My first conscious astral experience occurred about two years before I came in contact with the Gnostic Movement in Australia It happened in the afternoon, whilst I was taking a nap on a hard bed I had established on top of a study desk, for the purpose of Relaxation and Astral Projection exercises. At this time I lived in a pleasant village in Southeast England. It was an autumn day and I was particularly tired and so decided to rest on the established bed and take the opportunity to try some of the Astral Projection exercises I had read about.
My concentration was not good, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. As I lay there in a nice relaxed state, aware of the traffic passing by on the main road outside, I quickly fell asleep. Soon after I came back fully awake in my body, however, some things were not ‘right’. I could hear the traffic outside and could also see the room, even though my eyes were shut. The strangest thing of all was that my body felt like normal, meaning I felt like I was lying on the hard bed in the Physical dimension, but my left arm had dropped at a forty-five degree angle through the bed and into the desk below. My arm was dangling in an impossible position. I was very baffled by this for some moments and then struggled to think about what I should do next? My left arm was clearly hanging through the bed. I, therefore, assumed that my Astral Body had split from my Physical Body and I needed to get up or roll over. When I thought about rolling over, I got caught up with the fear that I might fall off the bed and hurt myself, as the bed was about one meter off the floor. I then thought about moving my left arm, that was hanging through the bed, but decided this was too risky as it might cause me to ‘wake up fully’ and ruin the whole experience. So I then determined that the next best thing to do was to move my right arm in the air and see if I was still in the Physical or the Astral. So I moved my right arm and lost the sensation of my left arm through the bed, as my Astral Body locked itself fully back into the Physical.
Looking back on this experience it was clear that my intellectual rationalizing of the whole thing was really what locked me back in my body. If I had gently gone along with getting up without making comparisons and working out the pros and cons of everything I would have been able to get up and remain in the Astral Plane.
Although this experience was small it was sufficient for me to realize that nearly every book I had ever read about the Astral was almost inconsequential to experiencing the real thing. I had never imagined the experience to be so real: feeling almost exactly like the Physical Body. This experience baffled me for many days.
Shortly after this I met some people that were extremely psychic but also very negative. It became apparent to me that obtaining psychic abilities along with Astral Projection did not, in itself, make people more Spiritual or Divine; even though some people who had these abilities talked a great deal about love and virtues, that they presumed they had. Whilst their abilities were very impressive I knew there had to be more to the big picture and years later I discovered this ‘more’ was primarily related to the use of sexual energies and our psychological composition.
My second conscious Astral experience took place a few years later, shortly after I started attending the Gnostic Movement teachings in Sydney. I had been taught some techniques for Astral Projection and I tirelessly strove to practice them so I could experience the Astral Plane that I had already read so much about by different authors.
The practice eluded me for many months. I kept trying but nothing ever seemed to happen. Almost as soon as I started I would fall asleep or if this didn’t happen I would lie awake nearly all night trying. However, I wasn’t perturbed by this as I had learnt other techniques from the Gnostic Movement that I found more valuable than anything else I had ever learnt and done in my life, but even still, I was determined to get this Astral experience.
One night my frustration reached its limit and I resolved myself to persist with the practice until something happened. Every night for many weeks, just as I felt I was getting somewhere in the practice, which I always did lying on my back, I would uncontrollably turn over onto my left side and instantly black out. On this night I was determined that no matter what, I was not going to turn over on my left side, even if this meant I was wide awake all night long. I had experimented with sleeping positions and the one that I found most effective was lying on my back on a thin foam mat on the hard floor. I found this position sufficiently uncomfortable to stop me from slipping into deep uncontrollable sleep. It also meant that if the discomfort became unbearable I would get up and go to the bathroom and then return to start the practice again. On the night in question, this happened a few times. Just as I felt I was going to move I either stopped myself from moving or I got up and had a break.
At around four o’clock in the morning, I returned after a break to the bathroom, feeling very tired and drowsy, but I woke myself up a bit to start the practice again. I lay down and started the practice of a Mantra. After a short while I had an uncontrollable urge to roll onto my left side. I resisted this as much as possible, but eventually my body started to turn over. I couldn’t believe it. My body was moving even though I was trying with all my strength and will power to stay still, lying on my back. I was amazed that my body was out of my control and doing something against my will. I had never experienced anything like it. I was fully awake and my body was turning over onto the left side. I thought ‘Oh no, after all the effort I had made all the way through the night, I was now turning over without any control and going to black out what a waste!’! As my body was turning I suddenly felt a forceful blow at the top of my back, like someone whacking me with the palm of their hand, in a similar way to which you hit someone to help them throw up something that they have swallowed down the wrong way. At the same time, or a fraction of a second later, I heard or rather experienced in the back of my head and neck, a very loud cracking sound, like a firecracker exploding or someone cracking a whip. I thought, for a worrying moment, that I must have twisted and broken my neck by trying not to move. Instantly, I found myself standing vertically in my bedroom, next to my bed staring at my suits that were hanging on the wall. Whilst I stood there feeling very strange, I realized that I had split from my Physical Body which remained lying on its back on the floor. I also realized that it was my Astral Body that had been turning, not my Physical Body! Whilst standing in the room I could see behind me even though I seemed to be dumbstruck looking at the wall and my suits. The whole thing was such a novelty that again I became confused about what I should do? I then blacked out and started dreaming in the Astral. A short time later, I woke up in my Physical Body and remembered everything in great detail, just as if it had happened the day before in my normal ‘awake’ state.
