Hey all,

I've been practicing many retrievals in the last two years. They've gotten progressively more challenging in the last few months. So much so that I can't even find the retrievee sometimes!

My standard protocol is after becoming lucid from a dream I request a retrieval. I fly downward for a about 10-15 seconds and stop in some astral zone. Then I poke around a bit until I find the retrievee. I think they (the helpers) don't place me right at their feet so I don't scare them.
To give you an example of what's been happening -  in my latest retrieval request this morning, I was plunked into an astral region without ground just sky. There are birds flying around but ready on the attack. I start singing to them some song I've never heard before thinking I will either conjure up the human retrievee or calm the birds. Neither happens, although the song comes out beautifully in harmony. One bird lunges at me and hits me in the stomach. Then five birds in unison attack me. It feels like pressure to my body but not pain. I C1 instantly. If I was on a retrieval misson, then I suppose this was someone's BST - not fun.
But why do I have trouble finding the retrievee sometimes? Are they not there? Is this just practice for me to see if can get myself out? Or in this case, am I suppose to somehow disarm the cute attacking birds?
Any thoughts on this are welcome.
-mike
 

Mendel, this reminds of of accounts in old esoteric books of how guides/teachers would test the newbie in astral conditions to see if he/she could adapt quickly to unusual/scary/mystifying situations.
This particular test sounds very creatively engineered to me, and I think you passed with flying colours.

gordon

wrote on Jan 17^th, 2005 at 9:16am:

Mendel, this reminds of of accounts in old esoteric books of how guides/teachers would test the newbie in astral conditions to see if he/she could adapt quickly to unusual/scary/mystifying situations. This particular test sounds very creatively engineered to me, and I think you passed with flying colours. gordon

Gordon,
Thanks for your assessment. It does take a fair amount training to weather some of the lower astrals without waking up or getting scared. I don't remember being attacked before, but I've heard about this from others on the board. Seems like I'm being dispatched to deeper hells these days in both attempting to rescue both dead and living people. I'm humbly honored by the assigmnent but there seems to be a lot more risk involved than before.
-mike