Astral Travel

The possiblity of astral travelling is something which has fascinated me for a couple of years now.

When I first heard of it many years ago, it was described to me by a very religious friend as being occultist, quite evil and very dangerous indeed. Then when I was looking into Yoga and spiritual development, I found that it's one of the great skills which the spiritual aspirant picks up along the way! How confusing...

Anyway - I decided to read a bit more about it and found that according to all the current research, astral travelling is about as dangerous as going for drive in a car (if not less dangerous), but takes quite a lot of dedication and determination for most people to actually achieve. Hence I've made a few notes to help the aspirant.

Why on earth would someone want to do it???

Sure I have to live on the physical plane like everyone else, but why I am keen to astral travel is because I'd be able to...

travel round the world to visit other places

fly around in the clouds and soar above cities

saunter through the most secret places in the world

talk to higher beings (guides and perhaps even angels?)

talk to recently dead people (if I could get onto their plane that is)

help newly-dead souls who are confused (and earn bonus karma points!)

get into healing & diagnosis (much easier with astral vision so I hear)

get additional tips from gurus who aren't on the physical plane

perhaps visit friends on the other side of the world (in their dreams)

visit my past lives (as time is said to be fairly fluid on the higher planes)

help other people I know who want to try the same thing

do something that few other people can do & is mostly regarded as fantasy

feel that my sleeping hours are really useful, fun and incredibly exciting!

And if all that isn't enough, I hear that if you do it right, you still get a good night's rest too...

"But I heard about all these dangers!!!"

Common dangers people mention:

What happens if you can't find your way back to your body?

There is no recorded instance of an astral traveller not finding their way back to their body. One of the most common problems people have with astral travel is that their out-of-body excursion kept getting cut short, eg when they get excited, get a surprise etc. Even if someone ends up wandering arond and forgetting that they can just focus on their physical body's location to return, they will eventually be dragged back up as soon as their body wakes up, eg by the alarm clock or by someone rousing them.

What say the silver cord between the phsical body and the astral counterpart breaks?

Again, there is no recorded instance of an astral traveller having this sort of problem or dying under mysterious conditions so this seems to come under the "fear of the unknown" category. The silver cord and the astral conterpart are both made entirely of energy, and after many expert travellers have done years of exploration, it seems pretty certain that the cord cannot be cut, snagged on a branch, etc etc!

What say a spirit possesses my body while I'm out of it?

One of the most difficult concepts to accept is that during projection, the physical body still contains all the spiritual components it had before the projection. Ie it is definitely not left empty and unguarded - but usually in a state of meditation or sleep. The projected counterpart is a specially created energy duplicate of the person's higher spiritual components, which is constantly linked to the physical body by the "silver cord" which passes communication back and forth. So the physical body is no more open to possession than it is during its waking or sleeping states.

What's the best way to find out more about the concept?

Hmmm - perhaps its easiest to take a peek at the following links:

Spiritweb's out of body page which has tons of references.

Robert Bruce's web site - astral travel internet guru and author of the amazing "Astral Dynamics". (Click on Articles then Robert Bruce on the navigation tree on the right hand side.)

http://www.out-of-body.com/ - author William Buhlman's web site.

What's the way to actually learn how to do it?

Well, the websites above probably have a few techniques available online (for example Robert Bruce's Treatise on Astral Projection), but for the average person you really need a good in-depth guide. The book which is currently regarded (with good reason) as the BIBLE of astral travelling for all skill levels is:
Astral Dynamics : A New Approach to Out-Of-Body Experiences by Robert Bruce.
From all the other books I have read, I am convinced that it's the very best technical manual that has ever been written on the subject. He outlines dangers in spiritual development that most "experts" never mention, he's a long-time projector and coach in news:alt.out-of-body since 1992 - and he has done a ton of experimentation with projection techniques and mechanisms (which most authors seem to understand little about).

If you want to know more about him, check out his web site:

Robert Bruce's web site - astral travel internet guru and author of the amazing "Astral Dynamics". (Click on Articles then Robert Bruce on the navigation tree on the right hand side.)

Also there is the Monroe Institute which sells the Gateway Experience range of tapes designed to help people get into the frame of mind for astral travel. I definitely think the tapes can help a little, but without reading a book like "Astral Dynamics" (above), most people don't have much of a clue about what's going on and find actual success using this method very hard indeed. To read about my experience with the Gateway tapes, click here.

Back to The Esoteric Page

This page was updated by Richard Holmes on 29 August 2001