Tuesday, July 23, 2024
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Beginners Guide
Psychedelics
Salvia
Set & Setting
Peyote
There are over 7000 individual species in the mint family of plants only one of them, Salvia divinorum is psychedelic. This unassuming sage plant is the strongest naturally occurring hallucinogen on Earth many times more powerful even than ayahuasca.
The effects of salvia are strange, to say the least. It induces intense cartoon-like hallucinations and radical shifts in reality not experienced by any other psychedelic on Earth.
What is Salvia?
Salvia divinorum is a type of sage similar to the sage you might use for culinary applications.
Like all sages, Salvia divinorum contains a high concentration of essential oil. This essential oil is what gives sage its characteristic aroma.
The difference with Salvia divinorum is that one of the elements in this essential oil Salvinorin A.
Salvinorin A is the most powerful natural hallucinogen in the world. Psychoactive doses start around 200 micrograms. Some synthetic psychedelics, such as LSD, are stronger producing psychoactive effects at doses as low as 20 micrograms however, these drugs are difficult to compare.
A single dose of salvia induces a radical shift in the perception of reality often forcing you into another world entirely.
The psychedelic effects of salvia are very short-lived lasting only 5 to 15 minutes.
During this time, people have reported living several lifetimes, experiencing other dimensions, or engaging with alien entities.
This herb is usually smoked, but the leaves can also be chewed or consumed as a tea.
Salvia originates from Mexico and Central America. It was used by the Mazatec Indians for centuries in divination and shamanistic practices. It was thought to provide a bridge between the real world and the spirit world.
Salvia: Specs & Technical Details
Active Ingredient: Salvinorin A
Level of Risk: Low
Street Names: Sage, Magic Mint, Diviner's Sage
Most Common Side-Effects: Intense laughter, hysteria and hallucinations
Duration of Effects: 5 - 15 Minutes
Legality: Mixed some places Legal others Illegal
How Does Salvia Work?
Salvia is a strange plant both in terms of the experience it produces and in how it works on the brain.
Salvia is unlike any other psychedelic compound known.
Most psychedelics (LSD, DMT, psilocybin, and mescaline) activate what is known as the serotonin receptors (5-HT2A and 5-HT2C) to produce their effects.
Instead, Salvinorin A works almost exclusively on the kappa-opioid receptors.
These receptors are different from the opioid receptors targeted by painkillers like morphine or fentanyl.
The kappa-opioid receptors are involved with the regulation of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine, like serotonin, is intimately involved with conscious thought and neurological function. Altering dopamine activity in certain parts of the brain leads to hallucinations and a shift in reality which is the type of experience you may encounter with Salvia
How is Salvia Used? What's the Dose?
Salvia is sold as incense, in many local head shops, in the form of a concentrated extract. You can get 10X, 20X, or 40X salvia.
This form of salvia is smoked using a pipe, hookah, or bong.
Using salvia this way involves taking a deep inhalation and holding the smoke in the lungs for as long as possible. It only takes one hit to produce powerful visuals and hallucinations.
Another form of using the herb is to chew on the leaves. The active ingredient is broken down immediately in the digestive tract, so you do not need to swallow eat it. Chewing the leaves releases the active ingredients into the mouth, which is then absorbed through the moist linings within it.
You can also find salvia tinctures. To use a tincture, hold a few drops under the tongue. This allows the active ingredients to absorb directly into the bloodstream through lining in the underside of the tongue.
A tea can also be made from fresh leaves. This is the traditional way of using salvia. Remembering that salvia is destroyed if swallowed, it's best to hold the tea in the mouth for a few moments to absorb it before you swallow it.
When it comes to dosing we can separate the doses of salvia into two choices low dose or high dose.
Low Dose Salvia
(Less than 200 mcg Salvinorin A)
The amount of salvia leaf that constitutes a low dose is hard to quantify. Each plant is different, and the potency can vary substantially. You can also find salvia concentrates in differing amounts.
In general, using salvia tea or chewing on the leaves is the mildest form of using the plant.
You can also get a low dose by smoking salvia leaf or leaf concentrate and avoid holding the smoke in for more than just a few seconds.
Low dose salvia still produces vivid hallucinations but is much less likely to blast you off into space. Almost everyone who uses salvia at a low dose is filled with intense, uncontrollable laughter with an onset of Euphoria. Everything looks and feels hilarious while being on cloud 9.
High Dose Salvia
(More than 200 mcg Salvinorin A)
High-dose salvia is achieved by smoking the concentrated leaf extract. The breath must be held for around 10 seconds or longer, if possible, to reach this dose.
