First, I'd like to give you abackground of myself. I am a degreed Scientist who finds comfort inknowing how things work right down to the atomic level. I was raisedChristian, however, I frequently caught clergy in lies and detectedcontradictory messages in sermon. This led me to denounceChristianity and become Agnostic.

Now, I've never thought much aboutdreams. I thought that my dreams were just my subconscious talkingto me. But now, evidence has been piling up and one event (which Iwill get to later) in particular has made me a 'believer' that mydreams are a preview of what I can expect in my afterlife.

I've reported to people that I havethese strange types of dreams. Their is mostly nothing remarkableabout these dreams. They occur in the exact place where I sleep,whether it's my house, a hotel or a guest room. Two things arerather bizarre about these dreams. 1) I lie unable to move from mybed. 2) strange beings, sometimes supernatural in appearance, occupymy 'dream'.

One time during one of my strangedreams; a bald, middle-aged man grabs me and says 'you have a lot tolearn!' What did he mean by that? Who was he?

During another situation, during myyouth, I was among people who used recreational drugs. There wereall types, and one in particualar: ketamine. I did not know at thetime, but I now know that ketamine has the ability of causing anemergent state. After being exposed to these exotic vapors, i reportto my friends 'wow, I caught a contact that made me vibrate!' Myfriends just wrote me off, which was typical of them.

A few months ago, I started researchingOut-Of-Body-Experience(OBE). And low and behold, the mentioning of avibrational stage, a precursor stage that leads to the undocking ofyour awareness from your body. This information freaked me out! Thevibration that I felt occurred over a decade before I learned aboutOBEs, so I knew this wasn't the power of suggestion working its magicon me. Now that my interest was stroked, I decided to continue onand learn more about OBEs.

I memorize a method of acheiving thevibrational state and going beyond. One night, I get in bed, relaxand channel out the background noise that is my wife's snoring. Instead of thinking of nothing, I focused on the image of a simplewooden door. This door symbolized the only thing that kept me frommy astral/spiritual self. I kept my mind awake while my body, tiredfrom it's 9 hour work day, circame to sleep. Then it happened:vibrations stronger than the sensation I felt before. And then Ifelt a sensation close to what I feel during takeoff in an airplane. I was weightless, pulsating lights were hitting me in the face. Ithink that I was in outter space. Scared that I would never comeback, I thought of my body and came right back, just like theinstructions said. This opened my mind and changed my life.

Recently, a grim event took place. Mylittle dog, Isis, grew very sick. Her kidneys were failing her. After spending $1000 in vet bills, I bought us about a month of timeto spend together. One night, after a day where she struggle to dothe simplest tasks, she curled up next to me and had a terribleseizure. I looked into her eyes and they transmitted to me howserious her situation was. I layed her on the floor. Thinking thatshe was going to die then, I held her paw and told her how much Iloved her. Her seizure subsided, but she couldn't move. My littlespitfire who could run from the basement to the top floor in 8seconds could not move... I got my wife and told her the news. Itook a step towards Isis and it all hit me. I'm going to have to putmy best friend to sleep. It was the most horrible feeling! I crieduncontrollably, but could not let her hurt anymore. I bundled herup, the same way I brought her home for the first time, and my wifeand I made a long, solemn trip to the pet emergency room.

The trip to the ER was surreal. It was2 am and nobody was on the road. It had been raining and the wateron the streets reflected the street lights and neon signs. Isisperked up and was looking around while we drove. I was optimisticthat she was OK and the doctor would say 'All that's wrong with heris [insert medical jargon] fix this and she'll be fine' but the deepdown, I knew that this was our final car trip together in thephysical. We arrive at the ER, met a technician at the door and mywife told her the situation. I was too broken up to speak. The Techtook Isis and they ran some test.

My wife and I sat in a waiting room. The doctor eventually came in and said that Isis didn't have muchtime... They brought Isis back in and we spent almost two hourssaying good-bye. As I looked at her, I noticed that she probablyalready knew her time was up and that she was subtly telling me thatas well. She lied down and closed her eyes and that's when I calledthe doctor to administer the anesthetic. I layed my hand on her andtold her 'be easy' and 'I love you'. Then, it was over. I was gladher pain was over, but mine still persisted.

Armed with my novice skills in OBEs, Iset out to see if I could communicate with Isis. Faith in theafterlife was not good enough for me. I needed to KNOW!. I ranthrough my ritual, but I looked over at my wife and said 'dammit, Ifailed'. Then I tried to get up. I noticed that I succeeded afterall. I felt so uncoordinated in my astral form. Like a childlearning to walk, I stumbled about. I called out 'Isis, Isis'. Myvoice was different. My physical voice filled the room and bouncedoff the walls. My astral voice seemed muffled and hardly traveledpast my 'face'. My house was a warped version of the physicalversion. It was dark and somewhat monochromatic. I propelled myselfdown the hall calling out to her. And then, it happened. My littlegirl came running up the stairs! Physical aspects like herhyperactivity and anxiety seemed to be abstracted out with her body. She ran past as if she had expected me not to see her. I loweredmyself and extended my 'arm', petted her and told her how much Imissed her and loved her. Again, the fear of leaving my body to diemade me go back to my body. I awoke with tears of joy. Usually,when I wake in the morning, I'm groggy. But my experience with Isis,made me energized. However, I have something odd to report: Myphysical self seems to want to deny my astral experiences. It's kindof abstract to explain but, something inside of me tried to forgetthe spiritual experience. Is my body jealous? It would beunderstandable. If I fell in love with the astral plane, why would Iwant to endulge in the physical?

As with all of my quest for answers, Iend up with more questions. Are my dreams more 'real' than Ioriginally thought? Have you ever thought it strange that in dreamsyou have another set of senses (i.e. you physical eyes are closed,but you can see marvelous things in your sleep)? Was my connectionwith Isis the catalyst that led to the most vivid OBE I've everexperienced? Is she sitting beside me in her plane, watching aftermy astral self? Or does she walk beside me, waiting for me to visither again or past over and be equal in our state of being?

I don't have answers, but I pledge toyou, Isis. I WILL see you again! If I have to train my mind andbody further, that's what I'll do. If I have to rig a PKE interface,that's what I'll do. I believe in you! More than any religion! Youchanged my life and bonded to my 'soul'. Just be patient...

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Have any of you gone through something similar?

I'd love to hear about it.

A.

Merry Meet

I am a tenant and have had to move about 6 times in the last 3 years due to my landlords deciding to sell up (ie: leaving me homeless!) and I think its about to happen again.

So, I am trying to plan a ritual (I'm Pagan) that will help me to stay in my home / prevent the landlord selling. Does anyone out there know of any spells or rituals that I can include in my plan, or can anyone direct me to a place with such information?

I have found lots of helpful stuff about blessing a home, selling a home, protecting a home etc, but there is almost nothing out there (that I can find) that offers magickal guidance to tenants wishing to remain in their homes.

So far I know about the old rail-road spike option (one to be hammered in each corner of property), the one with a rock from the property (added to benzoin and spread across all access points), and the one utilising Patchouli to anoint external doorknobs. 

At the moment I am only planning to include the last one in my ritual, as the other two are not practical (or inappropriate) in my situation.

Any advice, guidelines or spells will be much appreciated.

Blessed Be

Karen