From: brunelle@rpa.net (The Brunelles)
Subject: Salvia splendens UPDATE

Greetings fellow entheogen-enthusiasts,

This might be a redundant post for some of y'all, but I am including this because there has been, in some circles of interest, more news concerning Salvia splendens. The first post is that of Daniel Siebert, who has a compendium-type site on Salvia divinorum, which I recommend for all sorts of reasons. (See 'Daniel Siebert's Salvia Divinorum Pages'.) The second post comes from one of the folks on Dan's Salvia email-FORUM.

I am forwarding this to you because you have inquired about S splendens in the past, and now balls are rolling in various places (ouch). Again, if anybody decides to venture out, do so carefully {one-leaf, two-leaf}, and I would recommend taking it sublingually first. We know nothing about this plant's effects on humans save for a few anecdotes. Allergic reactions can be expected, however rare these seem to be with psychodelics.

Oh, and if anybody has uncovered a source for Salvia splendens, could you please pass that along to me? Many folks have asked me, and I have not been of any help; I'm interested, also. Obviously.

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving, Kevin B.

After smoking 4 big lung-fulls I noticed a pleasant, relaxed, kind of soft feeling feeling. It felt vaguely like diazepam, perhaps with notes of GHB and opium. The effects lasted a couple of hours. It didn't resemble Salvia divinorum to me, but the effects were pleasant.

I've noticed in the past that smoking several deep lung-fulls of any herb, however benign, will produce effects; usually dizziness and a spaced-out feeling. This is probably due to carbon monoxide and other toxic components of plant smoke. The Salvia splendens seems to be doing more than this and deserves further study.

The effects are probably due to salviarin and/or splendidin which have already been isolated and characterized from this species (see references below). The next step would be to isolate these substances and try then in pure form to determine their effects more thoroughly and without all the smoke inhalation.

Regards, Daniel

Savona, G. et al. 1979. "Salviarin, a new neo-clerodane diterpene from Salvia splendens" Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkins Transactions I:643-646.

Savona, G. et al. 1979. "Splendidin, a new trans-clerodane from Salvia splendens" Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkins Transactions I:533-534.)

Greetings all,

After hearing the reports of psychoactivity in Salvia Splendens, I decided to investigate the situation for myself. It just so happens that we are at the right time of the year here in Australia. Salvia Splendens is starting to appear in nurseries and looks quite magnificent with its brilliant red flowers. I quickly took some into my care ;-)

Anyway, I had a couple of friends over who were prepared to babysit me so I decided to give Splendens a try. I crushed about 8 or nine tiny leaves up by hand. I then loaded them into stainless steel 'screens' to enable me to easily load and reload the cone of my water pipe.

I felt rather sceptical, since none of the reports on this list have indicated more than subtle effects, so I decided I would have three conefulls ready just in case nothing much happened and I decided that I needed to keep going.

I lit the first and began to draw the smoke into my lungs. I was surprised at how harsh it was compared to the silky smooth divinorum smoke I am used to ;-) I kept drawing the smoke, a little at a time, into my lungs and then holding it for about 15 seconds. When finished I placed a new screen into the cone and kept going for the entire three cones. It took about 8 to 10 lungfulls to smoke the entire amount.

About halfway through, someone asked me if it was doing anything, I nodded my head since I could feel something happening without any doubt. At first all I felt was a sort of light headedness, with a heightening of colours and visual detail (ala THC). Next I started to feel a deep sense of relaxation spreading over me. At the end of the second cone I felt a tightening across my chest and a slight stabbing pain over my heart. I felt a little concerned at the time, but decided to go for the last cone anyway.

After the last cone was finished, I felt quite weird and found it very hard to describe the weirdness to anyone in the room. It was quite unlike divinorum or any psychedelic, if anything it felt a little like a Ketamine trip coming on. At the time, I commented about how I thought it was completely unlike an opiate and couldn't understand Daniel's comparison to it, but as time progressed I began to change my mind....

The feelings continued to get stronger for about 30 minutes after having the smoke, and they ranged from: "I'm not sure if anythings happening", when I had just finished smoking, to: "This is *very* strong", at the 30 minute mark.

