When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was open to all kinds of mystical teachings. I didn’t grow up religious, so when someone brought up the subject of things like tarot cards, mediumship, telekinesis, and clairvoyance, I was intrigued without a smidgen of guilt. I enjoyed reading my daily horoscope and learning what the lines of my palm could mean for my future. One day my older sister brought home a Ouija board, and we began playing with it. The planchette seemed to move on its own without help from us, and it freaked us out a little bit. We ended up storing it in the back of a closet after the planchette went flying off the board and across the room during one of our Ouija board sessions. Another experience with the mystical was in my early 20s when my friend and I went to a séance, of sorts, where we discovered we knew each other from our past lives in Atlantis.
Although I was only mildly curious about such paranormal phenomena, I continued to have interest into my late 20s. I even went to a psychic who told me that I would soon become pregnant. I thought it was nonsense, because my husband and I had been unsuccessful at conceiving over the last three years. We had even been thinking about seeing an infertility specialist. Our first son was born about a year later. In my conservative and somewhat small town, it was expected to raise your children in church. So, right after the birth of our first child, I found myself being dunked by our new pastor in a friend’s jacuzzi to be “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” From that time on, my life became about church, leading worship on the praise team, studying Scripture from the fundamentalist viewpoint, and, of course, raising our children in a godly way. All the things that had previously fascinated me—mediumship, physic ability, astrology, etc.—were now considered demonic and to be avoided at all costs.
Fast forward 20 years later and I am back to where I began in my interest in all things metaphysical, paranormal and supernatural that had previously been unacceptable territory for me to explore as a Christian. I began dipping my toes back into the mystical waters at the end of 2019 after I had an eye-opening, vivid dream that was triggered by the suicide of a friend of mine and the paranormal experience that emerged as a result of his tragic departure. I began meditating and, once again, researching near-death experiences. I used to love reading stories about “angelic interventions” and near-death experiences in my youth, but they, too, had been off limits during my fundamental Christian days, because reading those stories could lead to believing that people from other faiths and religions also have genuine supernatural experiences.
While open-minded, I would say I continue to remain skeptical. I guess I would say I am an open-minded skeptic. I find this approach to be freeing, but at the same time it still guards me from falling over the edge into yet another legalistic, religious or narrow mindset. This open-mindedness has given me permission to research all kinds of fascinating phenomena. My newest interest has been out-of-body experiences and astral travel. When I first began looking into this, I thought it was really pushing the envelope of my belief system. However, because I was open I was able to take in this new information and listen to these seemingly fantastical experiences without too much skepticism. This allowed me to try out the suggested techniques for going out-of-body, and within several months of practice I experienced my first conscious, out-of-body experience.
I continue to practice when time permits, and I have had several out-of-body experiences now. Just the other night, I had a most exhilarating journey. And if you are wondering if drugs are involved, the answer is, “No! It’s all natural.” Maybe I will share some of my experiences with you at some point, if you are ready to wade into the mystical waters with me. Don’t worry, though, the water is more than fine…it’s exhilarating!
