psychedelic experiences

[D]

Has anyone here had experiences of a psychedelic nature in connection with dreaming, OBE, ESP, etc?

I had a dream not too long ago.  I had listened to a hemi-sync cd not too long before falling asleep.  I have also had recent encounters with psychedelics.  

My dream was of myself and the three people I live with.  We were all in our house (though it was not our actual house, I just understood it to be in the dream).  Everything was normal, I was making some mac and cheese.  When I finished my brother came up to me and said that we had to go somewhere because of some attack or something.  I was like, "What?  Does this happen often?"  Then the other guy that lives with us came walking up and said, "Yeah, that's why I'm not going to ever live in this area again." ~(or something to that extent).  So we leave the house and we're walking along.  There's other people going the same way, apparently for the same reason.  

It's pitch black night.  We start going down ways that almost seemed familiar to me, I even thought I knew where I was at one point and was commenting to the people behind me that you have to be careful on this part because it gets steep.  The way we were taking indeed started going down steep, so steep that I had to run to not fall and suddenly it became a tunnel and got even steeper.  It almost felt as though I was plummeting down it at an accelerated speed.  

When we reached the bottom (which was really after just one trippy moment), it was hilly and still very dark.  A little grove of about four small tress stood there and I found two bottles of water sitting next to them.  I left the bottles where they were (I think).  Then we walked down a little path that led to a big opening where lots of people were all standing around, sitting, biding there time.  We took a seat.  It was just an open field with trees here and there and surrounded by hilly area with trees.  

Let me mention now that everything had a surreal, animate character to it.  Very real, very trippy.  A feeling of awake and alive more profound than is usually experienced in normal waking.  And there was information that was all around.  Information that is normally unaccessible to people's minds.  Everything was alive.  And once we were down where all the people were I looked up at the stars and beheld quite a scene of living imagination.  They were the stars but it was like I was tripping.  The whole cosmos had motion to it.  

Suddenly I went into a trance state where I was beholding and at one with this psychedelic center, sparkling and glowing like a particle as big as my body.  It was very real, and I knew it to be my psychedelic center.  It was so powerful that I remember exclaiming "Wow, this is why I don't need to do any more psychedelics for a while."  Then I started to come to, as some guy was pushing me off him (gently) and I sat up and heard my brother from behind saying "They're just trying to chill."  

We were back in the field at night with all the people.  Suddenly these automobile like things with headlights came driving fast from the opposite direction from where we had enetered the field.  They came flying by us and going north-west from where we had entered the field.  One even went flying through where I thought there were some people.  The effect of those things driving by was that of something in my feelings, my boundaries of reality, being swept away, leaving me to confront this raw element of what I know was a psychedelic out-of-body-expereince of a unique nature.  

Everything in the dream had a way of sort of sweeping me off my feet as far as my feelings went.  So after this I decided to walk around.  I went up to the little grove of trees where I had found the water bottles and once up there I sensed that one of those vehicles was coming.  I couldn't tell from what direction though.  I wondered if I should conceal myself behind the trees, though they didn't offer much cover, so as not to be seen if one of those things came by.  I decided to get out of there.  

Suddenly I was driving down a main road in my car going to the right on a gray, cloudy day.  My intention was to go to my friends house, where I figured I would be safe, and who I figured could make some sense of things.  I pulled into a cluster of restaurants to ask for directions.  I got inside and sat down in the waiting area.  Three ladies came in.  Two, I saw, were pregnant.  One sat down next to me, one sat opposite, and the other walked into the actual dining place of the restaurant.  The one next to me got up and I suddenly realized that she too was pregnant.  All three of them were!  So I asked for directions.  "How do you get to 395?"  One of them looked at me with very watery, dreamy eyes and pointed to the left saying, "You go that way for... oh, I don't know how long."  Her eyes got even more dreamy as she said this last part.  I looked at her inquisitively and was like, "What?  20 minutes?"  

