Practical Guide to Astral Projection: The Out-of-Body Experience

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2.Do not confuse dream projections with true conscious astral projection.

3.Practice for the imaginary projection of consciousness.
a.With the aid of a plant, aquarium, or picture, enter into a visible scene.
b.Adapt your imagined presence to a size and condition suited to the scene.
c.Act within the scene as if you were an actor in a play-only make it more real than any play; feel elements of the scene upon your skin, hear sounds, smell, move, etc.
d.Return to normal consciousness feeling relaxed and refreshed. You have been on vacation.

4.The imagination works upon, and through, the astral body. The above exercise gives your lower self practice in handling data separate from that normally transmitted through the physical body's neural system.

5.Locate your center of consciousness: where, in your physical body, does your sense of personality attach?

6.Formula Four-willed projection of consciousness:
a.Assume the Earth posture.
b.Perform Formula One.
c.Send forth to a convenient distance above you a jet of silver-gray mist.
d.Form it into a key figure, in the same posture as yourself, facing you. Do not form it as the simulacrum.
e.Intensify your awareness of selfhood at your center of consciousness to a single point.
f.Mentally determine to transfer yourself to the key figure.
g.Imagine that you, concentrated into that single point of consciousness as in e above, are gliding swiftly upward toward the key figure, and entering it at the point corresponding to your own center of consciousness.
h.Now, "turn around" within the key figure and see the room from its viewpoint-see your physical body below, facing you.
i."Feel yourself into" the astral vehicle (the key figure)-locate your hands, feet, etc.

7.Return from the astral vehicle.
a.Turn around (turn the astral vehicle you now inhabit) so that you are facing upward in the Earth posture, about eight feet above your physical body.
b.Renew your awareness of the astral vehicle.
c.Sink, in your astral vehicle, slowly down-ward into your physical body.
d.Feel a renewed sensory awareness of your physical body.

8.If, at this time, you find you are not making rapid progress in achieving full astral projection, check back over the program for problem areas. There is absolutely no reason why you cannot succeed. The most frequent problem areas are physical lethargy and mental negation.
a.Diet and exercise should be kept at a per-sonal optimum. Indulgences in alcohol and tobacco may have to be reduced, or eliminated, for some people.
b.Discipline may be needed. The program with its repetition of practices is important.
c.Mental negation: your rational mind may still deny the reality of projection-influenced by fear or even by love-as in the case of someone dear to you not approving of your astral projection work. The formula of the simulacrum must be used to lead the lower self gently into a more self-confident and spontaneous attitude.

9.Some people may like to have material aids in their astral projection work. These are used as a kind of code to the lower self.
a.Before assuming the Earth posture, a trace of oil of jasmine can be applied to the forehead between the eyebrows-the third eye area.
b.Or you can burn an incense compound of mastic gum, oil of jasmine, and powdered orris root.
c.Absolute regularity of the routine, the time and place, clothing, etc., also acts as a code alerting the lower self.

You have now had a fair amount of experience, of one sort and another, of exteriorizing astral substance. You are accustomed to using the formula of the simulacrum, and once any initial personal obstacles have been smoothed out by the use of this, you have this valuable formula for use freely in educating the different levels of your psyche to work together in a harmonious partnership. This you can, at every step, direct so as to make it helpful in your program for out-of-body experience; so that in this, as in everything else, you will find that what is helpful for your general physical and psychic well-being is good also for your astral projection program.You are also accustomed to using the formula of the watcher, so that you know by experience that a shape of astral substance can travel away from your physical body, is capable of sensory perceptions, and can be recalled without difficulty. By the verification of impressions brought back by the watcher, furthermore, you will have been able to assure yourself of the reality of the astral shape and of its journeys.

You should, if your dream diary is showing up any projection-type dreams (it probably is, now and then) give yourself a new going-to-sleep tape, containing something on these lines:

If I travel out from my body during sleep, I will take deliberate control of the situation.

If I am naked, I will clothe myself in astral garments.

If I am flying, I will determine my direction and my landing place.

If I meet other persons, I will teach and assist those who need it, and will try to learn from those who are wiser than I am.

