Astral Travel

It won't be long before we can travel closer to the stars, thanks to Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic spaceships. However, astral travel or astral projection is a different matter entirely. You don't have to pony up the £100,000 or so astronomical price for a space flight with Virgin Galactic if you merely want to do a bit of astral travelling. Some people believe we are all capable of astral travel - leaving our bodies during sleep or meditation. Now there's a great idea - sign me up! I've tried to do it but so far haven't managed to wake up on a beach in Hawaii as was planned. Oh well. Wouldn't it be nice if we never again had to deal with airport parking, lost luggage, or security chaos and hassle! No packing to worry about - you could leave your luggage (emotional or otherwise) at home. Just have a nice mug of cocoa, go to bed, and wake up in your dream destination!

If you haven't been able to master the art of astral travel, out of body experiences, lucid dreaming, or time travel - then virtual travel may be the next best thing. Just log onto your computer and, like Captain Kirk on the USS Enterprise, fill in your own captain's log as you go. You can visit the exotic and interesting places you've always wanted to see - and for a fraction of the price. You could be at the Taj Mahal one minute and the Coliseum in Rome the next - and all without leaving your armchair and comfort of your own home.

Ticketless travel is becoming the new way to do things, as computers take over from the old labour-intensive paper ticketing - but you're still stuck with all the downsides of travel. With virtual travel, you don't have to worry about minor annoyances like getting your seat assignment or boarding pass, getting stuck in the screaming-baby section, or queuing for the only toilet that isn't bunged up.

Scientists may one day succeed with the perfect recipe that will enable us to teletransport - scramble our bodies and reassemble them in another location - just like the crew of the Enterprise. It could be useful for many reasons - just think about the possibilities…! Harry Potter had an Invisibility Cloak, which would be great for those times when you commit a social faux pas and wish the earth would open and swallow you up - or maybe when the taxman or auditor comes a callin'. Scientists are working on invisibility cloak technology - which could come in handy for politicians who feel compelled to make public apologies for their indiscretions - or the annoying ones who constantly dodge the tricky questions.

Some surgical patients have claimed to remember leaving their bodies whilst under anaesthesia during operations. Unfortunately, none of them have got any further than the ceiling or corner of the room - where they witness the gory goings-on involving their body. If only we could whistle for a celestial taxi from that corner in the ceiling and go off to an exotic beach. We could leave our swollen and bruised bodies to the painful recovery process in the care of professionals and return when all is well and functioning again. Sort of like taking the car in for a service and using a courtesy car to go off for lunch and a spot of shopping with a friend. Well, who knows what might be possible in the future. We didn't know electricity existed before someone discovered it - and it had been there all the time!

Not so long ago no one would have believed it possible for ordinary people (albeit those with plenty of cash) to climb aboard a rocket ship and blast themselves into zero gravity. Technology has raced ahead in the last few decades at breathtaking speed. Those lucky enough to be able to afford a trip with Virgin Galactic will have a taste of an 'out of body experience' of a kind - at least a few minutes of weightlessness - when they can forget that they are still trapped in their bodies.

We have a virtual world readily available at our fingertips these days with computer technology. Just a few taps on the keyboard and we can travel with Google Earth or observe the heavens with Google Sky. We can be virtual tourists on a virtual earth, have a virtual relationship, or stay at home in a virtual garden with our virtual pet!

Coming back to reality, if you have to make do with your annual earthly holiday in Spain and get there and back on the budget airlines then, hey, we shouldn't take for granted how easy air travel has become. Until we learn how to master astral travel - or Dr. Who-style time travel becomes a reality - we are stuck with the reality and annoyances of modern-day air travel. Maybe in our future we will need travel insurance to cover time warps. In the meantime, if getting to our dream destinations means crowded airports, delays and long queues - at least we have travel insurance to cover most mortal mishaps!

