Salvia newbie - world wrapping 'round me

[vex]

I don't know why but I feel compelled to share my Salvia experience. I tried not to read too much stuff before my first trip. I wanted the experience to be pure without the influence of what others have written. And now I want to relate my experience in a pure fashion as well. So this is from a Salvia newbie whose only real measure is his first experience with a couple of follow-up trips.

I've had enough experience with other psychoactive substances that I felt comfortable starting higher up the ladder than what might be considered wise, so I bought a gram of 10x. I didn't do a lot of prep and I didn't have a sitter. I just loaded up about a half a bowl and torched it, sitting at my computer.

I held the smoke in and I was almost instantly transported away. I was fully prepared to smoke more but it was abundantly clear that I was already there. I have never gotten so high so quickly. It totally took me by surprise. It was an instant feeling of both sheer panic and intense exhilaration. I had just enough sense to mentally grab on and go for the ride.

Immediately I experienced a sensation of my body constricting, as if I were shrinking and gaining mass but without any sense that my physical size was decreasing. I was contracting without contracting. That feeling persisted as the next phenomena came rushing on. I call it "the world wrapping 'round me". I happened to be looking to the left and it was like the whole world was wrapping around my right side. I looked to the right and the sensation reversed, now the whole world was wrapping around my left side. In my peripheries there were people, lots and lots of people, talking amongst themselves and to me, wrapping in but not quite reaching me. I kept looking to my left and right but the people, the world and everything in it would wrap back away. Everything in the universe existed only on the periphery of this membrane wrapping around me. I noticed that this membrane of reality, a palpable two-dimensional rubbery sheet of time-space-reality, was anchored firmly on the corner of my desk, looking like a translucent sheet pulled taught over the corner, flowing out and folding in, folding in, continually and pervasively folding in but never reaching me or that universal focal point. Still my body was compacting, ever compacting without shrinking.

I stood up and walked around. I wondered aloud why the people wrapping around me could not reach me. I exclaimed aloud in sudden and profoundly simple enlightenment "They're just wrapping people; they don't want to come in". I found myself repeating that line and it made incredible sense.

All the while I was cognitive and in control. It really felt as if I was split between two realities: one consisting of my immediate surroundings and the other consisting of everything else in the universe. I could walk around in my immediate space and knew it was concrete while everything else was ethereal and flowing. I felt that any minute the membrane would break and my own incredibly small reality would meld with the universe. And then I started to come down from the peak.

After that I just felt plain good. I was getting some pretty cool visual distortions. Colors were brilliant, sparkling and everything seemed intensely three dimensional, even two-dimensional letters on the computer screen adopted a depth that was at once perfectly natural and completely out of this world. I found myself delighting in this enhanced perception and amazed that I was able to carry out normal tasks. While this Salvia trip itself held little resemblance to any LSD trip I’ve been on, the visuals at this point were similar, but I’ve never been so cognizant and in control of my thoughts and motor skills while getting these types of visuals on LSD. Everything around me was flowing and swaying but it was like it was perfectly normal, even intensely normal. At this point I think most people meditate but I found myself seeing just how “normal

 

[HeartCore]

very nice report!

If I do pierce it, what will happen?

Something tells me dead is like that but who knows ;)

 

[vex]

very nice report!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. I sure enjoyed experiencing it!

I've been reading more reports now and while I am finding some similarities with my own experience, I'm also finding lots of differences. One thing I don't understand is the seeming fascination with "Lady Salvia" and most everyone's insistence that their experience involves some manifestation or form of this female persona. This is exactly why I didn't want to read too much before taking my own trip. I think it is kind of ridiculous to limit your own experience by building in expectations based on what others have reported.

I understand that "Lady Salvia" is more of a metaphor for the experience and teachings from a trip that is very hard to relate to others. For example, I understand when someone says, in the abstract, "Lady Salvia taught me this" or "Lady Salvia showed me that". What I don't understand is the high instance of reports that reference interaction with an actual woman (presumably this Lady Salvia).

It is kind of a fun mythology thing, but I think people are fulfilling their own prophecy by adhering too strictly to what otherwise is just a simplified representation of abstract concepts. Are you not in the end simplifying what otherwise might be a much more profound experience?

I guess what I'm suggesting is that people enter into Salvia with a completely open mind, with absolutely no expectations. Don't go seeking manifestations of a woman or that is what you will likely find, while potentially missing out on much, much more. Let your own subconscious become your guide and not the consciousness of others.

