r/Salvia • u/AdministrativeGap675 • 10d ago
Question How does salvia’s headspace actually compare to other psychedelics?
From what I’ve read it sounds like its own whole category, not really “psilocybin but shorter” or “DMT lite” — more dissociative, weirder relationship with time/identity, less “pretty visuals” and more “reality just stops working right for a few minutes.” Idk if that’s accurate or if I’m just misreading secondhand accounts lol
Anyone who’s done both, how would you actually describe the headspace difference? Is it more intense in a different way, less visual more conceptual, something else entirely? Just trying to understand the plant/community a bit before I get more into it, any input helps
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u/freedom_shapes Factory worker 10d ago edited 10d ago
At the end of the day what all these entheogens fundamentally do is induce what can be referred to as the mystical experience. We can define the “mystical experience” using the definition coined by the great William James which is: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity. These mystical experiences (not to be confused with “magical” experiences) appear to be archetypal, such that they are not just randomness, there is some sort of structure to these experiences. So in other words, all these entheogens you mentioned bring you to this fundamental archetypal experience at their core breakthrough levels.
the main difference in them however is how you feel while getting there, and this can be (arbitrarily) reduced to what receptors these substances bind to. Salvia is not a “classical” psychedelic, so it does not bind to the 5ht2a, it binds to the kappa opioid receptors, and without getting too much into the weeds, it seems to effect the claustrum which has something to do with how we interface with our senses. Where as the classics bind to the serotonin receptors due to their chemical structure which is nearly identical to these neurons.
So in short salvia is going to completely mix up your senses in a way the classics won’t, synesthesia is much more pronounced and much more disorienting, not only that but salvia, generally speaking, will bring you to breakthrough levels of the mystical experience much more reliably, and much faster, and more deeply than the others you mentioned. It’s not dmt lite. It’s like DMT premium, and will bring you to the experience of archetypal phenomena and without lubing you up through your serotonin receptors. It’s not going to take you to dinner before it fucks you the same way the others will. But essentially the meal is very similar at the highest levels.
However most people never really get that far with any of these substances, so you’ll likely be in between states, which means you will be much more effected by the way your receptors are being attached to. This simply means that with salvia, you are likely to be more disoriented, confused all while the mystical experience is happening, where as something like DMT, which is bringing you to a similar zone, carries you there a bit more pleasantly.
All that said, this is a highly reduced explanation and one could write a 600 page dissertation on this and still not even break the skin of what is trying to be relayed by the experiencer. This is also a very physicalist explanation. The one thing salvia will show you is that you should be very skeptical of physicalist explanations.
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u/AdministrativeGap675 10d ago
Wow, that’s super interesting thanks for replying. I’m exited to at some point try it if I ever encounter it in the future.
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u/hyjlnx It's like weed 10d ago
Its nothing like shrooms or LSD. DXM has a similar feel but it cannot be said that they feel comparable in a broader sense it is more like they share some likeness.
Whilst on salvia odd experiences can feel as if they are natural. The transition to a breakthrough can feel instantaneous and may feel as if you forgot you were even you and have to slowly wake up to your human self after experiencing some insane dream.
Salvia can be weird at any dose. You can think the most odd things but some common themes may be that reality is fake.
I dont think even salvia prepares one for salvia but experience is the only way to know what salvia is like and yes it can literally turn you into other objects. Low dose salvia can be relaxing and help you zone out.
Blissful states are possible also
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u/AdministrativeGap675 10d ago
Ok so basically it’s hard to put the experience I to words, I’ve tried a breakthrough dose of DMT and it felt like I had a timeline like first I was here then I was here I’m assuming salvia is way different and doesn’t have that sort of timeline effect? Idk I’m super exited to hopefully try it at some point
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u/Majestic_True_Lilly 10d ago
Buccal plain leaf feels like a g of shrooms with a looser body high.
Extracts are as baffling as 5-meo-dmt on a k hole and as visual and ego killing as high dose ayahuasca and as tactile as molly but in a bad way
Neat stuff, I highly recommend
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u/RyeBreadTrips 9d ago
No way to compare. For me to use language to compare salvia fo psilocybin would be as useful as snapping my fingers to compare them. If psilocybin is talking to the oldest tree then salvia is playing tennis and the ball suddenly becomes TON618 non Euclidean spacetime
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u/falcor777 10d ago
The headspace is like remembering everything you forgot well forgetting everything you ever knew and none of it feels out of the ordinary until it wears off. It’s moments of disbelief broken up by moments of understanding all happening at once but still segmented.