With Astral Projection you get into the Astral Plane direct from your physical body. When you have a Lucid Dream, you have simply 'missed' the initial projection. They are just two different ways of entering the Astral Realm. In either case you are still conscious in the Astral, however, as there are degrees of lucidity in dreaming, you may or may not be fully in control of your experience. But this is highly unlikely in an Astral Projection. There is still a difference, whether more slight or obvious.

The difference arises mostly because of the framework you are entering from. If you project from the waking state, you may encounter some difficulties due to restrictive ideas carried with you that don't apply to the Astral, and require some practice to adjust to the new environment. On the other hand, in a Lucid Dream, having accustomed to the expansiveness of the dream state, you can sometimes have the opposite problem, finding it hard to retain a conscious focus, and thus 'losing lucidity'. With practice of course, both of these will be overcome.

However, knowing this distinction can be helpful when choosing our experience. In one sense, when we are Lucid Dreaming we are within the 'creative state', and it is easier to consciously create what we desire. And in Astral Projection it is probably more productive to explore the other realities that already exist, relatively unhampered by specific desires for self-fulfillment.

There is some contention between defining the difference between Lucid Dreaming and Projection. It is not a matter of clarity or vividness as some people suggest, though typically Lucid Dreams will seem more substantial and realistic at least to begin with. But either experience can be poorly or highly developed. Having already distinguished Etheric Projection and Astral Projection, there remains a factor that does provide a feasible distinction.

This determining factor is memory. While there are no hard and fast rules, typically, in an Astral Projection you remember who you are, and there is a continuity of memory from waking through to projection. But in a Lucid Dream, this is not always the case. You can be consciously aware without fully remembering your identity, and there is often no continuity from the waking state, nor memory of what preceded the experience of becoming lucid.

There is also the term 'OOBE'. These Out of Body Experiences are just that. You, your consciousness, is out of your physical body. Again, these can be spontaneous episodes (not consciously called for) or intentional ones. As mentioned earlier, the term is often used instead of Etheric Projection. Or it can be used for an 'unconscious' separation or even for an Astral Projection, but again it is not the most helpful term. An 'OOBE' may or may not lead to experiences in the Astral Plane beyond the Etheric. This is the distinction I like to make anyway, as it really does avoid confusion.

A Near Death Experience (NDE) is a type of OOBE that is brought about when a person survives a close brush with death. It generally occurs during accidents or acute illness. Technically speaking it is an Etheric Projection, as when a person's body is near death, a large amount of etheric matter is channelled into the astral body in preparation for the death process. People often report seeing their life flash before them during an NDE. Many people also experience travelling inside a dark tunnel towards a light and/or floating over their physical body, aware of what is happening in real-time.

This pattern is unaltered by a person's culture or belief system, religion, race, education, or any other known variable. The massive amount of research on NDEs constitutes the most scientific proof that consciousness survives bodily death. A Gallup survey estimates that more than 8 million Americans have had NDEs. It is no wonder that after having an NDE, most people develop a strong belief in life after death.

Fortunately, we don't need to experience an N-D-E to have O-O-B-E. That would really S-U-C-K. (Of course that doesn't stand for anything, it's just these capital letters can really get out of hand. J) Projectors learn to consciously have an experience without needing to undergo life-or-death situations (unlike in the movie Flatliners, which is an interesting example of this. Check it out sometime.) Far more convenient really!

Very basically put, the Astral Plane is the dream dimension, but at the same time it is not just that. It would be more accurate to say the dream dimension is part of the Astral. From another perspective, the Astral is like a huge mind net, catching and holding all thoughts, memories, fantasies, and dreams of every living thing in the world (and all other worlds for that matter.) In short, its contents are created by the collective consciousness of the universe, and you could say 'exploring the Astral' is almost another way of saying we are 'exploring the inner mind of the universe'.

"All of the dreams people have form a mass dream framework. Dreams exist at other levels, and physically of course affect the body state. In such ways, the world's actions are worked out in mass dream communications that are at the same time public and private."

