Otherworld - Episode 36: The Birthing Tent

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

Gabi Abrão grew up with a Brazilian father who believes everything in the physical world is connected to the spiritual. When Gabi and her sister would lose a toy, he taught them to call upon a deity that commands "the souls of the spirit children" for help finding the item. In high school, she had a health teacher who secretly did psychic experiments with the students. She has a lot of strange stories from her unusual childhood and eccentric father but the real reason I wanted to talk to her was about something that happened very recently involving Astral Projection. Gabi started experiencing this as an adult, and after having a very vivid and specific astral projection journey, she ended up meeting somebody who had been to the same place. If you want to hear more stories from Gabi, I am putting lots of bonus stuff and a video version of the entire interview on the Otherworld Patreon later this week. This one was edited down to focus on Astral Projection but she has lots of crazy stories about Ghosts, Witchcraft and her dad's adventures in the spirit realm. To see photos related to this episode, click here Subscribe to Otherworld on Patreon for exclusive content and bonus interviews Check out our Merch Follow us on: Instagram, TikTok, Twitter If you have experienced something paranormal or unexplained, email us your full story at [e-mail] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Otherworld. I'm your host, Jack Wagner. Most people that you hear on this show are people who have lived very normal lives and not spent much time thinking about the paranormal until something happened to them. Today's guest is the exact opposite. Her name is Gabby Abrao, and she is an artist and writer, and she has so many weird stories. Gabby grew up with a Brazilian father who believes that everything in the world. the physical world is connected to the spiritual. Her childhood involved him casting spells to get dinner party guests to leave early, teaching her to protect herself from spiritual attacks, and fighting off things in the astral realm.

The list goes on and on. Not only that, in high school, her health teacher somehow got their public school to let her teach a class where she did past life regressions on the students, including Gabby, do telepathy experiments, and even take them on field trips to see psychics. Gabby has so many bizarre and hilarious stories like this, which is why I wanted to interview her in the first place. And even though she's had such an unusual and paranormal upbringing, Gabby has a very balanced and grounded way of approaching all of this stuff

that I think fits well with this show. Most people grow up in the rational world and then eventually open up their mind to this stuff. With Gabby, it's the exact opposite. She grew up in the paranormal world and has kind of come around to rational explanations, which is very funny and just interesting to talk to somebody like that.

I interviewed her in studio for a very long time about her childhood, ghost stories, witchcraft, and her dad trying to help people in the physical and spiritual realm. If you want to listen to the entire thing and hear all of Gabby's stories that didn't make it into this, you can listen and watch the full interview on Patreon.

This episode, though, is going to be focused very specifically on one thing. Astral projection. Astral projection is defined as an intentional out-of-body experience, where consciousness can function independently from the physical body and travel throughout the astral plane. This is something that has come up before on episodes. I think we first touched on it when we were discussing the Monroe Institute in the Gateway Process episode.

And then recently, with Alec in the Nighthag part one. I'm going to be honest. As an outsider, astral projection was always one of those things for me that was kind of a step too far. And something I really didn't take seriously and fully understand. But after talking to Gabby and some other people who have experienced it, I started to open my mind a bit and understand it more and see what it maybe could be.

Not only is it very interesting, I think it's one of those things that has a lot of parallels to the other stories that have come up on this show and might be something that is hugely important as the world continues to learn and understand what human consciousness is. So with that very long intro, let's get this started. This is episode 36, and you're listening to Otherworld. Hello? This is Bobby? Yes, it is. We're still. You so warm?

Yeah, let us know when you're ready. Okay, okay. I'm going to be asking us. This is a story about... Hi, my name is Gabby Abrao. I'm from Los Angeles, and I grew up in a very spiritual household where the concept of energy existing

and having a part in every part of objective existence was part of. every day. My dad believed that the spirit world had a hand in every single component of physical life, whether it was dead, ancestors, demons that could attach to people. If someone came into our home that was depressed or upset or had problems, we had to cleanse the house with salts and incense. My dad would sometimes sleep in a recliner in the living room so that he could be upright and travel through the astral plane to solve issues in the spirit world that would then be solved in real life. My entire life was informed by this, and there is a word for it actually.

It's called Spiritism. And if you look it up, there's a Wikipedia page, and it was something that started in France and was brought to Brazil by a man named Chico Chavier. And we would listen to this man's meditations in the house. as well. My dad would play them in the living room, this Brazilian guy just repeating prayers. And their dominant belief is, yeah, the spirit world has a hand in every part of physical existence and that the dead is always in communication with the living. Well, let's see. My dad is a Brazilian immigrant. He came to L.A. in the 80s for the Olympics.

I think it was 1985 when the Olympics were in Los Angeles. And he came to U.S. with $500. and then he just stayed. So he just stuck around. Didn't know a drop of English, started working on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica as a bus boy, and then worked his way up to manager, which is his favorite story to tell. Very proud of himself. And he was always a very spiritual guy, just his whole life, his father as well. In fact, when I went to Brazil and met my grandfather, he would talk to the moon every night. I would go outside and he'd be like, oh, she's so beautiful tonight and have some kind of, like one time I went outside and he had no shirt on and he had been talking to the moon. And this was my 88-year-old grandpa in the middle of Brazil. And so that was probably passed down to him. And he always had a lot of friends. I remember there was a lot of friends, also Brazilian immigrants. He kind of rolled with this crew of like, you know, guys who came here in the 80s.

And he was always surrounded by people. with abilities as well. I remember he had this one friend and always these constant stories he'd come over. This guy would come over and when he'd leave, my dad would say, oh, you know, he was visited by this person or he looked outside and saw this crowd of like ghosts passing by. And like I said, it was always very ambient. Like there was always a new story. There was always something going on. There was always the way the house was set up even was always considered. Like he would have the front door open and then the back window open so that like there would be airflow for the energy to pass through. And so everything was kind of built around this idea that, okay, we're in this

physical reality and there's a couch and a TV, but there's also this very abundant presence of invisible things that we also have to consider all the time. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. And he was also very self-protective. I remember when I was in second grade, I had this friend that started being mean to me just randomly. It was like my best friend. She started being like antagonizing and weird. And I told my dad, and that's when I got schooled on the evil eye and the concept that people's energy, you have to be so careful with if someone's jealous of you or angry with you and you have to really protect yourself. And he had this ritual kind of thing he'd have me do, which is cover your belly button with your hand. And so he'd say, always cover your

belly button and just think about how nothing can ever penetrate your energy, right? So growing up if people extended their welcome in the house, like we had guests over and my parents were ready for them to leave, my dad would put a pair of open scissors behind the door, and they would leave immediately after he did that.

