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I was wondering if anyone here can read when projecting or dreaming. I've noticed whenever I look at a book or sign, the words seem backwards and distorted. When I use my cellphone or computer, some words are legible but most things are a garbled mishmash. The words used to move when I read them, but they are quite stable now, just intelligible.

What I used to think was that my brain couldn't create the text quick enough to complete the illusion. Now I'm wondering if it's because of a fusion of billions of subconscious thoughts in hundreds of languages, solidified.

Can anyone here read normally on the Astral?

Anybody interested in an IRC channel devoted to this board? There's no online chat option here, but I think it would be great to talk to realtime with other members of this board. If anyone can code they could make an AstralBot or somesuch and stick it on DALnet (or elsewhere) to keep the channel open. There's a channel called #energyworks where magick ppl meet and do group meditations over IRC (they break conversation for like 15 minutes, try to contact each other, and share their results). That made me think about this board. Perhaps we could even get RB to chat with us on occaision.

Anyway, is there any interest in this idea?

If you have a meditation-based spiritual practice, I recommend that you try to meditate in your next projection/lucid dream. This morning I tried it, after a tip from Tom, and was astounded at the clarity and strength of mind it allowed. Not having a physical body/surroundings for distraction really aids in an almost perfect sitting experience. Find an empty area on the Astral and get into your asana and go to it. Vipassana does not work as well as Samatha here. Concentrate on an object in your surroundings heavily and completely for as long as possible. I was able to do it for about 10-15 minutes of astral time and when I woke up it felt as if I'd meditated for 8 hours or so. I think this technique could be a valuable springboard to accelerate a person's practice.

a.k.

If you're into comparitive mysticism or are looking for an online metaphysical encyclopedia, check out www.kheper.auz.com. This site is academic, objective, and comprehensive in the extreme. The guy who runs it is a metaphysical obessesive (it's his life work i guess) and it covers such diverse categories as kabbalah, gnostic christianity, neo-platonicism, sufism, advaita vedanta, shamanism, theosophy, ritual magick, buddhism, taoism, and everything inbetween (the site is enormous). The arrangement of the info is weird, but if you do a text search of the site on any metaphysical keyword you'll get to the section you want. The /realities/ subdir is really cool. There's nothing like this place on the net. Check it out if you have the time.

a.k.

I'm curious if anyone here has experience with crystals in their energy work. The only information I've seen on this topic has been from people heavily into it, who do not present an objective perspective on the topic. Do they enhance personal energies, or provide a medium to store an individual's psychic charge? If anyone has experimented in this direction and has results to share, positive or negative, please share your experiences. Any energy development tech is extremely valuable.

a.k.

There is an anime flick by the director Hayao Miyazaki (Ghibli Studios) called "Spirited Away" which is a beautiful, poetic testament to astral reality. I saw it a couple weeks ago from a friend into subtitling and such, and was deeply moved by the subject content. It's by the same guy who did Nausicca, Laputa, Totoro, and the like, a very talented individual who is the closest thing Disney has to competition worldwide (which is why they bought up the rights in the U.S. and won't release it). It grossed 15.8 million overseas in the first four days, which beat Phantom Menace in the international market.
  Spirited Away deals with a girl who visits a Japanese Shinto shrine on a vacation with her family, and gets pulled into an astral environment in the process. Her family enters a carnival grounds environment and gorges themselves on the abundant meat and drink available and turn into swine. The daughter abstains and is not pulled into the trap. She crosses over from the carnival grounds, a hedonistic feeding frenzy, into the palace proper, which has many levels and is inhabited by all kinds of weird astral races and creatures. She ascends the many levels of the palace (each of which get more symbolic/abstract as she climbs) and speaks with the queen of the palace on behalf of her parents, and experiences many adventures along the way. The movie is supposedly a Japanses version of Alice in Wonderland (that was the intent) and is thick in mystical symbolism and metaphor. If you read beyond the surface level, there are many astral cues (the girl looks at her hands after crossing over and they melt, the carnival is equivalent to Frank's Training Grounds scenario, there are guardians to the bridge that equate with masked blue angels I've encountered, there are veiled references to kundalini and energy blockages (obvious when you see the movie). I'm not making this excrement up or looking too deeply, anyone on this board will be very suprised by the content of this movie.

Anyway, if you want a bit of poetry or inspiration in your daily routine, dig this movie up if you can. If you hate anime you'll probably dislike it, but if your open minded it will move you.

a.k.

