For centuries, the Mazatec Indians in Oaxaca, Mexico, have used the plant salvia divinorum in their shamanic rituals. Based on their history of use as well as other research that has demonstrated no toxic or addictive potential of the plant, I decided to explore for myself this entheogen’s mind-altering effects. The experience is nothing less than amazing, and it has caused me to question my assumptions of reality. In this post I will attempt to explain what the salvia divinorum breakthrough experience has been like for me. It is my hope that anyone reading this will come away with a better understanding and respect for the power of this sacred plant.

Many people casually refer to it as a hallucinogen, but that word does not adequately describe the true experience. Because it is considered a hallucinogen, many people right away feel they understand how salvia affects the mind. On the web you can find many descriptions of salvia experiences, but even those descriptions do not accurately convey what it’s like. Describing the actual experience is not easy, and many are not able to articulate for others exactly what was experienced. The ones that do describe it are only able to describe, to the best of their ability, what they see. But what they see is unique to each individual, so that kind of reporting isn’t very helpful as a preparatory aid.

The actual salvia experience goes much deeper, and there is actually much commonality in the more profound aspects of its effects.

How Salvia Divinorum Affects Reality – the Dream State

Experienced salvia users will often say “it is like a dream”. And that is a very useful way to help process experiences that you may have already had.

But just saying “it’s like a dream” doesn’t adequately prepare someone who has not yet embarked on this journey. The reason it that there are two key aspects of dreams that we take for granted and don’t really think about when we consider the dream state. Those aspects involve the change in our consciousness and the change in how we process sensory input.

When dreaming, most people are not aware that they are in a dream (unless they are lucid dreaming, which is a rare and fascinating subject in itself). It doesn’t matter how bizarre or unrealistic the dream is – you accept it without question. Going on a date with a strange woman even though in real life you are married? Working at a job that is a hybrid of several past jobs? Flying through the air as you demonstrate that human flight is possible? No problem. You rarely question these scenarios. It is reality as far as you are concerned, and there is no other reality.

So you have no recollection or awareness that, in another level of reality, you are really asleep in bed. And when you wake up, perhaps it takes a while to realize that it was only a dream. But it’s no big deal. This happens all the time and so you get out of bed and go about your day as if nothing strange has happened.

Now imagine being in this state except that you are not asleep. Far from it, you are wide awake. You go through the experience, through the “dream”, and you have no awareness of who you are other than the person in your dream. But in this case, you are not having a typical dream – you are under the influence of salvia divinorum.

This is where each person’s experience is different. One person believes he is a snowflake. Another thinks she is at a carnival. I once saw teletubbie-like creatures. The details can be interesting but the mind-blowing part is that all the experiences are accepted as reality!

And because you have no recollection of who you were or what you were doing moments earlier, the return to “normalcy” can be incredibly disturbing – if not outright frightening. This is the part that many people do not handle well. One’s entire concept of reality is challenged, perhaps even shattered. It can feel as if reality itself has betrayed you. Because of this, many people do not like this experience at all and vow never to use salvia again.

But how can you not know where you are? you might wonder. Can’t you just see your surroundings and snap out of it?

This brings me to the second vital aspect of the salvia divinorum experience.

Salvia Hijacks Your Surroundings

There is another dream phenomenon that we often take for granted and think nothing of.

Have you ever been in the middle of a dream when someone tried to wake you? Maybe they called your name, or gently shook you. Maybe there was some faint commotion going on outside, or a knock at the door. But instead of waking up, you incorporated the sounds or feelings into your dream. The knock at the door became a jack hammer demolishing a dream patio. Or the whispered name became a voice amongst a sea of people at a dream carnival.

Again, typically this is no big deal.

But now imagine what it would be like if this happens not only to what you hear or feel, but also to what you see! This is what salvia does. The information received by your eyes is interpreted in completely different ways, and usually in ways that harmonize with the “story” that is taking place within the salvia “dream”.

It reminds me of the optical illusions where your mind interprets the image in different ways.

For example, is this a rabbit or a duck?

And is this a young woman or an old hag?

