Salvia Divinorum

Salvia Divinorum is a species of sage from the mint family. It has been used for centuries as both a curative and as an aid to attaining epic mind altering states by Mazatec Indians living in the mountainous regions in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Mazatecs regard the plant as holy and take special care not to trample or destroy the plant when they cut it from the wild, even kneeling to pray to it beforehand. Specialized shamanic healers, referred to in Spanish as 'curanderos' and 'cho-ta-ci-ne' ('one who knows') in Mazatec, use use Salvia Divinorum when they feel it necessary to travel into the supernatural world in order to discover the true cause of the patient's ailment.

The visions seen with Salvia are frequently particularly real and convincing. Quite often people accept these visions as reality and forget they are under the influence of a psychedelic substance. At higher dosages many believe that they have died and have lost their link to the living world.

The Salvia Divinorum user's guide explains that Salvia trips occur in levels. The so-called S-A-L-V-I-A scale has been constructed to rate trips, with each letter of the word SALVIA signifying another level of tripping.'