PEARLY GATES Seeds | Ipomoea alba

Although this species is a perennial, it is usually cultivated as an annual in Australia. Morning Glory thrives in strong, well drained soil in full sun and like to be kept moist with plenty of water. The seeds have a hard coating that must be nicked then soaked for 2 hours in warm water before sowing. If the seeds are nicked and soaked, the vines will usually flower 6 weeks after sowing. The seeds should be planted 5mm deep in Seed Raising Mix and kept in a humidity dome until germination occurs.

The Morning Glory has a rich historical tradition in Shamanic practices across multiple cultures, including those of the Chontal Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, the highly evolved Aztecs and the Zapotec. These seeds, without question, have been utilised throughout time as a means of communicating with the divine. Interestingly, in some areas of Mexico where the seeds are still used, Morning Glory seeds are used by men and Ololiuqui  seeds, which contain similar alkaloids, are used by women. Morning Glory is said to be somewhat more potent, but both plants are used in rituals to assist in divination and healing disease.

The Aztecs believed that Morning Glory seeds were a means of connecting with the Sun Gods. This unique ability to open divine portals, attributed to only a few plants. The Morning Glory was held as a particularly sacred plant within Aztec culture and religion. They felt that all plants contained spirits but only a few could provide direct connection with the gods in heaven. The Chontal Indians as well as the Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, were convinced not only that strong spiritual energy existed within this plant, but also that a highly evolved spirit, one that had the ability to connect them with the spiritual realm of the gods, inhabited the Morning Glory.

Modern historians, who usually have a bias towards the religion of the conquering culture, conveniently leave out all historical records of the Morning Glory being used in Shamanic tradition, although a rich history still exists both orally and in local texts in the areas where this plant has been held in such high esteem for generations. 

The ritual preparation method is the same for all the ancient peoples of Oaxaca and consists of 26 seeds. The seeds would be ground by a 10 - 15 year old virgin, then mixed with water. This method was thought to allow the seeds to ‘speak’. This concoction would then be imbibed by a high ranking priest who would combine his Shamanic wisdom with the magic of this sacred drink in order to converse with the gods.

The high priest would wear a headdress usually an ornately beaded head of a Jaguar. The Jaguar is the symbol of the Sun and is thought to be the Shaman’s power animal and ally throughout his spiritual journey. It was believed that a high ranking priest could change himself into a Jaguar and once connected with his power animal through the ritual ingestion of a potion that included Morning Glory seeds, he would be led through a dramatic visionary experience wherein the he obtained his special abilities and powers by dying as a person and being reborn as a Shaman. Once reborn as a Shaman, he could convene with the Sun Gods.

Pedro Ponce de Leon, the Spanish Benedictine monk famous for his work with the deaf, chronicled his findings of the effects of Morning Glory seeds, or Tlililtzin, through his observations of the Aztecs’ Shamanic rituals: “Some say little black men appear before them which tell them what they want to know about. Others say that our Lord appears before them, while still others say that it is angels. And when they do this, they enter a room, close themselves in, and have someone watch so that they can hear what they say”.

Morning Glory seeds contain a variety of alkaloids and reportedly can induce vividly colorful visons, a sense of extreme calm, heightened spiritual awareness, acute empathy and euphoria.

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations used Morning Glory to convert the latex from the Rubber tree and also the Guayule plant to produce bouncing rubber balls.The Sulfur in the Morning Glory vine juice served to vulcanize the rubber, a process antedating Charles Goodyear's discovery by over 3,000 years. Aztec priests in Mexico were also known to use the seeds in sacred rituals and ceremonies.

Reported to contain alkaloids of up to 0.3% in the seeds.