The Mazatec Indians in Oaxaca, Mexico, have used the plant salvia divinorum in their shamanic rituals for centuries. I've experimented with this entheogen's mind-altering effects and as a result have had curious people ask "what can I expect if I try it?".

It is considered a hallucinogen, which leads many people right away to feel they understand what it is like. Now on the web you can find many descriptions of salvia experiences, but those descriptions do not accurately convey what it's like. Even videos of people in the middle of a salvia trip give a false impression. Describing the actual experience is not easy, which is why so few have done so. And the ones that do are only able to describe, to the best of their ability, what they see.

But what they see is unique to each individual. The actual salvia experience goes much deeper.

It is best compared to a dream

Experienced salvia users will often say "it is like a dream". And that is a very useful way to help understand what to expect and also how to process experiences that you may have already had.

But just saying "it's like a dream" doesn't adequately prepare you for the experience. That's because there are two key aspects of dreams that we take for granted and yet don't expect to feel while we are awake - the change in our consciousness and the change in how we process sensory input.

What is Real?

When dreaming, most people are not aware that they are in a dream (unless they are lucid dreaming, which is rare and another fascinating subject in itself). And it doesn't matter how bizarre or unrealistic the dream is - you accept it without question. Going on a date with a strange woman even though in real life you are married? Working at a job that is a hybrid of several past jobs? Flying through the air as you demonstrate that human flight is possible? No problem. You rarely question these scenarios. It is reality as far as you are concerned, and there is no other reality.

So you have no recollection or awareness that, in another level of reality, you are really asleep in bed. And when you wake up, perhaps it takes a while to realize that it was only a dream. But it's no big deal. This happens all the time and so you get out of bed and go about your day as if nothing strange has happened.

Now imagine being in this state except that you are not asleep. Far from it, you are wide awake. You go through the experience, through the "dream", and you have no awareness of who you are other than the person in your dream. But in this case, you are not having a typical dream - you are under the influence of salvia divinorum.

This is where each person's experience is different. One person believes he is a snowflake. Another thinks she is at a carnival. I once saw teletubbie-like creatures. The details can be interesting but the mind-blowing part is that all the experiences are accepted as reality!

And because you have no recollection that moments earlier you were in your room taking a huge hit of 10x extract, the return to "normalcy" can be incredibly disturbing if not outright frightening. This is the part that many people do not handle well. It can feel that reality has betrayed you. Or your entire view of reality might be challenged, or even shattered. The reaction of the guy in this video is very common.

But how can you not know where you are? you might wonder. Can't you just see your surroundings and snap out of it?

This brings me to the second vital aspect of the salvia divinorum experience.

Salvia Hijacks Your Surroundings

This is another dream phenomenon that we often take for granted and think nothing of. Have you ever been in the middle of a dream when someone tried to wake you? Maybe they called your name, or gently shook you. Maybe there was some faint commotion going on outside, or a knock at the door. But instead of waking up, you incorporated the sounds or feelings into your dream. The knock at the door became a jack hammer demolishing a dream patio. Or the whispered name became a voice amongst a sea of people at a dream carnival.

Again, this is no big deal.

But what if this happens not only to what you hear or feel, but also to whatever your eyes behold? This is what salvia does! The information received by your eyes is interpreted in completely different ways, and usually in ways that harmonize with the "story" that is unfolding within the salvia "dream".

It reminds me of the optical illusions where your mind interprets the image in different ways.

For example, is this a rabbit or a duck? 

And is this a young woman or an old hag? 

Now imagine that in the "real" world, you could only see the rabbit and the old hag. But in the salvia world you now see, and only see, the duck and the young woman. This is what the salvia experience is like for me, where everything I see, hear, and feel, becomes part of another reality that is just as real and just as convincing as consensus reality. It can be described as another reality that is overlayed over normal reality, or another reality that is bleeding through into this reality.

Be respectful of this plant and take salvia seriously

Of course, the intensity of the salvia experience depends on several factors, including your own sensitivity and the technique used in "ingesting" the plant.

Chewing the leaves as the Mazatec do provides a longer-lasting but more gentle experience. The effects last about an hour and I've found that I have more control over going into and out of the salvia dream. The same level could be achieved from smoking plain leaves. It is when you smoke the higher level extracts, such 10x or higher, that the likelihood of a full-blown "break-through" experience increases.

So if you are hoping for a fun trip similar to other hallucinogens, you might want to stay away from salvia divinorum. It is not a party drug. It is an entheogen, and should really only be used as an introspective tool and as an aid in exploring and understanding your own consciousness - actually, the consciousness of all humanity.