Salvia Taught Me Something Totally Different Than Other Psychedelics

Out of all the psychedelic substances I have ingested thus far in my life, salvia (aka salvia divinorum) was the most memorable.

Maybe part of reason my experience on salvia were so profound was due to the fact that this was my first potent psychedelic experience of any kind. My first psychedelic experience ever occurred had occurred a few months to a year prior when I was still going to school in Atlanta. I didn't realize until later that the LSD I tried was a particularly low dose, some might even call it weaksauce.

So, for some intents and purposes, an argument could be made that this salvia was my first fantastical foray into a full fledged full on no holds-barred massive psychedelic experience.

For those who haven't tried or are unaware or how salvia divinorum works, it's essentially a crushed plant that is smoked, not unlike marijuana. But unlike marijuana, which doesn't really produce any hallucinogenic effects, and unlike other hallucinogenic substances whose effects can last anywhere from a few up to roughly 12 hours, the experience on salvia usually lasts 10 - 15 minutes. Despite the relatively brief effects of salvia, and even though I've never gotten into the Ayahuasca or Ibogaine scene, I feel confident when I say that salvia is on the same level of intensity as those two. In addition to meeting several traveling Shamen share their experiences about either/or Ayahuasca and Ibogaine, I’ve heard from a surprising number of regular, everyday people talk about of their profound, intense hallucinatory visuals that changed and shifted the lives of nearly everyone who's tried it. Just google Ayahuasca experiences and you'll see what I mean.

However, my goal isn't to compare these substances. I'm simply trying to share my experiences as I remember them in hope of revealing that these substances, in proper and safe settings can have profound, largely positive effects. Since my salvia trip, I've tried healthy doses of LSD, XTC, psilocybin mushrooms and peyote.

While all of these experiences have taught me many life-changing lessons, I've noticed it's with more frequency that I think back to my salvia trip. It wasn't just the effect of feeling like I was launched outside my body into another dimension, but most importantly it was the lessons this plant taught me in the process.

Please note again, my goal is not to denigrate or lessen of my experiences on other substances. I'm only sharing my experience on salvia because the lessons learned from it were radically different. I think part of why this is the case is because of where I was in my life at the time.

You see, way back in the ancient days of 2011 and beginning months of 2012, I'd just graduated from an additional two year schooling in Atlanta and was preparing to move to Cincinnati. This was before my life dramatically changed with the falling out between my best friend I. This was way before my adventures in Egypt and Canada, not to mention way before I ever gave serious credence to the idea of other beings (aside from aliens) and other dimensions existing. I was still in a mindset that wasn't entirely embracing who I was as a person. This isn't to say taking salvia divinorum changed these things, but rather, like most psychedelic drugs, opened me up to the possibility of things that are bigger than my quest for money, status and occupation. An argument could be made that salvia was the catalyst for me to live a more 'spiritual' life, meaning a life more aligned with who I was and what I wanted to do.

As I said in my other story about taking drugs, I don't feel like the hallucinations themselves are a major talking point because it's more about the integration in the days and weeks afterward. However, due to the nature of my trip on Salvia, several of the visuals experienced are directly tied to what I learned.

But it's probably better to start from the beginning of my trip. After smoking my 3rd consecutive bowl of salvia (because I'm a crazy person), it felt like I was rocketed out of my body. Not even like a gradual floating away, but more as if someone strapped a literal rocket to my brain and waved as I swiftly careened into another dimension.

The funny thing was that I wasn't afraid. Sure, it was startling to be outside my body. But I wasn't afraid because in many of my dreams over the years, I died. However, instead of waking up from those dreams just before I hit the ground or before a knife was plunged into me, the dream kept going and I experienced these momentary out of body scenes. So the salvia essentially confirmed to me what these death dreams had also showed me, that the death of the physical body is not the end of us. How comforting!

I acknowledge that salvia divinorum is not the only psychedelic substance to give people an out of body experience, let alone a sense of clarity. This is fairly common with psychedelic substances, as Joe Rogan explained in a recent podcast, noting the link between religion and psychedelics, saying that,

"Most [religions] are like guides to life in a more virtuous or pious, moral way… That's tenets of a lot of these religions. That's what you get when you trip. When you trip, you get 'you got to be a better person.' That's what you get. You get this like, profound… humbling in the face of this titanic expression and experience that you can't even describe with words. And then after it's over, you want to be a better person."

