Midkwapimak - The Somnolant Smoke of the Plains Indians
Material from "Conversations with the Bear"
I'm a bit hesitant to share some of the information that I have gained,with the public, because its very little known and rare informaiton about very legit entheogens that have been long forgotten and are very easily accessible for me. I dont mind sharing with you however. Let me just mention to you a couple lesser known entheogens that have been used by the Native Americans.
The first one is Smooth Sumac aka Rhus glabra. The natives used many sumac species interchangibly but only ones in the Rhus genus (which poison sumac is excluded from). The berries of this plant look stuning and remind me very much of Bud from a cannabis plant. There is a bunch growing out at Lake Dorado if you want to go harvest some, otherwise I could send you some (alng with some other goodies) on a trade if you are interested. Now Smooth Sumac is used by old ladies to make a drink that taste kinda like Pink Lemonade, but what they do not know is that the very berries that they are using are not only smoked in peace pipe ceromonies but are also very much hallucinogenic when consumed in quantity!
There is a report of a man who consumed sumac berries on three consequtive nights. On the third night he lifted off of the ground and flew over new york city. He claimed that he would give up several years of his own reality in order to experience the reality induced by the berries (assuming he never knew the source of the mind altering effects). When the berries are eaten over a long period of time or in quantity they produce hallucinations, very strong mental alterations, and sensations of flight. They taste wonderful too! Very sweet to eat and when you smoke them in a peace pipe (I make bad ass peace pipes out of reed and clay) it tastes amazing.The leaves are also smoked similiarly but they are used for treating asthma and there are reprts of the bark being smoked too.
Now the second one that I mentioning is known to produce effects very similiar to Opium. The native americans use to smoke it in their peace pipe ceremonies and use it as an admixture to KinnickKinnick, whichI have been studying extensively. Sumac is also used in kinnicKinnick and I have identified about twenty different plants that have been used in or as KinnicKinnick, in peace pipe ceremonies, as well as being used as tobacco substitutes. This allie is known as Midkwapimak. Various synonyms of the latin name include Cornus stolonifera, C. sericea, C. Baileyi (c. stolonifera var Baileyi), Cornus alba stolonifera and Thelycrania stolonifera.
Luckily I have secured a steady supply of these amazing trees. In fact I have One hundred and Two Midkwapimak trees growing on our farm. The Indians prepare and consume this in many ways. One way is to take a sharp knife and make long scrapings along fresh stems to cut the red bark off. Do not cut too deep or you will be loosing the good stuff. They usually don't use the red bark but I save it and add it into the mix anyways because it adds a nice flavor to the smoke. Now you have reached what Botanists know as the Cambial Layer. it is usually a lime green color, but depending on the maturity of the plant, can range from green to grey to white. Take your blade and barely cut into the cambial layer at about a 30degree angle. Now slowly draw your blade down along the length of the stem/branch to cut off a long strip of Cambium (i dont think thats a real word but thats what I call it). Try to cut it as long as possible. Now once you have successfully worked your way around the entire stem, removing the Cambium (sounds like Ambien, maybe thats why I like that word) you are left with the core of the stick. I usually save these for use in other crafts and sacred objects but they are also cut into splinters and used as toothpicks and are known to whiten the teeth very well.
Now the natives make a small fire and lay Willow branches of it to form a sort of grill to lay the Midkwapimak Cambium on to dry. You can simply allow it to air dry if you wish or dry on low heat in an oven. I recommend taken an unscented candle, or you can be really legit and make a candle out of your Smooth Sumac berries (which is done quite frequently) and lay your strips over the flame, careful not to let the flame touch it and not to let it smoke up. You want to dry it to the point that it is brittle but not burn. Try to void it of as much h2o as possible.
