe, Silene capensis (accepted name: Silene undulata), the root known as the African dream root. Its Xhosa name means “the white paths”. Novices drink it as foam, on an empty stomach, for three days at the full moon, to strengthen the dream (Hirst, 2005). Sobiecki writes of “lucid dreams” linked to the ancestral spirits (2008, p. 347).
• Uvuma Omhlope, Synaptolepis kirkii, the white root: -mhlophe means “white”. As a ritual emetic and a body wash, it helps diviners to “see” (Van Wyk & Gericke, 2000, cited by Sobiecki, 2008). Sobiecki counts it among the ubulawu used for dreaming (2012).
• Mukanya Kude, Vachellia xanthophloea, the fever tree, whose yellow bark can be seen from far away: umKhanyakude in Zulu, “the light that comes from far away”. For us, Mukanya Kude is an ubulawu, one of the family of African dream plants, and it sits in the pack beside Silene and Uvuma.
• Uqume, Hippobromus pauciflorus, the plant of trance: “the diviner rinses the nose with the froth before going into a trance” (Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk, cited by Sobiecki, 2008, p. 344). Its bark goes into the Xhosa initiation ubulawu, alongside Silene (Broster, 1981).
• Ubhubhubhu, Helinus integrifolius, known in English as the soap plant (Sobiecki, 2002). Pedi diviners drink it at initiation to strengthen their memory and sharpen their eye (Mönnig, 1967, cited by Sobiecki, 2008).

Even a water lily belongs here. Among the Xhosa, the root of uzuba is an ubulawu, too coarse to drink, kept for washing (Hirst, 2005). Zulu diviners know the flower as izibu: it is sold in the markets of Johannesburg for visions linked to the ancestors (Sobiecki, 2008, p. 345).

Silene, Uvuma and Mukanya together, or all five plants: the Ubulawu discovery pack.

The ritual

We take ubulawu over 3 to 5 nights in a row. The finely powdered root rests in cold water, then it is beaten until the white foam rises: there with a forked stick, the ixhayi (Hirst, 2005), here with a whisk or a milk frother. You drink the foam on an empty stomach, in the morning, or in the evening well after a meal, with your intention set, sometimes a precise question for the night.

The Xhosa initiate drinks until vomiting, ukugabha, and washes with the foam in the evening (Lamla, 1975, cited by Sobiecki, 2008); “the Sotho prefer to eat the froth”, Sobiecki reports (2012, p. 219). We drink the foam, without going as far as vomiting.

A journal by the bed, a few words on waking. The dream sometimes comes on the very first night, sometimes a few days after the last foam, and it can carry on for weeks. Each product page gives the amount for its plant.

What our dreamers tell us

For Undlela Ziimlophe, 31 reviews speak of the night: 15 more vivid dreams, 7 clearer memories of the dream, 6 lucid dreams, and 6 dreamers who noticed nothing. Uvuma has 14, half of them about dreams full of meaning, and Mukanya Kude 5.

No clinical trial has studied ubulawu. Hirst himself had “very vivid dreams”, and for him the mechanism remains “an enigma” (Hirst, 2005). Sobiecki, with a red and then a white ubulawu, did not dream more: he describes calm and clarity (2012, p. 220).

Precautions

• The saponins of ubulawu make the foam; in high doses they irritate and cause vomiting (Hirst, 1997, cited by Sobiecki, 2008).
• People outside the tradition who took Silene or Uvuma in capsules, at doses above the traditional ones and outside any ritual, had disturbing, confused dreams and stopped (Sobiecki, 2012, p. 221). The tradition works with foam and small amounts.
• In rats, a high dose of Uqume leaf extract showed possible liver toxicity (Pendota et al., cited by Assob et al., 2014).
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding: abstain. If you take any treatment (antidepressants, anxiolytics, sleeping pills) or live with a psychiatric condition: ask a doctor before any plant.

With respect

Among the Xhosa, only the diviner initiated at the river can recognise Silene, gather it and use it; it is never found with the herbalist (Hirst, 2005). The formulas of initiation ubulawu are kept secret, from outsiders and from junior initiates alike (Sobiecki, 2012, p. 222). Our plants are received at home, beside this living tradition, and none of our packs presents itself as “the traditional recipe”.

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