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When I was in my 20s I tried salvia (Salvia divinorum) several times as tincture and by smoking dried leaves, and I'd like to share my experiences: The first t
by daneel_w 2y ago
When I was in my 20s I tried salvia (Salvia divinorum) several times as tincture and by smoking dried leaves, and I'd like to share my experiences:
The first time was with tincture. My entire left body half became intoxicated in the exact same way as when drunk on alcohol. The left half of my body had difficulties with balance, coordination and motor functions. The vision on my left eye was impaired by the eye refusing to stay on target. Most interestingly, the left half of my brain was also influenced, giving me problems with speaking fluently and thinking straight. My right body half was completely unaffected, instilling me with a sense that humans were composed of two distinct halves rather than one body.
The second time was also with tincture. Nothing happened. No sensations of any kind.
The third time was with tincture and by smoking. It was a profound experience. I dozed off and dreamt that I was a nut on the branch of a tree. The wind swept me away and threw me onto a meadow where I sprouted and began to grow. I experienced life as a sapling, growing for years and years until I was an old tree, and I had vivid and fresh memories of seeing countless springs, summers, autumns and winters coming and going. When I came out of it I had an exhausted feeling in my chest reminiscent of waking up from long and deep sleep, and in my mind I had the memory and feeling of having lived for a hundred years, and a strong sense of an incredible amount of time having gone by since I smoked the salvia.
The last time I used it was by smoking. I experienced merging with things I touched. I sat on the floor and leaned back against a sofa, and felt my back sinking into the sofa and becoming part of it. I laid down on the floor, and felt my back fusing with the floor. I drank water from a glass and felt as if the glass didn't want to "let go" of my hand.
Smoking salvia hit almost instantly. With tincture, which was to be kept in the mouth for 10+ minutes but not swallowed, it took close to 20 minutes before the sensations begun. All of the trips lasted no more than 15-20 minutes and I never had any kind of hangover or lingering effects other than the (positive) emotional and psychological phases of reflecting on the experiences.
- ProllyInfamous 2y agoI am a fellow psychonaut, and have plenty of experience across plenty of entheogens... I DO NOT RECOMMEND SALVIA TO ANYBODY (not even experienced dissociative users). It has no beneficial purpose, and is quite terrifying. My best summary of using Salvia is it typically leads mental isolation on par with what most never-used-drugs persons think a "bad LSD trip" might be like. Should you still want to play with this ornamental plant, I would recommend you become comfortable with psilocibin, ketamine, LSD, and especially high-dosage mescaline. If any of these should become addictions, mushrooms are probably the least-harmful entheogen (I'm not counting marijuana, which is "nothing" compared to any drugs discussed above).
- codr7 2y agoI would add Muscimol to the list of things to try before. I've only heard stories about Salvia, but from some pretty hard core psychonauts whom I wouldn't expect to be afraid of anything. I get bad vibes from what I've read about side effects of Ketamine though, nothing I feel like doing to my body.
- aqueueaqueue 2y agoI don't know much about Ketamine. I thought it was just what they use to knock you out for surgery.
- driftnet 2y agoKetamine is that but it's not just that. One enantiomer (esketamine) is FDA-approved (as Spravato) for acute suicidality. It's dosed as an intranasal spray.
- ProllyInfamous 2y agoI've never tried Muscimol (don't even know what is), but psilocibin is the only entheogen I'd recommend anybody experience more than just once / casually. Cannabis is a daily part of my life, for two decades. In the same way I'm "trying to drink less coffee," I'm trying to vape less, too... but everybody should try LSD and/or DMT at least once in their lifetime (but not before becoming comfortable with psilocibin).
- borgdefenser 2y agoSalvia is the closest thing to witchcraft I have experienced. After a few incredibly strange experiences, the last time I smoked it the trip came on then it told me "don't ever come back here" and that was it. The whole trip was like 30 seconds. That was almost 30 years ago. A bad LSD or mushroom trip is scary in a much different way. I was pretty fearless when younger with these things but never wanted to see what that salvia demon thing would do if I went back. Anything amanita related never sounded much fun to me.
- lukebuehler 2y ago> I dozed off and dreamt that I was a nut on the branch of a tree. The wind swept me away and threw me onto a meadow where I sprouted and began to grow. I've now heard of this kind of trip with Salvia a few times--the notion of an immense amount of time passing, people being a flower on a wall for years, or a chip of paint for decades. Mostly the impression that I got was that it wasn't a nice experience in anyway. Could you say more in what way the time passing felt for you? Was it only positive and interesting? Or did you feel trapped?
- daneel_w 2y agoFor me that experience was only positive and interesting. No feeling of being trapped, nor any lucidity or other kind of awareness for that matter. I can best describe the passing of time as both similar and dissimilar to the common experience with marijuana where time becomes intangible and just runs off - e.g. going to the toilet and coming back 20 minutes later asking everyone how long you were in there. There was no sense of waiting or idling, but instead distinct memories that amount to time. The largest feeling was that of exhaustion when coming out of it, akin to collapsing in bed after an incredibly long day, but that wore off quickly.
- gloomyday 2y agoMaaan, you reminded me of a LSD trip where my mind felt kind of shattered, in the sense that there were several parts of my brain with different levels of self-conciousness. It was an incredible experience. I had the "talking part" trying to describe what it was perceiving, while the other parts were mostly surprised they were actually "found." I remember a part was a "major player" like the talking one, but it couldn't express things in words. I remember also a part that focused on fear and a sense of urgency. Wild stuff. I got out of the trip reconsidering a lot of things about myself. It made me be less focused on my obsessions, and pay more attention to my needs. It is sad I forget so many things from trips like this.