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I'm trying to determine whether my experiences are Real-Time Projections or WILDs (wake-induced lucid dream).  They typically start with me waking up and finding my body to be suddenly charged with energy.  Today when that happened, I attempted to leave my body.  I thought I was successful, but when I tried opening my projected eyes (I almost always have vision problems in projections), I opened my physical eyes instead.  I closed my eyes and got out again and did a few flips/somersaults.  I couldn't move much so in frustration I gritted my teeth and then realized that I gritted my physical teeth.  

There was not a break in consciousness through the whole experience, but I know that both WILDs and Real-Time Projections share that aspect.  What do you need to do differently to have a Real-Time Projection that you can objectively validate?

Hello everyone - when you want to end an OBE, do you have to 'jump back' into your physical body?  Or does your energy/concentration just fade away and you return like that?  The experiences I believed to be OBEs fall into the latter category - I end up fading out and my consciousness returns to my physical body.
My second question is: when you are attempting to meditate and you end up having involuntary movements (not from cold), does that just indicate insufficient physical relaxation?  I don't remember ever having that problem till yesterday.  I don't imagine it being too difficult to overcome.  Have any of you experienced the same?

What I like about LaVey's Satanism is the emphasis on individuality, accountability, intellectualism, and personal strength.  However, I have a problem with the first Satanic statement: "Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence!".  I believe self-discipline is crucial in every facet of our lives - it is what keeps us from becoming sub-animalistic.

I know that to them, Satan represents all of these qualities, but I wouldn't be surprised if they partially used the term "Satanism" for a shock effect; I would respect the religion more if they used a different term, but Satanism is certainly not evil.  It's refreshing to find a non-traditional faith that doesn't believe in universal interconnection and that love is the key to everything!  But then again, many (if not most) modern Satanists are atheists/agnostics and do not concern themselves with deities or spirits.

That's a good article and a good model for moderate Muslims.  The article you linked me to divides knowledge into essential knowledge, theoretical knowledge, and knowledge of the unseen.  

The first one can be argued against with philosophy.  But to keep things simple, it may be a good idea to accept it for the time being and I generally assume that my memories and my senses are pretty accurate.  

The second one, I consider extremely important and I use it in my everyday life.  I would consider myself very analytical and I agree that it is under stressed in many faiths and religions.

The last one is tricky and depends upon your faith.  With Muslims, they have faith in the Qur'an and the teachings of the prophets.  With Christians, they have faith in the Bible and the ways of Jesus.  With me, I have faith that there is an afterlife.  Faith is something you cannot transfer and will be different for different people.

I no longer consider myself a Muslim, not only because I can reason against it, but because I have lost that faith.  In many ways, I am not the same person I used to be when I was Muslim.  But in many ways, I still am.

Yeah, I realize that.  I'm still 'culturally Muslim'.  I fast, abstain from swine, alcohol, gambling, and pre-marital intercourse.  More from habit and culturalization than anything else though.  I like a lot of things about Islam.  But the whole omniscient God + free will concept I don't quite buy any longer.  I know that has been argued to death.  Islam has done a lot for me, but it cannot take me any further.  Thanks for your reply though.

That sounds like a great experience!  I haven't had that kind of luck with my experiences yet.  With regards to Islam, you can view the experience from two different levels.  The most obvious would be that it's a remote viewing experience, something that many think Prophet Muhammad had in his nightly visions.  Another view would be that you were simply given "knowledge" about the experience through a different set of eyes.  Alternatively, you can regard the experience as a form of possession.  Someone in my family was once possessed by a Jinn.  If a Jinn can possess a human being, a human being (you) could possess a fly.  However, remember that traditional Islam doesn't look too fondly upon the occult unless it's from Allah.  As I remember it, the angel Azrael is supposed to remove your soul from your body when you die and then you wait till the Day of Judgment.  You can try exploring Sufism even though most Muslims would not consider it a part of Islam or you can leave Islam altogether like I did.  =)

I realize that a lot of people believe in one of the three Abrahamic religions and in the occult at the same time such as religious mystics.  But I'm guessing many of you have been raised in one of the three (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) religions and believed in it till you were introduced to the occult.  That was the case with me and Islam.  Are any of you former Muslims and now Spiritualists/Pagans?  I don't think I know anyone else yet, but I'm sure I'm not the only one!

Thanks for your replies.  I am not really concerned about whether or not that entity was really a spiritual guide.  I am more concerned about whether that character was internally created by my brain or if it's a 'real' spirit/being.  Reality fluctuations can be such an obstacle.

