Observations placeholder
Arthur, James D - 10 Death itself is a magic beckoning
Identifier
011326
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Like many plants and substances that provide an experience one cannot control, it is essential that you have a ‘sitter’ – a helper who is able to provide support. In the following very graphic observations and comments it should be clear why – it is not just that the plant itself is medically a problem, but that the experience may result in you ‘not coming back’ or not being able to find your way back.
Salvia knocks out the memory in a very very effective way. All you have left to go on are your perceptions and perceptions on their own are not enough to help – it is only the memory that has structured information on who you are, your address, your name, your life…. The perceptions are only a log of events. You need memory to live on an everyday basis, so without it not only may you lose all recollection of the experience which is bad enough, but you may lose all recollection that you are having an experience, which is far far worse.
A description of the experience
Salvia Divinorum – J D Arthur
It seemed that this particular session was the most pronounced and immediate contact I'd experienced to date. This was the first time I'd felt such an emphatic and personal invitation from such an unknown source.
This scenario would repeat itself quite often in the years to come. There is usually a group of people beckoning me in a genuinely friendly manner to join them. The state this appeal engenders is very paradoxical. On the one hand, it seems a magical opportunity, the possibilities of which seem limitless. On the other hand, one is gradually given to understand that death itself is a magical beckoning that holds endless promise as well.
Whether these two states of invitation are one and the same is unknown.
At this point, I've declined the invitations, since, to fully acquiesce, it would seem that one should be willing to accept equally the genuine possibility of either option.
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One extremely frightening concept began to make its appearance during this time, as well as in many times subsequently. I was becoming more involved in the reality of my visions, while at the same time relinquishing all memory of my former self. It was as if I might actually "awaken" in one of these realms, with no memory to serve as a way of returning. This feeling that one could slip so easily to the other side is quite terrifying, yet is so common, that it seems intrinsic to the journey
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E. present. Very strong direct experience. Taken by presences - had the distinct feeling that I could "wake up" over there - in very ordinary circumstances. It seemed as if they were encouraging me to do so.
It was as if I could awaken over there and this world would be a dream that would fade. It appeared that I was seated there and was wearing some sort of white coat. There might have been a tile floor. There were myriad associations or facets of affection that I seemed to be rapidly experiencing - none specifically, it seemed, from this or that world: very commonplace feelings swiftly moving past my awareness.
Again there was a difference of language or, more specifically, a range of alien memories or associations, which were familiar on a very deep level, but were at the same time foreign to another part of myself, As I felt myself returning, I knew I would have to relinquish them.
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I then began having the sensation that people were attempting to get through to me, as if l were unconscious, and they were trying to establish communication and rouse me. I had the frightening thought that I might "come to" in someone else's body - in someone else's life - and would have no memory of my other life.
It seemed very plausible, in that state, that such occurrences could take place.