The exact words must, of course, depend upon your own needs. To dream of being without clothing, to meet with other people and to be so disconcerted as to speed from their company or, quite frequently, to wake up with a jump, is a fairly common sign of involuntary astral projection. The lower consciousness, until it is very well trained in forming a vehicle for itself, naturally tends to forget such a refinement as clothing. The lower consciousness, after all, is what you came into the world with; but then, upon encounter with other entities, a more mature social awareness asserts itself. The peculiar "jump" of awakening is another sign, a sudden jerking back of astral substance into the body. If the sleeper can consciously take control of the situation, this can be avoided.

Training oneself to become aware of an astral projection during sleep, that is, asserting the rational mind to direct what might otherwise be an aimless and merely instinctual wandering, is good practice. It still must not be confused, however, with the true object of your endeavors, that is, the willed going forth in full consciousness in a deliberately formed astral vehicle, the performance of an intended series of acts while in projection, and the subsequent willed return to the physical body.

Imaginary projection of consciousness Just as at other stages of this program you have begun by carrying out in imagination something that you afterward perform in fact, now you are going to give yourself some practice in the imaginary projection of consciousness. This experience also will have value in everyday life, for on occasions when you have neither time nor need to project an astral vehicle for yourself, it can be very restful and relaxing to detach yourself for a few minutes from your physical body by sending your consciousness imaginatively into a situation of pleasant adventure or of repose.

Everyone does this to a very minor extent all the time, without even thinking about it. Why else are we accustomed to hang on our walls pictures of pleasant scenes, landscapes, attractive human forms, or animals with which we feel some particular affinity? Or, simply, with pictures of our friends?

Surely it is in every case so that among the day's occupations or on awaking in the morning, the eye can dwell upon something or someone in whose presence the consciousness loves to linger, be it with the smile on a loved face; the serenity of earth, sky, or water; the beauty and suggested excitement of a ship, or the lithe muscles and sleek coat of a living creature.

A picture, preferably a landscape, can very well be used for practice in separating consciousness from the body, but as a first example, let us consider something else that may be in your home, a potted plant, or a tank of tropical fish, preferably with aquatic plants and perhaps a rock or so. It is a pleasure to look at these fragments of the natural world existing in our homes, but now you are going to do much more than just look.

The plant Sit comfortably near your plant so that the rim of the pot is just below eye level. Consciousness is in no way limited to the dimensions of the physical body, so as you let your gaze travel slowly up the stem you can imagine it to be a huge tropical or prehistoric tree. Imagine yourself standing just within the rim of the pot; you go forward carefully over the huge earth granules or rocks, and you reach your tree. You can, if you like, sit down at the foot of it and gaze up into the foliage; or perhaps you would like to climb upward among the branches. You can make your way from branch to branch, or you can stretch along a stem, up there among the leaves. Or perhaps you prefer to fly like a bird into the branches and settle there; or, if your plant has blossoms, to explore these in the manner of a bee or a hummingbird. Whatever you do, rest there a little while, really savoring and enjoying this new experience; be aware of yourself in that setting, feel the leaves and flowers around you, or the fern fronds. It should make a little vacation for your consciousness. When you return from it, come back the way you went. Once again, abrupt transition is to be avoided. Bring back a memory with you, of coolness, peace, and beauty and, maybe, of a sweet mossy or floral fragrance.

The aquarium Another time, sit beside your tank of tropical fish. There is no need to make your field of consciousness so small that the guppies look like white sharks, but imagine yourself about the size of a fairly small fish-one that is able to dart through the water of the tank or to bask in the green shade of the water plants. Then feel, harmlessly brushing your side, the smooth armor of a companion. Gaze into a watchful gold-and-black eye that gazes back at you without expression but in total alertness. Sense in your own being how the owner of that eye feels: peaceful, unworried, yet with every fin poised and ready for an instant change of direction. Join in the sudden spontaneous dance of the two or three who are seized with an impulsive ecstasy of swirling rhythmic movement; then glide, glide . . . again, dwell for a time in this extension of consciousness, and return soothed and refreshed.

