by J D Arthur
EPILOGUE
Any writings hoping to chronicle the exploration of a substance as remarkable and complex as salvia must be seen as a continuing process. In a work such as this there is no end point, no conclusion. One can only hope to delineate a certain sequence of experiences, within a defined time frame. At some point a choice must be made to begin that framing process with a given number of events.
My aim has been to highlight those significant occurrences that took place within that window. Over the course of five years, certain consistencies have made themselves manifest in the experiences elaborated through salvia. It is this group of perceptual and experiential benchmarks that defined the uniqueness of the salviaic experience. To continue delineating this same perceptual framework with additional experiential entries would seem redundant. It seems as though salvia can lead to a certain type of abstract threshold. At some point one must choose to cross or abandon that threshold. I have endeavored to describe the topography, as I’ve witnessed it, leading up to that boundary. To cross over would entail, it seems, a complete immersion in the unknown to such a depth as would be virtually limitless.
In my own case, if such a crossing should occur, the results, I would think, would be as indescribable as they were intensely personal. Either quality, it would seem, would preclude recounting. Anecdotal accounts, after a period of time, would seem to serve no purpose, since salvia itself yields its secrets so directly and completely.
During the compilation of these notes, salvia was a legal hallucinogen throughout the United States and much of the world. In the last few years, the situation has begun to change. Shamanic exploration through the use of salvia is now illegal in quite a few countries and extending to many states in the United States. Before long, any such exploration will, no doubt, be viewed as a criminal pursuit.
It seems an unflattering snapshot of the modern Western psyche that the elusive treasure retrieved more than forty years ago by two men who ventured into the Mexican mountains has been discarded in such an ignorant, tragic way.
For those who may choose to investigate the landscape opened through salvia, I can only echo a fragment of a curandero’s prayer:
Lord (Saint Peter) attend him
That he may see the Universe
What there is in the world
Everything
Help him, raise him
May he see what there is
All that he wishes to know
Save him, care for him
FOOTNOTES
A Note to the Reader
*1 An excellent resource for the latest information on the legal status of salvia is the Salvia divinorum Research and Information Center (www.sagewisdom.org/legal status).
Introduction
*1 The traditional shamanic folk healers of Mexico and Central and South America.
Chapter 2
*1 This loss of memory, apparently, came on very rapidly, since moments before, Id been aware that Id smoked salvia and what salvia was. I wasnt actually aware of the point at which this amnesic state began, but only when I attempted to recollect did I notice my dilemma.
*2 I’ve endeavored to describe this unique state in detail in a subsequent chapter.
Chapter 3
*1 Emanuel Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia vol. 3, revised and edited by John Faulkner Potts (West Chester: Swedenborg Foundation, 1984). Reprinted by permission of the Swedenborg Foundation.
Chapter 4
*1 This phenomenon is one that is usually associated with hallucinogenic use, wherein a series of thoughts, perceptions, and the like are forgotten after returning to one’s ordinary awareness, yet come into memory once again the next time one enters the hallucinogenic state.
*2 Swedenborg described heaven and eternity as being essentially outside of time, being a perception of degree or “state.”
*3 I had been aware of the phrase flesh of the gods in reference to hallucinogenic mushrooms. I was under the impression that this was an ancient term, going back before the conquest, used to describe the mushrooms themselves. This was a new context for the phrase that was unfamiliar, since it described a distinct somatic perception, rather than the mushrooms that might engender such a perception.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. D. Arthur began experimenting with hallucinogens during the 1960s. This led to a lifelong interest in spirituality and the enhancement of awareness. He works with disabled adults as well as people with mental illness and lives in northern New England.
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Copyright © 2008, 2010 by James D. Arthur
Originally published in 2008 by iUniverse under the title Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Note to the reader: This book is intended as an informational guide. The approaches and techniques described herein should not be used by anyone with a history of mental illness or to treat a serious ailment.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arthur, J. D. (James Arthur)
Salvia divinorum : doorway to thought-free awareness / J.D. Arthur.
p. ; cm.
Originally published as: Peopled darkness / J.D. Arthur. iUniverse. c2008.
eISBN-13: 978-1-59477-972-5
1. Salvia divinorum. 2. Hallucinations and illusions. I. Arthur, J. D. (James Arthur) Peopled darkness. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Hallucinogens—Personal Narratives. 2. Salvia—Personal Narratives. 3. Awareness—Personal Narratives. QV 77.7 A788s 2010]
RM324.8.A78 2010
615'.7883—dc22
2009045797
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