loverofreality's image and trip report:

With my wife as a sitter I was ready to begin my first real smoking experience with Salvia Divinorum. I had a bowl of raw leaf in a small water pipe and a mattress on the floor of our living room. At the last minute my mother called me from Arizona to tell me about having moved from the home which she raised me in, after my parents divorce, into another house. She was elated, as this was quite a step up, both in home and neighborhood. A series of small miracles had culminated in the move, which closed a chapter in her life as well as mine. Feeling a bit preoccupied with the impending salvia trip I shared her joy but not with complete presence. After the conversation I unplugged the phone. I sat down to center myself. My wife asked, well are you going to go for it? I said yes and explained that when I was finished smoking I would hand her the lighter and she should then blow out the candles to leave us in complete darkness. I was not sure what was going to happen because I was working with raw leaf. I thought that I would have to take 2 or 3 hits to really get an effect and at best might get a level 1 or 2 experience. I lit the pipe and inhaled vigorously the smoke, which turned out to be hotter and harsher than I expected. I was unable to take as much smoke as with other substances. When I finished the first hit my wife went to take the pipe and I signaled for her not to, still thinking I would need a second hit. My wife got up to attend to something in the other room. A bit flustered, I set the pipe on the dresser and lay down, blowing out the hit I had just taken. I thought, well, when she returns after a few minutes, I?ll start again and everything will be o.k. At this point I sort of forgot that I had smoked salvia and was overtaken by a very peculiar feeling. It was as if I was in a desert place that was very southwest in nature and my field of vision was taken up by a very subtle light show that could most easily be described as the aura of a saguaro cactus. I had the strong feeling of being in a particular place. Was it Mexico? Arizona?

Suddenly I realized that I was tripping on salvia. Whoa, is this what it does? Oh My GOD this stuff is powerful! I sat up, feeling the need to ground myself and then thought better of it and laid back down for my own safety. I was a little scared by the intensity of the experience and At the same time coherent enough to protect my body and Identify with the witness, unaffected by the experience. At some point during all this my wife walked back and forth between the couch and me, brushing against my arm and somewhat distracting me. I felt like getting up again and just starting to talk but she blew out the candles and sat down. I asked for her to hold my hand. She later told me that the time between smoking and holding my hand was like a minute or two at the very most. I was breathing heavily, watching my breath and just feeling. I began to project my own uneasiness on to my wife and that somehow detached me from it. I became more aware of the witness.  Soon I began to talk and laugh saying how intense it was and I began to feel very good. Realization of what had happened so quickly began to hit me in waves and I would laugh each time almost wanting to cry, felling incredible amazement. My wife said wow that was short and I told her that I was still heavily tripping. I found her touch to be comforting enough that I was able to relax into the experience for the next few minutes. We continued to talk for the next 20 minutes or so and I enjoyed the afterglow, a body high that at times felt so purely content full I felt overflowing with joy.

A few days later I drew an interesting picture with crayon of an adobe house in red with a saguaro in front and a kaleidoscope of colored lines above it. This was one of the few pieces of art i've done that i actually like. It was patently salvia inspired. Over the next couple of months, a series of unplanned events occurred that lead us to buy a house in Arizona, the last place we ever planned to move. We painted the interior of the house many different colors and later realized that they were the same as the ones in the art inspired by the trip. Hmmmmm....
 

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