I would see that happen, and that was one of the first things I noticed. But the first spell that I did personally... Wait, wait, what is that? You know, I would just look over, like, my parents would have adults over, whatever, they're entertaining some friends, and then I would see my dad

like secretly going into my room, room because our room was like out of the way and he'd have scissors and he'd be crouching down and stuffing them behind the door and then he would say oh you do this in brazil when you want people to leave the house and you don't want to tell them you just want them to leave and they would leave i would watch it work and that's what was crazy do you think they left because because of the spell or because they saw this strange man like putting scissors around doors he would go in my room to do it where they couldn't see him jack jumping in here i'm going to play a very short clip that gabby gave me of her dad recounting one of his spiritual experiences.

And I'm doing it just so you could hear his voice, his specific way of talking, and kind of build a mental image of this guy to sort of imagine what it was like growing up with him. So here's a very, very brief clip of Gabby's dad talking. Hi, Cabeza of Moman, Cabeza of Papaya.

Hey, I don't want to send a message on Los Angeles. Okay, let me tell you, for you to understand how crazy. things are. Yesterday, your uncle called me because Taiz, no, there's all this depression process that she's fine. Then I told him what to do.

I gave him the mantra. I gave him, you know, how to do the south, everything, you know, go around the house. And some of the beginning, this is the first time where it really hit me and it wasn't just ambient in the house anymore. It wasn't just my

silly father. My sister and I were going to a birthday party the next day. And the weekend prior, we had gone to Barnes & Noble and bought a book as a birthday present for this girl. And my sister had lost the book. And it was, the birthday party was the next day. And we were stressing out. I was like seven. She was probably eight or nine. And we're looking around the whole house. We grew up in a really small apartment. So there wasn't many places to look. But I just remember spending the whole afternoon looking and it was really high stakes because my parents were always tight on money so it's like the last thing they wanted to do was like buy a present for a kid let alone have us lose it so my sister and I were super stressed we're like oh my god we can't tell our parents that we lost the book

that they bought and we were just losing it and finally we were like okay let's just tell our dad and like tell them not to tell our mom and we were like hey like we lost this book that we were supposed to that you know mommy bought and now it's we can't find it and he was like okay and he was washing dishes. I remember really distinctly that he was washing dishes by hand in the sink. And I was like looking up at him and he was like, he was like, okay, he was like, in Brazil, when you lose something in the house and he was like, and it makes no sense. He was like, it's just disappeared.

He was like, they say it's because the spirit children have hid it from you, that all of the children that have passed away, they now spend their days, you know, walking around kind of messing with people and just like, it's for the, their own enjoyment and he said you have to say this spell basically this phrase and he was like you call upon the leader of the spirit children he said there's a man who's in charge of the kingdom of this the dead children and you say his name three times and then you say if you give me back in this case the book if you give me back the book I'll jump three times and scream three times and he said you have to jump three times and scream three times because the kids want to play with you and

you're making an offering you're saying hey if you give me back my stuff I'll play with like you want. And I remember just being like, okay, whatever, because at this point, you know, it's like, it was always funny. Like, it was like, my dad was just silly. It was like, oh, he puts scissors behind the door. You know, he incenses the house after his friend leaves. Like, he's just a weird guy. And so, of course, even as a kid, I was like, okay, like, whatever, I'll do it. And I remember I said it out loud and he was like, yeah. And then I swear to God, I felt like I was, like, possessed by something. Like, suddenly I was like, wait. I know exactly where it is.

And I walked to a drawer that I had opened about 20 times. Like it was a drawer I opened many times to look through. Reach my hand into the drawer all the way to the back. Pulled out the book. I remember it was pink. And I pulled out the book and it had been pushed into the structure of the dresser. And then I just broke out crying because I was so scared. You know, because in my head I'm like, oh, my God, the ghost hit it from me.

And now I found it. And then I brought it back and I showed it to my dad. And I was like, it worked. And he was like, yeah, it always works. And I started crying. And he was laughing. at me. I remember he was laughing so hard at me because I was crying at the ghost thing. And I have done that chant for my entire life since. And it works every time. I used it twice last week.

Did you jump? I always jump and scream. Yeah. And there's been times actually one time I lived in a house with four other people. And I remember sometimes I would do it. And a couple times I would do the scream. And everyone was like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, I just had to do the thing that we do. My theory has always been, especially with spellcasting in witchcraft, which I really got into later on, is that there's ways that we can trick our subconscious into finding knowledge that we have. And so my theory with this was always like, well, okay, there is this chance that there is like a leader of the spirit kids. But there's also a chance that in kind of like foregoing your responsibility, you get to almost like restart your brain a little bit. And if you look at the research for flow state, for example, there's like genuine reaffirm.

research that says the more that you turn your brain function off, the better you are at performing in life, you know, like let's say you're making music, it's like the less you're thinking, the better you do. And so with a lot of spiritual stuff, like even someone saying, oh, I've been cursed or, you know, oh, the spirit children took my stuff. It's a weird surrendering that I think clears your head. And so maybe some part of me knew, maybe I put the book in the drawer and I don't remember. And some part of me knew, oh, wait, maybe it's actually been pushed back or, you know, but I had to get out of that like crazy spiral of like, not knowing. That's my theory. I always think that's possible. And with every spiritual thing and

everything my dad does, I always think about how it could just like, like tickle psychology. You know what I mean? Like how it could be a psychological phenomenon, you know? It's crazy. So I will say the best gift of growing up with a father like that is I truly believe that because of his influence, it brought so many like more weirdos into my life and so many more like spiritual experiences. I'm so grateful for that because I will always be open to all this stuff because of him. And one of those moments where I felt like really like, okay, I have called this in. My dad has like seasoned me to attract these spiritual experiences was I was in high school. I was in senior year and I was taking the health class that the required health class,

you know, where you'd take sex ed and you look at the food pyramid and all that. And the teacher at the time when I had her was going through this thing where she felt that she had acquired abilities to look at the past life of dogs. Yes. And she said she just loved dogs. She used to say, dog backwards is God. And she'd be like, think about that. And so she was having this moment and she'd sneak it in sometimes in the health class talking about things like energy and spirituality and past lives. Yeah.

