Tag Archive: astral plane


Learning to Control the Quality of Astral Experiences

Filed Under: Astral Projection, Energy/Vibration, Psychic Ability, Psychic Protection by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Learning to Control the Quality of Astral Experiences

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have been aware of the spiritual plane for as long as I can remember, going back to when I was a preschooler and could perceive a man in a top hat who used to watch me in my room every night. I have dreams where I meet people who have passed. In these dreams, I always travel by elevator, and the place I end up in is always a hotel of some sort, ranging from dreary (a woman who did not know she was dead) to the most beautiful room I have ever seen surrounded by walls of glass and this beautiful light that can’t be described. The light was so dense and so magnificent that nothing besides the light could be seen beyond the windows. The real reason I write is because I need help. Starting back in highschool, I occasionally had spirits try to frighten me. Many nights, my mirror would lift off my wall at approximately 2 a.m. and knock over everything on my nighttable. Sometimes my radio would turn on. (This was particularly effective near Halloween when scary commercials were on.) I continued with my prayers and made it through what was a scary time for me. Sometime later, I began to experience sleep paralysis. I became a master of focusing calmly on moving one body part and breaking the trance. I have left my body and heard the voice of my great-grandmother. One time I left my body and when I returned there was a very scary, evil-looking woman approaching my body; I began to pray to God and she snarled and vanished. Last night, I had several episodes that were weak and I was too tired to care, so I fought it off but wasn’t bothered by it. The last time, though, my entire body began to vibrate violently and I began to pray and the vibrations ceased and I was free. I know that I need to better protect myself and I know spirits are trying to contact me, but I am apprehensive. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time.

Janelle

Dear Janelle:

As we naturally evolve spiritually, it’s normal to have spontaneous psychic experiences, to begin to consciously remember out-of body-experiences, and to eventually gain the ability to leave our bodies at will. It’s also normal to be anxious about this, for these are not everyday, ordinary experiences. Most of us have been taught what to do in order to remain physically safe. We’re told not to open the door to a stranger, and should we set ourselves on fire, to stop, drop and roll. No one tells us what to do when we feel paralyzed in bed and sense an evil presence nearby!

In addition to being psychically sensitive, I would bet you are also under some stress. The sorts of experiences you describe tend to happen when people are extremely sleep-deprived. They also tend to pick up during times of change and transition, such as the teen years, when babies are born, during final exams in college, during career changes, when going through a divorce or getting married, when moving into a new house, etc. Any event or change that causes stress can make us vulnerable to negative psychic experiences, for what we attract on a psychic level is a direct reflection of our inner state of being.

If you can control your inner state of being, you can control the quality of your experiences when you’re in an altered state of consciousness. If you’re anxious when you project or shift your awareness to the astral, you will tend to have frightening experiences, so anything you do that helps to lower your stress level would be helpful. If you are in a state of peace and wonder, you will have wonderful experiences. If you find yourself in an unnerving situation, try to stay calm and assume that all is and will be well. (That’s good advice whether you’re in the astral or the physical!)

Obviously, the more you know about the astral, the less fear you will have of the unknown. With this in mind, I recommend you engage in deep study of the astral, spirits, and out of body experiences. For starters, you might read Astral Dynamics, Mastering Astral Projection, and Practical Psychic Self-Defense by Robert Bruce. Also Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe and Out of Body Experiences: How to Have them and What to Expect by Robert Peterson. It will take a great investment of time and energy to master this material, but since you’re having these experiences anyway, you definitely need an education in this subject.

It would be profoundly empowering on many levels to learn how to control your vibration by studying energy healing and the law of attraction. Remember: if you can control your inner state of being, you can control the quality of your psychic experiences! This has been known by mystics for millennia. It’s even in the Bible!

For example, Proverbs 4:23 – 27, says: Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life….Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. In Proverbs 2:7 – 11, the Bible says, [God] is a shield to those who walk with integrity…He guards the paths of the just…Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.

So what does it mean to guard your heart and to mark out a straight path? If you are at war with anyone in your life, then you carry the vibration of discord. If you send evil thoughts to the person who cut you off in traffic, to the rude person in line at the grocery store, if you are full of bitterness at your ex-spouse or feel like a victim in some way, you will tend to have negative psychic experiences. If, instead, you are ever seeking peace and harmony, if you “forgive those who trespass against you,” if you are tolerant of others and look for the divine in them, if you can bless those who do things you don’t like and not take their behavior personally, then you will radiate peace and attract positive psychic experiences.

This is not easy, but there is no more important work in life than learning how to “guard”/purify our hearts and minds.

By learning how to work with energy, as in energy healing, you will learn how to shift your vibration from anxious to faithful, how to infuse situations with positive energy, how to deflect negative energy – the list goes on and on. How you learn energy healing should be organic, by which I mean that you are guided to it by Spirit. Put out a call/prayer and see where you are guided. I was trained in the Spiritualist tradition, and I’m partial to this method because it is simple and demystified. Many traditions make things far more complicated than is necessary, and surround their teachings with unfounded mystique.

Speaking of which, Robert Bruce has a new book on healing entitled Energy Work: The Secrets of Healing and Spiritual Growth. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but based on his other work, I’m sure it’s great. I’m also sure that it’s no accident that this expert on astral projection has written a book on energy healing, for in order to control your astral experiences, you must be able to consciously influence/control energy.

