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Underground > Temple >

Trancework Time Gaps

06:22 / 30.01.05

Without getting into too much detail: I've recently had some disturbing instances of lost time that correlate to my spate of heavy trancework. I've been unable to come up with any warning or suggestion about it in the literature I own. I'm suppressing the urge to freak out while I come and check in with you folks. How 'bout it? Please tell me somebody here knows something about this.

Madman in the ruins.

06:42 / 30.01.05

Yes and NO.

I've had a lost half hour. After doing some ceremonial work. I think that I acsessed a very deep state of meditation- the one that you allways strive for and never quite seem to reach.

Its actually quite unnerving to glance up at the clock and think. Where did that last half a hour get to I have no memory of it at all.

I cant really help but I think I understand what you went through.

23:13 / 30.01.05

okay, that's kind of reassuring...I've had three instances now, all within the last two weeks of experiments, and in the last one I lost almost four hours. I'm quite certain I wasn't just unconscious (or if I was I've somehow lost the 'black-out' and 'black-in' memories as well). I'd also love to say it was booze related, but I haven't had more than a pint at a time since the New Year.

I'm just at a loss, trying to come up with some kind of clues, really anything. Maybe a doctor is in order.

rising and revolving

01:10 / 31.01.05

Yes. Never as much as four hours, but anywhere up to an hour, semi-frequently, often right through the middle of serious ritual work (ie, I only come to at the end of the ritual, with no real memory of actually doing the work) but sometimes outside of.

17:56 / 31.01.05

Me too. About an hour disappears, not only in trance work, but also just doing rituals. I'll finish, ground, etc., think to myself "that was good!" look at the clock, and it's really late. I can see how if you are really deep into a trance, you might lose a lot more time.

If losing all that time bothers you, maybe you could arrange a non-obnoxious alarm-type sound that could help bring you back sooner.

farseer /pokes out an i

19:21 / 31.01.05

What do you mean by heavy trancework? Nothing that would restrict your breathing to the point of blacking out, eh?

That being noted, I've had (sober) 'lost time' experiences, too. Usually when I don't set a visual/verbal que for myself; like, sometimes I'll set my PowerBook to play some select music at X time, or I'll have a specific stick of incense, and when it's burned down, it's over- and my brain notices and up up i rise from wherever i had wandered.

22:54 / 31.01.05

I tend to lose anything from between four and eight hours a night. I have these fucking weird experiences during that time what I can only just vaguely recall, in which the normal rules of consensus reality don not apply. I find this deeply alarming.

16:25 / 01.02.05

Funny. Honestly at this point, I wish it were sleep. I found out yesterday that I did shit during the last period I don't recall. Nothing weird - made a phone call, sent off a manuscript - but I have zero recall of speaking to these people. I'm extremely fucking creeped out. My doctor seems to think I should take an EEG - I'm trying to contact some old friends at the University who have a portable unit available.

For reference sake, I was doing breathwork with binaurals in low alpha - nothing that would shorten my breathing or cause oxygen deprivation though. In fact, I breathe better during meditation. My posture is such that I can't just fall asleep without getting a killer neck cramp. I've suspended my practise temporarily however.

rising and revolving

17:30 / 01.02.05

Nothing weird - made a phone call, sent off a manuscript - but I have zero recall of speaking to these people.

Yep. See a doctor.

Or, you know, deal with your inner Tyler Durden. But I say see a doc - these kinds of blank spots sound not-good, to me at least.

As I said, I lose time - but almost always during actual workings. And sometimes when I'm just relaxing - but this sounds more like memory black-outs, and that sounds like it's worth talking to a professional about.

01:16 / 02.02.05

Yeah...

I'm trying to look on the bright side and assume until I hear otherwise from my doctor that I can class this under 'random'. It would be far from the first time I've experienced something 'weird' (and I'm sure that goes for a lot of us), but this doesn't seem like something I should ignore.

I have a friend who once experienced what I can only describe as a temporary psychotic break. Just once, for maybe an hour, very stable guy, no warning, no drugs, running around barefoot in the street attacking cars with his hands. Never happened since and he doesn't really like to talk about it, understandably. Strange.

Anyway, thanks everyone, the board feedback certainly eased the panic wave.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

14:21 / 04.02.05

So... How's it going--any more lost time? Did you get your EEG?

16:45 / 04.02.05

No more lost time yet, at least none that I remember (or don't?). I have suspended the heavy meditation schedule, so that may be making the difference. I was unable to get the portable EEG unit (if I had asked over Christmas break it would have been easier). My doc has me scheduled for a sleep study on March 10th, though I'm not sure why...narcolepsy suspicions? Anyway, I'll post when I actually know something, or something else happens.

· N · E · T ·

17:17 / 04.02.05

Yes I have.

It's called posthypnotic amnesia, and you can read about it in some of Milton H. Erickson's books. Can't remember which one. . .

A lot of hypnotists use spontaneous, that is to say - it wasn't specifically suggested, posthypnotic amnesia as a indicator for somnambulism.

A theory to consider as an explanation for this phenomenon is called "state dependent memory" which basically says: when you're in a given emotional/psychological state and create memories it will be easier to remember those memories when you were in the same state when they were created.

So to say that you "lost time" definitively is a bit of a misnomer. It is possible that if you can get into the same trance, you can gain access to those memories encoded that you can't access now.

Another possibility is that you weren't thinking or feeling anything to remember, a kind of deep vacuous trance well suited for launching sigils and whatnot. . .

Or it very well could be aliens manipulating your cranium with quantum technology so that entering trances appears to be of your own free will but actually is a seamless kind of subterfuge.

^_^

17:47 / 04.02.05

Quick practical response: point a video camera at yourself before the next heavy-duty session. Review tape afterwards.

18:05 / 04.02.05

Or get someone you trust to sit with you.

03:44 / 05.02.05

Thanks for the hypnosis lead - I'll ask a few psychologist friends. Ditto the camera idea - if I resume this work, I will certainly do so with the Handycam.

Or it very well could be aliens manipulating your cranium with quantum technology so that entering trances appears to be of your own free will but actually is a seamless kind of subterfuge.

This made me chuckle out loud, but it was kind of a nervous chuckle...without coming across like a raging paranoid, you don't need funky quantum tech to do this, just the right electronic know-how, a parabolic microwave transmitter and a mean streak (but that's the subject of another thread).

Anyway, thanks again everyone.

14:19 / 05.02.05

A theory to consider as an explanation for this phenomenon is called "state dependent memory" which basically says: when you're in a given emotional/psychological state and create memories it will be easier to remember those memories when you were in the same state when they were created.

I had that when I was learning NLP (I think). I was filtering out all verbal communication and only paying attention to body language, and entered a really peaceful trance state. Five minutes later I was standing at a cashpoint unable to remember either of my pin numbers, which gradually surfaced digit by digit as I came further out of that state.

A cautionary tale.

02:19 / 23.03.05

Postscript: heard back about the results of my sleep study today. Nothing unusual, nothing interesting. I'm happy I don't have a sleep disorder, but still a little perturbed when I think about the mystery 'gaps'. Looks like the order of the day is: continue to forget about the incident.