Lesson 6, questions answered.

In this lesson, we will be looking at your topics, and reviewing some of what we learned in previous lessons. This will accomplish two things. First, it will make the lessons and what I have been telling you more immediate, and second, it will "lock" these into your head.

That's important because when the exam comes around, you will have to rely on your memories and your notes to pass and also because when Out of body, your mind will fix upon what you have locked into it as what actually happens.

Remember, this is a compilation of my experiences, some of them objective and some subjective. You will ultimately determine what you see and participate in for yourself.

On to the questions.

iliketothink submitted this statement/question:

You mentioned that you hope we're feeling more comfortable with AP. On some levels I am, but I find that whenever I feel like I'm starting to leave my body, I get "stuck." Specifically, when I'm meditating or relaxing at the end of doing yoga, and I feel like I'm starting to float out of my body, I can only go partway, or at the very most, float directly above my body. Then I'm "stuck" and I can't go further. I think part of me is worried that if I do go further, I'll leave my body completely and die, or that I won't want to come back. It's almost like some part of me is choosing to stay because "I'm needed" by the physical part of me. Could it be that I'm attempting to move too much of my awareness/self/soul/whatever out of my body so that I would, in fact, do some type of ddamage? Or do I just need to find a way to reassure myself that it's OK to leave for a while, since my body will be OK and I'll be able to come back? If the latter is the case, are there things that could be helpful? e.g. mantras to chant or protection rituals or something along those lines that could help me feel reassured?

Well, this is pretty common. Most people don't AP for just this reason, fear of dying. It's a normal state that you need to get through to progress. Keep these thoughts in your mind:

1) Unless you want to, you can't die. Part of that "stuck" feeling is the "silver cord" that attaches yourself to your body keeping you nearby. 2) You are astrally projecting with that "floating" sensation, because you are floating above your body. You may be attached to it, but you are still out of body. Nothing has happened to you, and thus, nothing will.

The entire reason for that "stuck" feeling is to keep you oriented during the first few moments of shifting out of your body. It keeps you grounded to this reality for a little, to help you get your "feet" under you so to speak. By this I mean that it allows you to become adjusted to the new environment and to come to some kind of equilibrium with being without a body.

The trick for overcoming this stuck feeling is to acknowledge that you are somewhat stuck, and to slide or move someway that will move you away from your body. Usually, just sliding to the left or right a few feet will allow you to get past this, and to go on your journey.

If it were me going through that, I would say to myself when I felt that stuck section, "Okay, I'm out of body. I understand that now. I will float to the left (or right) and put my feet on the ground." Then I would feel myself moving like I had just said and feel my foot on the ground. About 90% of the time, this will work.

If it doesn't, then don't fret. Something is going on, and you need to figure out what it is, and correct it. From there, you can just stay near your body, and absorb sensations and feelings from the environment around you.

A few other things that may help you in this; If you believe that you are trying to move too much of yourself out of your body, then you will be doing so. Feel yourself detaching a portion of your psyche and leaving it in the body. Will part of your being to stay behind, as a caretaker of your body, and move out of the body. A shield may not be a bad idea to put up around your body either. It would give you the sense of protection that will enable your subconscious to free itself from the body.

Another thing is chanting to yourself as you start to AP. In this, you would tell yourself over and over that you are protected and safe and that you won't die or get lost. Saying that over and over will allow you to achieve something. I had to do this for a while, and it did work.

The main thing to remember is that there is no shame or disgrace in not being able to achieve a complete separation from yourself. Some can achieve complete separation from the body with a moment's thought, and others, like me, can't achieve that separation at all, and have to resort to other means to explore the Planes.

blackdove01 asked:

ok. here's my question, sort of along the same lines as some previous questions, but i read a really old crappy book when i was like ten and in the book a girl was astrally projecting and someone else who was projecting also entered her body while she was away. is there any chance of anything (someone else projecting, some astral being, etc...) entering your body while you'r (astrally projecting?)

Well, this is a tough one. For many years, I believed this as well. Here's my take on it:

What do you believe?

I think I read that same crappy book, and I was scared and concerned as well. So I started doing things like shielding myself before I tried to leave my body, my mother would pray over me whenever I went in for surgery or general anesthetic, and a whole slew of other tricks to keep my body safe while I was either out of it, or in a state where I didn't have the will to fight back.

As a result of this, now I can't be hypnotized, and I believe I blocked my gift for AP.

Once I got into the NeoPagan community, however, and beginning studying about AP and metaphysics, I had some revelations. First among those was this statement "In Magick, you make your own rules." I have never found anything to counter this statement.

Now, I know we are not talking about Magick here in this class, however, the same principal holds true. You will determine what you get by what you believe. If you worry and think about beings/entities that will steal your body, you will find yourself beset by them all the time.

The crux is this: Your thoughts and attitudes resonate on the Astral Plane. They can act as a lure for those beings and entities, drawing them to you as a moth is drawn to a lamp, and as a fish is drawn to something bright and shiny. The more you worry and think about something, the more powerful the attraction.