The most normal person in Los Angeles. Yeah. So we're learning about BMI and all that kind of stuff. And she'd sort of sneak in like, you know, like, oh, the world is so big. And, you know, she'd talk about energy and these people she was meeting. And so I was familiar with all that. You know, my dad's been talking about past lives. He's been talking about energy.

And so I was like, ooh, you know, we got another character. And I could watch her, like, going deeper and deeper. and she'd talk about it more in the class. Like she'd just kind of find ways to kind of talk about spiritual stuff in this required health class. And one day she says, hey guys, I'm going to propose a new elective. She was like, I have a free period that I can do anything I want. And I'm going to propose an elective to the board of directors of the school. And I want to talk about this stuff that I've been sharing with you a little bit more.

She was like in a really specific class. and she was like, I'm going to tell them that it's called alternative medicine and alternative and the history of medicine. And she was like, you know, we can learn about Chinese medicine and Eastern philosophy and just compare the West and the East. And she was like, but there's also going to be some other stuff. And she was like, you know, I want us to talk about meditation. And she was like, maybe I won't tell them that.

And she was like, is this a public high school? This is a public high school, yeah. And she said, yeah. Yeah, we're going to keep this anonymous. Oh, totally. This is like, for sure, could probably get the school shut down. Oh, yeah.

And she knew. I mean, she was taking a risk. Like, you know, she was risking it all for her. How would she pivot to her? Was it awkward or was she smooth with it, pivoting to? I feel like, you know,

when you have those teachers that somehow find a way to talk about their personal life? Like, all of a sudden you know about her divorce or, like, it was like that where, I don't know. And, you know, we'd, but we'd egg her on because, you know what I mean? When your teacher starts getting personal, you're like,

oh, now this is interesting. And like you're going off the lesson plan. I feel like people would kind of be like, you know, egg her on. You try to distract your teacher for the entire class period so they accidentally don't teach. Exactly, exactly that. Okay, so she would start talking about her dog psychic abilities. And you guys would egg her on.

Yeah, yeah. I imagine most of the other students, how were they reacting to this? Oh, it was like most people, because it was just a classic. class and I remember actually I remember that very distinctly because for me I was excited I was like oh this is what's been in my house for years and some people really like almost pissed off and like weirded out like I remember kind of like the more fratty kind of kids like I just remember them I just yeah just being like okay this is stupid like she's crazy like people I remember people saying she was crazy but with the class she said if this interests you she was like stay after class and talk to me

because I want to pick who's in the class. I'm going to specifically choose you if you're interested. I'm not going to, it's not going to be publicized. Like, not just anyone can sign up for this elective. And I was like, okay, absolutely want to do this during school hours. Are you kidding? And I went up to her after and I was like, yeah, you know, I was always raised with this stuff. I think it would make my dad really happy if I, like, was here and learning more.

And she was like, great, okay, you'll be one of the people. And she got approved. And the class got approved by. the board. And I also want to say she had a lot of seniority. She had been at the school for a long time. So I think they trusted her, you know. Yeah, it was, so there was 12 of us, and I remember it was, I think it was fourth period. So it would be after nutrition, I would go into her class. And we did so many different things. There was many different things we did. And I will say that being in that class was half an experience of sort of this, like, kookiness.

of watching this woman be kind of seduced by having psychic powers and almost like losing them. And then the other half of it was very like my dad's ideas proven true. Like I got to do experiments in that class where I was like, okay, he kind of had a point. Like energy is real. Like we do have psychic abilities. We do have intuitive abilities. What kind of stuff are you guys doing? I would say probably the weirdest one.

There was a few things. So we would do past life meditations, first off, where she would lead us through meditations that were visual, and everyone in the class. You'd be in a classroom in your wooden chair. Public school. Public school, right? Like, I could hear sometimes just people outside.

Like, you know, public school sounds. Like, someone's just yelling. So, yes, we'd do these meditations that she'd lead us through. And so you'd have these 12 kids who are in the class, like, with their eyes closed and their, like, little desks. those would get very visual and intense. Those would get very surprising. We would do past life meditations with another person, which would involve us sort of touching hands really close and staring into each other's eyes for like five to ten minutes. And I remember that one I was a bit

skeptical of because I was like, of course if you stare at one spot for a while, like things are going to start looking funky. But I was soon changed because, every single person would morph differently. And then I had this really specific experience that made me a believer for the rest of the class. And it was basically, I was paired up with this boy who I didn't know at all. I was a senior.

He was a freshman. He was a very feminine, queer boy, and he would wear suits to school. Like, I don't know if you had a student like this. I had a suit kid. Yeah. I always had the suit kids. This was the suit kid.

And I always saw him at lunch with his girlfriend. and he'd wear these really nice suits. Didn't know anything about him otherwise. And I was paired with him one day, and I was like, okay. And so we sit there and we do the meditation, the past life staring. And instantly, he started changing into someone in the army. Like, it was like even the background of the, like, I didn't see the classroom anymore. It was all like smoky, look like a battlefield.

His shirt had changed to having, like, decorated, like a military guy. and he had dirt on his face and he looked very sad and there was like lesions on the face. And I just was like, man, this guy, he looks like he's in battle. And like once again, this was like a feminine, like very well-groomed, like gay man. You know, there was nothing rugged about this guy. And I snapped out of it after and I was like, whoa, I had one of the strongest I've ever had. And when it was time to share, I said, okay, I saw you as like an army man, like a rugged army man. And he was like, you know what's crazy?

