Abnormal Sleep Paralysis

[Kixerus]

...While lucid dreaming a green figure appeared into my dream. I thought it was apart of the dream at first but something seemed odd about it. It made the dream darken and I noticed it was only a head and a torso appearing as if it was phasing through a wall. It bit me. I thought nothing of it, but then I felt a sharp pain in my finger and was awaken from my dream. Expecting to see the shadow figure appear I was shocked to see a big spider with it's jaws clenched on my index finger, which was next to the wall. I got up and turned the light on to see better. It was gone. I searched the entire room ready to kill it. It was gone. My roommate woke up in the commotion and came in concerned. I told them what happened and they didn't believe me. When I looked at my finger there was no visible sign that I had been bitten. Then tonight something similar happened. I was having a semi-lucid dream, it faded to black and the a blue figure to the torso appeared trying to bite me. I punched at it and was awoken to the sharp pain of being bitten. This time I got up immediately and turned the light on. The figure disappeared before my eyes! Has anything like this or mention below happened to anyone else?! A little background: I used to frequently have lucid dreams, but then one night I experienced sleep paralysis and have been lucid dreaming far less often as a result. I've gone days, weeks, months, even years between lucid dreams, most of which I cannot recall after waking. My first bout with sleep paralysis happened after I had gotten the hang of lucid dreaming. I was having a pleasant lucid dream and then feel back asleep and woke up to a dark hooded figure floating above me. I couldn't move and experienced terror never before felt. As a result of this I stopped trying to lucid dream. After awhile I lucid dreamt again and things seemed normal again. Then I woke up from a dream and couldn't move. Fear immediately set in, but the room was empty. I then heard something and then felt as if something was approaching at high speeds towards me. I then saw the terrifying shadow figure come through the wall and stare at me. Again I was petrified, I fought through it and was able to move my hand just a little trying my hardest to wake up. I decided I would keep lucid dreaming despite of this. Then the hooded shadow figure appeared again. I tried my hardest to move and to rebuke him. I made a cross with my fingers, he didn't budge. I rebuked him in the name of Jesus, he didn't budge. I yelled at him but no sound came out. He covered my mouth. I felt anger fill me and I wanted to kill him. I was powerless. I rebuked him again in the name of God. He vanished. To put things into some context - at the time of this happening I was becoming disillusioned with Christianity and leaning towards atheism (now I'd say I'm more agnostic having rejected both sides as flawed). I wondered why the shadowy being didn't dissipate when I invoked the name of Jesus but then did when I invoked God. I couldn't decide whether the name had no power or my belief wasn't strong enough. After this incident my lucid dreams were few and far between. Unlike when I was afraid to have them, the absence of them now was involuntary. Now that I think about it, it seems my lucid dreams were suppresses by this shadow figure. Prior to me ever experiencing sleep paralysis I would have regular dreams about future events. Most of which were mundane, but after attaining lucidity I hoped to control what I saw in the future. And that is when the sleep paralysis began. I went a year and a half, maybe two years without dreaming then moved to a new place and after a few months had a couple of lucid dreams. One in particular stood out to me: a dream of a observatory. I wandered down a dark street and began to lose lucidity. I then focused on a nearby street light and the dream became illuminated and vivid. Unlike light in the real world, looking at the light in my dream didn't hurt my eyes and I could look directly into it. It had never occurred to me to do this before. Using my new dream stabilizing trick I was able to shortly extend lucid dreams. The only drawback was if I spawned in a place that had no lights. I tried to create light but that worked with varying success. Again the hooded figure appeared. But this time I wasn't afraid of him. Instead I laughed at him. He vanished. One peculiar occurrence that happened was a dream fading to darkness. Unlike the normal sleep paralysis, when I awoke, a huge rat was on me biting me. I made a huge disturbance and flung it off me. When I turned on the lights, I could not find it. Which brings me to the present. I've relocated again and been having lucid dreams. These few anomalies occurred...

[Zamorye]

I believe the hooded figure is just your fear itself. Overcome your fear by meditating or having full faith in God. I still have sleep paralysis, but with no "dark figures". I just drift outside of my body. I am also very used to it now, so when it happens, I don't worry. If you don't worry, it will help your problem. I've heard of these spirits, but I do not believe they are spirits. It wouldn't make sense for spirits to bother you, because what about me? I've had my fears come against me before. They usually don't turn out as figures-but more like things that happen. When I was 3, I kept having the same dream over and over again about my mother leaving me on the side of the road with a potted plant, which was very odd. A plant. Wow. Anyway, to leave the dream, I had to jump off a bridge. This occurred for about a month. But this-what happened to you-is bizzare. Try to kill your fear! Be your fear! Possess your fear in your dream! Suck him into you causing so great force that the dream world explodes and you wake up! If this doesn't happen, find a peace in your heart and sit. Just sit and push out all negative thoughts.

[Kixerus]

Zamorye, thanks for your input. The dark hooded figure may in fact be an embodiment of my personal fear, though I'm not quite sure if it is or just a common illusory phenomena. The dark hooded figure is fairly common. But, it does vary in appearance in other people's accounts. I've read that it was an angel, a demon, a being from a different dimension or just a being that we cannot fully comprehend. I'm unsure whether any of this is true. Your sleep paralysis experience differs from mine. When I experience it I am in my body. You said you drift out of your body, have you every astro projected or experienced precognition?