DOSE:

100 mg

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

125 lb

I remember the day that my friend told me over the phone about his first dance with Salvia. He had a difficult time explaining it, but his summary was that it was a much more intense version of the effects of marijuana. He explained that the salvia was categorized by color (green, yellow, red..... and PURPLE) in order of intensity (equivalent of 5x,10x,20x,etc.). Apparently PURPLE was far more concentrated than typical extracts. My friend managed to spark my amusement enough that I began to read about Salvia and its wonders.

Fast forward a few weeks later and the same friend (we'll call him M.) was laid-off from his job. In order to celebrate, he felt that a treat for us, as well as our roommate (he'll be T), was in order. So off we went to the smoke shop, to purchase a 'purple' dose of Salvia. I felt at the time that because I am able to handle being high quite well, that I would be able to take the strongest extract. A few hours later, we three, accompanied by our friend (we'll call her S) and T's girlfriend landed home at our wonderful apartment. We set up with some good ambient music, dimmed the lights, and prepared for something that we would not expect.

We smoked out of a Pyrex bong, chilled in the freezer to get the water ice cold. Because we didn't have any Salvia leaves, and our glass screens had somehow disappeared for the final time, we used a small amount of marijuana as the screen below the salvia. Tragically, we were at this point in time forced to smoke in our bathroom because we could not afford to have the smell lingering in our living room (incense can't cover everything up). This proved to be a very large factor in the experience for everyone, because they had to somehow make it to the living room once the effects hit. M, having smoked Salvia before and being the overall 'supervisor' of the session, took this responsibility and smoked last after almost everyone's initial effects had dissipated. S went first, followed by T's girlfriend and then T. None of them made it to a second hit. They all exploded into laughter similarly and had roughly the same effects.

I was, in all meaning of the word, psyched for my first experience. I was sure that I would be able to cope with the effects more so than my trip-mates for the evening. M loaded 100mg of 'PURPLE' salvia into the bowl atop a small amount of marijuana, and the bowl was put in place in the still-chilled bong. I let out all of my breath and put the flame from a conventional lighter (which I prefer now over butane lighters for Salvia) over the Salvia and began to inhale. The chamber quickly filled with thick white smoke and I pulled away after my throat began to burn slightly. I held in the smoke for 30 seconds, all the while looking at the cherried bowl and trying to concentrate on counting. I slowly exhaled and went for a second hit as quickly as I could. I inhaled and pulled away.

I lost all connection with reality. I essentially got 'lost' in my second hit. I suddenly felt as though God himself had played a cruel trick on me, and that I had been like this forever, and I was destined to remain in this state of nothingness until I died. There were instant feelings of dread that nothing in my life could ever compare to, but as quickly as they had appeared, they drifted away. My perspective suddenly switched from my eyes to my shoulders. I was walking from my shoulders onto my left arm (I suppose I was moving in the direction that this hidden force/weight was pulling me in), and once I reached the end, I expanded out of the doorway and through the bead curtain into the living room. I stared at T, his girlfriend, and S, though I failed to acknowledge their existence.

Time began to unravel like a coiled spring that had just been let lose. I traveled the same path backwards, as though time was moving backwards, through the bead curtain again and back into the bathroom. I went through my march from the tips of my fingers to my left arm and across my shoulders, into my right arm. As I neared the end of my right arm and closed in on my hand, I feared what would happen. Was I destined to move back to my right arm and into the living room again, for all eternity? Would time only progress by seconds as it had after what seemed like 10 minutes?

I reached my hand and then traveled into my fingertips. I saw that I was holding a pipe (peculiar because our only pipe was locked away in a closet), and suddenly I was smoking again. I was looking through my eyes again, and I pulled away from the pipe, which was once again a bong. I excitedly, but frighteningly said to M 'No, this isn't right, I already did this!!!' I had at some point handed M the bong, but some subconscious force was making me try to grab it again for another hit. I wanted to take the same hit that I already had taken. Time was lapsing and I was drifting through it, but not obeying its laws.

