DOSE:	2 hits	smoked	Salvia divinorum	(leaves)
	1 hit	smoked	Salvia divinorum	(extract - 10x)

BODY WEIGHT:

120 lb

My friends Todd, Stephen and I decided to purchase some salvia divinorum. We purchased a quarter ounce of dried salvia leaves and a gram of 10x enhanced salvia leaf. We smoked two bowls of the dried leaves on Stephen’s back porch. Immediately after smoking, Stephen and I experienced a very dizzy, laughing, euphoric high that lasted for about 10 minutes and Todd experienced nothing. We went back into Stephen’s house and took our places, Todd on a chair, me on a recliner, and Stephen on a couch. I then packed a bowl of 10x on top of the cashed bowl we had previously smoked, to prevent the rather fine plant material from falling through the bowl, and took a long deep hit, keeping the flame on the bowl the entire time I inhaled.

Immediately upon inhaling I was sucked into what I can only describe as another dimension. I have no recollection of passing the pipe to either of my friends or even exhaling my hit. It began with a violent spinning of the room until I had no consciousness of ever having smoked anything or ever having heard of anything called salvia or ever having heard of anything called the planet earth for that matter. This “dimension” I entered was, at the time, my only concept of reality so to call it a hallucination would be a bit of an understatement.

This reality took the form of a huge, spinning, merri-go round-like room in which I was laying down on a long table similar to those in doctors’ offices. Behind me, a woman approached me and put her hand on the table next to my shoulder saying something to the effect of “I am salvia, I want you to come with me.” At this point Todd said something to me which woke me out of the trance I was in. This was the worst possible thing that could have happened. Him awakening me into this unknown reality (which was actually “real” reality) was the most shattering, terrifying thing I have ever experienced.

For the first minute or so after he woke me, I was not sure which reality was real and I was struggling to choose which one to join. I was being pulled between two dimensions. I jumped out of the recliner wildly and tried to run as fast as I could away from the merri-go round dimension, afraid of what the woman was going to show me, even though I sensed that it was something benevolent she wanted me to experience. At this point Todd and Stephen, whose trips were much less intense, tell me that I was saying “No, not now, I’m not ready, this has to stop” repeatedly before falling back into the chair.

When I was back in the chair it suddenly dawned on me that I had smoked salvia divinorum and was hallucinating. This was incredibly reassuring and I relaxed a bit, trying to enjoy the last part of what I now realized was my trip. By then, however, my trip was over and I came back to full awareness in a few short minutes, the only effect remaining being a slight stoned feeling.

I believe that the terror of my experience was caused mostly by set and setting. The room was two noisy and bright and full of interruptions. If I had never been awakened from my initial trance I wouldn’t have realized that I was hallucinating and I could have enjoyed the experience. The hallucination was not scary, what scared me was coming back to reality in such a jolting way.

As I have read repeatedly but never really understood until now, salvia is not a recreational drug. The experience I had was the single most terrifying event of my life. However, after the terror had worn off, I realized the far reaching, unexplainable significance of the visions and sensations I experienced. Despite my fear, I definitely wish to continue my relationship with this complex plant, albeit with much more care and caution.

Exp Year: 2002	ExpID: 17639
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 20, 2007	Views: 4,547
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Salvia divinorum (44) : Difficult Experiences (5), Entities / Beings (37), First Times (2), Small Group (2-9) (17)