My first breakthrough...

Well, I believe that I promised you all a story and I always try to keep my promises. My old roommate (SageSinger) and myself, after having lived together for a while, discovered that we were both budding psychonauts. We tried many substances (all legal) with varying degrees of success. We had both heard interesting stories about Salvia and decided we wanted to try it. We found information, trip reports and videos on-line. Most of the videos are schlock, but there are a few good ones out there. The trip reports were very enlightening.

We found a reputable vendor and decided to place an order. We of course were both chomping at the bit waiting for the order, it seemed to take forever to come, but really was only a few days. We had ordered an ounce of plain leaf and when we got it we were very pleasantly surprised by the size of it. The bag was huge!

I believe we did our first careful experiments that very night. I believe I went first, I packed our little pipe (just a plain ordinary pipe) and took a few good hits off of it. The only reaction I achieved was a very annoying body high. That's all I ever got from plain leaf with that pipe. SageSinger however got very interesting stuff. He would see things like fireflies, the corners in the room would be come rounded, all sorts of stuff.

We decided what was needed (both because pretty much all the literature that we read called for it, and because it was really harsh) was a water pipe. So, on ,y next payday I went out and acquired an inexpensive, but serviceable water pipe. I brought said pipe home and showed it to SageSinger and he was terribly excited to try it later that evening. As often happens, however, Life intruded. SageSinger's at the time Girlfriend (now wife) came over and he became excited about other things. So after dinner, they sequestered themselves in his room, and I will allow the gentle reader to speculate on what may have happened behind closed doors.

With SageSinger's mind (and body) elsewhere, I was left with almost a full ounce of Salvia and a brand new, untested water pipe and no sitter. I wasn't too worried however about not having a sitter, as nothing spectacular ever happened to me with Salvia. I figured, maybe, if I was "lucky", I might get a few fireflies or some rounding. So I went into my room, closed the door and sat on my bed. I packed the bowl full of Salvia, fired it up and inhaled. Held the smoke in for 15 or 20 seconds, released it and repeated. The second hit killed the bowl, so I put the pipe and the lighter down and then blew out the smoke.

That is when everything went strange. Suddenly I was sitting on my bed. I was floating up around the corner of my room, watching myself sit on the bed. I was also riding a color wave, somewhere else. All these things were happening at the same time. Every once in a while, for a few moments I would be just the me sitting on my bed. At those times I had a mission (Sometimes Salvia gives you a mission, this seems to be an early usage phenomena, not really prevalent when you have been seeing The Lady for quite some time). The Mission was to take the pipe into SageSinger's room and give it to him (this could have been awkward). However I was completely incapable of completing this mission. Every time I would try to stand, I would make it a few inches off the bed then fall back into a sitting position and laugh raucously. Then I would be back in 3 again.

This went on for a while (in all actuality probably only 3 or 4 minutes) but I finally reintegrated into 1 person and could stand again. I had to walk around our living room for a while in clockwise circles. Counterclockwise was an uncomfortable way to walk. I was pretty freaked out and honestly a bit afraid. I felt like I would never be "normal" again. But as is the way with Salvia, it wasn't too long before I was back to baseline.

Well, that is the story of my first real breakthrough experience. I hope you enjoyed it and it spurs you on to find a good sitter... ;)

About usage.

So, you have some Salvia and you are wondering what to do with it. Well, here is my advice on usage.

Well, first things first. Make sure that Salvia is legal wherever you may happen to be. She is still legal in most places, but not everywhere. The next thing, and I can't stress this enough, if you are not at least at the age of majority where you live, put the Salvia down. Everyone should have a good solid grounding in reality before you try to leave it, or in the words of Adam Corrola, wait until your brain dries out.

Ok, now that the legal stuff is out of the way, let's get to it. ;) First, I would advise having a torch lighter and a water pipe. You probably won't actually need either, but let's face it, torch lighters are cool. Water pipes cool the smoke dramatically and allow you to take much more in. I can trip fully with plain leaves, however, not with a regular pipe. I thought I was a hardhead (someone who can't trip at all) until I got a water pipe. I will tell that story sometime in the near future.

