Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum [Paperback]

J.D. Arthur (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2008

When James Arthur decided to experiment with Salvia divinorum, a Mexican visionary plant sacred to the Mazatecs, he was expecting a hallucinogenic experience-but not the transformation of his entire view of the world. With repeated sessions over the course of several years, he began returning to the same inner landscape, where he found himself entering a unique state of "thoughtless awareness" and accessing a mode of language that articulated a distinctive form of understanding and communication.The repeated immersion in these states of trance, as well as the analysis of their approach and withdrawal, led to a profound re-assessment of the nature of our normal perception, and a re-evaluation of our habitual sensory bias in defining what we normally refer to as the real world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

J. D. Arthur, like so many of his contemporaries, began experimenting with hallucinogens during the 1960?s. This led to a lifelong interest in spirituality and the enhancement of awareness. The advent of Salvia divinorum provided a new avenue of visionary pursuit that beckoned exploration. He lives in northern New England, where he works with disabled adults as well as people with mental illness.

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (March 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595455832
• ISBN-13: 978-0595455836
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #980,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful! Best Book yet on a Neglected Topic, August 7, 2008

By 

JLP (Schaumburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum (Paperback)

Readers or collectors of books on entheogens (a.k.a. psychedelics or 'hallucinogens') have reason to celebrate this year (2008) due to the publication of J. D. Arthur's magnificent book. "Peopled Darkness" is a beautifully written, penetrating, and haunting account/analysis of Arthur's personal salvia divinorum experiences. It ranks way up there among classics of its genre such as Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" and D. M. Turner's "Salvinorin"; arguably, it's the finest piece of writing on salvia yet published. This is a book to be read, savored slowly, and reread.

Arthur is at first turned off by the arbitrariness of his salvia visions, but is also fascinated, and then slowly but surely finds himself drawn to a strange and compelling world that follows an elusive yet unmistakable dream logic. Not quite the hallucinogen he expected it to be, salvia for Arthur becomes a portal to an inner universe - "totally alien yet utterly familiar" - peopled by mysterious `presences' (spirits?) and held together by its own peculiar consistency and modes of communication.

Is this universe `real'? Western culture tends to focus on external, repeatable and measurable `reality' and be dismissive of fluid internal states. But, as Arthur notes, the salviaic experience throws this apparently rock-solid reality into question by exposing its ultimate dependence on the observer, an internal entity (shades of quantum physics here). Furthermore, the reality opened to us by salvia has its own validity, and perhaps, even its intimate connections to our everyday consensual one. It's as valid as our own thoughts, dreams and highest aspirations, which are certainly not 'hallucinations' even though they may lack spatio-temporality.

Arthur's writing is engaging, yet sober and free of the unbridled speculation that often mars writing in this genre. It leads one to think deeply about the salviaic state and realize that there is much more to it than first meets even the `third eye'.

"Peopled Darkness" is destined to be a classic of entheogenic literature.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Intriguing Inner Voyage, April 26, 2008

By 

William G. Scheller (Vermont, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum (Paperback)

J.D. Arthur's Peopled Darkness is a milestone in the literature of experimentation with naturally-occuring psychoactive substances.

The term "experiment," used in connection with anything mind-altering, often seems a rather high-flown euphemism for an idle and shallow adventure; the media even reports on adolescents "experimenting with alcohol," as if they were wearing lab coats and drinking beer out of test tubes. In light of such bloated imprecision of language, it's refreshing -- no, profoundly illuminating -- to read an account of serious experimentation with a substance as intriguing as salvia divinorum. Over the course of five years, J.D. Arthur meticulously recorded his experiences with the little-known Mexican psychoactive plant, bringing an acute intelligence to his analysis of the meaning of the visions, profoundly altered perceptions, and "thoughtless awareness" those experiences afforded.

The result is a book in the tradition of Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception and the serious, less sensationalized accounts of the synthetic hallucinogens. I hesitate to use the term "hallucinogen" in connection with salvia, though, as Arthur makes clear that the quality and meaning of his entry into the visionary state made accessible by the plant far exceeds that of any mere hallucinatory experience. "Hallucination" implies the false perception of things that aren't really there; the salviaic state, as Arthur makes convincingly clear, is a profoundly instructive and insightful realm. Not having used salvia myself, I can't say whether I would receive the same education; in the meantime, though, Peopled Darkness -- the title refers to the guiding "presences" that Arthur encountered -- is certainly an eye-opening education in itself.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it in one sitting, buy this book!, November 1, 2008

By 

I am drumish (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Peopled Darkness: Perceptual Transformation through Salvia divinorum (Paperback)

I got the book in the mail today, and was somewhat dissapointed at it's short length, 88 pages. To my suprise the book was so incredibly gripping that I could not put it down until I had reached page 88! I think the reason is my own expeirience with salvia so clearly reflects the author's. The book is basically a recount of the author's experiences with salvia with subsequent interpretations of the experiences. He goes from timid curiosity to full imersement into salvia space and records his experiences in his journal, which he includes excerpts of in the book. He describes his experience as it is, without prejudging it or trying to fit it into the framework of ordinary reality. It is like reading an account of a true pioneer or explorer who visited an amazing world. Permeated thoughout the book was the sensation or revelation that the "salviaic" state (a term he uses) is the land of the dead. He recounts how he was skeptical of this at first but on having so many recurring experiences he begins to open up to this possibility. From my own experience with salvia what he says and describes rings true. I also have a distinct sensation of "entities" or "spirits" or what have you (hard to describe in words), although I have not gone nearly as far as the author into such experiences. Reading his accounts indicate there is much further to go for me. I have been held back by fear, not wanting to become a permenant resident to this land of the dead, however, the author has traversed safely and returned to decribe the landmarks. Also one facinating part of the book is his experience several times that it was inappropriate to be a solitary traveler. Such travels are to take place in the context of helping out a clan or a tribe, that it was possibly dangerous to travel alone, at least withour a sitter watching over the body to make sure everything is ok. This is what he learned from the "spirits". Many seemed irritated or annoyed, that he did not belong there and was out of context. Some were irritated that he was "not really dead" when originally they assumed he was and were in the process of escorting him. I have had similar experiences being told that I should not travel alone and currently in search of a true shaman who can guide me safely through the deeper experiences. I don't think I am brave enough to travel as far as the author has without a shaman. I don't think it is wise. The spirit world is a jungle, with many dangers.

Salvia is a true treasure. Keep it legal where it still is.