Salvia divinorum

The Darker Side of Salvia divinorum

Whilst Diviner's Sage has a long history of being used as an entheogen in Shamanic healing rituals, the plant also has a darker side to its character.

A Quite Savage-Looking Salvia divinorum Leaf -
Just Look At Those Jagged Teeth

Since insanely potentiated Salvia products (often 50 times or the potency of the raw leaf itself) have hit the market-place, it has become a craze amongst teenagers to video their friends taking their first hit of the world's most powerful naturally occurring hallucinogen and then to upload the clip to Youtube.  (I won't rant on here about how the resulting videos fuel the Media's insatiable crusade to make certain life-forms illegal and the Government's likely response to their furore, which seems guided more towards assuaging the cries of said Media rather than listening to the country's leading scientiffic views on such matters). Anyway, at such ridiculous potency-levels, few first-time users of Salvia ever repeat their experiment with the plant. Indeed, so terrible are some of the ordeals they suffer in those few minutes the plant had grip on their minds that many regret for the rest of their lives ever consuming the herb. For those wondering what's so scary about the effects of potentiated Salvia, this makes for an interesting read.

With America seemingly implementing a ban on Salvia in the very near future, I don't hold out much hope for Britain not following suit sometime soon after :o( It is just a shame our Governments aren't sophisticated enough to differentiate between potentiated Salvia and the much gentler spiritual qualities offered from an unadulterated and unique entheogenic plant. I know I have already plugged the following book, but for those interested in reading a fascinating account on the beneficial qualities of Diviner's Sage, I cannot recommend Martin Bell's 'Sage Spirit' highly enough.