1st Post: OBE attempt of awesome & alarming POWER

[Claw]

Maybe you should try.. without the weed.  Projecting takes concentration, and weed doesn't let you concentrate correctly.  And the reason you didn't project was either A) The weed, or B) You don't have enough experience to project.

I didn't read all of your post.. I'm in a rush, but it sounds like you're pretty close, as I am.  Good luck :]

[Saints]

quote:Originally posted by Colin

Hey everybody! My name's Colin. I've been reading the forums for some time and have finally decided to de-lurk, based on the recent experience I'll relate below. But first, some background on me. For as long as I can remember I've possessed a great degree of interest in all things "supernatural", "paranormal", or "metaphysical". I've believed in things unseen and "unproven" with an unshakeable conviction even before I experienced such things for myself. I have dabbled with meditation, lucid dreaming, the occult, and entheogenic substances for several years now. I've read Astral Dynamics by R.B. and Adventures Beyond the Body by Buhlman, and have been practicing meditation, energy raising & awareness, dream recall/analysis, and OBE/AP techniques for about two months now, with increasing success. On December 24th, starting at around 12:30 a.m., I experienced the following and now share it with you all in order to recieve any feedback or suggestions you might have. Please forgive the length and read on. I'll try to make it interesting. ***I WILL SUMMARIZE*** at the bottom but I'd like to document the experience as thoroughly as possible for my own sake, as well as anyone who's interested.

THE LONG VERSION:

I met with some friends late Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Santa Claus and revel in the warmth and good spirit of the season; by this I mean we climbed into the back of my buddy's truck to smoke pot. We smoked a good deal of high-quality chronic, wished each other season's greetings, and parted ways; the others soon to be snuggled in bed whilst visions of bong-loads danced in their heads. I, on the other hand, was thinking of visions of an entirely different sort. I made a strong mental affirmation that tonight, I WOULD project.

As I walked to the front door of my parent's house (where I am staying on break from college) I noticed a light still burning in the window. Not wanting my altered state to be too blatantly obvious to anyone awake inside, I halted, turned about, and walked back to the driveway to put Visine in my eyes. As I was finishing this task I realized I had stopped, without conscious thought, in the exact center of the driveway under the Christmas lights- a most conspicuous location for my present shady action. My head still turned upward, I contemplated my father's Christmas light creation: an assemblage of blue and white bulbs only barely identifiable as a Christmas tree. From my perspective, however, it appeared as a tunnel of light proceeding into infinity, with myself standing at its mouth. The moisture in my eyes imbued the lights with an otherworldly glow. This perception, while symbolic and only meaningful to me personally, sent shivers down my spine and strengthened my feeling that something major was going to go down. I settled myself and walked inside.

My first stop was the kitchen, where I drank a glass of water. I stopped moving on my way out and immediately felt strong waves of energy and reality fluctuations, though not of the type Bruce talks about. I felt as if I, or the room around me, was swaying or pulsing rhythmically, although a long hard stare at my feet confirmed that I was in fact standing perfectly still. I also saw swirls of light and geometric patterns similar to the hypnagogic state or higher level meditation/hallucinogen experiences. These effects were already quite powerful and I was still fully conscious, alert, and standing upright. With feelings of both excitement and trepidation I turned off the light and headed upstairs.

Although the house was pitch dark I felt completely aware of my surroundings as I climbed the stairs and made the sharp right toward my bedroom. This awareness was similar to the brief real-time sight episodes I've experienced before. I reached the end of the hall and pushed my door open. As it ceased its movement I too stopped walking, and the strong fluctuation sensations again creeped into my awareness. I stared down at the unmoving door and its handle, less than a foot away from my head, and realized that the "swaying" made it appear that the door was coming toward me. As I thought this (both on a conscious and "deeper" level) I put out my hand to grasp the door handle; instead, the door closed on its own and the handle came to me. This was, to say the least, slightly alarming, as I've never seriously experimented with telekinesis let alone had any kind of success. "The spirits are with me tonight," I thought, and closed the door behind me.

A sense of fear began to fill me as I undressed for bed. Whenever I stilled my movements, strong sensations encroached on my awareness to the point I feared they would overwhelm me. Finally I thought, "I've worked too hard and come too far to let fear deter me now. Let's do it." I lay down in bed and began to attempt to calm my surface mind
and enter trance. Little did I know that I would not be given that chance.

