The Playing Card Experiment

[Selski]

The playing card experiment is an effective way of proving the validity of your experiences.  

Quoted from Astral Dynamics - Page 28

“A simply way of proving that real-time projection is an objective rather than a purely subjective experience is with a deck of cards.  Shuffle the deck and, without looking, lay one card face up on top of a wardrobe, cabinet or somewhere high up in your own home, preferably at least twenty feet (six metres) away from where your physical body will be.  Or tape the card to a window, facing outward, without looking at it.  Do not use more than one card until you have some real success with this test.

Do not try to guess the card.  Guesswork – even simply wondering what the card is – can easily cause subconscious interference (reality fluctuations), which can make a genuine real-time observation extremely difficult.  If, for example, you try to guess or intuit what the card is, you may see the card you have guessed, instead of seeing the actual card.  This can undermine the real-time observation with a small reality fluctuation and make the observation inaccurate.

At the very start of the projection, immediately move to where the card is and look at it.  Glance at it only briefly, and remember it.  When you are sure you can remember the card, re-enter your body, write down the card you saw, and then go check.

To give this test a fair go, keep it very short and do not try to do anything more during the projection.  When you approach your physical body to re-enter it, hold the memory of this card firmly in mind and, quite literally, shout it out loud as you are re-entering, e.g. ‘The Queen of Hearts! The Queen of Hearts!”  This will maximise your chances of remembering not only the projection, but also the face of the card you saw during the test.  Please follow this procedure to the letter, or you may lose the memory not only of the card, but of the entire projection.”

Of course, please understand that this experiment will only validate the projection for you personally.  

As an extra, I have posted my attempt below, which happened in February 2004.  I’ve added the whole projection, for completeness.  If anyone else has had success with the experiment, please PM me the details and I will add your post to this thread.  

It’s well worth a go – and my experience is up there in my top 5 best projections.

[Selski]

I’ve just read “Astral Dynamics” by Robert Bruce. There is an experiment in the book which verifies that you have been out of body, as oppose to dreaming. What you do is place a random playing card on a high shelf in another room from the one you are projecting from. Then, next time you are projecting, go and look at the playing card. Remember it, and return to your body. Keep the experiment short and whilst re-entering your physical body, shout the playing card out loud in your head, to help you remember it. Then, when you are fully awake, go and see if the playing card is the one you saw.

I liked the sound of this, so I’ve had a playing card on the bookcase in the front room awaiting my next OBE.

About a week ago, I had a very vivid OBE-type dream where G and I both looked at the card together, however, upon checking, it was a totally different card, and so I passed it off as a dream.

I continued to the front room and realised I couldn’t ‘see’ so I moved over to the bookcase and put my arms out to feel it. Once I felt it, I put my arms up to feel the top ledge. Once I’d felt that, I rose slowly to just above the bookcase so I could look down at the card. As I couldn’t see it, I got hold of it and brought it close to my face. I tentatively opened my right astral eye with my fingers and I could now see.

The card was a black jack, but I saw a blue ‘A’ in the middle near the top. At first, I just thought it was a black jack ace, then looked again as I wanted to be sure. Then I realised that jacks and aces are different cards, so I looked and looked, but could only see the two black Js in each corner and the blue A. I gave up and returned to the lounge. Suddenly, I felt very happy and pleased with myself. I think it was because I was going to re-enter my physical body like it told me to do in the book. [I’ve never actually done this before – I always continue the experience until I’m ‘forced’ back into the physical.]

With all this jollity, I decided to walk up the wall, where the mantelpiece is, and continued walking upside down on the ceiling. It felt distinctly odd, being the wrong way up. I then thought enough of this nonsense, I need to return to my physical body and stop messing about! I sat back on the chair, settled in and promptly woke up. I had a tense headache but otherwise felt OK.

I thought about the card and tried to figure out the ‘A’ part. I knew it was a black jack, not an ace, but didn’t know what the ‘A’ was. The card could only be a spade or club and ‘A’ looks more like a spade to me, so I deduced that the card was the Jack of Spades. I told G about it and we went to the front room together.

The playing card wasn’t quite where I thought it was and it was face down [I think Hilary must have disturbed it], however, upon turning it over, it was the Jack of Spades!

I think I was more surprised than G. It has proved to me that there is more to this than just a very active imagination. How exciting!

[Selski]

Here is an example from The Voice of Silence:

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Hello AP Friends,

This was the first time that I had setup the experiment with the cards. My wife placed one card on the bedroom door and another card on the door that leads to the mudroom and to the outside the house. Both cards were faced down taped at the top. I figured this would be a great experiment and not to hard to miss since I would be projecting into that path.

