Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – In Egyptian mythology, few crops maintain as a lot significance because the blue lotus, a charming water lily featured prominently in a few of archaeology’s most necessary finds.
When King Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, researchers found its petals draped over his physique, and its flowers continuously seem on historic papyri scrolls. Students have lengthy speculated that these lilies when soaked in wine, launched psychedelic properties utilized in rituals involving hallucinations and sexual actions relationship again roughly 3,000 years.
Credit score: Diego Moran/UC Berkeley
Apparently, a plant resembling the blue lotus is now marketed on-line as a chilled flower that may be smoked or infused into tea. Nonetheless, in line with Liam McEvoy—a fourth-year UC Berkeley pupil majoring in anthropology with a minor in Egyptology—there is a matter: the blue lotus revered by historic Egyptians and the water lily bought on-line are fully totally different species.
McEvoy has devoted a lot of his tutorial profession to finding out Nymphaea caerulea—the esteemed Egyptian blue lotus. He has explored uncommon plant procurement communities on platforms like Reddit to find this plant right this moment and delved into hieroglyphic translations to hint its historic presence. Collaborating with the UC Berkeley Heart for the Science of Psychedelics and chemists’ help, he in contrast genuine specimens from the UC Botanical Backyard with these accessible on on-line marketplaces equivalent to Etsy.
McEvoy’s analysis reveals that these historic Egyptian crops differ considerably from these bought on-line and means that Egyptologists might have misunderstood how this psychoactive blue lotus was consumed alongside the Nile River 1000’s of years in the past.
“I knew from the very starting this was going to be my Berkeley factor,” McEvoy mentioned. “I needed to let the plant inform its story and contribute to a dialogue the place there’s all this pseudoscience floating round—pseudoscience that makes some individuals some huge cash.”
McEvoy’s quest to discover the mysteries of the blue lotus started with an intriguing dive into YouTube. Roughly 5 years in the past, throughout his highschool years, he found a BBC sequence titled Sacred Weeds from 1998. This program featured quirky tie-dye scene transitions and a considerably questionable examine protocol.
In a single episode, anthropologists invited two volunteers to an expansive manor within the English countryside. There, they supplied them a goblet of wine infused with lily and mentioned the potential dangers and pleasure related to what they described because the inaugural examination of the famend flower’s psychedelic results.
“We had gathered to analyze an historic thriller,” the narrator mentioned, with a grandiosity match for cringe-worthy ’90s documentary TV. “Is the blue water lily a misplaced drug plant as soon as beloved by the traditional Egyptians? Might it’s that right this moment our two volunteers would possibly step via a doorway and see the world as it’d as soon as have been seen within the time of the pharaoh?”
The cameras seize the scene as volunteers eat a substance, rapidly changing into cheerful and playful. They placed on coats and enterprise into the rain and woods, questioning if they’re experiencing any results. Observing from a distance, researchers talk about whether or not the individuals are certainly below the affect and ultimately conclude that they’re.
This situation intrigued McEvoy, notably relating to the flower featured within the present. He was captivated by its historic significance and questioned whether or not these flowers had been of the identical species as these utilized in historic Egypt—recognized for his or her distinctive noticed sepals and constant petal rely.
Delving deeper into his analysis, McEvoy found extra concerning the Egyptian blue lotus’s cultural significance via tutorial programs and artifacts at Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. As he realized to interpret hieroglyphs, he gained perception into how this flower was revered in historic texts and its ceremonial position throughout the Hathoric Pageant of Drunkenness—a celebration the place individuals would develop into intoxicated, lose consciousness, and upon awakening momentarily glimpse Hathor’s visage, symbolizing love, magnificence, and fertility.
“It is all the time depicted with the identical petal form,” McEvoy mentioned. “It is all the time depicted with the spots on the underside of the sepals. It is a very particular plant.”
As his analysis questions developed, he sought to find out if historic Egyptian crops had been the identical as these accessible on-line and the way totally different processing strategies affected the discharge of nuciferine, a psychoactive alkaloid. His first step was discovering a plant. The genuine Egyptian blue lotus is now uncommon because of the Aswan dam’s affect on its native setting and is threatened with extinction. Though the UC Botanical Backyard affords many crops for examine, it lacks the Egyptian blue lotus, and different botanical gardens could not present samples for his analysis.
Along with finding out the chemical properties of the Egyptian blue lotus, Liam McEvoy has studied historic hieroglyphs, searching for patterns and that means within the symbols. “I needed to let the plant inform its story,” he mentioned. Credit score: Diego Moran/UC Berkeley
He turned to Reddit, contacting somebody in Arizona who claimed to have genuine Nymphaea caerulea. Intrigued by his examine, the person despatched him a residing plant confirmed as official by botanists. He collected its flowers for evaluation final summer season, and the plant now resides within the Virginia Haldan Tropical Home at UC Botanical Backyard. McEvoy believes it is the one college backyard with a residing Egyptian blue lotus. He additionally ordered dried petals from Etsy. With assist from Berkeley professor Evan Williams and undertaking scientist Anthony Iavarone, McEvoy used mass spectrometry to research each samples. They discovered a lot larger nuciferine ranges within the verified blue lotus in comparison with the Etsy flower, suggesting on-line flowers are frequent non-psychoactive water lilies.
A web-based seek for the Egyptian blue lotus reveals many sellers providing numerous merchandise claiming authenticity: a $20 bag of petals promising sleep promotion and immunity boosts, a $90 choice for heightened consciousness and non secular connection, and a $154 important oil for sexual well being. “The stuff being bought on-line isn’t the identical… the blue lotus is definitely distinctive in comparison with different water lilies,” McEvoy mentioned in a press launch.
McEvoy investigated whether or not the genuine plant’s psychedelic components might be extracted by soaking in purple wine. Pure nuciferine dissolves simply in alcohol however not from a waxy flower. As a substitute, it requires one thing like olive oil, with fat to dissolve the alkaloid in wine absolutely.
“We’re starting to suppose the traditional Egyptians did not simply put it into wine,” McEvoy hypothesized. “They seemingly created an infused oil added to wine.”
McEvoy’s findings develop our understanding of historic Egypt and trendy lotus-laced dietary supplements. Traditionally, oil and wine blended with lotus flowers might have been used ceremonially, in contrast to right this moment’s doubtful wellness claims. McEvoy, set to graduate this fall in mental property regulation, goals to reconstruct how historic societies lived by translating commerce secrets and techniques from myths.
Final summer season, Liam McEvoy harvested flower samples from an Egyptian blue lotus on the UC Botanical Backyard’s not too long ago opened Virginia Haldan Tropical Home. McEvoy believes it’s the one college botanical backyard within the nation with a residing Egyptian blue lotus. Courtesy of Liam McEvoy
“There needs to be somebody who research individuals as human beings,” McEvoy mentioned. Earlier than beginning his profession, he plans extra experiments. Within the coming months, McEvoy and colleagues will use liquid chromatography on flower samples to separate their chemical compounds for mass spectrometry evaluation—commonplace exams in analytical chemistry targeted on debunking present on-line well being claims. McEvoy additionally intends to revisit Egyptian artifacts on the Hearst Museum for additional chemical testing on a 3,000-year-old goblet.
This might reveal traces of fats molecules and even plant remnants, supporting the concept rituals concerned extra than simply wine with lotus flowers. McEvoy views his work as merging historic magic with trendy science to counterpoint our understanding of nature.
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Workers Author