Once your cambium is dried keep them in the form of long strips as is the traditional way. The natives do not powder or crush up any of their smoking material (specifically with KinnicKinnick) untill it is ready to be used. I formed a protective sheath out of strips of cardboard that I carry my Midkwapimak in, I use this for leaves too as it helps suck out the moisture as well as keep their original shape. I recommend that you do as I and make KinnicKinnick Pouch. In my pouch I carry a small pipe that I had carved out of a large bean and painted symbols of the Shipibo tribe on.(coincidentally the inner part of this particular bean is used by South African natives as a tobacco substitute). In this pouch I carry the two items that I have shared with you today (Smooth Sumac Berries and leaves as well as Midkwapimak Cambium, Whole Leaves, a few extra uncarved sticks... man I love those Sumac berries they taste so good when eaten or smoked and they really kind of bare a BUD look to them).
When you are ready to smoke your material take a small amount of it and place it in the palm of your hand. Now gently rub it against the palm of your left hand with the fingers of your right until it crumbles into small pieces, not too small however. This is why we dried it earlier to make it brittle as it will crumble nicely if you dried it just right, which may take some practice. Now if you wish to smoke the Midkwapimak alone simply place a pinch of it in your pipe. Lay back, relax, and clear your mind of all worldy matters. Now Picture a sacred place in your mind, preferably of a natural environment. (Note* you can skip this bullshit if you want but you are consuming a societies sacred and divine sacrement here so I believe it is imprtant to approach it with respect as they natives did. If it wasn't for them we would have no knowledge of these amazing plants being active). Take your lighter and slowly breath into the pipe as to draw the flame towards the Midkwap. We are representing 3 elements here, fire(torch)+earth(Midkwap)+wind(smoke) you may use a water pipe to utilize all four elements if you wish. These small details where very much observed and acknowledge and appreciate by our predisessor ethereal pioneers. Draw in a few lungfulls of this wonderful smoke and retain them for about 30 seconds. After the material has been charred tap it out into a container to save. Wait at least three to five minutes prior smoking it again.
It is recommend that you take the ashes from your Midkwap and add them to the ground around where the trees grow that you have harvested it from. I did not get into much detail about the spiritual side of harvesting / growing the plants but i will mention it briefly here. It is important that you respect the allies completely and by doing so one should ask their permission prior to harvesting any plant, especially our allies. I generally say a small prayer to them and make an offering as well. I will leave pieces from a tobacco braid (and occasionally an entire tobacco braid, which are only about $2 from the smoke shop) at the site of the harvest. Blowing the smoke from your cigar or pipe onto the plant is also acceptable. I explain to the plant what I am going to be using it for and assure it that I will do all within my power to see that it grows to its greatest strength and maturity. I then thank the plant and harvest but a small amout from each one.
Another thing you can do is pick up the fallen dead/dried sticks from the ground around it to use. There are a few things you can look for if your having trouble identifying if its the dried branch of the Midkwapimak or another tree. The many tiny dots along the stem, which I believe are leaf scars, are a great indicator as our the nodes on the branch.
You see brad, I first gained interest in this plant as I found some growing on a beautiful landscape of a government building. I noticed there where some listed as Cornus Baileyi and some as Cornus sericea (which is the newly accepted name) I was a bit discouraged that there was only a small amount of the c. sericea and a large amount of the c. baileyi but i did a bit of research and found out they are the same thing, just a different cultivar of it. The leaves of sericea are a bit small and more narrow than that of baileyi and the baileyi leaves seem to be a bit more ovate and have a longer narrower tip on the end of the leaf.
The leaves of Midkwap may be smoked too but I was really disgusted by the taste. They are said to have similiar opium like effects than the cambial bark.
My favorite thing to do is to mix Sumac berries along with the Midkwap cambium because this tastes AWESOME and it totally rocks my reality.You may be doubting the effects but I assure you they were so predominent the first few times I tried it, that I had anxiety attacks because I was so confused about what was going on. Its excellent to smoke with your friends, sitting in a circle and just passing it around like traditionally done.
