Cyperus articulatus is a tropical grass that thrives along side of swamps, ponds, rivers, and wetlands. This tropical grass has been used by many tribes throughout the Amazon river basin, the Caribbean and Africa. It has been given many different local folk names, the most well known of which are: Guinea rush grass, Nutgrass, Water-grass, Piri Piri, Piripiri, Piriprioca, Adrue, Chintul, Earth-almond, and Jointed flatsedge.

Native tribes have used Piri Piri for its medicinal properties for as long as Amazonian tribal shaman can remember; they talk of myths that have been passed down for many generations. These myths relate to the plant’s divine origins, how the gods gave mankind this plant to induce lucid dreams in ordinary men in order to communicate with them. It is believe that Piri Piri has magical-religious properties and that when its roots are consumed, the spirit of the grass can enter the body and reduce pain, reduce fevers, heal open wounds and help women in labor; most importantly the shaman drinks a tea make from the roots to communicate with the spirit world, seek wisdom and grant them miraculous healing powers.

Cultural anthropologists have interviewed members of the Sharanahua tribe from Peru, and have cited their use Piri Piri to induce labor in pregnant women, and to abort pregnancies that they determined to be the product of evil spirits, akin to the medieval notion of a demon known as the incubus. The shaman of the tribe used the Piri Piri root to alleviate stomach pain, desensitize sensitive teeth, and to calm epileptic seizures. Modern science has validated the use Cyperus articulatus as an anti-seizure, anti-convulsant medicine, scientists have isolated several compounds that have been proven effective in the treatment of epileptic seizures.

The Secoya and Shuar Indians use the roots as an additive in their Ayahuasca brew; it is believed that the Piri Piri roots possesses good spirits, imparts good charms to the brew and helps balance the supernatural forces to make the brew a more positive, beneficial and healing experience. Not only do these shamans add it to their Ayahuasca brew, they also make tea from the rhizomes that they drink induce profound states of meditation and trance. They refer to the grass as a Borrachera, a term used to describe many intoxicating, inebriating plants.

Because the plant is so effective at calming and sedating the user, it has earned a well deserved reputation as powerful dream herb. Traditional healers use this herb to help them move from waking consciousness into deep trance states and then into the dream world, while maintaining clear mental functioning or lucid states of consciousness. Upon awaking, the healers are able to recall in vivid detail all aspects of their dreams, as well as reporting the ability to ‘go into’ their dream and control their dream characters, settings and ‘fly’ into parallel worlds of reality.