The following is closely based upon a true story. Names have been replaced with the intent of protecting identities - and the precise timeline may deviate - but most of the rest was intact.
"You... have a yellow aura..." Rose commented quite off-handedly, as they waited for their order upon the quiet upper floor of the restaurant.
"I do?" Nathan did not recall himself being particularly impressed at himself, being more inclined to associate the colour yellow with the common notion of cowardice, than the creative force of intelligence that yellow auras are aligned with in the eyes of people in the know.
A gaze of peace met one of confusion as the memory of sunlight filtering through the mesh curtain fades.
Nathan realized that his thoughts had wandered as his eyes opened to the darkness of his room, the feeling of warmth from the bedding beneath him engaged in an equilibral struggle with the mildly cool air which caressed his skin. Glancing at the clock he was relieved to note that his lapse had not really cost any time at all - it still being "21:10".
For a fair number of September and October nights he had been preparing himself as well as experimenting in pursuit of achieving "astral projection" - an out of body experience without the sometimes associated 'near death' situation attached.
You see Nathan, like many others before him, was so uncertain of his place in the World - of the reason for it all. Not being satisfied with the replies of more mainstream religous options - he found himself delving into various aspects and variants of Paganism. This was an era when Google was only starting to be a thing - and so online searches were still rather hit-and-miss.
Fragments of information he did begin to peace together - and he did grow intrigued by the various things - but the most interesting to him at the time were...
Now, you can kind of tell what kind of person you are by what you see in the things laid before you. Yes, sure there were pages about how to attribute vengeance upon the object of one's ire. Sure there were pages about how to "make it rain indoors" (besides adding sprinklers, of course).
Nathan skimmed over such entries (although he did admit that it might have been fun to make it rain indoors as a practical joke), pausing upon entries of healing such as pertained to Reiki (which is not particularly "pagan" but goes to show how 'diverse' the search results were), or to the core philosophies of the religion(s).
But all the more so he sought those answers about existence - what lies beyond and why. Nathan was a firm believer that order could be found within the seeming chaos. And so he sought.
When he came across texts dedicated to the topic of inducing out of body experiences his excitement could hardly be contained. Even if he could not gain answers he could at least gain a feel for another level of existence unbeknownst to most. It wasn't the exclusivity that lured him - but the prospect of discovery and adventure.
He had high hopes for this run as it would be his third successful attempt at such.
Well - that kind of depends on what you classify as success. The first attempt was just weird... as he could not see nor hear, but could feel his body flip over like a door to end up facing down a couple feet off the ground. He could not truly explain it but it felt like everything in the World had turned into a wire-frame of sorts - a conceptual level of reality that seemed like it should exist between levels of reality than being a reality all of its own. It just seemed too meta. But it was the first time that he had managed to venture any distance out of his body. It fed his curiosity and desire to explore further.
The second time around a few short days later, was more eventful. Unlike the steady and limited exit of the previous successful attempt, the exit from his body was a lot more energetic. Up, up and up his consciousness rose through what seemed as clouds. The sense of elation was palpable but then the rise ended and the descent begun. A chaotic down spiral it was with various efforts to pull out of the dive proving fruitless and a sense of apprehension seizing him. And then just as suddenly he was upon the rise again. Up and up and up and further up still, always through the clouds and seeking to go beyond.
And then a sense of departure as he could finally properly see. He was simply floating in a sea of stars, a sense of the World below him - and the notion that he had come unclad. Still such paled in the context of the elation he felt as he surveyed that rich expanse of lights.
Then it became apparent that the 'stars' were moving - and some were getting closer.
And then something hit him like a sledgehammer. Down, down and down he went and in spite of his best efforts to pull out of his dive, he soon enough found himself back in his bed, eyes wide and facial expression a mix of elation and frustration all in one as he sought to piece together what had just occurred. A glance at the clock showed that only a few minutes had passed, and he slipped under the covers contentedly at the whole new level of reality that he had just glanced upon.
Nathan settled down again and began to work on his breathing, long and slow, in and out. It was now late in October and Samhain, better known as Halloween, was approaching. According to his learnings Samhain is the period of the year when the barrier that separates the world of the living from that of the dead is at its thinnest. A seemingly optimal period to try again.
His preparations leading up to this attempt were as per normal. He eased off upon pre-bed eating as food served to better ground a soul to this Earth (not quite what he was aiming for here). He had also caught himself dreaming a few times, which was always more fun as the very physics of the dream World could be called into question and challenged.
He had laid himself down upon the bedding so that he could easier tell whether his out of body experience to come was but a dream or whether it was a genuine experience. The rule was to proceed under the covers upon success.
As several times before he cleared his mind of the everyday thoughts, filling his thoughts only with the raw information of how he felt - and the task at hand.
The goal was to bring himself as near to sleep as he could, allowing the body into slumber while the mind remained active enough to experience and to will.
As he began to imagine his consciousness sinking into the mattress and springing back again, several times over (and the final step before an out of body - or astral - projection is induced), and as before the boundaries of Nathan's physical experience began to ebb away.
However something was not right.
He felt a presence to the right side of him. Two presences. Unintelligible murmurs.
He felt a pull upon his body - outwards.
"Come on..." An unmistakable voice - bored and yet irate.
Nathan felt his consciousness separate from his body... but not fully. It remained attached at his head.
Yet more annoyed unintelligible murmurs ensued as for a few tense seconds a form of tug-of-war ensued - between two strange presences seeking to pull the consciousness out of the body, and Nathan's efforts to remain whole - recognizing a grave potential threat.
Finally Nathan won. He sat up, shaken from his experience and sought to rationalize what had just happened. After an unusually hearty 'snack' to earth his body, he went back to bed.
However his troubles did not end there. Over the coming weeks he abandoned his efforts at projection - quitting while he was ahead.
The problem was that something was not quite done with him.
Over the coming months he would lie in his bed, trying to fall asleep, when the room would grow colder. During the summer months when the air conditioning unit was active he would even hear the mechanism of the air-condition adjust to the change in load. By that point it would be too late and as he sought to move his limbs he would find that his body was paralyzed as a presence violated his spirit.
For many months this would go on - and no crystals or "magic" or heavy meals or anything else could tame it. It appeared as if his efforts in projection had attracted a spiritual parasite. Some days he would ride it out. Other days he would attempt to seek external help.
But as time wore on he got smarter about his counters. He increasingly refused to think about the entity plaguing him, and sought to defend himself and fight whenever it did make its presence felt. This both served to deprive it of any energy that he might have unwittingly have been sending its way while making himself a less attractive target to prey upon.
It did not always work - but it did improve his odds - and regardless of his path - the attack which would intially last perhaps a minute, grew shorter to less than half that time.
Ignoring and fighting might have eventually worked - but the most easy and effective cure turned out to be a change in venue. These attacks simply didn't happen elsewhere.
Nathan made it through his experiences but not unscathed. What lesson is one to garner here?
That there be forces that one does not understand and that should be left well enough alone? Perhaps.
That the will to discovery sometimes entails sacrifice? Maybe so.
That we best leave our stunts to our stunt-double? Hired!
Well at any rate there remains much in and beyond this World that we do not understand - and we are fortunate to have individuals like Nathan stick his neck out and allow his tale to be conveyed to others such that his journey may not have been in vain.
Perhaps Nathan will one day again drum up the courage to venture beyond the confines of the body. Who knows what more he might see, provided that he is able to avoid drawing the wrong kind of attention. One thing he has learnt is not to do so from anywhere near the bed upon which he sleeps.
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