<p>For this fortnight's <a href="https://steempeak.com/contest/@naturalmedicine/plant-medicine-win-steem-for-exploring-a-natural-medicine">Natural Medicine Challenge on the Steem blockchain</a> we are asked to write about Valerian, Salvia divinorum or Thyme. I love each of these plants so it's hard to pick just one to write about, but I have an untold story concerning one of them. </p>
<img src="http://www.ozarkmountainjewel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/salvia-TA-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-387"/><br/><i><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/salvia-leads-chemists-on-a-psychedelic-existential-journey/">SALVIA LEADS CHEMISTS ON A PSYCHEDELIC EXISTENTIAL JOURNEY</a></i>
<p>
<p>@Riverflows planted the seed with her own post <a class="" href="https://steempeak.com/steempress/@riverflows/divinerssagemusingsalviadivinorumpoetryandbirdtongues-plustheimportanceofreverenceforplantmedicinesthepoisonpath-3tayuj8aur">Diviner's Sage Musing: Salvia Divinorum, Poetry and Bird Tongues - Plus, The Importance of Reverence for Plant Medicines &amp; The Poison Path.</a> Her post is excellent and includes many paragraphs from my own Salvia "mentor" Dale Pendell- go give it a read!</p>
<p>Dale Pendell is the human tongue for so many plants that humans have had complex relations with. As a researcher/scientist/poet, he has a unique perspective. @Riverflows did a great job weaving with his words and you can read his whole Salvia Chapter from his book Pharmako/poeia <a href="http://sagewisdom.org/pharmakopoeia.html">here</a>. I have probably read it hundreds of times for I traveled with Salvia for about a year in my 20s and his book was a resource to me. </p>
<p><em>First things first, through writing this I'm not suggesting, condoning or encouraging the use of Salvia divinorum. It is illegal in most states of the US due to an outbreak of YouTube videos that scared lawmakers into thinking Salvia is the new LSD that will make countless youth do stupid things like jump out of windows.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center"><em> That said, I will share my experience with the plant which I used prior to it becoming illegal in the state I was in.</em></p>
<div class="pull-left"><img src="http://www.ozarkmountainjewel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/salvlf.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-384"/><br/><i>Salvia divinorum <a href="http://sagewisdom.org/salvlf.html">Luna clone</a> as discovered by <a href="http://sagewisdom.org/danielsiebert.html">Daniel Siebert</a></i>
<p>
<p style="text-align:left">Salvia divinorum, as its latin name depicts, is a Sage relative in the Mint family, that group of square-stemmed wise and useful plants that have walked with humanity for a long, long time.</p>
<p>Unlike most Salvia plants, this one doesn't grow easily from seeds. In fact, its method of growing is along the surface of the earth. It doesn't have a very strong stem and a branch will actually fall down near a mother plant, set down roots and vegetatively propagate. In this way, Salvia d. has crawled along the surface of the earth in the places it is indigenous to (Oaxaca, Mexico). As I was working with this plant during that year long stint this struck me as very conducive to its healing powers (more on that, later).</p>
<p>In Oaxaca, the Mazatec people have used this herb in healing divinatory ceremonies and continued to do so even under threat from the Catholic church. This "Diviner's Sage", as it is also called, went underground and became amalgamated into their worship of the Virgin Mary - hence the name La Maria that Salvia also goes by. This happens a lot when a dominator culture seeks to erase a very rooted, place and plant based culture - the people simply pretend to follow along with the new ways while disguising their original beliefs. Thank Goddess that some of the best traditions aren't wiped due to this covert survival method. </p>
<p>Daniel Siebert writes on his <a href="http://sagewisdom.org/faq.html">Sage Wisdom Website,</a>
<p> 
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>
Salvia divinorum is used as a sacred medicine by indigenous shamanic healers living in the mountainous Sierra Madre Oriental in the northeastern corner of the Mexican State of Oaxaca. In Spanish, these specialized healers are referred to as curanderos; in Mazatec these people are called cho-ta-ci-ne ("one who knows"). Salvia divinorum is primarily used in situations where the curanderos feels it is necessary to travel into the supernatural world in order to discover the true cause of the patient's trouble. It is used in a ceremonial manner to induce a visionary trance state, within which it is possible determine the underlying cause of disease and to learn what steps should be taken to remedy such disease. It is also used in cases of theft or loss to determine the circumstances and whereabouts of missing objects. The leaves are always used fresh and are consumed orally; either by chewing the leaves or drinking an aqueous infusion of the crushed-leaf juices. Sometimes it is given to the patient, sometimes it is taken by the curandero and sometimes both take it together.
