DOSE:

repeated

smoked

Salvia divinorum

(dried)

BODY WEIGHT:

160 lb

I’m 43 years old and a father of seven. Nine if you count the two that my most loving wife has brought into the family from a previous marriage. Seven of these nine live with us and we never have a dull moment. I’ve smoked weed since as long as I can remember, and no, the kids don’t know this, and have done much more than my share of LSD (wonderful invention) and on two occasions, some sort of mushrooms. Although I’ve not had any hallucinogens in about 18 years, marijuana has been my constant (moderate) companion. The only substances that I abuse now are caffeine and nicotine.

Until a few months ago, I’d never heard of Salvia Divinorum. I only stumbled across references while searching for a good alternative to weed. We recently moved far away from any contacts or friends, and are now living in a very rural area, way out in the “Boonies”, if you will, with little or no chance of my usual steady supply of good ole Mary J.

While searching for some new Relaxant, finding more and more references to this “Lady Salvia”, “Diviners Sage”, “Sally”, my curiosity became peaked and I felt the need to sate this curiosity. A few sites helped me to decide that I really needed to see if Ska Maria Pastora would allow me into her realm.

I read a few times that one should have a question ready for the Lady to answer. One should give the journey meaning and that she wouldn’t appreciate people visiting her that were just looking to get whacked out or stoned. I immediately had a question ready, no need to even think twice. We have a pretty stressful situation here at home that won’t just take care of itself and will be with us till we are a family no more –and that translates to forever…

I decided to take a slow and more leisurely route into the Void. Some say the best way is to just jump right in - no holds barred and no safety net. Others say that to slowly acclimatise yourself, getting a feel for the soul of the plant, and letting her get a feel for you, is the best way. I chose the slow, “get to know you” way. That’s the way I usually do things in life. I try not to just jump right in. Listen to my gut feelings and think things through. I had a real good gut feeling about Salvia.

The on-line shop of my choice allows user comments and product reviews for the items sold. The more serious reviews from experienced Salvia Space Journeymen/-women assured me that this shop sold good, quality Salvia Divinorum and I placed an order for 3 gr. of dried and crushed Leaves. They arrived in a few days and it took another few days for the mindset and setting to agree, which was fine, as I used the time to learn more and more about the history and use of the Plant.

Finally, the time came for me to get a small taste, to just have a peek into this new realm. I wasn’t being rushed and wasn’t impatient, but I didn’t have all the time in the world and wanted only a small revelation anyway. I didn’t have a sitter -I felt no need- since I wasn’t planning on “going anywhere”. I sat on my couch, very dimly lit room, Mr. Gilmour quietly supplying musical accompaniment. I put just a very small amount into my small pipe (the kind where all the parts are threaded and interchangeable with the wooden sleeve that fits around the stem, all in all about three inches long). I knew that I should be using a water bong, but I didn’t own one at the time. So I lit up that little bit of leaf that was just covering the bottom of the bowl, inhaled it all deep and held it for as long as I could.

I exhaled and had a tingly feeling in my arms and hands and a slight pressure inside my head, which might have been from holding my breath for so long. (I’m a heavy cigarette smoker and a little overweight.) I closed my eyes, watching, listening, and waiting… nothing. OK. No problem. I wasn’t expecting much from such a small amount. But what confused me was the feeling of familiarity of the taste of the smoke and the weird tingling in my extremities. It felt like I’d been here before... Hmm. Off to bed.

A few nights later, with all the wee ones off slumbering and the not so wee ones otherwise disposed, my wife -A- and I had some time for ourselves and that meant time for Salvia. My wife doesn’t use any type of drugs and even tries to stay away from prescriptions when possible. Yet, she is very understanding and knows that I am not one to go off on death defying binges and that all my hardcore partying days are way behind me. She knows, through me, quite a bit about Salvia and has read the Users Guide and knows her role as sitter.

Same setting as before, a very curious and eager mindset, a few minutes of calming and relaxing thoughts (I don’t know how to meditate and might look that up as well) and I was ready to look a bit farther down Maria's Sacred Pathways. I put a fair sized pinch of dried leaves in my bowl, about five times as much as before, the bowl just under half full. -A- was quiet in the corner, reading with a dim light. Mr. Gilmour and Co. were also present with outstanding music.