Everything got weird and kind of faded and then I woke up in my room.  It was dark.  I sat up and in front of me, where my piano is, there was sitting two figures, each about a foot tall and possibly made of wood.  The one on the right was glowing an almost eerie green.  The other just sat beside it, not glowing.  I yelled and smacked the crap out of them with my right arm, sending them flying.  It made a LOUD noise!  Then I heard a door and footsteps.  I thought it was my brother coming to check on me.  The door opened and in popped a HUGE bear, who walked in on all fours and then sat up and faced my mirror (which I could not see but I percieved to be there).  As the bear sat up and faced the mirror it assumed the stance and figure of a large person, resembling much the person whom I had decided, while driving in the other part of the dream, to go see.  This friend of mine I also know to have the power animal of a bear and who is quite a proficient lucid dreamer.

[Astral-G8]

I've had loads of amazing experiences with shamans....ever had Ayahuasca from South America?  

Magic mushrooms?

You can really see other dimensions with these tools.

[Forw4rd]

Fantastic dream. I'm impressed by your dream recall!

[Selski]

Hey D

I really want to read your post but your lack of paragraphs is stopping me.  Therefore I will put paragraphs in for you, because I'm in the mood.

Sarah

[Selski]

That's a wonderful experience, whatever influenced you!!

Thank you for sharing - I enjoyed it.

Sarah

[Selski]

Oh, keeping to the thread, and without mentioning what caused them   , I suppose I ought to say that I've had experiences where I've felt "clearer" than I've ever felt before.  

I've also experienced music as a "living entity" pulsating in the room and had to turn it down, it was so dominating (even though it wasn't loud in the first place).  Music is a big change for me.  Music itself becomes totally encompassing.  Time slows down and each note is enhanced beautifully.

There are tracks that I've listened to for years, but not really heard until I have these type of experiences.

And once you've heard them in this light - they will never be the same again.

"A Forest" by The Cure is a good example (showing my age)  

Sarah

[Stookie]

I've also experienced music as a "living entity" pulsating in the room and had to turn it down, it was so dominating (even though it wasn't loud in the first place). Music is a big change for me. Music itself becomes totally encompassing. Time slows down and each note is enhanced beautifully.

I've also had very psychadelic experiences with music. On one such occaision, I couldn't distinguish a difference between myself and the music, where I stopped and it started. I was totally one with each note and tone. It seemed to happen outside of time.

I've always felt music to be a very spiritual thing in my life.

[D]

First let me say that when it comes to psychedelics and music Pink Floyd is top notch.  

About a year ago I was at the AllGood festival and had eaten a chocolate mushroom containing about half an eighth of mushrooms.  Note that I had eaten the same amount the night before and had one of the most amazing nights of my life.  

Well, this second night things gradually ascended to a very unique state where I would feel as though I were tripping nicely and that it was going to come on powerfully.  This would then be followed by a time where I almost felt as though I was coming down and that it wasn't going to work that well.  This went on for hours, and the times when I was tripping hard were getting more intense.  Finally, it was very late at night.  The Disco Biscuits were putting on an amazing set.  The music enhanced my trip.  I decided to get closer.  Once down in the crowd the music felt much more alive and animate.  Suddenly the whole psychadelic experience smacked down on me in an over-whelming and powerful way.  I went into a state of energy perception where all I beheld was of another realm altogether.  Then I began to become aware of everything around me again.  I had sat down and was sitting indian style, and my senses were completely changed.  I could see and hear the music, and we were all connected to it and to each other and to this whole experience that was purely magical.  The festival had a most amazing vibe to it.  

In response to your post Atral-G8, no I have never had Ayahuasca, though I have read about it through Terrence McKenna and am deeply interested.  I have also not had experiences with Shamans, though I am deeply interested in what they can do when psychadelics are involved.

[Stookie]

Let me note that I do believe that psychedelics can be a hindrance to any kind of natural OBE development. It may be a quick trip into another state of consciousness, and you may even have a life changing experience, but I don't see how it can help a person's ability to do it on their own. It doesn't develop a person's concentration or mental abilities at all. It can become a crutch for having non-physical experiences, and lead to unbalanced energy. I had many friends in high school who bragged about their experiences (not that I didn't have my own), and ended up a little, uh, goofy I guess. They definitely aren't spiritual people. I think that people like Terrance McKenna and Tim Leary just got lucky. But I would never consider psychedelics a "path". At least not in this day and age.

[D]

I don't think that ones path should rely soley on hallucinagens, but they can definetley teach you a lot about doing everything on your own.  

Last night I went and saw Sound Tribe Sector 9 play.  They put on a most amazing show.  It was very psychedelic and high energy.  Check them out if you have never heard them.

