Note: This is part one of a series that will endeavour to define the astral world and the projection process.
I have been studying the astral plane, in my astral form, for most of my life. I have attempted, by careful observation and critical thinking, to understand it, and hopefully, to shed a little light on it.
Everybody, without exception, leaves their body in a low powered projection, when they go to sleep. I call this sleep projection. The astral body hovers a few inches above the physical like a balloon on a string, mimicking the sleeping position and going no further. Once the astral body has separated, it is free to create dreams. This is the natural (sleep, dream) process we are all familiar with. During this, you sink into the collective dream consciousness of the world. This `dream pool' settles into layers. According to what type of person you are, spiritual, moral advancement etc, you will tune in to a level you have affinity with. These levels are commonly called the `Planes' or sub Planes. There is nothing wrong with this analogy except that it can confuse things when you try to grasp the whole concept.
If you become aware during sleep projection you can take some control over it as in a lucid dream, and move amongst the levels. If you do take control though, you cannot return to the real world and function as an astral form in it. You are in the topsy-turvy world of the dream pool or astral planes, where everything is possible, but not very plausible.
When you do a `fully conscious' projection of the astral form you project into the physical world, not any astral world. This has long been misunderstood. What is usually thought of as astral projection today is better called `Lucid Dreaming' which is completely different.
Many authors suggest we all race about the universe in AP every night. This is simply not true. You will find the world a lonely place in your astral form and will rarely see anyone else projecting there. If you do see someone, often they are just standing, confused and befuddled, caught in a `between' state of projecting and creating. This is what happens when you lose control during a conscious OBE. I call it `The Alice and Wonderland Effect' It is an effective barrier to the untrained mind.
In the astral form you have an incredibly strong creative ability, normally used to create dreams. Once free of the fetters of the physical world, you can create an entire world, and often do. This creative ability is the problem, and the cause, of all the misunderstandings about AP.
There is a natural barrier in AP just as there is with any other form of psychic ability. The `Alice' effect, limits projection time in the real world to a few minutes, in most cases, unless you can control your mind and energy level well. If there was not a barrier - think about it - millions of people flitting around the world every day and night, no privacy, no secrets. This would be a very unhappy world to live in.
What happens during a fully conscious AP if you can't control your mind and energy? Well, at some point during the AP you will start to lose control over the experience and well known things will be found in wrong places. Doors, windows, furniture; extra rooms will appear etc. Your subconscious mind has started creating or you are tuning into a dream plane. Once this happens it is impossible to know what is real any more. Some of the dream pool levels, or planes, are a carbon copy of the real world. You may tune into one of them and think you are projecting in the real world - until you meet a Cheshire cat.
One final thing, the Eastern concept of the levels; physical, astral, mental, buddhic, atmic etc are very real. They have been confused though and mixed in with the Western concept of astral projection. They are different levels of consciousness, not planes as such. When you AP you don't raise your consciousness, it is the same as when you are awake. These `higher' levels can only be reached by raising your consciousness, you can't just project into them. It is a different kind of `projection'. I have been in these higher levels but it is difficult to explain them, they really have to be experienced. They are normally reached during deep meditation.
Astral Projection (AP') is an automatic reflex, built in to your body and mind.
Relaxation: You must `master' a full body relaxation exercise. If you know one already it can be adapted to suit. Sit in a `chair' and relax. Starting with the feet, tense them and relax them. Continue this with calves, thighs, hips, stomach, chest, arms, neck and face. Go over this a few times until you feel completely relaxed. Breathe deeply and slowly throughout this and try to become `aware' of the breath entering and leaving your body.
Mental hands: Imagine you have a pair of `mental hands'. Stroke yourself with these `hands' in an upward motion from your feet and up your legs, over and over again. Try and `feel' them relaxing and soothing you. Continue this up through the centre of your torso, paying particular attention to the chakras. The mental hands technique will also get you used to shifting your point of consciousness to different parts of your body. Try and put as much of yourself as you can into these mental hands.
