My best summary of using Salvia is it typically leads mental isolation on par with what most never-used-drugs persons think a "bad LSD trip" might be like.
Should you still want to play with this ornamental plant, I would recommend you become comfortable with psilocibin, ketamine, LSD, and especially high-dosage mescaline. If any of these should become addictions, mushrooms are probably the least-harmful entheogen (I'm not counting marijuana, which is "nothing" compared to any drugs discussed above).
I have tried both LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, and while LSD was very interesting I did not like being tied-up for half a day with no immediate way out of it. Psilocybin mushrooms were to me similar to LSD but a very bumpy and somewhat unpleasant ride, in lack of a better description. Similarly, I did not like being stuck with that high for roughly 8 hours, nor did I enjoy the recovery afterwards. With salvia none of these feelings weighed on me since with tincture and smoking it was a short and to me fully manageable experience. I'm aware that when chewing fresh leaves the entire process is much longer.
There's at least anecdotal evidence of that
https://www.reddit.com/r/CureAphantasia/comments/1cc01zl/why...
> I tried salvia after years of reading about people's experiences with it.
So it's all about you.
No, it really is about everyone else and not forfeiting their chance to experience something new by dissuading them with misinformation or some cautionary tale about an isolated fate that possibly was not at all about salvia.
I didn't bumble into salvia with no information on hand. I went there after reading about it, its effects, potential risks, chemistry, first-hand experiences etc. for years. A lifetime of side effects is not something associated with salvia.
I've only heard stories about Salvia, but from some pretty hard core psychonauts whom I wouldn't expect to be afraid of anything.
I get bad vibes from what I've read about side effects of Ketamine though, nothing I feel like doing to my body.
Cannabis is a daily part of my life, for two decades. In the same way I'm "trying to drink less coffee," I'm trying to vape less, too... but everybody should try LSD and/or DMT at least once in their lifetime (but not before becoming comfortable with psilocibin).
After a few incredibly strange experiences, the last time I smoked it the trip came on then it told me "don't ever come back here" and that was it. The whole trip was like 30 seconds. That was almost 30 years ago.
A bad LSD or mushroom trip is scary in a much different way. I was pretty fearless when younger with these things but never wanted to see what that salvia demon thing would do if I went back.
Anything amanita related never sounded much fun to me.
This is absolutely chilling because this was exactly how I told myself to "quit," 20 years ago, after only my third time smoking Salvia. *Specifically: "it told me:" because IT is YOU, which you're entirely unaware of [disassociation] while experiencing an intense few minutes of horror/wisdom/input as a bodyless spirit.
Thanks for sharing.
Salvia was the most profound experience I’ve had from a drug. I got to witness a reboot and POST of myself, with discrete functions coming back online in stages.
Nothing has been like that before or sense.
Twice was enough. I learned something from it but it wasn’t fun and that lesson need not be repeated.
I agree that the intensity / experience was enough to only try a few times (3x myself).
I've now heard of this kind of trip with Salvia a few times--the notion of an immense amount of time passing, people being a flower on a wall for years, or a chip of paint for decades. Mostly the impression that I got was that it wasn't a nice experience in anyway.
Could you say more in what way the time passing felt for you? Was it only positive and interesting? Or did you feel trapped?
It was an incredible experience. I had the "talking part" trying to describe what it was perceiving, while the other parts were mostly surprised they were actually "found." I remember a part was a "major player" like the talking one, but it couldn't express things in words. I remember also a part that focused on fear and a sense of urgency. Wild stuff.
I got out of the trip reconsidering a lot of things about myself. It made me be less focused on my obsessions, and pay more attention to my needs. It is sad I forget so many things from trips like this.
The first time was with tincture. My entire left body half became intoxicated in the exact same way as when drunk on alcohol. The left half of my body had difficulties with balance, coordination and motor functions. The vision on my left eye was impaired by the eye refusing to stay on target. Most interestingly, the left half of my brain was also influenced, giving me problems with speaking fluently and thinking straight. My right body half was completely unaffected, instilling me with a sense that humans were composed of two distinct halves rather than one body.
The second time was also with tincture. Nothing happened. No sensations of any kind.
The third time was with tincture and by smoking. It was a profound experience. I dozed off and dreamt that I was a nut on the branch of a tree. The wind swept me away and threw me onto a meadow where I sprouted and began to grow. I experienced life as a sapling, growing for years and years until I was an old tree, and I had vivid and fresh memories of seeing countless springs, summers, autumns and winters coming and going. When I came out of it I had an exhausted feeling in my chest reminiscent of waking up from long and deep sleep, and in my mind I had the memory and feeling of having lived for a hundred years, and a strong sense of an incredible amount of time having gone by since I smoked the salvia.
The last time I used it was by smoking. I experienced merging with things I touched. I sat on the floor and leaned back against a sofa, and felt my back sinking into the sofa and becoming part of it. I laid down on the floor, and felt my back fusing with the floor. I drank water from a glass and felt as if the glass didn't want to "let go" of my hand.
Smoking salvia hit almost instantly. With tincture, which was to be kept in the mouth for 10+ minutes but not swallowed, it took close to 20 minutes before the sensations begun. All of the trips lasted no more than 15-20 minutes and I never had any kind of hangover or lingering effects other than the (positive) emotional and psychological phases of reflecting on the experiences.