[acceraStoof]

Ok, I'm going to try to get through your little post, one paragraph at a time, and I'll try to express some thoughts on a few things. Keep in mind that I'm no expert, and can only pull from my own experiences and some things I've read.

the physical hand is lying with palm down, the etheral/astral one is turned with palm facing upwards. It's a very strange feeling indeed. Then the feet and hands start "drifting" upwards, a friend of mine described it as if there were hooks in them, and pulled them upwards, but I feel it more like they loose the pull of gravity, and start to "float" upwards slowly. Energy body separation. The backwards thing...wait until you have the experience of coming back into your body sideways...that'll really freak you out.
Once I saw this red "devil" looking face with yellow eyes Have you read about the "Dweller on the Threshold" phenomenom?

Since these "images" come pretty early, prior to the other symptoms, I personally think they are coming from my mind, being bored because it's so quite, so it starts to dig up some fantasies and puts them into life. Now this was a biggie for me. After years of having experiences, mostly through hypnotherapy and past life regressions, I came to the conclusion that there is no such thing as "coming from my mind". Personally, I think that anything that happens consciously is a real, valid experience. That includes sub-conscious things. The astral is merely a shift in consciousness to another vibration (reality, dimension, whatever you want to call it). When we are talking about parallel lives, I don't think we can even begin to comprehend the vast number of possibilities. Everything you think, every teeny tiny little thought begins a whole new existence. And, every one of those existences that have a tiny thought creates another existence. It would be like trying to calculate how far you could go by adding one to every other number in existence. It just keeps going, with no finite end. The whole point of this is that you can day dream your way into the astral. Imagination is not just imagining...it is creating new existences. Putting your "fantasies into life" is more correct than you imagined.

I have waited almost a week to write about this experience, and I really don't know why. I think I was afraid that you would go "stupid, you shouldn't attempt exit before you are in week 6 of the program!!" I think Robert writes somewhere in the beginning of MAP, telling you of what to expect just in case you have an experience before MAP gets you there. It's been awhile since I read the book, and I never really followed the protocol, 'cause I was already having experiences. I'd say to go for any experience that you get, because they aren't all that easy to have. In my experience, the more you practice NEW and meditation, the more experiences you have. Slacking off of those, slacks off my experiences.

When you are talking about your lucid dream? (#3) and you switch from observing to participating, that's pretty common. The mind-split effect can have you experiencing both those things at once, as well as also feeling things happening with your physical body. If your body is in danger (cold, limb going to sleep, etc.), you will automatically snap back to your body as a form of protection. The rest of that experience can be typical of astral experiences. Popping from one place to another, encountering people who react to you, ssome won't react to you, scenes change, tactile feelings change...the astral is one big, strange place, that's for sure. I had one experience where everyone was human, and the central figure to the story, that had the most importance to me, was a cartoon. That was freaky. I tried to change it, because I knew who it was, but it refused to change into a human. I think it's because it's someone I love dearly and couldn't accept the fact that they "killed" me in that experience. The big question for me is, how many of the "people" that I encounter are other astral projectioners, and how many are thought forms I've created. Hmmmmmm.....

I think your "Egypt" story was a combination of an OBE and a past life experience. And, dream? Well, what's the difference?