- Seth, Dreams, ‘Evolution’ and Value Fulfillment p.252

That gives us some idea of what is meant by the 'Astral Plane', but again this is just the beginning of an answer. In answering this question more fully, it is going to be very helpful to first quote Seth on his answer to the question "what is a plane?":

"A plane is not necessarily a planet. A plane may be one planet, but a plane may also exist where no planet is. One planet may have several planes. Planes may also involve various aspects of time. Planes can and do intermix without the knowledge of inhabitants. A plane may be a time... or only one iota of vitality that exists by itself. A plane may cease to be. A plane is formed for entities as patterns for fulfillment along various lines. It is a climate conducive to the development of unique and particular capabilities and achievements... An isolation of elements."

-Seth, Seth, Dreams and Projections in Consciousness p.103

Oh, that clears it up then... I think... Well, let's say, when we talk about the Astral Plane, we are really referring to the combination of all the planes that exist on an Astral vibratory level, and this encompasses an infinite variation of 'realities', 'realms', 'sub-planes' or 'rings'. It may be easier to think of these as 'real dreams'. We can take note however that on all Astral levels, consciousness is clothed in some form or other, whereas on 'higher' planes this is not necessarily the case.

So is there an exact location to the Astral Plane? No, not really, since all levels and vibrations of reality exist and penetrate all at once. We may as well ask if there is an exact location to the entire physical universe...? Doesn't make much sense, does it? In relation to what? Instead, the Physical, Etheric, Astral, Mental and higher planes all 'interpenetrate'. It is more accurate to say that we 'tune in' and 'tune out' of the Astral with our consciousness, it is a 'within-ness' to things, but it is always 'there'.

To follow this analogy, we can consider that it's a bit like radio or TV stations. All the frequencies that these are broadcast on exist at once in the atmosphere, but we only perceive one at a time depending on what we are 'tuned in' to. Only in the case of the Astral, it is our consciousness that is doing the tuning. So the whole range of frequencies we call 'Astral', not 'radio' or 'TV', and the different 'stations' we call 'sub-planes' or 'rings' or 'levels of reality'.

Or we can use a travel analogy. You take it on faith all the countries of the world exist, even though you've not been to them, and you can travel to any one of them. In a similar way all the Astral Realms exist at once. By going to another country, your focus - you - is there, for however long. Astral Travel is similar, the difference being of course that it is a non-physical 'place' you are focussing in.

But we may well ask, does the Astral (and other dimensions for that matter) exist as consciousness within us or as worlds outside of us? And to make it all nicely trickier, the answer is both. Consider, if you and a friend both memorized the same poem you found in the library, would the poem exist within you, within him or outside of you both? As with many spiritual questions, all answers are correct, but either in isolation is technically 'false' because incomplete. It is the same for the Astral Plane. It's frequencies exist both outside of you and within you. You might even say it's like an 'inner world that you are within'.

To turn the question around, inside and outside are relative to your perspective, just as up and down are too. You can equally say that you experience physicality when you are 'inside' your physical body as you can say the physical is the experience 'outside' of the Astral and other dimensions. And vice versa. Since it is a matter of perspective, all answers are 'true', relative to where you are. Well, so much for words! Hopefully have some kind of picture now of what is meant by the Astral.

It won't be long before we can travel closer to the stars, thanks to Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic spaceships. However, astral travel or astral projection is a different matter entirely. You don't have to pony up the £100,000 or so astronomical price for a space flight with Virgin Galactic if you merely want to do a bit of astral travelling. Some people believe we are all capable of astral travel - leaving our bodies during sleep or meditation. Now there's a great idea - sign me up! I've tried to do it but so far haven't managed to wake up on a beach in Hawaii as was planned. Oh well. Wouldn't it be nice if we never again had to deal with airport parking, lost luggage, or security chaos and hassle! No packing to worry about - you could leave your luggage (emotional or otherwise) at home. Just have a nice mug of cocoa, go to bed, and wake up in your dream destination!

