Hello, Everyone,
Wow, I stepped away for a few days and then I look back, and here's all these awesome people with great questions and even greater answers. I am still relatively new to this site also. I wish I had read all this about fifteen years before I began having OBE's and lucid dreaming. Actually, I had come from a Christian background, and even my mother warned me about Demons when I got involved in a magic group. Well, I cannot say that I totally do not believe there are some evil entities out there, I am too steeped in readings from the Bible and Eastern religions to just caste the thought totally away. I still have not figured out if my negative experiences were because of dabbling in magic, or it it was because of belief systems that had been thrown in my face, but I certainly had some realistic in my bedroom and in astral realities experiences. I have found now that it is best just not to dwell on them. I do know everything is about frequencies, and if you go into this thing with fear, you will draw negative entities to you. But if you know you are balanced and have resolved any negative issues you may have, and go into this expecting good things to happen, you are more likely to draw good things to you.
This is why it is advisable and recommended by magic orders that you go through a period of sessions with a therapist, to resolve any issues you may have. I was so positive that I did not have any issues that would interfere in my progress, I was really surprised when I had to suddenly start dealing with some very negative entities, but I was not at all afraid at first. I did my banishing rituals everyday, and my Middle Pillar, but for some reason I had some challenges to get past. Even so I would not give up any of the experiences I had, because I learned much with each experience, and it stimulated me to do some research as to who these entities were.. In magical groups, it is a requirement also that you do a Banishing ritual daily and the Middle Pillar before any special techniques . It all depends on the individual also, perhaps a karmic thing if you attract negativity. Jason, you do not have to worry about being possessed. They CANNOT take possession of your body or your soul, without your permission. You are a glorious spiritual being and your soul belongs to you. They will try to torture you and hurt you on the astral plane, but once you realize that you are much more powerful that they are, they are powerless to harm you. They also hate certain things, like quoting verses from the Bible. I also discovered that I had the abiity to make my own astral weapons against them. It took a little practice at first, and they laughed at me the first few times I tried to use my sword or dagger, or magic wand. But I was being tested by my Higher Self, and I finally learned to just send them Love, and finally now my vibrations are just too high for them to bother me. Being armed with this information also helps to keep my vibes high. I know also that I am a glorious spiritual being, a child of God with enormous powers, and yes, Jack is right, they just cannot do you harm unless you let them.
Now, having shared this information with you, I am sure you will not have the problems I had, I suspect that dealing with these guys is expected of a magician, and if you are just doing this for learning about yourself, You will Not have the trials I had. Jack you are absolutely right and your answers were very good for a novice, but no one will ever convince me these guys weren't real. They were the furthest thing from my mind when I began having experiences, and I think everyone should be armed with this knowledge before they step through that door, especially if you see this as training for finding your own Higher Self, or Holy Guardian Angel. Even though I supposedly had a teacher, no one gave me any warnings, and I had to figure out how to deal with these guys on my own. I was totally naïve, and had no expectation that this was going to happen, it is not spoken of in magical groups, I think, because they don't want anyone to know about anybody's experiences, so they can't make this up, just to pass to a higher level. Joseph, I hope I haven't stepped out of line by revealing this, Having said this, John, I do not think you have anything to worry about unless you have been dealing in dark magic and tried to bond some demons to you. The dark shape that you sensed, I think was probably just your own etheric body, Robert Monroe told about an experience just like yours, where this dark shape kept appearing about him, and finally, he decided to grab it one day, an tried to pull it around so he could see it, and when he did that, and got a look at its face, he was amazed to find out it was his own face! I've had that happen to me to, where I was just sort of half out, and I felt this body next to mine, and it was scaring the bejeebies out of me, until I realized it was just my etheric double. It's the body that actually contains your life force, and the one just next to your physical body. One more thing, I also experienced these creatures trying to sexually molest me in bed, but you know it, when it's one of them. But sometimes, it can just be your Kundalini energy flowing through your body. For the longest time, I kept thinking I was being attacked from the back, in fact in one of my earlier experiences with the demons, I had these cartooney, nasty little kid beings coming up and sticking things in me, like being stuck with a needle, or a knife, or some other sharp instrument, but before they did that, it seemed like they were coming out of the rear end of me. I finally just realized they were sneaking up behind me, and what I felt was just the Kundalni energy circulating. It left me feeling like someone was attacking from the back, and even when the dream or astral projection was over, I could still feel that energy circulating though me. I still haven't figured out the entire directions of the flow, it came out one hand and crossed over to the other, went up the back, circulated around my head, and back down the front, and somehow the sitting place felt like there was a hose of air coming in and going out.
Jack, your comments were really awesome, and you made this thing sound so simple, I would love to hear how you explain to your students to get out. I am still trying to get back into this things now that I have been away for it about 7 years, and now that I am trying to heal myself, I want to be able to astral project again. Lucid dreams are nice, but I have no control over when they will happen. Elizabeth, you really sound like you are quite experienced too, I would love to hear a little about both of you, and how you got into this. We can all learn from each other. Oh, also put in your location, so we all can know where you are from. Thanks, everybody!