Brians’ Blog


Eating plants is a religious right because it is written by Moses, “God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”  This religious right of eating plants has been upheld by the US Supreme court for many plants anciently regarded as sacred or shamanic.  Certain plants have been used in spiritual ceremonies across numerous cultures through history, Syrian Rue is one of them.  According to Wikkipedia:”The plant has remained a popular tool in both folk medicine and spiritual practices for so long that some historians believe the plant may be the ancient ‘soma’. ”  Regardless, it has been found in hair samples of mummified Egyptians.  In Islam, according to the Shi’a hadith, Muhammad was commanded by God about Syrian Rue, followed by the recommendation that it be burned instead of eaten.

The alter or the sacrament in many ceremonies contains multiple plants.  For example Banisteriopsis caapi and Chacruna are consumed together in a drink called Ayahuasca.  Mixing plants with intention and knowledge for specific purpose can expand what you are conscious of.  The Taino, native to the Caribbean Islands, have sacred sites where Anadenanthera peregrina(aka Yopo) seeds were used to make a snuff in spiritual ceremony.  Some North American natives used Morning Glories – the wiser used Morning Glories together with Garlic.  Some used mushrooms – the wiser combined them with Passion Flower vine and leaf extract which is functionally as Banisteriopsis caapi although with its own uniqueness.  Syrian Rue makes many other consciousness expanding sacred medicine plants more effective with longer duration by slowing your metabolism of them, with the exception of the Morning Glories and Cacti which are metabolized at the same rate however experienced with better clarity.

The science and the spirituality surrounding Syrian Rue cannot be separated to the degree that they do not recognize each other. Modern science uses many means to isolate alkaloids using techniques such as high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC).  Ancient knowledge prescribes concentrated combinations of plant alkaloids as opposed to isolating alkaloids individually, albeit isolating all the full range of indole alkaloids(neurotransmitters) using non-selective solvents produces a more insightful and complete psychedelic synergy from a single plant.  Combining multiple consciousness expanding sacred plants at the same time often creates a more robustly layered multifaceted experience. 

Some known neuroactive alkaloids present in Anadenanthera colubrina:

N-Methyltryptamine (NMT)
dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
dimethyltryptamine N-Oxide (DMT N-Oxide)
5-methoxy-methyltryptamine (5-MeO-NMT)
5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT, methoxybufotenine)
5-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine (5-HO-DMT, bufotenine)
5-hydroxy-dimethyltryptamine N-Oxide (5-HO-DMT N-Oxide, bufotenine N-Oxide )
The last three are harmala type alkaloids.




The MAOI in Syrian Rue, which is harmine as well as harmaline exists on the skin of the seed only – not in the hard center of the seed.  The most active alkaloid in the plant is a florescent beta-carboline.  Extracts, tinctures, and isolations glow bright yellow in a blacklight, and the pit of the seed does not glow.  When the isolated pit burns, the smell is foul compared to the isolated skin of the seed.

After a few years using Syrian Rue on and off, by late 2016, I made concentrated tea, with a fresh water chaser.  At the time, I used all cold water and room temperature water extractions. Although heat does not harm the harmala.  Stir occasionally, after a few hours add the next pull into the single collection of watered down pulls. After a few more pulls with fresh water each time, the seeds are exhausted.  By evaporating the combined pulls, a single shot glass can be made extremely strong.

I cannot presume that the exhausted seeds themselves, stripped of their skin, contain something that causes nausea.  MAOI alkaloids exist only on the skin of the seed.  I assumed my nausea, long ago when I ate the seeds, was caused by something else in my diet.  I can assert that the center of the seed contains no glowing harmalas.  Crushing the seed introduces non-harmala plant matter, probably fats and oils like most seeds contain.  The exhausted seeds are, at best, fiber that you can find better dietary sources for.  After I had more understood the diet required by Syrian Rue I ate whole seeds and was not made sick – the pit is not harmful.

I was so intrigued by Syrian Rue that I extracted the pure harmala freebase for the first time in 2014.  I ate, smoked/vaped(harsh),  insufflated(burns), and sublingually tried the harmala.  I finally came to the semi-conclusion that the tea and the properly prepared smoking extract were superior means of ingesting the MAOI.  The pure harmala freebase extract works sublingually after 15-20 minutes of holding the extract under your tongue without swallowing it while your mouth waters from the taste of it.  Sublingual might be an option if you don’t smoke and cannot wait 1 to 2 hours for the effect from drinking or eating it.  Sublingual is faster acting than the tea but harder to deal with for 20 minutes avoiding swallowing what you are trying to absorb.  The smoke is effective in 3 to 5 minutes lasting about 1 hour unless you smoke more.  The duration of an oral dose varies depending on the dose size, 8 to 12 hours is common– 30 hours is a large dose, and presumably doses can be higher yet with a diet nearing perfection.

The teas were unpredictable dilution strengths. The powder ground from the toasted seed can be weighed.  The strength of the powder is predictable when it has been below a certain temperature in the drying process.  With ideal preparations, 2 Size 00 Gelcaps packed tight and hard with powder is a strong dose requiring strict attention to diet for a good experience that includes waves of visuals without sickness.  1 Cap will function an an inhibitor below the threshold of visuals.

In high doses the Rue can be seen and felt without the presence of any psychedelic.  I have successfully shared large doses with others – to be able to assert that the large dose experience can be completely nausea free – and extremely beautiful.  An MAO inhibitor is great when combined with 1.5 grams of Cubensis psilocybe mushrooms and some water soluble DMT and Bufotenine – individually or at the same time for a more dimensionally layered experience.  Larger doses of MAOI mixed with other 5H-T serotonergic signaling agonists is pioneering psychonautics.  Look to the Yopo seed to understand why nature mixes multiple DMT analogs in one experience.


Syrian Rue is uncontrolled in the United States. This means that all parts of the plant and its extracts are federally legal to cultivate, buy, possess, and distribute (sell, trade or give) without a license or prescription so it is widely available for sale on the Internet.

Several states in the USA have criminalized moving Syrian Rue through the mail on the legal grounds that it is against the law to plant it in certain areas as it falls under regulation as an invasive species.  The USDA is called to enforce the US boarders from importation of invasive species and in turn the USDA became a little invasive when my own package with nothing but Syrian Rue was confiscated in 2017 to no resolve of justice.  Australia, Canada, Finland, and France have also disregarded reason, science, and medicine by making Syrian Rue illegal or restricted at one point.  It’s not my point to keep any current information on legal status by state or country.  Social ignorances exist about many misunderstood plants and molecules.  Knowledge, Patience and Love will conquer States of Stupidity.