He said, one of my biggest hobbies and passions is battlefield trekking. And he'll go to different locations where battles happen in the U.S. And just with his dad, he said, go and dig and look for like pins and bullets and anything he can find. And he was like, I don't know why, but it just like awakens me. Like, I just love doing that, you know? And I was like, holy shit, you know. Because you would never think, right? I was like, you look at this guy, I was like, he's a, you know, he's hitting the runway.

He's not on the battlefields. Yeah, like a young Tim Gun. Yeah, big Tim Gun energy. It's so crazy you're doing this in school. I know. And I was, you know, I was such a sneaky kid. I was just so happy that, like, I was doing this at school. Like, you know what I mean?

Like that I was, I hated school. So I was just so happy that I was doing some weird shit on the clock, you know. So what else were you guys doing? doing. Okay, the cottonball thing. This is something I actually want to bring back into my life, but we would do, this is when we were doing the energy studies of, she was sharing with us that we all have really strong energy and psychic powers. We could feel other people's feelings, and we can transfer, almost like it reminded me at the time of the last airbender, like that was the energy of this exercise. She gave us all a big wad of cotton balls that fit into our palm.

and she said, okay, everyone get your cotton balls and you're going to hold them. And she said, do close your eyes and for five minutes you're going to meditate on a really specific scene or thing. Like just meditate on. She was like, get as sensory as you can. Think about how things smell, how things look, how things feel. And she was like, you're going to imagine putting it into these cotton balls. And then after these five minutes, you're going to switch with your partner and you're going to see if you can read what they were thinking. And this one always worked. It was crazy. And I remember the first time I did it. I had a boyfriend at the time. We were fighting. Like my high school boyfriend and I were fighting. And it was also raining outside. And the rain

sounded like crackling fire. So I was like, okay, I'm mad. I'm just going to imagine a fire. Like I'm pissed off. I'll imagine like a fire. And, you know, the water sound was helping me say it was crackling and everything. And so I'm in there. And then my partner was this guy and we switch. And it was so crazy because the second I held his cotton balls, I felt like I was just holding air. Like nothing was in my hand. I remember opening my eyes and being like, did I drop them? Like, I don't feel, you know, mine was so heavy in there. And I started seeing just the second I held as cotton balls. First, it felt like air was passing through my fingers. And then I kept seeing PCH. Like I kept seeing the Pacific Coast Highway, like, and I kept having this sensation of, you know,

when you're standing by a street or a highway and a car passes by and you get that breeze of air. So that's all I could feel was just this breeze of air passing. And PCH, PCH, PCH, PCH, PC. And then we get out of our meditation and the guy looks at me and he's like, what were you thinking about? He was like, that was so negative. He was like the cotton, it was like hot in my hands. He was like, I felt so terrible the second I got yours. And I was like, oh my God, I was like, because I didn't really believe in the exercise that much. So in my head, I was like, okay, I'll just be fucking mad. Like I didn't think like he would actually feel it. And then, you know, we go and share and I said, well, I just saw PCH and I saw this breeze of air, this like car breeze. And he goes, oh, he was like,

I was imagining that I was on a motorcycle driving down PCH. And then I said, I imagined a fire. And he was like, you know, and this whole thing. And I was crazy. Is there anything else who you guys were doing in that class? We had some field trips. Yeah. She took us out of the school.

She got approved for field trips. It was crazy. Both of them were to psychics. Yeah. But upscale psychics, I will say. These were not corner sidekicks. These were like women in beautiful homes in Topanga who had like celebrity clients and were like off the record.

We went to two different women and one of them was kind of her mentor who she wanted to be her mentor. And what's very interesting is throughout this class, right, these beautiful kind of crazy things are happening. And at the same time I'm kind of watching like, her powers kind of falter. And so one of the field trips that we went to was to this woman in Topanga who did past life and healing on animals.

And she was so far ahead. Like she was really skilled, had celebrity clients. And my teacher was obsessed with her. She wanted to beat her, right? So this was her mentor. And I just remember towards the end of the class, she started saying like, oh, she doesn't pick up my calls anymore. And, you know, and then she started to not see things.

And that was very interesting. But the field trip itself to this woman's. house, the mentor, a very great experience. And the thing you'll see with these psychic people is they'll always say to you, we all have the power, right? They always say that. And so she said that, she said, we all have the power to do this. I'm just more practiced. And she said, let's go to this horse. She was like, this is a horse I'm taking care of, has a lot of health problems. Why don't we all do a meditation? And you can try to figure out what's wrong with him, just like the way that I do. And so we all, I close her eyes, and I immediately felt in my right arm just pain from my shoulder to my fingers.

Like, it was just my arm was sore. And a couple other people did too. And we're like, oh, okay, I felt this, you know. And she said, yeah, he has his upper right leg. Like if I was a horse body, you know, that's where it would be. My, he said, an upper right leg, he had a shoulder problem that radiates in his whole leg and they're working on it. And it was just little things like that. But what's crazy is they're just little, like, spark.

you know, like these little, and I think that's been the experience with the spiritual stuff is just like, I don't know, it's like not reliable, but you have these moments where you're like, whoa, okay, you know? Yeah, it's like not reliable, not, like, probably not more useful. Yeah. Than like just looking at the horse and like,

seeing that his leg is hurt, you know, but it's interesting. But the possibility is crazy, yeah. And so I had, that was the class a lot was these sort of like sparks of, you know, and then watching her powers like waver too. I was like, this isn't reliable. but it's very interesting, you know. You said she was like losing her powers through the class? Yeah, I watched her confidence kind of dwindle a little bit.

