The Mazatec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico have used hallucinogenic plants for hundreds of years. Peyote (peyotl), psilocybin mushrooms (teonanactl), morning glory seeds (ololiuqui), and Salvia divinorum (hierba Maria, ska Maria Pastora) have been used in religious ceremonies of divination and healing.

Beginning in the middle of the last century, specimens of the plant were brought to the United States from Mexico by botanists and ethnopharmacologists, who were studying the plant because of its hallucinogenic properties and the associated traditions of ritual use.

If someone suffers from an unknown illness, a curandero (ritual healer) will use Salvia divinorum for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The patient, the curandero, and an aide go to a quiet place. The patient drinks an elixir of water in which Salvia leaves have been squeezed. In 15 minutes, he enters a trance, during which he speaks out, describing the true nature of...