DOSE:

2 bowls

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(extract - 10x)

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

Last week was my 1st experience with Salvia; I still believe there are no words that can possibly do this peculiar herb justice.

I've been in one form or another addicted to Nicotine(yikes!), cannabis, benzos, and pharmaceutical opiates; I have experimented twice w/ shrooms, and am very experienced w/ DXM. I was drawn to salvia after perusing through the great collection of articles online. After receiving my shipment via mail, I quickly tore open the discreet packaging and tossed the 1oz of dried leaves aside; I was intent on making this 1st trip count. As I broke the seal of the gram-bag of 10x, a feeling of anticipation rushed over me...Will this live up to its hype? Hmmm smells quite benign, even refreshing. I loaded 1/10 of gram into my 26' glass bong;

Setting: Alone, My room, 2pm, lotta light, TV on(madtv is playing), lying on my bed. I had been clean of drugs (including benzos) for a little more than a day.

Hit #1: I am pleasantly surprised that the smoke is soothing rather than harsh; it seems to burn much quicker than cannabis or tobacco.

Hit #2: The bowl is gone after 1 hit! As I reload this time w/ twice as much, I feel a gradual warm murkyness. Yes, that's the closest description I can manage, and that's barely the onset. I RIP into the second lungful. It's held in for half-minute.

It's a miracle my bong was not shattered. As it dropped onto my carpet, I was suddenly enveloped by a sort of force; but force is too vague a word. It was more as if I was compelled to fall face flat onto my bed. I don't know why or how, I felt as if I was completely ENVELOPED...by something. The only adequate word to describe what it felt like was mindfuck. Curiously, I was not in the least bit scared or worried. I suffer from GAD, hence my benzo addiction. This was not from baseline to 100mph; more like from baseline to 25mph to 50 then to 100mph. At first, I LITERALLY could not believe it was happening. Denial swam over me; as my skin became flush, I stopped resisting and let it take me.

My vision was TOTALLY distorted. The closest comparison I can make is a 2nd or 3rd plateau DXM trip. But in a DXM trip, things are distorted w/ some semblance of consistency, sort of a consistent depth perception setback, disorienting but ultimately static and tolerable. Salvia, though, made my room totally lifelike and dynamic. For some inane reason, I COULD NOT quite process my visuals readily. I'm sure I could, but it seemed my mind was not primarily occupied w/ the visual aspect.

This is when my trip becomes unbelievable.

As I have stated, the sense of being compelled in just about a million directions was beyond overwhelming. Suddenly, I noticed the skit on my TV that MadTV was playing. It was about Lorraine in the Mall, I distinctly remember. Suddenly the audio coming from my modest speakers somehow MORPHED into a sing-songy kinda beat. I could not resist going 'crazy' on my bed: waving my arms and legs, rolling around and experiencing being in the chorus of the skit, w/ completely cool visuals. However the visuals were fleeting and intermittent. As I settled into a pattern of flailing (I was making 'snow butterflies'), I began to speak...more like babble, 'This is like wow', while at the same time giggling. NONE of this seemed scary or horrifying; I felt that my muscles were 'ON' but felt very very calm inside. I must have 'Merged' w/ the madtv skit for about 2 or 3 minutes, the duration of the skit.

The rest of the trip is hard to recall but I do remember anecdotes of detail that I logged into my memory.

Looking around w/ a peculiar heaviness while lifting my head - not heavy in the literal sense, but as if it was an 'unpleasant' position for my body - I began to recall some of the trip reports; I suddenly recall someone likening the experience to that of someone playing a 'cruel joke' on you. That seemed a perfect description for me. But that's not really a description; it was just SURREAL. To reiterate, a complete mindfuck. Like the movie 'Jacob's Ladder' or the feeling you get when you lose yourself completely in a book while reading, then suddenly catch yourself and say 'Hmm..'.

I could FEEL myself coming down, and was able to identify the various stages of intoxication along the way. A sudden glowing and at the same time mildly irritating body high. It was only now I noticed my cotton mouth. Stuck a Doritos in my mouth and washed it down w/ water. It tasted like wood, absolutely uninteresting. Despite my gradual return, my body still felt overheated causing me to sweat a bit. And I also started to notice very weird tactile sensations upon touching an object as if my limb had gone a sleep for a minute and just woke up, but alot more subtle. I turned on my PC and immediately went online to tell my friends. This was about 15 minutes after the 2nd hit. I realize that I don't feel good sitting up yet, so I lie down until I feel completely baseline.

The experience was so very enlightening, earthshattering, and unsettling all at the same time. It's a feeling of familiarity, much like how I REMEMBER my early childhood, maybe because it was so fun! Unlike alot of other psychedelics in which emotion takes precedence over the processing of subjective perception, Salvia allowed me temporarily dissipate my emotions and anxieties and ENTER into a world unseen. The uniqueness of this magic herb cannot be overstated---the only emotion not surpressed was the sense of exhilaration and anticipation, that's what makes it FUN, and an experience that is so non-commital.

The best analogy I can make about the trip in general is to that of a blindingly fast roller coaster ride. Best likened to the Superman ride in six flags of TX. I feel deprived of such experiences I once cherished early in my childhood. My anxiety has manifested into fear of death and impending danger. There, I'm not embarrassed to admit it. I've not been on a ride in 6 years. I feel that Salvia has endowed me with an outlet for my stress and anxieties. The thing w/ GAD is that there is no specific phobia, just general. Alot of my buddies do coke but I can't handle the distant numbness it gives me, even caffeine makes me jittery.

I have not smoked salvia since, but already I'm down to 10 cigs a day from a pack and only have to ingest around 3-4mgs of Alprazolam daily down from 6-7mgs. It was a profound experience. I liken it to my first sexual encounter. It completely rocked my world.

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 50066
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: May 12, 2008	Views: 24,123
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Salvia divinorum (44) : First Times (2), Health Benefits (32), Glowing Experiences (4), Alone (16)