DOSE: T+ 0:00	4.0 g	buccal	Salvia divinorum	(leaves)
T+ 0:20	0.25 g	smoked	Salvia divinorum	(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

225 lb

The intent of this report is to document the experience of a person who had a severe level 5 trip. I was the sitter for the experience and feel that my documentation of mistakes made, and the reaction of the person under the influence may be of use to those interested in using Salvia or acting as a sitter for others. Although it is a long read, I feel there may be valuable insights for potential sitters as to how to handle a tripper’s reaction to a large dose of Salvia. As far as classifying the type of trip, the tripper found the experience to be quite insightful and does not regret it at all. While I, one of the sitters, might consider that it could have easily become a train wreck or trip disaster!

The participants:

Myself, in the role of sitter, Salvia grower and user for 2 years
“D”, in the role of sitter, worked as a nurse in the addiction ward of a major city hospital
“J”, the tripper

All three of us were experienced with numerous substances, all over 30 years of age. All three of us were experienced with meditation and esoteric practices for inner self discovery, and this is the setting and purpose to the experience. I was introducing J and D to Salvia, D had never heard of it before. I had introduced J to Salvia the week before, he had smoked regular leaf and 5x crude extract (made by myself from the directions in the Salvia vault on this site) a few times over the course of the night and experienced a few visions, perhaps a level 3 on the Salvia scale. He was very intrigued after his initial introduction and was eager to try for a breakthrough experience, perhaps too eager. He was very interested in Salvia as an aid to deep meditative states.

The preparation:

J had a light supper. J and D read over the a Salvia users guide from the room was dimly lit with red light. A candle was burning. Pillows were laid in the centre of the room so J could lie down while D and myself kneeled either side of him.

Against my advice, J really wanted to try a quid then “boost” by smoking extract. He was really eager to go deep into the experience, as his limited previous experience left him disappointed with the depth and duration of his trips. He felt there was something really important he just couldn’t reach and the plant was coaxing him to follow her and he couldn’t. We mentally prepared with a few practices for prayer and protection. J then started a 4 gram quid and D and myself started a mantra while J chewed the quid. I was keeping track of time and at the 20min mark I told J to spit out the quid and smoke the extract. This is the critical point where mistakes were made, all on my part.

Mistake #1- I didn’t ask J if he was feeling anything from the quid. 4 grams doesn’t do anything for me so I assumed it wasn’t doing anything for him. It was.

Mistake #2 – I used a newly made, untested, and more powerful 8x extract.

Mistake 3# - I packed the bowl with enough for 2-3 hits, incase J wanted to do more than one, as was necessary for him during his previous attempts. I forgot J can take massive hits from the water pipe. I also didn’t know he intended to take the largest hit he possibly could and hold it in for as long as he could. In short, with one hit he smoked the entire contents of the large bowl.

After taking the hit, J held his breath for quite a while and then exhaled loudly and forcefully. After a few seconds his eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped and he bolted upright to a sitting position. The expression on his face was one of shock and panic. He proceeded to “roll around” on the floor in a very bizarre manner, while D and myself tried to get him to relax and lie back down by talking to him gently and lightly touching him. He then started to shout for his mother, who wasn’t in the building. At this point he tried to stand up and run out of the room. He was extremely uncoordinated and could hardly walk. He crashed into numerous objects, tables, etc on his way for the door. He made it into his living room with D and myself right behind him. He kept shouting “What are you guys doing?” every time we tried to get him to sit down or stop moving.

At this point he said we had to go, get out and leave and he attempted to open the door to go out of the apartment. I was holding the door closed but he was starting to concern me as he is a very large person who is a body builder and I weigh about 150lbs. I was worried he might interpret my actions to contain him as hostile. He was that out of it. It didn’t seem like he realized the door was locked and couldn’t open it. So I turned around to get him a glass of water that D seemed to think might somehow help him. As soon as I turned around…..click….he figured out how to unlock the door and was out into the hallway.

He is the Superintendent of his apartment building and now he’s in the hallway heavily under Salvia’s grasp. This is when I thought things had really gotten out of hand as now the display was going to turn public. Lucky for all of us the hallway was empty and he was only a few feet from the door closely examining the wallpaper on the wall. I went up to him and mentioned D had something for him (the glass of water) and he seemed to respond to this and go over to her. She was able to lead him back into the apartment and I closed and locked the door. He seemed to be calming down so we lead him to sit down on the couch with us. We set on the couch for a few seconds before he started shouting “What are you doing?” and bolted towards his room. When he got in his room he dropped to a kneeling position blanking staring straight ahead.

Finally after a few more minutes he asked for a glass of water, which once he was given it, asked where it came from. He then looked at me and asked what just happened. He forgot about smoking Salvia. He was very confused and disorientated. From smoking the hit to asking for the glass of water about 10 minutes had elapsed.

What was happening during the trip;

J remembers smoking the hit and holding it in until he “saw” himself from the perspective of over my shoulder, he could actually see himself! The next thing he recalls is the room suddenly lit up with a bright blue light (no lights were turned on) then the room completely dissolved in blackness. He then finds himself in a strange city surrounded by large buildings when he realizes a large black wave or a giant black wall is rising up to engulf the city, and everyone in it. He is aware of D and myself being with him. He can hear us but can only see our faces, which materialize out of the blackness in front of him, when we get really close to him. He doesn’t understand why we aren’t trying to escape with him. He doesn’t understand why we keep trying to stop him from getting away, hence the shouting of “What are you guys doing?” All he feels is that something very large is coming to get him and all of us and there is nothing we can do to stop it. He feels once this wave gets to him he will die. He was obviously coming close to experiencing ego death.

The next thing he remembers is getting the glass of water. He doesn’t recall leaving the apartment at all. He says he never felt hostile towards D and myself but couldn’t understand why we weren’t reacting the same as him. During the experience he was not seeing his apartment at all, he didn’t recognize his surroundings, his apartment door was a door in an other building in Salvia space. His comment was he “got ejected out of a cannon from this reality at light speed, Wham! Just like that I was gone! That plant really kicked my ass!”

In retrospect, it seems I was more scared during the experience than was J! Although initially very shocked and shook up over the experience, he felt he gained many insights about himself and consciousness during the course of the trip. He couldn’t stop talking about his experience and thought it was “amazing” He concluded the black wall or wave to be a “wall of consciousness that he had to someday cross” After a few hours he wanted to try another trip.

As he continues to integrate all he experienced he is very grateful to me for introducing him to the plant and wants to pursue its use. I thought I was an experienced user and wasn’t prepared for the reaction of someone else to a high dose. My experience of Salvia is that of a relaxed, contemplative and introspective state. The look of terror and panic on J’s face was unforgettable. I’ve never seen an adult that scared before. I am feeling leery about sitting for him again or providing him with more Salvia.

Lessons learned in retrospect:

Although nothing negative happened in the end the potential was definitely there. J was completely out of control and could not be reasoned with nor calmed down. This is a plant that should be approached with respect and caution.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 29786
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 14, 2006	Views: 17,073
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Salvia divinorum (44) : Guides / Sitters (39), Second Hand Report (42), Difficult Experiences (5), Small Group (2-9) (17)