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Dear Soul Arcanum:
I recently had what I believe to be my first out of body experience, and since then, all kinds of strange and exciting things have been happening. I had read about OOBE’s in a book and felt I just had to try it. I began all kinds of different exercises, and though it took me almost two months of regular practice, finally had an experience where I was out of my body and sort of bouncing around my room. It was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I’ve been able to get out a number of times since this first experience. Since this began, all kinds of strange things have been happening. My psychic abilities have just gone through the roof! I can’t even begin to explain in the space here. Is there a connection between psychic abilities and astral projection, and what is that connection? Is projecting a good way to develop psychically? Thanks so much!
June

Dear June:
Thanks for a great question. Yes, psychic skills and the ability to astral project are absolutely related. Everything I’ve read and everyone I have discussed the matter with have agreed that there is a strong relationship between the ability to astral project and psychic ability in general. For example, my friend Bob Peterson (author of Out of Body Experiences: How to Have Them and What to Expect, among other astral projection books) experienced a surge in strange/psychic experiences when he began practicing astral projection. He writes, “I had many different types of psychic experiences. Remarkably, they all seemed to happen overnight. As crazy as it sounds, wishes started coming true. Suddenly the world was magical.” It’s important to note that he became interested in astral projection first; his intuitive development and interest in psychic matters were born as a result of the unusual experiences he had after he began projecting.

This is relatively uncommon, for most folks are already interested in psychic matters when they begin to explore astral projection, and then usually because they’ve read about it somewhere. As for the relationship between the two, astral projection is one of many practices that can lead to psychic development, and the more one has mastered either, the easier the other skill will become.

Here’s an analogy that may help: Imagine that instead of psychic development, your goal is to lose weight and get in shape. One thing that could help you achieve your goal is to take up jogging (practicing astral projection). Now, you can lose weight without jogging, and you can jog without losing weight, but of course jogging will enhance your weight loss efforts, and losing weight makes it easier to jog.

Similarly, practicing astral projection can help you develop psychically, and developing psychically can make it easier to astral project. Both involve a shift into an altered state of consciousness, preferably one that is self-induced instead of accidental or spontaneous.

This distinction is an important one. Many people have intuitive flashes. A good number of people also have spontaneous out of body experiences. These may arise unexpectedly during meditation, or they may be caused by an accident or some other trauma. While such experiences may enhance one’s interest in psychic development, they don’t contribute much to one’s conscious ability to induce the state of consciousness necessary to activate those experiences.

Accessing psychic information and leaving one’s body at will both require learning how to control one’s state of consciousness. In my experience, astral projection is far more difficult to master than general psychic development. To carry the earlier analogy forward, this is like “losing weight” as compared to completing a triathlon. Losing weight/ developing psychically can be achieved many ways, some of them easier than others, but astral projecting/ completing a triathlon is going to be challenging no matter what. While you can develop psychically (get in shape) without ever projecting, it would be hard to project (train for a triathlon) without developing psychically (getting in shape). Hence, those who practice astral projection naturally develop psychically in the process.

It’s important to note that one does not need to leave one’s body to psychically access information. As I see it, our minds are not “in our bodies” to begin with. If I ask you, “Where is your left big toe?” you know right where to point. If I ask you, “Where is your mind?” what do you say? Our minds are already unbound by the laws of space and time. As astral projection is far harder to master and control than psychic ability is, if what we’re seeking is wisdom and guidance, then there is no reason to go to the trouble of leaving the body in order to meet with metaphysical guides or access information from others times and places.

There are some great benefits of learning how to astral project, however. As has been stated, practicing projection will naturally develop psychic abilities further; because it is a very high level ability, mastering it can lead to leaps and bounds in psychic and spiritual development.

It’s also an amazing, transformational experience in and of itself. Through astral projection, we come to know via direct experience that we are more than our physical bodies. This can erase fear of death because we know without a doubt that our existence is not dependent on anything in the physical realm. The indescribably blissful feeling of being out of the body and not really giving a darn about the physical or whether or not we ever return to it is very freeing and enlightening.

Astral projecting is also a wonderful way to experience the power of our minds to affect and create reality. While in the astral, we have only to think of something and it will appear or happen. Experiencing the creative power of the mind in this immediate, responsive environment deepens our awareness of how we’re creating our realities with our thoughts all the time, just in less direct and obvious ways.

So in summary, you can develop psychically without ever projecting, but you can’t master projection without developing psychically any more than you could train for a triathlon and fail to get more fit. The sudden flood of psychic experiences you’ve encountered in the wake of your astral projection experiences is totally normal and to be expected. Given that you’re well on your way to mastering astral projection, you can assume that you already have a high level of psychic ability, and that your potential in that arena is extraordinary.

– Soul Arcanum

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