It was crazy because when she was first introducing the class, she was really expressing herself as if, like, she was given these powers, right? You're getting rewarded, right? Like she's, you know, she does a past life regression and, you know, the person says, oh my God, that's so true. This happened. That makes so much sense. You know, like me looking at the guy and being like, whoa.

and you start to think, what if I do have, like, supernatural powers? Like, my life's going to change, you know? And so she had that energy where, you know, doing this class, you know, and I just watched as it just got weirder. And I remember she was offering energy healings to the students. And she said, and this is, the more I talk about this, the more I realize, like, this was really her trying to, like, get better, you know, like using us to, you know, like, using us to, you know,

because a lot of spiritual people in training, they have to do a bunch of free sessions of energy healing to make a quota. So she was doing that for us. And I remember being like, okay, I'll do one. Stayed after school, went to her class after school. And she put me on a table. It was a wooden table in the class.

And did Reiki on me. And what was so funny about it, and I think this marked the ending for me of her influence in a weird way, was she was doing the Reiki on me. and I didn't really feel much. And she had Pandora on, like, you know, the music. Yeah.

Like that old, nobody uses it anymore. But she had Pandora on, and she hadn't paid for it, so there was ads. So I'm like, I'm on a table in my high school classroom. And this woman is hovering her hands on me. And then it would be like this vibey music, like, oh, like, you know, hitting a gong and like, da-da. And then all of a sudden it would be like, you know, do you have cavities? It was crazy. But it was one of those moments, like, very, like, a physical manifestation of, like,

this woman's a little kooky, you know what I mean? And I feel like the same thing with my dad is, like, there's these moments with him where I'm like, whoa, you really saw something. And, like, the spirit world is so real, you know. And other moments where I'm like, you're being paranoid, you're being, you know. And with her, too, it was like she gave me these experiences, all this crazy stuff happened. And then there would be that, you know? And it was just so back and forth all the time.

It was very interesting. Okay, we have to take a quick break, but we will be right back. What's the next phase for you? The astral projection stuff. Yeah, this is new, and it feels really exciting because it's new, and it's kind of evolving a little bit. Why you explain this and how it started with you? Okay, I'll say first off, okay, so astral projection,

you probably hear that all the time. You know, maybe you go through TikTok, and someone's like, how to astral project to other worlds? You know, it's very, like, buzzy. But there is an experience I've had my entire life always, which is, and I think people have this frequently. I wonder if you have, where you wake up and you feel like you're being pulled out of your body

and you can look back and see your body on the bed. I've heard about this a lot, but I've never happened to me. So that's like the astral projection thing, and what's so fascinating about astral projection, what I think it is or whatever this is that I'm going to explain is that it's very different than lucid dreaming. Because lucid dreaming, I've done a lot of lucid dreaming, and lucid dreaming just feels like a big play place.

Like you wake up in your dream and you're like, oh my God, I'm dreaming. I can fly. I can kiss wherever I want. I can, you know. And it feels very low responsibility. You don't feel like you're in a world. You know what I mean? You feel very like, oh, I'm just, I cracked a coat.

I'm going to have fun. Astral projection. So for my whole life, I've had this experience. It's just, yeah, you feel like you can feel the tension. Like it feels like this crazy separation. You feel like you're being pulled out of your body. And you wake up in this alternate version of your bedroom. And what's so fascinating about that is,

it is your bedroom as it is because when I used to live in Venice, for example, I would have my bed on the floor and then all my art supplies right next to me so it was constantly changing. You know, sometimes I'd be working on something on the floor, sometimes on the table. And when I would wake up in the astral realm

in my bedroom, everything would be where I left it. Like, I'd be like, whoa, there's the painting I was working on. And so you come out of your body, and then there's this intense feeling of responsibility that you don't get when you lose a dream. Like, I'm like, whoa. Like I am somewhere and I can make some decisions. And I'm in an alternate version of my bedroom.

It's always a little bit grainy, just like the ghost was. You look out and you know that you can leave your bedroom and if you do something is going to happen. You look at a doorway, you look at a window and you think, okay, if I could just get through there, I can go somewhere. And my whole life, I've never been able to leave the room. I'll walk and this is what happens is you are conscious. Like you are conscious. You have all your memories. You know who you are.

and you're walking and because of those memories, you start to act like you're still a body. And so you're walking and you start thinking, oh, like you get to the window and you're like, I have to open this window and I have to take the screen out, you know? And so I'd have all of these experiences in this like body of me and then I would snap out of it and something would pull me back into my body. So I started realizing I was like, okay,

if I want to move through these worlds and make things happen and have experiences that I've heard other people having, you have to like stay in the pocket. Like you have to, you can't think about having. a physical body because then you're going to go back into it. Does that make sense? And so I remember this really distinct one I had was in my old apartment. There was a cross breeze in the living room and I was doing the thing. I was walking and I saw the door open. I was like, if I leave the door, something crazy is going to happen. But in my memories, I was like, oh, this is where the cross

breeze is. And I started like feeling like, I was like, oh, if I'm in my spirit body, then the wind would be too strong for me to get there. And I start getting rational and then I wake up. And I'm back. You get literally sucked back in. Like, that's what's so interesting. interesting about the astral stuff is it's like you are going somewhere because it ends the way it starts. So that makes sense. Like with lucid dreaming, you're like, oh, like crazy and you wake up. It's like with astral projection, it's like, oh, it's over. So we're taking you back to your body.

And that's what really trips me out. And so when it's over, yeah, you go back to your physical body and you're like, okay, all right. So my whole life, I've had that. I go and I wander around the house and I can't get anywhere. How do you explain the difference for somebody that's thinking, listening to this right now? this girl's just dreaming and weird. It's just when it happened so many times in that way where, like a dream, you're in the dream and you're just in the dream and it's just like funky and fun and it could be anything at any time.

You know, it's just like a cute little playplace. You wake up here, it's a weird version of your high school. It's like, you know, you're in a mountain and you can fly. Like it's just all really random. But the astral thing, it's the same. same method every time, which is what makes it weird. It's the same waking up in your bedroom, feeling pulled out of your body. And then all I can say is just the feeling is so different. It's just like this deep responsibility that I like can't really describe. It's not,

it really is just not just a dream. And so the first time I had a successful astral projection was only last year. And it like rocked my world. Like I woke up shaking. I couldn't go back to sleep. And I got sick the next day. Like, it was really intense. So, just as I always have, I get out of my body. But this time, I just, I have the memory of all the times I fucked up. And in my, like, consciousness, I'm like, okay, stay in the pocket. Don't think too much about your physical body.

