The Witch's Broom
Astral Projection seems to be the most Practical form of "practical magic" there is. Its interesting how little this is emphasized but its sort of understandable also. The implications are astounding and rarely are we fortunate enough to be told of easy access to a Diamond Mine within our reach! In fact, the psychological barriers to this most personal of powers are so universally ingrained that they are almost invisible (eg. religious, psychological and societal). How clever and ruthless could priest, politician, church or government be? Clever enough to erect terms in your psychic territory??
First of all what is the Astral and what is Astral Projection. It is a somewhat dated term for a psychic medium and a psychic form of travel in a dimension no less real than our own. In fact it is said to be the substance from which our physcial dimension is born. It is the Egg that gave birth to the Chicken if you will. Other names for the Astral dimension and the astral body are (and this could only be a sampling as terms come and go):
The Fourth Dimension
The Fifth Dimension
Seventh Heaven
Heaven
Side
OBE or OOBE (Out of Body Experience)
Near Death Experience (Astral Travel caused by nearly losing one's life and then "returning")
The Aethyrs
The Mental Realm
Soul Flight
Bilocation (Two places at once)
Parallel Universes
The Biological Plasma Body (Soviet Parapsychology Term)
In The Light
The Spirit
The Witch's Broom (This is my nickname for the astral body and I'm sure someone(s) has used it a thousand times before me. Legend has it that the stories of witch's riding on brooms comes from a practice some certain witch's had of smearing their bodies with a drug which induced astral travel while they chanted and danced pretending to fly on their brooms. Those gals were "high as a kite!". This technique is very similar to the Haitian Voudun (ie. Voodoo) practice of riding the Loas (spirits)).
The Soul
Tulku (A Tibetan term with several spiritual/magical meanings one of which is the Astral Body)
Emotional Body
Body of Light
The Incorruptible Body
The Ectoplasmic Realm
The Dream World
Remote Viewing or RV (The latest catchy term and well documented by
psychic U.S. goverment agents and agencies. While the average U.S. layman watches the X-Files and wonders whether Astral Travel is possible the U.S. Goverment has acknowledged successful use of this method on celebrated cases like the discovery and retrieval of U.S. war hero General Dozier when he was kidnapped by the Italian terroist group the Red Brigade. The U.S. also acknowledges spending from $10-100 million U.S. Tax dollars on this activity in less than 20 years.)
Ecstasy
The Doppelganger (German)
Duppy (Jamaican slang for ghost)
When the descriptions are read of these 'bodies" and "places" two things are clear; they are all referring to the same thing and it is by its very nature very subjective and plastic (not plastic as in false but manipulable while being Very Real just as Fire and Water are dreamy, plastic and Very Real).
"I may travel the entire world and never cross my doorstep." -Lao Tzu
"Throughout the whole of the occult/witchcraft lore, it is an accepted fact that the conscious, thinking part of a human being can be voluntarily projected for great distances outside the physical body.. ..would you enjoy calling your sister in a distant city and complimenting her on her new couch the same day it is delivered? Want to know where your boyfriend goes when he is not with you? How about tracking down a runaway spouse, or reading your competitor's bid on a job before you deliver yours? And are you sure it is not being done to you already without your knowing about it?"-Dr. Al G. Manning, Founder of The ESP Laboratory of Texas
"...a paraplegic veteran. Once he was on the verge of suicide because he was, he thought, condemned for the rest of his natural life to sit in a wheelchair and be tended by others. Astral travel added a new dimension to his life, a dimension where he spends as much time as he can while his body remains in its wheelchair.. ."-Gavin and Yvonne Frost, Astral Travel
"As if those two successful trips in the same class weren't enough, Helen Seboia and Pat Champion met each other on their astral trip. Unknown to either of them, they had chosen to visit the same mutual friend.
'I was amazed,' Helen reported, 'that no sooner was I in that house when Pat came flying through the walls. I told her to get out, that this was my project. She asked me what I was doing on her trip! Then I became so angry that I flew away and went to visit someone that Pat doesn't know.'
