The short version: This talk, given at the Horizons conference in New York in 2014, covers how Mazatec healers in Oaxaca, Mexico, use Salvia divinorum, how its main active compound works differently from other psychedelics, and what my research found about its effects. It’s information about a plant and its study, not a recommendation to use it.
By 2014, I’d spent about five years studying Salvia divinorum in the lab and in the field. This talk was my first attempt to present the plant and its research to a broader audience in a single, coherent view.
What the talk covers
Salvia divinorum is a species of sage that grows naturally in a small mountain region of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Mazatec people use its leaves in healing and spiritual practices, including divination. Scientists from outside the region didn’t collect a flowering sample, which was needed to identify the species, until 1962.
Most classic psychedelics, including psilocybin and LSD, act mainly on one serotonin receptor in the brain. By contrast, salvinorin A, the main active compound in Salvia divinorum, doesn’t act on that receptor at all (Roth et al., 2002). Instead, it acts on the kappa opioid receptor. That difference likely contributes to how different its effects feel from other psychedelics.
In the second half of the talk, I discuss findings from my own research on salvia’s effects, and the questions that remain, particularly about the body and consciousness.
Two ways of using one plant
Mazatec use of Salvia divinorum differs a lot from common practice in the US and Europe. Traditionally, people chew the fresh leaves or drink them crushed in water. Outside Mexico, people usually smoke dried leaves or concentrated extracts, which act faster and more intensely.
That difference matters. Descriptions of traditional Mazatec ceremonies tell you little about what happens to someone who smokes an extract somewhere else, and the reverse is true too.
In my view, the Mazatec relationship with Salvia divinorum belongs to their community. I’ve spent time with Mazatec healers in Mexico, but I remain an outsider. I can report what researchers have documented, but I can’t claim this tradition as my own, and I don’t think anyone marketing a “traditional salvia experience” outside that context can either.
When a practice is removed from the community that sustains it and turned into a product, what’s often lost is the context: the relationships, the setting, and the years of training behind the work. What remains is something for sale. If you’re interested in plant medicines with Indigenous origins, it’s worth asking who the version you’re being offered serves, and who profits from it.
A note on the law
Salvia’s legal status in the US varies by state, and these laws change. Check your state’s current law before assuming anything. Nothing on this page is advice to use it.
Where to go next
For more on salvinorin A’s pharmacology, how its effects compare to other psychedelics, and the current state of the research, see my main article on Salvia divinorum in psychotherapy.
Curious about working together? Get in touch.
Peter H. Addy, PhD, LPC, LMHC is a Portland-based licensed psychotherapist specializing in psychedelic-informed and harm-reduction psychotherapy, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and chronic pain. His research background includes postdoctoral work at Yale School of Medicine on psychedelic substances. Learn more about my practice →