But I didn't know that at the time, not to mention that it's really hard to comprehend something like that when a plant I had just smoked launched me into another dimension! I know to some that previous sentence may sound ludicrous, but that is the best, and so far the only, way I can describe where my mind and spirit landed for a good 20 minutes after I was launched outside of my body. I mean, how else does one describe a place that is practically formless, yet breathing, that also houses beings that look kinda sorta but not really like this:

One of the strangest parts of my trip was when I had the wherewithal to attempt to look at myself while I was in this other dimension. According to certain lucid dream forums and books, one of the ways to identify whether one is dreaming or not is to look at your own hands. I can't remember ever trying this during my sleep state, but for some reason, I thought of this technique while in this altered state.

To this day, I'm not entirely sure if I had hands when I raised up my arm up. But, by even attempting to do this, my attention was drawn to something glowing inside my body. Somehow, I was able to remove this glowing object that was housed between my chest and abdomen. At first it looked like a metallic sphere, not unlike the one's I remember seeing in those terrible Phantasm movies. But shortly after I touched it, it seemed to morph slightly, into a film reel, complete with seemingly iridescent film. I was able to pull this film out, and look at it. The images in the film were my life, however, not just the one I was currently living, but all of my lives! Yes, you read that right, it included my past lives as well! What!?

While this was interesting in and of itself, the most interesting aspect of this came when I realized I could look at my future lives too! Despite this sudden idea to do so, I ultimately refrained because another idea/feeling came upon me; one that essentially said

But this feeling also felt more.... like an integrity test or something. Does that make sense? Like, if you find the answers to the math test, it's up to you to "do the right thing" or not. I'm not trying to boast, just explain what happened. This was probably one of the most profound moments for me, as it was kind of like a reminder saying something like "Oh, this is the kind of person I am." In some ways, it was also a reminder that I'm more disciplined than I give myself credit for.

Eventually, the effects began wearing off. I believe it was around this time that my friend and his brother began recording me on their phones and asking me questions. The majority of my answers were mostly wild, unrestrained laughter due to the fact that I thought it was hilarious to even attempt to describe what I was seeing and feeling. This is also when I began sketching and writing some poetry, inspired by this experience. You can read those poems and see some of those sketches in my new book, "Poetry I Wrote on Drugs."

So to recap, not only did salvia divinorum blast open my doors of perception, making me much more open to ideas of other worlds and beings, but it also served as a reminder/wake up call of the kind of person I am. It was soon after this experience that I started making some tough, yet needed choices about how I wanted to live my life and the types of people I wanted in it. If you want to read the details of those stories, go ahead, but I'm not going to recap that here.

I do want to take a moment to acknowledge that I recognize now that, especially knowing how powerful salvia is, I probably should have taken this in a setting that was more conducive to just sitting and learning, and not so much in the den of a drug dealers house. I say this because I do view salvia as a healing herb, when used under the right conditions. Because, when used in the right conditions, it appears that science might back me up a little.

While it appears as though more research needs to be done, certain studies have shown promise for salvia as a treatment in certain, specific addictions, namely cocaine. Part of this is apparently due to the unique way salvinorum-A, the main ingredient in salvia, interacts with certain brain receptors. According to one study in particular,

“Unlike other psychedelics—like MDMA and LSD, that act on serotonin systems—salvinorin-A activates a select group of κ-opioid receptors. Rats addicted to psycho-stimulants were given doses of salvinorin-A, and were observed dispensing cocaine much less often than rats addicted to stimulants without the dose of salvia.”

Several studies have also been done looking at how salvia can potentially help with pain management and Alzheimer’s as well.

I mention these studies because it would be one thing if salvia and other psychedelic plants actually had no medicinal value, as a majority of psychedelic plants are categorized according to the federal laws of the United States as described in The Controlled Substances Act. As I mentioned before, this law classifies substances like marijuana, ecstasy, LSD and mushrooms in the same category as heroin, all “schedule 1 drugs” ascribed as “[having] no medical value with a high potential for abuse,” unlike cocaine or meth, which are considered schedule 2 drugs.

The funny part is, salvia was NOT regulated under the Controlled Substances Act, yet 29 states have chosen to criminalize it anyway. But again, this is why I’ve chosen to share my story in the first place, because I believe that nature is stronger and more powerful than we give it credit. Not to mention it doesn’t really make sense to criminalize something that has potential health benefits.

The poet Brycical is by no means an expert entheogenist or psychonaut. But that isn’t going to stop him from sharing his experiences nor will it stop his interest in continued learning about various psychedelic substances or their potential health benefits. Brycical has also written about lessons learned while on other entheogenic substances. Those thoughts also happen to be the introduction to his third self-published book of poetry, titled “Poetry I Wrote on Drugs.”