The picture Now you should be able to act similarly with a two-dimensional scene, a picture. If this is a landscape, the simplest plan is for you to see it as natural size, with yourself as a human being-but do not "see" yourself, of course-who will walk into that field; cross that stream or maybe wade up it; sit on that wall or under that tree; climb that hill and contemplate a further view from the summit.

Your imagination, aided by data from all the natural scenery you have ever explored, should be able to fill in the feel of the breeze on your skin, the calling of birds, the smell of grass and wild plants under the sun.

This evocation of different sense data, in a way that depends entirely upon the imagination, has considerable importance: the imagination works upon, and through, the astral body. Your instinctual lower self is habitually concerned in handling sense data brought in from the material world by the neural system, but it has little practice, outside of dreams, in processing data apart from the neural system. By means of the imaginative practices, your astral body and its substance will become accustomed to employ not only the faculty of sight, but the faculties of other senses as well. On the other hand, each one of these practices, intended to produce effects in the imagination, has peculiarities that should clearly distinguish its results from those of genuine projection in an astral vehicle.

Without any doubt, you will know when you do the "real thing." It is different from dream, different from any make-believe use of the imagination, however vivid. You will know that you are fully awake. Nevertheless, the quality of what you will do then can be improved by what you do now, just as a preliminary practicing of the strokes on dry land can help a learner to become a better swimmer, and just as a child playing at some skill that attracts it will come to it better prepared as an adolescent, than would a boy or girl who had never thought of it before.

From these imaginative practices, then, you will learn that your consciousness can immerse itself in an activity that does not involve the physical body, even though in the examples given there is physical sense data present as a series of guiding stimuli; and the faculties of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste can have a reality for you quite apart from any employment of the physical senses. You may find that the results of these imaginary sensory games will be reflected in the contents of your dream diary.

Some people only dream in black and white, some never dream about hearing sounds of any sort; to dream of a smell or a flavor is quite uncommon. Textures, and the feeling of contact of one sort or another are, however, not infrequent. Do you find color, music, perhaps even perfumes, coming more into your dreams now? That is exciting.

While you explore these matters, however, your use of Formula Two or Three, or, at the least, of Formula One, should continue as in the previous directions.

Your Center of Consciousness One more question remains to be answered, and nobody but yourself can determine the right answer in your particular case.

When you are in normal consciousness, wide awake in your physical body, and something calls for a special effort from you personally, to what point in your body does your sense of individual personality seem to attach?

Or, to put it differently, when you say, "I, myself," what seems to you to be the location of "I"?

This varies from one person to another, but it probably will be one of the following: forehead, eyes, throat, or solar plexus. Furthermore, this question does not have to be decided "once and for all." You may, after some experimentation, decide your first decision was not the right one; or you may feel it was right to begin with, but as time has passed a change has taken place and, with progressive development, your center of consciousness has shifted. Such a possibility is altogether valid and reasonable; all that is required is that you should keep an awareness of what is, for you, the right answer at any given time.

Formula Four Willed projection of consciousness (To be performed in your chosen projection area.) Lie down in the Earth posture. You will notice that this practice is performed in a different posture from the previous ones, which all call for a standing or sitting position.

Perform Formula One. Do this exactly as if you were standing; for instance, the "fountain of light" at the end of the procedure will travel horizontally from your insteps to your head, will divide just beyond your crown, and will pass outside your arms to your feet again.

Now send forth to a convenient distance above you a jet of silver-gray mist. It should form at that distance into a small cloud; under pressure of sustained ejection it should increase rapidly in size, and should become more defined until it takes on your own size and general shape. You should fashion it as the key figure, and in the same posture as yourself, but facing you. That is to say, it will be floating in the air above you, in a horizontal position, looking down at you; but it should not be an exact replica of you like the simulacrum, it will be the much simplified version called the key figure.

Keep clearly in visualization this projection figure and its connecting cord, and, while doing so, intensify your awareness of selfhood at your special center of consciousness. Continue until you have a distinct, vital, and glowing sense of a presence at that particular point. Then be aware of the corresponding point on the key figure.

Make a single clear resolution (mentally, not aloud) to transfer yourself to that astral vehicle. Directly you have made this resolution, imagine yourself, concentrated as it were in your single point of consciousness, gliding swiftly upward toward the figure and entering it at the point corresponding to your own center of consciousness.