I was hesitant about sharing this information as I wanted to wait to release it until I published my book but I figured that my fellow pioneers would be able to put this information to good use. I don't like information hoarders that keep everything secret from those that truely seek but nor do I appreciate those who are information whores who expect those that spend years and years researching and thousands of dollars on books even if just to uncover a few leads, to just flat out share their knowledge with them only to pass it on to others claiming it to be of their own discovery. Knowledge is foundation that OUR healing practices thrive upon. For centuries the knowledge of the forest was passed down only through oral tradition. Unfortunatelly much of this was lost thanks to the spanish conquistadors killing of the millions of inhabitants, forcing the tribes people to fight back.
Luckilky some of this knowledge still remains today, sometimes only in the form of a single lead or sentence making a claim of plausible use of a botanical. This is precisely how I engage in my research work and uncovered what has became a huge compilation list of botanicals currently unknown by the mainstream ethnobotanical community to contain any activity of interest. Occasionally I will run across a few botanicals that I believe my Colleagues may find interesting and wish to research further. Not always are the future 'Salvia Divinorums and LSDs' listed and claimed to be powerful hallucinogens. Many times there will be a random quote or claim burried amongst millions of pages and thousands of books. In this case I had found a few leads quite a long time ago.
I've currently moved my focus point from South American entheogens to Native American Medicinals, albeit that I still spend much time verbally canoodling with my fellow argentine psychonauts about putative ethnomedicines. Through investigating botanicals used in native american sundry natural product and handicraft manufacture I had uncovered two small leads regarding the plants of interest that I am about to share with you. I don't claim to have uncovered anything or that this knowledge is unknown or rare, I simply wish to restore focus, interest, and attention on these botanicals.
Red Osier Dogwood and the extremely common Smooth Sumac. Now, what sparked my interest in these two particular plants is that I had found both living in perfect harmony in the landscape of a government building that I frequent. I noticed that the latin nomenclature for the Red Osier Dogwood may be a bit confusing as I have found it listed under many different names all in the genus Cornus. The most current and correct latin name for Red Osier Dogwood is:
Cornus sericea. Prior to C. sericea it was known as C. stolonifera. Along with one C. sericea, the trees inhabiting the landscape I was investigating were listed as C. baileyi. This was discouraging as I believed that I had been working with the wrong species the entire time but upon doing further research I had found that that was simply a synonym for both Cornus sericea 'Baileyi' and Cornus stolonifera "Baileyi" under the common name "Bailey Red Twig Dogwood". Cornus alba (aka C. alba stolonifera) may also be considered as "Red Osier Dogwood" and by what I understand, all species may be used as Red Osier dogwood interchangibly. You most likely will not encounter them listed under the name Thelycrania stolonifera, but if you do know that it is the correct species. I have seen the species of interest listed under the common names "Red Willow" or "Red Stem Willow", as well as the Chippewa name "KinnickKinnick" which literally translates to "That Which Is Mixed" and is used interchangibly with several species. It is known to the natives as midkwapimak.
The statement that really caught my eye about Red Osier Dogwood is that it was smoked by the Native Americans to produce effects similiar to Opium.. . .(just give you a minute to suck that information in). .. I uncovered this as I was compiling a list of Tobacco additives and Substitutes for my "Sundry Naturals" article. Apparently it is not practiced as frequently today as it was in the past. One N.A. explains the memories of his parents harvesting, preparing and smoking the Red Osier Dogwood both with and without tobacco from their peace pipe.
The method traditionally used was to use the Green Cambial Layer directly under the bark of the twigs. I had harvested this by taking several 6''-8'' twigs, carefully pealing the outer red bark off (which I saved to investigate later), then shaving strips of the white/green cambial tissue off of the stem with a knife. Allow this to dry until it is very brittle then it is to be rubbed against the palm of your hand to powder it. The natives roasted the strips of cambial tissue over a fire to speed up the drying process. The final product is what is to be smoked. When mixed with tobacco, it was to be mixed at a 3:1 ratio and is thought to make the tobacco much more smooth and better tasting.
