Maybe I'm just too insensitive or left-brained or something, but I've never really felt the spirit of any molecule, plant, fungus, etc.
I'm open to the idea of it and tried, but it just hasn't worked out that way for me. So I give the tools proper respect and hold them sacred, but have kind of given up on hoping to meet the spirits of the medicines myself. I'm very happy for others that do get to have that experience, though :-)
Of course, repeated use of any substance brings familiarity, but because Salvia specifically is just so different, repeated use is needed to understand what is happening while in salvia space.
Once familiar, one can more expertly work with the tools that salvinorin offers more. I think chewing the leaves or working with low doses of smoked/vaped leaf allows for learning this space much quicker and easier than smoking large doses of extracts.
IMO, salvinorin is like a key (or hack) that lets one experience themselves from a deeper level and different perspective than our everyday perspective. It's like putting on glasses to see better, but these glasses are for your awareness/perspective/mind rather than for your eyes. There are specific and practical abilities that are gained while it is in your system, and they are repeatable from trip to trip, and generally from person to person.
Salvia quid enthusiast