Mescal Bean

Sophora secundiflora (Mescal Beans), also called Colorines, Frijoles, and Red Beans, has been used since prehistoric times. This is a beautiful shiny red bean that has been used in jewelry and crafts for centuries. Evidence suggests use that dates back 9,000 years. The Mescal beans were used by over a dozen tribes for oracular, divinatory, PROTECTION, and hallucinogenic purposes.
 
In the southwestern United States and Mexico, the most spectacular seed necklaces are made from the bright red seeds of two native shrubs called mescal bean (Sophora secundiflora) and coral bean (Erythrina flabelliformis). The mescal bean is an attractive evergreen shrub with drooping clusters of violet-blue wisteria like flowers.
 
Mescal beans are especially interesting because they were used by a number of Indian tribes in a vision-seeking "Red Bean Dance," centered around the ingestion of the potent seeds. In fact, at least a dozen Indian tribes in New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico practiced the hallucinogenic Red Bean Dance. The vivid red mescal beans have been found at Indian sites dating back to 1500 BC. Since mescal beans contain the highly toxic quinolizidine alkaloid cytisine, often resulting in overdose and death, they were later abandoned for a safer, more spectacular hallucinogen--the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). One seed, thouroughly chewed, is said to be enough to kill an adult. Today the seeds are still used as a ceremonial necklace worn by the leader of the peyote ceremony, called the "roadman."
 
 
Keep Mescal Beans out of reach of children, animals, and unintelligible beings.