Padma Rao
Blue Lotus : Nymphaea caerulea
Padma Rao is the Shipibo name for the Blue Lotus, Nymphaea caerulea.
A beautiful name for a beautiful flower, combining the Sanskrit word for lotus, Padma, and the Shipibo word for medicine, Rao. Padma Rao, the Medicinal Lotus. Nymphaea caerulea grows in North Africa, especially in Egypt, and in parts of Asia. So what is such a plant doing here, among Amazonian plants and trees?The Shipibo tradition is integrative. When Shipibo people like something, they make it part of their culture. Rosemary is a great example of this integration, widely used by curanderos.
It is also very common nowadays to hear the names of Jesus and the Holy Mary called during ceremonies.
The hypnotic Blue Lotus is part of this new wave in the plant diet repertoire and is considered an enlightened plant, like the famous Noya Rao.
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Padma Rao is a psychoactive plant with strong sedative properties, very helpful for insomnia and deep states of relaxation, sometimes on the edge of dissociation. All plants like to communicate through dreams, but the Blue Lotus truly masters this and does so vividly.​
The medicine of the Blue Lotus is refined and delicate, with a mystical atmosphere. It is a plant that loves beauty, harmony, and sophistication.
From a medicinal perspective, Padma Rao is very helpful for depression, as it relaxes and clears the mind. The Blue Lotus then brings joy, bliss, and even euphoria by opening the mind widely, making our head like an open flower, able to receive light and be illuminated.​
As a plant of love, the medicine of Padma Rao, full of water, is very good for cleansing and opening the heart. It is also an excellent plant for balancing and re-equilibrating fundamental sexual energy.
​Padma Rao is both a medicinal and a teacher plant. By opening vision and teaching songs, this strongly perfumed flower guides us and helps us navigate the world of plant medicine.Many people approach the Blue Lotus through the Egyptian tradition, and indeed, the world of Egypt is connected to this plant. But the heart of its medicine, the inner landscape of Padma Rao, is deeply Asian and highly technological. The Ibo of Padma, the spirit owner of the plant, appears as a Chinese bearded man wearing a traditional hat, smoking a pipe (or sometimes holding it, depending on his mood), with his panda companion.
An old Chinese woman or even a female cyborg can also manifest.
The visionary world is full of water, with sleek visions of rivers, pools, and Chinese altars, but also infused with a high-tech atmosphere. The main colors are, of course, blue, both a very clear blue and a deep royal one, along with pink and gold.
As an enlightened plant, the Lotus world and its medicine are full of light. Often, in my visions, the flower appears inside a bright lantern or a radiant protective sphere.
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For those who wonder whether the Blue Lotus is feminine or masculine, I would say both. Feminine in dreams, in feeling, in the delicacy and beauty of the medicine. Masculine in the Ibo, in its strength, and in the Chiro songs I have received.
Love Blue Lotus