I ran into the living room and experienced what I later declared to be deja-vu to the 100th power. I began to tell everyone that I 'just needed to sleep' because I wanted to obey the laws of time again. From my perspective, I was living one moment over and over again, only expanding seconds into the next moment before reliving the first one again. If I simply closed my eyes and stayed in one place, time would continue to repeat but I would be unaware of it because it would be looping back into the same thing.

I was later told that I ran into the living room and then into my room about 4 or 5 times after leaving the bathroom, only taking brief pauses to lie down and declare that I needed to sleep each time (the only words that I remember were 'is he alright', 'is it just me or is he way more messed up than any of us were' and 'DUDE, calm down, you're like a speed freak!'). I felt that I was reliving one single moment, when in reality I was re-enacting the same moment, much to the confusion of my peers.

I ran into my room one last time and lay in my bed for a few minutes, looking at the clock the entire time in order to get my bearings on time once again. I heard portions of conversations from the living room, and then M's voice shouted out to me 'Come into the living room, for we must discuss the philosophy of Communism!' Keep in mind that he had just smoked his portion of Salvia, as well as a bit of what I didn't finish from my bowl. I was amazed that he was able to make words, but I also remembered that people get different degrees of a trip despite smoking the same amount.

At this point, I was still deeply immersed in my trip, despite the fact that some twenty minutes had gone by. I was finally able to get control of my actions enough to leave my room sit down in the living room and stay put. I said nothing, and simply closed my eyes and began to think and essentially meditate. It was at this point that I began to touch on concepts unconceivable under normal circumstances. I understood what existence could be like from another person's perspective. I thought to myself that I had no way of knowing how someone experiences reality (or if they even do) in the same way that I do. As far as I knew (and for a point believed), someone could appear to be completely normal, but live in a mental state similar to the one I had, and still was, experiencing.

My concentration then became fixated on the concept of 'God'. I was able to grasp the size of the entire universe at this point, and understand its boundaries. I then put the entire universe into a small marble, and put it in the hands of a child. This child was 'God'. And all around God, there were other people, with their own universes in the palm of their hands. And to a higher degree they were in the same place as us, as they existed in a universe belonging to someone else. It infinitely expanded.

I pondered my personal epiphanies for a period of time which I cannot track, though I do remember that by the time I was feeling somewhat in control of my physical and mental state, hours had passed by.

Six hours after the smoke had filled my lungs (now 6-7am) for the firs time, I was in the most relaxing glide down from an experience that I will never forget. I sat in my computer chair in front of the glowing computer monitor after everyone had gone to sleep, and I read everything profound that I could. My mind was completely open and I felt like every word that my eyes grazed would be cemented in place. I could take in everything in the state I was in. I was in a state of peace and complete tranquility.

I've smoked Salvia two times since the first experience, though both times I have smoked 'red' instead of 'PURPLE' because they were out of it. The second time I smoked I landed in a state where I still had consciousness and an ego, but was in a reasonably large trip. The third time I smoked two bowls and achieved very weak effects (though the second bowl was 30 mins later and emphasized the first bowls effects and added to it a bit). I followed those bowls up with a shared bowl of high-end marijuana, which I found extended some of the effects from the lower threshold of Salvia. I also had the most amazing sleep that I had ever had afterwards.

I found that with each experience after the first, I was able to remember certain details about the first trip that I had previously forgotten. After having a bit of experience with Salvia, I try to emphasize the severity of the trip to people interested in it looking for a 'good time'. Salvia is not a party drug, and it truly only should be smoked in a small familiar group in a comfortable environment. I believe that starting out with smaller concentrations/portions and then slowly upgraded over multiple trips is likely the best and most comfortable method of experiencing the effects of Saliva.

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 55843
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Mar 19, 2008	Views: 6,870
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Salvia divinorum (44) : First Times (2), Small Group (2-9) (17)