If you haven't been able to master the art of astral travel, out of body experiences, lucid dreaming, or time travel - then virtual travel may be the next best thing. Just log onto your computer and, like Captain Kirk on the USS Enterprise, fill in your own captain's log as you go. You can visit the exotic and interesting places you've always wanted to see - and for a fraction of the price. You could be at the Taj Mahal one minute and the Coliseum in Rome the next - and all without leaving your armchair and comfort of your own home.

Ticketless travel is becoming the new way to do things, as computers take over from the old labour-intensive paper ticketing - but you're still stuck with all the downsides of travel. With virtual travel, you don't have to worry about minor annoyances like getting your seat assignment or boarding pass, getting stuck in the screaming-baby section, or queuing for the only toilet that isn't bunged up.

Scientists may one day succeed with the perfect recipe that will enable us to teletransport - scramble our bodies and reassemble them in another location - just like the crew of the Enterprise. It could be useful for many reasons - just think about the possibilities…! Harry Potter had an Invisibility Cloak, which would be great for those times when you commit a social faux pas and wish the earth would open and swallow you up - or maybe when the taxman or auditor comes a callin'. Scientists are working on invisibility cloak technology - which could come in handy for politicians who feel compelled to make public apologies for their indiscretions - or the annoying ones who constantly dodge the tricky questions.

Some surgical patients have claimed to remember leaving their bodies whilst under anaesthesia during operations. Unfortunately, none of them have got any further than the ceiling or corner of the room - where they witness the gory goings-on involving their body. If only we could whistle for a celestial taxi from that corner in the ceiling and go off to an exotic beach. We could leave our swollen and bruised bodies to the painful recovery process in the care of professionals and return when all is well and functioning again. Sort of like taking the car in for a service and using a courtesy car to go off for lunch and a spot of shopping with a friend. Well, who knows what might be possible in the future. We didn't know electricity existed before someone discovered it - and it had been there all the time!

Not so long ago no one would have believed it possible for ordinary people (albeit those with plenty of cash) to climb aboard a rocket ship and blast themselves into zero gravity. Technology has raced ahead in the last few decades at breathtaking speed. Those lucky enough to be able to afford a trip with Virgin Galactic will have a taste of an 'out of body experience' of a kind - at least a few minutes of weightlessness - when they can forget that they are still trapped in their bodies.

We have a virtual world readily available at our fingertips these days with computer technology. Just a few taps on the keyboard and we can travel with Google Earth or observe the heavens with Google Sky. We can be virtual tourists on a virtual earth, have a virtual relationship, or stay at home in a virtual garden with our virtual pet!

Coming back to reality, if you have to make do with your annual earthly holiday in Spain and get there and back on the budget airlines then, hey, we shouldn't take for granted how easy air travel has become. Until we learn how to master astral travel - or Dr. Who-style time travel becomes a reality - we are stuck with the reality and annoyances of modern-day air travel. Maybe in our future we will need travel insurance to cover time warps. In the meantime, if getting to our dream destinations means crowded airports, delays and long queues - at least we have travel insurance to cover most mortal mishaps!

With Astral Projection you get into the Astral Plane direct from your physical body. When you have a Lucid Dream, you have simply 'missed' the initial projection. They are just two different ways of entering the Astral Realm. In either case you are still conscious in the Astral, however, as there are degrees of lucidity in dreaming, you may or may not be fully in control of your experience. But this is highly unlikely in an Astral Projection. There is still a difference, whether more slight or obvious.

The difference arises mostly because of the framework you are entering from. If you project from the waking state, you may encounter some difficulties due to restrictive ideas carried with you that don't apply to the Astral, and require some practice to adjust to the new environment. On the other hand, in a Lucid Dream, having accustomed to the expansiveness of the dream state, you can sometimes have the opposite problem, finding it hard to retain a conscious focus, and thus 'losing lucidity'. With practice of course, both of these will be overcome.

