Salvinorin A Journeys
       
       
        My own experiments with salvinorin A began in December 1994, following a
        highly coincidental meeting with Daniel Siebert. I first learned of
        salvinorin A when a copy of The Entheogen Review arrived in the mail
        containing Siebert's article. The following day I went to Los Angeles on
        business matters and to visit friends, and quite out of the blue was
        introduced to Siebert by someone I'd just met that day. The occasion of
        this unlikely meeting gave me assurance that I was meant to work with this
        powerful entheogen, despite Siebert's numerous reports of those who found
        the journey harrowingly unpleasant.
         

        My journeys with salvinorin A (hereafter called salvinorin) are more varied
        than those of any other psychedelic I've used, and include both my best and
        worst psychedelic journeys. My understanding and the content of these
        journeys has evolved with repeated use. Certain ideas and perceptions have
        become clearer as I've become familiar with the territory, although the
        entire experience still remains largely incomprehensible, and there exists
        a feeling of having just stepped over the threshold into an immensely vast
        dimension. A description of the general framework of most of my salvinorin
        journeys is given below. followed by excerpts of notes from my journeys.
        Also presented are reports from other experimenter's journeys, which will
        assist in offering a more comprehensive view of the realms available
        through Salvia divinorum.

        My experiences with salvinorin can be divided into three phases or periods,
        the onset, trance, and return. These periods closely match the unfolding of
        a smoked DMT experience. Initial effects are felt within 10-20 seconds,
        with the peak being reached in another 30 seconds or so. I usually stay at
        this peak, in trance, for 3 to 10 minutes, after which there is a 10 to 20
        minute decline to baseline. When used with another psychedelic the duration
        of a salvinorin experience can be increased several fold.
        Salvinorin comes on with an irresistibly powerful, spiraling force which is
        much stronger than that felt on any other psychedelic. During the onset I
        quickly fall into a trance, while my body feels permeated by "needle-like"
        anesthetic sensations. Both of these sensations are quite similar to what I
        feel during the onset of smoked N.N. DMT. Within seconds of this first
        phase, the salvinorin separates my awareness from my body, similarly to
        what occurs with 5-MeO- DMT or Ketamine. Salvinorin is quite distinct from
        Ketamine. however, in that like DMT, salvinorin exudes a strongly
        life-positive energy, where Ketamine does not necessarily have this
        predilection.

        Following this, I go on an internal journey while my body is lying down in
        trance. My experience. or recollection, of this second phase varies
        greatly. Sometimes I perceive the most cosmic, wondrous, and detailed of
        universes. while at other times I recallabsolutely nothing- In these moments of recalling nothing, I've often felt as though I only smoked the salvinorin a few moments ago and have retained consciousness the entire time. I then look at a clock and realize five or ten minutes have passed that I can not account for. I've developed a theory for this vast difference in the experiences which I'll discuss later.
        The amount of time I spend in the trance, and how high I am upon returning
        to bodily awareness, varies with each journey. It seems that I am normally
        pulled out of the trance by some type of sound. At home this may be a car
        passing by, while out in nature it seems that a bird will chirp or a bug
        will fly around my head. In most instances, the sound which pulls me out of
        the trance seems like a distraction which is interfering with the
        experience. It is not surprising that the Mazatecs recommend that it be
        done in quiet. There is a tendency for awareness to lock onto individual
        perceptions during the return phase, and for these perceptions to appear to
        fill the entire universe. This has been particularly noted by Siebert and
        myself when music was being played during the trip. The portion of the
        journey immediately following the trance is often the most intense and
        leaves the strongest impressions.

        While coming out of the trance the bodily anesthetic sensations often
        persist, and are stronger when I come out of the trance prematurely. These
        feelings can be compared to the "needles and pins" sensation of trying to
        move an arm or leg which has fallen asleep. Following one journey I wrote
        "I must have willed myself to move, and felt the anesthesia sensations
        gripping me firmly, with an almost cutting sensation. It was not exactly
        painful. It felt as though I was tightly gripped by millions of sharp
        fingernails applying minimal pressure, but if I moved I would be cut to
        shreds." This can also be experienced as a "tearing" sensation over the
        entire surface of the body. Siebert has described intensified feelings of
        this type as "various sensations of motion, or being pulled or twisted by
        forces of some kind." On occasion these sensations have been very pleasant,
        closer to Pendell's "like soft cat paws pressing, or like a bunch of bird
        tongues lapping the mind. Or like tiny fingers, the way ivy fingers reach out to climb a wall..."

        The most constant internal experience in my salvinorin journeys is a
        drastic shift in my sense of identity and conscious perception. At the
        onset of the experience my identity is completely dislodged from
        my body and familiar self. Following this I experience myself as existing,
        but not as a body, human, or personality. I usually find myself in some
        alternate dimension, which can either closely resemble earth, or be
        entirely alien. Quite often the worlds visited under the influence of
        salvinorin do not obey the laws of physics which we are typically
        accustomed to. The action of the forces of gravity and momentum, the
        dimension of time, and the geometric construction of these worlds, can be
        rather bizarre.

        There is also an apparent reduction in boundaries, and the sensation that
        my "being" can literally enter and inhabit various objects, including
        inanimate ones. There have been numerous reports from people who have had
        quite vivid and convincing experiences of becoming objects such as a
        dresser drawer. As I begin traversing these unusual dimensions I feel
        driven by forces which I don't fully understand, but which I believe to be
        influenced by my set and setting. At the point I come out of tile trance,
        external reality begins making an imprint on my experience and accelerates
        the return to normal awareness. Some of my more interesting journeys are
        described below.

       
          1. D.M. Turner- 1.3 mg. salvinorin

          2. D.M. Turner - 400 to 800 mcg. salvinorin

          3. Anonymous - approximately 1.7 mg salvinorin

          4. D.M. Turner - 350 mcg. salvinorin with 300 mcg. LSD

          5.  D.M. Turner - 650 mcg. Salvinorin with 500 mcg. LSD

          6.  D.M. Turner - Salvinorin with LSD
           
          7.  D.M. Turner - 850 mcg. Salvinorin with 40 mg. 2C-B 

          8.  D.M. Turner - 30 mg. N.N. DMT   (subsequent to smoking Salvinorin)
          9.   D.M. Turner - 650 mcg. Salvinorin with 30 mg. N.N. DMT
          10. D.M. Turner - 750 mcg. Salvinorin with 600 mcg. LSD
          11. B. Schuldes - 2 "bong hits" Salvia leaf with 350-450 mcg. LSD
          12 . Daniel Siebert - June 6, 1993: The Breakthrough  
          13. Mantid -  one water-pipe hit of Salvia divinorum leaf
          14. D.M. Turner - Salvia divinorum leaf, smoked outdoors
          15. D.M. Turner - unspecified quantity Salvinorin with LSD
          16. D.M. Turner - 10 chewed Salvia divinorum leaves
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