History of Salvia Divinorum

Salvia divinorum, or “diviner’s sage,” is an herb which grows naturally in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, and has a long tradition of use for both medicinal and spiritual purposes by the indigenous Mazteca tribes there. Both smoking salvia and chewing Salvia leaf have been used for centuries in order to induce shamanic visions as well as therapeutically treat a variety of ailments, including headaches, depression, and indigestion. The Sierra Mazateca mountains are the only region this plant is known to naturally occur, but its purposeful cultivation may have spread to nearby tribes shortly after its medicinal and psychoactive properties were discovered.

Although the tradition of smoking Salvia divinorum most likely goes back centuries before the Spanish conquest, the usage of this plant was unknown to the outside world until 1938, when the researcher Jean Johnson had recorded that there were rumors of Maztec Indians using this plant to induce visions. However, the fact that the tribes referred to the plant as a gift of the Virgin Mary shows that usage of Salvia divinorum went farther back than the 1900s. Later researchers recorded that tea made from leaves or smoking Salvia was a practice among this tribe as a cure for alcoholism.

The researcher Roberto Weitlaner described the practice firsthand of seeing indigenous tribesmen smoking Salvia and drinking tea in order to induce trance-like states, both for medical and spiritual purposes. In 1962, Albert Hoffman and R. Gordon Wasson were able to obtain the first cuttings to bring this plant to the outside world, and were the first people outside of the Maztec Indians to use this plant, although they were not permitted to see the area where the plant itself was grown, as this was believed to be sacred ground. Eventually Hoffman and Wasson were allowed to obtain a living plant sample, which was sent to prominent botanists who categorized the plant as a member of the sage family, and cultivated the plant as a strain to be used by the rest of the world.

In 2002, researchers finally determined the pharmacological action of the plant as a kappa-opioid agonist, which accounts for its unique therapeutic and non-addictive effects. Today as research on the plant for shamanic and medicinal purposes is underway and promising new aspects of smoking Salvia are revealed, it is possible to buy Salvia online to discover the value of this herb for oneself.