DOSE:	1 hit	smoked	Salvia divinorum	(extract - 5x)
		smoked	Cannabis	(plant material)

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

I read a ton of salvia trip reports and the bizarre reality distorting effects interested me, so I obtained 1g of 5x and 3g of 10x extracts from an internet supplier. Though I consider myself to be moderately experienced with psychedelics (done LSD and MDMA a bunch of times, 2C-B, 2C-E, mushrooms), I've never done any of the short duration drugs like DMT so I was still a little nervous. I decided to start with a microdose and slowly work my way up. I used my wife as a sitter in case I decided to get up and do something unwise.

For my first attempt, I dimmed the lights in the living room, turned off the TV and settled into my recliner. I packed about 1/4 of a bowl of marijuana into my bong and sprinkled a small pinch (probably less than 50mg) of 5x extract over it. I used a butane torch and inhaled the contents of the bowl. I held my breath for 20-30 seconds and exhaled.

I looked around the room, trying to tell if anything was happening (other than becoming mildly stoned). Things felt slightly off, kind of like the last hour or so of an acid trip. Not really tripping anymore, but you can tell that something is going on. Then I began to feel a strange pressure against my face, like a line of force pressing against the centerline of my body, maybe ever so slightly to my left. I began to giggle at the oddness of it all. I stood up with no problem and I felt like there was a shot-put inside my skull, like my head was really heavy.

These effects wore off in about 3-4 minutes, except for the odd not-quite-tripping feeling that lasted another 45 minutes. All in all, it was a fairly mild experience and I was at baseline within an hour. Two days later I repeated the experiment (perhaps adding a slightly larger pinch of 5x) with similar results.

Two days after that came my third attempt. It was by far the weirdest experience I've ever had in my life. I'm still not sure how to interpret what happened. I proceeded as before, but this time I decided to use an even larger pinch, still being careful not to use too much. Probably more than 50mg at this point, but since I don't have a milligram scale I'm just guessing.

Once again, I exhaled and lay back in my chair. I was looking forward into the middle of my living room and I saw portions of the floor appear to rise up, like waves being drawn up instead of traveling sideways. It wasn't random, I think each wave peak corresponded to a dark vertical band in my field of view (the black edge of the rug, the black halogen lamp, etc.). But that's not quite it. It wasn't the floor so much as 3-space itself being pulled 'up' in places.

Then reality became fragmented into a grid or partitioned into individual clumps with gaps in between. Words can't really explain it. Then my sensation of 'forward' was suddenly shifted 90 degrees to my right, to the couch where my wife was sitting.

In many trip reports people say they see the world in 2D when under the influence of salvia, but for me it was more like everything was still in 3D, but I was in 4D! It wasn't like time stopped exactly, but it was as if I could perceive short intervals of time all as one chunk. I began to laugh uncontrollably at the absurdity of what we think of as 'normal' reality. I knew it was the salvia, but I was unsure if it was distorting my perception of normal reality, or if it was allowing me to see things that our brains normally filter out.

I knew I was still in the living room with my wife, but it was like I was seeing all these 'slices' of parallel realities around everything and I was outside it all in 'super-reality.' I wanted to say something to my wife, but I was laughing too hard and I couldn't stop myself. I felt like I was experiencing time at different rates at once like they were overlapping. I could hear my wife saying 'You're doing fine, don't stand up.' and I seemed to be laughing in real time, but it also seemed like all the laughing happened / was happening during one 'hah.' I briefly had the idea that I had become aware of the individual 'frequency components' of my perception of time, like I could see its Fourier transform. Again, words don't do it justice.

I looked at my wife (still seeing all the parallel versions of her streaming off to either side) and realized that I wouldn't be able to speak until I could 'lock on' to the right reality and 'grab' it with my mind. Using the tried and true method of drunks throughout time, I 'aimed' for the one in the middle! I was finally able to speak and asked my wife if she could hear me, though I have no idea why I thought she might not be able to.

By then I had almost returned to 'normal' space and I asked her how long I'd been in the salvia-verse (2 minutes). I couldn't stop saying 'Oh my god' and 'Wow' for the next couple of minutes, during which I felt the same as I had on my other two salvia trips. I was completely back to normal in less than an hour. As so many have said, it was so freakin' weird! Not like LSD where I see colors and patterns and the walls breathe, etc., these distortions felt absolutely real, almost more real than real life. At first I was confused, because when the effects first started I didn't realize right away that I'd smoked the salvia, but at no time did I ever feel afraid.

I was surprised at how powerful such a small amount of 5x was. I think I'll stick to these small doses for at least a few more times before I try enough to become completely divorced from reality, though my goal is to eventually smoke enough to see these 'entities' that so many people have written about. My guess is that the salvia is mucking about with whatever brain software is responsible for our ability to recognize human shapes, but I'll have to wait and see.

Smoking salvia is the sort of thing I'd probably want to do no more than once every 2-3 months and it definitely gave me some things to think about regarding the nature of reality. I'd be damn curious to hear what a neuroscientist would have to say after experiencing what I did. Someone who knows enough about brain chemistry and perception might be able to recognize what processes are be affected by Salvinorin-A.

Exp Year: 2005	ExpID: 43760
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Sep 27, 2007	Views: 16,860
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Salvia divinorum (44) : General (1), Mystical Experiences (9), Guides / Sitters (39), Small Group (2-9) (17)