Yesterday I had a whole string of lucid dreams and possible astral projections (can't say for sure because I haven't been able to validate them yet).  I like being self-reliant, but for a change I decided to ask for my spiritual guide.  I was then 'reeled' up to a strange room and met whom I believed was my spiritual guide - a woman in her 50s wearing a shawl.  I asked her for advice about the occult and she said I shouldn't really pursue it because I don't have much potential!  But I pressed on, and she gave me two strange pieces of advice.  One is to "show no mercy" and the other I can't remember because I had many, many lucid dreams afterwards.  Have any of you experienced something similar?  Having a spiritual guide tell you that you are mediocre?  I am not upset about it or anything but I just found it surprising and strange.

I know this is a cliche, but fear of the unknown is natural.  Some things you can try is try to project during the day, project while there are other people present in your place of residence, play gentle background music as long as it doesn't distract you from the process, or perform some rituals that you can identify with.  Also remember that you are not technically leaving your body, you are just being aware of your astral/real-time body and that you can revert awareness to your physical body instantly.  I generally feel a bit fearful when I'm in a trance state ready to project, but once I'm "out", I feel too excited to be scared.  So think of how great it would be to explore the astral!  I hope that helps!

For techniques like these to work, does your mind have to be relatively clear?  I haven't been able to achieve a wake-induced trance yet, but I have only recently started trying.  All my projections were from waking up in a trance state after a lucid dream.

Moonburn33:
Do you mean modern Satanism as in the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, etc. or a more classical version where Lucifer was actually worshipped or looked upon as a symbol of righteous rebellion?  They are quite different and as I understand it, the former does not require spiritual beliefs, but places one's individuality at highest priority and does not look down upon materialism.  I personally find the latter more appealing.

Every text on the supernatural/occult I come across and nearly everyone I meet who is a practitioner of magick/astral projection/etc. believes without a doubt that every being is linked together and is part of one being or source -"universal interconnection".  Have any of you come across alternate views or opinions in books or articles about this topic?  Thank you.

Hello all, I was wondering if any of you are members of spiritual or magickal orders.  I am interested because I would like to consider joining one.  I am a complete beginner in most aspects of the metaphysical and it would be beneficial for me to be around people who have a great deal more knowledge and experience than me.  That's one of the reasons I love Astral Pulse!

By the way, does anyone else live around Kansas City, MO?  I just moved here not too long ago from Michigan.

Asif

I just had a string of lucid dreams and false awakenings (felt like about 50 or so!).  I was exhausted when I really woke up.  In a few of them I thought I was actually projecting.  Each of these experiences were short but after they were over, I tried thinking of visiting someone and usually I was able to after a few tries.  I was surprised that just about everyone was able to see me though.  They spoke and acted almost like it was in real life.  However, most likely the experiences were internal and the other people didn't have similar dreams.  I think I may have asked this before in another message, but do any of you know how to make dream experiences external, such as sharing them with someone?  Otherwise the dream characters would just have been an image of them created by your perception of them.  Thanks.

Lately, I've been having some minor hallucinations.  I keep seeing an insubstantial amount of smoke/mist from time to time, everywhere both inside and outside.  When I look again, it's gone.  I don't take any drugs, medication, vitamins, or alcohol.  Sometimes I forget about it only to have it again a few weeks later.  Has anyone experienced anything similar?  I'd like to think it's some form of clairvoyance and that the mist may represent spirits, but the experience may simply stem from tension/anxiety.  I'd appreciate any thoughts on the issue.  Thanks.

Most of the time, the characters in my lucid dreams either run away from me before I can talk to them or just stare at me with a dumb smirk.  Rarely can I have conversations with them.  Usually if I try, I lose my voice.  Anyone have similar experiences (especially the running away part - it's so annoying sometimes)?  

Also, have any of you been successful in prolonging your lucid dreams?  Mine take a lot of concentration to keep and only last between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes.  Ideally, I'd like to convert it to an astral projection or anything else that involves more than just internal experience.  Thanks.

Asif

I've had some really strange dreams last night.  I know they probably don't mean anything.  But I'd appreciate some input on them.  I've already thought about several possibilities.  Anyway, here it goes:

I was out in 'space'.  Maybe it was another dimension or plane.  I couldn't tell.  But I felt a 'divine' flame.  It was so intense I couldn't feel it in my body.  I felt it in my soul.  I died in dreams before and those times I didn't think it was a big deal because I do believe in an afterlife and all.  But this time, I thought for sure that I was finished.  That this would be the end of my existance and consciousness.  Right before the flame consumed me, I said something like "Preserve this body" or "Preserve this soul".