You don't have to open doors. You don't have to open windows. You just have to think your way through this world, right? And so I go, and I'm like, every time I find myself thinking too much about, oh, I have to walk. I have to open something. I'm like, no, you just think I want to go there. And so I was dumbfounded this whole time. I couldn't believe it was working finally. And I was walking and I go through the window and I leave my window of my bedroom. And I'm like, okay, you know, and I was like, what do I want to do right now?

I want to look in every window. And so all of a sudden I'm in this weird thing where I'm floating outside of the door and I'm outside of the building. And I'm looking at every window and every window is a different scene. and I'm aware that I can enter it if I want. Does that make sense? And so I'm looking and I fall into one. And this is very important. This is to me, this is the best key to this,

is I fall into one of them and all of a sudden I'm in a cyclone of stars. Like I feel like I'm traveling through stars. Like I'm literally like, you know, like think of a space mountain at, it's like that. And I'm going through the stars and just remember the stars because they come back.

And all of a sudden I'm at, this festival. Like, it's like an outdoor big white tent. Like, think of like art fests, you know, like when like all the galleries come out and they're in these white rooms and you can like go into different stations. And it's this big white tent

and there's all these people. It's super bustling, super loud. And lined on the walls are these screens that are more HD than real life. Like the most HD screens I've ever seen in my life. And it's just a bunch of footage of things being born. like horses, like super HD vaginas. Like HD, you know, woman's vagina, horses vagina,

like some kind of whale. And it was just lined super HD, super up close, blood, guts, everything. And then the thing is born. And everyone's clapping and celebrating, like as if they're watching like a, you know, like a finale of their favorite show or something, you know, and like they're drinking and happy.

Everyone's clapping. And I'm just still so, I can't believe what's happening. Like I'm telling. you like I am myself like I am not in a dreamland where I'm like oh my god I'm dreaming this is so fun I'm literally like where the fuck am I like how did I get here and I start asking people right I'm like I'm like I'm like where are we what is this place called and you're not supposed to do that apparently and I was like where is this and everyone's looking at me like like and things you know the energy's kind of like why is like who is this girl and finally this girl responds to me and she takes my arm

and she's like, oh, come with me. Like, she takes me away from it. Because there was this moment where I was asking people what was going on, and it felt like I was attracting like a crowd a little bit. You know, like, people were like, who this girl is talking about something? And the girl takes my arm and she says, oh, she's like, come with me. Like, let's go outside. And we go outside and it's this crazy, there's more tents.

It's almost like in a music park and there's different tents. And it just feels like a festival, like a weird hippie festival. And I says, what is this place called? And she says something that sounds like Astoria. which is in New York. But when I googled it, it's a word for, there's an actual festival of rebirth.

And the word itself, the root word of the word is of the sky, which is essentially what the astral realm is. It's like you're going into the space, whatever. All right, Jack jumping in here. So I obviously made a little note when we were recording this because this is very interesting to me

that she was told the name of this place while she was experiencing this astral projection or whatever it was. But this person told her a name. And so I went and asked her about it later. I said, do you remember exactly what that name was? And she says, it was very fuzzy, but she remembers it being something like Astoria, Ostaria, Ostar, something like that, something that sounded like that. So I went in and started looking.

And I basically started looking up every single possible word, that kind of sounds like that. And I will let you do your own diving into the rabbit hole if you're interested. And I'm certainly no linguist, but what was very interesting is that basically almost all words that sound like this come from one very specific root, which is the Greek word of astor. That means a celestial body, a star, a planet, a light in the sky such as a meteor. And you could think of so many words that come from this root, including. astral. Next, I started looking into the other thing she said it might have been, something like

Ostaria or something like that. And pretty much right away, I found Ostara, which is a Wiccan holiday that celebrates the spring equinox and the pagan fertility goddess, known as Easter. She's the goddess of humans and crops. This is a celebration of rebirth, and I think it's probably what Gabby stumbled across when she searched. And like I said, this is a bit of a rabbit hole, and you could keep going deeper and deeper. And what's really interesting about this is that these words go back so far that at a certain point, it starts to be unclear as to where everything came from. In fact, there's a lot of deities, very, very old deities that are very similar sounding in name. And they kind of seem familiar to each other. In fact, there's a Middle Eastern goddess of war and

sexual love named Astarte. And it's just very, very interesting. You could kind of keep finding these parallels as you look into these words and the themes keep popping up of stars and birth or rebirth. It's just very interesting and I know that she didn't know about this stuff before having this experience. So I just find it interesting that that was told to her, this word, that granted, it's a fuzzy memory, but it's just so specific. And then these words are so old. I mean, Astarte is, we're talking 3,000 BC. This is before Judaism, before any of the major religions. This is very, very old. Like, we're talking early recorded history old. And there's multiple deities that sound like this of a very similar name. And all of these words have a very

similar sound, have a similar meaning, but don't have a clear connection to each other. At least we don't know about it. So I'm going to get back to the episode, but that was very, very fascinating to find out. And I strongly encourage you to go down the rabbit hole yourself if you want. So let's get back to the episode. And she tells me that. And then I start getting two in my head about things. And I remember I start talking to this other girl. And she's like, oh, did you? Do you see the moon tent? And I was like, no. And then I feel myself fading out of this world.

And I'm in the stars again. This is to me, like the tea about astral projecting is that it's a destination because you go and you come back the same way. Does that make sense? Yes. So it's like the stars are back. I'm back in this star cyclone coming back to where I was. And I wake up, I think I've woken up,

but I'm still in the astral version of my bedroom that I had woken up in initially. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like this is what trips me out because it's like you go there. It's like step one, you're in the weird astral bedroom. Step two, you go to a new place. And then I'm being brought back, like perfectly. And so I come back in this alternate version of my room.

I'm walking around. Everything's red and weird and I'm like, oh, I'm still here. Maybe I could do something else. I'm sort of walking. There was these weird beings on my balcony. And I was like, where am I? What's happening? And they were like looking at me weird.

