Sceletium tortuosum — kanna — grown organically in Stellenbosch, drawn down to an extract and taken up into coconut MCT oil. Two ingredients, 10ml of it, and 5mg of alkaloids in every millilitre.
Size
Important — do not combine with antidepressants
This product contains Sceletium (Kanna), which affects serotonin. Do not take it at the same time as SSRIs or other antidepressants or serotonergic medications (including MAOIs) — combining them can be dangerous. If you take any antidepressant, or you're unsure, please consult your doctor before using this product.
Sceletium Elixir
$27.00
Sceletium Elixir
$27.00
Size
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Sceletium (Kanna)
Sceletium tortuosum
Mood · Social · Calm
A succulent native to South Africa, traditionally fermented and chewed to lift the spirits and settle the nerves.
Benefits, preparation, pairings, and how to use, all in one place.
A succulent native to South Africa, traditionally fermented and chewed to lift the spirits and settle the nerves.
Heart & Emotion
Rapidly lifts the mood and softens social edges.
Calm & Stillness
Provides a grounded state of calm resilience.
Nature's empathy enhancer.
Known as 'Nature's MDMA' in some circles, though much gentler and safer.
“Traditionally fermented in animal skins to reduce oxalates and potentiate the alkaloids.”
Do not combine with SSRIs or MAOIs.
Chew, tea, or extract.
Ingredients
Contains only 2 ingredients:
Sceletium extract* & coconut MCT oil (as carrier oil)
*Sceletium extract is ~3% total alkaloids, ~80% Mesembrine
ORGANIC & LOCALLY grown in Stellenbosch, Cape Town
Suggested use
Sceletium is best taken orally, ideally sublingually (under the tongue), though it can be added to food or drinks. A typical daily dose is 1-5 drops, taken twice a day, usually after breakfast and lunch, but this can be increased as needed. Individual responses vary, so finding the right dosage is important.
You can also take 1-5 drops as a "rescue" dose for sudden anxiety or before stressful events. While exceeding 10 drops at once is not recommended, an overdose is not possible; high doses may cause temporary euphoria followed by tiredness.
It's crucial to consult a doctor before using Sceletium with prescription medications, especially SSRIs.
The product, in detail
Sceletium
The dose you can count
Sceletium tortuosum — kanna — grown organically in Stellenbosch, drawn down to an extract and taken up into coconut MCT oil. Two ingredients, 10ml of it, and 5mg of alkaloids in every millilitre.
The plant
The succulent, briefly
Sceletium tortuosum is a low, sprawling succulent of southern Africa — soft fleshy leaves on trailing woody stems, close to the ground and often in the shade of a larger bush, flowering white. The Khoikhoi dried it, chewed it and swallowed the saliva, and the first written account of that is Jan van Riebeeck's, in 1662.
The Sceletium Extract sold alongside this bottle is the same plant, dried and powdered rather than taken up into oil.
The plant behind this bottle is organically grown in Stellenbosch.
The elixir
Extract taken up into oil
An elixir, here, is an extract carried in a fat. The plant is drawn down first — material into a solvent, solvent driven off, a small fraction of the original weight left behind holding the compounds the process was aimed at — and that fraction is then taken up into coconut MCT oil. Two ingredients go into the bottle and nothing else does.
MCT is the medium-chain fraction of coconut oil: the part that stays clear and liquid at room temperature instead of setting solid the way whole coconut oil does. It is the carrier. A concentrated extract is a very small quantity of very fine material, and the oil gives it a volume that can be poured, measured and drawn up into a pipette. Without a carrier there is no dropper, and without a dropper there is no drop to count.
That is what the oil buys over the powder. The extract is stated at around 3% total alkaloids, of which around 80% is mesembrine — the alkaloid named for the Mesembryanthemum family this plant belongs to, alongside the related mesembranol and mesembranone. We put 5mg of those alkaloids into every millilitre of oil, so a dose here is a number of drops rather than a pinch.
How to take it
3 drops, under the tongue
The oil goes under the tongue and is held there rather than swallowed straight down. It can also go into water, into a drink or onto food, but under the tongue is what we make it for.
3 drops is a typical adult dose and 5 is a strong one. The pattern given for regular use is 1 to 5 drops twice a day, after breakfast and after lunch, and more often than twice if it is wanted. Each drop carries somewhere between 200 and 250 micrograms of alkaloids depending on how large the drop comes out, which is why the guidance is written in drops rather than in milligrams.
10 drops at a sitting is the ceiling. Beyond that, everyone responds differently to Sceletium and to plant material generally, so treat all of that as a starting point and your own dose as the one that matters.
Consult a doctor before taking Sceletium alongside any prescription medication, and SSRIs in particular.
10ml bottle
10ml of oil · amber glass with a glass pipette
The only size the elixir is made in, and the one printed on the label.
What's inside
By weight, per ml of oil
- Sceletium alkaloids · From organic Sceletium tortuosum extract — ~3% total alkaloids, ~80% mesembrine
- 5mg
- Coconut MCT oil · The medium-chain fraction, liquid at room temperature
- carrier
- per ml of oil
- 5mg
The bottle is drawn to the actives in proportion to each other, not to the volume — the 5mg sits in a carrier that makes up the rest.
The oil
per ml of oil- Sceletium alkaloids · From organic Sceletium tortuosum extract — ~3% total alkaloids, ~80% mesembrine5mg
- Coconut MCT oil · The medium-chain fraction, liquid at room temperaturecarrier
Two ingredients, in the order we list them. At 5mg of alkaloids a millilitre, a full 10ml bottle holds 50mg of them; at 200 to 250 micrograms a drop, that is roughly 200 to 250 drops in a bottle.
Before you start
A note on informed use
Plant medicine deserves preparation. For most people this is gentle and uneventful, but some situations call for a conversation first.
Talk to someone first if:
- You take prescription medication of any kind
- You or your family have a history of psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
- You have a heart condition or blood pressure that isn't well controlled
- You are pregnant or breastfeeding
- You simply aren't sure whether this is for you
SSRIs and other antidepressants
They compete for the same serotonin receptors, and can dull the effect substantially. People who feel nothing at all are often taking one without having made the connection. It doesn't rule anything out; it does mean the timing is worth discussing with your doctor first.
Unsure where you sit? Email support@cosmicbazaar.com before you order — we would rather answer questions than take a sale someone regrets.
Our guarantee
If it isn't right, we make it right
Replace it, refund it, or talk it through — whichever leaves you better off. Reach us at support@cosmicbazaar.com and a person answers.
About the brand
Cosmic Bazaar
Cosmic Bazaar is our own house apothecary, a curated shelf of adaptogenic herbs, tonic powders, capsules, and ceremonial botanicals. From shilajit and ashwagandha to sacred lotus, these are the plant allies we reach for most.
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