Sleep Paralysis

Sleep Paralysis

I wanted to talk about a very common occurrence, one that I dealt with almost nightly as a younger man. That occurrence being sleep Paralysis. This topic comes up a lot in our gatherings and really just generally speaking about the Paranormal. There are two main schools of thought in this arena, Paranormal and medical, regardless of the school of thought, certain characteristics are almost always present. The two most common are the feeling of pressure on the chest like something is pressing down on it, and the sight of a creature of some sort, this could be a shadow figure in the corner or at the foot of the bed, or an old hag sitting on your chest. These commonalities are present in the vast majority of reported cases, and have earned the phenomenon the name, “old hag syndrome”.

The Night Hag

The entity that is commonly seen and where the name, old hag syndrome” originates from is also known as the night hag. In the paranormal world, she is believed to be a succubus who hold you down by sitting on your chest and draining the life force from you. This Entity is the one that I have had years of personal dealings with, and as I sit and write this, it occurs that by doing so I may receive a visit tonight. If that is the case I will leave an update about the experience. Sleep paralysis found me at an early age, the same time that I began to astrally project from my body, around age five. For those that have experienced it they will agree, it is a terrifying experience. You are completely aware of your surroundings, although often times they were, not right, Lights would be on, or it would be completely silent when it shouldn't be, not only silent but devoid of sound. And of course you couldn't move and there was the pressure, and the undeniable feeling of not being alone and an inability to speak or scream, you can't make a sound. For me, immobility was the worst. I don't recall ever seeing the night hag, that is not until years later, it was instinctual, I just knew she was there. Those were pre-internet days, actually, at this point in time, my family and I didn't even have electricity. I didn't have the ability to search out information like we do now and this wasn't a topic that was discussed in my encyclopedia collection, not that I was really old enough at the time to research. The paralysis happened nightly for years. I talked to my mom about it, she was on the woo-woo side, and I also had dreams on a regular basis about Giant Spiders. Her advice to me was to simply control my dreams. In my young mind the spiders took precedence, so when I was being chased by one of the abominable arachnids, I, of course, pulled out my giant can of bug. That issue being solved it was on to this pesky paralysis. When it would happen, the first thing I would do is remind myself I am dreaming to help quell the fear, from there I found a focal point, that for me was the tip of my finger. Once I could focus on the finger I would begin to try and move it, Once I began to move it, I could move my hand and so on, typically by the time I broke my forearm free I would awaken and everything was normal.

I continued this routine until my early twenties when I began to realize that we are actually powerful, and I began to study, not just believe. I have had some negative paranormal experiences in my time, the worst at home, and I started the journey of protection. After I began that I didn't have sleep paralysis for several years, but it began happening again intermittently. The last time was many years ago now, I awoke alone, which wasn't the case, and saw that it appeared to be daylight. This time I wasn't paralyzed, I rolled over to look out of my bedroom door and for the first time saw the hag. To describe her would be to describe a Hollywood stereotype without a face. She flew into my room and as she crossed the threshold I owned my space, and my power and threw my hand up and said no. At which point She flew backward out of my room and I awoke to a dark room and My girlfriend blissfully snoring beside me. That thankfully was the last time I experienced sleep paralysis or the night hag.

My advice to anyone having this issue, is to understand that you are much more powerful than you know, if there is an entity there, you have domain in your space. Own your space, own your power, and own the fear, without the fear the negative has no reason to be there. Begin with a focal point.

I wanted to talk about the paranormal side of this for obvious reasons, however, having a long background in the medical and psychiatric field, as well as being narcoleptic I know that there is a medical, scientific explanation as well. That will be discussed in a follow-up post. I personally believe that a strong connection resided between the paranormal world and scientific, especially in this instance. It is also my opinion that a connection stands between sleep paralysis and the ability to leave one's body, but I shall leave that for another post. If you have questions or comments please feel free to leave them.