– Soul Arcanum

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Where is the Astral World?

Filed Under: Afterlife, Astral Projection, Death and Dying, Energy/Vibration, Spirits by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Where is the Astral World?


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I’ve gotten interested in astral projection, and I’m planning on trying it sometime soon, but first I have a few questions. Is astral projection traveling into a spirit world like the afterlife? Where are you when you’re out of your body? If I were to try it with my friends, would we be able to meet up somewhere?
– Christine

Dear Christine:

Naturally, no one can give you definitive answers on the nature of metaphysical reality, so what I offer you here is based on what I’ve learned from others and experienced from projecting myself.

First, when we talk about other dimensions like the astral plane, using the term “where” is rather confusing. Instead of picturing these dimensions in some other place, we might imagine them as a different form of the space we are already familiar with.

Let’s say that the physical world is like ice, and when we raise the vibration/temperature of that ice, it melts and becomes water. It’s now fluid and we can see through it, though from the right angle, we can perceive its presence. This water is a bit like the etheric plane, which is one vibrational step above the physical.

When we heat the water further, it becomes a cloud of steam. It’s still there, but is now invisible to us. Where the water just pooled on the floor and the ice was stuck in one spot, the steam can travel to the ceiling and the highest, farthest corners of the room.

This is one way to conceptualize the etheric and astral planes, which are dimensions higher in vibration than the physical. They exist right here, only at a higher vibration. (There are higher planes than the etheric and astral, but for now, let’s stick with these three.)

Just as we have a physical body in the physical plane, we subtle bodies that exist in other planes. One step higher than the physical is our etheric body, and one step higher than that is our astral body. (These subtle bodies can be seen in our auras.)

The etheric plane is so close to the physical that those of us who generally have a high vibration are often aware of it. For example, whenever we catch a glimpse of a spirit in our peripheral vision or see an aura, we are perceiving things with our etheric eyes. This is why to see auras, we can’t be focused on both the person and their aura. When one is in focus, the other is out of focus because we are shifting our consciousness between our physical body and our etheric body.

Most of the time, what we call astral projection is actually etheric projection. When we project etherically, we become like the water mentioned above: we remain in the physical plane but step outside ourselves. Like water melting off of ice, we can look back at our bodies from a new perspective.

During etheric projection we seem to be in the physical reality we’re familiar with. For example, if we project while in our bedroom, we may separate from our body to find ourselves hovering above our body on the bed. We tend to feel very restricted during etheric projection, like we have to remain very close to our bodies. If we do travel, we won’t go far. We may feel lighter than we do physically, but still not be able to fly around like we’re weightless. This is sort of like being in a state between water and steam – if we try to go too far, we condense on surfaces and become water again.

Astral projection involves the transfer of our consciousness beyond the etheric to our astral body. This is much more difficult because it requires us to raise our consciousness to a higher vibration. (The higher the metaphysical dimension, the higher we must raise our consciousness to explore it.)

The astral may have many similarities to physical reality, but it can also seem wild and different. We are actually in the astral plane when we dream every night, so we are all quite familiar with the amazing and unusual things that can happen in this realm.

Yes, this does mean that we all project into the astral every night. In fact, while we’re sleeping, our consciousness shifts into our etheric bodies so we can recharge our life force energy. We’re sort of like ipods that can only run for so long before they need to be recharged; after we’ve played for hours, we have to plug back into Source.

After we’ve soaked up a good amount of energy via sleep, we can rise a bit higher in vibration and wander off in our astral bodies to have adventures. This is why REM activity picks up so much in the early morning hours: we’re charged up from all that deep sleep and ready for action.

The difference between a regular dream and astral projection is how conscious we are during the experience. If we purposefully leave our bodies to travel in the astral, we call it astral projection. If we remain conscious that we are out of our bodies and thus maintain some control over the experience, that’s astral projection. Obviously, this is not the case during regular dreams. In fact, experienced astral projectors have reported being in the astral and witnessing dreamers play out dream scenes, oblivious to the fact that they are dreaming.

The astral is indeed where many spirits reside, at least for a while. It may even be that spirits who have moved beyond the astral can visit with us there. Many people encounter loved ones in Spirit in their dreams, and some very experienced astral projectors purposefully leave their bodies to visit with the spirits of friends and family on a regular basis.

As for meeting up with friends who are also projecting, controlling where you go while out of the body can be both very tricky and very easy depending on various factors.

Making this happen via will power takes tremendous skill. For example, back when I practiced astral projection a lot, I would always set an intention to go visit someone I knew so I could later check to see if what I saw them doing was valid. Every time I got out of my body, however, I totally forgot about my plans because I was so caught up in the experience. Much to my later frustration, I spent a number of sessions endlessly springing up to touch the ceiling because I was totally fascinated with the feeling of being in my etheric body.

The easiest way to connect with a friend or spirit in the astral is to simply to set that intention and ask Spirit or your higher self to fulfill it. If you don’t achieve your goal while consciously projecting, odds are good you will at least have some amazing “dreams” that involve the person you want to visit.

The astral is like a newly discovered continent: we don’t have great maps yet, so we have to be willing to experiment to discover its nature and establish routes and meeting places. I believe that thanks to trailblazers like you, in the future we’ll have many more answers about the nature of other planes of existence, as well as reliable, effective ways to get out of our bodies and explore other worlds.

– Soul Arcanum

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