The Salvia MemorandumA Reminder About Doing The Right Thing - by Wiccan_Seeker

This short article was written to talk about psychedelic explorers worldwidetaking action to do the right thing regarding a certain spirit plant, and with itnot just secure their own sources and that of their friends but also aiding anendangered species in it's survival. For those who consider carrying out theseactions I suggest to cease such activities if the plant should be illegalized.

The Plant

The plant in question is the Diviner's Sage (Salvia divinorum), a handsomesquare-stemmed plant with a faint, pleasant citrus odor and handsome darkgreen velvety leaves. It's handsome appearance and easy cultivation makes itan attractive house or garden plant. It grows in Oaxaca, Mexico, as acultivated plant and is believed to be possibly extinct in the wild. It veryrarely produces seeds, and these seeds are only infrequently viable, whichmeans the plant has a limited gene pool and has to be propagated ascuttings. Fortunately it is readily propagated in this way, as will be brieflymentioned later.

The Inebriant

The leaves of the plant contain an unique group of molecules called theSalvinorins, of which Salvinorin A is considered to be the active principle. Ifthe fresh or dried leaves are chewed, or the dried leaves are smoked, itproduces a strange inebriation that in low doses chewed doses causes asoothing relaxation with dreamy closed-eye imagery and in higher chewed ormost smoked doses produces a state of profound visions and sensations ofan at times overwhelming strangeness accompanied by dizziness. It is not apleasurable inebriant, but rather it can be temporarily upsetting or downrightunpleasant in high doses but in all states produces an unique visionary statewith closed eyes which in higher doses superimposes itself over the open-eyed visual world. It is not suitable for people for whom extreme emotions areto be avoided (such as people with mental health, cardiovascular orconvulsive problems) but other than that has no known contra-indications andthe plant is not known to be addictive. One should not drive, operate heavymachinery or make important decisions or pursue activities that requireconcentration and focus during or in the first few hours after use. The plantcannot be compared with recreational drugs because it is very different fromall of them although more a spirit plant than a recreational inebriant itdefinitely is *unique* and therefore deserves that action is being taken, rightnow, by people who might be you.

The Right To Seek Inebriation

Western society has a peculiar love-hate relationship with herbs andmaterials that alter consciousness. On one side it is acceptable to give ayoung teenager amphetamines and antidepressants as what often amountsto a quick fix for bad parenting, on the other hand if that teenager later ondecides to make use of far less harmful cannabis flowers it is consideredappropriate to punish this with a criminal record which in many casescondemned brilliant young minds, the doctors, engineers and teachers oftomorrow, to a life of flipping burgers or a life of crime because of theperfectly human urge to seek inebriants of their choice and use them to getintoxicated. If a westerner drinks whiskey and a native of the jungle usesplants to achieve an inebriated state, why should it be such a taboo that awesterner would decide to make use of the plants from the jungle toexperience its inebriation? Especially if most of these plants have risks thatare on the same level or even lower than the drugs of choice of westernsociety.

There is a growing subculture of people who feel that if no harm is done it isup to the people themselves to decide which inebriants they decide to want touse for recreation or even cognitive and spiritual exploration. More and morepeople are awakening to the thought that it is mankind's natural state to seekmeans of inebriation and that this can argued to be a human right in thepursuit of happiness. In this case many governments deny their citizens theright to seek inebriation and many people, as a result of that, decide theirgovernment is in the wrong and do not feel obligated to obey it's every whim.In a society which becomes increasingly multicultural it is important to not justrestrict one's liner of thought to what the past was like, but rather open yourmind to what the future may bring.

If your Somali neighbor invited you to chew Khat with him or a Iranian friendinvites you to smoke a hookah of herbs with him then it is a personal choiceto either accept or decline the offer, but to flee his house in disgust and call inthe police is a spastic response based on cultural taboos rather than thesituation you have been in. It is similarly alienated to call the police if you findhasheesh in your teenager's closet or if you know a neighbor of the hippiesubculture to use LSD.

Times are changing. For some young people today to use a tablet of Ecstasy(MDMA) as part of the New Year's Eve celebrations is as natural and eventraditional as the obligatory bottle of Champagne is to their parents. In bothcases, for almost all those people, that glass of Champagne or tablet ofMDMA on New Year's Eve will have no negative consequences to speak of.So why attend the party of the parents and bust the party of their adult sonsand daughters and ruin their lives with a criminal record for possession of apill that is no more harmful than the ones doctors prescribe every day?

More and more people are waking up to the thought that it is normal humanbehavior to seek inebriation and that the government has no businessinterfering with, or even ruining the lives of people who choose to venturebeyond the cultural taboo of strange herbs and tablets.

The Threat

Most governments today are quite active to find every inebriant known to manand make them subject to legal control. Simply put it means that if you arecaught using these substances then you must pay the government money asa fine and the taxpayer must pay the government money to pay the salariesof the government employees contracted to deal with your so-called crime. Ifyou follow the money trail you understand the true motivations fueling thejuggernaut of drug policy. It comes as no surprise that very few nations havealready illegalized Diviner's Sage, and that others nations are looking into theneed for government action which arguably means finding a way torationalize creation of yet another moneymaker law to the public.

It is my suspicion that for many nations such government action might beforthcoming in the nearby future. I cannot and will not advocate thebreaking of any laws, so I will be speaking of a course of actions that isentirely hypothetical.

