Halloween Ritual Link Attempt Retelling

DISCLAIMER: This has been written more than 24 hours after the initial attempt, as well as without absorbing any posts from after the initial starting time. Timestamps will be localized to GMT standard when applicable for sake of ease, details will be provided as thoroughly as necessary/appropriate as needed. Take what is written with an open mind & a hint of discretion if you can. Thank you and Happy (belated) Halloween!

12:00AM
Ritual initiated with arranged/casted trinkets, lit incense (‘Goddess’ scent followed by ‘Patchouli Musk’) & ceremonial votive candle; space consecrated & cleansed with saltwater, sage, tossed salt & dry rice and gohei use before modified prayer of daily distant reverence spoken. Consumable offerings (sake, rice, pound cake) provided & partially shared. Amatsu Norito recited in meditation for protection before redrawn collective sigil is safely burnt upon specially-reserved paper within center of arranged objects (pictured below shortly before burning).

~12:25AM
Extended meditation begins after replacement of incense & snuffing of candle (for preservation's sake), mild ambiance in the form of a healing background frequency for better auditory focus. Mentally grounding myself while repeating pseudonyms of other participants/"鳥居で会いましょう" in my head, finding it easier to steady my thoughts during meditation than usual. Minutes pass, at this point I'm beginning to visualize the spiral path from an overhead view (simple white glowing path within murky void) while occasionally sensing echoes of my own pseudonym (provided below) calling back to me in response.
Cherry, but I don't exactly want this to be my regular 'board nickname' or anything. Sometimes I just wanna be like any other anon...
Back suddenly straightens as I assume the lotus position, feeling some greater force well-up within my frame & into my head. Honing in on these echoes (they weren't constant, mind you) after a few more minutes, bringing me down to the outermost point of the spiral as I picture a large, bronze mirror of mine close behind me. Start my slow trek down & into the center, mirror following close behind me as it almost 'consumes' the path while I travel. Looking to my sides as I walk, I sense around 1-3 unidentifiable spirits/flickering wisp-like apparitions of (assumed) divine nature orbiting close by (white flame with mild very very light blue glow). They recede as I finally reach the center of the spiral with accompanying Torii gate, equipped with stone path & green (back)doors (ball of light shining above where shimenawa/moon would've been). I sense a presence waiting for me at the gate but am unable to discern its host of origin (red/white coloring, possibly with glasses?). Instead of opening inwards or outwards, the doors simply glow a bright white before disappearing entirely to reveal the Hakurei Shrine grounds on the other side. There are already multiple figures mulling about just beyond the gate as I simply stand in anticipation.

~12:45/12:50AM
It is at this point I begin feeling the early pangs of restfulness that will hopefully lull me into sleep peacefully. Wanting to lean into this, I lie down semi-comfortably in my trance state before resuming my deep focus. I bring myself back to the end of the path through my mental mirror, repeating pseudonyms & the statement further as I will myself through the gate. Felt as if I was passing through a thick oil of some kind. Wind up on the other side with about 4 or 5 other individuals, 3 of which I presumed to be Eclipse (donned in black, robes maybe..?), TendaiAnon (dark green...kimono?), and "Feather & Silver" Anon (lighter-colored garbs..? clothing was very hard to focus on for some reason; very blurry). Status of Big Four Anon was unknown and, therefore, mildly indeterminable. Eclipse was the first to notice me, hiking staff in-hand, simple wave greeting with a "Hey!" Meek return acknowledgement as the breeze rustled the trees around us, blowing a few leaves overhead. We were gathered by the top of the stairs at the Shrine. Looking over to the building itself revealed Reimu sweeping away at the grounds very casually, hardly surprised at all as we walked over in relative silence. Her own greeting was a simple glance up at us punctuated with a brief remark in Japanese I can't recall (Some manner of a mildly-dismissive welcome being most likely?). I, unfortunately, had no pockets for any change to donate (on either side of the coin), the ~6 of us looking around at each other unsure of what to do next.

~2:00AM
At some point while lying down I had indeed fallen asleep without realizing it before being disturbed by an outside presence, partially arising with what felt like almost implanted, hazy memories of the encounter. We may have tried discussing further plans amongst ourselves but I'm not too sure. Nevertheless, not wanting to miss anything potentially decided upon I quickly reoriented myself & my surroundings (after grabbing a blanket) before easing my half-awake self back into sleep. The mirror had remained on the other side of the gate, making traversal back through fairly simple. I return to find myself exiting the foliage to the left of the shrine, the group having somewhat dispersed throughout the property. I recall sitting down with Eclipse on the rightmost edge of the cobble walkway closer to the front veranda/hall of worship under the shade of some trees. He was to my right and shared some onigiri with me brought in simple leave(?) wrappings. Aunn was cheerfully sitting with us to our left as we watched the sparse clouds slowly go by & Reimu discussing something with (maybe) TendaiAnon, the others exploring around if not within the Shrine itself. I remember asking Eclipse something with him chuckling before gently answering but I can't recall what on both our ends exactly. Memories begin getting incredibly hazy/murky after this, conflated with the spiral path itself/several instances of me simply standing on the other side of the mental Torii once more as I longingly observed other individuals/visitors to the Shrine walk about.

