What is astral projection? Is it real, is it imagined, is it simply fantastical fiction that many people use to explain lucid dreams, day dream states or even simply JUST an overactive imagination?
Cultures have forever wrestled with these questions…….with some being “true believers” in the amazing powers of the human spirit, while many of the more grounded (no pun intended..:-) have maintained that the entirety of ANY spiritual experience lies firmly in the confines of the human brain.
What do you think?
We’ve gotten LOTS of emails recently from folks who say the WHOLE thing is a big fraud of the human psychology.
We say it’s not. ( even though many people do have wishful thinking sorts of astral experiences)
Here is an interesting excerpt from Wikipedia on Astral Projection – with people on BOTH sides of the metaphysical fence weighing in with their thoughts.
You can read the entire wiki on astral projection at the link at the bottom of the article…and don’t forget to come back and share your thoughts with us below!
Astral projection or travel denotes the astral body or double leaving the physical body to travel in the astral plane. According to classical, medieval, renaissance Neoplatonist, later Theosophist and Rosicrucian philosophy, the astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul to the physical body, and the astral plane is an intermediate world of light between Heaven and Earth composed of the spheres of the planets and stars.
These astral spheres were held to be populated by gods, angels, demons and spirits.[9] [10]The subtle bodies, and their associated planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm (“small world”) of the universe (the macrocosm or “great world”). “The rational soul…is akin to the great Soul of the World” while “the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible”.
Each succeeding plane of manifestation is causal to the next, a world-view called emanationism; “from the One proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and from Soul – in its lower phase, or Nature – the material universe”.[11] Often these bodies and their corresponding planes of existence are depicted as a series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate body traversing each realm.[12]Similar concepts of “soul” travel appear in various other religious traditions, for example ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the physical body in the ka, or subtle body.[13] A common belief is that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord.[14][15]The idea of the astral figured prominently in the work of the ninteteenth-century French occultist Eliphas Levi, whence it was adopted by Theosophy and Golden Dawn magical society. The Theosophists also took note of similar ideas (Lin’ga S’ari-ra) found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki.[13]
A common belief is that one may access a compendium of mystical knowledge called the Akashic records. In many of these accounts, the experiencer correlates the astral world with the world of dreams. They report seeing dreamers enact dream scenarios on the astral plane, unaware of the wider environment around them.[20] Some also state that “falling” dreams are brought about by projection.[21]The astral environment is often theoretically divided into levels or planes. There are many different views concerning the overall structure of the astral planes in various traditions. These planes may include heavens and hells and other after-death spheres, transcendent environments or other less-easily characterized states.[22][20][23][edit] Etheric projectionIn contrast to astral projection, etheric projection is described as the ability to move about in the material world in an etheric body which is usually, though not always, invisible to people who are presently “in their bodies.”
Robert Monroe describes this type of projection as a projection to “Locale I” or the “Here-Now”, and describes it as containing people and places that he feels actually exist in the material world.[24] Robert Bruce refers to a similar area as the “Real Time Zone” (RTZ) and describes it as the nonphysical, dimension-level closest to the physical.[25]According to Max Heindel, the etheric “double” serves as a medium between the astral and physical realms. In his system, the ether, also called prana, is the “vital force” that empowers the physical forms in order for that change to take place.
From his descriptions it can be inferred that when one views the physical during an out-of-body experience, one is not technically “in” the astral realm at all.[26]The subtle vehicle remains connected to the physical body during the separation by a so-called “silver cord”, said to be that mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:6.Stephen LaBerge suggested in his 1985 book Lucid Dreaming that all such “out-of-body experiences” may represent partially lucid dreams or “misinterpreted dream experiences”, in which the sleeper does not fully recognize the situation. “In the dark forest, one may experience a tree as a tiger, but it is still in fact only a tree.”[27] Applying identical reasoning to waking consciousness, real life could be a dream too (see Descartes’ Evil daemon).
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