The relaxation was kind of strange, since I felt very heavy and 'cozy', but at the same time I felt a little constricted across the chest, but that may have been the chair I was sitting in which is definitly not ergonomic by any sense of the word. I had a lot of trouble expressing the experience to my friends who were all watching me avidly. (I think we were all amazed that it did anything at all)

Suddenly the experience seemed to shoot up a level of intensity. As I sunk into the lounge chair, I started to feel *really* nice. Warm tingling feelings began to flow up my spine and into the back of my head. The tingling feelings gave way to a rush which made me start to breath in long sighs. I said to my friends, "This feels really nice". As soon as I said it I really wanted to add to it by saying, "that was a massive understatement", but I was completely unable to vocalise the thought. Besides that, I think they were getting the general idea just by watching the blissfull expressions on my face.

I couldn't believe how good I was feeling, I said, "This feels like the way I imagine heroin feels!". By now they were all very excited and rather disappointed that I had finished off all the leaves I had dried :-) I settled into this feeling for a while and I noticed that it seemed to be very much linked to how much I 'looked' for it. If I took my attention elsewere, then the pleasure rush decreased. When I focused on relaxing into the chair and allowing my mind to centre on my breathing, the rush of pleasure re-established itself.

I decided to try standing and walking. I stood up and tested my balance. All seemed approximately normal. I walked out into the kitchen and back admiring the nice effect it had on my vision. I returned to the lounge and settled into a bean bag. My head seemed clearer now, but the sense of wellbeing and relaxation was strong.

I felt a little more able to talk about the experience to my friends so I explained a little of what I was feeling to them. As I was doing so I was noticing how great everything looked. There was no psilocybin-like distortion of vision, everything looked normal except that it seemed like the 'contrast' control had been turned up. Things with lots of detail in them, like the wooden bookshelf, looked particularly pleasing.

The effect was still going strong a couple of hours later when I went to bed. I dreamed about taking 2 MDMA tablets with a friend and then wondering why I wasn't completely overpowered by them. When I woke (10 hours later) the effect still seemed quite strong and I realised that the 'MDMA effect' in the dream was actually the S.Splendens effect but my dreaming mind had mixed up the two concepts. ;-)

It is now over 14 hours from when I had it an I must say that the after effects are still quite strong. Even my partner commented on how relaxed I seemed and how well I handled some difficult children we just finished babysitting for the morning.

I think this plant is definitly worthy of further study, perhaps for its anti-depressant qualities. (Although I think the 'chest pains' are a little concerning.)

I would be very interested to hear some more comparisons with benzodiazepenes, since some of the feelings I had seem to match the desriptions for high doses of these, although I did not seem to experience any memory impairment during or following the experience. (so far)

I feel that we should be cautious about this plant, since it may have definite abuse potential and some as yet unconfirmed side effects such as cardiac depression.

For your interest I have included the full details of this plant as follows:

When searching for it I was initially somewhat confused since there seems to be about seven or eight different types of Salvia Splendens even including a dwarf variety. In the end I purchased the first one I happened across:

>From the Label (Floriana)

  SALVIA: Blaze of Fire
    Long Flowering!
    Salvias are free-flowering, frost tender annuals preferring
    rich, well drained soils in sunny or semi-shade situations.
    'Blaze of Fire' produces scarlet flowers on dwarf plants. Plant
    from spring to summer for flowers on 8-10 weeks.
    Height: 35cm approx, Position: Full sun, Plant 25cm apart.
    "Illustration and information intended only as a guide.
    Ornamental Product. NOT EDIBLE."

Indeed, a bioscientist and I have recently discovered another member of the Salvia family - Salvia splendens - is active. Most of you are familiar, I am sure, with Salvia divinorum, even though little has been disseminated about this entheogenic and ultra-unique plant until relatively recently.

It has friends...it is not the only one with active particles. And its effects seem to be quite similar to Salvia divinorum.

When I smoked it, the following occured:

quite rapidly:

* the desire to keep eyes open (perhaps because it's a beautiful starry
night out)
* a feeling of a visiting presense
* sense of having things around me 'shut off' - rather, it was as if
life/time were suspended for a brief while - felt as if I could walk around
outside my person
* sense of dissociation from self and present circumstances - separation
and 'big picture' view
* feeling of surrounding assurance (normally more apparent during
quid-sucking method) - this is an emotion that I have never encountered
other than with Salvia
* feeling of 'do not worry it's all quite alright'
* sense of union with external environs while 'coming down'
* temporary clarity
* a sense of having been pulled up and pushed down, physically (hinting of
conscious-dream-induction, Claude, yes)

Claude Rifat is the gentleman who had alerted me of an old aphorism, "You do not find only one acorn under an oak-tree." He sent me some samples of the dried leaf from Tokyo, where it grows in abundance. Interesting.

