Astral Initiation Options

I am looking for information about Astral Initiation or maybe the name of a book that can help me. I had a really strange experience last summer and am trying to make sense of it.

This is what I know so far:

ASTRAL INITIATIONS are dreams and visions that occur spontaneously or by deliberate astral travel, that are of an initiatory nature. In magic they are referred to as having occurred in "a temple not made by hands". The occult tends to view astral initiations with skepticism, while admitting that they may be valid. This is because they happen within the mind of the person who had the vision, and may not be a psychic reality at all but, subconscious desires or simple lies for attention or unearned rank. Valid astral initiations are distinguished by the changes in the person. They manifest increased spirituality, psychic energy or the ability to call on powers that they did not have before their dream/vision. All valid astral initiations will have a physical and a psychic manifestation in the life of the person that experiences them.

The experience was terrifying for me, especially since I wasn't a student of the occult beforehand. There was another presence there that seemed to control other people....easily. IT made me choose between death or doing something really dark to save myself....I refused and expected to die. The next day I was still in a fearful state and was made to enter the water briefly while the others flanked me in a sort of circle...they weren't themselves...it was really strange. Since then I have had the increases in spirituality, psychic moments, increased sensitivities and I think powers to call. I don't seem to have a physical manifestation and don't really know what to look for either.

any help would be appreciated thanks.

No replies?

Maybe this isn't the right area to post my inquiry.

Im kinda confused as to what your asking. What i got out of it was that you astraly projected and maybe some how another spirit that was lingering in the astral plane saw that you were out of your body and inhabitied it for the time you were in the astral plane maybe next time if you delibratly project doing lbrp rituals or a circle of protection if this seems to happen again. Hope this kinda helped ya if you can clarify little more on what your asking then maybe i can give better explanation. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/i_triangle.gif)

Im kinda confused as to what your asking. What i got out of it was that you astraly projected and maybe some how another spirit that was lingering in the astral plane saw that you were out of your body and inhabitied it for the time you were in the astral plane maybe next time if you delibratly project doing lbrp rituals or a circle of protection if this seems to happen again. Hope this kinda helped ya if you can clarify little more on what your asking then maybe i can give better explanation. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/i_triangle.gif)

Hey GRim,

I didn't leave my body as far as I can tell. It was more of a sustained vision, but it was connected with the physical world at the same time. It was an initiation, and it involved a powerful spirit/deity, now whether it was an outside spirit or my own, I cannot say for sure. What I do know: There was a dark presence, There was a test, and now I am up a level from before.

What I am after is some sort of verification, the psychic manifestations I am aware of, but the physical ones I am not. I want to know what the literature says about the physical manifestations.

I am interested in any books on this subject that someone can recommend.

Ok well i'm going to give it another shot here. My theory is that maybe your body was inhabited by a demon kind of entity since you said there was a "Dark Presence". Maybe i do not know if you have been working with any evocation lately if so the test could have been the deity testing you to see if your worthy of something what i'm not sure. Maybe it could be if your practicing evocation of a spirit that it was using your body as maybe like a ways of communing with you. But thats my theory sorry if its off i was trying best to interpret and give you best anwser i could. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

No replies?

Maybe this isn't the right area to post my inquiry.

Well since nobody has taken the leap to supply you with a good textbook, I think I might have something for you. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy by Mircea Eliade goes in depth on shamanic experiences worldwide. The book covers things like various shamanic apparel, relationships with spirits, and initiatory experiences. This book doesn't really try and explain or understand the reasoning behind said practices, it simply lists them as objectively as any outsider could do so. Surprisingly, it doesn't have any overarching spiritual goal to bring the reader to: it's more of a textbook of how shamans throughout the world behave. It is very dry but I do know very valuable information can be found here, especially if you're having a specific set of experiences. Ideally you will be able to find what cultural backdrop your experience range is coming from and start research in that direction with the aid of this book.

Good luck.

Edit: I have found this book in practically every used bookstore I've been in (but Portland is bookstore heavy), though I have also found it in more corporate places like Boarders (though not barnes and noble)

This post has been edited by Dancing Coyote: Mar 9 2010, 05:22 PM

Thanks for recommending mircea Eliade's book on Shamanism. I am still on the hunt for it but have found a few others to occupy my time, Shamanism an encyclopedia has quite a few references to Eliade and others and seems to be quite comprehensive. I have also found some documentaries on ayahuasca that have been illuminating.

There does appear to be quite a few parallels between my experience and that of other tribes shamanic initiations and even secret society occult initiations. But there are also some discrepancies as well. Much for me to learn and to experiment with.

I do have a question related to a warning I read about offending the spirits.

What are some of the offenses against the spirit world?

Thanks for recommending mircea Eliade's book on Shamanism. I am still on the hunt for it but have found a few others to occupy my time, Shamanism an encyclopedia has quite a few references to Eliade and others and seems to be quite comprehensive. I have also found some documentaries on ayahuasca that have been illuminating.

There does appear to be quite a few parallels between my experience and that of other tribes shamanic initiations and even secret society occult initiations. But there are also some discrepancies as well. Much for me to learn and to experiment with.

I do have a question related to a warning I read about offending the spirits.

What are some of the offenses against the spirit world?

Pertaining to your question, I think again it depends on the cultural backdrop the spirits represent. As an example if you were working with the haitian voodou eshus you would follow a set of barter/payment sort of bargening to gain results, now these same rules would not apply to say the early-english demons or even the created spirits of the cuthulu mythos. It is not for me to say how or why culture directly influences the spirit's taboos, whether culture creates spirits, specific spirits manefest for various cultures or any variation therein; all I know is if you want to contact a specific spirit of any nature, it's best to have done the reasearch on the spirits' culture.

As a side note the history channel had a video on psychedelics, don't quote me on this but I think it was called Peyote to LSD: a psychedelic expierence (not sure because I'm on my phone right now). In any case, the doccumentary had Wade Davis in it (author of The Serpent and the Rainbow) and a bit more information on various hallucinogens.