What is Salvia Divinorum?

Today, many of us know of Salvia divinorum as a popular legal hallucinogen. Thanks to the Internet, there is more awareness about Salvia today then ever before. If we go back into history, we will find that Salvia divinorum was first introduced in the West in the mid 20th Century. This small leafy plant, however, has been used by ancient cultures of Mexico for many decades.

Salvia divinorum was originally found in the Oaxaca region of Mexico and scientists figured out that Salvia was used by the Mazatec shamans of this area for spiritual healing, divination, and medicinal purposes. While Salvia has a long history, Salvia extracts have been used by people all over the world only recently. Salvia is available on an international level and many people buy Salvia for its psychedelic effects. Unlike other substances on the market, Salvia is actually legal in many countries.

Salvia is generally made into an extract for ingestion. The most common method of ingestion is smoking because it is more effective. Traditionally, Salvia was consumed by Mayans either in the form of tea infusions or placed in a bond fire for inhaling. Today, people either smoke Salvia or chew it. Chewing Salvia is not the preferred method because the effects are weaker and it requires the use of fresh Salvia leaves.

Salvia extracts are typically for smoking and these are created by extracting the active ingredient in Salvia and adding it to tiny pieces of the leaves. Most people choose standardized extracts because they are of higher quality and cleaner to smoke.

What causes the effects of Salvia divinorum is actually a very powerful ingredient called Salvinorin A. Salvinorin A is a natural hallucinogen. Once Salvia is consumed, the effects will range anywhere from mild to extreme depending on the extract and the strength of the blend. The effects last five to seven minutes and are stronger in people who have natural body resistance to Salvinorin A.

Salvia creates a whole range of positive experiences such as mood enhancement, spirituality and deep insight. The effects of Salvia are generally grouped into 3 levels and below is an overview of the experiences in each level.

Level 1 Subtle: In the first level, people generally are still aware of their body, but begin to feel their body become more tranquil.

Relaxation
Calmness
Peacefullness
Increased sensuality and sexuality
Sense of reality
Ability to Meditate

Level 2 Mild Visionary: In the second level, people begin to hallucinate and their bodies feel as though they are being controlled by strong forces.

Sense of reality starts to diminish in this stage.
Altered state of consciousness
Heightened sense of color, texture, sight, smell sounds and environment.
Playful and uncontrollable laughter
Hallucinations with eyes closed Immateriality
Body can twist and turn

Level 3 Strong Visionary: In the third level, hallucinations become more intense and people lose sense of reality.In this stage, people also gain deeper insight and spirituality.

Detachment from reality
Intense hallucinations indistinguishable from reality
Enlightening insight
Time traveling
Past-life associations
Divine connections
Stronger connection with nature and universe

The effects of Salvia are primarily positive, but in extreme cases, people can lose consciousness and begin to shake uncontrollably. It is always important to use Salvia in the company of others and to begin with smaller doses to prevent this.