However, knowing this distinction can be helpful when choosing our experience. In one sense, when we are Lucid Dreaming we are within the 'creative state', and it is easier to consciously create what we desire. And in Astral Projection it is probably more productive to explore the other realities that already exist, relatively unhampered by specific desires for self-fulfillment.

There is some contention between defining the difference between Lucid Dreaming and Projection. It is not a matter of clarity or vividness as some people suggest, though typically Lucid Dreams will seem more substantial and realistic at least to begin with. But either experience can be poorly or highly developed. Having already distinguished Etheric Projection and Astral Projection, there remains a factor that does provide a feasible distinction.

This determining factor is memory. While there are no hard and fast rules, typically, in an Astral Projection you remember who you are, and there is a continuity of memory from waking through to projection. But in a Lucid Dream, this is not always the case. You can be consciously aware without fully remembering your identity, and there is often no continuity from the waking state, nor memory of what preceded the experience of becoming lucid.

There is also the term 'OOBE'. These Out of Body Experiences are just that. You, your consciousness, is out of your physical body. Again, these can be spontaneous episodes (not consciously called for) or intentional ones. As mentioned earlier, the term is often used instead of Etheric Projection. Or it can be used for an 'unconscious' separation or even for an Astral Projection, but again it is not the most helpful term. An 'OOBE' may or may not lead to experiences in the Astral Plane beyond the Etheric. This is the distinction I like to make anyway, as it really does avoid confusion.

A Near Death Experience (NDE) is a type of OOBE that is brought about when a person survives a close brush with death. It generally occurs during accidents or acute illness. Technically speaking it is an Etheric Projection, as when a person's body is near death, a large amount of etheric matter is channelled into the astral body in preparation for the death process. People often report seeing their life flash before them during an NDE. Many people also experience travelling inside a dark tunnel towards a light and/or floating over their physical body, aware of what is happening in real-time.

This pattern is unaltered by a person's culture or belief system, religion, race, education, or any other known variable. The massive amount of research on NDEs constitutes the most scientific proof that consciousness survives bodily death. A Gallup survey estimates that more than 8 million Americans have had NDEs. It is no wonder that after having an NDE, most people develop a strong belief in life after death.

Fortunately, we don't need to experience an N-D-E to have O-O-B-E. That would really S-U-C-K. (Of course that doesn't stand for anything, it's just these capital letters can really get out of hand. J) Projectors learn to consciously have an experience without needing to undergo life-or-death situations (unlike in the movie Flatliners, which is an interesting example of this. Check it out sometime.) Far more convenient really!

Astral Projection is as natural as being human, and probably as old as our existence on this planet. References to OOBE are evidenced throughout human history. Across cultures, socio-economic strata, languages, genders, religions, nationalities and civilizations.

From the most ancient tribal societies to the modern civilized societies of the 21st century, human beings have recorded the departure and subsequent return of a subtle body from the physical body. All such recordings have a remarkably high degree of consistency in describing the many different aspects of the phenomenon, thus giving us an idea of the universal character of this capacity of leaving the body.

Dean Sheils compared the beliefs of over 60 different cultures by referring to special files kept for anthropological research. Of 54 cultures 25 (or 46%) claimed that most or all people could travel outside the physical body under certain conditions. A further 23 (or 43%) claimed that a few of their number were able to do so, and only three cultures expressed no belief in anything of this nature.

From this evidence, we can conclude that some form of a belief in out-of-body experiences is very common in various cultures.

Some Eastern religions include specific doctrines on the abilities of other bodies and the nature of other worlds.

Early evidence of the OOBE appeared in ancient Egypt between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. The Egyptian priests were aware of the existence of the astral body and they called it the Ka. The Ka could wander about at will. It was independent of the man and could go and dwell in any statue of him. The early Egyptians left inscriptions and drawings on walls of temples and buildings.These inscriptions clearly depict the human soul abandoning the physical body.