Energy raising: As you pull upwards through your legs with your mental hands, imagine you are gripping the energy that flows there and pull it up through you. This is the natural path of the psychic/life energy that flows through you. With practise you will actually `feel' this energy tingling and surging through you. It will literally `charge' you up like a battery.
Chakras: These are situated at: 1. the base of the spine (between the anus and the genitals) 2. The spleen (slightly below the belly button) 3. The solar plexus (1 hand-span above the belly button) 4. The heart (centre of the chest) 5. the throat. 6. forehead. 7. Crown (full top of your head). They are best imagined as roughly the size of your hand.
Chakra stimulation: Chakras are centres for the transformation of energy. Each chakra transforms the raw life energy of the planet into a different type. As you pull this energy up through you with your mental hands, stop at each chakra and imagine your mental hands opening it. Pull the energy up through it to the next one and so on. Repeat this a few times, you may not feel anything at first but with practise you will feel a fluttering or pulsing under your skin.
Stop Check: Keep checking your muscles for any tensioning throughout these exercises and re-relax as needed. A common problem is the automatic tensing of muscles as you pull energy up through you. Remember, this is all mental, the body must stay dormant and relaxed throughout this.
Point shift: To shift your point of consciousness, imagine you are a foot or two out in front of yourself. NOT a figure in front of you but YOU are in front of your physical body. Keep in mind your physical body being behind you. This is tricky but you will get used to it quickly. Don't tense or strain any muscles during this, your body will try to obey you `physically', don't let it.
Mental state: Your surface mind will be fully occupied by these exercises so no mental exercise is needed up to this point. When you feel so relaxed your body begins to feel `heavy' you are entering a light trance. Cease the other exercises and use breath awareness to stop your mind wandering.
Breath awareness: `Feel' your breath coming in and `feel' it going out. With the inhale, `pull' energy up from the base chakra to your heart chakra with your mental hands. Note: If you feel any vibration start in your body at this point, and don't want to project yet, move your head slightly, and gently sway your body into normal alertness.
These exercises should be carried out daily. Some of them can be done anywhere and anytime you have a few minutes to spare. You will, in time, condition your body to respond quickly and easily. With practise you will be able to attain a state of `total relaxation' in just a few minutes. This training will reduce the amount of effort needed, and the fatigue produced, when you attempt a fully conscious A P'.
This article will deal with actually leaving the body (AP'). If you have read
Note: The projection method I use and describe here is slightly different to what is called AP' today. It is how to do a `fully conscious' projection of the astral body into the real world - not the astral world. This is equivalent to a safe (near death experience).
Stated here are the IDEAL conditions for AP'. Some of them can be varied according to your circumstances and needs.
You need a quiet room where you will be undisturbed. If background noise is a problem, tune a TV or radio - off station - to provide white noise which will blanket it. I advise against music. Make sure the temperature is comfortable as you will tend to lose body heat during AP'.
The light must be soft and fairly dim, not dark. The burning of incense, while not necessary, helps condition your body to relax. If you use incense, use one type exclusively for AP', and use that type for no other purpose.
You need a comfortable chair with arm and neck support. This can be a lounge chair or of the recliner type. AP' is much more successful when done from a SITTING position. The chair must be slightly reclined to stop the head rocking forward. A phone book under the front of it will do. A pillow is needed for the feet, and sometimes a small pillow or towel behind the neck. The type of neck pillow used on aircraft are good. Play around with this until you are 100% comfortable. Note: wear loose clothing.
If you must use a bed, say you are unable to sit due to illness, injury or circumstance, prop yourself up in bed with pillows, as you would when you eat. As I have said, any of this can be dispensed with according to your needs and circumstances. I am giving you here the optimum conditions for AP'.
To AP' you don't want to be too tired. The state needed is that found after you have exercised, showered, had your evening meal and relaxed for an hour or so. A feeling of well being and freshness, not exhaustion or over tiredness, is best. If you are projecting in the day-time, I recommend some form of vigorous exercise, a hot shower and some relaxation first. The body will be physically tired - thus easier to relax - but the mind will be awake and alert. If light is a problem, use blackout goggles like the ones they give you on air craft. They are comfortable and will not interfere.
