The Attic Laboratory

The walls are wood and old; the varnish is wearing off in many places. There is no electricity but the room is never too dark to see. A rectangle shape that is perhaps four foot by ten foot, and most recently, a window opposite the always closed door. This is my attic laboratory, rustic, aged, perfect.

Many teachers guide their students to build an astral lab. These are generally created for problem solving, searching for solutions, and manifesting. Often, the teacher will help their student create their lab by using guided imagery, and students are often encouraged to add personal touches whenever and however they can, so that the mental lab is truly personal. This brings me to one of my few standing rules: if it works for you, keep it, if not, toss it. Or, change it, turn it, tweak it, so that it does work for you.

Stress was an incredible helper when it came to building my lab (thanks, stress!). One night while I was trying to sleep, the burning, churning sensation in my stomach was competing with the rolling thoughts in my head to see which could break me first–or at least keep me awake the longest. It was a tie until, at the peak of desperation, I began to imagine pulling the stressful situation out of my head, making it a tangible cloud of anger, fear, and betrayal, and putting it in a Mason jar. I screwed the lid on tight, and while I knew that matters from this situation would have to be dealt with, I told the rumbling cloud in a jar, “not now. I’ll come back for you later, but not now. I need to sleep.”

A wooden shelf appeared in front of me so that’s where the jar was placed. A room had appeared around me, with no effort from myself. It was the room described above. I recognized it immediately even though I don’t recall ever seeing it before. I knew it was in an attic of sorts, though how I knew this was never made clear.

Amazingly, the physical symptoms of stress were all gone and I was able to sleep soundly. The next day, my perspective of the situation was different, clearer, and I didn’t worry about the outcome any more, I felt confident that all would work out just fine. No grudges wanted to be held, no bitterness fought to stay. I knew that I had to go back to that feeling cloud in the jar so that it wasn’t just sitting on a mental shelf, waiting to break up and surprise me one day with an ambush, so every night, in a meditative pre-sleep slumber, I visited the jar and imagined the cloud being injected with lavender light for understanding, peace, and love to all involved. As I did this, the cloud got smaller and smaller, and when the cloud was more lavender than any other color, I opened the jar and sent the cloud of the newly formed window in my attic laboratory. The universe took the cloud and dissolved it, making the cloud gone forever.

Notice how a window appeared when it was needed? Your room should change like that, but more about that later.

Recently, there was an issue at work. During my initial interview I mentioned that I was scheduled to go to a convention a few months later, which would cut into my time at the job, but all tickets were non-refundable. The HR person across the table assured me this would not be a problem, but when I got the job, I was informed that new employees cannot take time off during their first 20 weeks. I pled my case and waited as a new stress ball formed in my stomach and at the back of my head, waited as my new manager stayed silent about her decision to let me go to the convention without consequence, or let me go from the new job entirely when I refused to eat the $500 of non-refundable tickets by not attending the convention.

That is when I took my troubles to the attic, where I pulled a glass baking dish from the ether with soil. I visualized the problem was a lump of energy, and planted it in the soil, then planted love, and watered the whole thing was a loving resolution. I then imagined my manager holding the bowl with me. We were both smiling, happy, and laughing. Then I placed the dish on the shelf and went to sleep.

The very next day, that same manager pulled me aside, smiled warmly, and told me to have fun at the convention. The time away wasn’t a big deal, she said.

Similarly, during a money crisis, I found a filled a glass dish with soil and planted money seeds, sprinkled it all with love and abundance, and told the seeds to grow big and fat. Immediately, the first seed planted grew large; I plucked it, thanked it, and set it next to the pan. The very next day, a check for $500 arrived in the mail from a friend who had inherited another friend’s estate. The note accompanying the check read, “I just wanted to share.”

In my experience the knack to getting the most out of these astral laboratories is being in a meditative state and striking a balance between surrender and control: control over visualization and surrendering to what happens during the process. For example, I chose to plant a money seed, but watched as the first seed grew without any effort from me.

One must also surrender to astral instinct (if ‘instinct’ is the right word). Planting situations or items in soil wasn’t my conscious decision, rather as I stood in my lab and thought about what I needed and what my purpose was for being there, I just…did it. The actions and props were all right for the time and so the part of me in control went along with what was happening. Make sense? Find that place between decisions of the mind and actions of the soul. The combined wisdom of our awake self, astral self, and higher self is powerful, strong, and astronomically amazing.

However, this is not so easy, at least not for me, and I find that there are times of great struggle when I try to maintain that balance. Just as when one is trying to leave one’s body and must keep the conscious mind silent yet focused. For me, the ideal time appears to be in the middle of a long sleep pattern. I generally sleep between 4-6 hours a night, and if I wake up in the middle of this time I can balance between asleep and awake. This is when I get the best results.

If you already have an astral laboratory then I encourage you to explore it further and experiment a little more inside the marvelous dwelling. If you don’t have one yet, create your own problem-solving lair is worthwhile. Get into that deep state, far enough away from the awake world that you can surrender completely, but not so far that you have no choice but to let go entirely. Don’t get discouraged if this takes a little practice because you’re already a master, you might just need a little practice to find your way back.

Allow your astral world to contribute to the decorating and know that nothing in this lab is permanent—all things will change as they need to and as you allow it, and it is always in your benefit to allow changes. There is a powerful and loving flow moving through every part of you, but we often block it with ego. In this lab, there is no ego allowed! Keep the flow and watch in amazement how much the universe wants things to work out right for you!

One must trust that what happens in this lab can be trusted completely. If you’re working and a glass baking dish, for example, appears, you need to know that it is exactly what is in your best interest. Or if a person appears, you need to know that this person is there exactly when they will do the most good for you, so if complete trust is not something that comes naturally in your astral lab, then please do a ritual (or prayer, or whatever works best for you). Perhaps put up a barrier so that only love may enter, only love may leave. But really, use the words and do the actions that create a safe environment just for you.

Another key point to success with these labs is that once your time inside is done, you must release the situation entirely, trusting that what you’ve done in the lab will carry over into the waking world. Let it go. This seems to be the biggest point: releasing. I think I understand why—have we actually stopped the processes of our lab work if we are still going over what has or could happen in our minds? Can the energies get to work if we are still trying to control what we have sent them to alter? Maybe, but not with the same power if we handed over the item completely. Can you wash a dish while someone is still eating off it? Yeah, but not with the same results.

Also, don’t resist. Easier said than done, I know, but resistance is a sign that you’re going against the flow, and that flow is trying to get you where you need to be. Perhaps, like so many of us, you’ve experienced moments when you really, really wanted something that in hindsight you realize was actually wrong for you. Here we are brought back to the point of surrender: if you are focused on something that appears to be working against you in your lab, then maybe, just maybe, it would be in your best interest to go in a different direction. Think of resistance as a guide: hit it and know you’re heading in the wrong direction.

Ok, so to summarize: build your lab, work in your lab, and do whatever it takes to allow an environment in which perfect trust is possible, and then surrender. Surrender to the knowledge that all the various forms of “you” and the universe want you to win, want you to be happy and want you to be well.

Do the work, set your sights, and let the moment of energy flow inside your very own laboratory. The results are worth the work!