This was my first major Astral Split/Projection. After this event I experienced a number of sporadic occurrences. In one practice I was lying on my back, as usual, and suddenly found myself hovering horizontally above my body at an inclined angle of forty-five degrees. I was dumbstruck and couldn’t move. I was also very confused as I only had half of my body with me – the upper torso? Other experiences were not so peculiar. I usually had a full body and found myself either standing next to my body as if I had just got up or hovering vertically above my head. This was also a novelty the first time it happened, particularly when I became alarmed at the possibility that I was going to drop or tread on my own head – which fortunately didn’t/couldn’t happen.
After a variety of short Astral Projections, along with waking up whilst in dreams, I again became disheartened and summoned up the will power and desperation to actually split and do something sustained and productive whilst in the Astral Plane. I decided to do a practice, it was around midday and I wore a sleeping mask, like those you are given to wear in some airplane flights, along with earplugs to keep out noise pollution, which at this time there was a great deal of where I was living. I started the practice and shortly after found myself standing in the Astral Plane next to my body, looking at the wardrobe in my bedroom. I was puzzled by the fact that I knew I had split and knew where I was standing but couldn’t quite see anything. I then realized I still had my sleeping mask on – in the Astral? I took it off and lightly walked/floated out of the flat and took the lift downstairs. At this time I lived in a tower block on the 42nd floor. On arriving at ground level I walked out of the building and noticed some of the vacant shops had been filled. This was strange because at this time these shops were vacant and had been for a while. One of the shops was a very nice cake shop. My gluttony got hooked on it and I stared at some cakes in great detail, fascinated by some of the elaborate designs of cakes on display. Shortly after, there was a strange knocking sound from somewhere, I tried to follow it and quickly came back to my Physical Body. I was catatonic in my Physical Body, the Astral Body had not quite locked into the Physical Body, and I lay there unable to move and became aware that the knocking was actually coming from my front door of the flat. Eventually my bodies locked into each other and I very gently got up out of the bed to answer the door, but before I got there my wife had already let herself in. A month or so later a similar cake shop appeared in the physical.
Many of my astral experiences and dreams have contained premonitions of future events. It is not always certain, however, what will occur. I recall another instance similar to the cake shop. Once whilst living in a different block of flats, I looked out of my bedroom window and noticed a vacant unit in the block opposite. During a dream in the Astral, I was in my flat looking out of the bedroom window at the other block of units and saw some Chinese girls that looked like twin sisters, moving into the vacant flat. They had a blue bed with an elaborate black cast iron headrest. A few weeks later, in the physical, I found myself doing the exact same thing, looking out of my bedroom window at the units opposite and observing the exact same girls, bed and headrest that I had dreamt about. The more that I have trained myself to remember my dreams and astral experiences the more frequent these types of premonitions have become. They are also related to those moments of feeling ‘deja vu’ like the exact event had somehow been lived before.
I mentioned waking up in dreams and again this is something that has occurred since being involved in the Gnostic Movement and learning the techniques for it to happen. My initial problem with this, was that every time I became aware that I was dreaming and in the Astral Plane, I would immediately come back to my Physical Body and wake up. This problem has gradually diminished with practice and familiarity.
There are many things that we can experience in the Astral Plane, whether dreaming or fully conscious there. Some experiences are very profound and symbolic. It is very useful to know about dream symbols. Some symbols are very overpowering and affect the consciousness directly. There are no words to describe them, on occasion I have been filled with awe for many months, even more so when not 100% sure what they meant. Some objects/symbols have an impossible element, meaning it would be impossible to create them or anything like it in the Physical World.
Another sensation we can experience in the Astral is being called by other conscious Beings hopefully positive ones. When this first occurred to me it felt like the ground beneath me had been pulled away and I was suddenly falling or dropping through a tunnel at extremely high speed. As someone else once mentioned it feels like you are falling to the centre of the Earth, until you arrive in the presence of those who have called you.
Concentration (focusing the mind in a sustained way on one thing) is the real key to Astral Projection and also helps if we want to move in it. During an episode of waking up within a dream, I found myself in a pleasant park. I jumped and floated down in a very strange way and knew for sure that I was in the Astral Plane. I then started to concentrate on different places in the park. As I intensely looked at the different places, I was instantly there. Again this was such a novelty. To feel that I could move, what felt like my Physical Body, as quick as a thought, the speed was amazing and incomprehensible to my mind. It is a pity that, once again, I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to do something more useful. However, it was an exhilarating experience, to realize I could transport myself anywhere in a second.
