Hikaru Zero
08-20-2004, 11:28 AM
Alright ... these are my first salvia experiences; stories are EXTREMELY long, being that'sthe way I write, but if you are interested in a good read, I fill in many obscure details. =)
If I can remember correctly, I was using some of my friend's 6x extract. Now, it is IMPORTANT that you read the Salvia FAQ before trying it yourself(sagewisdom.org). I smoked it out of a regular tobacco pipe; not water-cooled or with any special features other than a resin chamber.
The first bit of my story is gut-wrenchingly awful. The second part is unfathomably wonderful. I will attempt to explain things to the best of my knowledge.
The first thing I want to say is that, after my personal experiences, a salvia experience is HIGHLY reliant on the type of environment you use it in.
The story:
I had just come over to my friend's house, and just randomly, I asked if I could try some salvia (I had a great interest in it beforehand). Only having tried cannabis before, I suppose I expected an effect at least remotely similar, though I shouldn't have after reading the FAQ.
I took a hit, and the taste was ... well, neutral. There was a bad taste at first, but a semi-pleasant aftertaste. I found that the salvia burned QUITE fast and I could not take large hits from it (apparently, using a water-cooled device rectifies that problem; I will have to try this next time).
After a lot of coughing and my second hit, I was at the first stage, "subtle." I realized something was happening, and I began to feel very uncomfortable. We were smoking in a dark, hot attic with the light on, on a blanket, but there were boxes around and space was limited. This is, as I later found out, a terrible environment to smoke in. I also started to get scared, because the effects came on so quickly.
After I took my third hit, I reached the second stage, "altered" state. As is suggested by the FAQ, colours and textures were more pronounced. It was at about this time that I began to feel quite uncomfortable, and I also felt ... not sweaty, but the word I am looking for is ... drenched in moisture, though it did not seem as if it was from sweat for some reason. My friend encouraged me to take another hit.
As I took my fourth (and last hit; bowl was about 2/3 smoked; I have small lungs =P), I reached what I think is the third stage, "light." At this point, I was quite uncomfortable (moving around a lot to try and find a better position, but only making things worse), and I tried to lie down on my back and close my eyes to visualize things, but I could not; I only grew more uncomfortable.
As I sat up and opened my eyes, I became terrified of the effects, as parts of my vision began to shift, and I started to see a wall of geometric patterns and such things. My depth perception and light perception were well off, and "blind spots" in my eyes started to fade in and fade out by the second. It was very odd, and in those blind spots, I could see what looked like a wall of rhombuses, coloured pink purple, green, and black. This, I admit, was pretty cool, I just didn't think so at the time.
Suddenly, I was possessed by a horrible desire that I can only describe as this: I wanted "out." I felt (not physically) as if I were in a pit of quicksand, sinking rapidly, scrambling at the edges but only being sucked into the effect more and more, which made me more frantic and desperate.
I became very emotional about this, and I began to regret ever having tried any drugs, and I lost all passion to ever try anything new.
I asked my friend if we could go and do something else. Unfortunately due to circumstance, he interpreted it as "I want to try another drug." He was like, "Dude, are you suuure you want to try something else? The box is right behind you." Now, I realized there was a miscommunicaiton, and I wanted to be firm in my explaining that I wanted to go to another room and do somethign else physically, but because it seemed like my emotions were enhanced by a good 10 times or so, I (unwishingly) started yelling loudly at my friend, yelling things like "NO DUDE I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE, I JUST WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND GO DO SOMETHING ELSE, NO DRUGS." Now, him being a good sitter, he realized I didn't mean to yell, and immediately afterwards, I realized I was yelling, and then quietly apologized for the outburst (haha).
We went downstairs, and went outside. As we went out into the woods in the back, my countenance started to lighten up, and I started to enjoy it a bit more. By now, the peak effects were gone, and I started to think on what seemed like an advanced cognitive level.
During the walk through the woods, I found a very profound sense of natural belonging and respect for the Earth, something I had honestly never felt before in my life (being a computer junkie =P). I had the urge to become a druid, of sorts, and then I had my biggest salvia realization in my mind (which I will explain much later).