Almost immediately after settling in bed (within the space of five seconds) the buzzing in my ears (my astral hearing) grew from a high-pitched whine to a nearly indescribable metallic shriek. Like a combination of a bandsaw and an electric guitar set to 11, the sound exploded into my brain. If it had been a physical sound my eardrums would surely have exploded. This "sound" was accompanied by stunningly brilliant mind's-eye visuals, heavy body sensations akin to deep trance, and the almost complete submergence of my surface or, as I've come to think of it, analytical mind. I could feel my chakras distinctly and as separate from each other for the first time, and they were pulsing like jackhammers as energy coursed through my body. I also realized that I could hear my breath emerge raggedly from my throat quite clearly, despite the "deafening" astral sound. I felt myself become light and willed myself to float up and out...

...but I DID NOT PROJECT. My surface mind, my fears, always managed to interrupt the process in some way, and the effects would calm down. But here's the really crazy thing- I couldn't get the effects to ever really go away. After my fears somehow caused them to diminish (by engaging my conscious mind in a myriad of way's I'll describe next), they'd come roaring back at full strength. So, in the course of the night, I was able to try the following:

-ROPE technique
-Triangle technique
-Requesting higher assistance
-Focusing on third eye visions, or point of light
-Breath awareness (to try and calm my mind)
-Affirmations (which took many forms)
-Visualizing myself at the foot of my bed (this had an interesting effect,

None of these succeeded. I was awake for three plus hours, in which time I went from awestruck, to annoyed, to terrified. I feared I had unnaturally unlocked something in my mind and would not be able to abolish these sensations (or open my Christmas presents). I feared I had had a psychotic break. But eventually I was able to fall into a deep and dreamless sleep. Some highlights of my epic OBE attempt:

-My fears often manifested as alarming yet reasonable auditory hallucinations. For example, the sounds of: Someone large coming down the hallway, people running around in my room (which is quite small), my door opening, the front door being jostled and slammed open, cars driving by on the street, airplanes flying overhead, and others. I knew these were unreal for several reasons, and even laughed inwardly as they became quite ridiculous at times- as in the sound of one isolated car growing to the sound of a freeway, or of ten airplanes flying overhead at once. I also heard, quite clearly, the sound of our refrigerator warming up as if it were in my room. I knew these sounds were illusory but I allowed them to distract me as some of them were frightening- esp. the sounds (and feelings, the house creaks when people move about) of presences in my space.

-I experienced a dialogue between my analytical mind and a deeper, calmer, and more loving part of myself. This deeper self told me not to fear this experience and relax, but my analytical mind was persistent and eventually successful in blocking the process.

-I heard strains of music and singing I can only describe as "celestial", and when I focused on these I came closer to projection. They were beautiful and filled with a sense of love. I also heard the sounds of many people applauding. In all, I felt this was the presence and encouragement of the higher beings I called on to assist me. I believe I also felt myself being lifted and pulled out of my body by a friendly force, but I failed to do so because of my own inner resistance.

-When I attempted to visualize myself outside my body, the swirling patterns I viewed in my mind's eye took the shape of my feet as if I were looking down at them from a standing position. My legs swirled into existence as I tried to expand the visualization upwards through my body, and approached three-dimensionality as I concentrated further. This attempt failed like the others, obviously, but it was very interesting to experience.

TO SUMMARIZE:

I smoked powerful marijuana, then decided I would meditate and placed my intent firmly on projecting. I recieved "signs" (to my own mind) that I would have a powerful spiritual experience and possibly a projection. I experienced several preliminary psychic sensations (real-time sight and telekinesis) before settling down to project. Almost instantly I becamed overwhelmed by an astral shriek, third-eye visualizations, and energy movement sensations. Ultimately I was unable to calm my analytical mind and surface fears, and did not project. BUT: I could not dismiss these strong sensations, and they lasted for several hours before I finally fell asleep, in which time I experienced powerful hallucinations, visions, and attempted projection using several different techniques and observed their strengths and weaknesses.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was a frustrating yet overall positive experience in which I learned viscerally (rather than intellectually) the true illusory nature of frightful astral sounds/hallucinations as well as found which projection techniques work better than others (for me). I feel that the drug I used both facilitated the experience (enhancing to an extreme level the energy-related symptoms, sounds and visions, etc) and impeded my overall success (by both enhancing the symptoms to such an insane degree and length of time, and by clouding my mental focus). As a side note, I have taken mushrooms many times over the course of the past several years, tried ecstasy, smoked salvia, and hallucinated through marijuana on many occasions, but I have never experienced anything this powerful before.

