2.6 mg. unidentified impure crystalline fraction
of Salvia divinorum
(Later the material was analyzed and shown to
be 70-80% Salvinorin A.)
The experience described below is the first human use of Salvinorin
A. At
the time of this experiment, Siebert had been trying various extracts
and
preparations of Salvia divinorum, attempting to find a means of obtaining
a fuller psychedelic experience than he had reached through chewing
or
smoking the leaves.
Salvinorin A - The Breakthrough
"I had set out to prepare a fairly crude but significantly concentrated
extract of Salvia divinorum. During the extraction procedure I managed
to
isolate a fairly pure crystalline fraction. At the time, I thought
this
fraction was probably some inactive component of the plant. I was getting
ready to throw it in the trash, when it suddenly occurred to me that
perhaps I should test a little; just on the remote chance that the
material might actually be active. "Hope springs eternal" I thought.
Fortunately I decided to play it safe, and so I tested what I thought
would be a fairly small dose. What follows is a record of the scattered
bits and pieces of my memory of that event.
"I placed 2.6 mg. of the material to be tested on a small piece of
aluminum foil. I held a small torch under it, and as soon as the substance
vaporized, I inhaled the fumes through a piece of glass tubing. I waited
for awhile and decided that nothing was going to happen. The last words
to
pass through my head went something like "Just as I thought. This stuff
is inactive. I'll go toss it in the trash." Then quite suddenly I found
myself in a confused, fast moving state of consciousness with absolutely
no idea where my body or for that matter my universe had gone. I have little
memory of this initial period of the experience, but r do know that a lot
was happening and that it
seemed quite literally like an eternity, when in fact it must only
have
lasted a few minutes."
"I knew something had gone wrong and I wanted desperately to get back
to
the ‘real' world. I searched my memory trying to remember the living
room
I was sitting in just moments before. I tried to remember what my body
felt like. Anything, just something to reconnect me with the ‘normal'
world. But the more I looked for some little thread or ‘normality'
to get
a hold of, the more it showed me something else. At some point I realized
that what I was trying to get back to did not exist. It was just an
ephemeral dream. I suddenly realized that I had no actual memory of
ever
having lived in any other state of consciousness but the disembodied
condition I was now in. So I decided to stop panicking arid just relax.
After all there was no place to get back to. I was totally convinced
that
this state of existence was all there ever was."
"Then, I suddenly found myself standing in the living room. The effects
of
the substance were wearing off. All of the confusion dissolved, and
I
returned to the physical world. I looked around me and the room came
into
sharp focus. I was glad to be back. But then I saw that something was
wrong! This was not my living room. It was the living room of my deceased
maternal grandparents. And it was furnished as it was when I was a
child,
not as it was later in their life. The most extraordinary thing about
this
was that this was the real world, not a memory or a vision, I was really
there, and it was all just as solid as the room I'm sitting in now.
I had
the sudden realization that although I had managed to pull my self
back
into my body - I had somehow ended up back in the wrong spot in the
time line of my physical existence. I was convinced that I might be
stuck in this
situation and would have to continue my life from this point in my
past.
As I panicked and desperately tried to remember where it was that I
was
supposed to be, I lost awareness of the physical world again, and found
myself without a body; lost. Then it happened again. I found myself
regaining consciousness in the real world. And again as I saw everything
clearly, I realized that this was not my home, It was a friend of mine's.
Then again I panicked and lost consciousness. This cycle repeated at
least
7 or 8 times. Always I would find myself in a familiar room. Some of
these
places were from my childhood and some were from my more recent past.
In
this state all the points of time in my personal history coexisted.
One
did not precede the next. Apparently, had I so willed it, I could return
to any point in my life and really be there, because it was actually
happening right now."
"Then at some point I did indeed find myself back in my home, I was
standing in the dining room. I wanted to reassure myself that everything
was as it should be, so I turned around to see the rest of the room
behind
me. I kept turning around but there was no ‘behind' me. There was only
‘in
front' of me. I reached around for the back pockets of my jeans and
couldn't seem to find them.
"A little later the physical world all started to work properly again.
As
the effects began to subside, I managed to piece together what had
happened. When I remembered that I had tested the extract and that
it must
have been responsible for what I had just been through, I felt ecstatic.
I
was literally jumping for joy. I wanted to say "EUREKA
!!!" I had stumbled
upon the psychedelic essence of Salvia divinorum."
"I grabbed a pen and tried to write down a few notes while the experience
was still fresh. The first thing I wrote down in BIG letters was: "IT
IS TOTAL MADNESS"
then: "TEARING APART THE FABRIC OF REALITY."
then: 'This is tooooooooo strong. It is tearing apart the fabric
of existence. It is madness. Thank god it only lasted 10 - 15 minutes!"
"For the next two hours I felt light headed and restless. I couldn't
sit still. As soon as I sat down I felt compelled to get up. I tried
to
eat something and drink a little wine in order to get grounded and
relaxed, but I couldn't seem to swallow anything. I had been shaken
to the
soul."
