DOSE:

1 bowl

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(leaves)

BODY WEIGHT:

135 lb

A few weeks ago, I visited a little herbal shop in my city & purchased, among other things, a 12th ounce of salvia divinorum. I didn't know much about it at the time, & had mostly heard it was a 'legal marijuana substitute'; lately I've been interested in herbs & plants & so I decided to try it. At first I was a little disappointed with the effects. I would smoke it out of my glass pipe or occasionally my bong, & after a few puffs it would make my head & my joints feel funny, but little else, & it faded very quickly. I had one strange incident after smoking 2 bowls before going to bed - I remember looking at the pipe & for an instant I heard what felt like an excerpt from a musical in my head, & it was rather trippy, but it faded within moments & a 3rd bowl did nothing. It was only tonight, after a little research & use of a different technique, that I had my first real dance with Lady Salvia.

Before continuing, I should note that I take ritalin & paxil on a daily basis. The ritalin is for ADD, & I have taken it since I was about 13 years; my current dosage is 40 mg a day. The paxil is for anxiety disorders (panic disorder & OCD) & I have taken it for about a year & a half; current dosage is 25 mg a day. Also, earlier tonight I had indulged in a little cannabis/skullcap/passionflower/damiana - scraped some resin from my pipe & added the 3 herb mix to it. Then I took a 1000 mg valerian root pill because I was having some pain & valerian often helps with that. Later I smoked a mix of salvia & skullcap/passionflower/damiana. At the time these made me a little high, but it was not very long-lasting. About 3 hours later I smoked the salvia & had the experience which I am about to describe. It's quite likely that these substances had an effect on my salvia trip, but I have not included them on the substances list because I wasn't really high from them when I smoked the plain salvia. I merely had that relaxed herbal afterglow feeling. I apologize for this, as it makes the experiment less controlled, but again, as far as I can tell, this trip was primarily salvia-induced.

Now I'm the type of dork who will do internet research on any new substance I'm considering trying. But I did little on salvia until tonight. Here's the main thing I found out: I can't just inhale salvia smoke & then puff it out. It's recommended that I hold the smoke in my lungs for about 20-30 seconds so that it may be adequately absorbed. I should also not wait long between hits, because the chemical is metabolized quickly by my body & so I have to absorb as much as I can as quickly as possible.

And now, finally, on with the experience! I got my little water bong & packed about a bowl's worth of salvia. I sat down at my desk in my room, looking at my computer monitor. I had left my web browser on a salvia information site, thinking it might be fun to read about salvia while I was on it. The room was rather dimly lit, making the environment rather relaxing. I took a big hit & held it in my lungs for 30 seconds, not an easy task, especially for a smoker like me. Things started getting a little... weird. I looked at my computer screen & it seemed kind of like a face, & I thought to myself, 'maybe it will be a character on this journey.' I took another toke & held it for 30 seconds. By this time the salvia had kicked in. It's remarkably fast! My head felt funny, & my body felt very heavy. I kind of sank into my chair, & then the desk & I started swaying back & forth. It felt like there were two rods perpendicular to me, stretching across the room, & they made everything slide back & forth. The monitor, while not actually a character, did seem to take on some identity, but as a part of the whole desk. It felt like the whole desk/chair was this vessel, & I kept my hands on the desk in order to hold on.

Then shit started getting REALLY weird. Things on my desk started morphing with the surface - in particular, I remember looking at a pill bottle & a little lotion tube that were in front of me. There are two levels to the desk, & the lotion tube fits pretty much snugly between them, & while the tube retained its appearance, it appeared to have melded with the desk at its top & bottom. The pill bottle is not as tall & thus only its bottom joined with the desk. Then the desk took on this sugary appearance, kind of a sugar cookie consistency, & gradually it became dotted with colorful candies. Sort of a gingerbread desk-vessel. The desk is a very light wood which is maybe why it looked this way.

