Salvia divinorum teks by Sphere AKA Twilight and medium to high resolution .jpeg images of crystalline salvinorin. A collection of my favorite photographs of salvinorin crystals selected out of over 1000 taken from 2002 to 2006. Once this page is opened click on each photo to see a larger picture. Look for the "original" link under the photo if you want to see the photo in its highest resolution. Also, at the bottom of the page are a few .pdf articles I wrote about extracting Salvia divinorum leaf. All photographs and documents copyright owned but feel free to make them available on pro-entheogen forums and web sites, others must ask permission to use them.
Regarding the extraction techs which can be viewed at the bottom of the page:
I am not a chemist or a professional in botany but have worked many hundreds of hours to find and hone simple methods for extracting and refining salvinorin without the need for special equipment and have placed everything I have learned over the years here. These methods were worked out in a place and time where and when legal to do so. Please observe all local laws.
Disclaimer, use this information at your own risk, I will not be responsible for either the proper or improper use of the information provided. Also, these documents were written to share what I have learned and not meant to be viewed as completely accurate and or safe, they are only a documentation of my own experience and views on the subject and use of Salvia divinorum and its active principal salvinorin, however flawed. See further disclaimers in the documents. Salvia divinorum should only be used by adults who are of sound mind and clear intent... along with some common sense!
What Salvia divinorum is not:
Not a substance to use without first fully studying its possible effects and then only with serious intent. If you are looking for a thrill please seek elsewhere because few people genuinely desire to experience Salvia more than once, often one time is too many for some. Salvia divinorum with its active principal salvinorin A is far too powerful for anything but serious uses, salvinorin A is not something to extract and refine into the pure form for use as a drug (or even anywhere near pure). The average amount of salvinorin-A naturally found in the raw leaf is approximately 2.5 milligrams per dried gram of leaf. That's 2.5 thousandths of a gram of the active principal per gram of dried raw leaf, on average. Due to the extremely small amount of this material required for psychotropic effect, as small as one quarter of a milligram or less for individuals who are extremely sensitive to salvinorin, 2.5 mg of this substance would be far more salvinorin A than most individuals would want or should ever try to endure. Salvia is not something to use in public places or prior to going to one, as with any psychotropic substance which can have strong side effects to either consciousness or your body, you should never use them while out or prior to going to a public place, doing so is a sure way to invite trouble for yourself and others.
Mostly, my advice is that Salvia divinorum should never be used as a toy, if at all. Salvia is not right for most individuals but some find its use to be very rewarding to their understanding of self. Salvia divinorum can be used as a philosophers stone for introspective journeys within one self which can be very spiritual but from my experience nothing more profound than what is potentially within ones self to begin with. On the more practical side Salvia can sometimes help bring long forgotten memories and even dreams from years before back to the surface of ones consciousness and has been used by some to increase the peak of sexual orgasm ten fold plus when used in small amounts just below a vision producing psychotropic dose. That last reference to the use of this plant for sexual pleasures is upsetting to some individuals in the entheogen community because they believe Salvia divinorum is a sacred shamanic plant which should never be used for such purpose as to increase the peak intensity of an orgasm. My opinion is that all things in heaven and earth are sacred on some level, even the things which many of us might dislike have a larger function in the overall scheme of reality but as human beings we each decide what is wrong or right and this is how it should be, freedom of choice is more important than the choices we make, right or wrong for one or the other. We all pay for wrong choices but sadly, all too often it's the innocent who pay a terrible price for our freedom to be able to make choices which affect one another in sometimes terrible ways... something I hope to better understand someday (soap box is being put away now).
No doubt about it, Salvinorin-A does act as a psychedelic which for a few short minutes will allow the brain run on a kind of closed loop back upon itself through your visual center sometimes creating a vivid and awesomely beautiful world upon the mirror of your minds eye, visions which doubtless contain who we are and what we have experienced which through the use of this substance can synthesize a new kind of mind-reality. However, the inspiring beauty of some of these visions leads me to believe there must be more to them than just the affect of a drug alone. Perhaps Salvia somehow allows or produces some kind of inner connection which can induce a spiritual experience from beyond our individual selves, if a drug can loosen a knot within us which ordinarily prevents us from having that kind of connection to a spiritual path, even if to only a very small degree, then the question becomes how deep does the rabbit hole of our beings really go? Perhaps every bit of spirituality we can experience in the universe of our existence called the human brain is already part of all of us, maybe the internal release or experiences induced by Salvia might in fact be much more than just synaptic firings producing unusual patterns and or experiences. Perhaps those firings are being influenced by something more with the drug acting as a key to unlock our brains access to an unseen force buried deep below normal means of detection? For most people who can only believe in what they can see in front of their face (using only everyday cognitive abilities) the idea there might be a spiritual realm is completely absurd. I can understand that thinking, I've thought the same thing for years when it comes to the use of psychedelics, that these experiences were just in the heads of the person experiencing them but when I really look at the question a simple answer starts to become a slippery slope. Since I believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience it very well may be Salvia divinorum may actually allow us access to parts of ourselves which link into a wider spiritual realm.
Salvia is certainly effective for meditation and spiritual contemplations. I know first hand about the extraordinarily wonderful spiritualistic experiences which can sometimes be found through the use of Salvia and personally hold them in extremely high regard when properly used, but I still don't know for sure whether most if not every vision experienced through the use of Salvia is any more than our thoughts are real (that's a loaded statement, in some respects, the effects of thought upon quantum are more real than matter). Regardless of whether these psychedelic experiences are anything more than chemical reactions in our heads or not the only real problem I can see with believing the effects of this plant are a doorway to a hidden spiritual plane is when some individuals believe that the visions received while under the influence are some kind of "higher" level reality or "truth" when in fact, as reported by many individuals such visions can be completely flawed and only reflect what you already believe and in some cases fear. If you have a spiritual bent the mind-loop created by Salvia can sometimes produce spiritual experiences and if you believe that the world is filled with some kind of evil it is likely you might find that evil in some of your visions because the concept and belief in it as a reality is already in your own consciousness.
Here is what I know for sure about Salvia divinorum: What Salvia can do, for some individuals, some of the time, for a few short minutes is to reveal their own subconscious thoughts through a kind of plant induced vision quest and well worth the journey to better understand your inner being if used properly but what is proper? Much depends upon your own maturity, your own sensitivity to the active principal and the place and setting used. Some individuals are extremely sensitive to salvinorin while others have no effect at all much less a vision. Also, salvia will sometimes have no effect until after repeated uses requiring many attempts before the first vision is produced. Because of this, especially when new to Salvia, always have a trusted and responsible clear minded sitter with you before attempting its use and above all, do not travel, drive or try this in a public place or share Salvia with anyone who has not done their own in depth research on this plant first. Some individuals, especially adolescents who somehow get a hold of Salvia are so immature that all it takes is a mild affect and they act out in ways which can shed a very poor light upon Salvia divinorum. Above all my advice is not to share Salvia with someone who has not done their own research first. If I were completely unprepared and knew nothing about Salvia and the possible effects they have and had tried this entheogen without knowledge of its sometimes earth moving scenery, I would have probably been scared by the unexpected effects, even if only fairly mild.
Negative effects? Unfortunately for most individuals the side effects of Salvia divinorum are somewhat similar to alc... |