The cards were placed on the door about 3-4 weeks ago and it took me that long to finally wield the results.

Anyways, roughly around 3:30AM 7/14/2005 I awakened into the trance state after have gone to bed about a 1/2hr prior. I did feel the vibrations and realize that I was rather in a good stance to project. As always, I just rolled out off the bed and onto the floor. I knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish and that was to view the card on the door. I floated around the bed frame and pushed my way towards the door. I was able to pull the card off the door and view the number and suit. The card that I read was the King of Diamonds. After that, I lost control and was pulled back the way I traveled around the bed-frame.

The weird thing is that when I was on the bed, my astral body was upright and my legs were on the bed. Basically, sitting upright on the bed and during that time I was spinning around in circles. I felt the physical body trying to re-align my astral inside of my physical but just couldn't. I had to actually had to lay down and focus and could feel the alignment kick in.
I kinda of wonder if this would be a good technique to prevent from coming back into the physical if you want to stay out longer?

Now, the next part is interesting because I thought I had awakened in the physical. I could see my wife Katie and she said to me "Wow, that was fast for you to verify the card". So we both went over to the door, pulled the card off and this time it was 8 of hearts.

Finally, I physically awakened and realized what had just occurred. So I grabbed my notepad, and removed the physical card off the door and went into the kitchen were there was light. I would be able to write the notes and see the actual card. To my surprise the physical card in the bedroom was 2 of hearts. Even though it wasn't the 8 at least I got the suit correct.

I decided not to remove the card on the front door leading to the mud room because I would again try to project later. Well, at 10:46AM I was able to project and this time no vibes were present. I did hear music from this astral projection subliminal tape I listen to physically and imagined myself rolling inside my physical like a log quickly turning.

Getting out of the body was a breeze and I moved quickly to the front door with the objective of reveling the second card. At the time, I was able to see the card and make out the number, contents BUT the problem that occurred which wasn't really a problem. I was able to stay out of body for 10-15mins exploring everything around me. I knew at the time if I was to abort the projection and come back that the experience would be cut short. So I decided to put the card in my pocket for when I would lose consciousness I could quickly look at the card upon returning and have a better memory.

Well, never a less I didn't realize this experience would be very beautiful, moving, and so inspirational that I forgot about the card details. During the experience I ran into two teenagers that I had asked if there were deceased and they both laughed at me. After that, I saw 3 black people, 2 men and 1 woman. I had asked them specifically if they were deceased and the black woman said "yes and that God is her savior and glory to be" I told her that I was sorry to hear that and agreed with her about her statement.

The other elements of the projection is that I was in a backyard which to be believed by me I was located at my mom and dads in the astral. When I was on the back deck, there were many flowers growing. Red, Pink and White in one flower petal. so I decided to pull the flower off and smell it. I could sense the texture, winkle touch and smell the scent of the flower. After that I turned to the sky and said "God, I love you and Thank You for this gift". Also, I asked help from a higher source like a angel or something from God. When I looked at the sky I could see a shimmer of a ray of light beam thru this pine tree and out from no where was this bird. The bird was a size of a watermelon, almost like a blown up puffer fish. I asked this bird at the time if you/it/he/her was my helper and it nodded back to me gracefully shaking his head up and down.

There's more to this experience and probably would take another 2-3 pages to detail, but I picked out the beautiful highlights of the experience. Imagine if I had aborted the projection upon verifying the card what I would have lost...!

When I finally returned back to my physical body, I went to the kitchen room and removed the card off of the mud room door. The physical playing card was the Jack of Diamonds.

What is truly interesting about this experiment is that the first projection and the false awakening the both times that cards matched the suit.

Astral Bedroom - card I read was King of Diamonds
Physical Front Room Door - card is Jack of Diamonds

Physical Bedroom - card was 2 of hearts
False Awaking Astral Bedroom - card I read with my wife was 8 of Hearts

What I think happened is that in the first projection and false awakening I had already read both cards. So if I was reading the card in the bedroom, I would have been actually reading it in the front room kitchen door and vice verse. I know that the card in the astral that I tried reading on the second attempt was not suit or the number on the physical cards. I am going by gut instinct and vague memory.

The odds of having the same suit in one astral projection and false awakening attempt is 500 to 1. I still have more experiments with the cards but for a first time shot - pretty dam good!!!

tvos
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Copied with kind permission from The Voice of Silence