When forward or upward movement in a dream becomes difficult or impossible to continue. For example: you are walking down a dream sidewalk, walking up stairs, or driving or bicycling down a road and you suddenly find your legs are too heavy to move or the car or bike breaks down. This indicates that you are moving from a lower/slower vibratory level into a higher/more subtle vibratory level, one that your big fat dream vehicles can’t enter. If you are lucid at this moment, you can stop walking or riding or driving and will yourself to fly forward, leaving your grosser body behind.
When you experience forward movement that is interrupted by a curve, right/left turns, or spinning. For example: you are preparing to cross the street or move from one side of a room to the opposite side, but change your mind and move 90 degrees either to the left or right. When you step to the right or left, you are stepping out of your body. Or you are driving a dream car or riding a bicycle very fast and suddenly a curve appears that you are certain you will not be able to make. Or you dream that you are spinning or dancing. The corkscrew effect is also a very common prelude to leaving your body.
When you hear strange noises—bells, rapping, horns, hissing, thunder. Nearly every OBE is accompanied by strange noises that seem to announce the movement from one plane to the next. No matter what kind of noise it is, it always seems to be “heard” with something other than your ears.
When you encounter Terrors of the Threshold. Encounters with hideous beings occurs most often when, for one reason or another, you skip the dream transition and are roughly thrust from waking consciousness to an OBE. These are seldom pleasant experiences. I encounter these things when I’ve had too much to eat and try to sleep it off. I roll in and out of uncomfortable consciousness. I actually think I’m getting out up out of bed, but instead I walk right into the lowest region of the astral plane, which, as we have learned, can be a pretty rough neighborhood.
Warning: Don’t eat or drink in dreams, especially with dead people! Greek mythology talks of the “Waters of Forgetfulness” that lure the thirsty newly dead, who, once they’ve had a little sip, fall into a slumber in which all memory of their past life dissolves. This is a very real phenomenon of the astral plane. If you want to remember your experiences, do not eat or drink anything in an OBE. Especially do not eat or drink anything offered you by someone whom you believe to be a person who has passed away … even a friend or loved one. You may be biting off more than you intend to chew.
[contents]
66 From the unpublished works of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford in the author’s private collection.
67 Lon Milo DuQuette, “Terrors of the Threshold: Astral Projection & The Egyptian Book of the Dead,” FATE Magazine Vol. 57, No. 10, Issue 654.
nine
That’s Not What
Invocation Is About
Ax me no questions ’n ah’ll tell y’ no lies!
Queenie, Showboat68
About fifteen years ago, Constance and I were driving to Huntington Beach to attend a group celebration of the Rite of Mercury,69 when I perceived myself divinely inspired at a stop light. It was as if the wing-footed messenger of the gods himself had whispered in my ear, informing me how I could magically manifest in myself the spirit and presence of the god Mercury upon the entire gathering.
“Am I not the god of liars?”70 I heard him say as the traffic light turned green. “Honor and invoke me tonight by speaking nothing but lies!”
I instantly recognized the profundity of the idea. Excitedly, I turned to Constance and told her that I was going to invoke Mercury by telling nothing but lies for the whole evening. “No you’re not!” was her wise response.
I couldn’t believe she did not see the magical genius of the idea. I argued that it would be the perfect invocation. “Every chance I get, I will lie! Mercury will love it. I’ll be the only person there actually doing something purely mercurial.” I told her. “Besides, it will be lots of fun!”
But Constance saw nothing perfect or fun about it. “I want nothing to do with it!” was her answer. “You’re not going to do it!”
I finally gave in and said, “Okay. I won’t do it.”
(The invocation of Mercury had begun.)
We arrived a few minutes late. I apologized for our tardiness, saying that we had just returned from the cemetery where we had watched the exhumation of my father’s body. Constance looked at me with silent disgust and found an excuse to get as far away from me as she could for the rest of the evening.
She’s still mad at me!
Of course, everyone wanted to know why my father’s body had been exhumed, and I was only too glad to tell them. It seemed that the family of my mother’s second husband had been told by an acquaintance that my mother had bragged to a mutual friend about how she had poisoned my father. They took their suspicions to the police and finally got a warrant to exhume Dad’s body for testing.
Everyone at the party was enthralled by the story, which I told with a perfectly straight face. I even proudly pointed to the ring I was wearing that evening, and told them that I had been allowed to take it off my father’s finger when they opened the casket.
Next,