So that's it. If anyone is brave enough to read this (or even just the summary), I'd be delighted to hear any feedback, similar experiences, or advice anyone has to offer. I'm very excited to be an active part of this forum and this won't be the last you'll hear from me. Next time, though, I'll try to keep it a little shorter!

Cheers,
Colin

The experience is interesting but...the side effect (intended and unintended)of the drug throws a wrench into my assessment tools. I hope you can discern the effects of the drug from normal bio-spiritual behavior (where does the drug's effect stop and the actual bio/spiritual behavior start). Figuring that out is as complicated a task as getting out normally!
Wish you success!

[Colin]

Cheers Claw & Saints! I agree with you both about the drugs, they have their uses but can only take you so far. I don't regularly use drugs in my spiritual pursuits, but I have utilized them beneficially in the past. For example, mushrooms acquainted me with a sense of the harmony and interconnectedness of our universe, and marijuana increases my sensitivity to energy movement. I have meditated and raised energy on it to help learn and get accustomed to those sensations. At this stage I strive to attain higher states with a lucid, sober mind; but, as I was wide awake, I figured I'd use my increased energy awarness to my benefit. I didn't expect the astonishing intensity of this experience, which prompted me to post.

To clarify, I've experienced all of these sensations before naturally, but none at this extreme level. I've had what I believe to be brief real-time OBEs (I'm somewhat doubtful, but that's another post) and other related experiences (real-time sight, astral hearing, hypnagogic hallucinations, heightened energy movement awareness, etc) completely stone-cold sober, and that is my ultimate aim.

Thanks for your quick responses, your input is greatly appreciated!

[Huwie]

What all that tells me (yes, I did read it all and enjoyed it) is that you have pretty much 'proven' you can do it.  I can only echo what the others have said, namely to keep at it without using drugs.  I love weed myself, but I wouldn't even attempt to project whilst high on it.

You strike me as someone who could achieve total mastery over yourself if so desired, and that is a strong aid to conscious projection.  I would say that if you practiced enough, you would eventually achieve what you want.  We have all been there, getting to stages where we think "oh come on, this has to be it" and it's easy to get discouraged.  I myself have often found myself thinking "aw this is never gonna happen", but then I realise what it is I am potentially turning down, and renew my efforts every time!

Just keep at it, man.  I'm sure you'll get it eventually. []

[michael]

It is a bit like losing one's virginity Colin..the first time can be a bit of a hotch potch due to nerves...over excitement...etc..my first time  was cut short by fear..but after that first time no problem..and now onto astral projection...lol....seriously it is very encouraging that you heard the chakral sounds etc..you are i feel a natural..and good luck next time round...

[Colin]

Cheers Huwie and michael, thanks for replying! I appreciate your comments very much and take them as compliments. I feel, deep down, like I can achieve anything I set out to do, but historically have had problems of self-image and esteem, which I'm constantly working to overcome. So thanks very much for your words of encouragement and advice, I've taken them to heart. Best wishes for the new year!

[Natural Mystic]

Colin,

I just read your account and was very intrigued, I agree with the other posts that the drugs may have precipitated the experience by allowing you deeper access to the true core part of yourself. But again the analytical head mode kicked in.  Maybe the blockage is the fear, in part of accepting your ability to overcome and allowing yourself to open up to the totality of your being and accepting this. (Apologies if this appears overbearing and smug, it is just a random suggestion)

Drugs tend to open the chakras to a degree, as though your being has been slowly peeled away but I guess the head part of the self kicks in as a form of protection.  Maybe the journey is meant to be a natural  process which relies upon all the integral parts of your being harmonizing like an orchestra, imagine each instrument raising your energy and vibrating each chakra in tune reaching a different pitch that is unique but part of a greater sound. All parts building and forming together slowly and consciously.

The experience sounds very powerful and it strikes me how much you stayed with it despite the internal dialogue and exchange between your inner and outer emotions. This indicates that you are well on your way to finding the mechanism with which to calm the mind in order to experience the freedom of allowing yourself to just be without your fears halting your progress. Its a cliché but the journey of how ever many miles began with one step.

Many thanks for sharing your account.

