Dream pillows.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: RE: Dream pillow? Anyone familiar with?
From: poppy.someherb.com
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 95 20:21:14 -0700

> My daughter is interested in making Dream Pillows as X-mas gifts. It's supposed to assist in sleep and having pleasant dreams. It's made with various herbs and she wants to know what herbs. Any assistance would be appreciated.

i'm making 'sleepy' pillows, too.

i use the following ingredients:

3 parts hops (dried strobiles WITH yellow powder)
2 parts lavender (driend flowers)
1 part valerian (dried root)
½ pt. skullcap
½ pt. passiflora

the lavender helps conquer the smell of the valerian but if wanted, you can put a cotton ball with rose geranium oil or a handful of rose petals.

From: bella.kinney.channel1.com (Bella Kinney)

> My daughter is interested in making Dream Pillows as X-mas gifts.

Mugwort is what I like to use, with other herbs in smaller quantity, though I have also used Hop Flowers (strobiles). Either of those two with well dried flowerpetals from whatever you like (rose petals are nice with Hop strobiles, lavender with mugwort). Tailor the pillow to the dream desired with color, texture, scent, and symbiology (which is a different conference really...). The only way you can do a dreampillow wrong is to use prickily or thorny plants!

From: Maggie Houston <maggua.vnet.net>

I have made dream pillows for children. My recipe is dried chamomile (½) , ⅛ crushed lavendar, ¼ rose petals (dried) and the rest in catnip. But you can also use sage, other mints, sweet annie, and rosemary, I'm sure that there are more herbs even than this list. They are great fun and well loved by the receiver.

From: ravendncr.aol.com (RAVENDNCR)

dream pillows: Personal stuff.
I use whatever herbs happen to be plentiful from the yard and cheap to purchase. Basic recipe:

1 part lemon verbena
1 part hops
½ part lavender
Orris root or bergamot

or

1 part rosemary
1 part lemon verbena
2 parts pine needles

From: "<Bobbi or Panchita de la Lucha>" <lips.alpha1.csd.uwm.edu>

I've never had a dream pillow without grandmother cedar in it. Also if you gather cattails - bake them in the oven long enough to kill any insect life, shred it to fluff, your pillow be natural, and like a goose or down feather pillow as well.

From: randymshr.aol.com (Randy Mshr)

Having just returned from a tour of 4 of the world's hop cultivation regions I can verify the long tradition of the use of hops as a sleep-inducing herb, especially in pillows.

BUT, please don't buy your hops at your herb shop (sorry, folks). The active ingredients are quite volatile and subject to oxidation, and the hops you want are bright green, a sign of freshness. Brown ones are useless.

Go to your local homebrew store, where the hops should have been stored in the refrigerator or freezer. Ask them for a traditional noble, or aroma variety such as saaz, hallertau, tettnang or golding. Each has a different aroma, from herbal to spicy to pinelike/resiny.

From: selena.trends.ca (Stacy Peuhkurinen)

>This whole thread sounds great! I understand the basics, but tell me, what size pillows do you make? Are they small 3" x 3" to hang on the bedpost, or are we talking full size pillow? What are you using for additional stuffing if any? how about the covering? I would love to make some of these for gifts for special friends, and I love the concept, hope someone can help me out. Also, is there some sort of write up, information sheet that you put with the pillow?

The book that I have (The complete book of Incense, oils and brews by Scott Cunningham) suggests that they are made small. (4x4 or 5x5 sounds about right). He also suggests that you use natural fiber cloth for it. Cotton or felt. This corresponds with the ones that I've seen for sale in some stores from time to time.

The one I made I used felt. This is great because you can add a drop or two of an essential oil (I like to complement an herb that I used in the pillow itself, like lavendar). You can even correspond the colour of the fabric with what purpose you would like the pillow for. For instance, white for peace, light blue for happines, and black, dark blue or purple for healing.

From: C Staggs <cstaggs.u.arizona.edu>

Dream pillows are a wonderful way to induce a pleasant setting for sleep. My dream pillow is about 5 inches square, made of natural cotton fabric. It has a wonderful combination of lavender, balsam fir, bear root, yerba santa, lilac, mugwort, rose petals, white sage, and hops. It has a loop attached to one corner which allows it to be hung on the bedpost or over it (beside my dream catcher). I think the balsam is a wonderful, outdoors smell that evokes an element of nature that is incredibly soothing.