Salvia Visions - A profound experience

Ah, forgot to repost this from my blog!

Salvia Visions, Journal 3: 11-30-2006

Well, this journey was definitely the most abstract one out of all the trips I've had so far, but that doesn't mean it was any less profound! I chewed a quid of leaves like usual, but this time I used it with my friend Lauren in her room while listening to some nice music (pretty much the same music I usually listen to when I chew the leaf). As much as I love listening to my Korean roomie sing along with his music (and by "sing" I mean "recreate the sounds a cat makes when it's drowning"), we decided to not go through that torture. We started chewing the leaves at 9:30 PM and I started feeling the effects less than 10 minutes into chewing, and both of us just started chuckling a lot after about 20 minutes of chewing (well, as best as we could without spitting leaf juice everywhere, heh heh). After 30 minutes we both spit out the quids and laid down on the floor and let the journey start.

I felt like I was looking down at the world from above, but there was nothing to see. Everything was a black void and it was like nothing existed yet, almost as if I was watching the dawn of time unfold before my eyes. Ground and trees started appearing in fractal patterns and started covering the landscape that was just created. For some reason there was a sort of shiny and smooth texture that covered everything that existed. This went on for some time and as I watched, I found that I had the ability to shape this world to my will. I was a god of sorts, but this world I was creating was lower in the hierarchy than Earth itself. I started adjusting the world as I saw fit, and I found that it was a sort of "Play-Doh" world. I could mould any part of the world into any shape I desired, and it was exactly like playing with Play-Doh. As I continued to create my world, it took on a very cartoonish existence. Everything consisted of very bright colors, and roads were blue, buildings were yellow, and everything was very colorful in general. I started pulling "Play-Doh" up off of the ground and forming it into people of sorts. However, not everyone I made looked like a regular person. Many of them were just basic shapes with cartoonish limbs and faces. These people then went about their lives in the world I had made, and I distinctly recall one of them walking around holding an ice-cream cone twice the size of his own body too (LAWLZ!!! His IceCream cone is too big!). I went back to my birds-eye view of the world and felt happy that I was able to make a world for these people.

The next part of my journey is very difficult to explain, but I think it was my first experience that felt like it would be considered an out-of-body experience. I saw myself lying down on the ground, and then a sort of "clone" of myself materialized from my body. This clone however was a small bobble-head cartoon version of myself regarding its outward appearance. Its personality was the same, but only its outward appearance was different. There was a definite symbiotic link between my clone and my body though, as I felt that every breath I took I was taking for both of us. My bobble-head self walked around the room I was in for a bit and slowly grew larger in size until he was the same size as my regular body. He then went out and wandered the halls of my dorm and went out into the city of Davis. He continued wandering around and eventually came across my favorite spot at the top of the parking structure and hung out there for awhile. He wasn't doing anything, just sitting and staring off into the night sky enjoying life itself. The scene shifted and my bobble-head self found himself at a dance, although it was much different from any usual dance. I was viewing my clone in the third person and the "camera view" was always centered on him, somewhat like a 3rd person style videogame. The melody was folk-ish style with a banjo lead, but it was combined with a type of electronic psychedelic trance harmony. I've never heard anything quite like it, but it was amazing music. There were many people at the dance, but I didn't know any of them. I turned around and saw Dur and she saw me, and we decided to dance. It was a sort of swing style dance, and as we were dancing, more and more of my friends started showing up to the dance and I was so happy to see everyone again!! Oh yeah, my friends and everyone else that was there was a bobble-head version of their normal selves! LAWLZ!!!

The scene shifted again and myself and my friends returned to our normal "non bobble-head selves" and a woman with a very bright and multicolored headband along with a tie-dye shirt and jeans (basically, a hippie outfit!) came to us and spoke to us. Unfortunately I can't remember what she told us exactly, but I think it was something about living life in a peaceful manner, enjoying all parts of life, and simply being ourselves.

I then felt myself slowly sinking through the floor, like it was some sort of liquid I was being immersed in. This continued and it felt like I was sinking to the bottom of an infinite body of pure water which was bathed in a soft blue light. It was a very relaxing and surreal feeling, and I felt very at peace. As I continued to sink deeper and deeper, I caught glimpses of my "Play-Doh" world, and each fragment was a different point in time. I was able to see how the world changed over time, and every new glimpse showed in more detail than the last the ebb and flow of life itself. I then began to remember a bunch of things I needed to do, like find my keys, finish my programming project, stock up on some food, and so on. I thought about responsibilities in general as I was slowly sinking downwards, and I came to the conclusion that while responsibilities are by no means a bad thing to have, once it gets to the point where it's resulting in a large amount of stress in your life, things need to be changed. You don't need to stay on top of everything that happens in the business world, or monitor your stocks constantly, or worry yourself sick over your job or schoolwork, you just need to live and help others to live as well. I realized that the best thing to do is to simply take things in moderation (Unless it's a critical responsibility like taking care of your kids and the like). For example: Study for a test but don't stay up all night doing so, and once a certain point is reached, it's best to just let go and let it flow.

Like what happened the last time I chewed salvia, I dozed off for awhile. I can't remember much of what happened when I was asleep, but I remember seeing my Play-Doh world "melt" into a bunch of different abstract fractal-ish patterns. I realized that my "Play-Doh" was nearing the end of its existence, but there wasn't anything that felt wrong about that. I knew that everything had to come to an end at some point in time, and that's just the natural order of the universe. After it finally melted away into nothingness I felt a sense of peace, and a feeling that all is as it should be.

I woke up at about 11:30 PM feeling completely refreshed, and Lauren woke up soon after. We compared our experiences and found that there were many startling similarities between the two. We both explored a our own worlds, (whether it be a Play-Doh world or a floating island with a huge swimming pool guarded by Roman guards), Both of us felt our "souls" come out of our bodies in one form or another (bobble-head clone FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!), we both saw a woman who was a guide of sorts, we both had a feeling of our bodies sinking/floating, and we both felt very peaceful at the end. Salvia journeys really are fascinating!!

Also, next time I'm not lying down on the bare floor, that got pretty damn uncomfortable after awhile....LAWLZ!!!