[Ben K]

psychedelics are a way to have a dream-like experience in the physical world. what could be more fun?

theres no spirituality or mysticism at all, its simply an f2oc experience, and in the grand scheme of things probably resembles a lucid dream more than anything else. I can see how someone not accustomed to these things could have a life-changing experience but thats only because our culture supresses these types of things.

Ah well, bottom line is if you dont apply any silly beliefs to it, they can be alot of fun

[Stookie]

If you want to AP just to have fun, then yes, I guess there would be nothing wrong with psychedelics. I think they're are like a thick window - you can see through it, but you're not getting on the other side. I've made more progress in 5 months using Gateway than any amount of psychedelics could do. They may shoot you into another world, but you didn't do it, the chemicals did. You very rarely hear of OBE's or AP coming from psychedelic experiences. It's always overlay hallucinations. If they do happen, there isn't any control to it. AP takes a lot of self-control, desire, will-power, & concentration, none of which psychedelics can supplement.

When shaman's use psychedelics, it's a very controlled environment, using ritual to bring a person to a certain experience. In Castaneda's books, Don Juan really only gave him psychedelics in the first book, to introduce him to a new reality. After that it was all exercises and experience.

In the end, I'm saying this because I don't want someone who is reading this to think that drugs are a way to learn to Astral Project.

[D]

Everything's up to the individual.  I have never felt more intensly self-control, will-power, & concentration than on acid, including astral experiences which go beyond the realm of the speakable.

I agree with Terrence McKenna in that I think psychadelics should be separated from the normal usage of the term "drugs."  Because in the face of the whole drug problem, with lives ruined and million dollar scams, of which gov'ts get involved, etc., next to this psychadelics are just something off in a tiny little corner.  And from there it's only a matter of choice to pay attention to them.  A drug is anything that causes habitual, obsessive, unexamined activity.
"We don't want unexamined habitual forms of activities that are obsessively expressed.  What we do want is conscious, caring, self-examining, inquisitive thinking people." TM

There have always been, and indeed still are, people who, when on psychadelics, act.  They know what to do.  The standard good way for anyone just experiencing this thing is basically to sit down, be silent, and pay attention.  But there are special individuals who are experienced and are a natural, as it seems, and can lead a whole group of people on psychadelics through a most magical journey that is beyond anything that each member of the group could have accomplished on their own.  I suppose in a tribe this person would be the shaman.  

I think that a lot is accomplished for individuals, and indeed the Earth and humanity, when groups of people experience psychadelics together and have an amazing trip.  Especially at large music festivals where large numbers of young people get together in a nature setting and ingest hallucinogens and what have you, and music is played that is meant to be open and a sort of catalyst to the experience. Everyone has deeper experiences of themselves and the Earth, and really the whole feeling seems to extend out into the cosmos.  For everyone is joined together there.  It's much different than a trip where you are sitting alone at home.  You are surrounded by people; and you feel at one with them.  The whole existence of the experience is indeed at one with the astral pulse.

[Stookie]

Everything's up to the individual. I have never felt more intensly self-control, will-power, & concentration than on acid, including astral experiences which go beyond the realm of the speakable.

I think that you must be one of the few such as McKenna and Leary, because I've never seen a person with much self-control and will-power and concentration on acid. It's very easy for a person to have a bad trip - any tripper knows this.

A person who can experience the astral on their own will realize that they do not need psychedelics, and being one with a group of people can be had through non-drug inducing experiences.

I've had psychedelic experiences, but since achieving success on my own have had no desire to touch them ever again.

I'm not saying that an acid trip at an outdoor music festival can't be a great experience. But I am saying that if you're trying to have consistent non-physical experiences, you have to develop something inward that drugs cannot do for you. I don't think that McKenna ever spoke about non-physical experiences he had without hallucinogens.

[D]

And I agree.  Nothing is needed that isn't already there.  Perhaps some training, ya know.
My spiritual path and activity do not rely on substances.  I must say, though, that I have quite the love of good psychedelics; which is what this stream , or topic, is all about.  
Tell me about your first psychedelic experience.  It was on acid, wasn't it?

[Stookie]

You've twisted my arm:

There was a lot of stuff that went on that night, but I'll stick with the stuff that's "fruitful".

