Salvia Experience

October 28, 2015

The first time I tried salvia, everything certainly changed, but I could still see, hear, and feel the room and my friends around me – however distorted they were. It was as if everything, including myself, was made up of building blocks, and I laughed hysterically for the duration.

The third time though was completely different, both terrifying and wonderful, and suffice to say I was completely unprepared (considering my previous experience). As everything around me became distorted, I thought I was in for a similar experience, but then it just kept going – the room was being sucked back into wherever, or I was the one being taken away, and the fear started to set in.

After that, I recall nothing but black. Pure darkness. And then everything I thought I knew was stripped away. My head rose, and I was in a very modern living room, possibly family members standing a few feet away, and a father figure next to me on the couch. He was saying my name, he looked both furious and afraid, and I felt the biggest shockwave of my life.

I described this feeling later to my friend as if, when the hallucinations took place, I was actually leaving the hallucination that had been my life. For a few seconds, my whole world came crashing down; I had no idea who I was or where I was.

During this stage, I was apparently sitting with my head in my hands, and when my head finally rose the peak of the effects dropped; I was back in the room, back with my friend, but it took a while before I had any idea who I was. My friend sat very calmly – he told me the experience of watching was both hilarious and highly disturbing – and reminded me of my name and that I had taken salvia.

Over the next half hour, I experienced possibly the greatest sensation of my life; I now knew who I was, the fear had subsided, but neither my mind nor my body truly felt of this earth; I was, quite frankly, up in space. I circled the room, telling my friend I wished he could be ‘here’ with me, and also expressing how weird it was that he was not in the same state – as if he were a scientist and I was one of his guinea pigs.

Salvia doesn’t last long enough to take your mind on the spiritual journey that many hallucinogenics seem to provide. However, in wondering what my short but incredibly potent voyage had to say, I have offered up to myself a possibility: that I should be happy and thankful for who I am. ‘Cause I saw my whole life stripped away, every experience reduced to dust, and it frightened me more than anything ever has.

by Euan