Kava-Kava
(Piper Methysticum.)
Folk Names:
Ava, Ava pepper, Ava Root, Awa Root, Intoxicating Pepper.
Gender:
Feminine
Planet:
Saturn
Element:
Water
Deities:
Lono, Kane, Kanola
Powers:
(According to Scott Cunningham.) Visions, protection, luck
As though alluding to one of the
dangerous effects this herb has on the human body, the Kava shrub that
grows wild on many South American Islands sports broad, heart-shaped leaves
webbed with a network of prominent veins. In large enough doses, the narcotic
drugs that the plant contains can increase the force of heart action, while
decreasing the pulse rate, induce a hypnotic state, and paralyze large
skeletal muscles such as the legs. The storehouse of the drug lies in the
8 to 20 foot long plants' roots, and large woody rhizomes. Islanders have
long used these rootstocks to make a potent beverage called Kava-Kava,
which plays a role in virtually all their ceremonies of life. It has been
drunk in conjunction with everything from placating their Gods, to the
rites of passage, mourning the dead, to removing curses and curing illness.
Its effect is not intoxicating, in that it does not dull the mental processes,
but narcotic. It induces an euphoric state of tranquil well being that
eventually leads to deep dreamless sleep. The time-honored method of activating
the drug is still the most effective, although "outsiders" may find this
repulsive. To the accompaniment of song and ceremony, pieces of the dried
rootstock are chewed, generally by young girls with strong teeth, until
they are reduced to a soft pulpy mass. This is spit into a wooden bowl,
mixed with water or coconut milk and kneaded by hand. After a few hours
of fermentation the solids are then strained out and the beverage is drunk,
usually only by the men of the tribe. Research has shown that it is not
the chewers' saliva that sets the drugs narcotic constituents free, but
the vigorous emulsification caused by the chewing. Modern medicine has
recognized Kava-Kava as being useful for many ailments. Among these are
bronchitis, rheumatism, gout, gonorrhoea, and gleet. It is also useful
in chronic catarrhal affections of various organs, and in chronic inflammation
of the neck of the bladder. M. Dupouy, who has given considerable attention
to the therapeutical virtues of this drug, arrives at the following conclusions:
"Given in drink, Kava is a sialagogue, but is not sudorific. In medicinal
doses, it acts upon the stomach, similar to the bitter stimulants, increasing
the appetite, without occasioning diarrhea or constipation, and may prevent
catarrhal affections of this portion of the digestive tube. It exerts a
special stimulation upon the central nervous system, differing essentially
from ethylic intoxication; and, as its taste is agreeable, one soon becomes
a proselyte to it. It has a very powerful action upon aqueous diuresis,
and may be classed among the most efficient diuretics. It does not occasion
priapism, but, on the contrary, antagonizes it. It is endowed with remarkable
and prompt blennostatic properties, augmenting the discharge previous to
effecting its cure. It is of undoubted efficiency in acute vaginitis or
urethritis, allaying the inflammation, causing the pain during micturition
to disappear, when dysuria is present, and suppressing the mucopurulent
catarrh from the vesico-urethral mucous membrane. It has, over other blennostatic
agents, the marked advantages of being pleasant to take, of augmenting
the appetite, of occasioning neither diarrhea nor constipation, of alleviating
or entirely subduing pain during urination, of completely changing the
character of the discharge, and of effecting the cure in a very short time—10
or 12 days. He can not too highly recommend its employment, especially
in the treatment of gonorrhoea. Ellingwood (Mat. Med., 1898) declares it
of great value in subacute and slow forms of gonorrhoea, and especially
in gleet. It is a remedy for nocturnal incontinence of urine in the young
and old, when due most largely to muscular weakness....." (Sorry for the long run-on sentence, but I felt that it was better in this case to quote directly than to try to pariphrase his words.) "Kava-Kava's properties", are as an analgesic, an antispasmodic, an antiseptic, a sedative, a diuretic,
a tonic and as a sialagogue. On the esoteric side of things, an infusion is drunk to, offer protection against evil, and to invite in good luck. It is said to enhance physic powers and to induce visions…..
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