Now make a deliberate mental effort to turn around in the figure, so as to see from its viewpoint. "See" the room as from somewhere near the ceiling-and include your own physical body lying below you, facing up toward you.

This change of perspective is the critical point to secure a true transfer of consciousness. Having achieved this transfer, you will have, as it were, to feel yourself into the vehicle: locate your feet, hands, and so on. This is difficult to describe; it is rather like putting on a thick glove, but also it is like awaking from a heavy sleep and renewing awareness of your body.

The first time you succeed in transfering consciousness, do not attempt much more than this.

After making a successful transfer of consciousness, the return presents no difficulty. In theory, you-your astral presence-should lie full length facing upward about eight feet directly above your physical body; you should renew your awareness of the astral vehicle (so as to be conscious of taking it with you), and you should then sink down slowly, by an act of will, toward and into your physical body. After a brief interval, you should be aware of renewed sensory consciousness of your physical body-again, as if awakening from sleep. In practice, at least for some time, as soon as you draw near to your physical body, you will find yourself spontaneously reunited with it.

That is the formula, but you may not succeed at the first attempt. It is the change of perspective, the turnaround, that really secures success. You can continue trying to align yourself with the astral vehicle in order to achieve this, but on no account should you go on trying when the necessary concentration is causing fatigue. In the next practice session, proceed with equal care and benefit by your increased experience.

Some people do succeed at the first attempt, some need more, but your program helps. Always the various formulae should be continued meanwhile, so that your endeavors will be balanced, healthy, and vital. When you do succeed, the new viewpoint may be realized so naturally and easily that it takes a moment or two to comprehend what has happened, or it may be accompanied by the "metallic click" that is its traditional sign.

When you have succeeded, be content for the first few times to look around, to come down from your floating position, and to move about the room. At this stage you will probably be happiest to "walk" in earthly fashion. Do not go too near your physical body until you mean to return, or you may "snap-back" into it inadvertently. But, also, do not stay "out" for too long. Especially if your sense of hearing is somewhat lacking at first-as it well may be-there is a dreadful sense of solitude in out-of-body experience that can descend with a sudden feeling of panic. One usual result of this is that it drives people, before they have the necessary experience and power of coordination, to travel forth and to try to make their presence known to a friend. The result can be a nasty fright for the friend if you succeed, and considerable bewilderment and maybe exhaustion for yourself if you fail. And so take it easy until you are sure of your astral faculties. Remember-your astral vehicle is made of substance that, of its very nature, responds more swiftly to an emotional impulse than to a rational direction. It needs training, and you need practice in directing it.

One thing you need to know at the outset is how to conclude any practice session when, for whatever reason, having exteriorized astral substance, you do not transfer your consciousness to the astral vehicle.

In that case, you must reassimilate the substance that you have exteriorized. If you have formed it into the key figure, turn it back into a smoky cloud, and then go on to reassimilate the cloud-as in the other formulae.

There is one exception to this rule. If, after ejecting astral substance-whether you get as far as shaping the key figure or not-you fail to complete your intended practice because you fall asleep, there is no need when you awake to reabsorb any astral substance, because you will have done so instinctively during sleep.

This is true of astral substance exteriorized in the course of any practice given in this book, but it is given mention especially here because the lying-down Earth posture assumed for Formula Four makes it rather more frequent for people to fall asleep during this practice than during any other.

If you do transfer your consciousness to the astral vehicle, even if only for a brief while, there is, of course, no need to reassimilate astral substance, because when you return to the body you bring the astral vehicle back with you. This is true, whether you succeed in making your return with full deliberation or whether you simply "snap back."

In any case, after a reassimilation, or if you have any doubts, or if after a "snap back" (waking or sleeping) you feel a bit blurred at the edges, there is a ready aid at hand that can do you nothing but good, whatever the circumstances. Do a Formula One.

It is strongly recommended that Formula Four, like all the other practices involving ejection of astral substance, should be performed in the most loose and easy of garments, or in no garments at all. This lack of any constriction will greatly facilitate reabsorption.