The Tibetans believed in the Bardo body, which could leave the physical body while still alive and it could be directed by will. It was believed to be an exact duplicate of the human body, from which it is separated in the process of death.

According to them, the Bardo body is made of psychic material, invisible and etheric. Due to its nature, this body is able to pass through matter, which is only solid and impenetrable to the senses.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is used as a funeral ritual, and is read out as a guide to the recently deceased. It contains an elaborate description of the moment of death and the stages of mind experienced by the deceased.

Ancient Greeks believed in a Double body, which housed the soul. References to OOBE later appeared in Greece through the writings of a number of philosophers including Plato, Herodotus and Hermotimus of Clazomene.

Plato believed that what we see in this life is only a part of what the spirit could see if it were free from the physical. Chained in a gross physical body, the spirit is fettered; separated from that body; it can converse freely with the spirits of the departed, and see things more clearly.

Aristotle, Homer and Plotinus taught that the spirit could leave the body and that it is capable of communicating with other spirits. They believed that all souls could be separated from their physical bodies. This 'doctrine of the subtle body' runs through Western tradition.

In Christianity there are references to a spiritual body. Some religious works can be seen as preparing the soul for its transition at death. Cases of conscious projections are also well documented even in the Bible, for example in Ezekiel III: 14; the Apocalypse of John 1:10-11 and 4:2; and in the Epistles of Paul of Tarsus, e.g., II Corinthians 12:2.

During the Middle Ages, OOBE was studied and practiced secretly. Information gathered was not made available to the general population. This need for secrecy contributed to the fabrication of various myths and untruths about the dangers of Astral travel that persist even today.

The phenomenon of the out-of-body experience therefore is ancient and universal. We can see that different persons throughout history had experienced this, independent of culture, education, financial situation, religion, credo, sex, or age.

From this historical perspective, and from studies and personal experience of thousands of people, the most solid conclusion that can be drawn is that human beings are more than just their physical bodies. When one experiences a conscious OOBE, one has irrefutable evidence that the physical body is merely a temporary "house" through which one's consciousness or awareness manifests in the physical dimension.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Astral Projection floating around online and offline. Let us go through some of the common ones, and throw some light on them.

Myth 1 : Astral Projection is very rare. Truth : Astral Projection is a very common phenomenon indeed. 5% to 10% of the world's population has experienced a conscious Out of body experience at least once. This means around 6 million in the U.K or as much as 30 million in the United States.

Myth 2 : Astral Projection is always spontaneous. You cannot learn it. Truth : Yes, you can learn to Astral Project at will. There are countless techniques that teach you how to have an OOBE. Since every individual is different, no particular technique is best for everybody. You have to find out which method is best for you. Just like anything in life, you have to practice and get good at it.

Myth 3 : Not everyone can learn to Astral Project. It is only for a selected few. Truth :Yes, anyone can Astral Project. But it requires some practice, consistency and open-mindedness. Just like you learn to walk, ride a bicycle or swim, Astral Projection is a skill you need to learn.

Myth 4 : Only adults can Astral Project because they are more matured. Truth : Not at all. Age is never a factor for Astral Projection. It's a fact that children Astral Project more than adults. The reason is that children are innocent and they believe everything is possible. So they achieve Astral Projection more easily.

But we adults do not believe everything easily. The sooner we can be open-minded and start believing, the easier it would be to Project. But age, in itself, is never a roadblock for Projection. The only hindrance is your level of belief.

Myth 5 : Astral Projection is not safe. Truth : Astral Projection is a natural experience reported in every culture and society of the world. It is safe for most people. But anyone who has acute psychological problems should avoid it.

Myth 6 : It takes several years to achieve a conscious Astral Projection. Truth : Since every individual is different, no one can guarantee how long it can take. Some achieve it in the first try and others do not achieve it even in two years! But if tried consistently, about 30 days is a fair enough time to experience at least one projection.