Note: If saliva builds up in your mouth at any time, before, during or while you are AP' you can swallow, move your tongue etc - it won't affect it at all. If you have to move your body slightly, to ease it, do it in a sleepy, stretchy way, without breaking relaxation. If you have to cough, cough gently. If you are coughing and sneezing, as with a cold - forget it - and get some sleep. One other sensation you may feel is the (cobwebs) a tickling sensation on the face, this is normal. In the early stage you may scratch them if you wish. In the latter stage, after the heaviness starts, ignore them, they will soon stop. It is caused by chakra energy and the subtle bodies loosening.
When your chosen time comes, form a STRONG intention to AP', sit in your chair, stretch and get comfortable. Do the relaxation exercises and energy raising until you feel the heavy condition as you enter a light trance. Switch to breath awareness and keep your consciousness shifted out in front. Stay aware of your physical body being behind you and keep checking for tension.
A humming will start inside and around you. It will increase to a much deeper vibration, depending on the chakra activity. With heavy chakra involvement this can be a truly awesome feeling and is very frightening - if you don't know what is happening. Your heart will FEEL like it is speeding up to an impossible rate. This is NOT your heart but the heart chakra! Ignore it.
This feels like: Place your hand on your chest, with your finger tips resting in the centre of it over your heart. Tap your fingers on your chest, in time with your heart. Increase this rate slowly, until you are tapping as fast as your fingers can. This is how a chakra feels when it is fully activated, it varies from a gentle pulsing, like a muscular twitch under the skin, to a deep robust thrumming, like a muscle gone mad.
Ignore the thrumming and vibrations and stay frosty. Adopt a ho-hum attitude to all of this and you will be out in a jiffy. The vibes and thrumming may feel as though they are increasing to an unbearable pitch - but you must ignore them. With subsequent projections, it will be less noticeable, as the dormant chakras stabilize.
The thrumming and vibes reach a crescendo as the AP' reflex cuts in. You buzzzz forward out of your body, feeling a slight falling sensation in the pit of your stomach. The deep vibes are replaced by a quiet purring inside your chest. You are now floating, or hovering, a few feet in front of, or above, your physical body. Stop all exercises - concentrate - and stay frosty.
This is great! you'll think, YES.... I did it! You are now consciously projecting your astral body, and hey, it DOES feel great!
The first time out, limit it to a few minutes - please trust me on this - it is important. Move around the room - slowly. You haven't really got legs, and DON'T look for them. The law of gravity doesn't apply any more, so be careful. Just move around the room a bit, don't think about how - just do it!
You may feel a purring deep in your chest as you move, from your heart chakra. This is like a little motor, it speeds up as you move and slows to a gentle (putt putting) when you stop. This is your power pack, your energy, the strength of it will depend on the amount of chakra involvement and how close you are to your body.
Keep control of your mind - stay frosty - and don't get over excited during the AP'. Don't imagine at all, or expect anything that was not there when you left your body. This is essential to keep from falling into the ALICE effect. Now move back to your body with the intention of re-entering. You are new to the astral form and if you go charging off there is a 99% chance you will lose control, fall into the `Alice' effect, and remember nothing. Learn to crawl before you fly? You can go further afield in later AP's but it is important you limit the first one to this.
Re-entry is simple. Move into your body, any old how, and it will straighten itself out. The re-entry reflex will take over - and snap - you're back. GET UP straight away, keeping in mind what you have done and WRITE IT DOWN.
The astral mind is like the RAM in a computer, the physical mind is like a hard disk and the paper is like a floppy. Switch off the power in a computer without saving to hard disk and all data in high mem is gone - poof - just like that! When you write it down it makes a wrinkle in your hard disk mind. You just need a few key words - not a full essay - you can fill in the details later. Start a journal of your AP'S.
