Have you ever had a dream where you woke up in your house but then you could see yourself asleep in the bed? You just astral projected. We actually astral project every time we dream, we just don’t know it or remember. Consciously astral projecting can be a very fun and interesting thing to experiment with but it can also be dangerous. So before you try this do your own research.
Astral projection is kind of hard to explain because nobody knows for sure how this is possible. Psychological researchers still don’t have a definite answer on why we dream and where they come from. What I’ve taken from my metaphysical research is that we have two bodies. One is our physical body of flesh and blood and the other is known as the astral body. This is our energetic form. This body is able to transcend the physical dimensions and we access this in sleep and meditation. So what happens when we practice using our astral body?
We access the astral plane in our dreams and it is the plane right above ours. Think of the astral plane as a place between life and death. It is like a transition area for energetic beings. Just as it is a little difficult for spirits to cross into our realm, it takes us a few steps to be able to cross into theirs at will. One way is through meditation. By calming the mind we are able to use the vibrations around us to kind of shake out of our body. This method was made by Bob Monroe who founded the Monroe institute and was involved in the Gateway experiments done by the CIA. If you don’t know about Gateway it is a government experiment focusing on the possibility of astral projection and manifestation. If you like conspiracies and stuff read it, it’s crazy and released to the public. Another meditation method is once you are calmed and in the meditative state, imagine a rope hanging down. Start climbing with your astral body. Once you know you are out of your physical body you can explore the astral. Another way to do this is through lucid dreaming but that is a whole other post!
Astral projection sounds really cool right? So why don’t more people learn to control it? Simply because it’s a scary concept. Conscious astral projection is very cool but it has it’s dangers. I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying this but I also don’t want you to go in blind. The first danger is exhausting yourself. I would imagine that when you stay conscious in sleep you’re probably not getting the most high quality sleep so doing this too much can be exhausting. Another danger that is less likely, especially if you are protected is a lower vibrational spirit attaching itself to you. These spirits see your vibration as home so they attach thinking that they will be alive in our realm again. This is not the case and this can be avoided through proper protection measures taken before astral projecting. This is also avoided by actively seeking out higher vibrations and positivity in your everyday life. You can also get rid of these spirits if this happens to you. One thing that isn’t dangerous but can be scary and just plain annoying is sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is when you wake up and you can’t move. This is because you are in between being asleep and being awake. You body does this to protect you from acting out your dreams. It is a completely normal experience but doing things like astral projection or lucid dreaming can make it more likely to happen because you are trying to access the conscious mind in sleep. So if it happens to you just breathe and I usually get out of it by moving my fingers and focusing on them moving. Then my body realizes I’m awake and it’s over. Another danger is underlying fear. Astral projecting is kind of like taking psychedelics in that you cannot do it in a state of fear. By astral projecting in a state of fear you are more likely to encounter low vibrational entities or experience creepy visuals. So before you try astral projection research, meditate, and ground so you can go into it in the best mental state you can.
There are a lot of myths surrounding astral projection as well. Many of these myths were designed to make it seem scary and keep people from trying or featured in horror movies for a good story (looking at you “Insidious”). So consider these myths busted. So first, when you are astral projecting there is the silver cord that is always connected to your body and if you get lost you can always follow it back. Many people believe that this cord can be cut and you will be trapped in the astral forever. That is simply not true. If you saw the movie, “Insidious” astral projection probably freaked you out for a little bit because the plot is about astral projection gone wrong. Long story short, a young boy gets stuck in the astral because a demon is trying to enter his body. This actually is not possible and I was scared for the longest time! Technically, every night when you dream you are astral projecting, you just don’t know it. You always wake up in your body right? So that disproves this myth. Nothing can steal your body while you are in the astral. They can attach themselves to you and take over that way but not from simply astral projecting and that is rare anyways. Another myth is dying from astral projection. You cannot die from astral projection alone. However you are not immune to the outside world so if you happened to have a heart attack and die while astral projecting that isn’t astral projection’s fault.
So this is a general overview of astral projection. If you want a more detailed article on more specific aspects of astral projection, let me know in the comments. I have astral projected before. The crazy part is, most of the dream work I have done was before I was a witch and it honestly helped me get into witchcraft. After writing this article I will be doing more dream work so stay tuned for some stories from the astral!
What is Astral Projection? An Astral Projecting Guide | Gaia
Astral Projection Dangers – IAC International Academy of Consciousness (iacworld.org)
The Dangers of Astral Projection (and How to Do It Right) – Exemplore – Paranormal
Astral Projection Dangers: How To Do It Safely – Lucid Dream Society
Venusian VVitches 