Can you ever lose the ability to have OBEs?

[Vicky]

I haven't written here for years. I used to have OBEs before when I was away from my husband and waited to follow him overseas. Then I used to have them almost every night. Then, we reunited and they gradually decreased until they stopped completely. One possible reason for them stopping was not only that we got together but also because in our apartment was an entity that kept attacking me. So I got afraid of going out. I was wondering, how can I overcome my fear and bring them back. Is it possible to lose this ability forever? The only thing left from that time is that I still have the ability to watch with my eyes closed when I concentrate. I know it is unbelievable but it is true. ... How can I have OBEs again? Can anybody help with suggestions?Thanks

[Vilkate]

Hi!

Well, I am afraid that I won't be able to give you advice how to overcome your fears, but maybe you will ease a bit if I tell you that I used to have frequent OBEs as a child, but then I lost this ability. However, recently I started training for it again, and, step by step, I am improving.
So I doubt that this ability can be lost forever, and I hope I am right.

[Vilkate]

Maybe you should practice self defense systems before going on? I usually do prayers and visualize a shield of protective energy around me, and it helps.
By the way, what kind of entity it is exactly?

[Vicky]

Thanks for the replies. I don't know what kind of entitiy it was. It is gone now because we are in a different apartment. But it was a small, ugly creature.. I don't know how to explain it. It was with no hair, ugly face, big stomach, tiny hands... kind of like that. I have forgotten already because this was 2 years ago. The idea for exersices to protect myself is great; Thanks a lot! I will strart trying once again. Has anyone tried the Monroe Focus 10 CDs? I will probably buy them

[Mustardseed]

Hi Vicky
For years I have practiced making OBEs go away. My problem was that I could not keep them from coming. During that time I have experienced or learned ways to neutralize it all. One of them is getting involved in a good relationship. .....Go figure.

We could talk more if you wish let me know

Regards Mustardseed

[RJA]

I'll offer what is probably a less popular interpretation, - but here goes...

I think that although there are other entities out there, that most of the situations and entities that we encounter are actually of our own creation, - personifications of our own concerns, issues, or fears.

Carl Jung would suggest that characters and situations in our dreams rise up from our unconscious, and that their purpose is to communicate with our conscious selves by symbolicly playing out various psychological/spiritual issues for us.  Jung advocated a technique he called "Active Imagination" which sounds to me like Astral Projection, and he characterized the various entities encountered during Active Imagination as similarly, personifications of things in our pscye.

William Buhlman in "Adventures Beyond the Body" makes a similar point.  At one point he describes encountering an ugly, large rat-like thing, while out-of-body and mentions that rather than running from it he embraced it and tried to emote love towards it.  I forget the exact details, but the just of it was that when he did this he found that this "thing" transformed and he could see that it wasn't an enemy but rather a lesson he had to learn or an issue that he had to face up to.

So, my first assumption would be that this thing you encountered was a personification of some issue you were wrestling with at the time (perhaps even unconsciously), such as lonliness, etc.  If that's the case, and you're in a whole different situation now I don't think you'll encounter that same thing.  And although it's easier said that done, the next time you encounter something that you perceive as evil or scary, if you can – ask it what it is and what it represents.  Maybe it's not something separate from you or outside of you.

Good luck : )

[mactombs]

I agree with RJA. From personal experience, facing the fear and understanding what it represents is enormously important.

[CFTraveler]

I can only offer that during the time I was being attacked my OBE's decreased until they were almost no more.  Once I did passive countermeasures and energy work, and deliberately began an active daily regimen for inducing OBE's, I started again.  But the secret with me is that once I felt safe (or once I got it through to me that I was safe) I was able to consciously do one of the things that helps with OBE- recall work.  When you're afraid, you no more want to remember your OB's than your nightmares.  Once I realized that there was nothing that could scare me in the astral  as much as flesh-and-blood- things can, then I was able to agree to remember whatever I needed to remember.  And so far so good.  You see, I don't think you stop OB'ing when things go wrong (or, in some cases, really right   ) you just stop remembering what happens, as a defense mechanism.

[Astir]

I've also lost the ability...I can only move just outside my body. I've been doing that lately since it is all I can do. It feels more like a trance than anything. I think it's my thoughts that have me ensnared. I just lay there with my eyes open. It's harder to shake me from it than if I am asleep.

I have to question the argument that creatures and entities are all of our own creation. I had a girl come to my bedside once. We sat on the edge of my bed and talked for a long time, I felt akin to her even though I couldn't see her face. She told me that my mother had miscarried a boy before I was conceived. Why tell me? I do not know. I asked my mother that next morning, and she confirmed this was true...thought it was strange I should ask...