I guess the main thing was how time had disapeared. For a few hours, every moment lasted into infinity, and all of eternity was crammed into one moment. It wasn't until weeks later, after thinking about it, that I thought that's what eternity meant - outside of time. I knew that after I died time wouldn't exist anymore. About a year after that I learned about how time and space are interelated, and realised that eternity also existed outside of space.

And that's about it, as far as what I had learned.

The only person with me that night was my best friend Chad. We had a spectacular & fun time. He died about a year and a half later. He passed out in a bathtub after shooting heroin and drowned.

[D]

Interesting how different you two became.  You became someone who you are happy with being.  The other out of control.  It seems you have twisted my arm.  This is a real problem.  This whole drug problem.  Concsiousness expansion is one thing, but addiction and a ruined life are another.  I mean, this is big.  This is life.  You can't mess this up.  We make mistakes, and we learn, if we are wise.  But it seems to be the fate of many people, many young as well, to get into drugs and go down hill.  Some recover.  Some don't.  Some die because of it.  Well, the problem is obvious upon reflection.  
What's needed, I think, is a balanced life where you are in control (to the extent that you can be).  I feel like I am always studying, in a sense.  Always learning.  There are times of restoration, but you know what I mean.  It's like a breathing process of my being.  I breathe in everything around me, and I breathe out my experience of it all; and the process continues.  And breathing is healthy.  And in a magnificent way it is all connected with learning and evolving.

Really it all boils down to the individual.  An excess of any substance can prove bad for you.

So yes, I think that as I stated earlier psychedelics should be separated from the normal usage of the term 'drug.'  It is really only in our organized societies that we use psychedelics as party drugs.  As Stookie pointed out earlier, it was normally done under the supervision of the shaman; who knew what he was doing.  To them it was something very serious.  And to me psychedelics have always been a serious matter.  You don't decide to trip at a glance.  You look the matter in the eyes, or you just take it.  Either way you take it when you are ready.  How do you know when you are ready?  Well, when your life is at a point where you are not under stress or other factors that would offset your psychic health.  Your setting and current situation tend to matter greatly when you're tripping.  You might take this for advantage when you are tripping in a good environment with the right situation, but it is true.  Your reality must be able to melt away, as it were, and not come back bothering you during your trip in the form of a crisis or a bitching parent or what have you.  Everything's gotta be all good.  Whether a nature setting or in a dark room, you have to feel comfortable and be able to forget about your self and your body so that you can have a real spiritual experience of this amazing thing happening in your consciousness.  To me inner silence is also a necessity of a good trip.  So really I think I should make the distinction that I think a good trip can be a very spiritual and enlightening event.
 
With that stated, pray let us move back to sharing in speech our psychedelic experiences; which, as we have seen, can, and do hold a lot of knowledge.  I would like to move the conversation deeper into the reality of what the psychedelics have to offer, paying particular attention to experience and knowledge.

It's interesting what you said, Stookie, about time and eternity.  My experience justifies this.  Acid can really help a person take hold of their time, so to speak, and become a very proficient and powerful person, especially in thinking.

Well, I'm tired and am going off to bed.  I'm enjoying this chat.  I only wish others would contribute with their stories and knowledge.  
Good night.

[Stookie]

D-

You brought up some good points. It all boils down to responsibility. A person is responsible for all their actions, and if they want to take psychedelics, they are responsible for whatever unexpected thing may happen, good or bad, heaven or hell. In my case I am no longer risking the mental and spiritual progress I've made on my own. I've seen the change a psychedelic experience can have on a person, both good and bad. It is a risk to anyone trying to advance towards non-physical worlds.

To me inner silence is also a necessity of a good trip.

Inner silence on acid? It's contradictory to me. A person with a head full of acid is not a good person to have a conversation with. Their mind is all over the place, and quickly lose their train of thought. Maybe it's just my experiences.

Also, why would a person who can attain inner silence want to trip on acid? That's my whole deal...

