I've seen it and heard it time and again, and everytime, all I can think is "Shut up, man, you're not helping." When someone who has never tripped before asks what it's like, and should they do it, a correct response may be "yes, do it, it's great," or perhaps "I recommend it." The wrong response: "Only do it if you're in a good head. If you stay positive, it'll be good, if you think negative, it will go bad." - Bad statement to make. And while this statement is 100% true, by saying this to the person, they are now suddenly aware that bad trips can happen, and they will remember what you said, and will be so worried that they'll have a bad trip, they probably will actually have one. And that's not cool. I used to have tonnes of fun tripping out, until people started telling me about other people freaking out. And now I'm ruined, I can never enjoy acid or shrooms again, cause it'll just give me a bad trip. So people, when someone asks about it, and it's inevitable that they'll try it, just tell them that it's all good times, and hopefully it will be.
FNA: Hikaru had this said to him before he tried salvia. That is, your phrase "Yeah, it's good, I recommend it." So instead of meditating on salvia in order to find out how to free himself so he could have a good trip, he jumped right in not knowing what to expect, and this left him with an extremely bad trip. Your advice is no better than the advice you condemn.
Well sure, giving it thought isn't bad, but what I'm trying to say is that people should give others positive vibes about these things. Saying "I recommend it" is not suggestive that one should carelessly jump into anything, and no one's advice can be held responsible for that. But I stand by my statement that saying "I recommend it" is much better than telling horror stories about bad trips.
There's really no way to prepare for a trip at all. If someone wants to try something though, and they ask your advice and experience, I think it's almost unethical to simply leave them with a rather false account of what might be out there for them. If someone has just lost a family member or a pet, or if someone is about to go out to a club, I really doubt that telling them "it's good... I recomend it" is going to help them out. There really is no way to distiguish what is helping or isn't helping someone as far as their mind goes. Instead, you should ask them other questions that give the answers you might need to distinguish between situations where it might be alright for someone to trip, or situations where someone will just have a bad experience. Stuff like: "So, what are you planning on doing tonight," or maybe even as bold as "Well, if you're going to try this, how well do you know your mind and your place in the world?" If they just laugh at you or act nervous in either occasion, I'm willing to bet they'll have a bad trip. If that person actually sits down and tries to discuss these ideas that are already somewhat "out there," then I bet that person will have a somewhat deeper and more positive trip. Make sure to describe some of the more beautiful and positive aspects of tripping too... that way you kind of seed their mind for something good to follow... and then maybe even get that person to listen to some music they like, and look at images and movies of positive things that they like. In that way, tripping on anything can be a more positive experience. As far as a Salvia trip goes though, you simply have to relinquish yourself to the tribal spirits surrounding the plant due to the region it is so revered in. A plant has a spirit just like a human, a dog, or a cat. If you cannot, for lack of a better term "get down with the tribal essence" that encompasses this plant, then you are more likely to have a bad trip. Read up on some Native American and Oaxacan shamanistic studies and some of the beliefs and rituals too. This will help prepare you for experiencing the spirit that dwells in the plant. Life and death, space and time, love and loneliness.... all of these are things that the Lady of the plant can show you, but they are all relative to her as they are in the real world... It's hard to comprehend anything I'm saying here unless you can put yourself into a Naturalistic Spiritual approach. The same sort of theological and philosophical approach that would identify with the Toltec, Native American, African, and even the old Druidic and Celtic faiths. You may see things that we regard as negative things, like death or a feeling of being stripped away from all that you know. That can be scary as hell if you are not ready, as I have experienced on shrooms many times, but in these faiths, death and physical and spiritual removal from the world as you know it can be parts of life. Who ever really dies after all? Where is the difference between the two? How do we know when we are dead or even if there is anything more than a transfer of energy from one being to another? No one knows, we only theorize. In my experience, Salvia has shown me things that no one knows for sure, and it has affirmed my belief that there is no more truth to one path of belief than there is to another. There is simply a universality of faith that we all have in one form or another, but at the same time, there are certain paths for some that others might not be able to identify with. For me, it's been a spiritual journey to understand the culmination of the many beliefs that exist on our planet. The only advice I tell people when they try Salvia is to hit that shit as hard as they can, hold it for over 30 secs, and then release everything they know to being interpreted by the spirit of the plant. For a while the two spirits (the person and the plant) come together and things might seem a little distorted, but in the end it can be a very beautiful experience if one can fully emerse themselves in the spirit. That has never failed thus far, and I am glad for that.
i do not tend to look at it as tribal spirits since I recognize the usual suspects from my own psyche all over the place. but you do need to let go of things, and keep on letting go, to benefit of this.