And then finally it was over and I got stuck back into my body. woke up and I was just shaking. I've never had that like you know, it was like when the spell works when I was a kid I was like that was crazy I was like what the hell just happened and I went on TikTok

a couple weeks later and I made one of those text posts that's like seven seconds long where it's just like your face and you write something and I was like the one time that I successfully asked or projected I was at a birthing festival I wrote a summary of what I just told you. And I got a response and a comment from a girl and she said, oh, I've been there too. And of course,

I'm like, you know, it's easy for anyone to say, oh, me too, you know, and like want to be your friend. But we started talking and she filled in details that I hadn't told her, like just the intensity of the like the HD of the screen, like the fact that when you left the tent, like I didn't put that in my TikTok that I actually like left the tent. I just talked about the birthing time that it was multiple tense and that there was an amusement park and she said that she is very skilled at astral projecting. Wait, how were you guys talking? She commented on my TikTok and then I found her on Instagram

and DM'd her. Could I read the DMs? Like? Yeah. Right now? Totally, yeah. Could you scroll? Yeah, let me go up. Let me read where she's like, where you guys are talking about what happened to you. Okay, so she says, here you can look at it. I think this will be useful, especially to anybody that's skeptical. And this is also, yeah, that's where it's, that's where she,

I told her to DM me on Instagram. Okay, she said, hello, I'm coming to talk about the astral birthroom at the fair. Hello. Okay. Do you mind if I read this? Yeah, go ahead. So I've been working on my astral awareness for about two years, and I've had a few other experiences of astral planes.

I know other people can also go to. One I commonly go to is this amusement park that has all kinds of attractions, and the attractions are these screen-based exhibits that show that, show the theme. I have 100% been thinking of the birthing exhibit. It reminds me of the farm animal alpaca space at the county fairs. In Minnesota, we have a huge one. Part of me feels like the purpose of this space is to cultivate admiration and behold emotional space for birth.

And so the exhibit gives souls an opportunity to be a part of that and maybe work out their own birth and creation energies. without having to give physical birth. This is crazy. This is not you talking. You have not said anything to her. In a similar manner, I've also been to the place where souls view their lives after passing.

Each person gets their own space to process their life peacefully and really finish lessons slash missions while they are there. It's a restful place and everyone feels alone, yet the room is filled with millions of souls. It's fascinating to me

how so many astral spaces involve screens. This is just further informs me that maybe we all have a container to see deeper than what is immediately present. The screen represents an innate power that we all have as souls. The ability to watch, the ability to watch, observe, and witness

beyond the layers. This is crazy. The birthfare moment was also very noisy too, but in a diffused kind of way. A cacophony of pleasure and pain is just exclamation point, exclamation point. So incredible for Earth species. I wonder why your soul decided to go there.

You say, yeah, it was so noisy. Like a full festival of people reminded me of a convention, like bustling. Yes. We're a populated airport or train station. So bright and clear, so many vaginas. You're saying back to her, so many vaginas. Ha, ha, ha.

I've never seen more vaginas in one space. mystified. Wow. Amazing. Okay, this makes me feel like I can go back and I'm so validated in my unshakable hunch. See, this is really interesting to read because it's like, I mean, I know this happened to you, but

yeah, if you're just making up some dumb story, you wouldn't be having this conversation with somebody. Oh yeah, I was so happy when she messaged me. And she's, you know, she's given me more sense. But the thing with me is, like I said, anyone could message me and be like, hey,

say Suun, like, I had a similar experience. But when she said amusement park, I hadn't mentioned that. I didn't mention the fact that I left the tent and a girl said, oh, did you go to the moon tent? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so that's her being like, you were at the place where there's different tents with different screens, you know? And when she filled in that blank, I was like, okay, I believe her. You know what I mean?

Like, I didn't say it was an amusement park. I also didn't say it was loud. And, you know, and so. Okay, so you go into this astral world. Mm-hmm. Do you ever go back? Yes, I had one. See, this is why this is so exciting for me right now.

now is because this is the first time that I ever went, right? Like I told you, so many times, literally since I was a kid. I've had the sensation of moving and not being able to go anywhere. And also in meeting her and talking to her about it, I was like, maybe this is a time in my life where I really explore this and I can finally be able to do it. I actually had an experience last week where same thing. I woke up in my bedroom. I went through something. And I was in a suburban home and I was fully conscious and I was asking everyone why am I here and it was so easy to stay this is because my whole thing is like everything for me is very like research based you know what I mean like I'm like okay the portal went back and then it came back and then I think like how do I stay the longest

like I'm obsessed with like flow state both like there and here right where I'm like how do I stay in the pocket and so when I was in that this was last week I was in this suburban place fully conscious and it just felt like it was a very calm situation it wasn't like the birthing place. like, oh, there's screens and things are being born, and I don't know where I am. It was a very calm situation where I was in a suburban area, and it was just an alternate version of my life. And I was fully conscious, and I was there for so long. I felt like I was there for such a long time, and I was walking around, and I was asking people

what's going on. And finally, I get invited to a party next door, and I go, and I talk to the bartender, and I say, why am I here for so long? I was like, I have traveled before, and it's always been so hard for me. And he says to me, I'm not even kidding, word for word. He looks at me and he says, alternate dimensions are like swimming pools. He says there's deep ends and there's shallow ends. Right now you're in a deep end.

And he was like, but if you keep walking in that direction, you'll see that it becomes more shallow and you'll slowly leave. And that was crazy. That was the most recent astral thing where I was just conscious and I knew that it wasn't a dream. And yeah, I was there for a long time And eventually I walked in that direction And I came back to my room

You talk to your dad about this stuff? Always, all the time That's honestly like It's almost like when things happen to me Or when I have these experiences Like the joy that I get is Oh, I get to tell my dad And he's going to be hyped.

