A lot of beginners in Astral Practices have many doubts that have yet to be put all together and cleared at once, so I’ve decided to make of it my next FAQ for beginners. Please keep in mind that the advice offered in this post is based on my personal experiences and on the experiences of those close to me; do not take my word as an universal rule. Warning: very long post, be sure to click read more for the complete FAQ.
The astral place is a very cool place, and though you aren’t all-powerful in there you can still do amazing stuff. Like growing extra limbs.
I’ve read about it so I know it’s not just my personal experience, but I would advise to be very careful with your extra astral limbs.
I’ve had wings for a very long time in my astral form. First they were underdeveloped and useless, but I don’t remember how they arrived on my back. Guess I was born with them.
The thing is that my physical body kept reminding me that something was missing around my shoulder blades, and at some point it became very annoying (but I didn’t know how to astral travel at the time).
Recently, my wings became functional and while the problem didn’t resolve I learned to ignore it.
However, in the astral plane they are still very tricky to use because I don’t have a directory tail, like a bird. So basically, flying is hard.
That’s what I had in mind when I said that you aren’t all-powerful. There are still certain rules you have to follow in the astral. Not all physics rules apply though, it really depends on where you are, but you should be aware that it’s partially self-hypnosis. Your brain can become as convinced that you have wings as it is convinced you have a heart. Except you don’t have physical wings.
And even then, let’s say you want scales. How will your body temperature regulate? You want horns, will they crush your neck because they’re too heavy? You want literally black skin, like a seal, will you not be harmed by the sun? etc.
Be careful what you wish for, in the astral you can have it.
When we dream, we have out-of-body experiences on the astral plane. Conscious astral projection involves getting into a meditative state, moving your astral body out of your physical body, and traveling around on the astral plane.
Astral Body
Between you as spirit and your physical body there is an intermediate body known as your astral body. It is lighter and more changeable than your physical body. But the astral body has more shape and density than pure spirit. Your astral body may often be recognizable as your human form, but it can also change appearance, shift shapes, and do fun things like moving through walls.
Astral Plane
The world between the physical and spiritual world is known as the astral plane, or the astral. While it is commonly referred to in the singular as the astral plane, there are actually many different levels of the astral, or astral planes. We move through these astral planes in our dreams.
Astral Travel
The astral world is much more fluid than the physical world. Astral travel is not bound by the limitations of time and space. You can visit different dimensions and travel to past or future experiences on the astral. For many people, it is also easier to connect with deceased loved ones on the astral.
Astral planes vary from the ordinary, to the phantasmagorical, to the divine. Defying easy definition, the astral planes intersect with both physical reality and the symbolic realms of the dream world. Astral travel can take you to dimensions beyond your imagination.
Astral Dream Experiences
Your astral body plays a key role in creating new developments which have not yet manifested in your physical life. The astral is like a giant laboratory in which you experiment with your life and your creations.
The astral can also offer great insight, as it allows you to come at things from a different angle. Astral dream experiences allow you to see things from a different perspective than your normal awareness. As a result, astral dreams can be especially useful for working on situations that–for one reason or another–may be difficult to face directly in daily life.
Astral Projection Meditation
Astral projection typically involves getting into a meditative state so you can consciously move your astral body out of your physical body. With practice, astral projection allows you to develop greater awareness of out-of-body and astral experiences.
These are simple directions for an astral meditation that is suitable for beginners…
ASTRAL PROJECTION EXERCISE:
Preparing the Space, Preparing Yourself…
Find a quiet, comfortable place for yourself–where you will not be disturbed. Create a relaxing atmosphere. You may want to light a candle, burn incense, or play some quiet, soothing music in the background. Begin to relax in general. Take some deep breaths and perhaps do some light stretching. Sit upright in a comfortable position with an open posture.
Part I: Aura Meditation
Get yourself centered and grounded by doing the Aura Meditation in How to Meditate. You will also need to repeat this after your astral projection meditation.
