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Dream Enhancer?
Salvia divinorum
Citation:   Fulcanelli. "Dream Enhancer?: An Experience with Salvia divinorum (exp20032)". Erowid.org. Sep 30, 2005. erowid.org/exp/20032

 
DOSE:
  repeated smoked Salvia divinorum (dried)
BODY WEIGHT: 95 kg
I have not had a full Salvia trip yet, but what I have experienced is important and might help others... at least that is what I believe. English is not my mother tongue, so I apologize for the way I wrote this report.

I am not an experienced drug user, barely smoked cannabis about 5 times in my life (I'm 33) and do not believe in the use of stimulants or drugs for recreational use. I have never been drunk to the point of loosing control and I do not smoke tobacco, maybe a pipe or a cigar every couple of months. In spite of how boring my life seems to this point, I've always been interested in psychotropic and medicinal substances in plants. Since my early teens I've spent most of my spare time reading about mysticism and concluded that many of the experiences experienced in ancient initiation ceremonies were achieved through the use of plants and drugs. I've always wanted to be in a ceremony with mushrooms, but there was always an excuse for no doing it so.

I want to mention about my experience with Calea Zacatechichi and a commercially available mixture of Valerian and Hops. This will be important in the following paragraphs. I have a problem remembering my dreams and sleeping soundly. In the last 15 years I can only remember about 2 or 3 dreams and I never have nightmares. Even if this seems a blessing, for somebody trying to go beyond the veil of reality is depressing. I have a stressful job and I only sleep about 6 hours a night, waking up tired and tense. The Valerian mixture helped me to start dreaming again and to wake up really relaxed. I still forget everything a few minutes after waking up though. I tried the Calea, and I had similar results to those of the Valerian, with no lucid dreaming whatsoever. I think I have not tried enough to get to that point. Probably in the near future.

O.K., enough boring stuff... I've found out about Salvia through a website dedicated to ancient history and strange phenomena. So, as soon as I made enough research I ordered Salvia Divinorum and Calea Zacatechichi from a reliable and informative on-line vendor.

Since I know what to expect, I am approaching it with respect. So far, I have tried small quantities 3 times with noticeable results the first two and interest yet disturbing results the third time. Here's the description:

FIRST TRY: I made my own waterpipe and grabbed a pinch of Salvia and put it in the bowl. Used my torch lighter and smoked. I did not have a sitter, so I did not let it go too far and let the smoke go after 10 seconds. This little trip fits perfectly in the 'S' level. Something felt different, but could not say what. Felt a little like cannabis. The only weird thing this time was that while lying in bed I suddenly felt as if somebody had taken the bed away and placed it again where it was. It felt like falling. It caught me totally off guard and I was really surprised.

SECOND TRY: Same as the first try, but I held it for 15 seconds. No falling sensation but the cannabis buzz was there gain. I spent a few second lying in bed and watching one of my hands that looked somewhat different. Could not say what. When I went to bed, something was really different. That night I had colorful dreams! I felt relaxed the following morning. There were really better results than those using Valerian or Calea.

THIRD AND LAST TRY: This time I wanted it to get to the visual level. I asked my wife to be my sitter (she has kindly agreed to let me fool around with these plants and even suggested she might want to try them). I grabbed a pinch, lighted it up, and held for 15 seconds. Same 'cannabis like' effect. Waited a few minutes in order to metabolize what I have smoked and prevent a 'full trip'. Grabbed a bigger pinch, smoked it and held it for 20 seconds... same cannabis like... again waited and put more weed than the last try. Again, same cannabis effect but there was something with my sight this time: my peripheral vision was like never before and colors seem more intense, or maybe it was the light. I was able to perceive the voltage variations by watching a lamp flicker (my wife told me she did not see anything). I turned the lights off and my significant other asked if something was happening. I told her I felt something, but did not know how to explain it. Told her to wait a few minutes and as soon as I heard deep breathing on my left side, I knew I was out of sitters for the night. So I tried to sleep. It was 2:00 a.m.

And then it happened...

What a journey. I woke up at 4:30 and by then I already had had 2 dreams that I could not call nightmares, but I was seeing disturbing things. On one of them there was something about my eyes that really freaked me out, especially because I saw their reflection in a mirror with such clarity that I am sure I will never forget it. The other one is really awful, so I will not elaborate. I tried to sleep again and as soon as I closed my eyes, I started seeing something, like fractal patterns and felt some weight over me. At that point I thought 'This is wrong, I should have felt this when I smoked it, but not 2 hours later!” After thinking that, I started seeing in my mind the images of a horror picture I saw that morning with my wife. I just could not make them go away! I tried to sleep again several times, but the color patterns and the feeling of anxiety were too much and kept waking me up. I thought Salvia did not like me and suddenly, out of nowhere and while I was half asleep I heard in my mind a phrase in English (not my mother tongue, as I wrote at the beginning): 'Salvia is not a torturer... She's a healer'.

After hearing this I tried to sleep again and all my visions transformed into the weirdest dream: two guys dressed as doctors were restraining a creature that I knew was the 'thing' causing the visions in my dreams. That thing had two huge claws, like swords, instead of paws or whatever it should have. I knew it used them to hold on to something. Suddenly I knew it was me it was holding to before. The rest of the creature was really ugly, like a mixture of mammal, reptile and fish. A third 'doctor' told me the following (now in Spanish) in the classic doctor voice: 'You should not do this (smoke Salvia) after watching those (disturbing movies) because it creates a negative aura around you'. I conclude now that the creature was the bad aura and these doctors were healing me.

I woke up again, but feeling very relaxed. It was 5:30 in the morning and I went for a glass of water and to urinate (sorry, but I am trying to be as descriptive as I can). It was easy to sleep again and I had an amusing dream about being in a house with some friends and an instructor was trying to teach us how to perform astral projections. Suddenly, 'somebody' who was not supposed to learn how to do this arrived and my friends astral projections were pretending to be flesh and bone (while the bodies were sleeping upstairs) so this 'somebody' could not find out what was happening. The image changed and I understood the 'somebody' was gone and I approached the 'instructor', who had funny facial features resembling the crocodile hunter mixed with The lord of The Rings move character Samwise Gangee. I do not know why but I extended my hand to thank him and before I was able to say anything, he grabbed my hand, placed some car keys that I thought belonged to him and he made a gesture I interpreted as 'no problem, it's nothing'.

I felt the elbow of my wife in my ribs, telling me to shut down the radio clock. It was 7:00 a.m.

Not bad for someone that does not dream, huh?

Definitely, the events of the night were triggered by Salvia since I do not dream like that and I stopped taking the Valerian and the Calea more than 8 days ago. I must admit I was really nervous when I smoked it and maybe this caused the distressing dreams.

The colors were awesome, like something I have never experienced while sleeping and the memories are absolutely clear. If there one advice you should take from this experience is DO NOT TRIP ON SALVIA WHILE UNDER STRESS OR NOT BEING IN A CALM, RELAXED STATE OF MIND.

I will try a full trip in two weeks. In the meantime, I am preparing to be calmed and relaxed. I have selected a group of informed sitters who have the right attitude towards this things, will chose a couple of important questions to ask and pray daily for guidance during the trip.

Exp Year: 2002ExpID: 20032
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Sep 30, 2005Views: 23,500
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Salvia divinorum (44), Dreams (85) : Entities / Beings (37), General (1), Small Group (2-9) (17)

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