I sit in my chair, comfortable and warm. I am going to AP, come hell or high water. I WILL do it! I do the relaxation thoroughly, as I know it is the REAL secret to AP'. I raise energy with my mental hands to activate my chakras. They start to thrum nicely. I concentrate more on my heart chakra, pulling more and more power to it through the others, until it throbs with a deep primal rhythm. The heavy feeling comes over me as I enter trance. I feel like a corpse, a dead weight. My face tickles all over with cobweb sensation, but I ignore it. I shift my point of focus to the ME in front. I AM in front, but I am also aware of my body behind me. The vibes start from deep within my body, I concentrate on breathing but keep my focus out in front. The vibes increase to a huge droning, power house generator intensity, but I ignore it. My spine thrills as adrenalin courses through me, but I ignore it. I focus on breathing and where I am going. My heart chakra feels like it's going to blow a gasket, but ha, I know it's not my heart, so I ignore it. The droning change into a deep buzzing and I am suddenly lifting free, I feel a slight falling, buzzing sensation. I buzz out and am standing before myself in a couple of seconds. Damn but this feels good! I move around the room, searching - hunting. The little motor in my heart purrs louder as I move, keeping pace with my movement.
The splitting of your consciousness, into two separate, but identical minds, happens every time you go to sleep or have any kind of out of body projection. This splitting happens for a very good reason:
If you read the case histories in books on astral projection, lucid dreaming, OOBE's and near death experience; you will find many accounts illustrating the splitting effect. It is common, during an out of body experience, to be aware of your physical body while also being aware you are existing in a separate, finer body. This is due to a telepathic link between your two bodies. In the case of astral projection this link serves the purpose of monitoring the physical body, so no harm comes to it.
When you project, your astral double leaves the physical body and the mind splits. One part is centred in the astral body and the other in the etheric body, which must stay with the physical. When the astral form is generated, it has a mirror image of your mind. It is YOU, in every respect, like a tape recording of a tape recording; both identical, both YOU!
Often, during sleep, the mirrored minds mix in a kind of telepathic dream sharing. The physical, etheric minds are also capable of having dreams. This dream mixing results in a kind of dream memory schizophrenia, caused by having more than one point of consciousness. For those of you unfamiliar with schizophrenia, sufferers of it can have more than one set of thoughts in their mind at the same time.
On top of this, making it even more confusing, you are also aware of each others thoughts, as well as your own, simultaneously. This is telepathic feed back, like holding two mirrors facing each other to give you a glimpse of infinity, a reflection of a reflection of a reflection etc.
This uncomfortable and confusing state can be avoided by not looking too closely at each other and not thinking of each other when you are projecting.
This, in a way, goes a long way to explaining why dreams are sometimes so confused and chaotic. The mind splits for a VERY good reason and the two parts are meant to function separately.
I have experienced this phenomena many times during projection. I studied it because I was curious of the way I could feel my physical body when in close proximity to it. I also kept getting confusing memories of doing two things at once while projecting. ie. Being aware of events and noises, in the house and in the street, as well as remembering the projection. This duality has been reported by other projectors, but never properly explained or understood.
Here is an account of the first time I experienced duality and telepathic feedback:
I had been meditating in my chair by the fire and returned to normal awareness as the rain started drumming on the roof. The wind was getting up and it was shaking the windows. I looked at the clock, it was three in the morning. This was not unusual, sometimes I meditate all night. I felt well rested and full of energy. I thought to myself, `I've never projected in the rain before, I wonder what its like?'
Closing my eyes once again, I soon projected out of my body.
Moving through the wall, I went out into the rain. What a gloriously wet feeling it was. I could feel the rain passing through me. The smell of rain and wetness was everywhere, it seemed to fill me with energy. I floated up to the roof, sat on the chimney and looked out over the town. I watched the rain dancing on the roofs and streets, swirling down gutters and gurgling into drains. It seemed to have a friendly voice and rhythm all its own, it said "drink me, splash me, gurgle me, slosh me." It was funny at the time.
Sitting on the roof, I noticed I could feel my body below me in the chair. This had often intrigued me, how I could feel my physical body when I was near it but not when I was further away. Sliding back through the roof, I decided to study my it more closely.