It’s possible to interpret each image both ways. But imagine that in the “real” world, you only see the rabbit and the old hag. In the salvia world, however, you see the duck and the young woman – and only the duck and the young woman. This is what the salvia experience is like for me, where everything I see, hear, and feel, becomes part of another reality that is just as real and just as convincing as consensus reality.

Some might describe it as another reality overlayed over normal reality. And some have described it as another world that bleeds through into this world. But the most interesting description that I’ve heard – and which I can relate to my own salvia experiences – is that it’s as if salvia divinorum retunes your brain to another frequency, and that frequency allows you to perceive a different world. It opens up a different mode of perception that really doesn’t involve the normal senses. I can’t say that I “see” anything – I just “know” it exists and then my brain correlates it to some visual representation.

Salvia Should be Approached Seriously and with Respect

The intensity of the salvia experience depends on several factors, including your own sensitivity and the technique used in “ingesting” the plant.

Chewing the leaves as the Mazatec do provides a longer-lasting but more gentle experience. The effects last about an hour and I’ve found that I have more control over going into and out of the salvia dream. The same level could be achieved from smoking plain leaves. It is when you smoke the higher level extracts, such 10x or higher, that the likelihood of a full-blown “breakthrough” experience increases.

This plant truly is a tool for serious introspection and for exploring your own consciousness. It can help give a different perspective as to the nature of reality and our place in it.

News about the “new drug threat” continues to increase as politicians and the media waste no time pursuing a misguided agenda to demonize salvia divinorum.

Without really understanding much about the plant, both are making ridiculously false statements. And recently, overzealous law enforcement officials in Kansas have targeted an innocent grocery store in the drive to rid the area of this new drug threat.

While there are many arguments against making ownership and use of the plant illegal, I noticed yet another reason why it is just a bad idea. Already, many people are getting the false idea that any sage plant can produce hallucinations. Unfortunately, this is being encouraged by the media. At the very least, both the media as well as law enforcement agencies are getting caught up in the confusion.

Take a recent example I saw in a video from an online news report:
New Drug Warning For Parents.

This report involved a city in the state of Kansas, where salvia is banned. The Garden City Police Department searched the area for stores that might be selling the stuff, and found one. The police stated they wouldn’t press charges, but will only try to educate the store owner and clerks.

The problem is – I find it incredibly hard to believe that the stuff they found is salvia divinorum!

The type of shops that sell salvia divinorum are smoke shops and head shops – you know, the places that sell smoking paraphernalia and other legal items of interest. But, based on the images in the video, this place is basically a grocery store – Mi Costenita!

Here is the package:

Perhaps this is why the reporters stated that salvia divinorum was available in local grocery and health stores. This statement was made just for effect, as I seriously doubt that smoking the stuff from this store will give anyone hallucinations. And I can’t believe this corporation is knowingly (or even unknowingly) including salvia divinorum in their stock of herbs, snacks, and spices for human consumption. Not even the head shops do that! On their packaging (for real salvia divinorum), you’ll typically find the CYA warning – “for incense use only, not for human consumption”.

But after being educated by the police about their supposed violation, the store owner and clerks are either going to be more confused, or more likely just have a good laugh at the overreactive authorities.

As the war on salvia picks up steam, how much more time and resources will be wasted pursuing false leads and harassing innocent store owners? And how can you enforce a law against use of a plant that is incredibly similar to the legal varieties, does not show up in a drug test, and where there is only a window of about 15 minutes where the user is obviously under the influence?

And if anyone can confirm that Mi Costenita really sells salvia divinorum, let me know.

[Check out more alarmist news videos on the Salvia Divinorum News page.]

Salvia divinorum has been banned in a few countries as well as some states in the U.S.. I am against an outright ban against the plant, and I wrote a post on my position on the war on salvia. However, while I see more harm than good in the federal government or any state making it a Schedule I substance, I do support the idea of restricting its use in the same way that alcohol and cigarettes are restricted. This is not a party drug, and using it for entertainment purposes is wasteful at best and potentially dangerous at worst. Young minds that are still developing do not need to be exposed to substances that alter how the mind works.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I read last week that the Assembly Committee on Public Safety passed California Assemblyman Anthony Adams’ bill A.B. 259. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to sell or distribute Salvia divinorum to persons under the age of 18.

