LUCID

CHAPTER 2

I have a few different techniques for teleportation within the Astral. Requesting assistance from a higher source is one of the most direct, but the result depends on whether someone or something is listening, if that someone or something feels like answering, and what that someone or something's idea is of where it is I actually need to be.

Where I ended up after leaving the hospital room, and where I apparently needed to be, was a shopping mall. Hmmm!

I wasn't entirely surprised. Shopping malls, along with parks and beaches and other such public gathering places are abundant on the astral planes – at least those closest to the physical earth plane. They're so popular here because they're so popular on the earth plane. People like to shop and gather, and these parallel-astral-earth dimensions are primarily collective-consciousness creations, so it's not surprising they reflect what many people like to spend their earth-lives doing. Those new to astral travel could be forgiven for thinking the Astral contains nothing but shopping malls, but for more experienced travellers they're often just a first-stop entry point – a stepping stone to higher dimensions.

This particular shopping mall was typically vibrant with the astral bodies of 'dreamers' and the 'unconscious dead' (those who don't know they're dead – and if they did this might even be heaven for them, where they get to shop for eternity). There were a few astral thought-forms walking about too. If you watch long enough you can pick them out –vacant-looking individuals just strolling to and fro zombie-like without any discernable purpose; which is, actually, exactly their purpose – space-fillers.

Sometimes in these places, you also notice others who are astral-travelling or lucid-dreaming. They usually have a slight smile of wonder on their faces, a glint of awareness in their eyes. You might catch them staring at you, or shooting a double-glance your way. They sense that you are also not just another cast-member of the unconscious milling crowd. I didn't notice any this time, though I did get an uneasy feeling of being... observed.

It's not like you have to like malls to be drawn to these places either, collective-consciousness is a powerful force. I'm not at all fond of malls and I rather detest shopping, yet here I was. It was unclear to me why at the time, but now that I was here I guessed I should try and work out what the next step should be, so I did what I often do in unclear situations – smoked a cigarette and looked for a sign.

I didn't have cigarettes on me, of course, so I manifested one, already lit. Easy enough – manifesting objects is one of my most developed astral powers. When I was a less experienced traveller I'd try to roll my own with often hilariously disastrous results. The Astral, like dreams, can be very unstable, and complicated actions like rolling a cigarette can be frustrating as fuck. There was one time when my tobacco turned, for some reason, to twigs and dirt, and my paper was the size of a newspaper, and of course it wasn't sticky so I ended up with a foot-long spliff that fell apart as I tried to smoke it. I don't let it get that far anymore. Ready-mades are easier.

Where was I? Oh yeah, looking for signs. The Astral is full of signs, it's often how the Universal-Consciousness communicates – signs, clues, synchronicities. You've just got to learn how to recognize them, and you've got to trust in them. So I scanned the mall, not knowing what I was scanning for when my eyes fell on an advertisement poster above some shop – a long, empty, desert road leading to no-where in particular. Rather apt if you think about it. Could be my sign. The more I stared at it the more I was drawn to it and before I knew it I was whisked out of the mall and dumped on a dusty, desert road in the middle of another 'no-where in particular'. Great!

No, seriously, great! I was happier to be here than in the mall. It was peaceful. Felt safe. Idyllic in fact. I was glad to be away from the crowd. I sat down on the side of the road and finished my cigarette – rather surprised I still had it in my fingers. I had no idea where I was or where the road led to – if it even led to anywhere. But I trusted I needed to be here, for whatever reason – maybe one would come along. When nothing did, I got up and started to walk. I could have flown, but I was in no hurry. I followed my intuition as to which direction – toward the sun, it was telling me.