I got out the other night and was standing in my bedroom. I realised that I was out and started saying a spirits name that I will work with soon, the room became windy and some papers were fluttering around. Nothing else happened with that as I found myself going out the window into the front yard. I remember enjoying the crisp night air. But my problem was… I tried to do a reality test so I went to the letter box and looked at the junk mail inside, I also noticed the bins were out the front waiting collection early the next morning.
But the next morning the bins were not out the front and there was no mail in the letter box. Each time Ive gotten out, there were reality fluctuations that make me think the whole experience was a lucid dream. I know reality changes can be normal, but I hope in time it will be possible to get out and see whats really there and not my minds projection.
And every time I look in a mirror while out of body I see another person looking back at me (not another entity, but myself in a different form). Don’t know what thats about, whether my subconscious minds creates that other look because I want to look like that or its for some other reason.
[quote=“Brutus, post:61, topic:190”]I got out the other night and was standing in my bedroom. I realised that I was out and started saying a spirits name that I will work with soon, the room became windy and some papers were fluttering around. Nothing else happened with that as I found myself going out the window into the front yard. I remember enjoying the crisp night air. But my problem was… I tried to do a reality test so I went to the letter box and looked at the junk mail inside, I also noticed the bins were out the front waiting collection early the next morning.
But the next morning the bins were not out the front and there was no mail in the letter box. Each time Ive gotten out, there were reality fluctuations that make me think the whole experience was a lucid dream. I know reality changes can be normal, but I hope in time it will be possible to get out and see whats really there and not my minds projection.[/quote]
Maybe this confusion with the real time zone during an OBE has to do with the fluidity of space and time and therefore “reality”. Some people claim that it is possible to see the physical reality from another plane of conscious existence but I think that everytime there will be some things which do not correspond to reality. The reflexion of physical reality on the astral realm (or is it the other way around?) is a blend of the collective unconscious so that’s when things get mixed up.
And every time I look in a mirror while out of body I see another person looking back at me (not another entity, but myself in a different form). Don't know what thats about, whether my subconscious minds creates that other look because I want to look like that or its for some other reason.
I know what you mean. I believe that the projections of the subconscious are more responsible for this situation. Once I've been told that when the reflexion is yourself in a different then you're actually seeing your higher self but I don't know at all how true this statement can be.
I don’t have any personal experiences neither with methadone nor with Xanax but I knew someone who said that Xanax had positive effects during his scrying sessions and he could get out of his body with greater ease. About methadone he would always say that it destroyed him, and indeed it was very difficult for him while he was on it.
Now that I have some knowledge on how each substance affects the brain I can see why he prefered Xanax and opium instead of synthetic opioids.
I’ve never tried a test like you mentioned Brutus. I’ve experience the real time plane frequently, I think when you view it from the astral plane you are seeing the energetic imprint of the physical. Which is constantly in motion with cyclical patterns. For example the mailbox has a cycle of empty and full that reoccurs daily. So viewing it from the astral you see the pattern, you expect mail and the box is full. Had you expected it to be empty it would be that as well. There is no time on the astral, yet it’s hard for our mind to comprehend and process all things happening at once. Only in the physical plane can we experience, real time, linear perception. The mail is either there or not based on the time of day, your action and the action of the mailman. It would be an interesting and amazing feat if you could accurately view and interact with the physical plane in a 100% real time way.
Nereid,
What do you know about the interaction of Xanax on the brain? I experienced the real time astral plane on Xanax one night so intensely that I had five sense perception like the physical plane, yet the supernatural powers of the dream state, like walking through walls, shape shifting and flying. While my projections and dream state are very vivid without any drugs, Ive never experienced the sensations I had on Xanax without the drug.
Xanax supresses the brain’s activity and when taken in large doses it can depress the system severly. But when taken in mild/moderate doses it can supress the brain’s activity and it’s ability to process a stimulus just enough to have all the effects you describe and even more! Your conscious perception is affected in a positive way and the brain’s inability to process a stimulus with the same speed it would without Xanax gives the impression that time has stopped or it has slowed down. That’s just one example but the main thing here is that your brain has easier access to a prolonged theta state but this state doesn’t come and go fast. You have the chance to experience it from its start, like sinking into it slowly. This slow passage into this state is responsible for these effects. In other words you’re bypassing the effects of conscious reality on your brain and your mind has the proper amount of time to deal with it so you don’t get lost in the experience, you take all the best from it.
Xanax is an axiolytic (anti-anxiety) and anti-panic medication - the people who are normally prescribed it have a hard time letting go of the stress response in the body. It’s also useful for people with seizure disorder as well as alcohol withdrawals. It works by potentiating GABA in the brain - GABA is what allows neurons to go back to a relaxed/ready state, among other things. It produces sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic and muscle-relaxant effects - all of which are desirable conditions to induce in the self for trance and other magickal work.
So it seems logical that under normal body conditions, it could help one make and keep a trance state for longer. I wouldn’t want to use it for such long-term, because you don’t want to handicap your natural abilities, but it might make for a good recreational helper.
What’s also very interesting about the effect of Xanax (and other similar medications) is that it decreases the levels of melatonin. Melatonin is responsible for putting us into the dream state during sleep, so it’s easier for the brain to keep on perceiving the reality even when the it is technically “slowed down”.
You’ve made a good point about GABA redcircle. What I also consider important about its effect on astral travel is the fact that GABA inhibits the role of dentate gyrus which is responsible for the elaboration and storage of new memories. This process mostly happens during sleep while the brain is in the theta state. So with a substance like Xanax you are putting your brain into the theta mode while awake and before you doze off you have the possibility to be into a theta-gamma state because your brain doesn’t evaluate any new stimulus as something that should be recorded but the process takes place anyway, and when the turn of the dentate gyrus comes the brain is “pushed” into a combination of theta and gamma brainwaves while we’re still perceiving the reality because of the melatonin and other things of course.
I think that it would be interesting if the same effects of Xanax could be induced by listening to something like binaural beats but at a frequency that would induce these results risk-free.