Can you have a conscious astral projection experience or are the only REAL ones those that happen spontaneously?  This has been a pretty hot topic for many decades, and the more science begins to understand and accept the OBE as a “real” experience ( be it a brain generated event or a truly mystical one) there are even more questions arising as a result, than the answers you would expect.

I of course believe that willful astral projection is not only possible….it’s reasonably easy with practice.  Here is a good article from WilliamJames.Com ( a site dedicated  to the great 20th century philosopher, scientists and conciousness pioneer) on the OBE, it’s roots, and possible explanations.

 Good stuff and you can check out the full story at the link below the jump. 

Certain shamanistic conceptions suggest that our past thoughts and our mind have never left our body, for the simple fact that they have always been outside our body and our brain. They do not need to emerge from inside, because they have never been inside.

The shamanistic initiation makes the trainee simply aware that mind and consciousness are outside and above, and they have always been so. The initiation practices reawaken a corresponding state of consciousness, that gives the living awareness of this vision.The shamanistic conceptions and the converging descriptions of out of body experiences coincide with the notion that mind and consciousness are a prius in respect of the brain and the body — in other words, that brain and body evolve out of consciousness.

Astral projection is one of the most salient features of the mystical tradition underlying most of the major religions. In fact, anthropologists have found that OBE beliefs appear in about 95 percent of the world’s cultures.

The Roots of Consciousness: Folklore, Astral Projection and Out of Body Experiences