Suddenly, I could see myself floating through the wall as well as seeing myself sitting in the chair. It was ME, sitting in the chair looking at myself floating through the wall, but also ME floating in front of the chair ten feet away watching myself sitting in the chair. This was not only confusing, it made me feel quite ill.
I had two sets of vision, two sets of thoughts, all the same and all joined together, it was fascinating. It also made sense. Just because my astral was separated from my physical, why should the physical have to stop thinking.
The astral ME moved around the room, observing my body in the chair while it was watching me. I could still see the astral ME, even when I was behind the physical me. I could feel myself in the chair, trying to follow my astral body around the room. It took a real effort, as if I had no energy to move. I felt as if I were huge and was moving against enormous pressure. I was moving my viewpoint but I wasn't physically moving at all.
My awareness was existing in both my etheric and astral bodies at the same time. This was how my physical ME was able to see the astral ME so easily, and from any angle. My etheric was, literally, turning around in my skin. This ability to see through closed eyelids and from different perspectives is often described by projectors and meditators.
This duality seems remarkably similar to how schizophrenics describe what they feel during an attack: The nausea, lack of energy, multiple sets of thoughts and feelings of disorientation. This terrible disorder may be caused by a dislocation of the astral body? The only way to find out if this is the case, would be to study a schizophrenic during an attack, from the astral viewpoint.
After studying the etheric/physical bodies from my astral form I have come to the following conclusions:
During normal sleep, the etheric, better described as the energy body or vitality sheath, expands and acts like an energy sponge or solar accumulator. It swells and opens, allowing the astral body to float free, while it absorbs some kind of energy (cosmic energy?) from the universe.
When it expands, all the chakras, both major and minor, slowly open up like the flowers in a garden, catching and absorbing energy. When we awake, the etheric body contracts and re-absorbs the astral body; forming a dense etheric sheath, or skin, which holds within it our stored energy and subtle bodies.
According to some sources we have 300 chakras, if you count all the minor ones.
The swelling of the etheric body, while awareness is centred in it, also appears to be responsible for the sensation of swollen hugeness in the body coupled with a feeling of smallness in self. This strange mix of sensations is often reported by people during astral projection or meditation. It appears to be caused by the etheric body swelling and interacting with the universe.
Projection Problems
Here are some answers to the most common problems people are having
with projection. Thank you all for the hundreds of email letters you
have sent me. Your feedback is helping me to improve this treatise,
which ultimately helps everybody. If you write to me and don't get a
reply within a week, write again, I sometimes, inadvertently, loose a
few letters.
I have done away with the original technique of shifting the consciousness out of the body. Most people find this kind of visualization far too difficult, and waste precious energy trying to do it. Visualization is the biggest problem with all projection techniques. To overcome this, I have developed a simpler method that is much more efficient.
The most common problems are:
For example, if you are lying down, you are (horizontal) and you will be trying to imagine you are standing at the foot of the bed, which is (vertical). This is one reason projection is easier to do from a chair. In a chair you are (vertical) and are visualizing yourself standing in front (vertical). Sitting and standing are both (vertical) positions. Close your eyes now, and try to imagine yourself lying on the floor, and you will see what I mean.
This is not the only difficulty. Any visualization that requires you to imagine yourself at a different place from where you actually are is unnatural and hence extremely difficult. This, I believe, is the cause of most failures. A great deal of energy is wasted on this, energy which can be better used on the projection itself.
Visualization is a big hurdle for people when they are learning to project. Many have trouble with it because they think they have to actually SEE what they are visualizing, you DON'T. People who can visualize things clearly DON'T actually see anything. If they do, it is no longer a visualization but a clairvoyant vision.
Visualization is simply the ability to construct a representation of what something would look, or feel like, in your minds eye. It is better termed fantasizing, an imaginary perception of reality. Many people who say they can't visualize at all, are still able to create elaborate fantasies.
To overcome this problem I have developed a simple extension of the mental hands technique that will do the same thing. If you managed the mental hands in the relaxation exercise OK, you will have no problems with this.
Before you attempt your next projection, get used to reaching out and holding the ribbon. Remember where it is and what it feels like. You are going to use this ribbon to pull yourself out of your body.
