I've been trying to get someone to collaborate with me on hypnosis projects for the purpose of exploring my potential mediumistic abilities, while in a state that is not completely asleep. This isn't easy to find. Most hypnotists charge a lot of money, and their goals are therapeutic as opposed to trying to scientifically validate or confirm theories like past lives/etc.
Though I haven't found anyone who can hypnotize me yet, the ability of others to go into a hypnotic state under my guidance seems to be pretty good (see entry Neo Alert). My method is not too complicated... just talk to someone who's already tired and get them to tell a story that takes them to a place that they might reasonably remember from childhood. Worst case scenario you get to learn some things about their history. Slightly better case scenario: you get them to recall something they wouldn't be able to if they weren't deep into a visualization exercise. For me the best case scenario, they become a channel to speaking to someone who has information I can use.
This happened recently in an experiment with a friend, who was sleep deprived on a Saturday night and willing to indulge my interest in trances. Our conversation started with her recalling a playground, and then drifting into a recollection of a very specific day. This playground story went on for at least an hour or so, and I kept with it just to see what mental state it might lead to. Indeed, after I received silence in response to one of my questions, a few physical prods along with "Where are you now / What do you see?" took a sharp turn.
Really I would have preferred to have my laptop set up to record the conversation, and in the future I will certainly make sure there's a recording--especially if it's me. I took some notes, but I'll try and summarize my lines of questioning and what she said. This is digested with personal details omitted; the questioning process was very, very slow and it often took many times asking a question to get it answered.
me: "Where are you now? What do you see?"
her: "We're in a gray bubble, the walls are like bone."
me: "Where am I?"
her: "You are lounging asleep."
me: "What am I wearing?"
her: "You are wearing a red and blue striped shirt, all very dark colors."
me: "What is happening now?"
her: "The bubble just went down the path to the right. I expected it to go another way."
me: "Where are we going?"
her: "To the city, I trade things."
me: "What do you trade?"
her: "Stories, they're in a basket."
me: "Describe the basket."
her: "It's simple, there's a napkin on top."
me: "What does a story look like, in the basket?"
She gave no answer for a long time.
me: "How is a story carried? Describe where you are..."
Again no answer, so I poked and prodded her even though I knew it might wake her up.
me: "What's your name?"
her: "Lila."
me: "What are you doing?"
her: "I deliver things."
me: "What do you deliver?"
her: "Bread. I like my job."
me: "Where were you before we started talking?"
her: "I don't know."
me: "What's my name?"
her: "I don't know. It starts with an...S?"
me: "What's your name?"
her: "Lila."
me: "Describe the city."
her: "It's like Seattle, but it has 3 space needles."
me: "What do I look like?"
her: "You're... an intrusion..."
me: "I'm not trying to be bad or an inconvenience."
her: "No, that's very apparent."
me: "I'm just very curious, so I ask a lot of questions, and it helps if you answer them as best you can."
her: "I'm not who you should be talking to, I'm too simple."
me: "Who should I be talking to?"
her: "The council in the city."
me: "Is the council good?"
her: "Mostly."
me: "Who is the wisest on the council?"
her: "He's...very long."
me: "His name is very long?"
her: "No, I don't know his name, but his body is very long."
We had a conversational detour for a bit, as I asked her what she knew about the friend (whose name is NOT Lila). The gist was she only knew of her... and that she was "good".
me: "Do you have the internet?"
her: "No, we don't need that."
me: "How do you find out information you don't know?"
her: "We just think it."
me: "Well what if it's something that thinking can't produce, like for instance... you don't know my name... where would you look that up?"
She did, eventually, correctly give my name at some point in the conversation. I advised against being too literal about that, as I go by many names. I offered a few, including this journal.
me: "Do you know what Earth is?"
her: "It's all integrated. It's a multiverse."
At this point, I decided to try and do some sanity checks. Hearing things about bubbles and transport and "bread", I often think I might be talking to a cell... or an ant... or something that is being translated through the human host. It's a pet theory of mine, probably wrong, but maybe having an open mind about that is useful.
me: "I'm going to ask you what animal's name starts with A. If you can name an animal, any animal."
There was just silence.
me: "For instance, do you know what an ant is?"
her: "Yes."
me: "What's it like? How would you describe an ant to someone who had never seen one?"
her: "It's very small."
me: "Smaller than you?"
her: "A lot smaller."
me: "Okay, do you know what a cat is?"
her: "Yes."
me: "How big is a cat relative to an ant?"
her: "Bigger."
me: "Do you have a cat?"
Note
This friend has three cats, a gray one, a brown one, and a tan one.
her: "Not in this world."
me: "How is it meaningful to say you have a cat, if you don't have one in the world you live in?"
her: "There are multiple overlapping lives."
me: "How many lives do you have?"
her: "Just 2."
me: "And you have a cat in the other life?"
her: "Yes."
me: "What does it look like?"
her: "White. Bright white."
me: "How do you switch between lives, is it like a button...you push it and then you're in the other life?"
her: "No, you intersect. You fly into each other."
There was some difficulty and silence following this bit, and I tried various lines of questioning which weren't getting anywhere.
her: "You need to relax, if you relaxed you would integrate better."
me: "I will integrate when I'm dead but until then, I'll keep asking questions."
This was essentially the end of the session.