So you have gathered together all your materials and are ready to smoke. Stop. You really should have one other thing. A sitter. Some of you will scoff at this. Some of you in all actuality will not need the sitter at all. However, many of you will be glad that you had one. Let me help you with some advice about how to pick a sitter. You need someone you can trust. Someone who won't try to do something to you while you are tripping. Someone who will sit quietly with you and not bug you during your trip. Also (and this is key, or you wouldn't need someone to sit you anyway) you need to make sure that they will keep you from doing anything stupid while you trip!

Ok, I know what some of you are going to say. "I don't have anyone like that.". or "I don't need a sitter." Obviously I can't make you use a sitter. So if you are going to go ahead and try the salvia anyway, let me give you some advice about that. Actually, I would use this advice whether or not you have a sitter. First, pick a good place. Don't trip in a car. Or by a deep ravine, or a river or lake. You have a brain, use it. And if you are reading this and wondering why tripping at the edge of a cliff might be a bad idea, then put the Salvia down and walk away. She is not for you.

Also, wherever you happen to be. make it difficult to access anything that could be a danger to you, or anything that you might break. You are also best off just being with you and your sitter. Salvia is not a social plant. Please don't be at a party. Set and setting are very important. The thing, I think that people forget about when talking set and setting, is set. They focus on setting, which, is important, don't get me wrong about that, but set is probably equally important. As far as I can tell, set refers to your mind set. This is especially important on those first few trips (and honestly, may be the difference between having them and not having them for many people), be calm. If you go to work and have a really bad day, get home and find that your long awaited Salvia order has finally showed, but you are still in a bad mood from work, then wait. It will still be there tomorrow. Also don't take something to put you in a better mood. There are certain herbs that are known to put people in a euphoric state. I would advise against using them, with Salvia. At least until you get a handle on how Salvia works alone. Same with Alcohol. Now if you are a meditator and can meditate for a while and put yourself in a peaceful state of mind, then by all means do. This may be your best friend for Salvia use.

Oh, I am editing this later because I need to add something. This should go without saying, but apparently it dozen't. Sit Down. No seriously, sit down. Actually if possible, it is best to be sitting in a place where you can lay down. I have read many reports of people who say that they barely had time to make it to a chair. I also read reports where people say that they do their inhalations only to find themselves 5 minutes later on the floor with a broken pipe and icky water all over them. Sit down. Oh, and did I say sit down? good. Sit!

I really only have one more thing to add tonight. If you just found this and thought "Oh, this is all good advice and I am ready to start!". Stop. Do more research. check out the experience vaults at Erowid. They are invaluable. Also check The Salvia Divinorum Users Guide at Sage Wisdom. I send you there because he is really an expert. I just offer a little advice. I will go deeper in future posts. And I welcome comments.

Out and about

I'm heading out today, but when i return I may do some Salvia. Part of me wants to refer to a Salvia trip as dreaming rather than tripping. While it is more accurate, I think it may sound pretentious. Not sure. What do you think?

HB 215

So, it looks as if I may have to make a trip to Columbus.

This annoys me no end, as Columbus is not real close to Misery Falls.

The other thing that annoys me about this possible trip is the reason for it. It seems that some well meaning but naive congress person here in Ohio has gotten it into his head that Salvia Divinorum is dangerous. While I will agree, in a very small way, that it could be, (in fact in the same way that pretty much anything else could be dangerous), I would say that it is far far less dangerous than say, tobacco, or alcohol.

It seems to me that the people down at the statehouse would have better things to do with their time (and my money) than schedule a non-addictive (some have even said anti-addictive) non-lethal (find me one case where someone has died unequivocally from Salvia), wonderful plant.

Beginnings

I am SageDancer one of the 2 co-owners of ¡BeSaged! At this space, I will put some of my thoughts, feelings and views that do not necessarily fit on ¡BeSaged!