DOSE:

1 hit

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(extract - 5x)

BODY WEIGHT:

140 lb

After reading up thoroughly on Salvia, I decided to give it a try. I'd been trying to procure some acid and mushrooms for some time but my sources dried up. Tripping for excitement wasn't the goal. I was after enlightenment, soul-searching, and mind expansion. A shamanistic journey if you will.

The setting for my first encounter with Salvia was as follows. I had just gotten off work and was excited about trying it out for the first time. Anxiousness isn't usually a good thing to dive into a psychedelic with but it's hard not to feel that way on the first time. Most Salvia veterans on the Internet specify a dark room, silence, and sitter for the first trip. I adhered to only one of them -- the dark room.

After closing the bathroom door, I measured out 1/10th of a gram by eyeballing. A mistake on my part was starting off with a regular dose. One should start small and work up to a regular one on new substances. Seeing no death reports from dose miscalculations, I proceeded with the knowledge that the trip might get a little rough but it shouldn't get physically dangerous.

So I filled up my newly-purchased water pipe with water and loaded the bowl with the 1/10th gram. Not having a butane torch lighter, my regular cheapy would have to suffice. To prepare for the journey I put on some headphones and tuned into a local alternative music radio station. I turned out the light, sat with my back against a wall to prevent falling, and sparked up the lighter. While inhaling through the water pipe, I circled the butane flame in the bowl to make sure the leaf material burned completely.

The smoke was extremely harsh compared to that of marijuana and tobacco. Not unlike the odd weed a dealer once gave me called hydro. My body's initial reaction was to try exhaling to get the putrid junk out of my mouth and lungs. To prevent a lackluster trip, I grabbed my nose with my left hand and held strong. I then closed my eyes and waited for the drug to take hold.

Let me say this about Salvia, the coming-up portion of the drug is a bit unnerving. It comes on very rapidly and the detachment from the real world can be severe. In my case, the experience was downright weird! Simple visual disturbances started at first and they persisted when my eyes were open too. Not unlike the sparklies I can see in a night sky while high on marijuana. After a few seconds there was a feeling of pressure and slight numbness like that of a mild anesthetic (eg. nitrous) coming on.

That's when things got extremely strange. The dark room lit up like the light had turned on and I had a trunk on my face. The only thing I can gather from this is that my brain related my fingers on my nose and my arm hanging down to memories of what elephants look like. In my new world I tried to pull my fingers loose from my nose because my brain was shouting 'let go of your nose! Let the smoke out before the trip gets stronger!' I tried and tried but couldn't. Just like a real trunk, my virtual trunk was firmly attached.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, it did. Suddenly the visual changed and the trunk came loose. The trunk multiplied into 4 different trunks; a north, south, east west configuration. Some 70's, psychedelic music started in and I know good and well the alternative radio station doesn't play that sort of thing. As the 70's music played, the 4 trunks spun and twisted on a central axis. Various other patterns formed from the trunks to create beautiful, morphing patterns.

A guy wearing 70's clothing faded into the scene. Vest, bellbottoms, headband, the works. He was smiling and nodding as if to say 'right on', but never spoke. At that moment I remember thinking, 'Man, this is so 70's. It's so beautiful and righteous.' To think that my trunk could form something so beautiful; words cannot explain how that felt. An odd feeling of owing the guy something persisted throughout. Not money necessarily but something I couldn't put my finger on. I'd ask the guy what I owed him but he just kept smiling and nodding.

After continuing on for what seemed like forever, the 70's guy faded out. My vision zoomed in on the rotating trunks and eventually only saw one of them close-up. It re-attached itself to my face and it was back to square one. A lit up version of the room faded back in. Again, I was trying to remove the trunk from my face. This time I tried pulling to the side instead of just straight down. The trunk swayed back and forth but to no avail. I got a bit more aggressive with it, partly from wanting it to detach and start up another kaleidoscopic journey. The other reason was due to my rational mind wondering if I was suffocating in real life.

As the tugging commenced, the side of my face was slowly pushed up against a wall. My immediate, rational thought was 'Great, I fell sideways up against a wall and I'm banging my arm into it.' The thought of banging up against the wall didn't hinder me one bit though. I persisted in slowly tugging and moving it from side to side. My face just smashed against the wall harder and harder and after a while, I believed it would be impossible to get loose from it in my current state. Thoughts of shoulda, coulda, woulda kept echoing through my brain on why most people have sitters. It was exactly for the reason at hand -- to keep the tripper from being hurt while unconsciously moving around.

Suddenly, as if having a switched flipped, I was back into reality. The dark room was there and I was sitting upright in the same exact position as when the trip started! It was a total mindjob to realize the wall incident was totally invented in my mind. Furthermore, both arms were neatly in my lap. Nothing quite as weird as realizing both arms were at my side during all that trunk business.

After the visionary portion of the trip had dissipated, I was ready for the drug to be done. It was a feeling of 'Okay, I've had enough. Please stop.' My mind had been worn out from the oddities and contradictions. I just wanted to smoke a cigarette and sort things out.

After about 10 minutes I was able to safely stand up, turn on the light, and head out for a smoke. Finding my cigarettes was a total chore due to the confusion portion still tagging along 30 minutes after the initial hit off the water pipe. After finding the cigarettes, I had a chance to kick back and relax. The afterglow was sort of like being stoned on marijuana.

Exp Year: 2002	ExpID: 15608
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Feb 5, 2023	Views: 253
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Salvia divinorum (44) : General (1), First Times (2), Difficult Experiences (5), Music Discussion (22), Personal Preparation (45), Alone (16)