 

[forgetoz]

Really interesting experience, and although I think it was good for you to avoid reading other's experiences, you can't really say that those who do it are limiting themselves...I mean the whole Salvia experience (at least for me) was so overwhelming that any "knowledge" I might had about anything simple wasn't there! Not sure if I'm expressing my thoughts correctly...and as far as my experiences go, the feminine presence is there often, not a person, just a presence, and definitely feminine :wink:

 

[vex]

...reading other's experiences, you can't really say that those who do it are limiting themselves...

I should have said that people are potentially limiting themselves by giving too much weight to what others have said about their own experiences.

You are exactly right, though, that a Salvia experience is so overwhelming that NOTHING can really prepare you for it. However, I have found that the REAL trip comes in the days and weeks after that three-minute peek into infinity, when you analyze your experience and attempt to make sense of it. It is that exploration and interpretation after-the-fact where there is danger of being affected by what others have said, even if it is only a subconcious leaning on someone else's explanation.

I'm not even saying it has happened and I certainly can't point to anything other than a recurring theme of "Lady Salvia" or something like the feminine presence you have experienced. I think both of these are simpler manifestations representing something much, much more complex. These thoughts, feelings and experiences deserve exploration beyond what can be neatly packaged as a mythological persona. I dunno, I just get the feeling that "Lady Salvia" is Cliff Notes for psyche trippers. :?

But then, I could be completely out of my gourd. However, I do encourage everyone to approach Salvia and the inevitible trip analysis as the truly deep personal spiritual journey that it is. Never give up on the inner exploration and never give in to the temptation to take a shortcut when the journey becomes difficult. There are no simple explanations and the answers lie well beyond any mythology we might try to impose on our own understanding.

 

[forgetoz]

Really nice posts you have there!

I should have said that people are potentially limiting themselves by giving too much weight to what others have said about their own experiences.

No doubt that happens with almost anything, but as soon as you form your own opinion or approach you can pretty much leave all the limitations behind and open up completely for the experiences ahead (which can be considered something like a safety device, to avoid some pretty imense first experiences which can lead to giving up on trying again).

However, I have found that the REAL trip comes in the days and weeks after that three-minute peek into infinity, when you analyze your experience and attempt to make sense of it.

Indeed, the analyzing process is the most complex and fruitful (?) part of the experience, as it becomes not only an exploration of the substance and the effects themselves but a true deep self exploration...and although it could be easily be influenced by other's explanations, I think you automaticly detach yourself from that after having the experience yourself, as it opens some new, really big doors.

I guess the mythological imagery is only used as it has always been and as you say it is...a simpler way for people to describe their experiences in terms that anyone familiar with Salvia can understand, and is not to be thought of as the ex libris of the experience (although it undoubtfuly happens).

In the end I guess is just like in almost everything...if one's not willing to walk the full path by himself and being enough open minded (or "spirited), then Salvia should be kept in the locker :wink:

 

[acim2]

Thanks for the great description. This matches my experiences 100x closer than any other experience I have read.

I can say I've had a slight sense of a familiar presence with me...almost more like a feeling that someone is there that I didn't expect. As if I thought I was alone and then suddenly realized someone had been watching me for a while...maybe always with me. ...possibly something I could think of as Lady Sativa. Nothing that is as much of a distinct being as some others' experiences I've read. More of a fleeting feeling than someone I met.

I will eventually share my experiences too; however, your post (and others) is a tough act to follow in both content and quality! Very well done. Thanks again.

 

[trav3006]

I cannot emphasize how similar my experience was to yours. I became immediately aware of a membrane that seemed to be right in front of my eyes, but I could only see it while experiencing the effects of salvia. It looks like jello, and you can put your fingers through it and expand it out in order to make a portal to squeeze yourself through it. After a few minutes of realizing this, I walked outside to the back yard. When I saw the trees, I realized that they are actually communicators of nature, like diplomats to all living things. I sat back down to contemplate this, and I felt this membrane again, unfolding in front of my eyes. I felt like it was literally a few inches from my face. I tried to squeeze through the membrane. I knew if only I could get through it, I would be part of the universal consciousness of nature. I could hear nature speaking. It is a universal language that all living things and perhaps "nonliving" things utilize. After reflecting on what I felt, I firmly believe we all may be just barely outside this realm of perfect existence. Behind the membrane is all the knowledge and connectivity with the Earth and perhaps a universal life consciousness. The impermanence of life is simply due to being on the wrong side of the membrane. Also, messages can and are being sent back and forth between the level of existence behind the membrane and in front of the membrane. You cannot normally detect these messages, but they are always occurring. Fear was the only factor I could recognize as the limiter to getting on the other side of the membrane. When I felt fear, I tunneled back "home" again, but I did want to be back on the human side of the membrane, I wanted to be on the infinite side of the membrane. Perhaps I can find my way all the way to the other side of the membrane again, and so can others. It is right there in front of our faces, literally! Squeeze through, like digging into jello.