I hold my stance

[D]

Because tripping is fun and glorious.  Have at ye.  Yes, I know all about bad trips, and how annoying some people get when they're tripping.  I don't trip with those people.  I've been laying off psychedelics because they can be overwhelming.  
It's 420 now, that's funny.  Anyway, I find it quite necessary, indeed even important, to talk about experiences that I have had on psychedelics with others, and to hear their stories.  It helps me.  
And anyway, you are generalizing the "tripper on acid" as someone who is always the same.   And of course it's not going to be pleasant to chill with someone while they are tripping and you are not.  Unless you know how to maintain a totally chill and trip friendly undestanding, things are going to be awkward.  It's the same if you are tripping and around someone who is not.  If you're not comfortable with them at the time they are going to become your problem.

We have not tripped together (not in this life).  When I maintain my inner silence during a good trip I become quite empowered.  I've been known to give amazing speeches about existence and anything spiritual related, and help others understand themselves and the life they are living, as well as play amazing guitar:)   I remember insight would just be pouring in and I'd feel so at one with everything and the spirit.  Nowadays I am living a chill life.  Reading my books, meditating, making music, and working a chill job.  I'm going for simplicity and a good life that I know I can live.

So if you would kindly allow your stance to include conversing with me about my experiences I will share another story with you.

Not too long ago I took a little acid and had a chill night alone.  Other than making some great music, I wrote a great poem.  I also watched some Record of Lodoss War and it really helped me connect with my roots.  The poem I wrote I entitled, "The Path," and it runs as follows:

The Path

When you find other people's minds limiting
It's time to embark on your own
When you find your own mind limiting
It's time for inner silence
To find your own mind
A selfless soul
A real hero

For those who wish to find their true self and mind
I give to you these words
Seach and you will find
Don't look to space and time
look inside the soul
Percieve your essence whole
Never have a doubt
For what you cannot figure out
is often beyond the rational mind

Don't get snared
by the traps of the glare
Seek a peaceful mind
And a simple life
Love with all of your heart
Speak with all of your mind
Create out of everything you are
Live with the strength of a peaceful life

[Stookie]

(OK, this is my last post on this thread. This is just a back-and-forth difference of opinions that I don't think anyone's even reading, except for us. Plus, I think it's been discussed in detail several times before, such as here: http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18779&highlight=psychedelic )

Great poem!

You've obviously learned a lot using psychedelics. Maybe you can use that to teach other people.

I've found an inner peace that I would never want to lose or diminish in any way. A balance that I cherish and would never want to imbalance. I KNOW that psychedelics can cause that imbalance. I've experienced that imbalance. Cheers to those who have avoided it.

Like I said, it's about personal responsibility. I have something in me that tells me it is irresponsible to post in a public forum saying that psychedelics are an OK way to reach for something higher. I don't think anyone could learn anything from my psychedelic experiences as much as what I've recently experienced.

I look at the progress that magicmac2000 has been making, and I know that's the way to do it. Nothing feels as good as doing it on your own, especially with encouragement from friends.

I also watched some Record of Lodoss War and it really helped me connect with my roots.

Awesome. I just got that on DVD.

[MisterJingo]

I've had psychedelic experiences whilst dreaming. I've also had experiences of taking pshychedelics in dreams, and amazingly the effects felt were exactly the same as experiences in my past with psychedelics.

Here's some dream examples which I posted to other groups a while ago, they are already typed so I only have to cut and paste :

