Greetings,

a bit of a tale from one of the corners of livelyups occasionally odd search for the truth....

Quite a while back, as part of my 'no stone unturned' policy I went and got nyself quite involved in some of the ideas of the european occultists. It something of a year long process, trying to do the astral travel thing, invoking a variety of forces etc. None of this was purposely directed towards anything nasty, but to cut a long story short (for a change) I had some decidedly scary experiences, and didnt much look forward to going to sleep for a while.

Now.... the skeptical bit of me thinks that I most likely had accessed parts of my own awareness that I was previously unaware of. But of course I could be wrong, so for those of you out there thinking of trundling along that road, well, be careful and dont be a goose like me and opt for the do it yourself option.

I would also add that the reason that I stopped taking psychadelics (once again, a long time ago) was that I had some parallel expereinces that scared the living hell out of me in a way that quite honestly defies description.

I too will apologise for thread drift before asking this. It would seem that quite a number of initiation based practices and spiritual paths use this sort of dread/ awe/ fear as a tool for growth. Any thoughts?

love and life
paul