Howdy

[sisyphean]

Hello all. I am new and a bit skeptical about most things occult. I used to be very Christian, but through a crisis of faith, I am now completely open to anything. Most things I've read about Astral Planes or speaking to demons and whatnot, seem drug induced and the posters even say that they do LSD all of the time. This is a huge turn off. A part of me definitely believes in SOMETHING, but I don't know what it is. I have very vivid and terrible (some good) dreams and can sometimes lucid dream, so I know something is up with something. I have no clue where to start to find out what those somethings are, but they can't be natural. Just looking around here for maybe some advice for things to look into.

[Islude]

Welcome! I used to be much the same. Born and raised in church, etc. I'm also not much for drugs but have had plenty of paranormal experiences to make me think I was on them :p So far everyone I've spoken with here has been really knowledgeable though, then again they have eons more experience than I have.

[Etar]

Welcome.

Well, I'd like to say that drugs aren't necessary AT ALL to have spiritual experiences. I can see your reasoning behind this: if everything is induced by drugs, this means it may not be "real". Don't worry. Most occultists don't even use these... things.

[Nahemah]

Hello and welcome to the forum. [cool]

There is no one right way to the truth.And truth itself is not the same for everyone.

Some experiences can be induced or enhanced by entheogens and they've been in use by humanity for as long as we've been around,more or less.However,this is not all there is to it by a long chalk.
As Etar says,many do not indluge in or use drugs magickally/spiritually and their experiences are just as real and intense.

Horses for courses and all that... [thumbup]