Notice how you experience yourself before doing the Astral Projection exercise. Then close your eyes and focus your attention inward…
Part II: Astral Projection Meditation
Be aware of your body. Notice how you experience the density of your physical body. Then be aware of your aura about an arm’s length all the way around your body. Notice how you experience the lightness of your spiritual energy. Then start to open up your awareness of an intermediate body between your physical body and you as spirit. Notice how you experience the vibration of your astral body.
Allow yourself to shift your awareness to your astral body. Be present in your astral body.
Float your astral body up to a corner of the room. Be present in your astral body in that upper corner of the room. From that upper corner of the room, be aware of your physical body down below you, sitting in the chair. Notice how you experience your physical body down below you.
Then float your astral body up through the ceiling and be on the roof of your building. Be aware of your astral body standing on the roof of your building. On the roof, move around a bit in your astral body. Notice how you experience being in your astral body. Be aware of the world around from the roof of your building. Notice how you experience the world from your astral body.
Then bring your astral body down through the roof and be in an upper corner of the room again. From the upper corner of the room, notice your physical body sitting in the chair below you.
Float your astral body above your physical body. Notice what it’s like to be above your physical body. Then gently lower yourself down into your physical body. First be aware of being in your astral body in your physical body. Then allow yourself to shift your awareness to your physical body itself. Allow yourself to come back fully into your physical body.
Part III: Repeat the Aura Meditation
Get yourself centered and grounded by doing the Aura Meditation in How to Meditate. Draw all of your energy back from above you. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel your legs, torso, arms, neck and head. Be aware of your aura an arm’s length around your body. Notice what it’s like to be grounded back in your body.
When you feel ready, take a few deep breaths, gently open your eyes, and slowly begin to move. Notice how you experience yourself after doing the Astral Projection exercise. Give yourself some time to integrate this experience and enjoy being relaxed before moving on to other activities. (Especially after you first start practicing this meditation–you may want to journal your experience, have a cup of tea, or go for a quiet walk.)
If you practice astral meditation on a regular basis, it will become easier to do and your out-of-body experiences will gradually become clearer. – Oakwulf
hello, friends and amigos. we’re going to make a big post about how we all get into the astral. if you don’t see your way up here, tell me and I’ll add it to the original. this is an accumulation of all the ways I know, have been told, and make sense to me. SO LET’S HAVE FUN.
there are four main ways to go about entering the astral planes.
Meditation – exactly what it says on the box. the act of sitting down and relaxing yourself to the point where you’re spending long periods of time completely thoughtless. this act is said to calm the physical body to the point where the spiritual one can break free and explore. a really great place to read more into this would be the first section of Liber 4. he talks a lot about meditation, getting yourself into a thoughtless state, and an added mantra.
Visualization – this one can be a bit more loose when it comes to a general definition. this can be the act of anything from just thinking about being someplace else, imagining yourself doing a variety of things to pull yourself away, imagining a place for you to be, but the key is that you’re thinking up something instead of thinking of nothing at all. this can be a bit detrimental to some, as they may not always “believe” themselves since they caused the visualization in the first place.
Dreaming – Ah yes, the dreaded “lucid dreaming”. some are good at it, some can’t stand it, others barely even dream. I’ve only had success with this a total of two times, so I can’t speak a whole lot on it. but, like with meditation, it’s exactly what it says on the box. the act of going to sleep, entering a lucid dream, and taking control of it to explore other planes of existence.
“Splitting” – this is really just what I’ve dubbed those of us who can just be a billion places at once. this is the idea that “splitting” up your soul, energy, what-have-you can allow you to have multiple iterations of yourself in more than one place. so, by just switching to whichever fragment you choose, that is where your awareness goes. this can be the explanation to why some people have completely different and fulfilled lives in other planes of existence. splitting can take place through the first two methods, but people will usually find that once they start doing this, that’s what they stick to.
now, of course there are things that don’t quite fit into those categories. taking things like drugs, spirits, friends pulling you in, trauma, and ritual are also all viable ways to explore other planes, but those would be the most popular. and now this is going to get a heck of a lot more confusing, as I’m going to break them down into subgroups and then just tell you every way I know with a little blurb of information on each one. ready? let’s do this.
Trance – evoking a lulled, thoughtless state through multiple outlets, most notably through dancing, music, drugs, and repetitive motions or sounds.
