Ganzfeld effect

General Discussion
1

has anyone experimented with the ganzfeld effect, short term or long term? what were the practical applications of this kind of hallucinatory experiment in regards to magic.

I think part of the thing you need to do in order to get to the point of physical evocations is to get “used” to hallucinating, and learn to reach states where this altered subjective reality is possible. needless to say I’m about to start experimenting with various methods of inducing hallucinations, both natural and synthetic.

2

I think losing the idea of “hallucinating” and instead opting to see it as a shift of your consciousness would be the best approach. You are after all trying to bring in a legit new way of seeing things. Using terms that have a negative and druggy feel to them is a bad idea in my opinion, it is hard enough to justify and place the things you will see at times :slight_smile:

As for sensory deprivation, the only thing I’ve done is make my bedroom so dark that it didn’t matter if I had my eyes open or closed, one sees the same. A type of deprivation that I feel is much more useful is removing yourself from the flow of life for a short time, this detaches you tremendously, which initially can be somewhat depressing but if you stick with it the passing of the old “reality” brings with it the possibility of a new one. The Abramelin operation comes to mind as something that works with this concept. Shamanic or indigenous burial rites also tend to deprive beyond merely the senses.

3

How to induce hallucinations:

4

Two British authors & trainers in the core shamanism field, Ross Heaven & Simon Buxton, used to run a workshop called “Darkness Visible” in which participants wore Mindfolds (these things) for several days, and they also released a book about it, there’s some previewed on Google Books here.

This is from the Amazon page for that book:

The first book to examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of retreat in physical darkness to explore inner light

• Shows how experiencing complete darkness over prolonged periods helps in developing mental clarity and creativity

• Draws upon many indigenous and spiritual traditions that use this technique

The use of ceremonial darkness is a classic and cross-cultural method for exploring hidden aspects of unconscious and super-conscious states, accessing invisible landscapes, and embracing the deeper recesses of the self. In Darkness Visible Heaven and Buxton examine the spiritual and therapeutic practice of taking retreat in physical darkness.

For millennia mystics and sages have used darkness as a spiritual tool for breaking with their pasts, prior conditioning, and the limited reality of their societies. Spiritual seekers from many traditions–Celtic, Eastern, indigenous North and South American, Tibetan, and African–have used darkness as a tool for spiritual enlightenment. Heaven and Buxton show how experiencing complete darkness, even for only a period of hours, brings about a remarkable clarity and mental stillness and thus provides a springboard for creativity, intuition, and spiritual development. They include exercises that explore lucid levels of dream consciousness, drawing both from their experience as teachers of this method and from the many cultures that include this practice in their spiritual traditions. Darkness Visible shows how deprivation of sight can truly teach us to see.

I didn’t attend the workshop, but met a few people who did, and a lot of them were newish to trance journeying and visualisation and said it helped them.

I have a Mindfold (they’re worth the money btw, because they don’t press onto your eyes) and am intending to do some kind of 12- or 24-hour darkness meditation soonish, probably oriented around Saturn, using that. I was thinking of maybe the first Saturday after the summer solstice, 28th June, as the world turns back towards darkness, but I haven’t completely decided yet.

That’s all I have on the topic of using visual input to control internal perceptions… if/when I do the darkness work, fates willing I’ll post it on the forum.

5

Attention, we have a limited amount, and generally we use up every last bit of it so there is no surplus available for magical work. We are largely visual creatures, so a large portion of that total attention is being eaten up by what we see visually. Take away the visual aspect, and suddenly you have a surplus of attention waiting to be put to use.

6

I have a Mindfold (they’re worth the money btw, because they don’t press onto your eyes) and am intending to do some kind of 12- or 24-hour darkness meditation soonish, probably oriented around Saturn, using that. I was thinking of maybe the first Saturday after the summer solstice, 28th June, as the world turns back towards darkness, but I haven’t completely decided yet.

That’s all I have on the topic of using visual input to control internal perceptions… if/when I do the darkness work, fates willing I’ll post it on the forum.
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I’ve just bought one and yes they do keep the light out altogether which is handy this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Good luck on the 12 or 24 hour meditation - you make me look a rank amatuer!

If I get any interesting experiences (and hopefully I will) I will post them on here or create a new thread.