All the research available on this plant has shown it to pose little harm to the body — physically, that is. Some people experience out-of-body experiences on ketamine yet remain inside the room — hovering over their body as if to view it from the third person. Other times it can make you feel as though you’re watching yourself from another location, such as your workplace, a mall, a parking lot, or somewhere else. This unassuming sage plant is the strongest naturally occurring hallucinogen on Earth — many times more powerful even than ayahuasca. But despite humans’ desire to cultivate salvia, Dr. Addy made no bones about the drug’s fear-inducing qualities. I’d heard about salvia on the radio in Florida years, but didn’t think much of it.
What does The Wheel mean to us?
- Only the best salvia and herbs, laboratory tested, always fresh leaves, only best chemicals.
- The breath must be held for around 10 seconds or longer to reach this dose.
- Some people report ego death experiences on salvia, but it’s not very common compared to classical psychedelics.
- The patient had no ability to read or respond to instructions during the stimulation, and had no memory of the event.
- In that box though was a pipe and the same drug I’d overdosed on.
Mazatec shamans traditionally used it in spiritual and healing ceremonies. Salvia is known for its potent hallucinogenic properties, attributed primarily to its active compound, salvinorin A. I’m experienced, but this was like nothing I’ve ever done before. In small amounts, it seems to be barely anything at all, but the hallucinations it can produce are so strong and intense that I could see newbies truly freaking out, with the only saving grace being that it doesn’t last long. I couldn’t imagine what it’d be like if it lasted hours like acid or mushrooms. So we have a correlation between neuropsychopharmacology and the unique dysphoric experience that Salvia produces.
Smoking dried leaves
In this section, we explain how Salvia works in the brain and outline what you can expect during a typical Salvia experience. Before you explore Salvia’s effects, it helps to understand where this plant comes from and why it’s been used for centuries. This section explains Salvia’s origins, traditional uses, and the unique chemical properties that set it apart from other psychoactive plants. During my trip I had the distinct feeling like my hands were tools that were no different from the pipe I was holding. I felt as if was using a tool (salvia) to realize that my body was a tool. I became very aware of my body, and tugged on my mustache and thought about how weird it is to have facial hair.
Effects
I didn’t have all the little details anymore to try salvia trips and make sense of it to others. Within that life I also had some pretty big responsibilities that I had to focus on. The whole overdose thing cost me a job but we were able to turn things around once I « put my past behind me ». You have to understand that this was all backwards for me. While I was there, my experience was that I had done a drug and experienced years of another life(ours) and within that life I did a drug that brought me back. Basically, exactly what I am doing right now, in trying to explain this, is what I was doing over there too.
How much salvia is safe to ingest depends on what type of salvia you use. Salvia can be potent, so small doses may produce hallucinogenic effects depending on the method of consumption. Treat Salvia with the same respect you’d give any powerful psychoactive. It’s not a party drug—it’s an ancient tool traditionally used for introspection, transformation, and, potentially, healing. I think it was about 4 minutes that had passed in total.
I panicked and hid under the sheets in my friend’s bed, refusing to leave. A traditional and gentler method, chewing Salvia produces effects that come on slowly but last longer and tend to be more manageable. Chewing leaves generally doesn’t lead to the total unreality of smoking salvia, but it can still make for an interesting and insightful hallucinogenic experience.
- A high dose in a chaotic environment, however, could lead to panic.
- Traditional uses of salvia outside its application for divination included the treatment for diarrhea, headache, and rheumatism.
- I started coming out of it and was very confused about what had happened.
- “Xka pastora salvia’s traditional name roughly translates to ‘leaves of the shepherdess,’ though sheep and shepherdess are not native to Mexico,” Dr. Addy said.
- Panic disorder and anxiety have been overarching issues in my life since trying salvia.
People often report seeing “entities” or feel like they’ve been converted into inanimate objects. It may feel like the world is ending, that you’re being probed or analyzed, or experience death and rebirth thousands of times over. Qualitatively, a K-hole trip is much more “shadowy” than salvia.
Salvia trip report(first trip ever)
So has Dr. Addy experimented with the drug he is professionally dedicated to exploring? A woman in his audience with short, graying hair stood up and asked that very question. While some states ban sale of the substance to minors and more than 15 ban its sale flat-out, the drug is still sold in head shops and gas stations around the country. Participants gather around an altar (often dedicated to the Virgin Mary) and chew on the raw, blessed leaves, or else drink them as a watery liquid before joining in ritualistic singing and chanting, a trip that lasts about three hours. In calling the helpline you agree to our Terms and Conditions. We do not receive any fee or commission dependent upon which treatment or provider a caller chooses.
Activation of the mu-opioid receptors from drugs like morphine, fentanyl, or heroin quickly leads to dependence and addiction. Low dose salvia still produces vivid hallucinations but is much less likely to blast you off into another realm completely. Almost everyone who uses salvia at a low dose is filled with intense, uncontrollable laughter. It’s likely that Salvia, when ingested, activates the kappa-opioid receptors sitting in the claustrum, which are mainly attached to inhibitory neurons (Stiefel et al, 2014), and this throws the claustrum into disarray. Normal brain function is scattered to the wind, as the organisational networks collating sensory inputs are blasted out of their standard arrangement.
LSD and psilocybin are very introspective, creative, and largely based on reality. When you take these substances, your thought process shifts, and your perception of the physical world and time is altered. 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. Most psychedelics (LSD, DMT, psilocybin, and mescaline) activate the serotonin receptors (5-HT2A and 5-HT2C) to produce their effects.
Whilst it concluded that much more research was necessary, the study pointed out that Salvia may provide a novel and effective therapeutic pathway for depression. Also, be aware that most dried salvia products meant for smoking are in fact extremely strong extracts. When you inhale or chew Salvia, salvinorin A quickly crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds to kappa opioid receptors (KORs). These receptors are involved in mood, perception, and pain regulation.
The effects they spoke of on the radio seemed not to be worth the money. Hearing that it was slowly being made illegal across the US, I decided to get a gram of salvia since I’ll probably never see it again once the politicians had their way. Plus, I’m keeping the package for a keepsake of the first and probably only time I’ll ever be able to legally trip.
thoughts on “Salvia and “The Wheel””
Salvia divinorum’s distinct effects come from its active compound, salvinorin A. Unlike the classic psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline) that act primarily on serotonin (5-HT2A) receptors, salvinorin A is a potent agonist of the brain’s kappa-opioid receptor (KOR). 1 This unique action explains why a salvia trip feels so much different than that of, for example, an LSD trip. A 2016 study explored how salvinorin A’s affinity to opioid receptors might affect those with depression (Taylor, 2016).