Astral projection

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the psychic technique; for information about the musical band, see Astral Projection.
Planes of existence

Subtle bodies
Theosophy

Causal plane: Causal body
Mental plane: Mental body
Astral plane: body, projection
Etheric plane: Etheric body
Physical plane: Physical body
Rosicrucian

The 7 Worlds & the 7 Cosmic Planes
The Seven-fold constitution of Man
The Ten-fold constitution of Man
Thelema

Body of Light | Thelemic mysticism
Surat Shabda Yoga

Cosmology
Sufism

Sufi cosmology
Hinduism
Lokas - Kosas
Buddhism
Buddhist cosmology
Kabbalah
Atziluth - Beri'ah - Yetzirah - Asiyah

Sephirot
Fourth Way

Ray of Creation
The Laws
Three Centres
Five Centres
Popular culture

Plane (Dungeons & Dragons)
  Inner Plane
  Prime Material Plane
  Outer Plane

Astral projection (or astral travel) is an interpretation of out-of-body experiences (OBEs) achieved either awake or via lucid dreaming, deep meditation, or use of psychotropics. Proponents of astral projection maintain that their consciousness or soul has transferred into an astral body (or "double"), which moves en tandem with the physical body in a parallel world known as the astral plane.

The concept of Astral projection has been around for thousands of years, dating back to ancient China. It is currently often associated with the New Age movement.

There are two general schools of thought on the nature of astral projection; these can broadly be defined as the mystical model and the phasing model.

Astral projection is also known as "Soul Travel", which is one of the main practices of Eckankar, Religion of the Light and Sound of God.

Contents

[edit] Mystical model

The mystical model includes a large variety of belief systems and astral maps, but they are tied together by their belief that astral projection takes place outside of the actual physical body. A more subtle energy body is believed to carry the consciousness outside of the physical body, and as one progresses to more advanced levels of the astral plane, more subtle bodies are realized and consciousness is transferred in turn to each of them. (Other mystical models assume only one subtle body.) The subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of an energetic connection which usually takes the appearance of a silver cord 'plugging' into the chakras like an umbilical cord.

[edit] Phasing model

The phasing model, which was defined by Robert Monroe, contains the belief that it is impossible to actually leave the body in the truest sense of the word, and that the astral planes and the physical world are merely points on the long spectrum of consciousness. When a person projects, they actually "phase" into another area of consciousness and the locales it contains. This can be likened to tuning a radio to another station. One of the initial signposts representing a phase shift away from physical reality has been labelled the state of focus 10 (mind awake/body asleep). This viewpoint can be seen as a logical progression of the philosophy that external reality is actually an internally created state (see Postmodernism, Buddhism).

[edit] Kinds of projection

[edit] Astral projection

The traveller finds him- or herself in an apparently real domain, analogous to the "other worlds" experienced by traditional peoples, which have no parallel to any physical setting or to consensus reality, described by New Agers and occultists as the astral plane or the astral.

Environments here may range from populated to un-populated, artificial to natural to completely abstract environments and from beautific to horrific. Here, normal physical laws often do not apply and humans can often, for example, float or fly. Quality of physical detail ranges from crude and un-detailed and depressing to bright, vivid and fascinating as detailed, among other writers, by Robert Bruce in his Astral Dynamics. Travellers may travel from one realm to the other. Projectors may find access to visions of the past or future and to the Akashic records accessible from here. It's been said that space and time don't exist on the astral plane nor the higher planes - but no explanation is given as to how forms and entire environments can exist without spatial dimensions, nor why there can be a sequence of events and yet no such thing as time. Many travellers have theorized that people having dreams actually travel to the astral realms, unaware, and, again as reported in Astral Dynamics, travelers have reported seeing dreamers enact dream scenarios on the astral plane, unaware of the more extensive and varied non-physical environment surrounding them.

[edit] Etheric Projection

In contrast to "astral" projection, the traditional understanding of out-of-body experiences involves the projector (or traveller) moving about in (usually invisible) or ghost-like form in mundane physical reality-- the etheric body. This world may, however, have minor differences between the physical reality world we know if strict mind control is not maintained.
Practitioners sometimes refer to this practice as Real Time Projection (RTP) and the mundane world as the "Real Time Zone", or "RTZ", terms that were coined by Robert Bruce. From the Real Time Zone, travellers can access "the astral" or remain in the RTZ and witness Real Time happenings.

Many people confuse this phenomenon with astral travel, however etheric travel is mainly related to that which can and does exist, physically. During this type of experience, there are no fantastical worlds, or self-absorbed encounters; the majority of the experience can be validated. Dr. Charles Tart has done many experiments, which conclude that the person can not possibly invent the experience-- unlike astral travel, where the experience is conceptual.
According to Arthur Powell and Max Heindel, the etheric "double" serves as a medium between the Astral and Physical realms. Ether, also called prana is the "vital force" that empowers the Physical forms in order for change to take place. This means that when one views the Physical during an OBE, they are not technically "in" the Astral Realm at all.

[edit] Virtual reality projection

Part astral projection and part real time projection, called Virtual Reality Projection by most, is when a projector claims to move on the physical plane and interact with the astral plane at the same time. An example of this is the projector walking into a "real" poster or picture and being transported to a perfect reconstruction of this place/world, via the concentrated experiences and thoughts of every beholder of the concept of the picture.

Many of those who believe in astral projection also believe in a form more common to people with other abilities, such as clairvoyance. They also tend to believe that the body can be seen by others, and almost always is. The projector (traveler) projects to somewhere else on the same plane of the same world. For example, someone in L.A. could astral project to someone in Hong Kong and converse with them, in reality and actuallity.

[edit] Research

Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, published several accounts of his experiences of astral projection, including Far Journeys. Monroe developed a method he calls "Hemisync" to induce mental states that are favorable for projection. Hemisync is a synchronization of the brainwaves of both of the brains' hemispheres or lobes. This is said to work by altering brain waves using sounds, together with meditative instruction, listened to on headphones. The process is based on a concept referred to as binaural beats.

An exhaustive reference, which includes techniques and types of out-of-body experiences and related phenomena, is the 1,200+ page Projectiology by Dr. Waldo Vieira, MD, which has over 1,907 bibliographic entries from sources in 18 languages on the topic.

Dr. Charles Tart has conducted many experiments on OBE, and has had several articles and journals published on this subject. These include Psychophysiological Study of Out of Body Experiences in a Selected Subject, which was published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

  • Astralweb Free courses with techniques for Astral Projection, Lucid Dreams, and more.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/s/t/Astral_projection.html"