Here's a dilemma I've come across that deals with the cost of projecting. From what I've read on Qigong and Kundalini (and NEW) the enlightenment process is fueled on the physical level at least by stored chi or prana in the energy storage centers (dantiens in qigong). When the chambers are full, the kundalini energy is activated, rages up the sushumma, and the person is freed from dualistic thought.
   
   What concerns me is if in energy work we are trying to conserve and store chi to open the chakras and awaken kundalini, isn't projection a waste of those resources? In my own projections, I've felt my self fading, and pulled energy from my etheric body and everything became clearer. What I've been thinking recently is when I do this I may be robbing my storage centers to play around in the astral, which would slow my ascension to the higher realms.

   In my research on kabbalah (the gnostic jewish tradition) kabbalists see magicians and shamans as aspirants who have gotten distracted in the astral (yetzirah) and halted their development. This is also connected I think to the Hindu/Buddhist standpoint that siddhis (psychic powers) are not to be employed but merely appreciated as markers on the path, IMHO because it uses up a lot of chi to levitate, move objects, *project*, etc.

Any opinions concerning this? I enjoy projecting, but from an energy working prospective I think it might possibly be a vice.

a.k.

I was projecting during a dream the other night and came across some negs engaged in weird activities. I was in a coffeehouse or bar of some sort in an astral city I tend to get dumped in and I noticed a thug looking character at the door with dreds tucked into a baggy cap with a big surreal skull on it. I noticed a couple dreds sticking out along its neck and saw they fleshy tentacle things instead of hair. The face of the thing was kinda piglike with pallid skin and flaps and it had black eyes. After I noticed it a bunch of these things rushed the bar with guns and demanded everyone's wallets. I'm not sure if I gave them mine or not, I wasn't afraid of them so I might of played along.

What I'm wondering is if you give an astral creature your astral wallet, if your astral license would exist within it with your real name and picture. Using this a demon could possibly find you whenever you project or perhaps in real-time. I don't see why negative entities would care about robbing people unless this was the case.

A related question, if you give someone a personal item off your astral person, would it exist after you quit projecting? Astral temples and such exist outside their creators, so I'm curious.

A.K.

You're on the right track with your diet regimen. Not only will a diet like that keep your skin healthy, it will also extend your lifespan and keep away cancer and illness.

There was a study called the Okinawa Report which examined the reasons for the remarkable longetivity of the inhabitants of the island. They have more centennarians then any other area of the world. They found a diet high in anti-oxidants, low in calories, combined with moderate exercise (tai chi) and a positive attitude were the main factors in making it to 100.

The diet you listed is very close to that, minus the jasmine tea and tofu. I follow the same guidelines in my diet, more for longetivity then rosacea, though I also have that condition. When I drink anything other then pale ales, pilsners, or vodka I get it pretty bad. Guinness and red wine are the worst.
I thik there's a connection between the malt or yeast content and how red you get.

You mentioned being into TCM. Have you looked into schizandra? From what I've read it is supposed to give a person beautiful skin, besides being a powerful adaptogen. Lycium is another herb for that purpose. One site said lycium would give you skin like porcelin, which would probably look interesting (or scary...). Anti-inflammatory herbs might help for skin flushing.

best wishes,
a.k.

Spiders are sacred to Kali. They are a symbol of the Mother Goddess. If you look at pictures of Kali you'll notice she has six arms and two legs, which is eight limbs. She has black skin and tusks, which is reminiscent of arachnid colorations and the front pedipalps which their fangs protrude from. Kali is the  ofter considered the creator of Time, which she makes of herself and draws back in at the end of a kalpa, like a spider creates silk to make a web and eats it to remove it. The weaver analogy in relation to time is common in many cultures, the Norns are one example. Also in spiders the female lives many times as longs as the male, is quite larger then the male, and commonly eats the male after breeding. They also eat their young, another thing said of Kali. These are not things I've read, but things I've put together myself through intuition and synchronistic coincidence. The similarities are striking. The black widow in particular is holy to Kali.

If you are having dreams about spiders the Mother Goddess is influencing your life. Spiders infiltrate my life continuously, every significant event in the last five years for me has had a little spider crawling in the background. My ex-wifes S.O. collects tarantulas and has the Kali mantra tatooed on his arm, but doesn't make the connection. My ex went by Kali as a nickname in her goth days. My little boy is obsessed with spiders and dressed as a spider last Halloween. Here recently Shakti has ascended my spine, another manifestation of the Mother Goddess.

In summary, don't be afraid of spiders, they are holy creatures. They are creepy and weird looking, but that is probably due to the strange incomprehensible force they represent.

a.k.

Very cool... Been jumping straight to the forums and never noticed. Just saw there wasn't an option in this set of menus. It's much better to have it integrated to the site then otherwise.