The media has been sensationalizing this plant and exaggerating its effects for some time. As of now, six U.S. states have decided to react to this “new threat to our youth” by enacting laws making possession and use of salvia divinorum a criminal offense:

Delaware – salvia divinorum (plant) is a Schedule I substances
Missouri – salvia divinorum (plant) and salvinorin A are Schedule I substances
Louisiana – salvia divinorum (plant) is a Schedule I substances
North Dakota - salvia divinorum (plant) is a Schedule I substances
Illinois – salvia divinorum (plant) and any compound extracted from it are Schedule I substances
Oklahoma – salvia divinorum and salvinorin A were included in the state’s definition of controlled substances.

Two states have enacted less severe laws:

Maine – salvia divinorum (plant) and salvinorin A are regulated substances. Sale to a minor is a criminal offense, while possession by a minor is a civil offense.
Tennessee – Possession and use of salvinorin A is a Class A misdemeanor

source : SageWisdom.org

I’m pleased that California is on the way to adopting reasonable laws dealing with salvia. Originally, the bill proposed to make it a Schedule 1 substance, prompting salvia expert Daniel Siebert to write a letter opposing this bill. I don’t know if his letter had any influence, but the bill was defeated in committee and later amended to the version that recently passed committee.

You can read the bill, with all its changes from the original, here. (Requires Acrobat Reader.) And here is an analysis of the bill.

If made into law, adults in California will have the right to explore their own consciousness with the aid of this natural tool. And it will be more difficult for those most likely to abuse the plant as a party drug or for entertainment purposes – with the potential for incurring harm to themselves – to do so.

[Updated on 8/31/08] The bill has passed the California Senate and on July 22, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill into law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2009.

The Mazatec Indians use it in their spiritual rituals for healing and to gain answers. Modern-day shamans also use the plant called salvia divinorum in their quests for spiritual answers. No wonder it’s known as a teacher plant.

It is indeed incredibly unique in terms of its place in human culture, and it has risen from an enigmatic past to a place of controversy in modern culture. So does it have anything to offer the modern seeker? I believe that it does.

Its Mystical Origins

The Mazatec call the plant “ska Maria Pastora”, or “leaves of the Virgin Mary, the Shepherdess”. They believe that it was the Virgin Mary who gave it to them.

Botanists consider it a cultigen, and it does not flourish in the wild through pollination. Some reports mistakenly state that salvia divinorum only grows wild in the Oaxaca region of Mexico. This isn’t entirely accurate. The reality is that the Mazatec Indians who live in that region have cultivated the plant for hundreds of years. Without being cultivated its chances of survival are slim for one reason – it is essentially sterile. While in the wild it has been known to send leaves to the ground where they then start to grow roots, it is primarily propagated by human cultivation where cuttings are taken and then replanted.

Since it was first discovered by modern culture in the 20th century there have been a hand full of documented cases where cross-pollination did result in enough viable seeds to produce a new plant. This means that all the salvia grown today are clones of one of a handful of unique plants.

So here we have a plant that the Indian peoples believe was given to them by a divine being. They have cared for it, respected it, and learned from it. As others have noted, there is a symbiotic relationship between humans and this plant. It depends on human cultivation through cloning as its primary method of propagating itself. In turn, ska Maria pastora provides humans with a unique and powerful way to explore human consciousness. And many who have experienced its effects will say that the plant seems to have a consciousness of its own – perhaps a common consciousness shared between all the cloned offsprings.

I do not judge such cultures as the Mazatec for their use of mind-altering substances. Their practices show that, when approached in the right way, entheogens can be beneficial to society as well as the individual. It is with this in mind that I decided to explore what this plant has to offer and actually step into the salvia world.

My First Experience with Salvia Divinorum

One thing should be explained, and that is there is a difference between the method that the Mazatec use to ingest the plant and the method employed by many modern users. The Mazatec slowly chew the leaves, but many in modern culture smoke not just regular leaves but leaves that have been infused with higher concentrations of the active ingredient salvinorin A. These are identified as extracts. So 10x extract refers to leaves which contain, because of this infusion, 10 times the level of salvinorin A that is contained in standard leaves.

