I am already on a different planet as I step onto the grounds of the Integratron, a spa-like mini-verse with a courtyard complete with a ‘hammock village’, bathrooms dedicated to Venus and Mars (there is also an genderless bathroom for those unaffiliated with a specific planet), complementary lemon flavored holy water and parasols to shade visitors from the desert heat.  An older man (or wizard perhaps) greets me upon my arrival, and introduces me to the amenities of the experience. I am informed that the site of the Integratron is positioned on a major vortex where three water lines connect, creating energy fields that are powerful and unique. The lemon water comes from a well, and drinking it is supposed to have powerful, medicinal effects. There are chalkboards and chalk, and, after quickly drinking three cups of the water I begin to write intergalactic messages and symbols on the boards for future generations to decipher. This is a playground from another dimension, a Disney land for the spiritually inclined, an access point to enter a realm where beings can access higher vibrational frequencies and ascend to new levels of consciousness. 

A man with the build of a security guard or football player jostles me out of my trance state and motions to the main building on the grounds, alerting me that the crystal bath séance is about to begin. He is wearing blue-tooth and dark glasses, and he murmurs  ’enjoy your voyage’ as I flash him the Vulcan salute. As I walk towards the massive Integratron structure, I fixate on the event about to occur with dazed amazement, wondering absent mindedly if this experience will change the course of my life, will alter my destiny forever. 

The Integratron is an all white geometric domed structure, designed by a scientist turned human prophet/earth ambassador to Venusian aliens, who gave him the blueprints to build this acoustically perfect portal, originally intended to increase the human life span through energy power. The ground floor of the structure is dimly lit with artifacts stating details about alien- human interaction at the Integration location. I give the wizardly man a ticket to enter the sound bath, and climb up a steep staircase in the center of the room, onto the second floor where I enter a world beyond the past-future time structure.  

Along with the other human travelers, we are each instructed to lay on soft mats on the floor. I look up at the wood domed ceiling and through a skylight in the very center of the dome.  The skylight looks like a gigantic eye, and as the clouds pass by I feel my soul being extracted from my body. A man is speaking, and his voice reverberates with tones that are alien to my ears. Distance is condensed in this acoustic environment so that the ear detects sound waves that are far away easier than sound waves that are close by. The exception to this phenomenon is when you are speaking in the center of the room, where your own voice will be distinctly amplified in your own ears. 

The man leading the crystal bowl ceremony tells us that different crystal sounds access different chakras, and the sounds will vibrate through the body before registering as sound. This is why a sound bath is such a bodily experience, because the electromagnetic field of the body will intermingle with the vibrations produced in the environment. The sound bath begins and it is extraordinarily intense, causing my eyes to water profusely, as my perception gains sensitivity to an alternate consciousness. I can hear people breathing from far away, and I look up at the wood paneled ceiling where I begin to see many stories unfold in the wood grain. I see buffalo and mountains and plains and rivers, wars and cities. I close my eyes and begin to receive answers to questions about my own life that had been brewing in my unconscious. I visualize the future of my art practice, see the souls of people I have not yet met, and I come to terms with my own mind as a separate entity from my body. 

If this was a ‘Vice’ article it might be titled ‘The Time I Went Soul 2 Soul with a Crystal, Was Abducted by an Orchestra of Intergalactic Sound Waves, and Discovered My True Form as a Venusian Alien’. 

After the sound bath, I asked the wizardly man if aliens looked like human people, and he told me he had never seen an alien. I like to think that everyone is an alien mind, trying to make sense of a human body on a foreign planet full of mysteries. If we are all aliens than everyone is equally confused, and this is how I come to terms with my own confusion and the confusion of society at large. Others may see this outlook as ignorant, but I find it helpful, as it protects me from judgment and allows me to enjoy every experience as a new phenomenon.

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