Sally goin' ancient

[Arhuline]

Hi folks!

I'm interested in historical frame, when dear old Sally was used in religion.
I'd like to find out as much as possible about  Mazatecs and their point of the ritual...
Once again, I have to say that I'm impressed... Sally is truly devine.
I'll also post all infos I'll gather about Mazatecs, hopefully there will be some you haven't cahtched yet!

Greetz from the Galaxy

[Amomynous]

That's a pretty controversial topic. For mostly romantic reasons many people like to belive that the use of S. divinorum goes back through ancient history. But in truth, we really have no evidence of ancient use. Amongst the more problematical facts is the reality that we have no pre-conquest name for Salvia, whereas we do for all of the other major etheogens of the Mazatec. This doesn't rule out ancient use, but the standard justification (that Salvia went underground) isn't very convincing, considering the records we have of other entheogenic use.

People like Ott have argued that relative inefficiency of the Mazetec's methods of use bespeak a relatively recent association, whereas others (most notably Jerry Valdes) have refuted that, claiming that the Mazetec methods are really much more efficient that is commonly realized. You can choose a side, but it's largely a matter of opinion.

On a more metaphysical level, I know someone who has done much work with the plant and claims that the spirit of Salvia finds us as confusing and bizarre as we at times find it. She's convinced through communication with the plant that it doesn't have too much experience with us, contrasted, say, to something like Ayahuasca which has a very long association with humans.

In other words, flip a coin or three (depending upon western or Taoist biases)!