The Dried Blue Lotus Flower (Nymphaea caerulea) was a very important flower in ancient Egypt and Maya culture for a long time, so much so that it is found in numerous papyri and in the mural representations of the temples in the Karnak and Luxor valley. According to several scholars, struck by this parallelism between two cultures so geographically distant, blue lotus flowers were used in both cultures for ritualistic purposes and probably to achieve altered states of consciousness during religious ceremonies. In all likelihood, beyond its symbolic and religious aspect, the Blue Lotus was also used by the ancient Egyptians and the Maya as a meditative plant, capable of promoting concentration, relaxation, and lucid dreams.