I used to have all kinds of haunts come to me and force me to have an OBE. I used to have burned children come to me as well, very afraid. A lot of elderly too. They were all spirits who had -- I think -- just passed...seemed more human than creature, though I couldn't always see them.
Three years ago I had one get me while I wasn't having an OBE. I rolled over to find a body laying beside me, with a bleeding wound in the back of their head. I didn't sleep in my bed for over a week. Slept on the couch...

[IndigoRains]

Yikes Astir, I can't imagine how that would effect me - I mean, I've woke up with a few monsters in my bed but that was because of the drink the night before!  

As for 'loosing' the ability to project, a few years ago I felt I had the same problem.  After a few weeks of frustration I completely reverted back to basics perhaps with one exception.  Deep in F10 I visualized myself floating away from my body.  I held that image and thought very consciously of how lovely it was.  I solidified that image - concreted that image and feeling in my mind.  Every detail from the exit to re-entry was given full attention.  After re-entry, I allowed myself to fall asleep.

Within a few days I was out and about again.  I now make a point of once a week or so to do that same exercise - I haven't had a problem since.

Saying that  - I can't project wearing clothes - took me a while to figure that one out - which brings me back to monsters in my bed...(flashback!! ) eewwwww!

I hope you figure this little hick-up out guys - I'm sure it's only temporary.

IndigoRains

[David Warner]

Vicky,

A lot of what you ask is based on drive and passion to project. You stated that you had the obe's almost every night because of your husband being over-seas and wanting to be together. That was your drive and passion which lead to the OBE. Now, if you can channel that energy, intent to other goals, passions you pro bally should see it slowly returning.

Everyone experiences and perceives frightening events during the obe due the cataleptic state, vibrations, echo's of voices which can cause a chilling negative fears. My first obe was not a smooth return, I didn't know what hit me and I was practicing for months prior. Upon returning, I awakened in complete physical darkness and sweating with the 100mph heart beat. It wasn't until 2-3mins later as I ran out of the room to the upstairs of the house it hit me of what just hap pend. I was able to put it into perspective and was shouting for joy.

What Mactombs talks about - facing the fear dead on is 100% the truth. Another experience, I had a couple attack me with a knife to the shoulder blade going thru my astral skin. I was able to over come the couple mentally and face the fear and ask "why are you doing this to me". They replied back saying "because we want to be your friend". Nice way of showing friendship eh! - So the event turned from a terror into a resolution and returning kindness to the attackers.

Fear is never easy to swallow - especially when it comes to projecting and exploring the unknown. I've been at this for over 18yrs and I've had good and bad experiences. The majority all good and positive because I pray to God for protection and careful when I feel a negativity I return back to the body. Think about it this way, the same rules apply in the astral as they do in the physical. You will have your good days and your bad days!

tvos

[Skeletor]

Logically, there is no way you can lose the ability to OBE.  It is there from the time you're born to the time you die.  You can have dry spells, but you still experience the astral plane every time you dream, even if unconsciously.  The only possibility I see would be insomnia where you can't sleep at all.  But you still won't lose the ability to OBE.  Think of it this way, when you die, it's like one endless OBE.  And there's no way to escape death.

[RJA]

Astir,

I don't suggest that all "creatures and entities" are of our own creation, but when I'm honest with myself I have to admit that I (and all humans), in the end, are not psychologically capable of making the distinction.

I haven't scratched the surface in understanding all that my brain does and how it works, but I have a sneaky suspicision that my mind, coupled with my spirit are perfectly capable of making me sense things that aren't there.  I also believe they're capable of sensing things that "are" there, but not detectable by my regular five senses - or by science for that matter.

So, admittedly, I'm incapable on a conscious level of determining whether things incountered in dreams and other altered states of consciousness are seperate from me or not.

However, when trying to make sense of what I see and experience around me, I find Jung's theories very compelling, but less romantic per se, than other theories I've read.

That said, - one thing that's always bothered me in "searching for truth" is that there are tons of different perspectives out there from Jungian pscyhology, to Theosophy/Anthroposophy, scientific viewpoints, biological theories of consciousness, various religious dogma - that all seem to make a certain amount of sense and yet often seem to flatly contradict each other.  But a few days I began reading a book by Samuel Sagan called "Awakening the Third Eye" - and in it he made a point that I found quite refreshing.  He pointed out that in his experience he has found great wisdom from highly enlightened people, whose "schools of thought" or perspective on existence are entirely irreconcilable with each other!

I've contended for a long time that enlightenment has to do with facilitiating an internal spiritual transformation inside oneself as opposed to "knowing the answers" but his comment also seemed to drive home the point for me that even the most spiritually enlightened don't know all of the answers.

I like Andre Gide's (French Nobel-prize winning author around 1900) quote: "Trust the man who is seeking the truth, but beware the man who claims to have found it."

All that to say, - I don't know whether beings that we perceive as external to us really are or not.  : )