I lit up and sucked down (hot in this little pipe!) and held real long, exhaled and waited. I had my eyes open and saw that the room was slowly turning counter-clockwise. It wasn’t a dizzy feeling, it was a swirling room. The thought, “Where am I being led to?”, went through my head. I felt the tingling in my arms and they felt heavy as well. I felt very happy and had to smile- for I had the very distinct impression that something was suddenly “right”. I was thinking that, “This is how things really are!”. I wanted -A- to know how truthful everything is and tried to tell her. My voice wouldn’t work, though. My thoughts were all sorted, kind of, and I knew the image that I wanted to convey, but articulation was just not possible. I managed the word “Definite…” and had to laugh. The purple-coloured music grabbed me and I turned to look at it through the speakers and the room stopped swirling. I felt very strange for a minute. Some sort of buzz, but not high. One thing I definitely -absolutely- felt very happy about was that I felt welcome. I told -A-, “I’m good. There was something there, but I have to try that again.”

I first told her what I saw and felt. I told her about the happiness that just came on for no reason other than that I was suddenly aware of how “right” things were. I remembered that familiarity from a few nights back, the first little taste. I tried to convey the feeling of being welcome, like someone eagerly waiting for me, wanting to pull me to them.

Another confusing thing, the thing that was continually confusing for -A- and myself through our next few sittings, was that I spoke English. English is my native tongue. For the last 22 years, though, I’ve spoken almost exclusively German. I type English emails, the occasional phone call in English, but like they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, and so, German is the language I speak. I know I am not alone in this- I read about an experience from a Spanish/Mexican speaking man who had the same thing happen to him. Very strange.

I got my thoughts together again and packed my bowl full this time. I didn’t think I would be able to inhale it all at once, since I had problems with the last one. The last one got very hot and was a little uncomfortable. I managed roughly half on the first hit, held it long and exhaled while feeling it all come upon me again. I took the rest in a long and extremely uncomfortable, hot second hit, almost choking and making a sound like a little girl crying, and held that for as long as I could. -A- turned to look at me…

…and I was holding on to the coffee table for fear of flying out of the window behind the couch. Behind closed eyes I saw massive pillars of dark red and purple substance. Like being in a corridor that was growing around me, a corridor of this colourful wonderment, shaped like long rectangles, standing on end, the tops of which formed a cathedral-like roof very high above me, all moving rapidly away from me in my direction of sight. It was simply amazing. At the end of this corridor there was “something”, unseen, unheard, but there. Beckoning. Welcoming! Allowing!

I opened my eyes and saw the room being separated vertically into three parts. As I watched this separation, I felt myself being vertically separated into the same three parts. It was a strange feeling, but not painful or uncomfortable. I heard the music again and the notes literally bent my body to their will. I said, “-A-!, this is awesome!”. At least I wanted to. My voice wasn’t working, though, and when it did finally start to I managed, “...too small hot.”, while overjoyed and laughing because I KNEW where to find Lady Salvia! And she was welcoming me! I was allowed to look down that corridor and see the doorway, or the window, or the right path- I don’t know what was at the end of it, but I knew that she would let me in and embrace me when I was ready.

My dear -A- listened to my joy for another half an hour before we were off to bed. My next excursion along the route to Salvia Space would have to wait another week. During that week I bought a small water bong. During that week I also had a very unsatisfactory experience involving about a gram and a half of dried leaves, partially re-hydrated with a few drops of 42% proof Irish Whiskey, being chewed without swallowing for about 30 minutes before spitting it out. That was a bummer and a waste of these good dried leaves! More on quids later…

The bowl from my small pipe fit nicely on my new water bong and I used it to keep track of my dosage. Once again, bowl full, with half again that amount on the side on a folded card to be slid into the bowl while holding the first hit. -A- and I alone, her at the computer, I on the couch, very low lighting and silence. No music this time.

I cleared my mind as best I could. I knew what I wanted to ask of The Lady and did this beforehand, almost praying, silently with my eyes closed. I was a little scarred, or apprehensive at least. Like standing in line for a new roller coaster at the amusement park. But I was calm and said, “See you in a minute, -A-.” I took the whole bowl in one long hit and held it in while sliding the rest from the card into the bowl. I held the first hit for a long time and while exhaling felt my reality wanting to just fade. I held onto it, though, and lit up the second hit. I took all that in as well and lay back on the couch. I don’t know how long I held that one in.