What did you? So, yeah, I told I remember I woke up Because I was sleeping out my parents' house The first thing in the morning I told him And he was just fascinated He just was Yeah, and it's funny because my dad, he'll always, the way he, you know, some people they relate by kind of immediately telling their own story. And that's their way of being like, I understand you. He immediately went into this thing where he was like, he was like, he was like, one thing that I do in the astral is he was like, I help souls move on to the next life. And he was like, and he said he had a friend who would also go to the astral plane and would see him doing that. He said he had a friend in Brazil who said, oh, I saw you over there. You were helping move people on. And he was like, and he said, he had a friend in Brazil who said, oh, I saw you over there. You were helping move people on. And he was. And he said. And he said, Yeah, and so that's what he told me after that.

I remember because it was related to the birth vibe. Yeah. A lot of the stuff is really, really far out there, of course. I guess why I find it interesting as a person that normally doesn't is like, it's all so specific. It's hard not to look at it and be like, oh, maybe this is a very serious clue, you know. Yeah. What do you make, having lived through this, like, what do you think that was?

Like, what do you think this place is? Oh, the astral place. Yeah. What do you think? I truly just believe that there's so many, like, dimensions and worlds out there, you know? Like, I'm one of those people. Like, I believe in, I believe this was a genuine place. And I do believe that they watch us.

I don't know. Like, that's the vibe I got. I got that I was there and it was entertainment for them, you know. And it could be that or it could be something deeper, you know, like the girl was saying, like a place where souls go to understand birth. You know, like this is a place where, you know, bodies at all. aren't in physical form, like their spirit bodies where they exist and they flirt with the idea of being physical one day. That's a concept. I don't know. Another part of me is like, oh, it could just be, you know, sometimes I wonder if our subconscious, like consciousness is also its own, like, spiritual

world, you know? And maybe you're not physically going somewhere with other people. But otherwise, I will say, and I feel like, you know, like this story of the high school teacher and even my dad and even this stuff, it's like for me, spiritual stuff is just, it really colors your life and it's deeply entertaining and sometimes it fringes on like a life truth or a truth about existence. But in the end, I don't want to push it too much. You know, like I don't want to, it's not reliable enough for me to like dedicate my world, you know, to, you know, like even with the astral thing, I'm like, I'm so glad it happened. I'm so amazed. It's such a great memory. But I don't feel compelled to go on YouTube and like research astral world and like try to, you know, does that make sense?

Like I'm just happy that it's happening. See, the only thing I would say with all of this is I was raised with really high like protection training. You know what I mean? Like it was like if there's anything I was taught when I was a kid, it's like protect your energy, protect your aura. And so I can, I feel like just naturally with everything I do, I feel dominant in the situation. or like very, like that heavy responsibility where I know that what I do matters and also that nothing can like penetrate my reality.

So I guess if anyone wants to look into this stuff, it's like just be safe and confident, you know. Because I don't know, I just don't believe it. People will always say like, oh, you know, you can get a spirit stuck to you or you can go to the astral and not come back. But it's just like, I've never seen that happen. You know what I mean?

Well, yeah, because they didn't come back. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I want to thank Gabby one more time for talking to me about all of this. She has so many more stories, and you could hear those in the full raw interview if you want. She talks about ghosts, magic, her dad fighting off evil in the astral and real world. If you want to hear those, like I said, there's a full, uncut version of this interview on Patreon.

But in this main episode, I want to focus mostly on astral projection because hearing that really excited me, especially this whole birthing tent thing and the fact that a stranger had been there too. I absolutely want to get deeper into astral projection in future episodes, but before we go, I have a last-minute edition for this episode. While editing,

I popped into the other world discord and saw a guy in there talking to people about something that he saw while astro projecting. And I messaged him and got him on the phone pretty much right away because it sounded very familiar. And mind you, they do not know that this episode exists. I'll let you hear it from

him and decide for yourself, but I'm going to leave you with this. This has been Otherworld. Thank you for listening. My name's David. I work as a scientist. I'm going to work on the gut microbiome. In this particular instance, it started out like they typically do, where I felt like I was sort of tumbling end over in, like I was falling backwards, spinning around. and I got, I was sort of pulled through a, a bluish tunnel type thing, like a, I guess a water slide in space. And then, and then just sort of emerged out onto this landscape, which was, it looked sort of like a grassy valley in between two kind of mountain ranges. And it was full of people that looked like they were just sort of, I don't know, like camping out. There were tents and tables set up and like people just sort of going about.

milling about doing whatever. And there was one guy, just sort of standing a little bit off to the side. He had white hair and a white beard. So I walked up to him. And, you know, I was like, hey, what's going on here? Where are all these people doing? And he said, oh, well, they're, you know, they're here waiting, you know, until they can move on to the next place.

He didn't really describe what that place was. But I think there was a noise or something that just shook me out of it. And I was all of a sudden back in my back in my. body, but that was an interesting one. That was a particularly vivid experience of this, what I've been calling astral projection for lack of a better term. And what do this place look like again, if you could describe it? You can kind of imagine like a grassy valley, like kind of like a state park where, you know, some section, there's no trees, and it's just sort of grass, and then gradually sloped upwards on both sides to these just sort of mountain ranges.

What color of the tents? I think mostly white. I mean, memory is a little bit fuzzy as soon as I, you know. But, but yeah, that was, that's, that's more or less what I, what I can remember. Huh. All right. I want to thank Gabby one more time for telling us all those stories. If you want to hear more, a video version and audio version of the entire interview, the full thing unedited is available on the Otherworld Patreon.

That's patreon.com slash Otherworld. Thanks for listening. Otherworld is executive produced and hosted by myself, Jack Wagner. Our theme song is by Coberman. The soundtrack of this episode is by North Americans. The song you're hearing right now is take a rest by Coberman.

Editing and engineering by Theo Schaefer. The artwork for our show is by Coltessack Studios. This is an independent show, so please show us your support by subscribing, leaving a five-star review, and telling your friends. If you want to hear bonus episodes of this show, sign up for the Otherworld Patreon at

patreon.com slash Otherworld. If you want to follow us on social media, we're at OtherWhor. WorldPod on Instagram and Twitter. And finally, if you or somebody you know has experienced something paranormal, supernatural, or unexplained, you could send us the story at Stories at Otherworldpod.com. Thanks for listening.