Keftu — Minoa Inspired Ritual Dreaming Tea
Using my Minoan-inspired herbal formula for dream incubation.
Preparation and sleep hygiene tips.
Even if I do say so myself — this is the best dream tea recipe I have ever made or had! If you would like romantic Minoan, sun-worshipping dreamz, and WHO wouldn’t — this is the tea for you!
Keftu is the name the Ancient Egyptians gave the Minoans and other island dwelling people of the Aegean — we do not know for sure what Minoans called themselves. Keftu translates as something like — from the islands.
INSTRUCTIONS:
For optimum effect — use one well-mixed dessert spoon of tea per serving (enough for two strong cups). Place this in a saucepan and heat until boiling, then simmer for a couple of minutes — let steep for a further three minutes, strain and serve.
Mountain tea is traditionally prepared this way, and it is necessary to extract all the beneficial active ingredients from the Malotira.
DO NOT USE this tea before driving or doing anything else that requires your full attention or concentration.
Please check ingredients to ensure they are safe for you to use, if you are for example pregnant, breastfeeding or on any medication.
SLEEP HYGIENE:
Sleep for a minimum of 8 hours a night. When it comes to dream memory and recall — nothing short of 8 hours will do.
When you fall asleep, the first sleep cycles are the shortest. Your body’s priority here is non-REM sleep for cellular regeneration and detoxing. As your sleep progresses, your sleep cycles become longer, with maximum opportunity for lucid dreaming in the longest REM cycles before waking in the morning.
It will be easier to get 8 hours a night if you minimise caffeine and establish a regular bedtime that is not later than 11pm.
Turn off devices and screens by 7 or 8pm.
Do not eat a heavy meal or drink alcohol before going to sleep.
Avoid alcohol all together. As a depressant, its lingering effects take around three months to wear off completely.
Cannabis and prescription anti-depressants can also suppress REM sleep. Many of the ingredients in this tea blend are natural and gentle anti-depressants and you may find your mood lifts throughout waking and dreaming experience after drinking this tea, it can work very quickly too.
The better you are feeling, the more pleasant dream content you will have — this should create a wonderful feedback system with your waking life.
Do not watch horror movies. It sounds obvious, but if you watch things, read things or think about scary, gory or horrifying events — you will very likely have nightmares.
Think about what media you consume in the same way you think about what food you would eat if you wanted to be healthy.
If you do have a nightmare — or you come across a scary presence in the sleep state — remember that your dream characters are powered by your feelings and thoughts. Do not fight a dream character. This will just exhaust you. Neutralise the negative feelings in your dream body and project a feeling of LOVE onto this shadow aspect of yourself. You might experience an amazing alchemical experience and the scary character will morph into a perfectly loving being.
Any activity or supplement that improves your memory will improve likelihood of lucidity, as becoming lucid in a dream is really remembering who and where you are.
If you wake up and haven’t had a lucid dream. Go back to sleep until you do.
Read novels and write stories, especially magical realism. Research has shown that when we read novels and immerse ourselves in reading fiction, our neural pathways are altered as a result of imagining ourselves somewhere else.
Think about your past dreams, read old dream journal entries, map out the world of your dreams. Imagine and fantasise. Imagining is a dream work-out.
Write down your dreams as soon as you have them. Take note of the words — there is often a lot of punning and word play in dreams. Analyse them, think about what message they are trying to convey.
Try sleep hypnosis for an afternoon nap. Or when falling asleep at night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_MWkIYdhRQ&list=PL2KSEOlSeeWxkOD46ZaUaUNpikRxR2UEk
ENJOY! I wish you the very sweetest lucid dreams and I would love your feedback. Please email sarah@awakeandaway.co.uk
INGREDIENTS (All ingredients are organic where possible):
Malotira (Cretan Mountain Tea — Sideritis Syriaca) — Lowers blood pressure, reduces inflammation, improves digestion, anti depressant and good for lungs. An important herbal remedy, practically a panacea amd used for healing since the earliest times on Crete.
Lemon Balm (Melissa) — Antioxidant, anti-viral, relaxant, sedative, memory-enhancing.
Lavender — Anti-anxiety, relaxant, insomnia remedy.
Dittany of Crete — Love herb, aphrodisiac, pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, relaxant. Gives you romantic dreams.
Chamomile — Solar flower, lowers blood sugar, anti-inflammatory. Some research suggests that chamomile binds to benzodiazepine receptors, thus reducing anxiety and promoting restful sleep. The Minoans were a sun worshipping people and their solar Goddess would be invoked for healing in the dream state. The chamomile flower is a little sun and it moves to worship the solar goddess — closing its petals at night to dream. The earliest dream incubation traditions were to commune with the great ancestress — to make contact with the ancestors. Perhaps this is something you would like to bring into your dream ritual.
Valerian Root— Relieves muscle and joint pain, useful for treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome, PMS and menopause symptoms — reducing hot flashes and anxiety. Encourages deep, restful sleep and is a wonderful anti-anxiety treatment.
Saffron — Antioxidant, improves mood and memory, aphrodisiac, natural antidepressant.
Rosemary — Cognitive stimulant. Improves dream memory and recall. Aids in helping you remember who and where you are when dreaming — increasing likelihood of lucid episodes.
White Thyme — Good for snorers and for respiratory tract, so especially useful for those with sleep apnea. Also good for oral health, a heart tonic and anti-bacterial.
For a new translation of these symbols check out Peter Revesz work here, this could be a useful invocation before sleep: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333816860_A_computer-aided_translation_of_the_Phaistos_Disk
