Sage Spirit: Salvia Divinorum and the Entheogenic Experience [Paperback]

Martin W. Ball (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2007

Salvia divinorum is a unique and profoundly powerful visionary herb from the Mazatec region of Mexico. Now widely available in the western world via the internet, but still little understood, this legal entheogen is becoming ever more popular among those

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a book that truly contains much "sage" wisdom. Dr. Ball regards Salvia divinorum as a sacred herb and treats it with tremendous respect. He describes many of his personal experiences, shares meaningful insights, and provides helpful advice on using this herb as a tool for cultivating practical spirituality. Sage Spirit should be read by all who seek to understand the nature of Salvia divinorum, especially as it relates to human consciousness, personal growth, and spiritual development. -- Daniel Siebert, Sagewisdom.org

About the Author

Martin W. Ball holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and is the author of two books on entheogenic spirituality, Sage Spirit and Mushroom Wisdom, and is also the author of the spiritual fantasy series, Tales of Aurduin. In addition to b

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Kyandara Publishing (August 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615157084
• ISBN-13: 978-0615157085
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical cognitive phenomenology of entheogens, September 10, 2007

By 

Michael Hoffman (Egodeath.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sage Spirit: Salvia Divinorum and the Entheogenic Experience (Paperback)

Sage Spirit is the most relevant, practical book about actually using the Salvia Divinorum cognitive state. Like Benny Shanon's book Antipodes of the Mind, this is a practical insider's book, oriented around cognitive phenomenology of using the plant; this book provides a description of the realm of salvia from inside the realm of Salvia, rather than standing on the outside. Throughout the entire book, each page has the feeling of reading a book that is genuinely about the intense mystic altered state -- not run-of-the-mill pop New Age self-help philosophy.

Ball's mentality is in the right, relevant, experientially based place, and he is up-to-date on current thinking about entheogens and their practical use. This is a needed complement of other existing Salvia books, which read like a rationalist observer outsider's distanced, remote, external discussion; the other books focus on details about the external, objective, surface history of the physical plant. In contrast, Ball's book is filled with useful, subjectively practical, descriptive explanation of the subjective experiencing induced by the plant -- he designed this book, like his book Mushroom Wisdom, as an experiential user's guide.

Sage Spirit provides in-depth reportage of the author's experience of being taught vocalization and music techniques by Salvia as a plant teacher. The book includes excerpts from the author's mystic altered-state fiction.

The author is an authority on visionary plants in American Indian practice, having written a graduate thesis on that subject. His treatment and usage of practices from shamanism is relevant and insightful, not a boring 3rd-person anthropological approach; he gives insight into why one would use musical instruments and singing in a shamanic fashion during an entheogen session. He meaningfully connects the modern use of psychedelics with shamans' practice.

Ball characterizes McKenna and Pinchbeck as adventurer-heroes and entertainers, in contrast to his own call for regular and serious integration of entheogens into Western culture. Sage Spirit has solid, experientially based, well-developed commentary on ideas about entheogens and their role, with forward-looking but practical and clear-headed recommendations about re-integrating entheogen-based initiation into culture and religion.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Shamanic Guide, October 3, 2007

By 

Marie Cee (The Southwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sage Spirit: Salvia Divinorum and the Entheogenic Experience (Paperback)

Today we in the West need more guides for entering deep spiritual experiences. Martin Ball is proving to be such a shamanic guide for the contemporary world. If you are interested in finding a "textbook" for navigating alternative consciousness journeys or deep trance experiences, Sage Spirit ( as well as the author's previous book Mushroom Wisdom) will help immensely. Tribal societies have had guides for seeking deeper wisdom from the plant teachers for thousands of years, but we in "modern culture" often lack the kind of detailed information about entering into more intimate relationships with entheogens and the shamanic worldview that they open up.

I found this book applicable to many types of plant teacher experiences, not just Salvia, which the book does a wonderful job of demystifying. Even if you do not work with plants, this book offers an interesting foray into Earth-centered spirituality from an earnest searcher who is attempting to bring Beauty and healing from the "Otherworld" back to our world.

I was particularly intrigued by the author's experimentation with sound, vibration, singing, and music while in deep altered conscious states. He found that certain forms of music could actually help build and form the architecture of the vision, and in many cases stabilize it. Sound in our dimension seemed one-dimensional, he observed, but in the other dimension of the sage vison sound became three-dimensional. Read the book to learn more about this fascinating topic that the Amazonian ayahuasca shamans know so well, and that we are now just learning about.

A must-have for any library on Earth religions, shamanism, and entheogens.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Salvia Divinorum, June 14, 2008

By 

NeuroSoup (Topeka, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sage Spirit: Salvia Divinorum and the Entheogenic Experience (Paperback)

In the book, Martin Ball discusses "driving" the Salvia divinorum experience with sound. He talks about using rattles, the didjeridoo, and vocalizing to enhance and extend the effects. I found this part of the book particularly interesting. I also write and speak about using mantras and songs that I learned during my entheogenic experiences to assist me in maneuvering through my experiences. I like how he uses the word driving; it describes this phenomena perfectly.

He also mentioned that, "...the context in which entheogens are used greatly influences the nature of the experience that will unfold. When one treats psychedelic substances as entheogens, that is what they become." This concept rang true to me, because I like to spiritually center myself before a trip (I haven't always done this, but I have found that it helps invoke a more desirable experience). I find it helpful to spend a few moments to pray, ask for guidance and safe passage, purify my intentions, and remind myself why I am about to take an entheogen. I also accomplish this through a pre-trip meditation.

The only thing the book was lacking was a section on the pharmacology of Salvia Divinorum - that is why I only gave it 4 out of 5 stars.