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    Astral Projection troubles

    Hey all, this is actually the reason I joined the site. Hopefully you'll be able to help!

    I've been trying to astral project ever since I seriously got into the craft. When my husband does it, I am able to follow him, but most of the time I'm not conscious of it. He describes me as a small little gryphon singing my own little Mission Impossible theme, and when he turns to me I pause the singing and sink down low (Think Emperor's New Groove). I remember little snippets of the journey, but I can not remember the whole thing.

    I myself have Googled, read, and practiced again and again, but to no avail. I even have a ritual room in my home that is painted with glyphs that encourage astral travel, and even surrounded by this, I can't get it. I've asked my husband, but he's so practiced in it, he just shrugs and says "I just do it."

    Some of the ways I've tried:
    -At night, before I go to sleep
    -As soon as I wake up
    - In the middle of the afternoon
    - The 'Rope' technique
    - Multiple websites describing how to astral project
    - Guided astral travels using CDs
    - Hypnotic states induced by others

    Each new technique I practice for about 3 weeks before I absolutely give up and throw my hands in the air. At this point I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm just overthinking it.

    I think it might also be pertinent to let you all know that I've got ADHD that I do not treat with drugs, and I think this is also keeping me from success, as it's very very hard to just sit there and clear my mind. Always a little snippet of a song pops in, and I have to work to get it out of my head and return to the task at hand.

    So, what are your techniques, tips and tricks?

    #2
    Re: Astral Projection troubles

    Since no one has answered and I'm a curious fellow who knows almost nothing about astral projection, perhaps you could help me. What exactly is it? Astral Projection, that is?

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      #3
      Re: Astral Projection troubles

      Pathway, since your question is simpler we'll start there. Astral projection is basically sending your consciousness outside your body to explore the world around you.

      Tsu, maybe try distracting yourself. Astral projection and meditation are closely linked. I've found myself having difficulty with meditation because I can't focus very well. So I started mediating while doing martial arts forms. And it worked. I learned the forms so well I didn't need to think about it, but it kept me just focused enough to be able to meditate. So maybe try something like that?
      We are what we are. Nothing more, nothing less. There is good and evil among every kind of people. It's the evil among us who rule now. -Anne Bishop, Daughter of the Blood

      I wondered if he could ever understand that it was a blessing, not a sin, to be graced with more than one love.
      It could be complicated; of course it could be complicated. And it opened one up to the possibility of more pain and loss.
      Still, it was a blessing I would never relinquish. Love, genuine love, was always a cause for joy.
      -Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Curse

      Service to your fellows is the root of peace.

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        #4
        Re: Astral Projection troubles

        Not sure just what to answer as astral projection ties into a number of things.

        It used to be one could be seen as projecting into their own inner mind and have it resemble both the external world as well as the fantasy would of the mind. Today that gets lumped in with journey work and self discovery. The thing about it though was that through dream walking one could jump into the inner landscape of another and actually become part of their journey. This one is also a dream state and often to me anyway is the front door to lucid type dreams where you can take control or manipulate. To me this one also gets crazy in that it is very similar to the notion of stepping beyond the body when one goes into a vision except that many times the body feels like a dead weight even as the mind opens to the visions itself. I personally tend to think the oracles of the past used this particular style of projection to interact with the spirits, gods, goddesses, etc.

        Astral Projection has also crossed into the notion of Out of Body Experiences (O.B.E.) but most times the OBE state seemed to keep people upon the material plain or etheral plain of reality. As such you could project ones self to any place upon the earth and at times any when upon the earth. Sort of the looking over the shoulder concept and how I was taught holding a lot of the silver thread theory that connects things. A close second to this I think is the Near Death Experience (N.D.E.) in that the spiritual body has again separated from the physical body but the trigger is death itself that causes it. Yet it is again restricted to the physical reality and time stream of that reality.