Stage One - Information Gathering

Most people in westernized societies have access to the internet andwith it a wealth of information about many things. One of them is Salviadivinorum. Many websites such as the all-round site www.erowid.org andespecially www.sagewisdom.org are treasure troves of informationregarding this plant. One can use them to find every scrap of information oneneeds to acquire practical knowledge about use, effects, cultivation and muchmore.

Stage Two Personal Assessment Of The Experience

The next logical step would be to procure some plant material or fortifiedleaves to gain personal experience with the plant and the visionarystates it induces. One does good to remember that lighter experiences tendto be more rewarding than overwhelming ones. If one finds the Salvia tobe not of interest one typically pursues it no further. Others will do good toproceed to the next logical step.

Stage Three Getting A Plant

This is the step that is of major importance. One is wise to not bet on a smallamount of leaves but rather to go out of their way to acquire a live cutting orplant. These are often sold as a pickup or mail order item by some companiesand increasingly often handed down among friends or traded for otherethnobotanicals. Diviner's Sage is an easy plant to grow, one can grow it in awindowsill or otherwise like a houseplant who likes half-shade and for thosewho live in climates without frost it can often be grown outdoors withspectacular results, either potted, in the garden, in the wild or all three. If onelives in a very remote nation and is determined to grow Diviner's Sage thenseeds by mail are an option. These are rare and require care not unlike thatfor an orchid until it has grown strong enough to make it under less ideal

circumstances. The key to everything is obtaining live plants and cultivatingthem.

Stage Four Propagation

The next stage would be to thoroughly establish the plant in the newlocation. One does this best to take as many cuttings as possible andto spread these far ands wide among as many people and locations as onecan get them. Should a cultivation effort run into the ground there willthen always be satellite grows to take cuttings from. One does best notto ask money for rooted cuttings because this will only restrict the flowof plants through the population. Salvia plants should be given freely to boththose interested in a spirit plant as those interested in a houseplantalike. Only when it is given from the heart, thus free of charge, will itspread from friend to friend on the wings of love, and eventually one will getoffers for cuttings or see it growing when and where one least expectsit. It is not about profit. It cannot be about profit because it is not particularlypleasant in strong doses. Its far more interesting than it is pleasurable.

Stage Five Preparation and Use

The final stage would be to prepare the spirit plant to an entheogenand use it as such. To do so one can simply pick leaves and chewthem fresh off the plant. It is very bitter but not disgusting and the initialrepellent action of bitterness can easily be overcome by the mental andspiritual rewards of repeated use. It's bitterness even is a safeguard tokeep small children and pets from undesired inebriations, even though it mustbe said that Diviner's Sage appears to be of low toxicity. Alternativelythe leaves can be spread out on a newspaper in a room and dried. Forchewing one can use about two to twenty-five grams fresh leaves or one-half to five grams dried leaves, wetted beforehand with a bit of water.The technique is to take some leaves in the mouth and chew it until itbecomes uncomfortable, and then spit or swallow, then repeat until thedesired strength is nigh or the dose is consumed. If it is chewed duringten minutes it will be felt in about five minutes, full strength in aboutfifteen minutes, be full strength for the rest of that hour and declineduring the second hour. It takes much leaf to chew it, but in my viewthis is the most rewarding way to use Diviner's Sage.

The other way to use it would be to smoke it. A typical smoked dose would bea quarter to one-half gram of dried leaf, taken in one or two drafts which areheld for twenty seconds or longer. Since this is not easy to do one can easilymake a fortified leaf product which requires smoking of far less plant material.The smoking of this herb is best done from a small pipe by drawing the flamefrom the lighter through the smoldering herb during the entire inhalation sothat a high temperature is reached. After twenty seconds or longer oneexhales, reclines or lies down and closes one's eyes. One-half to one minuteafter inhaling the smoke the experience commences, the strong part lastingthree to five minutes, the main part five to fifteen minutes and the entireexperience lingers a bit until about a half hour or to about an hour afterwards.

The easiest way to make a fortified leaf is to take one part of leaf and crumbleit into small bits, then repeat this with five more parts of leaf. One can putthese five parts into a small jar and cover with highest proof drinking alcohol(95% or 190 proof, to be had in the better liquor store for mixing drinks,famous USA brand Everclear) so that the layer over the soaked leaves is asthick as the layer of leaves itself. Then one can cover the jar and let stand fora day in a dark closet. After standing, one can squeeze the liquid out of thesoaked leaves and put in a shallow dish. When most has evaporated one canadd the one part of leaf flakes and stir it in so that the contents of the alcoholis absorbed by the leaf during the final evaporation. When dried, the smokeddose of this fortified leaf is five times lower than that of untreated driedleaves, thus being one-twentieth to one-tenth of a gram.There are much better techniques for creating these fortified leaves,but this is the easiest one.

Afterword

This concludes The Salvia Memorandum. I strongly suggest to peopleinvolved with Salvia divinorum to tread lightly and not make too muchwaves. Should it be illegalized, do not break any laws. But now it is still legal make haste. Salvia has much to teach to those who want to learn andis harsh but forgiving to those who want to abuse it for irresponsibleuse or profit. For people interested ion Salvia the time to act is now.

Get in the know. Get a plant. Spread it far and wide. Enjoy it's Experience

And in all of this be guided by the very best behavior and actions you arecapable of. Respect yourself and respect the plant and those who seekinebriation from it.

Wiccan_Seeker november 2005

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