Anyways, it was at once both exhilarating & frightening. I had never really tripped before so this was all very new to me. I felt like I needed to cling tightly to the vessel & I didn't know what was going on. I knew I was still in my apartment though. I am normally a talkative person & I wanted to speak, but found myself almost paralyzed. Finally I said something to the effect of, 'So if this is really happening, can we maybe go somewhere else?' I had been thinking that if I was really on this vessel, I wanted to take it somewhere outside, beyond my apartment. Speech to a small degree sobered me up. My voice shocked me; it sounded kind of harsh & gravelly, & loud. I kind of trailed off at the end because I was a little scared.

The vessel was still moving back & forth, & then I was finally able to turn my head each way. I don't remember what I exactly focused on, but it seemed like objects in my room were living entities. Looking back & forth puzzled me. I felt like I was confined to this back-&-forth plane, & eventually I was able to look behind me & it grounded me somewhat. I remember saying something else. I think I said to the salvia, 'OK, I've had enough of you for the moment' & it made me feel strange again. It didn't quite interrupt the high; I was afraid while speaking that it would jar me back to 'reality' but it never entirely did. It snapped me away from my trip for a second but then I would return. Eventually the candy desk-vessel image began to fade & stopped moving. Also, during this time I thought I heard some sort of music, but I think it was just my fan, & maybe stuff from outside because my window was cracked open.

Soon I decided I needed a cigarette. This necessitated movement because my pack was in the other room. My body felt extremely heavy & walking was difficult, kind of like being really drunk but with more grace. The short walk felt like an adventure. My body moved strangely, I felt like I was a tin soldier or something & that my limbs moved as if marching. I saw myself as a brightly colored toy with swiveling arms. I felt that strange presence again, as I did with the objects in my room - like while there were no individual beings in there, the room as a whole was very much alive. I said to the room, 'I guess you won't be playing much part in this', or something like that, because I knew I would be spending my trip in the bedroom. Again, my voice seemed booming & strange.

I returned to the bedroom, started on my cigarette, & finished the last of the salvia but it didn't get me as high as I was a few minutes earlier. I started to read the salvia webpage & then decided I wanted to draw. I put on Common's Electric Circus CD, got my sketchbook & sat on the bed. As I paged through the book, my sketches, while not really moving, seemed to contain a life force, & they were vibrant & beautiful. Then I decided I would rather read more about salvia. So indecisive! I think I was a little too concerned about what I 'should' be doing on a trip. The high began to wear off pretty quickly, but I still felt extremely relaxed. Soon I noticed the time & knew Family Guy was on, so I watched that in order to wind down. And now here I am, writing this report, still feeling very good about life in general.

I should mention that at most points during the trip, I kind of realized I was tripping, but at the same time the hallucinations felt incredibly real. Strange feeling. Again though, I've never truly hallucinated or tripped, so I don't have anything to compare it to. All I know is that this was more than I'd ever experienced & while it was short, it was very intense.

I should also mention the extreme reverence I felt while tripping. At one point (I think after the desk-vessel dissolved) I sort of got in a praying position & expressed respects to the salvia. I felt the need to act in accordance with it, to please it, to be adequately grateful for what it had given me. It was as if the salvia were some sort of force, I pictured her as female but I'm not sure why. This sounds corny now but at the time it was a very real issue. Not that respect is a bad thing. In fact, if something's going to take you on a trip like that, you'd better damn well respect it.

So in conclusion, I *highly* recommend salvia smokage if you're down for an interesting, albeit short, trip. It's legal (except for in a few countries) so you should be able to find it at your local herb shop. Just be nice & responsible about it because it *is* a serious plant & the people who sell it try to keep it kind of on the downlow. At the place I went to, the lady kept the salvia in a discreet little bag (unlike the other herbs which were in big clearly-marked jars), & she warned me to be careful with it. It's a *little* on the pricey side ($120 an ounce where I went, compared to $1 per ounce for everything else) but definitely worth it in my book. I plan on going back tomorrow to buy more because sadly I smoked the last of mine tonight (dammit!).

Exp Year: 2004	ExpID: 32470
Gender: Female
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 16, 2007	Views: 6,877
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Salvia divinorum (44) : General (1), First Times (2), Glowing Experiences (4), Entities / Beings (37), Alone (16)