"Pat confirmed everything Helen had said. The interesting thing was that when when they phoned their mutual friend, the lady admitted she had 'felt their presences' that morning and asked, 'Why had Helen been so upset?'
"None of these people--in fact no one in that class--had ever tried astral travel before."-David St. Clair's Lessons In Instant ESP
"A dictionary defines the astral body as 'a supposed spirit or ghostlike double of the human body, able to leave it at will.'
"Everybody possesses an astral body. Your own fits exactly the contours of your own physical body, and it will not seperate from it permanently until you breathe your last breath of life. It does leave it at time times, though, when you are asleep or unconscious, and it can travel anywhere on earth and back, in the wink of an eye...affords you an incomparable method or medium for producing your almost miraculous secret of personal psychic power. With it you can appear before anyone 'in person' when he is asleep or awake, and maintain an unbreakable bond with him. You don't even have to know beforehand where he is located, because your astral body intelligence will find him on its own guidance system, like the radar missile finds the target...
"When you project this phantasm or psychic image before anyone, regardless of whether he is asleep or awake, his subconscious will be immediately overwhelmed by it. He will see you with his inner mind's eyes (his highest and lowest visual centers) as being the majestic vision of yourself which you have projected to him...it will possess not only its physical appearance, but its unlimited power, supernatural agility and indestructibility." -The Secrets of Personal Psychic Power by Frank Rudolph Young
"The astral body is one of seven sheath bodies we all have - as we are all multi-dimensional. These bodies include the physical, mental, causal, etheric, emotional, spiritual....You can travel out of your body while reclining or while sitting. Some people do it while walking down the street. It is important for you to control this experience and not just get 'yanked' out of your body. Reality becomes more fluid these days and one must still maintain control of their 3D experience.
"If out of body experience are out of control - the person may have a mental illness and need to consult a psychiatrist."- Ellie's Crystalinks Site (highly recommended!) http://www.crystalinks.com/index.html
I consider myself very fortunate to have been exposed to the Seth Material of Jane Roberts and Robert Butts as a young person. Any works from that couple are priceless. Adventures in Consciousness is especially crucial in showing how a large percentage of mental illnesses are actually psychic phenomena occuring in a context either ignorant of or hostile to this phenomena. Isn't it easy to imagine the great Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla (who's main teacher was his Mother who drilled him in psychic exercises as a child) being labled quacks or madmen? How much more for a child prodigy? I myself know of a situation in which a child prodigy was misunderstood, drugged and subjected to years of electroshock therapy and institutionalization. I knew this woman and the unfortunate fact is that neither her unsophisticated parents nor the controlling nuns in her schools could conceptualize her intellect and artistic genius. She suffered greatly and the punishment to her mind and body heightened her psychic experiences creating a vicious cycle of abuse.
Oftentimes medications from doctors create spontaneous astral projection unbeknownst to the doctor. The fact is Astral Projection is extremely common. Everyone (believers and skeptics) do it Several times a night. They call it dreams. All dreams represent an aspect of astral travel. When people become drugged the spirit naturally floats up and away from the body causing the body in question to feel "high":
"Doctors say they have triggered out-of-body experiences in a female patient by stimulating her brain.
They believe their work may help to explain mysterious incidents when people report experiences of 'leaving' their body and watching it from above.
The doctors did not set out to achieve the effect - they were actually treating the women for epilepsy.
"Awareness of a biological basis of OBEs might allow some patients to talk about them more openly.
"Neurology Professor Olaf Blanke and colleagues at Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland were using electrodes to stimulate the brain.
"They found that stimulating one spot - the angular gyrus in the right cortex - repeatedly caused out-of-body experiences (OBEs).
"Initially, the stimulations caused the woman to feel she was 'sinking' into the bed, or falling from a height.
