Recurring Hypnagogic Images- Does this happen to you?

[CFTraveler]

This is something that has been happening to me- I don't know if it even belongs on here but I couldn't find any other spot, so here it is:
Maybe a couple of years ago I was meditating and got into the hypnagogic state- and started seeing the images flash by- but one image was different- it was a few drops of liquid falling into a surface as you would see it from the top from about a 45 degree angle- you see the drop fall, the ripples on the surface extend out and you see about 3 drops, then you focus, and the whole scene goes away. It looks like a "negative" image- the drops and ripples look light (white/pink) and the background looks dark (dark pink, the color of your eyelids). Even though the colouring is not realistic the look of it is. (It's like watching a movie in sepia-negative.) I have had the same imagery in the hypnagogic state now at least three times this year that I remember. It is always the same which is why I'm wondering if it's something physical going on in my optic nerve or eyeballs. So, is this something that happens to others?

[Chris]

I don't see that image but I think I know what you are experiencing regarding the colours. Rather than a negative of the image, I sometimes see what is more like a psychedelic representation. Some of the greater detail is lost, but the outlines, shading is done in neon colours (sometimes these are pastel - yellow/orange etc).
Does this colour change only occur with this one image for you?

[enoch]

Oftentimes faces will suddenly illuminate before my closed eyes, fix a pose..be it a wicked grin, a stif upper lip or just fierce eyes. Those eyes which burn and look as though they contain a secret and you wanna ask just what it is that they see. These images burn for a few moments and then , like you said, fade out into negatives and disappear,

[CFTraveler]

I don't see that image but I think I know what you are experiencing regarding the colours. Rather than a negative of the image, I sometimes see what is more like a psychedelic representation. Some of the greater detail is lost, but the outlines, shading is done in neon colours (sometimes these are pastel - yellow/orange etc).
Does this colour change only occur with this one image for you?

Yes. What makes me wonder is that it's the only image that looks like that- like a recurring dream but not quite one.

[mick]

These images burn for a few moments and then , like you said, fade out into negatives and disappear,

This reminded me of when I was first practising clairvoyance in a spiritualist context. As a message passing technique images would be presented for interpretation and these after a time would deteriorate in a similar manner. Over time this improved such that the images could be held for longer.
These days I do sometimes get a range of similar type images when approaching sleep where a face will step up and some of them are quite strange. As you do, I think what is their intent, what are they about.

Just to cover the angles, there is also an eye function where staring at an object will result in the image fading due to depletion of compounds used by the eye but I assume the eyes were closed anyway.

[CFTraveler]

I assume the eyes were closed anyway.

-Mick.

They were. It was almost as if this image was under the other more normally colored images, and I could see it as the others flicked by. Then, when I took notice of it, it was gone. It's kind of weird and very realistic.

[A Perfect Circle]

I also see a lot of differant types of hypnagogic images. The one that I see most often are these strange geometric shapes. They have all sorts of stranges textures to them. They are constantly moving, changing shapes and colors. They sometimes take on the appearance of a face. From time to time I see other things. Last night I had my eyes closed and I seen a clear image come into my view and then dissapear. Usally it is so fast that I can't even make out what it was.

In reference to hypnagogic images - I begin to dream with thoughts, sight, color, and awareness while I am still laying awake and aware of myself in a waking way. It has been about 3 or 4 years like this but it doesn't happen noticeably every night.

[mrryjos]

Oftentimes faces will suddenly illuminate before my closed eyes, fix a pose..be it a wicked grin, a stif upper lip or just fierce eyes. Those eyes which burn and look as though they contain a secret and you wanna ask just what it is that they see. These images burn for a few moments and then , like you said, fade out into negatives and disappear,

Yup, I seem to get this all the time now when drifting to sleep. Sometimes they're people that are moving around until I suddenly become aware that I'm watching them and then I get the effect described above happening, though they tend to fade in a violent flash of light which physically jolts me. Is this connected to lucidity? or is it, as I've heard some say, preliminary to contact with spirit?

[CFTraveler]

For whatever this is worth, I found that when I start getting a lot of these images, I either OBE that night or the next night. I'm starting to consider them OBE precursors. And if I start hearing stuff I know one is coming up.