Love and Light

Natural Mystic

[Colin]

Hey everybody! My name's Colin. I've been reading the forums for some time and have finally decided to de-lurk, based on the recent experience I'll relate below. But first, some background on me. For as long as I can remember I've possessed a great degree of interest in all things "supernatural", "paranormal", or "metaphysical". I've believed in things unseen and "unproven" with an unshakeable conviction even before I experienced such things for myself. I have dabbled with meditation, lucid dreaming, the occult, and entheogenic substances for several years now. I've read Astral Dynamics by R.B. and Adventures Beyond the Body by Buhlman, and have been practicing meditation, energy raising & awareness, dream recall/analysis, and OBE/AP techniques for about two months now, with increasing success. On December 24th, starting at around 12:30 a.m., I experienced the following and now share it with you all in order to recieve any feedback or suggestions you might have. Please forgive the length and read on. I'll try to make it interesting. ***I WILL SUMMARIZE*** at the bottom but I'd like to document the experience as thoroughly as possible for my own sake, as well as anyone who's interested.

THE LONG VERSION:

I met with some friends late Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Santa Claus and revel in the warmth and good spirit of the season; by this I mean we climbed into the back of my buddy's truck to smoke pot. We smoked a good deal of high-quality chronic, wished each other season's greetings, and parted ways; the others soon to be snuggled in bed whilst visions of bong-loads danced in their heads. I, on the other hand, was thinking of visions of an entirely different sort. I made a strong mental affirmation that tonight, I WOULD project.

As I walked to the front door of my parent's house (where I am staying on break from college) I noticed a light still burning in the window. Not wanting my altered state to be too blatantly obvious to anyone awake inside, I halted, turned about, and walked back to the driveway to put Visine in my eyes. As I was finishing this task I realized I had stopped, without conscious thought, in the exact center of the driveway under the Christmas lights- a most conspicuous location for my present shady action. My head still turned upward, I contemplated my father's Christmas light creation: an assemblage of blue and white bulbs only barely identifiable as a Christmas tree. From my perspective, however, it appeared as a tunnel of light proceeding into infinity, with myself standing at its mouth. The moisture in my eyes imbued the lights with an otherworldly glow. This perception, while symbolic and only meaningful to me personally, sent shivers down my spine and strengthened my feeling that something major was going to go down. I settled myself and walked inside.

My first stop was the kitchen, where I drank a glass of water. I stopped moving on my way out and immediately felt strong waves of energy and reality fluctuations, though not of the type Bruce talks about. I felt as if I, or the room around me, was swaying or pulsing rhythmically, although a long hard stare at my feet confirmed that I was in fact standing perfectly still. I also saw swirls of light and geometric patterns similar to the hypnagogic state or higher level meditation/hallucinogen experiences. These effects were already quite powerful and I was still fully conscious, alert, and standing upright. With feelings of both excitement and trepidation I turned off the light and headed upstairs.

Although the house was pitch dark I felt completely aware of my surroundings as I climbed the stairs and made the sharp right toward my bedroom. This awareness was similar to the brief real-time sight episodes I've experienced before. I reached the end of the hall and pushed my door open. As it ceased its movement I too stopped walking, and the strong fluctuation sensations again creeped into my awareness. I stared down at the unmoving door and its handle, less than a foot away from my head, and realized that the "swaying" made it appear that the door was coming toward me. As I thought this (both on a conscious and "deeper" level) I put out my hand to grasp the door handle; instead, the door closed on its own and the handle came to me. This was, to say the least, slightly alarming, as I've never seriously experimented with telekinesis let alone had any kind of success. "The spirits are with me tonight," I thought, and closed the door behind me.

A sense of fear began to fill me as I undressed for bed. Whenever I stilled my movements, strong sensations encroached on my awareness to the point I feared they would overwhelm me. Finally I thought, "I've worked too hard and come too far to let fear deter me now. Let's do it." I lay down in bed and began to attempt to calm my surface mind
and enter trance. Little did I know that I would not be given that chance.

Almost immediately after settling in bed (within the space of five seconds) the buzzing in my ears (my astral hearing) grew from a high-pitched whine to a nearly indescribable metallic shriek. Like a combination of a bandsaw and an electric guitar set to 11, the sound exploded into my brain. If it had been a physical sound my eardrums would surely have exploded. This "sound" was accompanied by stunningly brilliant mind's-eye visuals, heavy body sensations akin to deep trance, and the almost complete submergence of my surface or, as I've come to think of it, analytical mind. I could feel my chakras distinctly and as separate from each other for the first time, and they were pulsing like jackhammers as energy coursed through my body. I also realized that I could hear my breath emerge raggedly from my throat quite clearly, despite the "deafening" astral sound. I felt myself become light and willed myself to float up and out...

