Insidious

[Horse]

Anyone here seen Insidious? I'm pretty sure they got the demons from accounts of sleep paralysis. The old woman that haunts the dad is clearly the old hag. The black demon with the red face is most likely supposed to be the shadow rapist that strangles and rapes people in sleep paralysis. I've never seen the old hag or shadow rapist myself, I'd imagine that would scare the **** out of me.

As someone who does not practice Astral I have experienced what you call the shadow rapist. I have never heard that term before but I have read alot about old hag syndrome. That is experienced by males. I actually met a really kewl psychologist once who I was honest enough with to share my experiences and he had an AHA moment where he had a few internal questions answered by our conversation because he had experienced old hag and had no idea what it was. Obviously being a psych he was trying to think his way through it...lol....Anyway, my experiences were truly terrifying and I dont share it often other than saying it does happen and it is very real. Sleep paralysis is also very real but once you experience it you are very much aware of the difference. I spent many months researching, praying and sitting up all night with the lights on afraid to go to sleep before I had my house cleansed and either my Guide or an Angel came to my rescue and helped me close a door I had opened a long time ago. I urge anyone trying astral to completely protect themselves before attempting anything. The realm between sleep and awake....when we are truly free of our earthly body, can be a very scary place and one not to be taken lightly. Yes, it can be transcending but it can also be beyond terrifying. Tread lightly...

My 2 cents....

That movie scared me to death.. Normally I watch horror movies to understand what is going on and usually, I have the movie figured out before it's halfway over. But I didn't know the connection between sleep paralysis and astral projection then. I do now and I have to say that Astral has not been on the top of my list of things to learn to do because of Insidious. I'm afraid of what could happen, even though I know it's just a movie. But at the same time, all legends are based in fact, right? lol but no, I've never looked into the hag or the red faced demon although to be honest, the woman scares me more than the man does.

Astral projection and fear do not go together, that movie took an idea and exaggerated it to make a good film. You can't be directly harmed in the astral plane, the most that will happen is you will be scared out of AP(astral projection) for a while simply because you FEEL it COULD have been harmful. The astral plane is very thought based, a lot of times the scary thing you are witnessing is a creation of your own thoughts and fears, you need to learn to control this to have a good experience. Also you are pretty strong(depending on your ability to AP) and can control the situation if you believe you can. You can also just leave that area entirely simply by thinking of another place, or ending the AP session by thinking about your body.

If someone is telling you to be afraid of things in the astral plane I suggest not listening to them as this will cripple your ability. Scary movies, books and stories are not good for your ability or for you in general.

I never liked those movies, the spirits/demons/whatever that attacks the main characters have no purpose or reason, they're written very poorly and are said to be "evil" so it's just supposed to be accepted that they're evil. No reason why they're evil, we don't learn why they choose to attack anyone who lives in this household or why it's one specific person or why they are obsessed with whatever the goal is. Just that they're evil and deal with it, that's shoddy writing and very lazy at that. To really make it scary, they need to design the characters/army to be like actual physical people for actors to play them as. Why would children die from an illness then turn around and start killing people? What's their drive? Their motivation? Those are never thought of because they're dead spirits to be the antagonists. Even the spirit characters require development just like the main and supporting characters for a good, all around story.

[Horse]

