Deep Spirits

dermot wrote:A question,
could Salvia be the product i hear is being used by people who are doing the Shaking thingy?

What's the Shaking thingy?

Thats a good question Sabina, and im glad you asked me????

OK, I have heard recetly of a group of people organising what they call 'Shaking' sessions, this is basically rythmic manic movement designed to liberate the being from their own minds.

They also use some substance or other either through smoking or inhalation and i wondered if it might be Salvia.
The whole experience seems to be directed to or at vulnerable individuals, im not sure what the ultimate goal of these people actually is.....but it seems ethically wrong.
d.

dermot wrote:....im not sure what the ultimate goal of these people actually is.....but it seems ethically wrong.

LOL!!

Dermot, I am not sure what to tell you..
I haven't heard of these sessions, maybe I'm not vulnerable enough?

They may use Salvia or Marijuana maybe??
No idea... depends on what they are hoping to achieve I suppose.

S.

Middle aged people, recruited through dubious means, being encouraged to smoke/sniff some substance whilst engaging in manic 'shaking' of the body...bringing on a sense of euphoria, and needless to say ...parting with money.

Its the new 'Bingo'?

Or maybe they are secretly only there to watch other people shake their bodies?

And whatever substance they are using removes inhibitions and allows them to shake it good...

It's a possibility.

I wouldn't be surprised if such an obvious money grabbing attempt would use an addictive substance. I doubt salvia is part of it though, there's better alternatives that would still allow for the "shakers" to remain stood up. x]

As an aside it's worth noting that salvia isn't necessarily toxicity free or non-addictive, studies into such simply haven't been long term enough to know for sure. Though thus far most signs are good.

I have to agree with enjoitherhythm, if you're looking for an extended chance to lucidly examine your conscious experience whilst under the influence of a psychedelic salvia probably isn't the best choice. For that kind of experience I'd recommend something like a one time only trial of San Pedro with some friends, there's also LSD or shrooms but they're such a variable high and a dubious toxicity even on a one night only experiment that I'm not sure I could give my honest recommendation.

I don't readily recommend taking salvia as leaf, especially to the inexperienced psychedelic user, by extending the longevity of the time taken to trip you also open yourself up to a much higher risk of swinging into a negative mental state.
It really depends on the person though, some people, even the novice are simply lucid enough people that even when the most terrifying of hallucinations are happening to them (of which salvia is no stranger) they can remain emotionally passive to them if needed. Though if you go the extract route and go all out then often you don't get this choice but usually then things are so dizzyingly mind blowing you don't even get the chance to think that you should try and collect your thoughts, let alone try and fail to.
The more powerful mind blowing experience of the extract I think is better with salvia, I think because you don't really get the chance to feel afraid, but at the same time you're thrust into a new reality that is so inherently abhorrent that you can't help but feel like you're both incapable of fear and at the same time intrinsically made of terror, a la some Lovecraftian nightmare. Though I hope that doesn't put you off. x]
I've heard it put best by a friend of mine who said he thought salvia was "a drug for those who can appreciate a bad trip". That being said sometimes the trips can be extremely euphoric and happy, what I'm trying to say though is that a bad trip on salvia isn't bad in the traditional sense.

Personally I'd put my vote in for starting straight on a hit of 20-40x extract (any higher than that really isn't necessary). It might sound crazy to go straight into the deep zone like that, especially if you're relatively new to hallucinogens, but the slow chewing or smoking of leaf is almost incomparable to the fast intake of extract. The former often leaves people with powerful visual effects for an extended period followed by an hour, maybe two, of buzziness whereas the latter is the only option where I've known people to believe they're bacon, or feel like a dimension, or know the voice of God, y'know, that ol' gas, for 5-10 minutes and then be almost entirely sober immediately afterwards. Point being that I don't think testing the water with just a small amount of leaf will give you a good example of what to expect from the stronger extract at all and it's the extract that's easiest to achieve that conscious changing experience.
Frankly I just get tired of trying to consume enough leaf to match the effects of extract anyway, I mean even just 10-20 times the mass of one bowl of extract is a LOT of leaf.

If you do try it though then do let us hear about what you see within the Twilight Zone, the thing I love most about salvia is the anecdotes. The one about a person believing they were bacon was a true story a friend told me about their salvia experience, they thought they were fresh from the butcher and very much looking forward to being eaten. x]

My own first experience on the drug (which was also my first experience of any drug ever, I live just down the road from the Glastonbury Festival so that's what I get for it I suppose =] ) consisted of being sat in a field nearby a very tall flag and with every puff of the leaf we were smoking the flag would rock forward just a little bit further, *puff*, a little bit more, *puff* each time getting a little closer to turning right on it's head until there I was, sat in a field cheering on a flag to make it all the way around one whole revolution. Damn that flag had some spirit.