Monica,
I much prefer to work with plants, too, but I still think that there are certain times when syntethics like LSD are useful too. LSD is much easier to navigate once you get a hang of it, and that means you can avoid shadow work if you want. You can go directly for the light and sometimes that is very valuable. At times you might be too unstable and depressed to face deep issues with, for example, mushrooms, and a little pre-work with LSD can help you get rid of the worst, before you dive in at the deep end later.
In general, I also think that plants tend to have a very distinct and complex personality. You can feel the presence of a very old, wise and loving beeing -- and you can communicate with it. LSD is not like that, it's more transparent without any agenda of its own. Still, I think of it as a spirit, but more of a general presence without much personality. I have felt it disappear abrubtly at times, leaving you surprised and you think you've come down all of a sudden. The visuals are still there, just as strong, but the presence is gone.
If the spirit you meet with plants is actually a plant spirit or something else, I don't know. I interpret it that way, and they say they are, so for the time beeing I assume they're telling the truth. How it really works, I can't say and I don't think it's that important either. I see it as stories I tell myself, sort of a personal mythology, and I use the stories and interpretations to navigate as long as they prove useful.
About Salvia, I have very limited experience with this plant, but I could clearly feel that it's not a plant for beginners. It's very weird that it is sold in porn shops and gas stations as a mild substitute for weed, which it is not. It can be VERY degrounding, and it communicates in very bizarre ways. You need lots of experience with plant communication to get anything useful out of it most times. I found that Salvia can construct physical realities to communicate symbolic things. These realities feel more real than this one, but are not necessarily intended to be taken literally. I've read many stories of people who did just that and ended up very depressed afterwards, because they thought, for example, that their friends were just card board props and not real people. That's more likely a methaphor, and not a literal fact, but I'm sure it can really feel that way. Personally, I don't want to risk messing my head up more than it already is, and I prefer gentler plant teachers.
Traditionally, Salvia is used to discover the root causes of disease. She is a master diagnostician, but not a good healer. She doesn't have much experience in communicating with humans, like Ayahuasca, Iboga and Peyote have. According to the people I know who are able to work with her in a productive way, extracts are not recommended. They are far too strong and the experience is much too abrupt and bizarre for any useful work to take place. Traditionally, fresh or dried leaves are quidded, which gives a slower onset and longer lasting experience which is much easier to work with. Dosage is also easier to control that way.
There's a permanent reverse tolerance effect with Salvia, which means that you'll need less and less to get effects. It requires patience. You need to build a relationship with the plant by approaching it slowly and carefully, and not force her with strong extracts. People with a western mindset usually think of it in terms of dosage and when they feel no effects the first time, they think they must take more and switch to extracts. That can be potentially very traumatizing, when suddenly you get much more than you bargained for. It's often wise to copy the traditional approach at first and I think it's better to work slowly and carefully with oral doses of leaf, at least until you get to know the plant well. No extracts. In time, you'll get to know her, if you feel called to work with this plant. Personally, I decided after one try, that I was not called to work with her.
Quote:I agree! I am absolutely certain this is true, at least in the case of the plants. I've long asserted that the main difference between the plants (peyote, mushrooms, etc.) vs the synthetics (LSD) is that the plants provide a presence, and can be a spiritual ally, if utilized with the proper attitude of reverence and respect. Based on my experiences with both, I had concluded that messing with the synthetics is essentially like playing a game of Russian Roulette. It's purely a chemical reaction which can open doorways of perception, but the person has very little control as to which doors get flung open.
I much prefer to work with plants, too, but I still think that there are certain times when syntethics like LSD are useful too. LSD is much easier to navigate once you get a hang of it, and that means you can avoid shadow work if you want. You can go directly for the light and sometimes that is very valuable. At times you might be too unstable and depressed to face deep issues with, for example, mushrooms, and a little pre-work with LSD can help you get rid of the worst, before you dive in at the deep end later.
In general, I also think that plants tend to have a very distinct and complex personality. You can feel the presence of a very old, wise and loving beeing -- and you can communicate with it. LSD is not like that, it's more transparent without any agenda of its own. Still, I think of it as a spirit, but more of a general presence without much personality. I have felt it disappear abrubtly at times, leaving you surprised and you think you've come down all of a sudden. The visuals are still there, just as strong, but the presence is gone.
If the spirit you meet with plants is actually a plant spirit or something else, I don't know. I interpret it that way, and they say they are, so for the time beeing I assume they're telling the truth. How it really works, I can't say and I don't think it's that important either. I see it as stories I tell myself, sort of a personal mythology, and I use the stories and interpretations to navigate as long as they prove useful.
About Salvia, I have very limited experience with this plant, but I could clearly feel that it's not a plant for beginners. It's very weird that it is sold in porn shops and gas stations as a mild substitute for weed, which it is not. It can be VERY degrounding, and it communicates in very bizarre ways. You need lots of experience with plant communication to get anything useful out of it most times. I found that Salvia can construct physical realities to communicate symbolic things. These realities feel more real than this one, but are not necessarily intended to be taken literally. I've read many stories of people who did just that and ended up very depressed afterwards, because they thought, for example, that their friends were just card board props and not real people. That's more likely a methaphor, and not a literal fact, but I'm sure it can really feel that way. Personally, I don't want to risk messing my head up more than it already is, and I prefer gentler plant teachers.
Traditionally, Salvia is used to discover the root causes of disease. She is a master diagnostician, but not a good healer. She doesn't have much experience in communicating with humans, like Ayahuasca, Iboga and Peyote have. According to the people I know who are able to work with her in a productive way, extracts are not recommended. They are far too strong and the experience is much too abrupt and bizarre for any useful work to take place. Traditionally, fresh or dried leaves are quidded, which gives a slower onset and longer lasting experience which is much easier to work with. Dosage is also easier to control that way.
There's a permanent reverse tolerance effect with Salvia, which means that you'll need less and less to get effects. It requires patience. You need to build a relationship with the plant by approaching it slowly and carefully, and not force her with strong extracts. People with a western mindset usually think of it in terms of dosage and when they feel no effects the first time, they think they must take more and switch to extracts. That can be potentially very traumatizing, when suddenly you get much more than you bargained for. It's often wise to copy the traditional approach at first and I think it's better to work slowly and carefully with oral doses of leaf, at least until you get to know the plant well. No extracts. In time, you'll get to know her, if you feel called to work with this plant. Personally, I decided after one try, that I was not called to work with her.