...but I DID NOT PROJECT. My surface mind, my fears, always managed to interrupt the process in some way, and the effects would calm down. But here's the really crazy thing- I couldn't get the effects to ever really go away. After my fears somehow caused them to diminish (by engaging my conscious mind in a myriad of way's I'll describe next), they'd come roaring back at full strength. So, in the course of the night, I was able to try the following:

-ROPE technique
-Triangle technique
-Requesting higher assistance
-Focusing on third eye visions, or point of light
-Breath awareness (to try and calm my mind)
-Affirmations (which took many forms)
-Visualizing myself at the foot of my bed (this had an interesting effect,

None of these succeeded. I was awake for three plus hours, in which time I went from awestruck, to annoyed, to terrified. I feared I had unnaturally unlocked something in my mind and would not be able to abolish these sensations (or open my Christmas presents). I feared I had had a psychotic break. But eventually I was able to fall into a deep and dreamless sleep. Some highlights of my epic OBE attempt:

-My fears often manifested as alarming yet reasonable auditory hallucinations. For example, the sounds of: Someone large coming down the hallway, people running around in my room (which is quite small), my door opening, the front door being jostled and slammed open, cars driving by on the street, airplanes flying overhead, and others. I knew these were unreal for several reasons, and even laughed inwardly as they became quite ridiculous at times- as in the sound of one isolated car growing to the sound of a freeway, or of ten airplanes flying overhead at once. I also heard, quite clearly, the sound of our refrigerator warming up as if it were in my room. I knew these sounds were illusory but I allowed them to distract me as some of them were frightening- esp. the sounds (and feelings, the house creaks when people move about) of presences in my space.

-I experienced a dialogue between my analytical mind and a deeper, calmer, and more loving part of myself. This deeper self told me not to fear this experience and relax, but my analytical mind was persistent and eventually successful in blocking the process.

-I heard strains of music and singing I can only describe as "celestial", and when I focused on these I came closer to projection. They were beautiful and filled with a sense of love. I also heard the sounds of many people applauding. In all, I felt this was the presence and encouragement of the higher beings I called on to assist me. I believe I also felt myself being lifted and pulled out of my body by a friendly force, but I failed to do so because of my own inner resistance.

-When I attempted to visualize myself outside my body, the swirling patterns I viewed in my mind's eye took the shape of my feet as if I were looking down at them from a standing position. My legs swirled into existence as I tried to expand the visualization upwards through my body, and approached three-dimensionality as I concentrated further. This attempt failed like the others, obviously, but it was very interesting to experience.

TO SUMMARIZE:

I smoked powerful marijuana, then decided I would meditate and placed my intent firmly on projecting. I recieved "signs" (to my own mind) that I would have a powerful spiritual experience and possibly a projection. I experienced several preliminary psychic sensations (real-time sight and telekinesis) before settling down to project. Almost instantly I becamed overwhelmed by an astral shriek, third-eye visualizations, and energy movement sensations. Ultimately I was unable to calm my analytical mind and surface fears, and did not project. BUT: I could not dismiss these strong sensations, and they lasted for several hours before I finally fell asleep, in which time I experienced powerful hallucinations, visions, and attempted projection using several different techniques and observed their strengths and weaknesses.

IN CONCLUSION:

This was a frustrating yet overall positive experience in which I learned viscerally (rather than intellectually) the true illusory nature of frightful astral sounds/hallucinations as well as found which projection techniques work better than others (for me). I feel that the drug I used both facilitated the experience (enhancing to an extreme level the energy-related symptoms, sounds and visions, etc) and impeded my overall success (by both enhancing the symptoms to such an insane degree and length of time, and by clouding my mental focus). As a side note, I have taken mushrooms many times over the course of the past several years, tried ecstasy, smoked salvia, and hallucinated through marijuana on many occasions, but I have never experienced anything this powerful before.

So that's it. If anyone is brave enough to read this (or even just the summary), I'd be delighted to hear any feedback, similar experiences, or advice anyone has to offer. I'm very excited to be an active part of this forum and this won't be the last you'll hear from me. Next time, though, I'll try to keep it a little shorter!

Cheers,
Colin