I don't know how to say this without it sounding alarmist, so I'm just going to say it: three people in our community have died in the last four months. All of them were active on migration-related forums. All of them believed they could permanently transfer to Ethel by dying in a specific way.
I knew one of them. She was 24. She had been part of the Aethel community for about a year. Her posts got stranger and stranger until they stopped entirely. Last month I found out why.
This is not okay. Whatever you believe about dream realms and consciousness and substrate transfer - people are DYING. Real people with families are making irreversible decisions based on ideas that NONE OF US can verify.
The mods here do a good job keeping the tunnel religion stuff out, but the migration ideology has gotten more subtle. It shows up in innocent-sounding questions about "what happens when you die in Ethel" or "has anyone tried to stay longer." It's framed as philosophical inquiry but people are taking it literally.
I don't care if you think migration is theoretically possible. Even if it IS possible:
If you're feeling drawn to these ideas, please please please talk to someone. Your physical life matters. The people here who love you matter. Ethel will still be there tomorrow night.
If you know someone who's been going down this path, reach out to them. Now.
[MOD] Pinned. This is important.
We've been trying to address this quietly but I think public discussion is necessary now.
The mod team is aware of at least five deaths in the broader shared dreaming community over the past year that appear connected to migration ideology. We don't have verified details on all of them.
Our policy: ANY post promoting, encouraging, or providing "how-to" information about migration will be removed and the user permanently banned. This is not censorship of ideas, this is harm reduction.
If you or someone you know is struggling with these thoughts:
Your consciousness is precious. Please protect the one you're sure you have.
I've been harsh on this community for years, but I want to be clear about something:
Most of you are exploring interesting altered states of consciousness in relatively safe ways. That's fine. Maybe there's something genuinely weird going on with shared dreams, maybe it's all psychological - either way, it's not inherently harmful.
But this migration stuff is where I draw a hard line. This is cult suicide ideology being spread under the guise of spiritual exploration.
I don't care how "real" Ethel feels. I don't care about your theories of consciousness. The physical world is where your loved ones live. It's where you can make a difference. It's where you matter.
Don't let beautiful dreams trick you into throwing away your only verified life.
I want to push back gently on one thing: not everyone who asks about consciousness after death is suicidal or being recruited.
These are genuine philosophical questions that humans have always asked. What happens when we die? Can consciousness exist without bodies? What is the relationship between dream states and death states?
We should be able to discuss these questions intellectually without it being treated as "migration promotion."
The problem isn't the questions. The problem is specific communities that have weaponized the questions to recruit vulnerable people into death cults.
Let's distinguish between legitimate philosophy and predatory ideology.
LucidWitness - you're right and I'm sorry if my post came across as anti-intellectual.
The questions are valid. The certainty is what's dangerous. When someone goes from "I wonder if consciousness persists" to "I KNOW I will wake up in Ethel if I die correctly" - that's the red flag.
Especially when the "correct way to die" involves specific methods that certain communities are teaching.
Data point that might be relevant:
I've been tracking the spread of migration ideology across platforms. It originated (or at least became prominent) in the "other Ethel" / Aethel community around 2010-2011.
Specifically, it seems connected to whatever that group found in the tunnels. They claim to have contact with a goddess figure who promises eternal life in the dream realm.
The infection pattern is concerning - people join the community skeptical, gradually become true believers, and eventually start recruiting others. Classic radicalization pipeline.
Whether this is purely psychological manipulation or something weirder (actual entity influence?), the result is the same: vulnerable people convinced to kill themselves.
I've been visiting Ethel for three years. I love it there. I have friends there. I have a life there.
And I would NEVER try to migrate. Because:
Trust your instincts. If something in the dream realm is pushing you toward death, that's not love or wisdom. That's a trap.
I watched my friends die trying this twenty years ago.
It didn't work then. It doesn't work now. The people promoting it are either delusional, malicious, or infected by something that WANTS people to die.
I don't say this lightly: there are entities in the dream realms that feed on death, on belief, on the desperation of people who want to escape physical existence. They tell you what you want to hear. They show you beautiful visions. And then you kill yourself and you're just... dead.
There is no "migration." There is only suicide with extra mythology.
old_ammonite, can you tell us more about what happened with your friends? I think understanding the history might help people see through the current ideology.
Not in detail. Not here. It's too painful and too easily misinterpreted.
What I'll say is: they were brilliant, dedicated researchers. They found something real in Ethel. And then something in Ethel found THEM. It promised them transcendence. It lied.
Four of them died in one night. The one who survived was never the same.
Learn the techniques. Explore the realms. But for the love of everything, stay tethered to physical reality. Your waking life is your anchor. Cut it and you drift into the void.