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Listening to Animals
Salvia divinorum
by Cole
Citation:   Cole. "Listening to Animals: An Experience with Salvia divinorum (exp14287)". Erowid.org. Sep 20, 2005. erowid.org/exp/14287

 
DOSE:
3 leaves smoked Salvia divinorum (dried)
BODY WEIGHT: 170 lb
I just completed my first encounter with Salvia about an hour ago - it allowed me to witness my very essence in the act. I still consider myself to be under its influence, so excuse me if my message doesn't make sense or is hard to follow. It's a bit hard to explain how my logic is functioning at this point. It's like I know what is true but at the same time I can understand why it sounds crazy to somebody else if they're not under the influence of Salvia. Anyway, here it is:

I smoked two large leafs (two bowls) of organic Salvia picked fresh in Hawaii right after I ordered it. The effects kicked in while I was packing the second bowl, and I became very nervous. It was like a dizziness, but I wasn't dizzy. Anyway, my vision was altered. Or, not really my vision as much as my mental interpetation of my visual input data. This was the most profound effect. I felt that I had taken too much time so I laid down and closed my eyes. Everything that happened during this period of time was a blur (literally). At the time I hadn't blacked out, but now that I look back on it, I may as well have. I felt like I was being forced to lay down. I did have some mild closed eye visuals. I started thinking that I probably didn't smoke it as well as I should have, and that I was too nervous to experience it fully, so I decided to smoke a third smaller leaf. While I was smoking it all of the dogs in the neighborhood started barking crazily, including my own. This freaked me out because I thought somebody was at my house, which made me more nervous than I already was. Luckly, all of the barking stopped at once. I looked behind me and my own dog was staring at me. It was barking in a way that was not threatening or loud. My first impression was that she didn't recongize me, but this was crazy because I wasn't sitting very far away from her.

Later I interpeted this to be her trying to tell me something. I don't really know the order in which things happened next. I didn't know the order even while they were happening. At some point I layed down again. I closed my eyes and saw what I was told to be my very essence. It was a thin-liquidy rainbowish colored plank that was moving around in circles, like a fan, but slower. I then noticed that there were many of these things, spaced pretty far apart, floating in the color red. It was if they were all powering some huge magical machine. I then walked towards the spot where my dog was. It was very hard for me to walk straight, and I couldn't do it. I guess I went into my house. I talked to another one of my dogs and she tried to help me make sense of things. I asked her to show me what not all men know, or something like that. She made things clear to me. It seemed as if the ideas were suddenly popping into my head, but this was just how she talked to me. It instantly made sense to me that, just as my visions of reality were obstructed by my nervousness a few minutes ago, so is the human race's understanding of truth blocked by its fearfulness. Every time I heard a dog bark in the distance my first reaction was that it was calling me because it had to tell me something important.

I walked aimlessly around my house for awhile. I remember at the time thinking that it was like a madhouse (I have a lot of pets). It was dusk outside and the entire house at a grayish hue. Things popped out at me in my peripheral vision. Although my logic during the whole time was a little off, now it just seemed insane. I didn't understand anything I was thinking, but somehow it all made sense. I knew everything.

Nothing too significant happened after that so I came on the computer to write about it (try to map out what had just happened since it felt like disconnected puzzle pieces). I feel as if I learned a lot. Regarding Salvia Divinorum, I learned that it is NOT fun or relaxing in any way (unless you consider scaring the shit out of yourself to be fun).

I don't know if I'll ever try Salvia again. If I do, then it probably won't be for a long time. I need some time to sort out all of this new knowledge.

One word to sum up the entire experience: dream-like

Exp Year: 2002ExpID: 14287
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Sep 20, 2005Views: 5,430
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Salvia divinorum (44) : First Times (2), Alone (16)

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