so some of you have probably read my posts on salvia. someone (sorry, i can't remember... :& ) asked me to write a guide for first time users, and as i was writing, i realized i have way too much to say to confine it to one post on hipforums. i'm not expecting anyone to have been paying much attention to me and my posts, but if you have any inkling of my perspective on the drug, would you say i have a reasonable handle on it, or am i mostly delusional? i'm asking because i get the feeling i have a knack for remembering my experiences, understanding their implications and how to integrate them into my life, and writing about it in afterwards. and i honestly don't think i find anything more rewarding in life than guiding a person through a trip, or helping them analyze what happened afterwards. so this idea came to me to spend the summer collecting "research" :H, and writing a book. not from the perspective of a scientist, and not from an unbiased objective perspective, but using the language and attitude that actually applies to the experience. i probably sound pretty arrogant right about now, right? i'm trying really hard not to . i think guidance is something that's needed REALLY badly, obviously, and it should be personal guidance. everyone should have a sitter that is more of a shaman than a doofus best friend who's done acid and so thinks they know how to act. someone who understands what is going on when you find yourself being folded into a purple corner, tugged two ways at once, getting yelled at, laughing uncontrollably, all the bizarre things that happen that seem ridiculous and random. not just someone who says "don't light candles, stay away from sharp objects". that can keep you from hurting yourself, but if you go deeper you can learn a lot more. and since everyone CAN'T have a person like that physically there with them, a book that serves the same purpose (aside from keeping you from jumping out a window) seems like the next best thing. but if i did this, and gave people information, i'd be the one responsible for what happens to them. and if i say the wrong thing, i don't know what might happen. so far, my experiences with other people have been good, but it's really a deeply personal thing and the synergy between two people sharing their experiences only comes in tiny bursts. everything i've learned in regards to my experiences and the experiences of people i've personally been around might be bassackwards entirely to the experiences of someone else. still, there needs to be some deeper database of information and a place to turn for help if this entheogen is going to be respected and used to it's full potential. it's great to know the history and the chemical information and the legal status and how to keep from killing yourself, but that's not enough. so, what do you guys think? is it too pseudo-leary-destructive of me to even want to try this? will it be counterproductive? am i the right person to do it? what would you want to see in a book on salvia? is there already a book like this and i just haven't come across it yet? it's so esoteric, it seems really pompous of me to say i'm going to try to reduce it to our human english language, but it just seems like there's no landing pad and we're all floating around with nothing to fall back on. could it work?
i know there are salvia books, but all the ones i've seen have been about things like drug tests and chemistry and history, not actual experiences teens are having in their bedrooms right now.
Being a Visionary in life is one of the greatest aspects to all men. But, something of this magnitude, taking on a book of "research" qualities is best taken with the originators and founders of the Salvia Divinorium. Tribal rituals are a huge part of the use of Salvia. Seeing as that would of been the best way for anyone to fully experience what the Mazatec Indians had full knowledge of. Look up names of the expeditionists and read what they had experienced. I know if i were to write a book on the subject, it would of been personal, like a journal. Lol, i am sure these guys had experiences of shits a giggles with their companions. But, i dont know if they would write about.
okay... i'm not trying to argue, but i just don't think salvia use in modern culture is ever going to be the same as use by the mazatecs. smoked extract is an entirely different animal. it's a different scene, a different setting, a different environment, and a completely different experience. how it affects a fifteen year old going to school and riding their bike and watching tv and partaking in everything we have in this society is completely different from how it would affect most people involved in mazatec rituals. it's almost like a totally different drug. i think it's silly to pretend the experience of an american teen smoking 20x extract in their room with black light posters and techno playing is anywhere near the same as a traditional quid experience.
My apologies if I made it seem like I was arguing with you . I was meerly just trying to give you a few ideas on what direction you would want to take with your book. I love writing, and I think anyone else writing a book is just fabulous.
sorry if i sounded like a jackass. thank you. you're totally right, and i think i should point out parallels between the traditional rituals and what's going on right now... even that information is stuff most people doing salvia don't know. but it's kind of funny how there is absolutely no literature (as far as i can tell) on the movement of western culture kids with computers smoking extract... i guess because it's so new. it's everywhere, and there's nothing to read about it.
I agree whole-heartedly with that statement. I met this kid who was smoking salvia the other night- he was a self-proclaimed "shaman." All I could do was laugh.
It could work. It's a great idea. Why not? There are a lot of books out there about a lot of things: dieting, web design, Flash, basket weaving, etc. But that doesn't mean there can't be one more. Books are very personal in that all authors have different voices, and those voices best appeal to different people. You have nothing to lose, and the experience would be positive.
i have absolutely no idea. a lot. i spent a whole week once by myself doing almost nothing else. but honestly i don't have a clue how many times. way more than anyone else i've met, though i'm sure there are a lot of people who have done it more than me.