And then I ended up in a deserted garden or something.  But the freaky part was that I had absolutely no memories at all!  I couldn't even remember what had just happened to me before.  I was going nuts!  That part of the dream was disjoint from this one.  

It was not until I 'woke' up that I was able to put the two parts together (I actually ended up in a different dream where I told other people about my dreams.  Then I woke up again and went into a lucid dream.  Finally I woke up for real.)

Anyway, please let me know what you think.  I'm not freaking out about this or anything.  I like having crazy dreams, lucid dreams, projections, etc.  Thanks, in advance.  =)


Asif

Hey all, I was wondering how one goes about weaning their eyes from visualization.  Like when I attempt to practice NEW, I feel my eyes moving in circles even when they're closed.  Also when I try visualizing myself doing something, I can't turn around past like 45 degrees from what would be straight ahead of me.  I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone has.  Thanks.


Asif

I've heard that aurometers measure the electromagnetic field of someone/something in Hertz.  But is the EM field directly related to Auras?  Basically, I'm asking if aurometers are a good way of measuring one's progress.

Are there any other or better ways to measure the magnitude of one's aura?  Thank you.


Asif

Kazbadan, Seven: Thanks for replying.

My greatest interests are in astral projection, energy development, and magick.  I have just begun studying on magick, but I'm not sure which discipline I want to concentrate on.  I'll definitely look around in the magic and spiritual development forums.  I love the forums on Astral Pulse, but I thought it would be nice to be able to talk and practice with people in person.  That's why I was asking about magickal/spiritual orders.  Seven, if you can find the url to the eBook, I'd appreciate it if you could send it to me.  Thanks a lot!

Flying is definitely fun in lucid dreams.  If in a lucid dream, I am indoors, I don't even consider flying.  But if I'm outside, I almost always decide to fly.  When I do fly, I generally try flying up towards the skies and going beyond it.  Generally, I can't reach it though or if I do, I don't see anything of interest.  One time I just saw an empty giant arena.

However, today in a lucid dream I had this morning, I went beyond the clouds and saw a building.  It took a ton of will power to be able to hold the dream that long and fly past the clouds.  I had to pass some kind of barrier to reach the "Sky Land" and I didn't think I was going to make it.  I almost collapsed when I entered the building.  I went into a room and quickly talked to the people there. Since I knew the dream was about to end, I asked them to let me return there on my next lucid dream.  

Fortunately, in my next dream I was in that same room.  The professor was speaking in Chinese and someone was translating his lecture into English.  And the students in the class told me that it was the year 2041 and the school's name was "East India University".  Very random, but I know dreams can become pretty crazy.

Well, just thought I'd share to this topic!

Blissful: I haven't had any luck with the feet technique.  Other methods like reading text do not work for me either.  Text generally seems normal to me in dreams.

However, I am getting better with lucid dreams.  I find that if I act normal during the lucid dream and my dream characters don't realize that I know I'm dreaming, the experience lasts much longer.  The characters act like normal dream characters (not stupid or inanimate).  Unfortunately, after about five minutes or so the dream starts to fade away.  But my lucid dream this morning was ended by my alarm clock!

Hello brisck1, I have similar experiences in my dreams as well.  As if I have an entirely different set of memories and experiences.  In some, I even recall past dreams (although they're false).  However, I don't believe that these dreams are necessarily experiences from previous lives.  In most normal dreams, people don't act exactly the same way as they would in real life and part of the reason is that your rationale, memories, etc. are messed up in dreams.  For example, many times I do a simple arithmetic problem in my dream and when I wake up I realize that my answer was wrong.  I don't know the exact scientific reasoning behind it though.  But it's probably one of the main reasons many people dismiss dreams as random neuron firings.  When people do reality checks in dreams or realize that they're dreaming some other way, it means that they've been able to partly preserve their waking rationale/memories (possibly their frontal lobe is more active?).  Also, I think that the more energy work you do, the more vivid your dreams become and the more concentration work you do, the more lucid your dreams become.  My two cents anyway.  =)

I don't mean that all dreams are completely internal.  Just that mine mostly seem to be.  Obviously shared dreams wouldn't be all internal.  I suppose the only way you could be sure that it's at least partly external is if you dream/experience things that you wouldn't be able to on your own.