In my opinion Salvia aka Diviner's Sage aka S. Divinorum is very misunderstood. Most people are familiar with a product called 20X salvia sold in stores/head shops , I think they also sell something called 5X , 40X and 60X. The bottled product is very different than a real salvia leaf. The product is a concentrated form of salvia much like hashish to marijuana that has been altered with various material's in order to be able to be smoked as real salvia (leaf form) must be smoked with a torch. Real Salvia (leaf) must reach a burning temperature of about 500 degree's F in order to evaporate the terpenoids within the material. Most of the bottled sold materials can be smoked with a normal lighter.
It is still legal most everywhere. In plant form and in Processed form. The plant gains many mystic and mixed story's based on its ecology. S. Divinorum is 1 of approximately 17,000 Salvia variety's and the only one known to product a psychedelic effect and unlike most Salvia variety's (and all plants in general) , S. Divinorum has lost it evolutionary ability to produce seed's. Flowers are very rare on this variety and when produced make a sterile pollen. Propagation is only by natural or artificial cutting's. This method of growth and propagation has lead people to think it has had a divine intervention in its evolutionary path, hence "Diviner's Sage".
Historically Shamans in Central Mexico would use chewed S. Divinorum as a catalyst to apply medicines they administered either orally or intravenously into wounds , never really using it to produce a 'high' effect. The lore of it being used as a high producing compound comes from the US Cherokee and Black Foot Indians. These same Indians would also use Peyote in their religious ceremonies annually. Lore has it that around 1840 on their annual pilgrimage to collect Peyote they over shot the growing grounds and ended up in Mexico Vs Arizona/Texas . While in Mexico and in contact with local tribes a shaman told them to use the Diviner's sage instead of Peyote and claimed it was told to him in a vision that they would arrive and he was to provide them with the plant.
The Indians used the plant (smoked via peace pipe) during their fast in the ceremony that would allow braves to become warriors. They claimed that while using S. Divinorum they would hear the voices of their ancestors judging them in 3 words , which would repeat over and over during the duration of the high/trip.
The Indians practice of S. Divinorum use fell away from practice , possibly do to modern society encroaching on their lands and free passage being blocked by modern society. After which they went back to using only Peyote by the 1860's.
I'm unaware how smoking S. Divinorum came into popular modern culture but I assume from Terence McKenna and his published writing of psychedelic use while traveling the North , Central and South Americas along side Timothy Leary. I saw use explode after 1996 when a magazine called "Head's" (from Canada) did a article on the drug. I tried using it about 200 times. The store bought ##X types are very different from the natural plant. Store bought types produce a near narcotic psychedelic effect with the drug effecting the body heavily and producing much more visual psychedelic effects. Smoking the plants leaves produces a more euphoric effect often resulting in out of body experiences and more mental trips Vs physical trips. Consumption of S. Divinorun via smoke has a window of usage of about 30 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds after which the user can not physically smoke more or understand 'what's going on' enough to actually smoke more. The high generally last 2-20 minutes. Natural leaves tend to last longer than the processed store bought products. S. Divinorum can also be chewed or ingested to produce a mild sedation effect, not so much a 'trip' but more of a slow down/heavy body effect or simply said a mild high.
On a odd note. Through testing we found that generally if a user heard a spoken sentence or various words , 3 of those words would stick in your mind throughout the trip , repeating its self like a broken record. What this means.... I don't know. I assumed the limited cognitive effect produced by S. Divinorum also limited brain functions to literally be so small as to only be able to retain 3 sounds , usually the last sounds heard before the trip started.
On a personal note , I would advise strong caution if you intend to use S. Divinorum. I feel it produces much stronger trips than any other psychedelics and its immediate come down often leads to severe depression, a general lost feeling or severe anxiety. In the idea that a person is tripping extremely hard one second and then 10 seconds later they are in a normal state of mind but believe they should be or might be still tripping. The switch from hardcore tripping to normal state of mind so fast is not easy to deal with. Many recovering psychedelic addicts I've spoke with have sighted salvia's trip to be their last and the drug that pushed them over the edge to stay clean and not go back to psychedelic drugs. I do not advise this as a method to clean up or detox.
Last edited: Aug 28, 2015