Salvia divinorum (also known as Diviner's Sage, Ska María Pastora, Seer's Sage,and by its genus name Salvia) is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects and is a potent producer of "visions" and other hallucinatory experiences. Its native habitat is within cloud forest in the isolated Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico, growing in shady and moist locations.
The plant grows to over a meter high, has hollow square stems, large leaves, and occasional white flowers with violet calyx. Botanists have not determined whether Salvia divinorum is a cultigen or a hybrid; native plants reproduce vegetatively, rarely producing viable seed.
Salvia divinorum has a long and continuous tradition of religious use by Mazatec shamans, who use it to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions. Most of the plant's local common names allude to the Mazatec belief that the plant is an incarnation of the Virgin Mary, with its ritual use also invoking that relationship. Its active psychoactive constituent is a structurally unique diterpenoid called salvinorin A, a potent κ-opioid and D2 receptor agonist.
Salvia divinorum is generally understood to be of low toxicity (high LD50) and low addictive potential; as a κ-opioid agonist.
Dry leaves can be smoked in a pipe, but most users prefer the use of a water pipe to cool the smoke. The temperature required to release salvinorin from the plant material is quite high. A cooler flame will work, but the direct application of a more intense flame, such as that of a torch lighter, is often preferred.
Some find that untreated dry leaf produces unnoticeable or only light effects. Concentrated preparations or extracts which may be smoked in place of untreated leaves, have become widely available. This enhanced (or "fortified") leaf is described by a number followed by 5X, 10X, 15X, 20X the multiplicative factors being generally indicative of the relative amounts of leaf concentrate, though there is no accepted standard for these claims.
These grades of potency may be roughly indicative of the relative concentration of the active principle, (salvinorin A), but the measure should not be taken as absolute.
Overall extract potency will depend on the (naturally varying) strength of the untreated leaf used in preparing the extract, as well as the efficiency of the extraction process itself. Extracts reduce the overall amount of inhalations needed to ingest a given amount of active principle, thus facilitating more powerful experiences.
If salvia is smoked, then the main effects are experienced quickly. The most intense 'peak' is reached within a minute or so and lasts for 1–5 minutes, followed by a gradual tapering off. At 5–10 minutes, less intense yet still noticeable effects typically persist, giving way to a returning sense of the everyday and familiar until back to baseline after about 15 to 20 minutes.
The traditional method of chewing the leaves has continued in modern use. However, salvinorin A is generally considered to be inactive when orally ingested, as salvinorin A is effectively deactivated by the gastrointestinal system.
Therefore, in what's understood to be a modern innovation, the 'quid' of leaves is held in the mouth as long as possible in order to facilitate absorption of the active constituents through the oral mucosa. 'Quid' refers to the fact that at the end of this method the user spits out the leaves rather than swallowing them because ingesting the leaves has no known effect.
Chewing consumes more of the plant than smoking, and produces a longer-lasting experience.
Less commonly, some may ingest salvia in the form of a tincture. This is administered sublingually, usually with the aid of a glass dropper. It may be taken diluted with water just before use, which may slightly reduce the intensity of its effects, but can also serve to lessen or avoid a stinging sensation in the mouth caused by the presence of alcohol.
Tinctures vary in potency, and the effects can range from inducing a mild meditative state to bringing about a more intense visionary one.
When taken as a tincture the effects and duration are similar to other methods of oral ingestion, though they may be significantly more intense, depending on extract potency. |
.jpg "Ayahuasca")