Meditation
Guided meditation/Hypnosis – this would be having a second person or a group of people who are not in a state of meditation taking your thoughts and manipulating them as they see fit. while this is a useful way of moving to other planes, you are at the mercy of the other person and must be ready to trust them with where they’re taking you.
Binaurial Beats – I’ve heard other people using this with success, but basically you put this on to help you meditate and focus on the noise being made.
Drugs – yes I know I said this doesn’t usually fall into a specific category, but if you’re taking something with the intent of it aiding you in meditation (flying salve/mugwort), then this is definitely a viable way to go. there are other ways to locate some “more legal” substances, but “less legal” substances are perfectly viable as well. I can’t say I have experience in either, but know that they do have their pros and cons. just like everything, be smart with your usage.
Visualization
Sitting Up – this is the most basic form of visualization ever. this is the act of lying down and then imagining yourself sitting up. for some people, this works a lot better once they’ve been able to properly get themselves up and out.
Happy Place – I always recommend this to first-timers. a lot of people have trouble with meditation because they can’t stop themselves from thinking of things and distracting themselves, so I say do the opposite. imagine yourself in a place you’re familiar with and know well, a place that would keep you safe and comfy. and then explore for a while. expand slowly. open a door, walk out, and see what you find. A popular “happy place” among practicing magicians can be the temple made just for you.
The Rope – imagining your spirit attached to a rope, chain, etc and pulling yourself out of your body.
The Hole – imagining your spirit falling from your body and down into a hole. where this hole spits you out may be decided by you or not.
Falling – a subset of The Hole, but the feeling or idea of falling can cause some people to want to leave their body, usually due to traumatic experience. this can be created in a visualization, and is aided also by holding your breath.
Water – this seems to be a pretty popular visualization technique. this can range from the very typical “training warrior” who sits under the waterfall to achieve some sort of oneness from nature to imagining yourself in the shallow end of a pool and walking out someplace new and deeper than you expected. not for people who don’t feel safe in water.
Doors – another popular technique, mentally placing yourself with a room that has a door in it and opening the door, allowing it to lead to any possibility of things.
Dreaming (These will be different techniques to achieve a Lucid Dreaming status, not different ways to dream.)
Affirmation – the easiest way to, at the very least, start remembering your dreams. this can just be the act of, before going to bed, saying aloud to yourself “I will remember this dream tonight” or “I will dream tonight”. this can be further assisted with cataloging/writing down your dreams as soon as you wake up. yes, as soon as possible so you remember everything.
Time Check – making sure you check the time in dreams, along with in real life. in dreams, time can end up being randomized or out of place.
Dreaming? – take the time in normal, day to day life to sit down and ask yourself if you’re dreaming. the more you do this and the more you leave notes to yourself telling yourself that you’re not dreaming, the more you’ll end up doing it in an actual dream. so, if you end up asking yourself “am I in a dream?” and you say yes, then you may have sleuthed it, friend.
Returning to the Dream – this is pretty much the only way I can lucid dream. I find that if you are woken up from a deep sleep or a vivid dream and go back to sleep to “return” to it, it’s significantly easier to manipulate and be in charge of it.
Kitchen Timer – this can also work with setting an alarm at a certain time. but this is a bit of a more stimulated “Return to the Dream” method. you set an alarm/timer for a time in the middle of the night when you expect to be sleeping, and allow it to wake you up. hit snooze or reset the timer every time. keep doing this until your sleep is so light, you’re aware of the dream you enter.
*Personally, I do not suggest the sleep paralysis route. some people find it helpful, but I’ve found that it leads mostly to frustration or OBEs (out of body experiences) that are forced through fear and trauma. you’ll also find that people tend to get pretty spooked through initiating sleep paralysis, be it from seeing figures at night or hearing weird things.
I am lost in the ancient woodlands of my mind. Wandering the dark forest through another starless night. Wondering how many other people have walked this pathless path.
because people wanted me to make a tutorial and i hope it wasn’t too vague
the whole point is it’s made for you and you make it as detailed or complex as you want.
p.s if you have tips or such please send them to me! I will add them here!!
