A young Mazatec girl grinding Salvia divinorum.
 
The viral video of Miley Cyrus smoking Salvia Divinorum has brought a lot of attention to this formerly little known psychoactive plant. I doubt that all the media hype will result in positive results on any front. It’s LSD and MDMA all over again.

Salvia has a long tradition of being used and revered by Mexico’s Mazatec shamans for its vision-inducing properties. In recent years, a new generation of researchers have been exploring this magical plant. Salvia has become increasingly available outside of Mexico to anyone who has a desire to try it. But, because Salvia is an unpredictable and powerful hallucinogenic, it hasn’t been the drug of choice for party people. With the publicity arising from Cyrus’s video, that could change. As someone who has experimented with Salvia, I would caution anyone with the intent of trying it to approach Salvia with caution and great respect. It can be an ally or an enemy, depending on the dose you take and the setting in which you take it.

The Salvia experience is short but intense. Unlike LSD, Saliva induces actual hallucinations. With acid, you see objects in a new way, but you don’t see stuff that isn’t there. With Salvia, you see things that are not present in the so-called “real” world. In that respect, it shares some of the same qualities as Peyote. My Salvia trips have been overwhelming out-of-body experiences that were as mystical as they were frightening. In one experience, I was visited by Salvia’s Mescalito: a giant talking green carrot. While the carrot didn’t speak a language I was familiar with, it did manage to communicate on a psychic level a message of harmony and love. The carrot looked scary and its voice was a low intimidating roar, but ultimately the carrot had a good vibe - a psychedelic Jolly Green Giant. The whole experience lasted only a few minutes, but during those minutes I was completely incapacitated. I cannot stress the importance of having someone nearby in case you need some assistance.

I shared some Salvia with a woman friend of mine and she experienced an astral trip that took her to her childhood home on Long Island. She was loving it. But, while she was running across green grass somewhere in the suburbs, I was busy trying to keep her from leaping off the bed and running through the apartment. This is not unusual while tripping on Salvia. People have been known to walk into walls, furniture and human beings while under the plant’s influence. As my friend told me later, she could feel the grass on the front lawn of her home, smell the chlorine in the swimming pool and hear distant children laughing. As she was joyously reliving her past, I was her body’s caretaker.

Salvia is hot right now. Websites selling Salvia are trying to exploit the Miley Cyrus connection to make a quick buck. Thousands of unsuspecting people are going to take a casual approach to Salvia and end up having “trips” that are more than they bargained for. It is a mighty plant that imparts certain knowledge and insight to those ready to receive it. Salvia has the potential to be a teaching tool and a facilitator for spiritual insight. But, based on my experience, one thing it definitely is not is a recreational drug. Granted, I took strong concentrations of Salvia, but according to everything I’ve read and heard, Salvia even in low doses can knock you for a loop. So, be careful. As I said, approach this plant with respect.

The following documentary is a glimpse into the world of Salvia Divinorum. Not very scientific, but fascinating.