Hypnosis and Salvia Divinorum

Anyone ever use this herb with hypnosis?

Well, I'm in Amsterdam right now, and spent 10 minutes yesterday looking at a table full of this stuff, and stuff like it, so I guess I'll take this question.

First, I'll acknowledge that it's generally considered to be anathema to discuss mind altering stubstances in the Y!Groups. I suspect that this is more about the current legal environment in regards to such things in much of the world, as opposed to a correlation between the concept of hypnotist and the concept of psychonaught. I tend to believe that hypnotists tend to aid psychonaughts, and that a hypnotist is a type of psychonaught. But then again, I haven't had my morning tea yet, so your mileage may vary. Having said all that, a good breakdown of the legality of this particular substance in the United States and World Wide, can be found at this link: http://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia_law.shtml

Now for the disclaimers... In most places recreational use of substances in general is illegal and can have consequences. Since this particular substances has no real legal consequences in most of the world, I'll approach discussing it without fear and paranoia. Also, since it's a frequent theme that people sometimes want to explore hypnotic phenomena without another person's awareness, and that some might view a substance as a gateway to that, let me advise that it's a very very very bad idea to give someone a psychoactive substance without their awareness, and that one should never even consider doing so. Since Salvia isn't something that you can just slip in to someone's drink (in fact, it can be quite challenging to get it in to your system if you're not on the ball), I'm not going to be too worried about that.

Now the interesting thing about psychedelics, and Salvia Divinorum is definitely classified as a very powerful psychedelic, is that, depending on the dose and the individual's response, it will have a very profound effect on one's perceptual experience of reality. Suggestion becomes extremely powerful, whether it is external or internal. Looking at a wall, the very suggestion of the shadows will change the perception of the wall. In such a condition, hypnosis can be very powerful... However, there can be a catch. Is the subject, who is experiencing sensory hallucinations, able to still perceive the hypnotist?

I've never experienced the effects first hand, however, I have witnessed it. The effects set on extremely quickly, and are very intense. They were short lived, and for the most part the person experiencing them seemed to be very \"unreachable\" to us. The person was very locked on to the trip experience, which seemed to be Intense, static, unchanging and persistent, as opposed to being fluid, changing, responsive and receptive as certain other hallucinogenic tend to be. So, for purposes of hypnosis, I wouldn't recommend this particular enhancement. Except, perhaps, if you can time it properly to get a single suggestion in to the trip of the subject when it instantiates, and becomes Intense, static, unchanging and persistent. However, the unpredictability of this approach should be cause for caution and hesitation. It would be for me anyway...

For further information on Salvia Divinorum, including other people's perceptions of the experience of using it, go to: http://www.erowid.org/plants/salvia/salvia.shtml