While exhaling, I remember how astounded I was that I was suddenly –instantly- somewhere else. Sort of like, “Oh, here I am.” The sun was shining. The grass was green. I was a straight brown pole of a normal human’s height, standing in the sun and the grass and there were four lines of yellow, like lasers, going off into the distance, originating from my being. I was in the middle of a wide, unending expanse. The grass was fresh and very green and the sky was the most brilliant, indescribable blue. “RAaatch!!!” I had the feeling of waiting for someone. Yes. I was waiting for my sister and my aunt. I was standing there just radiating, dazzling, and waiting in the sun and the grass “RAaatch! Clack! Clack! Clack! clack!” The yellow lines and the me as a pole started drooping and leaning to the left. “RAaatch! Clack clack clack clack!” The sun and grass and blue sky faded into the brown wooden finishes and orange candlelight of this reality of electronic trickery and wives.

The RAaatch and the clack clack clack was -A- scrolling the mouse and typing at the computer!! I manage to say, “-A-, No!”, and she stopped, but it was too late. I was sitting on my couch, trying to remember speech and smiling anyway. I tried to will it all back, but it wasn’t happening. -A- and I talked about it for a few minutes and I decided to try again. In the meantime, I had put on some cool ambient music that an experienced Salvia user suggested in a forum. “If you HAVE to have music, then try this…” and he was right. -A- would leave the computer alone and just read her book.

I did my silent homage to The Lady again and consumed the same amount as before in the same manner as before. This time the music just took me on a wonderful -very beautiful- ride. Poor -A- turned a page in her book and I was able to say, “No Page Turning”, once again in English (Strange!), and she didn’t turn any more pages. The visions going through my head are too complex to describe. Suffice it to say that they were majestic and bright and fast. The feeling was one of reverence. At first I had the feeling of being split into three slices. It was very physical. Not painful, though. It was confusing at first, until I remembered that it was “right” and the music swept me up and blew me away into these wonderful colours. I was then stationary in this world of living colour, weightless, awed, excited and happy. The colours and patterns were whipping and swirling all around me. The music was loud and all encompassing. (Even though it was only very low in this Earth’s reality)

And once again there was… something. It seems as if a THIRD reality slowly made itself known to me. There was that page turning -A- reality that I was somehow still aware of, then the colours and music reality, and then the dark and silent one beside the music. The one with the unseen, outstretched arm, with the unseen hand held out to me, waiting for me to take it. And then the cat made some dumb noise in the kitchen and that thin line was broken again and I was back on my couch with -A- reading and me laughing, joyous.

It amazes me every time, how the boundary between here and there is just a millisecond wide. I just suddenly realize that I’m “there”. And it amazes me how overwhelming Salvia is, in that it just takes me there in that millisecond, wherever there may be, and is at the same time so subtle that the turning of a page or the clack of a keyboard can steal it away from me just as fast. This shows me how demanding Lady Salvia is. She demands full attention as well as respect.

I’ve recently received my next (larger) order of dried leaves and 1 gr of 5x extract. I’m starting slow, don’t forget. I’ve experimented a few times alone, without dear -A-, and not smoking more than I already had on any previous occasion. I’ve used silence and complete darkness, headphones with that cool music and another CD as well that is called Rainforest. “Wow” is a good word to describe these experiences. “Amazing” is another word. I haven’t opened the extract yet. I have a fearful respect for this plant, even though I’ve felt her inviting me on more than one occasion. I’m sure that I had a taste of her teaching ability, in bright sunlight in the middle of an unending green and blue openness, right before the scrolling mouse and keyboard clicks pulled me back, like a fire alarm in a library.

I know that I still have a long way to go before I actually meet the Shepherdess. It will require higher doses and the setting has to be perfected, but I know that I’m on the right path. Yesterday I planted my very own cutting and named her Maria. I can’t wait for her to grow and multiply and teach. (That’s where the earlier mentioned quids come into play).

Please respect the Lady Salvia and don't abuse her.

SwBk

Exp Year: 2010	ExpID: 88179
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 43
Published: Jan 30, 2020	Views: 1,904
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Salvia divinorum (44) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Guides / Sitters (39), Entities / Beings (37), Glowing Experiences (4), First Times (2), General (1)