SO YOURE SAYING THAT I CAN ACTUALLY BE BEST FRIENDS WITH ANY FICTIONAL CHARACTER AND IT WILL BE LIKE THEYRE REAL
this is incredible! another thing to help you concentrate while creating your mind palace is to maybe blindfold yourself and actually walk around so that you really feel like you’re in you mind palace. and when you’re changing the furniture or whatever, i found it helpful to move my hands around, sort of like how tony stark does with jarvis
anyways, this is an incredible tutorial and i will definitely be putting it to good use
This will be mine. I will have it and I won’t need much of anything more.
Oh my god thank you! Thank you so much! This is actually a great tutorial. But immmm… My question is how do I store information in my mind palace?
This will be an extremely basic explanation of how astral projection works. This is only one of several paths to the astral. Many also use lucid dreaming.
I will break it into three steps. At each step there are countless methods and tricks, and you will need to find one that works for you.
Trance Induction: First, you must be in the right mindset. This is also the first step of hypnosis and most meditation. It may be achieved by breathwork, visualizations, and many other methods. I will include my favorite.
Lay down comfortably, relax, deep breaths. In through nose out through mouth. Focus on one muscle at a time and relax each one from the toes up.
Leaving Your Body: The next step is bilocation, the out of body experience.
Now that you are in a trance state, visualize moving the self without the body. For this you must become conscious that you are not your body. You are a soul wearing a body. A meat suit. Feel where your body ends and you begin. Feel that you are inside your body but not part of it.
Now attempt to move your true self, your etheric body, without moving the meat suit. Starting with a finger is easiest. Once you can do that, slowly sit up out of your body. Look around, stand up and look back at your unoccupied body. You may also be able to see the “silver cord” of energy which connects you to your body when you are not in it. This is how you will be able to find your way back if you get into real trouble.
Enter Another Plane: Now you need to leave this plane for another. There are countless visualizations for this. Stepping through a mirror, climbing a tree, or a mountain. A staircase into the earth for other planes. Some form of crossing a boundary, preferably symbolic of your destination, and with a firm idea in your mind of where you want to go.
This is wonderful, and, again, many routes for this. Find what works for you!
I personally settle into a deep meditative state and reach that boundary where you feel like you’re asleep even though you know you aren’t? Yup, that’s the one. Once there, I just chill until I pull myself outside of my physical body.
“How do you get back to your body?” you may be wondering. Well, I bilocate–I’m both in my body and my happy little soul self about to go into astral for a bit. There’s a mark on my astral body that is basically a “gtfo and get back into real body.” Yes, there have been occasions I have hastily hauled ass, but those are for another day. Maybe. [Someone should ask. Super obvious hint here.]
Anyway. Cute little soul, still bound to body so there’s a solid way back. Y no Astral Plane?
Like Dove said, visualization. DON’T EVER ASTRAL WITHOUT A CLEAR DESTINATION. I almost got seriously in trouble with this one spirit cause I was in a place I soooo should not have been. You don’t want to throw yourself into the full astral plane off bat, either, especially not prepared. It’s like an mmo. Don’t be the level 1 rookie that walks into the world thinking you can own shit. Visualize some space that is your own–yes, you can do this (astral plane is legit, fam). This is a great place to practice, familiarize, and interact with any sort of companions you may have.
Now, how to get to the visualized place is really up to you. Some use stairs. Some climb up. Some are as simple as opening a door. Me? I dive. I literally picture myself floating on the water’s surface of the physical plane, and, once I’m ready, I dive into the depths to reach the Astral Plane. It’s what works for me.
And there you go. This is a hot topic for people, especially people just starting out. I found that hearing more personal accounts helped me, so I hope this helped! I wish you the best and BE SAFE.
Reblogging cause this is good information, and like they said, personal accounts will help.
And yes, as I’ve said elsewhere many times, the astral plane is as dangerous and as safe as the physical one, and spirits are as dangerous or as safe as living humans.
Which is to say listen to your survival instincts and don’t go places that feel unsafe or trust people too deeply if you don’t know them.
Candlelight-magick 