It was with 10x extract that I was introduced to the salvia world.

As many others have reported, the effects began dramatically upon exhaling after holding the smoke in for 15-20 seconds. The folds of the material I was sitting on began to glow and flow away from me, continuing off into some vanishing point. Pulled, stretched, or just flowing – I’m not sure which, but with the movement came a stretching musical note that turned into something that sounded like a jingle from a children’s TV show. It felt as if I had been singing the jingle all along and just incorporated it into this dream. My front teeth felt like they also were being pulled with the flow.

That was the extent of the visual experience which was nothing compared to what came next.

Somehow I “knew” at a deeper level that the lines flowing away from me were actually a community of beings that I can only describe as a cross between teletubbies and Floop’s fooglies (from the movie Spy Kids). They were all gathering to what I sensed was a huge tree. As they gathered they were accompanied by the jingle. The other day I was listening to that Beatles song “I am the Walrus” when I heard a part that reminded me of the feeling that I got from the salvia music.

Pretty creepy, actually. This was not a light, merry experience. The cartoon-like entities seemed to be chastizing me – as if I was supposed to be going with them but wasn’t being responsible enough to get with the program. I could feel a pulling sensation against my teeth in the direction of the beings. And then I noticed that the song was coming from my mouth. Not that I was singing, but the song, the pulling, and the gathering event were all one and the same thing.

The significant part of this is that, like a dream where you accept the absurd as reality without question or without even noticing how absurd it is, this experience became a new and accepted reality. There was no question in my mind that it was real, and no memory of what “reality” was prior to the start of the experience. That is the one fundamental difference between the effects of Salvia and that of other hallucinogens.

After a few minutes the effects began to wear off and I became more aware of my surroundings. Or rather, I began to interpret my surroundings in the “normal” way. With that came a few moments of disbelief as I started to remember who I was, where I was, and what I was doing.

Common Elements of the Salvia World

After a few experiences I’m come to recognize some common elements.

The Salvia People
There is always the sensation of the presence of other beings, typically cartoon-like. On some occasions they have the feeling of being family characters – mother, father, cousins. I believe that this is related to the dream-like quality of the salvia world. In how many dreams are you completely alone, without other characters as part of the story?

Visuals
The main visual component consists of lines that flow, as if everything in my field of vision is composed of lines. The direction is different each time. One time it flowed towards the source of music that I was playing. On another occasion the lines flowed into me, coinciding with a prickly physical sensation so that it seemed that the lines were glass daggers piercing my body.

The Soundtrack
There is always some type of “soundtrack” that forms the fabric of the salvia world. If I have actual music playing then that music becomes the structure of that world. But when no music is playing then it creates its own. It’s as if the salvia is saying “oh you don’t have music? Well then I’ll pull it out of you!” The music is also cartoon-like.

“I’ve been here before”
There is a feeling of familiarity that is more pronounced with each episode, and the strength of the familiarity is matched only by my amazement at how I could have forgotten it. Is it so familiar because it is really a part of myself that I’m usually not conscious of – until salvia reveals it? It has definitely become what salvia is for me, as if it exists as a real, distinct world within the plant, waiting for me to return.

So What is There to be Gained?

I have to honestly say that I do not get a “spiritual” feeling in the way that I expected. The salvia world that I enter is just as familiar as the non-salvia world. The beings have a sense of reality but seem like material beings, not ethereal. There is no pointing to a higher source. The concept of a higher source seems irrelevant – that is not their concern. All of the components come from material reality – the identity of the entities (mom, dad, cousins), the music, even the environment (in one case I felt as if I was on a farm).

I’m incredibly fascinated by the feelings of familiarity, as well as the music that is always present. I’m also fascinated by the similarity between my experiences and the experiences of others. What’s with the cartoon-like characters, and what is it about our brains that reacts to salvia in this way to create them (assuming they are not, in fact, independent beings)? Is it possible to communicate coherently with them? If so, can anything be learned? Can I get a handle on what the music is – maybe remembering it enough to repeat it upon returning? Can I achieve lucidity to the point of being able to be mentally in both worlds at the same time, or to be able to switch my focus at will?