</em></p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A Year of Salvia</h2>
<p>For anyone who knew me during that year, I talked about Salvia a lot. I was communing with her 3+ times a week and introduced her to a lot of people. </p>
<h4><em>I had had one of those rare experiences of divination when using Salvia and so it meant different things to me than to other people. To me it really was a sacrament, it was like stepping into an ancient temple and hearing the far away tinkling of a bell. I knew things when we were together and they were helpful things, things I needed help knowing at the time. </em></h4>
<p>As Dale Pendell writes, </p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>The Ally:</strong><br>It is when you are really stuck, when you really don't know what to do, when you are nearing the edge of funk and self-destruction, that the leaves are the most powerful and the most precise. And symmetrically, for one not seeking engagement, for one seeking diversion, the plant is not much fun. Outside of her sacred context<em>, la Pastora</em> has surprisingly little to offer. <em>It's not a spectator drug.</em><br></p><cite><a href="http://sagewisdom.org/pharmakopoeia.html">Pharmako/poeia: </a><em><a href="http://sagewisdom.org/pharmakopoeia.html">The Salvia divinorum chapter </a></em><a href="http://sagewisdom.org/pharmakopoeia.html">by Dale Pendell</a></cite>
</blockquote>
<h3>First a bit of backstory</h3>
<p>There have been times in my life when a plant will call to me and I intuitively know that I need to take it. This has happened to me countless times. Whether tulsi, dandelion, schisandra, hibiscus, garlic, the drink ayahuasca or others. I have plants call me. They say, "Let's work together for a while. Take me into your body. You would benefit from me." So I listen. I listen to the words my body speaks to me and heed the beckoning tendrils of plants that come my way. </p>
<p><em>Salvia did this. I had no experience of Salvia, had no friends who had tried it and knew relatively little about it, but it called to me so I answered. </em></p>
<p>I was in a huge huge huge funk during this time. I was a wee bit suicidal, out of sorts, out of purpose, searching and going through a major ego crisis/dying back thing which was really painful while it was happening, but which was ultimately perfect. It was during this time that I tried Salvia for the first time and I will simply say that she showed me a way out. </p>
<h2>Diviner's Sage</h2>
<p>As you've caught on, Salvia goes by a lot of different names. Seer's Sage is another and it is for this purpose that the Mazatec people employ her traditional use.</p>
<p>A lot of people don't have this experience. Instead they'll leave their bodies for a short time. In the <a href="https://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia.shtml">Erowid vaults</a> you'll read plenty of stories by people who turned into a chair leg or went into a fractal universe... for 15 seconds (it happens fast.) Salvia isn't very popular for this reason (after people try it at least once) and I probably wouldn't like it if that was the only sensation I had. </p>
<p>But that's not what happened to me. </p>
<p>I've looked all over for people who had an experience like mine, but to no avail. But part of me thinks that this effect it has on me might be why the shamans have worked with this plant for so long. </p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large"><p><strong>The Ally:</strong> <br>With the leaves there is no place to hide. That is why it is good for finding lost objects or for identifying thieves. It is a poison that illuminates poison: use it to find dis-ease.<br></p><cite><a href="http://sagewisdom.org/pharmakopoeia.html">Pharmako/poeia</a></cite>
</blockquote>
<p></p>
<img src="http://www.ozarkmountainjewel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/salvia.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-385"/><br/><i><a href="https://geaseeds.com/blog/en/salvia-divinorum-and-its-effects/">image source</a></i>
<p>For anyone who remembers reading <a href="https://steemit.com/naturalmedicine/@mountainjewel/my-natural-medicine-story">My Natural Medicine Healing Story</a> this was right around that time. I was breaking out of my Christian conditioning, I had quit soccer (which I had played for 14 years at the age of 21- it was my identity) and changed universities. It was a time of upheaval and I felt lost. </p>
<p>There had been two magical people I had met, but I exploded so much inside when I was around them that I avoided them like the plague. I was riddled with anxiety and was a walking question mark. I was in the perfect position to need Salvia's help.</p>
<h4>The first time I tried Salvia</h4>
<p>I was sitting on my bed in broad daylight and smoked some (later learned that it is better to be in the dark when you try it as it's very much an inward experience that one should close their eyes for and the dark helps focus.) I had no idea what to expect, but the experience hit me sooner than I thought it would and was over before I could laugh. But laugh I did! It was the first time I'd heartily laughed in months! Because I had seen/heard something in the inner landscape during that brief encounter that helped me see my way out of my pain. </p>