The leaves may be smoked as well but it is not the traditional part used. The leaves can be a little harsh on the lungs when smoked. However, the dried cambial layer which I refer to as "midkwapimak"( the traditional name of Red Osier Dogwood) produces an excellent tasting smoke when smoked alone or with tobacco. Upon retaining a few lungfulls there is an obvious change in consciousness. Unfortuatelly due to my current mental state, each time I have smoked midkwapimak, a brief minor episode of anxiety would IMMEDIATELY result right after I blew out the 2nd or 3rd lungful of smoke. This should not change or dictate your understanding or expectations for the effects however as my mental state is not prime for bioassaying anything but I urged myself to do it for the sake of this essay. I am very anxious to smoke it again when I can take some time off work to relax and do so in a more traditional setting. Red Osier Dogwood, when used as KinnickKinnick, had great spiritual and religious significance in older day. Nearly all of the Cornus species have medicinal properties , which I will not cover here. I have been doing more and more research on this species everyday so I hope to expand on this further, including information regarding any phytopharmacologicaly active compounds in the cornus genus, at a later date. I just placed an order for One Hundred, One Year Old, One Foot Tall Red Osier Dogwood (C. sericea) trees and will be growing them out over the next year. I may be able to supply (sell/trade) both the live plants and the dried material within the next 2-3 months. Contact if interested.. You may be able to find these at your local nursery however so look around. [b]Smooth Sumac is known as Rhus glabra. [/b] It is a very common and beautiful ornamental and native plant used in landscaping and found growing in the wild all across the midwest. It's often cultivated to provide food and shelter for wildlife and its color changing properties which produce brilliant shades of red. I found information on this plant compiling a list of botanicals that are smoked to treat Asthma as the leaves of smooth sumac are used for. The leaves are also smoked with tobacco as an additive and alone as a substitute. The berries are delicious and used to make a beverage resembling Pink Lemonaid. The berries produce an amazing tasting smoke that is possibly one of my favorite tasting KinnickKinnick candidates I have sampled so far.
I have encountered Smooth Sumac so many times in the past, I am suprised that I had not investigated it prior. So the leaves and berries can be smoked for a nice tasting smoke but here is whats going to get you hooked...
I was reading "Medicinal Plants of the Heartland" by connie Kaye and Neil Billington when I uncovered the following information regarding Rhus glabra and other species of sumac including Dwarf and Fragrant sumac.
"Many Indian tribes used sumac species interchangeably for many medicinal purposes. For peace pipe ceremonies, they used the dried berries or powdered bark mixed with tobacco. Some Overdosed and hallucinated, believeing they were flying through the air...... .. Millspaugh wrote about sumac: ".. Oil extracted from the seeds can be made into candles which burn brilliantly... During the summer of 1879 while botanizing I ate the refreshing berries on three successive nights, following this occurence I Flew! over new your with a graceful and delicious motion I would give several years of my life to experience in reality"... "Caution should be taken when eating the berries in large doses or over an extended period as Hallucinogenic effects have been reported." (end excerpt from book)
Hmmm, now lets think about this... A delicius tasting Pink Lemonaide that causing hallucinations and sensations of flight. I can just imagine it now, Im back in sacred part of the woods on my property, Sitting back in the chair I had carved out of an old tree stump.. Sipping on a tall glass of Hallusumaconade (Smooth Lemonade, call it what you will). Maybe these are the famed Hallucoberries that I speak of (as I use to regard the unripe mullberries as)..
Thanks for taking time to read this post. If anyone has any questions or comments on these particular plants please share them here and I too will do my best to update you with my future discoveries regarding these plants. I hope to, someday soon, be able to share with all of you the information that I have came across during my many years as a pioneer studying our holy sacrements in the form of both a website and a published book (hopefully making enough money back to pay for all of the books I bought and couldn't afford, or to purchase more and further my studies.)
I urge each one of you to become familiar with the plants sorrounding you in yur environment. Through classes, field guides, and studies. A whole new world of ancient knowledge will open up to you.