~5:00AM
Disturbed awake once again, this time fully so as I needed to decouple my set-up/various objects from their location on my bed for proper rest. Felt like I had even more implanted memories within me conflated with visualizations of going back out the spiral (the mirror had returned the majority of the path while walking back/disengaging) that I couldn't dwell on properly until I'd actually settled back down under the covers (was generally uneasy/unsure of how 'successful' the entire ritual had gone after the fact). Falling asleep, I recalled having lingered around the shrine long enough for day to have passed on into dusk, quickly followed by the dark of night. At some point, I was within the Shrine's rear living quarters with (I assumed) Eclipse & at least one other non-Gensokyan (Big Four Anon somehow..?). We'd been seated around a low table to eat a very modest dinner together with Reimu, Marisa, (possibly) Youmu (50/50 chance on her really) and Alice who might've gotten drunk enough to dance with me at some point (???, could've even had a napkin on my head as far as I know). There was a small amount of sake Reimu had brought out for us to share before Sakuya had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in her PCB garbs with an even bigger bottle everyone cheered over. The night likely ended for me as I sat a ways behind the Shrine (either in the grass or on some stump/bench) wistfully looking out at a meager pond in the silence of the nature around me. Eclipse eventually came out to check up on me and/or join my idle gazing. The moon was an incredibly thin crescent, that undisturbed night sky being the last thing I saw.

~6:30AM
Having actually fallen asleep once more, I had a very vivid dream of being given a small, personal tour of the Scarlet Devil Mansion by Remilia herself (she looks slightly more mature in-person). I'm unsure of what the occasion may have precisely been, outside of my possible earlier intrusion into Gensokyo, or how I even got there/was first brought in but nonetheless I remember her guiding my awe-struck self through the foyer and up into the second-floor halls & balconies. There were a few more decorative plants within the building than I would've initially guessed or presumed, but the entire property had this incredibly homey/eerily familiar feeling to it I couldn't shake. It was all very comforting & cozy, Remilia simply leading me along while occasionally waiting for me to be finished taking in my surroundings as they came. At some point during my state of curious bliss I was told by an accompanying family member or maybe just Eclipse again (hard to remember, it was another tall-ish individual donned in black garbs but sounded like someone I know closely. Hell it could've even been Sakuya somehow as far as I'm aware) that I was being "too impolite" with my surroundings. I instantly felt embarrassed and sheepishly went over to Remilia to bow & apologize for my rude behavior as a guest, to which she curtly replied "No, not at all. You've been just fine, actually~". I was relieved but could only manage an "Oh" in response before continuing my explorations. I wound up in some interconnected third-floor spare bedrooms, initially wrapping myself in one of the blankets & sitting on the floor while surrounded by pillows before a few different projections of unrelated people I know irl suddenly waltzed in that I had to confront. Frustrations ensued.

~9:50AM
Final partial rise from slumber, I assume due to the sudden confrontation within the dreamscape during an otherwise cozy & relatively peaceful encounter. Quickly fell back asleep and had another vivid dream essentially completely unrelated to Touhou about reclaiming some small, antiquated living space in a rural neighborhood I also somehow conjured into existence house-by-house (there was a toilet in the living room with only a simple curtain and a small table next to an armchair that somehow had a built-in blender/juice mixer attached to its surface...very strange, mildly uncanny - felt like the bad idea of a 1950s realtor, not my best work and there were better houses around I don't know why I didn't bother to look into. Got too distracted by the backyard I guess...various ancient-looking appliances buried under leaves).
Did not wake again for another 6-7 hours.

Conclusion/Final Thoughts? Like I mentioned in the 5th paragraph, I had my doubts over how 'well' this really went over across the board let alone for myself once I'd initially figured everything was said & done. I have a problem with self-doubt generally of course but this is practically unprecedented for me. I later at least saw that some of the recounts were posted over Rentry so I decided to stick with that without gleaming anything major from the new posts. I'm certainly no expert when it comes to long-distance psychic communion between individuals, let alone Total Astral Projection (except for when I'm not even trying apparently...) but I'm sure none of you can really claim the same either. As far as I've seen it, these threads have all, for the most part, been a by-product of a handful of disparate people coming together over mutually-strange Touhou-related spiritual dealings and this is our first (rather spontaneous) real attempt at congregation beyond some wacky image board best known for memes & racism. Not like things'll ever be 'perfect' anyways. No one can say we never tried however, I'm mildly-honored my sigil revision gained so much traction in such a short time and am quite thankful I haven't been deemed enough of a weirdo creep/general menace to have been chased out with torches & pitchforks by now. It means I still get to experience moments like this with all of you despite my increasingly-busy life, which has been nice. I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be with my studies or practice for several reasons now thanks to these threads, but all that really means is I have so much more to look forward to in the future. A future I have no doubts I'll be tied to for a very long time. It's always good to have something bigger to work towards, Right? I'm really just glad I still seem to be somewhat helping people in small ways, makes me happy & eases the conscious a great deal. I have no idea how much overlap I'll be sharing with you all at time of writing but I'm looking forward to seeing what else was experienced, surely it'll have been pretty varied/slightly personalized between the lot of us anyways. I do apologize if this has all seemed completely different compared to whatever everyone else went through but this has been as honest of a recount as I've been able to manage based on what I can recall. Maybe I just have some crazy vivid imagination/projection issues I shouldn't be troubling you all with, or maybe there'll be something remarkably special to be found in the other entries to read. Either way, thank (You) as always for reading and I hope everyone has taken as much care as they've needed this evening.

Until next time..?

Who'd really be able to say for sure anyways?