<p><strong><em>This is what I remember: When I took that hit, my head immediately went backwards and to the left. There was a pulling feeling and as my head went up, there were two "angels" waiting for me there. </em></strong></p>
<p><em><strong>They were like big pulsing wise spirit beings (I'll call them angels for lack of a better word) and they communicated to me in such a direct manner that I instantly knew what my problem was and how to get out of it. </strong></em></p>
<p>I came down reeling from this encounter feeling light hearted and bubbly. I was giggling at myself and crying at the breaking feeling I was receiving for finally knowing how silly I'd been and that I was tying myself in knots. </p>
<p>It was time to reconnect with those two magical people I mentioned above. The message was so simple, but <em>I had forgotten</em>. I knew that it was my ego-fear holding me back and that these people held some keys for me in my life. This, of course, turned out to be true, but not in the ways I could've predicted. Nevertheless, it was important for me to know these people and my fear of seeing my reflection in them and so keeping myself from them was an obstacle I now saw through.</p>
<p>Salvia and I went on like this for the whole year. Of course, she couldn't take the steps for me to change my own life, but she helped me see again and again the next steps on my path. By the end of that year I was unstuck and on my path, a path that has led me to where I am today.</p>
<p>A month or two after I tried Salvia for the first time, my friend offered me a 4 foot tall Salvia plant and I was able to work with the fresh leaves. It was synchronicity at its best as Salvia's workings in my own life were so much about connection and relieving myself of the alienated &amp; left-out feeling that had haunted me from my youth. Salvia's inability to propagate easily from seeds (she has sterile seeds mostly) made it necessary that we connect with others, ideally in person, to take &amp; share the medicine. One couldn't easily order a plant online and it seemed Salvia was forcing us humans to get out of our order-things-online worlds and <em>connect</em>.</p>
<p>Since that year, I've tried Salvia a few times, but really don't feel the need for her any more. She's really there to <em>See</em> when things are murky or cloudy and you need a way out and I'm forever grateful for her for helping me that day on the bed and that whole year when I was the most stuck I've ever been, to the point of thinking about dying.</p>
<h4>Though these plant medicines are increasingly made illegal within our modern culture (because what the lawmakers do not understand or want to control, they criminalize), it is our human birthright to have access to these experiences. </h4>
<p>I would not be the person I am today without my experiences with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entheogen">entheogens</a> (an alternative word for psychedelics literally meaning full-of-the-god, inspired) and humanity would be healthier and better off if we still had initiation rituals (that indigenous people have practiced since time immemorial) where people encountered themselves through the lens of these ancient human allies.</p>
<p>In a time where the cries of the earth are so loud because of our crazy immature human behavior, these medicinal plants speak to us, through us, they heal us, and teach us! And, immature a species as we are, we drastically need their healing, their "wholing". I'm glad to see a continual revolution of these medicines and yet I'll also drop a famous line by Alan Watts that is one of my favs, </p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><em>Once you get the message, hang up the phone.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>For these plants are not merely an escape, but they can teach us and it is possible to get burned out or go to them too much when we need to be living and doing the ground work. I know it's hard to keep doing the groundwork at times and I see a lot of these plants like "purpose refreshers" if we forget at times. But if I learned anything about taking a plant medicine that much for a year I did learn that that plant is not me and it is me who must make the changes in my life, that the plant is my ally, but not myself. </p>
<p>If you're interested in learning more about the chemical constituents that make Salvia active, I suggest looking into the research of <a href="http://sagewisdom.org/">Daniel Siebert who runs Sage Wisdom</a>. He is an extensive researcher of Salvia and is bringing together people from all over the world. I have tried his extracts in the past and they're the real deal!</p>
 <br /><center><hr/><em>Posted from my blog with <a href='https://wordpress.org/plugins/steempress/'>SteemPress</a> : http://www.ozarkmountainjewel.com/2019/03/28/plants-for-finding-lost-things-salvia-divinorum/ </em><hr/></center>