DOSE:

2 hits

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

One week ago I was home for break and enjoying the company of old friends. The night I got in town we decided to do the typical drinking, playing pool, conversing type of thing in the sanctity of my house. 3 or 4 games of pool and just as many gin & tonics later, my friend took out his stash of 20X extract of salvia divinorum. Curiosity sparked and soon everyone was taking hits. Everyone but me, that is. It took me a good 30 minutes to finally decide I wanted to try it, so I did. My reasoning was 'it's legal, it probably just gives you a major head buzz and you get dizzy and fall down'.

Unfortunately this time it was out of a pop can since no one had a bowl. Upon smoking it, I felt a slight 'lightness' in my head and a bit of confusion, but certainly the alcohol could have been part of this, nothing less than my already low expectations.

It wasn't until 2 or 3 in the morning when everyone was gone and I was putting dishes away that I got a call from my friend who got his hands on a bowl. He inquired if I'd like to give it another 'go'. Without hesitation I said yes — he and our friend were on their way. We proceeded to the basement and they packed the bowl quite full of the salvia. As I type this my fingers are shaking and my whole body is jittering from the thoughts of what was about to happen.

The setting:

My own familiar basement with fairly aggressive sounding music in the background, well lit room with pool table, stereo, and gecko cage. Present were two of my very good friends and me.

They instructed me to take one deep hit (as much as I could hold) and then to keep it in for as long as possible. I did so, and upon taking the bowl away from my lips, they told me to take more. With the prior hit still in my lungs, I re-lit the salvia and took in even more. Leaving it in, I did not feel anything. As I began blowing the smoke out, however, I immediately began to feel the effects. At once it was quite overwhelming, and I couldn't say anything but 'holy shit!' As the last bit of smoke left my mouth, my friends immediately recognized that the salvia was indeed working, exclaiming “it’s working!”

I immediately felt a force pull me to the ground and to the left, as if the house had tipped and suddenly gravity accelerated. At this point my friends were standing in front of me, and as they tell me were simply conversing amongst themselves that indeed the salvia had taken effect on me. However, what I heard were such exclamations as 'he finally sees it!' and 'yes! he can see it now!' and 'I'm so glad we gave this to him so he could finally see the truth!' What followed was inexplicably the most intense 5 minutes of my life.

Immediately upon sitting down I felt as though my muscles completely relaxed and I began melting into the ground. It was at this point my friends say I slowly fell over to my left--a continuation of my being pulled 'down and to the left'. Looking straight ahead, I distinctly recall my line of sight being in some sort of frame, or outline, and suddenly someone picked up the frame itself leaving everything that was inside, and moved it over to the left. It was at this point that I seemed to have 'switched realities'. This act of the frame moving over was actually more literal than figurative--the frame of my reality literally was 'picked up' and moved to the left in a humanly imperfect way--it's as if a person, was actually doing it. This frame, when on the left, had a different 'picture'. A different 'reality' and everything I have ever known was suddenly WRONG and did not apply in this new reality.

To describe this reality transcends the confines of language, but I will do my best:

Overwhelmingly I felt the presence of another entity, as if someone was caring for me, saying things to the effect of 'you're ok now' and 'everything is just fine.' However, as this 'being' reassured me, it was as if it was simultaneously engaging in some act of modifying my now inanimate body. By inanimate body, I mean I felt as if I was an OBJECT rather than a person. In fact, by this point I had completely forgotten what a person even is, or was. For the next few minutes or so, this “being” would slowly but very painfully 'modify' my body for what I was absolutely sure would be an eternity, after all, objects don't die. I can't explain the modifications it was making to me (or 'the object', I guess) because whatever it was doing was complex and seemingly divine in nature. What it was doing to me (the object) was excruciatingly painful--unlike any other pain I have felt in my life. The modifications being made to my body were physical, but the pain was emotional. Imagine being hit by a baseball bat but instead of feeling a burst of physical pain, you felt a wave of emotional depression.

After what seemed like years of being modified as this inanimate object, my vision very slowly came back and I was staring straight forward, sitting on the floor still bent over to the left. Totally shaken and still very confused, I ran upstairs into my room where I felt safe. Lying in bed I closed my eyes and strange thoughts of time and dimensions danced wildly in my head while some sort of vision was displayed, the nature of which I regretfully cannot integrate--except to say that every time I opened my eyes the visions and thoughts dissipated.

While thinking in bed, it was difficult to recall exactly what a 'human' is and exactly what my real life consisted of. It's as if the salvia brainwashed everything I know in order to accommodate for the new reality I experienced moments prior. The following morning I awoke in disbelief, my brain feeling a bit jumbled. Now a week later, I can say that every day I recall something else from my experience that night. Also, reading through trip reports online has helped me to recall some of the more common experiences. Some of these reports have given me chills due to some of the similarities in experiences to mine.

Anyway as far as ever doing it again, I do want to try it again some day with the right frame of mind, being drunk and not expecting anything but a head buzz was not the right approach, as this stuff completely ROCKED MY WORLD. I think next time I will go into it understanding that this herb is meant to enlighten, and not to frighten. I think part the nature of my experience was due to the fact that I did not understand what would happen or, at the time, what was happening--and I was so overwhelmed and confused that it was terrifying. Using salvia is no joke, and I believe preparation and knowledge is key before embarking upon its journey.

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 55233
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 21, 2009	Views: 4,516
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Salvia divinorum (44) : First Times (2), Entities / Beings (37), Difficult Experiences (5), Small Group (2-9) (17)