Salvia
Divinorum is one of over two thousand varieties of the plant genus
Salvia (Sage), and the plant has been used for centuries as a sacred visionary
and healing medicine by the Mazatec Indians living in Oaxaca,
southwestern Mexico.
Salvia
Divinorum grows wild only in a small, mountainous region of the Sierra
Mazateca in Oaxaca.
In addition to its psychoactive use in divination ceremonies, the medicine has
traditionally been used in small doses as a diuretic, and to treat diarrhea,
rheumatism anemia and headaches.
The psychoactive properties of Salvia Divinorum were unknown to the West until
1939, when anthropologist Jean Basset Johnson wrote of an infusion made with “Hierba
Maria” or Mary Herb with visionary properties that was used for divining
purposes while he was studying Mazatec shamanism.
However, it was not until the early 1960’s that Gordon
Wasson and Albert Hoffman visited Oaxaca
in search of the magical plant and they were finally given some samples after
much difficulty. They took the samples to be analyzed in Europe
by botanists Carl Epling and Carlos D. Játiva who christened the plant Salvia Divinorum since it was related to the Salvia or sage
genus and was primarily used for its divining properties.
Salvia Divinorum’s psychoactive mechanism was not identified
until the 1990’s by a team led by Daniel Siebert.
BOTANY OF SALVIA
DIVINORUM
Salvia
Divinorum is endemic to and only grows wild in the Sierra Mazateca where
it thrives near streams in fertile ravine areas that are shaded and humid in
mountainous regions at an altitude of between 1,000 and 6,000 feet. However, it
will grow in parts of coastal California and Hawaii that enjoy
coastal fogs and which remain frost-free.
The plant has square stems that can easily break off and
start rooting on the ground through the nodes and internodes. Salvia Divinorum has
leaves that are green with a yellow undertone and which measure between four
and twelve inches long with serrated edges. The whole plant grows to just over
three feet in height.
Salvia Divinorum
rarely flowers. However, when it does, it produces white flowers about 1.25 inches
in circumference that are curved with white hairs held in a violet calyx. Since
its seeds are hardly ever viable, the Salvia Divinorum plant propagates primarily
through cloning.
Scientists have therefore concluded the plant is either a
Mazatec cultigen, with its partial sterility due to long term cultivation and
selection, or a hybrid, although the two parent species have not yet been
found.
STRAINS OF SALVIA DIVINORUM
The strains of Salvia Divinorum are extremely limited outside of their natural
range. The most commonly-cultivated Bunnell strain was collected in 1962 by psychologist/ecologist
Sterling Bunnell and has often been incorrectly referred to as the
Wasson-Hoffman strain. Another popular strain, known as the Blosser or
Palatable strain due to its better taste, was collected by anthropologist Bret
Blosser in 1991 from Huatla de Jimenez, high atop the Sierra Mazateca.
Additionally, a number of other less-documented and possibly
mutant strains have been isolated. For
example, the Hawaiian mutant Luna strain features rounded leaves instead of the
more common oval leaves.
INGESTION OF SALVIA DIVINORUM
Traditional curanderas or healing priests working among the
Mazatec Indians originally made a tea with the crushed leaves of between 20 and
80 or more fresh leaves or between 50 and 80 grams. If the leaves were chewed,
the Mazatecs would roll the fresh leaves into cigars which they then put as a
wad between the cheek and the gum and chewed gently in order to absorb the
juices into the lining of their mouth.
Because smoking the untreated dry Salvia Divinorum leaves produces very
little noticeable effects, the favored modern method of ingestion involves smoking
or vaporizing concentrates that are enhanced and labeled with an x indicating
the gram concentration.
For example, a 25x extract would indicate that one gram
contained a concentrated extract of 25 grams of salvia leaf concentrated onto
one gram of leaf. A wide variety of standardized extract smokable leaf concentrates
can be obtained at www.TheBestSalvia.com that
range from 5x to 60x in potency.
While these multiplication factors give an indication as to
strength, the potency of the dose will still depend on the quality of the
underlying untreated leaf that is used in the concentrate, and the efficiency
of the extraction process. Laboratory
techniques such as liquid chromatography can be used to make sure that the
potency is properly standardized.
Chewing is also a viable ingestion alternative; however, the
active chemical ingredient called Salvinorin A becomes inactivated in the
digestive system when ingested internally. This makes it imperative to keep the
leaves in the mouth and absorb the juices through the oral mucous to experience
an effect. Chewing takes more leaf and makes for a longer overall effect than
smoking.
Although less popular, Salvia Divinorum can also be ingested in an herbal
tincture that is typically administered sublingually with an eye-dropper. The
alcohol in the tincture ensures a rapid delivery and the effects vary depending
on the potency of the preparation.
CHEMISTRY OF SALVIA DIVINORUM
The active psychotropic chemical in Salvia Divinorum is a trans-neoclerodane
diterpenoid known as Salvinorin A. The chemical comprises about 0.18% of the
dried plant, and unlike other substances active on the opioid brain receptors, Salvinorin
A is not an alkaloid since it does not include a nitrogen atom in its basic
makeup.
Furthemore, Salvinorin A is the only naturally-occurring
substance known that can induce visionary states by being a selective kappa-opioid
receptor agonist. Salvinorin A does not affect the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor
which is the main receptor site for the classic hallucinogens, such as LSD and
mescaline, thereby making Salvia
Divinorum a completely different type of entheogenic experience.
LEGALITY OF SALVIA DIVINORUM
Salvia
Divinorum is still legal to possess and distribute in most of the world,
making it one of the most interesting legal highs available. However, certain
countries such as Australia,
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Italy, Japan,
Spain, and Sweden have now placed restrictions
on the plant that range from an outright ban to limiting distribution.
In the U.S., due in large part to unwise YouTube video
postings on the Internet of young people looking silly while reportedly taking
Salvia Divinorum, some states have made the plant illegal, while others are in
the process of passing laws limiting its use and distribution.
For example, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Virginia
have placed the plant and its active ingredient Salvinorin A into the most
restrictive Schedule I category. Louisiana, Maine and Tennessee have
restricted distribution of the plant, while Maine
and California
have restricted sale to adults only.
Bills have been proposed to place Salvia Divinorum in Schedule I in Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina,
while New York
has proposed restricting possession.
Even though there have been relatively few reports of
adverse effects, some people experience what can be overwhelming effects because
of the high potency of commercially available concentrates, so avoid taking
high doses of concentrated extracts in public and without the support of a
trained and sober sitter.
Nevertheless, exaggerated reports in the media are primarily
responsible for unjustified fears about Salvia Divinorum being spread among the public and
lawmakers about this truly unique and mind-expanding sacred plant medicine.
Perhaps the Mazatecs were wise in hiding their sacred herb
from the West for so many years. The limited and overprotected mind set of much
of Western humanity may not be ready to deal with the awesome truths revealed
by communion with this extraordinary magical plant.
So, those who wish to experience this amazing plant medicine
first hand and legally should take advantage of the rapidly-closing window of
opportunity to do so.
Go to www.TheBestSalvia.com
to find out more about Salvia
Divinorum and buy extracts online now!