My dreams are always strange and vivid, but occasionally I get an
exceptionally strange dream. I thought I'd post this from last nights sleep.
I wont go into details about how I came to be in the place, as I don't
really know. I was in a foreign country, I had the idea of India or there
about. The dream started with me having a task, I couldn't complete this
task totally within the physical plane. I went to a temple with many floors,
it was full of people. I was searching out a shaman. I had done this before,
that's something I knew at the time.
I found the shaman and he told me to lie down, he placed his hands on my
head, the backed away and started chanting, I went with he flow and my
vision blurred and I felt distant. Then I was completely lucid and standing
in a large house. This place was "bad." It wasn't a place within the human
sphere. I don't exactly know what my task here was, but I had the idea that
this was the place of a deity, Shiva?
it was old and ancient, large windows streamed in what I can only describe
as winter light, that clear penetrating light.
Somehow my ex-girlfriend had crossed the boundary with me too, which was
scary as I didn't want the responsibility of looking after her in this place
too. We started exploring the house, but we saw people, other women here in
saris (sp?) they were moving inline, with their arms out, there was an over
all knowing in this house. There was decapitated bodies, body parts too,
appearing and disappearing. Its impossible to convey the back ground
feeling.
My ex started to kiss me, but the awareness in the house kept projecting
another woman over the body of my ex, so it seemed I was kissing this other
woman. Then I was back in the temple. But my ex hadn't made it. She was
still in that place. An awareness told me that I could never go back to that
place, and my ex was there due to me. It said she never wanted anything off
me, but in the house I imposed my protection over her, this is something she
didn't want/couldn't have. So she would remain there and no one could bring
her back, the implications of this were more profound then just remaining in
that house.
I was now in a pond with large rushes and lilly pads, I could see a large
house on my right, it was surrounded by a large cast iron fence. The
awareness told me I could never go back, as I had been there twice already.
Later on, I was in a town near a road, there seem to be large eyes all
around me, on stands sticking up from the earth, But then I saw they were
just metallic spheres on sticks which were reflecting a blue circle graffiti
onto a near by wall. They kept going from normal eyes, to these metallic
reflecting spheres. I thought something to do with tripping. Then I saw
something coming towards me, it was a graffiti image of a truck, with a
driver in, it was coming into existence as it drove towards me, I recognised
it for some reason, when it was near me, it was a normal truck, someone
pulled the window down and started shooting at a group of people near us.
Everyone ran into the town. In the town we came upon a group of young
people, there was a strange, deranged old man there, he had a blade. He told
a girl in the group he wanted to give her the mark. She agreed, and turned
her back to him. I had a very bad feeling, I thought he was going to stab
her in the back, he put the blade to her back and cut from shoulder to the
small of her back, cutting open her clothes. He then stuck the knife in the
top of her back, and drew blood. She put some of this blood on her forehead.
Others started to be marked in this way too and an orgy was commencing with
the marked people, I ran (I was with an unknown girl) as I knew with
certainty that once everyone had been marked, they would hunt down us
unmarked people.
I was running to the centre of the town, a house? but there was a powerful
awareness/entity/power trying to keep us away. My awareness was dimming and
I had to fight every step to move forward towards the centre, horrific
images were shown to us to try and make us run back or go mad, strange
ghastly faces hanging in air mouthing strange words. We made it to the
centre and there was someone there, a woman?


That's the main part, the rest is hazy and more to do with feelings and
perceptions.


It was a strange dream though, but contained very powerful emotions and
perceptions, and understandings that I could barely grasp

^MisterJingo^   Apr 27 2003, 1:40 pm     show options

Newsgroups: alt.drugs.psychedelics
From: "^MisterJingo^" <n...@butwait.com> - Find messages by this author  
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 13:39:04 +0100
Local: Sun, Apr 27 2003 1:39 pm  
Subject: Crystal dreamz
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Strange dream last night. In the dream there was large wall carving, like
the ancient Mayan ones, on a large stone tablet. Inlaid in it were a number
of coloured crystals. They seemed to represent charkas I think, although
there was an extra white crystal. The wall contained three main carvings.
The left most one was man I think, I didn't really see that bit. There was
indentations for the crystals in that carving too but they were empty. The
next carving was large and alien. It represented something ancient, alien to
human intellect. It was surrounded in many concentric circles. This carving
had the crystals inlaid in it now. They were in one of the concentric
circles surrounding the central image. This implied 'ownership' on some
level. This alien concept, being represented in the carving was now active
again, represented by the crystals around it. I had the notion that this
'thing' had not been active since the dawn of all.
The last, right most carving, slightly below the others seemed to represent
the source. The genesis. This carving also had spaces for the crystals, but
had extra small crystals inlaid too. They were small and oval shaped,
forming arcs around the image in the middle. A circle surrounded this
carving too.
The middle alien image seemed to be interacting with that of the source. I
was told that this alien thing was burrowing in some manner  to the source.
There was an enmity between them, as if to show this, small arks of
electricity seemed to dance between the small oval crystals of the carving
of the source. Something vast was happening.
There was a square hole at the bottom of the large tablet, and occasionally
a small perfect diamond would form there, a man was collecting them. I
picked one up, and then took one of the ovals from the carving of the source
and put it in my mouth (I have no idea why!)
While I was studying the carvings, there seemed to be a vast vortex behind
me, a whirlpool of energies (purple and blue?) and a man and woman. They
were trying to prevent something, or had some greater task and so didn't
even acknowledge me.