As we walked back to home through the woods, the effects wore off, and I returned to normal consciousness.
--- (sorry for the long story, I hope someone can relate =P) ---
As for the second time I tried it, we went out into the woods by a river this time. After smoking a bowl (similar pipe) and going through the first two stages of effect ... well, to accurately describe the effect, I need to explain this:
There is a computer game called Neverwinter Nights, based off of the D&D 3rd edition rules. I'll spare you the details, but in the level builder for NWN, there is a type of forest that is labeled as an "evil forest," and it has certain colouring attributes and audio suggestions in music and ambient noise that make it sound quite ... evil.
I turned from the river and looked into the woods, and I felt like I was in a land where everything was at peace, and I visualized in my mind (though I know not in reality) bunnies hopping around happily, foxes and rare insects, all co-existing together, and I had the urge to go hopping through the forest in happiness. =D
What REALLY impressed me though, was as I started to go back into the woods, the deeper I went, the more I realized something was wrong. Eventually, I put my finger on it: The forest was turned into an evil forest, similar to that of NWN, and all of a sudden, the atmosphere of the altered environment changed; there were no longer bunnies and happiness, but it was a place of tension ... not necessarily hostile tension, but it was clear that the "good" creatures never ventured deep into the forest.
I started to explore the forest, and the deeper I went, the more I could "feel" the presence of evil creatures. I know that in reality they weren't there, and I did not visualize them or see them, but I could feel the spiritual presence of goblins, wolves, and way in the back of the forest, dragons.
It was an awesome feeling, but I decided not to press my luck ;) and I turned back.
I ended up smoking another bowl (my friend suggested it), but I didn't make it to a higher stage of effect. Instead, he waded into the river in shorts (I had jeans on and did not want to wade), and as I looked out over the river, I felt like I wanted to become a private ferryman on the river. =P Not necessarily a seadog type of sailor, but like a private boater/ferryman who enjoyed sailing because of the rocking of the boat, etc.
Long story short, I grabbed a nice stick, and we headed home. That stick is now my "Shaman Journey" stick. =P I plan to carve runes and things into it in the future.
--- Hope this helps shed some light on newcomers to salvia ---
If I can remember correctly, I was using some of my friend's 6x extract. Now, it is IMPORTANT that you read the Salvia FAQ before trying it yourself(sagewisdom.org). I smoked it out of a regular tobacco pipe; not water-cooled or with any special features other than a resin chamber.
The first bit of my story is gut-wrenchingly awful. The second part is unfathomably wonderful. I will attempt to explain things to the best of my knowledge.
The first thing I want to say is that, after my personal experiences, a salvia experience is HIGHLY reliant on the type of environment you use it in.
The story:
I had just come over to my friend's house, and just randomly, I asked if I could try some salvia (I had a great interest in it beforehand). Only having tried cannabis before, I suppose I expected an effect at least remotely similar, though I shouldn't have after reading the FAQ.
I took a hit, and the taste was ... well, neutral. There was a bad taste at first, but a semi-pleasant aftertaste. I found that the salvia burned QUITE fast and I could not take large hits from it (apparently, using a water-cooled device rectifies that problem; I will have to try this next time).
After a lot of coughing and my second hit, I was at the first stage, "subtle." I realized something was happening, and I began to feel very uncomfortable. We were smoking in a dark, hot attic with the light on, on a blanket, but there were boxes around and space was limited. This is, as I later found out, a terrible environment to smoke in. I also started to get scared, because the effects came on so quickly.
After I took my third hit, I reached the second stage, "altered" state. As is suggested by the FAQ, colours and textures were more pronounced. It was at about this time that I began to feel quite uncomfortable, and I also felt ... not sweaty, but the word I am looking for is ... drenched in moisture, though it did not seem as if it was from sweat for some reason. My friend encouraged me to take another hit.
As I took my fourth (and last hit; bowl was about 2/3 smoked; I have small lungs =P), I reached what I think is the third stage, "light." At this point, I was quite uncomfortable (moving around a lot to try and find a better position, but only making things worse), and I tried to lie down on my back and close my eyes to visualize things, but I could not; I only grew more uncomfortable.
