Cannabis and Astral Projection – Why not?
The first time I had an “astral projection”, I was about seven or eight years old. Maybe older, maybe younger – I’m not sure, it was a long time ago. All I really remember was that I was young. My parents had some sort of college reunion at some place I have never been to. We were going to go for a week or so.
The night before we were supposed to leave – I had what I thought was a “lucid dream”. I went flying towards our destination, explored everything the place had to offer, met with people and so on. It was incredibly vivid the dream and in a way felt very real to me.
The next day, I awoke and told my parents who simply played it off as dreams of children. However, when we eventually arrived at the college campus – I knew exactly where everything was. I knew the names of the people working at the food stalls or the guy who rented out the bikes. I knew about trails and pools – things I shouldn’t have known about.
I didn’t know it then – but later on I learned that I “Astral Projected”. However, this isn’t the only wonky-experience I have had in my life.
The time I smoked so much weed I popped out of my body…
While I don’t condone kids smoking weed, I cannot be a hypocrite and deny my own youth. When I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I was still very “green” when it came to the reefer. I smoked more than your average teenager for sure, but as an adult I have learned that “more isn’t always better”.
Nonetheless – one day I hung out with my older brother and his friends. They had some good reefer and left a friend and I alone with a bong and a bag of weed. Needless to say, we went to town on the baggy and cleared bowl after bowl.
This was back in the day when weed was a bit tamer than it is these days. At least the cheaper shwaggier kind.
I probably cleared three or four bong bowls myself before passing the bong to my friend. I decided to stand up and smoke a cigarette [Yep, back then I smoked]. When I did, my point of view zoomed backwards – where I floated above myself for a few seconds, and then plopped back into my body.
That was my first – and ever – out of body experience [OBE] with weed. I have never again been “outside of my body” with weed alone. I have done it with meditation, countless psychedelics – but with weed alone just that one time.
Now – that I’m older I’m doing things with a bit more planning than before. If these states were possible when I was younger – can I do it now as I’m older.
Astral Projection – WTF is that about?
Depending to your global perceptive lens – astral projection can either be an experience where your light body [consciousness] leaves your body and travels on an “astral plane” or a psychological phenomenon of dissociation where you utilize imagination power to travel within the caverns of your mind.
Either way – it’s trippy as fuck!
Astral projection could also be tied in with lucid dreaming. For those unfamiliar with the term; lucid dreaming is essentially a state where you are “conscious” that you are dreaming.
Typically, our “psychic sensor” inhibits us from remembering our dreams because the information stored within our dreamscape is not that useful within our waking life. We are processing millions of subconscious data when we sleep.
Lucid dreaming allows you to bypass the psychic censor and be “present” while all of this dream work is happening.
I have recently been attempting to induce lucid dream states and/or astral project without much success as of late.
This made me wonder whether cannabis could have an impact on astral projection. And with a pseudonym like Reginald Reefer – you know I be smoking!
What about Cannabis and Astral Projection?
From what I can gather – there isn’t a big deal with cannabis and astral projection. In fact, some even say that you can utilize it to assist with the transition.
The thing about astral projection is that it takes practice. It’s like meditation. At first, you think you’re doing it wrong and then suddenly, something happens. Then you know that you’re doing it right! Only, till you get stuck and can’t break through anymore – where persistence is required – until you can.
While many people recommended a variety of astral projecting techniques utilizing cannabis – I found the best “basic” exercise you can do in conjunction with weed is called “liminal dreaming”.
What THE FORK is Liminal Dreaming?
“Liminal” literally means “transitional” and refers to the state right before you fall asleep. I have attached a link here for practices you can do tonight to induce a liminal state.
Take a big hit of weed, start drifting and do the Feedback Loop Exercise;
Here it is…
This exercise is about surfing the edge of consciousness, moving back and forth between thought and dream.
Lie or sit back and relax your body and mind as much as possible.
With your eyes closed, let your mind drift, but don’t fall asleep. You’re waiting for something: an image, an idea, a hazy memory, perhaps a distant sound. You might imagine it as much as see, hear, or feel it. Allow your waking, rational mind to loosen its hold on your experience. Open yourself to whatever arrives.
Eventually, something will appear. It might just be a little visual glimmer, or a drifty thought. Maybe it’s a slight tone, or distant voices, or an unfamiliar emotion. Whatever it is, once it’s in your mind, breathe slowly and softly into it, allowing it to take shape, to move and shift on its own.
Use your exhale to relax your body even further. As you breathe out, imagine you’re animating whatever it is that you’re perceiving, like watering a plant with your attention. The exhale removes tension and energy from your mind and body and transfers it to the hypnagogic dream that’s taking shape.
If you start to fall fully asleep, sharpen your consciousness. The trick is to do it only slightly, so you don’t wake up completely. Try paying a little more attention to the act of paying attention.
As you breathe your energy into the dream, hypnagogia will become easier to perceive. Especially at first, your hypnagogic dream may simply be moving points of light or color, faces turning toward you, or flashes of thought that shift into dream. The phenomena may also end quickly. But over time, this exercise will help you enter hypnagogia more easily, and stay there for long periods of time.
What does this help with Astral Projection?
Baby steps. I have done it once by accident, and another time also by accident. By no means I am an expert in Astral Projection. However, Liminal Dreaming is the first – MOST ATTAINABLE – step to consider if you are interested in “Astral Surfing duuude!”
I am all about exploring the limits of my consciousness and it turns out that Astral projection, lucid dreaming and liminal dreaming or other hypnagogic states do work well with cannabis.
I’d love to hear some of your experiences. Hit me up on Twitter if you are interested in swapping stories.
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