"When the current amplitude was increased, she reported leaving her body."-BBC News
"During his long stay in the West Indies, Tom had picked up considerable lore about pychic phenomena. While strolling through the woods with Earl, they had seen certain natives seeming to fly by means of their arms and legs alone, emitting strange cries as they blazed corkscrew-shaped trails through the air, and performing other unbelievable feats. In his desperate condition Tom selected one such means with which he hoped to contact Earl as swiftly as possible. He would use his psychic powered astral body..."-F.R. Young
"....one of the most rewarding aspects of astral projection: the healing and helping of others. Nothing can be quite as fulfilling as the sudden improvement in a loved one's condition that you can see was the direct result of your astral work."-Frost and Frost
"....to the serious student is the opportunity to visit loved ones and/or teachers who have passed beyond the veil called death. An 'in person' visit to a financial wizard, a great scientist, or your own 'spirit teacher' is much more useful and rewarding than the slower methods of contemplating a problem and hoping that guidance will come from your meditations!"-Helping Yourself With White Witchcraft, Dr. Manning
"The Logical Composition of Your Astral Body: Since the astral body penetrates the most compact solid, it must be a
(a) gas, plus
(b) electromagnetic radiation (radiowaves); and it must be
(c) absolutely controlled by a will or a mind;
(d) but this mind may or may not be that of a human being
"Is it the subconscious mind? Or the Primitve Autoconscious?...
"Certainly it is neither of them shortly after the body expires, even if the Primitve Autoconscious can still be recorded electrically from the body briefly after that. The astral body also
(e) can be converted into a solid at will;
(f) can be converted back to a gas at will;
(g) can change its shape, form and substance at will.
(h) In the psychic state of possession, it can even replace the astral body of the unfortunate victim and impose it own will on him."
-CYCLOMANCY-The Secret of Psychic Power Control, Young
"Historic Examples:
It is related that St. Anthony of Padua, when preaching in the Church of St. Pierre de Quayroix at Limoges on Holy Thursday in 1226, suddenly remembered that he was due at that hour for a service in a monastery at the other end of town.
"Drawing his hood over his head, he knelt down for some minutes while the congregation reverently waited. At that moment, the saint was seen by the assembled monks to step forth from his stall in the monastery chapel, read the appointed passage in the Office, and immediately dissapear.....
"What more respectable examples could we take than those astral projections which were made into the British House of Commons and witnessed by eminent members there? There are numerous historic examples such as when Dr. Mark Macdonnell, while ill in bed, appeared in the House, was seen by fellow members on two consecutive days and actually entered the Division lobby and recorded his vote.
"The case of Dr. Macdonnell did, indeed, come in for a certain amount of comment in the Press, but seems not even to have been a nine day's wonder.
"The subject of Astral Projection is one of paramount significance in this materialistic Age, as it proves conclusively the possibility of life after death. It is, however, a phenomena more often brushed aside by the medical profession as mere hallucination...there are however various techniques that make the individual increasingly conscious in the astral world."-Dr. Douglas Baker, The Techniques of Astral Projection
"When you leave your body in a fully conscious state, gaze down at the apparently sleeping physical form, and calmly walk away, you will have a pretty good idea that you have completed an astral trip. But even then, the conscious mind may try to convince you that you were only 'dreaming.' So how can you tell that you were 'out'....the evidence is the color. When seen from the astral vantage point, even the drabbest of rooms takes on a special brightness. There are no words to describe the vividness and beauty of the astral colors, but once you have seen them, you will undestand and know that you have succeeded in visiting this fascinating and useful realm of life."-Dr. Manning, ESP Laboratory of Texas
A humorous aside in the literature is the constant mention of Realms. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? It reminds me very much of the American television show "Bewitched" starring Elizabeth Montgomery. I don't know how much if any actual occult research went into that show but astral realms reminds me of the segments in that show where all manner of outlandish and usually humorous witches and warlocks were in half finished realms attending to "higher matters" and manipulating earth realities. Exactly! Is it any wonder that the program was as popular as it was? Its a little known fact that the occult section is the most popular section of any bookstore offering such titles. Yet even in the 21st century talk of this topic can gain one a spectrum of personal complications some of them quite serious. This is a warning for those ignorant on the matter. Consider that even Jesus the Christ came of age and received much of his education from a Mystical, Jewish Secret Society called the Essenes. Their training included, among other things, meditation and the Kabbalah (an extremely sophisticated ear-to-mouth system of Jewish philosophy and magic) both of which are openly condemned by most Christian sects.
