What is Salvia Divinorum?

The Salvia Divinorum is a plant, an herb coming from the largest genus of the Mint
Family of Lamiaceae, believed  to be able to connect the physical world to the realm of the
spirits.  This plant is considered an entheogen or purposively being used as a religious
ornament and ritual companion.  It is psychoactive, which may induce visionary and other
dissociative effects to mind and body of users.  This herb has caught the interest of
scientific research because it contains the naturally occurring compound salvinorin A,
which is the only known one of its kind which induces the aforementioned effects.
Salvia Divinorum has caught mass media attention because the plant is considered
to have a strong inclination for misuse and abuse.

Labels and meaning of Salvia Divinorum?

Salvia is a colloquial label of the herb Salvia Divinorum.  "Divinorum" means
"divine" or "diviner" which is why this herb i also called "the Diviner Sage"
The Mazatec, an indigenous people who lives in Oaxaca State in South
Mexico, is the first known culture which uses Salvia Divinorum in the
practice of its belief system.  Salvia Divinorum has at least two more
names given by the Mazatec aside from the colloquial "salvia" and
Divine Sage"; they also call the herb "Visionary Sage" because  it is able
to induce different visionary conditions often considered spiritual.

What is the meaning of the name of the plant Salvia Divinorum?  Why do different types of Salvia are considered "sage"?

"Salvia comes from the Latin word "salvere" which means "to save" in English;
"divinorum" means divine, owing to the common usage of the herb in
communication with the non-physical realm or the "divine".  Salvia
is the name given to the largest genus of plants belonging to the Mint Family
of Lamiaceae; plants from Genus Salvia are believed to be containing healing
properties.  From the Latin word, the term becomes the mordern day word
"sage".  A "sage" is coinage to revere a man of great and respected wisdom.
To the early peoples to where the religious one is believed to be born from,
a sage is part of the Sanhedrin or the committee of judges.  A sage is usually
but not necessarily old, to whom the cliche "experience is the best teacher"
may have sprung from.  Also, a sage must be a scholar who learned from
different facets, but always related to only one school of thought or
discipline, earning him the title of being a "master" or a "specialist'.  If we
treat all plants from the Genus Salvia as "healers" but display unique
"specialization", then it is alright to call all of them sage.  Though, it becomes
confusing to limit calling Salvia Divinorum by only its genus name.  A
member of the same genus, the Salvia officinalis, or the "Common Sage",
may be deemed as the closest owner of the nickname "Salvia".

Salvia Divinorum name Derivation

salvia name derivation, Salvia Divinorum or otherwise know as Salvia Sage commonly
goes by the name of "Salvia" However, they are also sometimes referred to as
Sage of the Seers, Diviners Sage and Maria Pastora.  They were consumed by local
shamans (spiritual leaders) to induce "divination" during rituals.  That is an apparent
reason why the word "Sage" appears in almost all of its aliases.

Roots of Salvia Divinorum

Salvia is a local of Mexico.  They are usually found in the mountain cloud forest at
Oaxaca where temperature is low and humidity level is high.  They are taxonomically
classified under the "mint" family and is characterized by its hollow stems, large green
leaves and sometimes, white flowers with purple bracts. 

Effects of Salvia Divinorum

Being a psychoactiv drug, Salvia Divinorum has dissociative effects.  By dissociative
that means it can produce "out of body" experiences such as almost instantaneous
feelings of elation, sometimes uncontrollable laughter and a different perception of
reality.  There are however a few reports of users feeling an unpleasant or uncomfortable
mood.  The whole feeling can last for an entire 5 to 10 minutes which is shorter than
other psychoactive substances.

Means of Consumption of Salvia Divinorum

Traditionally, shamans used to take Salvia Sage by crushing their leaves and mixing
it with water, juices or tea,  Since it has been quite famous in the Internet, several
users have found different means of taking it.

Chewing quid is perhaps the easiest means to consure Salvia.  To maximize its
effect, users are recommended to keep on chewing it and keeping it inside their
mouth as long as they can.  Ingestion of the leaves is not recommended as it
prevents the release of salvinorum A which is the substance that provides the
users desired effects after consumption.

Dried leaves on the other hand are consmed by smoking.  Some users prefer to use
a water pipe while some apply heat directly to the leaves.  The actual aim is to
expose it to 240* C to release its active ingredient.

Rather than smoking the actual dried leaves themselves, preparations or extracts
can be purchased to obtain a stronger effect.  "Dosage" of the concoction, is
indicated by a number plus the letter "X" (eg. 5X 10X 15X).  The number has a
direct correlation with the concentration of the preparation.

Concentrated tinctures is one other option.  This way they usually infuse a drop
or two of the actual solution to a beverage.  This method however is rumored to
slightly decrease the effect of Salvia.

Availability of Salvia Divinorum

Unlike its other psychoactive counterparts, Salvia is still considered legal in most
States.  This is mainly because there is no know report of a bad side-effect.  In
fact, this same plant is used for medicinal purposes like preventing anemia, providing
treatments to minor ailments like diarrhea, headaches and rheumatism. 

Since it is not in the list of substances regulated by the Controlled Substances Act,
you can easily purchase them online.  Keep in mind however that there are some
States which prevents their constituents the trade of any part, concoction or
extracts of the plant.  In Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Salvia Divinorum
is officially banned.