Myth 7 : It is possible that you may not be able to get back into the physical body. Truth : You see, every night when we sleep, our Astral body is out of our physical body. We are just not conscious about it. During Astral Projection, we are aware of the fact that we're in another dimension. Since after every night's sleep we can easily get back into the body, we can do the same after Astral Projection too

The surprising fact is that it is difficult to stay out of the body. Getting back into your body is instant and automatic. Your Astral Body is connected to your physical body by a Silver Cord, which ensures that you can always get back in

Myth 8 : You can get possessed during Astral Projection. Truth : This is a very common question in most people's minds. No. There is no danger of you being possessed by other entities. Your Astral Body is attached to your physical body by a Silver Cord. No one else can sever it and enter your body.

Myth 9 : Astral Projection changes a person's religious beliefs. Truth : Published in 1992, there was an in-depth study of 350 participants done by Dr.Melvin Morse. According to that study, Out-of-body experiences did not seem to alter one's religious beliefs. In fact, most people reported that their religious beliefs have been confirmed and strengthened by their out-of-body experiences.

Myth 10 : You cannot go very far when out of the body? Truth : There is no limit defined as to how far you can go away from the physical body. But it is important to note that there are certain areas that you do not readily have access to unless you have spiritually graduated to those areas. There are several planes apart from the Astral Plane. You cannot visit a higher vibratory plane in a lower vibratory body.

Myth 11 : There is no cord that connects the Astral and the Physical bodies. Truth : There is definitely a Silver Cord that connects the two bodies. You may or may not be able to see it, but it is always there. Even the Bible talks about it.

Through the Silver Cord, transference of energy takes place and it gives life to the physical. As long as the person is alive, this cord is intact. It can be likened to the umbilical cord attaching a child to the mother.

Myth 12 : Other Astral entities sever the Silver Cord. Truth : No. The Silver Cord cannot be severed by anyone. This only happens when the hour of death has arrived to a person and that comes by law.

Myth 13. The Astral Plane is full of dangerous negative entities Truth : Yes, there are negative entities in the Astral Plane but they are not dangerous. They can do no harm to you in any way.

Remember, in the Astral, your thoughts have power. If you don't like something, you can always change them into something you want. By not being afraid, you can make these entities vanish or turn them into something more pleasant.

If any of these entities do scare you, at the most you will slump back in your physical.

Many of these negative entities are self-created. They are nothing but manifestations of our own fears that appear as thought-forms. In order to avoid bumping into any of these entities, you should attempt Projection in a good mood. The rule in the Astral Plane is: Like attracts like. If you are in a negative or bad mood, you will attract negative thought-forms. But if you Project with positive and loving thoughts, you will most likely attract positive and loving entities.

Myth 14 : When a person wakes up after Projection, he feels really tired. Truth : During Astral Projection, the physical body sleeps normally, so when you wake up, you feel very refreshed.

Myth 15 : We cannot touch objects in the Astral. Truth : Yes, you can touch and feel Astral objects on the Astral, just as you can touch physical ones in the Physical Plane. But in the Astral, under normal circumstances, you cannot touch Physical objects. If you attempt, your hand will pass right through it. That's why you have heard that your Astral body can pass through walls!

Myth 16 : It is necessary to be good at visualization. Truth : Visualization is not a necessary ingredient for Projection. But if the Projector can increase his ability to visualize it will help him progress faster.

Myth 17 : Drugs be used to help induce Projection Truth : Some kinds of Drugs do induce projection. But I do not recommend any kinds of drugs because they harm your Astral vehicle.

The key to a productive out-of-body experience is complete control and control is the first thing lost when you use any kind of mind-altering substance. Drugs curtail your spiritual growth. They take you to the lower Astral Plane full of confusion and disorientation. It is dull, gloomy, and full of negative energy. The lower Astral is very unlike the vibrant, progressive, positive Astral we are seeking to achieve.