High-dose salvia produces intense perceptual shifts. Within seconds you'll go from a completely normal state to experiencing uncontrollable, chaotic, and strange visions. Most people begin laughing uncontrollably for the first few minutes of the experience and then experience a more visual psychedelic experience afterward.
For those brave enough, experiencing high doses of salvia for some may shift from laughing to screaming or muttering utter nonsense for about 10 or 15 minutes before returning to normal.
What Does Salvia Feel Like?
When you smoke salvia, the effects appear within a few seconds, usually starting with intense, uncontrollable laughter, followed by a complete shift in reality. High-dose salvia can bring you into another world altogether causing you to lose touch with reality and reflect an enhancement of your current state of mind.
Set and Setting is key to using Saliva.
Everybody's experience is different, but every story is just as nonsensical as the next. You'll hear stories of people being converted into a deck of cards or standing inside a giant book about to close or even being abducted by alien entities.
Common Psychedelic Expereinces on Salvia
- Visual distortions
- Vivid colors,
- Unusual shapes and patterns,
- Objects merging together
- Uncontrollable laughter
- Feeling that you're being twisted, stretched, or pulled in one or more directions
- Changes in the perception of time (time moves faster or slower)
- Out of body experiences
- Contact with other entities
- A Disconnection with reality
How Strong is Salvia Compared to Other Psychedelics
Salvia is the strongest natural psychedelic. It's distinctly different from DMT, LSD, ayahuasca, mescaline, and magic mushrooms in how it feels.
Salvia vs. DMT
DMT (dimethyltryptamine) is probably the closest psychedelic realtive to salvia in terms of effects, but there are clear qualitative differences between the two.
DMT and salvia can both take you to new dimensions; losing touch with your physical body and identity. However, DMT tends to be much more introspective, while salvia is much more random and nonsensical.
There are visual differences as well. DMT often creates visuals described as geometric or fractal, while salvia constructs more of a cartoon visual of reality.
Salvia vs. Psilocybin
Salvia is very different from psilocybin. In lower doses, both can produce hysteric laughter and cause ones vision to vibrate or wiggle.
That is usually where the similarities end. Psilocybin tends to be very introspective, creative, and largely based on reality. When you take shrooms, your thought process shifts, and your perception of the physical world and time is altered.
However, the hallucinations you experience are based on the real world. It doesn't cause you to see objects that aren't truly there it merely changes the way you perceive existing objects. Where as with Salvia the opposite is true. Objects can appear and disappear at random and aren't directly linked to any physical object.
Is Salvia Safe?
Physically, salvia is very safe. There has never been a case of salvia overdose or toxicity. All the research available on this plant has shown it to pose little harm to the body physically, that is.
Mentally, salvia can cause a lot of harm if you're not ready or are not in the right environment. The experiences you encounter on this psychoactive compound are often too much for people's minds to handle.
From self reporting testimonies many often report seeing entities or feel like they've been converted into inanimate objects. It may also feel like the world is ending to experiencing death and rebirth thousands of times over. The unpredictability of Saliva creates many unique experiences in those who try it.
This can leave a lasting impact on your psyche. Coming out of the experience can leave you feeling utterly mind-blown. Many people report feeling existential anxiety for several weeks or months after their experience and most people who use salvia won't use it again.
People with existing mental health conditions are especially susceptible. Salvia is thought to trigger underlying schizophrenia or psychosis in people susceptible to this condition.
The potential for addiction to salvia is virtually non-existent. There has never been a case of someone becoming addicted to this plant. In fact, most people who use it will only use it once due to the intense reality-shifting experience it produces.
Is Salvia Legal?
Even the drug regulators don't quite know what to do with salvia. It's one of the only natural psychedelics that isn't listed on the UN Narcotics Convention making it legal in many parts of the world.
In the United States, salvia is classified as a drug of concern but isn't officially banned or illegal on the federal level. The exceptions in the US are Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas which have imposed their own laws to ban the use of the plant.
Laws vary depending on the country some places, such as Canada, allow possession and cultivation of the plant but ban its sale.
Salvia laws around the world:
- The United States Legal (With Some Exceptions)
- The United Kingdom - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Austria - Possession: Legal; Sale: Legal
- Australia - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Belgium - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Brazil - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Canada - Possession: Legal; Sale: Illegal
- Chile - Possession: Legal; Sale: Illegal
- Denmark - Possession: Legal for Scientific Purposes; Sale: Illegal
- France - Possession: Legal; Sale: Legal
- Germany - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Indonesia - Possession: Legal; Sale: Legal
- Ireland - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Japan - Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Netherlands - Possession: Legal; Sale: Legal
- New Zealand Possession: Legal; Sale: Legal
- Spain Possession: Legal; Sale: Illegal
- Sweden Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal
- Switzerland Possession: Illegal; Sale: Illegal