Start your projection the same as outlined in part <3>. When you enter the trance state, instead of imagining you are out in front of yourself, use your mental hands to pull yourself hand over hand out of your body. Reach up with your mental hands and imagine you are climbing the cord. Feel yourself coming loose from your physical body every time you hand over hand up the cord. Make sure you don't tense any muscles while you are doing this. Put everything you have in the way of will-power into doing this.
While you are using the mental hands to pull yourself out you can also dispense with the breath awareness. Climbing the ribbon with your mental hands will fully occupy your mind, making any other mental exercise redundant. This will let you put every ounce of mental energy you have into the one activity, projection, instead of wasting it on a complicated visualization exercise.
While you are climbing the ribbon imagine you are coming loose from the physical body. Imagine you can feel yourself rising a little with each new hand hold. Feel yourself floating free. You will feel a slight giddy feeling in the pit of your stomach, or solar plexus, as pressure is put on the astral body.
What has happened is, you have activated the projection reflex, the etheric body has expanded but only partially freed the astral body. This is like waking sleep projection.
To overcome this when it happens, increase the effort in climbing the ribbon with your mental hands, apply all the will power you have to this. This should put enough pressure on the astral body to complete the projection. If this fails, there is a strong possibility you have already projected and are centred in your physical or etheric body.
If you think this is the case, and you can't break out of it, use it. Observe all you can, experiment, feel, see what you can see through your eyelids, try looking behind yourself. Another thing you can try is to convert it into a lucid dream. Try focusing on a fantasy, or a place you would like to go. Build it in your mind so you can tune into it.
Not enough is known about the above condition of waking paralysis. If you discover a way to do something about it, or with it, please email me. I will include these findings in a future rewrite to help others with it.
Many people feel there is something evil waiting for them, or a nasty spirit trying to stop them projecting. This must be faced with courage! Look upon it as a test, an exam, that must be passed before you can project freely. Once you do project, and face it, you will find it is only a hollow threat that will crumple into nothing.
I have projected, literally, hundreds of times in my life and have NEVER been attacked by anything during projection. I did however have strong feelings of fear to conquer when I first taught myself to project consciously.
There is also this to consider: you are invulnerable in your astral form. Nothing can get into your body while you are out as part of you never really leaves. Your body has excellent built in defences to protect itself during a projection. Your expanded etheric reacts instantly at the slightest intrusion or unfriendly touch. It will pull you back and snap shut in a millisecond, no matter how far away you are.
Ways to help overcome fear are:
Project during the day.
Leave plenty of lights on in the house.
Project with a friend. (joint projection)
Pray to whatever deity you believe in for protection.
Here's what you can do about not remembering. As soon as you awake, sit up and pull those memories back. Sit up and think hard. Put aside a few minutes quiet time each morning and do this. It will train you to remember your projections and dreams.
During this quiet time, run key phrases through your mind until you hit on something. Say things like: I was walking... I was talking to... I was just going to... I was over at... I was flying over... I was having a... I was inside a... These are examples of phrases that can lead to a fragment of memory you can lock on to. Make up some more phrases for yourself.
It may not feel like there is anything in your mind to remember, but try hard and put some real effort into it. They are there, you just have to reach in and locate them. Once you lock onto a fragment of memory, more can be located and more still. You will be surprised how much you can remember this way.
It is important to write these down as you remember them. They may seem vivid and unforgettable but they will vanish in a few minutes if you don't record them. Just a few key words will do.
One other aid to remembering is to give yourself post hypnotic suggestions before you project, or go to bed. This can take the form of an affirmation. Say something like "I will remember everything I do tonight." Say it over and over until you get sick of saying it.
Lastly, it helps if you have a mission goal for each projection, something you especially want to do. Combine this with the affirmation and program yourself to do it. For example, say: I will go to the beach and remember..... I will go to the beach and remember......
Lastly, remember to keep the first few projections ultra short. This is an absolute must! It is more important to have a 30 Sec projection you can remember that an all nighter you forget.