Entada rheedii – African Dream Herb

African Dream Herb has a long history and appears naturally from near Durban northwards throughout tropical Africa and into India, Asia, and Australia. The giant seeds of African Dream Herb are frequently carried or used to adorn necklaces and worn as pendants to serve as charms for luck.                 

Many African cultures believe that contact with the ancestors comes through dreams, and they have found and cultivated plants such as African Dream Herb to use in rituals of spiritual connection.

As spoken of by John Mbiti and other African scholars, distinctions between sacred and secular life, as well as between the material and spiritual reality, are muted in indigenous African epistemology. Dreams are an integral part of many traditional African religions, and an awareness of the realm of the spirit often permeates everyday life. Owing to this interconnection, the dream takes on special social significance for African indigenous cultures – a significance that has crossed the Atlantic and is witnessed in the black diaspora. Appearance of an ancestor in one’s dream is considered a significant experience on both sides of the ocean, informing and enriching the lives of individuals and communities. However, the ancestor’s message and its purpose can vary greatly – from providing healing and prophesy to demanding changed behavior and propitiation. As well, not all ancestors are welcome dream visitors, nor are all deceased relatives always considered ancestors. This web of connection that is the dream links the living and the dead allowing the continuity of existence to be felt and ensuring the perpetuation of guidance from the ancestors.