I had also been told by the spirit of the Salvia divinorum plant that, "Salvia divinorum has friends." Crazy, alas?

Well, it is now being verified as true.

He then tried it sublingually. Meaning, he took it orally, by sucking a quid of the leaf. This works, too. It is a phenomenal anxiolytic, and is the best aide in meditation I have ever encountered. It is like a mantram in green physical form.

Claude noticed that is is quite unlike benzodiazepines -- this is the same observation I made! It is not clouding, and does not seem to induce euphoria. The thoughts are clear, and you are not zombified. Rather, it replaces your emotions, present circumstances, with an assuring sense of peace. Claude notcied a "blunting of emotional response." You are suspended, feeling light, and almost floating upward - yet, you feel heavy at the same time. It is quite mild.

Here are some clippings from our recent email conversations, with various effects mentioned:

Heavy eyes and slowing of thought,plus tranquillity. (per M Rifat)

I felt a great tranquillity and serenity with that.Stronger than with a >benzodiazepine such as Valium,for instance.Irenic. (per M Rifat)

_YES_. That was the primary effect, coming on after 10-15 minutes, at best, and lasting for over a half hour. (per me) It is what I found too:fast effect but longer in me. If this is a placebo then placebo works well!! (per M Rifat) Unlike diazepam, this *heightened* clarity. It did NOT zombify me like the benzo's did (oh, a long time ago, thank goodness). This is truly a rapid-acting and impressive anxiolytic. (per me, KB)

Alas, this is a crude and limited description. It seems to be most effective when used with meditation. I became still, and peaceful. (KB)

Same with me.Did you notice a slowing of your thoughts? (CR) This was with a slightly higher dose:

I must say, it felt as if water from a sea of tranquility were seeping throughout me, coming from deep within. For some isolated moments, I felt as if becoming pure again. I felt like liquid, like the clearest water. This was a soft bath, and not sweeping, but I am serious! Very nice, and similar to Salvia divinorum. (per KB)

Effects of 1 sublingual leaf of Salvia Splendens(La Sauge Rouge)

Oh I forgot to mention this very point you are mentioning on "shallowing of breathing". (per CR)

Claude mentioned this below, and I have something similar to add: You remember I mentioned somewhere that I thought the "splendid salvia" seemed to have some effect on sex. Perhaps I am dreaming(wide-awake!)but I noticed,today,an intensification of sexual pleasure.Orgasm was stronger and more "mindblowing" may I say! Could you pass the information on so we may find if this is a coincidence or a reality!

I am passing it on.... I noticed that, like Calea zacatechichi, this sage was able to allow me to enter into the imagination further, more deeply, as I was able to achieve a massive orgasm while masturbating. Climax had never happened unless I was under the influence of an entheogen, yet now I am able to get to this point without the use of any external chemical compounds. It's about time, dammit. Okay, perhaps this is 'too much information', but there might be something to this, since Claude and I both experienced some effect on sex. Go figure.

My thought is that it quiets you down so that pleasurable feelings can emerge in the forefront, and you 'surrender' more. Well, this post was probably quite disjointed, yet I think I was able to include the crux of our new information on this plant....

Please, venture out carefully, if you venture at all. There is simply NOTHING documented, and we have searched ALL over the place: we have found nothing in scientific literature or psychedelic literature about S splendens.

Like DMT, the active particles in Salvia appear to be, perhaps...EVERYWHERE!

UPDATE: Judging from present accounts of experimentation with S splendens, even more (sometimes longer-lasting) effects can be expected. If y'all venture, venture with caution, as we are now collecting the first human anecdotal reports of ingesting this compound for psychotropic effect.

Any news? please pass it along to Kevin Brunelle at brunelle@rpa.net

We are trying to interest motivated and capable folks to research this material as potential novel (and unique) anti-anxiety medication. Please do not blacken its image by associating it with any stupid, irresponsible behavior. Whatever that means. I just do not want to see it get lumped into the same categories that prevent other medications from being used for both popular and medical benefit. ALOHA.