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Trapped in the Old West
Salvia divinorum (20X Extract)
Citation:   Arkon. "Trapped in the Old West: An Experience with Salvia divinorum (20X Extract) (exp40936)". Erowid.org. May 20, 2007. erowid.org/exp/40936

 
DOSE:
0.25 bowls smoked Salvia divinorum (extract)
BODY WEIGHT: 225 lb
This is my third time trying salvia and I assure you, it's probably my last. The first 2 times I tried it I felt nothing except a slight mellowing effect. The first 2 times were also just straight leaves smoked in a bowl, not any enhanced extract.

Well, I've experienced some of the highest reaches in Psychadelics in the past(DMT, LSD, Psylocybin) and this time I decided that I really wanted to experience the fullest this plant had to offer so I purchased a gram 20X leaf extract. I read all about the dangers that were possible so just to be on the safe side I started out with a standard pipe with only about 1/4 of the bowl full. Only a small pinch of the leafs.

I was sitting at my desk in the basement with the lights off except for a single dimmed desk lamp and some ambient light from an open door. I had no music on. I sat in the quiet dim room with my heart beating quickly. So I raised the torch lighter to the bowl and took a small hit, let it sit in my lungs for about 15 seconds and started letting the smoke out. Just then as the smoke was leaving my mouth and a small wisp of smoke from the hot bowl drifted up into the air I was suddenly hit hard with a completely altered and frighteningly distorted reality.

The very first thing I notice and can't believe (while the smoke is still in my lungs) is that my thoughts are somehow taking visual shape right before my eyes - I am pretty happy about this for the first 5 seconds but it quicky gets out of my control. I watched the thin wisp of smoke rise into the air and it curled into the darkness and formed a green stone face with a blank expression, it looked much like the giant statue faces on Easter Island. I have a good ammount of experience with psychadelics and I could not believe that such a small ammount of this plant could render such powerful effects - that was the last rational thought I remember. Suddenly, the edge of my wooden desk began to warp around my lower body and enclose me in it. This is only seconds later and I have forgotten that this is all happening because of a drug. The terror that takes place for the next 3 minutes can not be put in to words, but I will do my best:

My mind does not work and I am aware of this somehow at my core. I am trying my hardest to protect the core of my mind from being lost but there is something pulling me and I am wondering where I am. I am in a desert as best I can describe. All objects in the room have become abstract cactus and the dim desk lamp has become a bright sun. There is only an animal-like instinct to survive - something is physically pulling me away from reality. The physical room I am in is a dream and my body is just an out-of-control insane thought - truly insane. Nothing is real and I hear sounds like undulating crackling all around me.

I have the following revelation: I am stuck inside the basement in an old west town somewhere in the 1800's and there are large barrels all around - dust is blowing all around me - I'm trapped - I feel doomed. I try hard to pull myself away from these insane thoughts and keep getting pulled back in because the room is visually changing. I remember standing up and not being able to move - it feels like the room is literally sideways. I fall to my knees and I think that there is a demon that wants to kill me and keep me locked up down here. My mind is in and out and I can not stay focused on anything - visually or mentally. I don't stay looking at anything for long because of the transformations that things are taking. I try not to think about anything for long because of the deep thought tunnel my mind keeps falling in.

With great effort I manage to get myself up the basement steps - all the while the room is freely transforming and my mind is still not functioning. At a base level, I am somehow aware that my mind is not functioning and waves of paranoia are now being added to the mix. I have to keep walking around constantly or I lose myself. It can be described as if my mind thinks it's having a dream. I have a dreaming mind and I can not even pour myself a glass of water. The hallucinations are amazing beyond belief - a glass instantly turns into what looks like a flat puzzle box and it starts coming apart - my line of vision seems to be cut in half - each moving independently. I remember thinking to myself at some point 'No one's ever going to believe this' I keep seeing what I describe as carvings come out of everything I see.

The trip becomes so intense and I'm losing reality so badly that I start to imagine calling the police but I go and wake my wife up insted. I can barely even talk but I manage to wake her up and tell her what's happening. I have to keep talking to my wife to help bring me back to reality - if I stop talking, I get lost. The effects are gradually wearing off at this point and I'm able to talk and think semi-rationally again. I am quite happy that it's wearing off and I start to come back to reality. With the help of my wife I decide right then to chug down a cup of whiskey to calm me down.

All this happened in the span of 5 minutes. My wife is very interested in what happened but I really can't describe it besides total shock and awe. All I know is that it's light years beyond any psychadelic experience I've ever had. There were distinct similarities to the standard LSD experience but the Salvia trip was almost as if the entire LSD trip was condensed into a 5 minute explosion. The major factor of difference is the powerful disassociative effects of Salvia and that the hallucinations are almost 'abstract' or a dream and way too intense.

I think it's safe to say I really underestimated the 20X. Try this stuff at your own risk and make absolutely sure you have a sitter. Without my wife I seriously have no idea where I would have ended up.

Exp Year: 2005ExpID: 40936
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: May 20, 2007Views: 9,071
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Salvia divinorum (44) : Difficult Experiences (5), Bad Trips (6), Alone (16)

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