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The African Dream Bean is a climbing vine native to southern Africa, which is used in various ways by traditional communities. However, this curious plant is perhaps most notorious for its ability to induce lucid dreams that enable communication with the spirit world.
Traditional healers or shamans turn dried seeds into a powder, which is then smoked in a pipe before sleep. This sacred ceremony sends the subject into a deep dream state. Here, direct communication is forged between the living and spirit worlds, and one is able to ask their ancestors for significant advice.
Other African tribes use the Dream Bean’s chocolate-colored seeds as amulets or good luck charms, stringing them together to create pieces of jewelry. The beans are believed to give the wearer protection and even supernatural powers!
Despite the name, the African Dream Bean is also indigenous to Asia, Australia, and Madagascar, where it is found in forest thickets, tropical lowlands, and rainforests. In these parts of the world, seeds are used to clean wounds, heal minor scrapes and burns, and treat parasitic infections.
A traveller of sorts, the African Dream Bean’s gigantic seeds are carried by ocean currents and found washed up on beaches throughout the world. If the seeds are transported to a tropical area, where the conditions are suitable for them to grow, they will take root and begin the cycle again.
Always fans of exploring the world’s curiosities and turning them into works of art, we’ve chosen this mystical plant as inspiration to our latest BENU creation: the Dream Bean fountain pen. So, whether or not you believe in the vine’s alleged dream-inducing power, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to add this unique writing instrument to your pen collection!