The overwhelming majority of clergy, especially the higher-ups, have always practiced the Kabbalah and meditation. The system is neither good nor evil. It has 'left hand' and 'right hand paths' that is to say White and Black philosophies and magics. Fire is good when used to warm your home and evil when used in arson. And what is good for the goose is good for the gander. In Magical Tradition Jesus The Christ is not usually viewed as God or The Messiah but he is seen as one of a mere handful of the most highly realized personalities to walk the planet, a messenger of Love, Peace, personal power "...and greater things than this will you do..." and the most sophisticated scientist-magician who ever lived. His example is golden. In Judaism he is considered a false prophet and the Jews of his day supposedly consented to execute him. The majority of Christians today and throughout time choose to ignore and forbid some of his most important teachings upon threat of excommunication, damnation or death. Jesus The Christ was a master of the Jewish mystical (MYSTICISM) tradition of The Essenes from which we get the words "essence" and "quintessence". The true nature of Christ and other bibilical figures and the freedom to discuss it is one of the higher teachings of the Masons. So much of their secrecy was based on fearful respect of the Church's partyline.
"Then you can positively influence Mr. Big - perhaps even 'save his life'- on the astral in your own guise, in this way giving him a very favorable impression of your capabilities while degrading those of your rival.
"Remember: in the higher realms you can be anything and you can do anything. Your own thoughts result in changes of shape, attire and place. These changes happen rapidly, and you should practice them before you try them as a method of influencing others; for sometimes you can become confused, and start feeling sick and giddy. It's as if you had just come off a roller coaster; the rapid changes of direction have made you queasy."-Frost & Frost, Astral Travel
"....magic explains why so many great men of science, philosophy, religion and statemanship believed in psychic phenomena. That's why Freud, as early as 1921, wrote to Hereward Carrington, the Aeridal psychic investigator, that, 'If I had my life to live again, I should devote myself to psychical research rather than to psychoanalysis.' And also why William James predicted in 1900 that 'the greatest scientific conquests...will be achieved in parapschology...'
"Your astro-spirit counterpart can bring you powers greater than magic or science because it more than doubles the powers of your astral body by adding to it the astral body of a life that fills out your own. You are then like a being possessing two astral bodies instead of one--like a being possessing more than two of them, in fact, for you are then flooded with astral body versatility, since you will possess two complimentary astral bodies working together, one of which balances the lacks of the other...(That's why, accompany all your uses of spirit-thought with a worthy purpose, for the power you may unleash with it may surpass anything that science or magic has equalled.)
"At other times Dora has stopped hurricanes when she was not 'on location,' by visualizing the person she knew who was there, and placing her Bible on a small table (with the radio in the center of the table) and 'using' the 91st Psalm.
"Dora acquired her power over lightning later, 'perhaps,' she believes, 'because I never thought of trying it before.' 'I just don't like lightning,' she says, 'I don't especially try to stop it, however, although I frequently do. I just don't want it in the area where I live.'"
-F.R. Young, The Secret of Spirit-Thought Magic
"The priest, the minister, the shaman, the guru all work within their own rigid realities. Finding one of these spiritual 'leaders' equipped to interpret the astral for you is almost impossible. Many of them have never thought it necessary to explore on their own. They take the word of their own particular dogma and interpret it...the words assuredly have within them clues to the astral consensus reality; however, you know a far better way to find out the truth.
"Go there yourself.
"Go today. Don't delay.
"If you wait around, whether it be for a new guide to take you by the hand, for that nice new blanket you're going to use, or for that new house that will have the space you need to work in, you might as well give up now. You will never smell the flowers. You will never experience the Ultimate...one person by himself or herself can change his own life and can change the world in a small circle around himself. For the future good of all, more people must understand the astral realms and what life is all about. You can play your individual part in this great drama of survival or you can simply ignore it."-Frost & Frost, Astral Travel
Hopefully this article will stimulate discussion and positive actions. Anyone having questions or comments about the article and the authors and publications listed please contact us.
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First 
Recommend
,
.....
hated to do it but i did