Why contaminate the biological vehicle when effective results can be achieved naturally? Don't put your body at risk. If there is real desire to experience Astral Projection then that desire, along with consistent practice will get you there.

Myth 18 : It is impossible to meet with other human beings during Projection Truth : That's not true. It is possible to meet other human beings. But if you want to talk them meaningfully, they should be conscious. If we find them and they are dreaming they will look drunk! They may not recognize us but later when they awake, they may remember seeing us in a dream.

Myth 19 : When we are Astral Projecting, by taking the name of a friend, say "John", by mistake we can visit some other person by the same name "John". Truth : In the Astral, your thoughts are the key to where you want to go. Your higher self knows whom you want to visit and take you to the correct person. Here, the name of the person doesn't matter at all. Since you are thinking of that person, you will reach there.

Myth 20 : Astral projection doesn't prove life after death. Truth : People, who have experienced proper conscious OOBE even once, start to strongly believe in life after death. Finding themselves outside their physical bodies and still functioning, still able to see, hear, touch, even smell and taste, still able to do everything and more, how can anyone deny that life goes on?

The Astral Plane is very real, seeming much more solid and vibrant than the Physical world. It's a world without any need for money, work or any of the other trappings of a physical existence.

Those who have visited the Astral planes find themselves in an environment where all senses seem greatly magnified. These senses are not our normal physical senses, but inner astral senses.

Thoughts can actually be seen to take shape instantly and anything desired can be instantly manifested by means of the powers of the imagination in the very process of creation. This is also why the Astral worlds are known as the "desire worlds" and the Astral body known as the "desire body". This fact that Man creates with his thoughts and feelings in the Astral world shows the truth in the occult statement that Man is a "god in the making". It shows that we can be supremely creative.

Once you are out in the Astral plane, you will find that it vibrates at a much higher frequency than the Physical plane. There is no gravity on the Astral plane. Time and space are distorted as compared to the Physical. As a result, time can pass differently than in the physical.

Here, thought plays an integral part, and simply imagining something in the Astral can cause it to form. Since this is where all of our hopes, desires, and dreams can essentially become reality, the Astral plane is also known as the emotional plane.

In the Astral plane there is no need for food, clothing, shelter and sleep. We have true freedom. It is our will that sustains and heals us, and our will that creates the realm in our image. The Astral planes are made of focused mental energy. In the spirit world thoughts create reality, and we frequently create what we are familiar with.

Divisions Of The Astral Plane : The Astral Plane is divided into Lower, Middle, and Higher. Each division contains multiple divisions of varying vibratory rates.

The Lower Astral Planes : Are described as darker more primal realms. Some have described them as the place of Dante's inferno while others think of them as purgatory. They are where the souls of the lost reside. Residing here are many beings including people who are out-of-body, both consciously and sub-consciously, people who are dreaming, the deceased, and even beings that never existed on the Physical Plane at all. Communication with all of the above is possible while Projected.

The Middle Astral Planes : Are the realms of divine inspiration free of earthly desires and conflict. The beings in these dimensions cause many of the artistic and technical breakthroughs on Earth by sending silent messages to its inhabitants. This is the place where many of us journey for guidance and healing. These realms are frequently a reflection of the world we live in now. They contain the same vegetation, animals, and even our own created structures.

The Middle Astral is a plane full of rainbows of vivid colors and exquisite beauty. It would be an impossible task to try and rationalize this place. This plane is full of thoughts, dreams, and ideas, which are manifested as real objects. Everything including inanimate objects has auras of energy emanating from them in vivid and bright colors. Time here is very distorted and it is possible to see future or past events.

People who have successfully consciously projected to Middle Astral Planes have described unseen colors and sounds, breathtaking landscapes and scenery, and even some things beyond our comprehension. This place is purer in its formation. The needs and the strife associated with the Physical world have been left behind. It is a place of peace and utter bliss - one might go as far as to compare it to the Garden of Eden.

The Higher Astral Planes : Are the realms called Heaven by Christians, the Summerland by spi