As I sat up and opened my eyes, I became terrified of the effects, as parts of my vision began to shift, and I started to see a wall of geometric patterns and such things. My depth perception and light perception were well off, and "blind spots" in my eyes started to fade in and fade out by the second. It was very odd, and in those blind spots, I could see what looked like a wall of rhombuses, coloured pink purple, green, and black. This, I admit, was pretty cool, I just didn't think so at the time.
Suddenly, I was possessed by a horrible desire that I can only describe as this: I wanted "out." I felt (not physically) as if I were in a pit of quicksand, sinking rapidly, scrambling at the edges but only being sucked into the effect more and more, which made me more frantic and desperate.
I became very emotional about this, and I began to regret ever having tried any drugs, and I lost all passion to ever try anything new.
I asked my friend if we could go and do something else. Unfortunately due to circumstance, he interpreted it as "I want to try another drug." He was like, "Dude, are you suuure you want to try something else? The box is right behind you." Now, I realized there was a miscommunicaiton, and I wanted to be firm in my explaining that I wanted to go to another room and do somethign else physically, but because it seemed like my emotions were enhanced by a good 10 times or so, I (unwishingly) started yelling loudly at my friend, yelling things like "NO DUDE I SAID I DON'T WANT TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE, I JUST WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND GO DO SOMETHING ELSE, NO DRUGS." Now, him being a good sitter, he realized I didn't mean to yell, and immediately afterwards, I realized I was yelling, and then quietly apologized for the outburst (haha).
We went downstairs, and went outside. As we went out into the woods in the back, my countenance started to lighten up, and I started to enjoy it a bit more. By now, the peak effects were gone, and I started to think on what seemed like an advanced cognitive level.
During the walk through the woods, I found a very profound sense of natural belonging and respect for the Earth, something I had honestly never felt before in my life (being a computer junkie =P). I had the urge to become a druid, of sorts, and then I had my biggest salvia realization in my mind (which I will explain much later).
As we walked back to home through the woods, the effects wore off, and I returned to normal consciousness.
--- (sorry for the long story, I hope someone can relate =P) ---
As for the second time I tried it, we went out into the woods by a river this time. After smoking a bowl (similar pipe) and going through the first two stages of effect ... well, to accurately describe the effect, I need to explain this:
There is a computer game called Neverwinter Nights, based off of the D&D 3rd edition rules. I'll spare you the details, but in the level builder for NWN, there is a type of forest that is labeled as an "evil forest," and it has certain colouring attributes and audio suggestions in music and ambient noise that make it sound quite ... evil.
I turned from the river and looked into the woods, and I felt like I was in a land where everything was at peace, and I visualized in my mind (though I know not in reality) bunnies hopping around happily, foxes and rare insects, all co-existing together, and I had the urge to go hopping through the forest in happiness. =D
What REALLY impressed me though, was as I started to go back into the woods, the deeper I went, the more I realized something was wrong. Eventually, I put my finger on it: The forest was turned into an evil forest, similar to that of NWN, and all of a sudden, the atmosphere of the altered environment changed; there were no longer bunnies and happiness, but it was a place of tension ... not necessarily hostile tension, but it was clear that the "good" creatures never ventured deep into the forest.
I started to explore the forest, and the deeper I went, the more I could "feel" the presence of evil creatures. I know that in reality they weren't there, and I did not visualize them or see them, but I could feel the spiritual presence of goblins, wolves, and way in the back of the forest, dragons.
It was an awesome feeling, but I decided not to press my luck ;) and I turned back.
I ended up smoking another bowl (my friend suggested it), but I didn't make it to a higher stage of effect. Instead, he waded into the river in shorts (I had jeans on and did not want to wade), and as I looked out over the river, I felt like I wanted to become a private ferryman on the river. =P Not necessarily a seadog type of sailor, but like a private boater/ferryman who enjoyed sailing because of the rocking of the boat, etc.
Long story short, I grabbed a nice stick, and we headed home. That stick is now my "Shaman Journey" stick. =P I plan to carve runes and things into it in the future.
--- Hope this helps shed some light on newcomers to salvia ---