First time

"The sand below me was spiraling into the sun"

by Andrew

Imagine coming to the realization that you’ve been entirely alone throughout your existence. Everyone and everything else was just part of the massive mind that controlled you, and you alone. This is how I felt after my first date with the Lady Salvia.

Two of my friends and I bought salvia from a head shop right down the street. It was the same head shop that we bought whip-its from so we weren’t expecting anything but a fun time…I was so unprepared. The three of us sat on a blanket at a beach-like coast by the lake near sunset. After my first hit, I felt my feet tingle a little. I paused for a second, and after my second hit, I felt the tingling moving rapidly up to the rest of my body. As I passed the pipe to one of my friends, I noticed that her hand was becoming tiny (like a baby’s hand) with some sort of unexplainable dimensional properties that normal matter doesn’t have. That’s when I realized that my friends weren’t really there. It was almost like I had some kind of gear on my head my entire life, like a telescope, that had made me believe I was somewhere I wasn’t. I felt like I lost that “telescope”, and everything around me disappeared. I felt terrified and helpless because I had really been at the mercy of the sunset since the beginning of time. The sand below me was spiraling into the sun, and I fought and squirmed with my tiny two-dimensional arms and legs. Everything that was part of the universe (my friends, the sky, the water) laughed hysterically at my struggle. I remember thinking that it was pointless, and this was my eternity. It seems weird that this trip only lasted 3 minutes.

As I began to come down from the trip, my friend and I were screaming almost furiously at each other while laughing to the point of crying. She asked me to “feel how wet her eyes were from laughing so hard.” For some unexplainable reason, that statement made me livid, and she was livid because I stood up. That point of the trip only lasted about 30 seconds, and I can’t explain those emotions I had.

I assumed that I had been squirming and convulsing madly throughout my trip, but my friends told me that I just sat still on the blanket, peacefully gazing at the sunset. I thought about it afterwards – about what I might have been so afraid of. My best explanation is that everything kept changing, and I was desperate for a sense of permanence.

I have some advice for people who are thinking of trying salvia. Try it with one or two people that you really trust…I wouldn’t exceed five. (I might as well do it by myself because I’m alone after two hits anyway.) Make an assessment on the friends you’re considering – Are they pleasant and laid back, or are they uptight and volatile? This should help you decide whom to bring. Set some ground rules. No one should be messing around with anyone else who is tripping. Have an idea of what’s about to happen. For me, it was like 3 minutes in hell, but I feel enlightened and more creative after embracing the intensity. I know I’ll be back for more.