Coming2: Yeah, sleep paralysis gets terrifying at times but theres nothing negative or insidious about it. I get a wide range of different experiences in SP, some neutral, some positive and some negative. Whether its negative depends largely on how you view it though. When I go into it thinking that its all just hallucinations then its great fun. Well, there are exception to that. Sometimes I feel like a giant wasp is stinging my spine which is a horrible sensation. I've also been molested by these hallucinations which is a mildly disturbing experience. But besides that, its fun. Kinda like a crazy, hyperdimensional rollercoaster. I was in sleep paralysis the other night and I could hear this conversation between two males, it sounded like a news anchor broadcasting the news lol. The voices which talk directly to me freak me out though. The voices that talk to me are always female which is interesting. A while ago, I heard these voices behind me and one female voice said "I'm going to feed his instincts". She was talking about me. I also felt and saw this shadow girl jump at me once in sleep paralysis. Its a fascinating phenomenon. I was on ritalin for a year and the sleep paralysis I used to get when I was on that was terrifying and always of a negative nature though. Sometimes just as I went into SP, I would get this blast of pure terror, fear so intense that it doesn't exist in ordinary waking reality. It was so scary and harsh that I just had to face it because I couldn't accept the idea that something that terrible could exist, thats when I realised it only lasts about 10 seconds then disappears completely. Its an illusion. That old saying "theres nothing to fear but fear itself" is 100% true when it comes to sleep paralysis. Theres nothing to fear at all about it. On the contrary, it should be embraced. When you stop reacting and instead just observe, it becomes a positive thing.

Originally Posted by MaliMarie

That movie scared me to death.. Normally I watch horror movies to understand what is going on and usually, I have the movie figured out before it's halfway over. But I didn't know the connection between sleep paralysis and astral projection then. I do now and I have to say that Astral has not been on the top of my list of things to learn to do because of Insidious. I'm afraid of what could happen, even though I know it's just a movie. But at the same time, all legends are based in fact, right? lol but no, I've never looked into the hag or the red faced demon although to be honest, the woman scares me more than the man does.

Don't let the fear get to you. Its an illusion. Theres nothing to be scared of. I get sleep paralysis every 2nd night or so and over the years I'm glad I get it. Its one of the most interesting states I have ever encountered. I have never astral travelled as far as I know but I lucid dream all the time and I've noticed that when I'm lying in sleep paralysis, I'm at the mercy of the hallucinations cuz I can't move but once a dream starts, I'm invulnerable and nothing can mess with me. Maybe its the same thing with astral travelling. We're invulnerable in sleep paralysis too, the worst the hallucinations (or entities) can do is mess with your head, they can't physically harm you.

The movie did mess me up for a while.. but I should have been more specific on my fear. I often see things and I know how to protect myself. I think my fear is more based on my family. In Insidious the 'demons' could scare, hurt, and in the end, kill the family. My daughter and my husband are all that I have and I wouldn't want them to be hurt by something I brought about. I am trying, at the moment, to figure out how to get a degree that would allow me to say I'm a demonologist. That's my goal at the moment.. but the one thing holding me back is I could not see my family hurt because of something I brought around them.. granted, I know how to protect them and myself, but there's always an 'IF'.

My husband has sleep paralysis and he's always talking about things that used to scare him but he's not anymore because he tells himself they can't hurt him. But he wasn't afraid of the movie because he already knows what it is.

[Horse]

Originally Posted by MaliMarie

My husband has sleep paralysis and he's always talking about things that used to scare him but he's not anymore because he tells himself they can't hurt him. But he wasn't afraid of the movie because he already knows what it is.

Yeah thats the conclusion everyone who gets it regularly enough come to. I found Insidious hilarious. The big where the demon was in his room on the sewing machine with that song playing in the background was real funny. I'm not scared of old bag ladies in everyday life so I don't see why I'd be scared of them in the astral plane. Its when you're paralysed and powerless to do anything that things can get scary. When you realise that you're invincible in sleep paralysis then its not very scary at all.

actually the tulips song that came on during that scene made me laugh. I felt like I was in Hawaii or something. but I think I'd be terrified if I saw the demon guy hovering over my sons bed like that. or the handprint... I'd probably have to leave the room for a minute lol

[b3N0m]

All of you listen carefully. The only thing to fear is fear itself. I am scared of the old hag from insidious but if I was Projecting and I saw it I would tell it to get the f*** out of here and never return. Also the astral plane is thought based so if you see the old hag command it to do something funny like the chicken dance or something. Turn a scary experience into a hilarious one. Also another idea is to when the old hag tries to scare you have a straight face for a second and then scare it back. You will have confused the f*** out of it lol. NO FEAR!!! Always remember you have full control over the situation and that it is nothing like the movies.