        Astral projection for me also touched upon the notion of both inner world landscapes and outerworld landscapes that the spirit self could visit. Very closely tied to journey work in that there was always a sense of the physical body and even observations of the physical body resting upon the physical plain. Yet when and if you achieved full separation then the body became detached and the awareness of self was at both the atomic level yet also as expansive as the universe itself. Hard to explain and make other's understand who've not experienced it themselves. Just my own observations but it is when the body has fully released the spiritual body that the misalignment can occur with this one and gets creepy. It's like your spirit and physical body do not realign so you find it may take hours to get the parts back in sync and have the senses work in their proper places. Imagine your body being face up but you come back in face down so your vision doesn't seem to be working correctly or you find your seeing out of your stomach.

        I've never really been able to place it under a heading but the journey type projections are where I tended to experience transformations the most. To become some other type entity and experience the world through its senses, shape, form or size. In some ways I think the lingering effects of this as it can occur actively through dream / journey work or passively during dream time leads to the notions of otherkin or therionthropy beliefs. I've personally experienced the sensations where I have had conflicts between my human mind and the mind of a creature I have shape-shifted or shift-shaped into during journey work as I transitioned back from one to the other. That or felt the echo of wings upon my back or gills in my neck for hours afterwards.

        - - - Updated - - -

        I purposely didn't touch upon how to achieve any of these states as I have discovered that there are to many methods to achieving it and some work for some but none work all the time for anyone.

        I know color regression has aided me many times. That regression being done by visibly imagining it as I step backwards or even using strobe lights. I'd add the warning strobe lights can cause seizures so one has to be careful with that. Sensory deprivation methods to achieve various types of release and separation. Breathing and muscle relaxation techniques, usually in a recliner type seat though leaning against a tree. As I stated far to many to say this or that is the proper or only way.
        I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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          #5
          Re: Astral Projection troubles

          Why do you want to astral travel? Just curious, because there are often other ways to achieve what people want to get out of astral travel. If its just for the experience, then...that doesn't help so much, but if there is a specific thing or set of things that you want to achieve, other means my be better suited to your unique neurology and personality.
          Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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            #6
            Re: Astral Projection troubles

            Try ODing on Robotussin, or some other dissasociative...

            Just foolin'. Don't really do this...

            Better to try lucid dreaming as a gateway, although lucid dreaming is likely to be just as difficult - but you might find it easier...

            But also, as Thalassa suggests, question your motives. "Why" and "How" are intimate with eachother. There is nothing wrong with running an experiment - in fact, experimenting is good - but if you do have a motive, there may be an alternate means to achieving the same end that is more appropriate for your personal personage.
            Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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              #7
              Re: Astral Projection troubles

              Originally posted by Tsukiko View Post

              I've been trying to astral project ever since I seriously got into the craft. When my husband does it, I am able to follow him, but most of the time I'm not conscious of it. He describes me as a small little gryphon singing my own little Mission Impossible theme, and when he turns to me I pause the singing and sink down low (Think Emperor's New Groove). I remember little snippets of the journey, but I can not remember the whole thing.

              ... I've asked my husband, but he's so practiced in it, he just shrugs and says "I just do it."
              This. ^ This is what's been bothering me. There's something about it that is so one-sided. You follow your husband when he projects. And then... you become small... a little gryphon, little Mission Impossible theme... and when he turns to you you sink down low

              It just doesn't sound healthy to me. There are healthy projections and unhealthy ones. Have you considered that maybe he only projects due to your skill, and not his own? That by belittling your achievement, he makes his own seem bigger?

              And that final line in the OP, is just so dismissive, so belittling.

              My advice - you can do it. But don't do it with him. He can't do it without you. He might pretend he can, but he can't. And deep down you already know this.
              www.thewolfenhowlepress.com


              Phantom Turnips never die.... they just get stewed occasionally....

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                #8
                Re: Astral Projection troubles

                I'm going to make a few assumptions based on Thalassa's suggestion that there may be other, more achievable ways to experience what you're looking for, so please forgive me if I am way off the mark with any of this.

