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I have had many fantastic, life changing experiences with
psychoactive plants and chemicals in my life. Great teachings,
great experiences, and amazing moments of clarity have all
been granted to me in the past, and for these experiences
I am very grateful. I became aware of Salvia only a short
while ago, through the trip reports at the Lycaeum. I was
amazed at the "extreme" nature of the trips people
described.
Even stronger than DMT? My mind shuddered at the thought.
Needless to say my interest was peaked (no pun intended.)
I purchased dried organically grown Salvia leaves from Kava
Kaui, an internet supplier, and was pleased to receive them
only a few days after ordering. I held off for several days
until I tried smoking the leaves.
I expected to be swept away, but little did I know...
I did not heed the advice to have a sitter present for the
experience. I felt like I would be able to handle myself for
the few delirious minutes the plant was to have a hold on
my consciousness. My wife was going out with her friends that
night, and I waited for them to leave. I chained the door
shut after they left, fearing I might try to walk outside
and I should make that as hard to do as possible.
I darkened
the room, set up some pillows, lit a small candle, and proceeded
to prepare myself. I crushed the leaves into a shake and loaded
a glass blown bowl full to the brim. I meditated on what I
was doing, and my reasons for doing it before I lit the bowl.
I took a long, extremely deep bong hit, held it, and exhaled.
I distinctly felt a rumble. This did not seem to scare me.
It felt as though it was to be expected. (Earth shaking rumbles
are common you know...) Wanting to be sure to get a full dose,
I took another long pull. The Salvia burned bright orange
and the smoke was voluminous.
The rumble grew louder. The remainder of the unsmoked crushed
leaves were perhaps eight inches away from me on a sheet of
paper. I thought I should try to smoke one more bowl but found
myself unable to reach the paper because the "train"
I was on was slowly pulling away from the station! Somehow
everything had dramatically changed! I was quite plainly on
a train leaving a station. The train had low sides and no
windows or roof. I could actually smell the environment change
around me as the train left this reality. The train was moving
faster an faster up a vortex, towards an entity I can only
describe as "death" or "the great hereafter."
The feeling of being pulled to my death was rather comforting.
There was no fear, but I felt certain that this was what the
dying process felt like.
The pulling grew more and more forceful and I reached and
stretched as hard as I could, trying desperately to reach
the crushed leaves that lay a few inches away. It was nearly
impossible to reach them. It took several dramatic attempts,
but I was finally successful. The rumble I heard had begun
to overtake my physical body and I was only able to pack a
pinch into the bong with my shaking fingers. I managed to
pull a little smoke through (I think) but was unable to find
a place to put the bong down, due to the fact that the "train"
I was on had left the station and there was no floor to put
the bong on. |
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I stretched for what seemed like minutes and finally put
the bong down safely. I was totally, completely, and thoroughly
removed from this reality. I was travelling now.Every cell
of my body was being pulled magnetically through the vortex.
The cells on the front of my body were pulling, those on
the back of my body were pushing, hard. For some reason
I never looked at the center of the vortex (it was blindingly
bright.) Instead I was looking at the world through the
side walls of this unbelievable powerful tractor beam. It
pulled me up off the floor and straight towards the front
door. I held on to a wall to keep from being pulled outside.
I had read over and over again that I was supposed to lay
down and let the Salvia pull my soul away, but I was incapable
of doing so.
I felt like my body had been grabbed instead of my consciousness
and I was helpless to change the nature of the trip. I tried
to move across the force of the pull, to see if the direction
of the pull stayed constant. It did. It was pulling due
west no matter where in the house I managed to crawl.
After
a few minutes (which seemed much, much longer) the pull
subsided and I was allowed to walk freely. I lay on my bed
and marveled at the large, geometric closed eye visuals.
Large triangular constructions and swirling detailed spiked
pods rotated before my eyes. I saw pairs of smiling eyes
and continued to hear the faint rumble. I fell asleep on
the bed about an hour and a half after I smoked. I was woken
up later that evening by my wife and her friends returning
from the bar. They couldn't get in the front door because
I had chained it from the inside. They were a little confused,
and a lot drunk "Why's the door chained?" *laugh*laugh*
"Who were you afraid of?!" *giggle*giggle* "Who
did you think was going to try and get in?"
"I
was afraid I might get out." I said.
They
stopped laughing.
In
retrospect, the lessons I learned related to being comfortable
and aware through the dying process- being totally aware
of the condition of my soul and my readiness to meet whoever
was on the other side. I tried smoking Salvia again several
days later, but rolled a joint of the crushed leaves this
time to eliminate the difficult bowl loading problem. I'm
sorry to report that I was only minimally affected by the
Salvia, and I only experienced a very light mushroom tea
intoxication that lasted for an hour or two. It appears
a bong is necessary. Salvia is powerful and I feel as though
I have only scratched the surface of what lies ahead.
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