When I was a young teenager, I became infatuated with the concept of astral projection. I even read a book about it and tried the techniques many times, with little success. I would meditate, laying down, and found that I was able to get mostly out of my body, either floating above or sinking below my body, but the area around my head and mind would stay locked in with my body. One time, I was able to rotate horizontally until my head was at my feet and my feet were at my head.
One night a year or two later, I decided to try it on a low dose of LSD, which I had tried for the first time a few months before. It made it much easier for me, but there were some “side effects” of fear that I didn’t expect.
On this night, I was laying in the bottom of bunk beds that I shared with my brother, who was on the top, sleeping. I was finally able to float completely out of my body, rising above it, but it became complicated when I was about to float through my brother.
I panicked a bit, then thought I saw a grey alien watching me from outside our bedroom window, which instantly recoiled me back into my body. I was afraid the alien would take control of my body when I wasn’t inhabiting it. That was the last time I consciously tried astral projection. I was 13 years old.
Another time, when I was 16 years old, I went to a large, weekend-long festival with several friends, volunteering during the days and partaking in psychedelics during the nights. On Saturday night, I ate two tabs of grey sunshine blotter LSD and was absolutely overwhelmed by their potency.
On that night, I spontaneously astrally projected very, very far, over and over, recoiling back to my body in fear, then losing control again. It was my first “bad trip.” I couldn’t just keep travelling when my soul left my body because I wasn’t expecting it and it really freaked me out.
I realize now that my earnest desire to astrally project over the previous few years was simply being realized for me by Source, with the help of the LSD, even though I wasn’t prepared for it. I didn’t expect my desire to manifest without me willing it into existence. The Law of Detachment says that when you let your desire go, it can more easily manifest itself. I had no idea of this at the time and was really caught off guard when Source so powerfully delivered my desire to astral project. When I tried to force it, it was next to impossible. When I let it go and basically forgot about it, it happened with intensity within a year or two.
It felt like a black hole was sucking my soul out of my body over and over and I feared I would lose my body if I just let it happen and went with the flow. This fear made my experience seriously challenging. I was exhausted for days after the experience and my friends had to get expert support from festival staff to help, which they did. One of them said he’d been where I was at and that he came down, which was key for me to hear.
If I would have had a facilitator or guide, preparation, and set intention, I could have avoided this difficult experience and fulfilled my original desire to fly outside of my body safely.
I was shaken by the experience, which lasted for the whole night. Looking back, I think the blotter I took was dosed with concentrated LSD, instead of a proper solution. Whether it was by accident or on purpose, I will never know. I suppose it’s also possible that my fear intensified the experience as well and the dosage was within normal standards. It’s so important to feel safe and supported while using psychedelics, to know your dosage, know your source, and prepare yourself and your environment when doing deep dives.