Anyone here who has awakened kundalini, and are anxious about the changes taking place should check out www.kundalini-support.com. There is a wealth of experiential information here from scores of people with awakened K in the enfoldment process. There is a forums section where people exchange information on controlling the energies, staying sane, and balancing their internal metamorphosis with everyday life. If you are making a conscious attempt to raise your K, check out the bios before jumpstarting the process. You will think twice. This site is an invaluable resource.

There are two Christian branches that actively meditate, the Quakers and the Greek Orthodox Church. In the Benedictine and Cistercian Orders of the Catholic church they meditate in the "contemplative prayer" method. The Society of Friends shares a building with the Zen Center in my town.
Prayer and meditation are the same thing, as long as a person tries to concentrate wholly on the divine. Begging for favors and absent minded prayer doesn't do much good.

There is a branch of Hindu yoga called Bhakti Yoga. It is centered on union with God through love and devotion. A person cultivates such all-consuming love for their deity they give themselves up entirely, and negate the ego. What I find interesting is some of the "born agains" out there have done exactly that. They have no tolerance for Hinduism, but they are practicing a yoga India discovered 5,000 years ago.

a.k.

I've seen a grid like that. I read (in Astral Dynamics I think) to fly at a 45 degree angle when projecting to get to other planes. I did this once and went upward through multiple empty grids (like clear graph paper) until I reached some alien landscape. Made me think of myself as data travelling to a distant sector of God's hard-drive. I think the grid is empty or clear if your vibrations are not high enough to perceive the details.

a.k.

astralmaster: Neal Stephenson rox. I have Cryptonomicon, Diamond Age, and Snow Crash. He seems to have taken over where Gibson left off. Intelliegent, gritty, and deep.

For those who like Stephenson and Gibson, Tad William's "Otherland" series is one of the better neo-cyberpunk epics out there. It explores Gibson's VR Matrix conception even better then N.S. in Snow Crash.

a.k.

kakkarot: ki is chi, it's the japanese spelling. It's cultivated and used exactly the same way. The hard and soft styles you speak of are the static and dynamic applications of the same energy, and what parts of the body you channel it towards. When you say ki is personal and difficult to share with people, what do you think Reiki is?

Qi is Chi is Ki is Kundalini. Awakening kundalini is when you clear your blockages in the spine (or turn the spigot forcing a clearing) allowing the universal fount of chi to shoot to yer head. The Hindu yogis call kundalini shakti-prana, showing that there is no difference, because prana=chi.
The Chinese have two other categories called Shen and Jing (spirit energy and life energy), but these are just the base and subtle manifestations of the same energy.

a.k.

The term for raising somebody elses kundalini is called "shaktipat". There is a school of kundalini yoga called Siddha Mahayoga which is exclusively devoted to this method, and it's very popular (because it's so easy). Many of the people who profess guru-status in this technique are frauds, but it is traditional and valid. Sri Ramakrishna gave shaktipat to Swami Vivekananda. If you want "quick realization" check out the FAQ at:

http://www.hmt.com/kundalini/siddha-mahayoga.html

There is a list of groups/individuals at the bottom who give out shaktipat.
Read the rest of the Kundalini FAQ at that site before you do anything hasty.
Raising kundalini without a rock-solid spiritual foundation is foolhardy in the extreme. Gopi Krishna meditated obsessively for 17 years before his "spontaneous" awakening, and it wrecked him for years. There is a site called "Shared Transformations" that is all about kundalini horror stories from the people involved.

a.k.

Kelmactor: I've been to many a new age crystal broker, and I haven't seen chakra correspondence info attached. If you have the information available, could you post which stones match which chakras? It would save me the money of buying a book.

Another thing, a lot of people talk about "double terminated" or pointy unpolished crystals as being especially useful. What's the theory in this? Are they supposed to direct the energy like a chi-laser or something? I've heard of medicinal qigong practitioners using pointy crystals in healing, and i can see the advantage in surgically pinpointing a diseased area, but for meditation purposes does it matter?

sorry, i'm compulsively inquisitive.

a.k.