Fear of Astral Projection was something that I had for a long time. It is a very common thing, many people fear the unknown. Once, during a time of almost giving up with Astral Projection, I had a Lucid Dream, or rather I fully woke up in the Astral from a dream. I thought I had overcome my fear, but really I hadn’t. I was in the Astral in a beautiful park (different one to the example above) and I fully woke up. I jumped, floated and stayed suspended about one meter above the grass. I just hovered there. I didn’t have a single thought, desire, emotion or impulse, nothing but a blissful feeling of peace. It was the most beautiful experience I had ever had in my life. There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. I awoke shortly after, feeling such a fool for allowing fear to have ruined so many of my Astral Projection attempts. The peaceful experience stayed with me fully for many days.
Many strange things can occur in the Astral Plane and these peculiar events can be very useful for us, if we take advantage of them to question our surroundings and awaken our consciousness. For example: I was walking along the road talking to a friend from work. Whilst talking to her, we heard an airplane flying in the sky. We looked up and saw the airplane pulling something behind it; normally these airplanes dangle huge advertising flags behind them, for the public to read. However, on this occasion it was pulling a gigantic LCD computer monitor. I said to the girl ‘Look at that it is impossible, we must be dreaming and in the Astral Plane. Let’s jump and see!’ So I jumped and floated about ten meters off the ground. When I landed I encouraged my friend to do the same, but she didn’t know what I was talking about and hadn’t reacted in the slightest to me jumping so high. She appeared to be dead with a vacant expression over her face. This surprised me a lot, as we seemed to be talking quite normally only a few moments before.
This type of experience has regularly occurred in other contexts, but it has not always been fruitful. Many times in dreams I have encountered persons, places and objects that clearly were not physical and yet I didn’t use them as a cue to awaken. My consciousness continued on in its drugged ‘asleep’ state, dealing with everything in an indifferent way. As a simple example, I am dreaming in the Astral Plane talking to someone who is exceptionally tall, about nine or ten foot. I marvel at how tall they are and instead of thinking to myself ‘this is unusual I must be in the Astral’ my mind comes in and suddenly makes the logical assumption that the person must be a professional basketball player. My mind making that assumption stopped me from questioning further and awakening. In the context of what was really happening and being discussed it was an absurd assumption.
The more conscious and awake I have been in the Astral Plane the more vivid and bright have been the colors and shapes. The clarity of perception in the Astral Plane can be exhilarating, far beyond any DVD colors or sharpness. I recall watching a sunrise in a beautiful valley. I was amazed at how I could stare directly at the sun and see its brilliance, looking straight at it without even blinking or squinting, as it would make us do in the physical world. The valley was brilliant and sparkling exuding a magnificent vibrancy, filled with life.
It is common for conscious Beings in the Astral Plane to help us awaken by doing unusual things. On one occasion I remember someone making huge efforts to help me awaken. They stood in front of me dressed like an acrobatic jester from the middle ages, performing physically impossible maneuvers and balancing acts. I watched them for a long time amazed and stunned, questioning what they were doing and trying to rationalize the impossible. Regrettably, I did not awaken on this occasion, but I learnt about the process of awakening from clearly recalling the experience.
One of the most useful tools I have used in my attempts of awakening has been a dream diary. This is recording in as much detail the astral experiences or dreams. I will never forget some of the astral experiences related to symbols and have not written most of these down. Keeping a Dream Diary has been of great importance when reading back on dreams from years ago and recalling the psychological traits within them. These may be traits that I still have now and need to deal with. The Dream Diary is also very useful for spotting recurring dreams in which the same people, places or objects occur and then using these as cues to awaken. For example, if I keep dreaming about family members that I rarely see in the physical or who may already be dead, then I condition myself to question my environment then next time I see them. By doing this there is a good possibility that the next time I meet them I will be in the Astral and will realize this and hence awaken there.
Most of our lives have a dreary, monotonous undertone. We work in anticipation of our next break, holiday or long weekend to alleviate the feeling that we are wasting our lives. Perhaps we have found something that gives us great pleasure, but is it really a permanent state of blissful happiness, independent of the circumstances we are in and the people we meet? Awakening in the Astral Plane opens up a new dimension and understanding of Life and Death. The experiences we gain are worth a great deal more than anything we can afford in the Physical World.
Before I started the Gnostic Movement courses my life was severely disorientated. I didn’t really care about my life, because nothing on this afflicted planet made any sense apart from making as much money as possible, at whatever cost, to enable me to experience as many pleasures as possible, before I died. My life, like this, was not worth living. I was alive because I had a Physical Body and had to live. The pleasure seeking and the desires were insatiable. Their fulfillment did not alleviate the vacuous hole and Spiritual void within me, if anything they made it worse.
To strive for the Awakening is difficult but the rewards are permanent and profoundly edifying.
By, Shane