There is still much to explore.

But perhaps a more sober lesson is how easily our sense of reality can be manipulated. How much of what we take for granted as reality is actually a manipulation?

Maybe the salvia people have the answers.

Salvia Wholesale

Also see more sources for ethnobotanicals.

It’s being called “a dangerous new drug that is sweeping the country.”

One by one, news sources are jumping on the bandwagon and joining in the media campaign against an herb that has been used for centuries by Mexican shamans – known by science as salvia divinorum. And it is a classic example of alarmist misinformation.

What is Salvia divinorum?

Salvia divinorum is a plant that has been used in spiritual and healing rituals by the Mazatec Indians for centuries. They often refer to it as “ska Maria Pastora”, or “leaves of the Virgin Mary, the Shepherdess.” Typically, the plant is chewed for its entheogenic effects. In the last ten years or so it has become known and used (typically smoked) within modern culture where it is known by such names as “Sally D”, “magic mint”, or “Diviner’s Sage”. The active ingredient in the plant is called Salvinorin A, “the most potent naturally-occurring psychoactive compound known.”

Early users had intentions similar to the Mazatec – spiritual exploration and personal discovery. But two things have changed the landscape of salvia users – the fact that it is legal in most countries and US states, and the spread in awareness via the internet. This has resulted in a proliferation of young people using it for thrills and posting videos of themselves while under the influence of the plant.

What is the media saying about salvia?

Because of the surge in popularity, it has caught the attention of the media. But I find much of what I see reported to be puzzling. These are some of the misleading and inaccurate quotes, taken from news articles and posted news videos:

“more dangerous than LSD” “videos show evidence of it dangerous effects”
Real evidence of it’s “danger” is yet to be demonstrated. The main concern is that science knows little about its short or long term effects, and that people under the influence have limited, if any, awareness of their surroundings. However, the effects are very short-lived, only lasting a few minutes.

“dangerous and addictive drug”
There has been no evidence of addiction, and most authorities familiar with the drug say that it is not addictive. Furthermore, there is no evidence that it is toxic to humans.

“effects can be life-altering”

This is a sensitive topic. The basis for such statements come from the suicide of a teenager, Brett Chidester, whose death his mother attributes to salvia. I feel for any parent who loses their child. She has every right to grieve and express her anger. But there are a number of other possible factors that could have been involved in Brett’s suicide – alcohol use, a broken family, acne medication – combined with the teenage psychology, despite being a straight-A student. Nevertheless, and without strong evidence to justify it, the coroner amended his report to list salvia divinorum as contributing to Brett’s death, and lawmakers in the state of Delaware worked to classify the plant as a Schedule 1 substance, making it illegal to own or use. Wikipedia, in a balanced way, lists the other possible factors in Brett’s death in the article Brett’s Law (named after the Delaware statute).

Why not just make salvia illegal?

There are a number of reasons why I believe that making salvia illegal is going down a wrong path:

• To create another enemy in the War on Drugs will only have the opposite effect.
• To classify it as a Federal Schedule I substance would make it difficult if not impossible for researchers to study its effects on humans and thereby discover other uses for the plant.
• Enforcement will create an additional government financial burden for a substance that has not been shown to be a major threat to society. This is a non-addictive, non-toxic substance, the effects of which are short-lived. And based on the reports, it is not a “fun” drug conducive to social use, despite what many of the videos on YouTube may lead you to think.

I do believe, however, that its use should not be without restrictions. There are restrictions on drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. It’s appropriate that similar restrictions be made on salvia as to who can buy and use it. I wouldn’t even mind seeing limitations that prevent it being used irresponsibly as a party drug, although that is unlikely.

I see no reason why people should be prevented from using it in a respectful way as an aid in personal exploration. From a spiritual viewpoint, I know that many look down on using drugs, but that is a personal matter and not one that needs to be controlled by governments.

More information

The following is a very informative student documentary on salvia:

Salvia Wholesale