I'm new to qigong, so I am not an authority on it. I have "Taoist Yoga" Lu Kuan Yu, but that is all internal alchemy, but it does show the advanced theory of it. According to the people on alt.meditation.qigong these books are good for beginners without a teacher:

"Chi Kung: Alive With Energy" James MacRitchie
"Chi Kung: For Health And Vitality" Wong Kiew Kit
"Chi Kung: The Way Of Healing" Lam Kam Chuen
"Eight Simple Qigong Exercizes" Dr. Jwing-Ming Yang
"The Way Of Energy" Lam Kam Chuen. *** (this is highly recommended)

NEW is a valuable system in it's approach but it doesn't cover all aspects of energy development. Qigong is really fascinating because it is kundalini yoga as taught to the chinese by indian buddhists. The practices were faithfully recorded and taught in the open, while in India the guru-disciple system has kept it shrouded in obscurity. Now in the last 50 years or so the chinese have made these teachings available to the rest of the world. Look for a teacher in your area. A master-level certified Qigong instructor from a true lineage is not uncommon, and is the equivalent (or better) of a kundalini guru off the boat from Bombay. Tai Chi is related to Qigong as two halfs of one discipline; the latter raises and cultivates the energy, the former distributes it throughout the body to improve health and longetivity.

(a last note: stay away from Falun Gong. It is a cult by all the accepted conditions of the term. Li Hongzhi has alien invasions in his philosophy, abandoned his followers to live comfortably in New York, demands a tithe,
and will not allow you to mix your practices with any other qigong school or alternate discipline. Also watch out for Mantak Chia and Healing/Universal Tao. Many people have been injured using his practices.)

a.k.

Bhikku: you know vipassana... i like the choice in name.

Nimzomyth: thinking of an empty thought is not a thought if there is no intention involved. It is more a lack of thought. Thinking is more an action verb with a goal or solution in mind.  Empty mind meditation focuses on regaining the base consciousness without direction or evaluation, the state that children and animals abide in (my own interpretation). By sitting with no goal in mind you slowly break down the egositic walls your "I" consciousness builds around the root universal consciousness. Look up vipassana/shikantaza/jnana yoga on google for more information.

a.k.

I did some digging on google and answered some of my questions. On Mantak Chia's Healing Tao website they mention astral work as part of their internal alchemy method, and on another website I found an interview with two chinese qigong masters who told about the cultivation of "light qi" which deals with the astral body. This seems to say high level qigong has an astral element to it.
     In digging on the buddhist take on projection, I found the zen branch calls all "hallucinations, illusions, etc." that take place during meditations as makyo, which means rubbish I think. At the same time the Soto Zen site obcon.org has a book called the Book of Life which details how to help the dead pass on, which is straight shamanism. Tibetan buddhists seem much more open minded on the topic. The Tibetan Book of the Dead (which I haven't read) appears to deal with the astral. The bardos might be astral tunnels leading to the higher planes.
One cool Theravedan buddhist site I found (http://www.concentration.org/_concentration2.html) deals with moving the seat of consciousness to to the lower storage center through visualization, and describes multiple higher bodies that are progressively manifested at this spot that can be seen (not physically). All in all i think astral reality has to be manipulated for visualizations in higher (samatha/raja yoga/qigong) meditations. Vipassana and zen meditation seems to discourage paying attention to astral phenomena. Considering most practitioners have to combine both methods to attain the goal, i've come to think astral travel isn't wasteful in moderation, as long as the distraction doesn't become the goal.

patty: in wanting to get out of samsara, a desire is there. you have to meditate with no goal in mind whatsoever, because to proceed towards an end is to still be guided by ego. this is the zen take at least... shikantaza is the most efficient route to realization imho.

a.k.

ralphm: you make a good point on the apparent ease that comes with repeat projections, rather then the opposite. What may happen though is each time a person projects it might drain their reserves for the day, which would be replenished fairly quickly. If a person is taking 30 min jaunts around their astral neighborhood this wouldn't be a big deal, like having a 1/4 full gas tank. If one wanted to reach the next country or state however a full tank would be required. The apparent ease that come from practice is the development of a skill i think, not evidence that energy isn't being taken from a storage center.

IImariL: Raising kundalini may not take a lifetime for the first occaision, but from what I understand it has to be raised numerous times and mastered thoroughly, which can take a lifetime and more. In Zen buddhism a person can experience "kensho" (sudden enlightenment) in like 5 years or less, but to achieve satori (nirvana) it has to be repeatedly experienced and stablised. It all depends on how fast a person wants to develop. Personally I buy into the reincarnation/karma scheme and want to break out in this lifetime. Psychic powers I think have value as a signpost, but manipulating reality to entertain the ego only feeds the lower self.

I'm not really bashing projection. I find the astral plane a fascinating, beautiful place that inspires me and reinforces my beliefs. What I am saying however is that I think spending ones life energy endlessly exploring an infinite realm might be wasting valuable resources, when there are higher and even more perfect realities above the astral (which only require more gas to get there).

a.k.