Formula Four represents a method of astral projection that has brought rapid success to a very large number of men and women. Anyone who does not succeed as soon as he or she expects should check back over the program to see where reinforcement may be needed. The most frequent problem areas are physical lethargy and mental negation. The means of combating both of these are provided within this program. Diet and physical exercise should be kept at the personal optimum; also, it is a fact, as pointed out earlier, that for some people any indulgence in alcohol or tobacco is too much. For rather complex reasons of body chemistry, this is more frequently the case with vegetarians than with meateaters; but though this means that in some ways the vegetarians have to take extra care, it also means they gain more, healthwise, in the long run.

As for mental negation: if, after firsthand experience of the reality of astral substance, its ejection and control, anyone's rational mind is still trying to deny the evidence (and we know this can happen, from the very usual reaction of so-called "scientific" minds toward valid evidence thatwould overthrow an established hypothesis), then the treatment should be with the formula of the simulacrum.

How is that possible, when the formula of the simulacrum is to reeducate the lower self? The lower self is emotional and instinctual; the problem here is a matter of reason.

Do not be deceived. Can the reasoning faculty deny reason? The most logical of reasoning can go astray if its logic begins from one false premise; and the data from which most people begin their reasoning is dictated, at least in part, by emotional promptings. To a great extent, this is what makes us human beings instead of computerized robots, but we do have to be on our guard to see that this habit of reasoning from emotionally selected "facts" does not trap us into attitudes that we shall regret.

So, anyone who, after experiencing personally that astral projection is so, still finds his or her rational mind insisting that it cannot be so, should not go on trying to cudgel that mind with logic, but should take a look behind the logic.

What is the emotion involved-love or fear? It will be one or the other. A parent, grandparent, or other relative, or a teacher at whatever level-someone greatly loved or greatly feared-will have implanted the idea that astral or psychic experience does not happen, and the victim of love or of fear goes on trying to maintain, even in the face of experience, that it does not happen. Such a person may indeed forbid anything of the sort to happen. Or again, a person may cling, either with a loving sense of loyalty or with a fear-motivated obedience, to a notion that the development of our natural psychic faculties is somehow wicked regardless of the way it appears to the personal reasoning powers. In all these cases, it is the lower self that needs to be gently led, by means of the formula of the simulacrum, into a more self-confident and spontaneous attitude.

Some people, however, of a more frankly emotional, sensuous, or ritualistic temperament, may welcome a more considerable buildup on the material level to accompany their practices in astral projection. For such temperaments, material aids can be of great assistance in the formation of habits of practice: a certain smell, or a certain sound, can be established as a code with the instinctual level of the psyche (again, this can very well be facilitated by explaining it in a simple way to the simulacrum) to mean that the hour has come for the day's practice in astral projection, or for out-of-body experience. These aids are not essential, and they ought never to be considered as essential, but they can communicate very swiftly with the lower self. If it is desired to burn an incense, a compound of mastic gum, oil of jasmine, and powdered orris root makes a suitable blend; or, before assuming the Earth posture, a trace of oil of jasmine can be applied to the forehead. This particular fragrance has a tradition of use for that purpose.

In any case, whatever else may be done, the best plan for astral projection is to establish as far as possible an absolute regularity of routine. The lower self is a creature of habit, of tradition, and of precedent.

Checkpoint
Initially, you are using Formula Three, keeping a dream diary, and using a bedtime tape. Alternatively to Formula Three (after the first two weeks), you can, from time to time, use Formula Two as you wish. If any cause prevents the use of Formula Two and Formula Three, then Formula One, with or without the ejection of astral substance practice according to circumstances, is used. This routine holds good until you succeed with Formula Four. Along with the above, you now:
Give yourself a new tape, as suggested in the text.
Practice imaginary projection of consciousness.
Find your center of consciousness.
When you are ready, proceed to Formula Four. This contains Earth posture, Formula One, exteriorization of astral substance, formation of the key figure, and projection of consciousness into the astral vehicle. Note also the technique for the return.
If not successful, remember to reabsorb astral substance. Review diet and daily program. Review (and if necessay reprogram) work with the simulacrum. Be patient and persevering.
After success, keep lifestyle and astral practices. Above all, use Formula One. More adventure awaits you.