                In addition to Mrs P's wise words above, I'd also ask you what you expect the experience to be like? Spiritual experiences can be difficult to describe because our language is so restrictive. For example, we have few verbs to choose from to describe what we perceive during a journey. We can say we 'saw' something, or we 'felt' something, 'sensed' something. The latter examples don't contain the idea of experiencing colours, shapes, light intensity.. we really have only one verb for this 'to see'. So we are forced by the inadequacies of the language, to describe what we saw, during our journeys. The problem is, that for most of us, 'seeing' in the spiritual sense is not the same as what we see in our waking world, and rarely as vivid as our dreams (I've only recently, after years and years of meditating, experienced journeys that were as vivid as lucid dreams, and only on two occasions).

                So it is possible that when your husband describes his experiences, he's making it sound more vivid and tangible than it really is. You probably already can achieve as much as he can, but you're just expecting more, so not seeing the wood for the trees, so-to-speak.

                When I was a student, I frequently visited a friend of mine in her inner world, and vice versa. In fact, she'll still sometimes leave clues in Rotokia (the name I give my first inner world), to let me know she's been and to test that I can still pick up on it. I'd love to tell you that we would skip around hand in hand, talking freely in some kind of dream world, and then sit together in the kitchen in the physical world, recalling our conversations word by word. It wasn't like that.

                We would meet up together after these adventures, and compare notes. Our experiences were close enough that it felt valid, but there were always subtle changes. I'd see her arrive on a red dragon, but she'd say she'd taken the form of a black dragon.. or I'd give her a shell, and she'd describe a stone. There was one time we watched a pool tournament between a character from her world, and one of mine. A third friend was fascinated, so made us tell her the result before one another. My version; my guy won overall, winning the first and last. Her version; my guy won overall, but it was the first round he lost. Both of us told that my guy threw a tantrum and threatened to quit when he lost.

                I've had a similar experience with a girl from Poland who shares an egregore* with me. She wanted validation that her inner world experiences were real, so sent a message to me via the egregore. I spoke to him in Rotokia, and my friend was satisfied when I relayed the information back to her. Yet once again, it wasn't word for word and some of the message was jumbled up in translation.

                In all of my experiences, I don't believe I ever astrally projected in the sense of leaving the body. I've experienced that and I find the sensation very frightening and traumatic, so I'm pretty sure I'd know about it if I had. However, I was definitely projecting my consciousness in such a way that it could merge with that of another living person, and it sounds like this is mainly what you're trying to achieve. If I'm right in thinking that, then I'd suggest you spend a bit of time creating your own inner sanctuary. Develop, and learn the limits of, your imagination; the extent to which you 'see' in meditation. Then use this inner place as a platform from which to have your experiences with your partner. It won't be mind-blowing, but with practice, and by appreciating every attempt as a valid experience, you should find that your accounts match up with your husband's, at least in places.

                Good luck!

                *an egregore is a collective spirit. Kind of like a totem spirit for a commonly held belief, or even a famous fictional or mythological character.
                夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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                  #9
                  Re: Astral Projection troubles

                  Thank you all for the thoughts and suggestions and tips, please allow me to expand on this.

                  I wish to astral travel because I want a more intimate connection to my spirit guides, to be able to communicate with them better. Yes, of course I want the experience to do it, but who wouldn't? I would love to frolic the fields with the fae and converse with the 'supernatural' if you will.

                  As far as my husband is concerned, he has been having OBE's for as long as he can remember, so when he says he just does it, I truly believe that he really does just do it. I feel that I am capable of astral projecting myself, it's just that I don't consciously do it. My spirit animal is the gryphon, so it makes sense to become one to me as I travel. And the size? He described me as the size of my familiar, Lilith. I can do it, I know I can, but I can't say to myself 'Ok, I'm going to astral project' and it's done. I also had a dream the night that happened, and described him reaching into a tree. He confirmed what he was doing, but I don't remember it all, and the detail is sketchy at best.

                  I know one of the many keys to astral projection/OBEs is remembering, and I only remember bits and pieces of my dreams even. I also use several oracle decks, and every time I ask, they pretty much unanimously say that it's all within, but I don't know what's inside that they're alluding to.

                  Again, thanks everyone for all the helpful tips and tricks!

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