Since all realities are linked through the Astral Plane, you may even find fictional creatures coming to those thoughts.

Everything that can exist and can be thought of does because someone someplace believes in them.

Given that, your thoughts and what you dwell on will be attracted to you, in exponential proportion to how much you dwell on it. An example from my life:

My mother is a worry-wart. She constantly thinks and dwells on all that is bad that could happen to her at any one time. As a result of this, she has wrecked three cars, lost multiple jobs, had one marriage fall through, and lost her son (me). She won't learn that by thinking about the bad and worrying about it that she is setting up circumstances that will make the Universe give her what she is dwelling upon.

In opposition to that, my wife and I obsess on things like a good job, getting out of debt, finding a place to live, teaching our daughter right, helping others, joy and beauty. The result: My wife just recently got a good job, doing exactly what she wants to do for the money she wanted. Our daughter is constantly on the A-B honor roll, and we are getting out of debt.

So whatever you believe and think about will be created for you. From spirits to take over your body while you are OOB, to a burglar to break in and rob you blind while you are away on vacation.

Wondering if creatures like that (who will take your body away from you) exist is one thing, fearing them and hoping they will not notice you is another. One questions their existence, and can decide if they exist for you or not. The other actively draws them to you.

My advice is to not think about it. Take some simple precautions, like shields around you, but don't worry that they will break through them and "get you".

blackdove1 also stated:

the few times that i've actually started to leave my body have been while i was asleep and couldn't control it, but now that i'm actually consciously trying to do it, this seems to be getting harder and harder to do, and i seem to be losing the ability i had to do it unconsciously. am i trying to hard or

This one I understand. I do it too. The primary thing that you HAVE to keep in mind when this occurs is that you must relax.

This is a natural state you fall into, projecting and sleep. There is nothing unnatural about it, or scary or terrifying. It is as natural as coming home after a long day at school. All you have to do is to relax. As Ben Kenobi says "Let go your conscious self, and act on instinct."

Since your soul remembers this time, the feelings and what it is like to be projecting and how to be on the Astral Plane, all you have to do is to relax into that state.

Let me use an analogy.

The energy on the Astral Plane is like water here. It is always present, obeys certain laws and can be moved from one place to another through various means. If you put water into a hose, you can direct it to another place, in some cases to use to put out fires.

However, if you are too nervous, you can restrict that flow of water through the hose by tensing up and choking off the water by pinching the hose in half. However, when you trust the hose to contain the water, and relax so that you are only guiding the water in the hose, the output of the hose is increased because you are not keeping the water from flowing through the hose any longer.

It's the same in this case. The more you tense up, the less of that energy from the Astral Plane you can receive. It's only in relaxation that your soul opens itself fully to the energies of the Astral Plane, and thus starts resonating to the Astral Plane.

How do you relax? By not thinking about it, worrying about it, or dwelling on it. When you think about projecting, do so and think about what you want to do, but when it's time to actually do what you have been planning, relax and let your soul and mind take over. The more tense you are, the harder you are locked into your body.

Tension creates a physical reaction, from an increase in your blood pressure to more rapid breathing to a slight tensing of the muscles. Each of these factors contribute to the body not being forgotten about by the soul and spirit. Because the body is still very much in the awareness of the soul and spirit, they can't forget about the body long enough to leave it behind. So you start a vicious cycle.

The body tenses, the spirit and soul are more aware of the body, the projection attempt fails, which means that your mind, spirit and soul begin disbelieving that AP is even possible for you, which makes the next attempt harder, and harder and harder....

The solution to this is relaxation. You know how to relax yourself, and the tools that work best for you. But aromatic baths, hot baths, meditation, counting backwards from 100, positive reinforcement, and many other techniques have been developed to make you relax, as long as you co-operate with them. Don't anticipate the AP state, as this increases tension in your body again, and you are trying to relax it.

Don't worry about it, this is a transitory phase. You will get the hang of relaxing/being aware very quickly. It's not as hard as I am making it out to be, but it does take a certain kind of mindset. You are prepared for what you hope will happen (the AP state) but you don't think about it or anticipate it happening. It's kind of like knowing someone is going to surprise you, but not knowing when. You are prepared for the surprise, and prepared not to jump, but you still go on with what you are doing until it happens. Same here. You allow the AP state to occur, and are ready to act on it, but not to the point where you are preventing that same state by anticipating it.

Hope this makes sense to you.

Tamia posted:

Ok, here are a few problems that I often hear about in astral chat groups.

Not being able to control where the astral body goes.
Not being able to get through walls or ceilings.
Fear is another factor!! Fear of death, or dark beings.
Perhaps a few suggestions along those lines would help.

Not being able to control where the Astral Body goes is an easy one. It's your belief controlling that. If you set up some destinations you want to go to before you go into an Astral State, where you go is much easier to accomplish.

Even if you can't go where you want, there may be a reason you are "stuck" where you are. Perhaps there is some lesson you are supposed to learn, or some event you are supposed to watch that your soul is keeping you where you are at for. In that case, identify why you are stuck. Then you can decide whether or not you wish to go someplace else.

This is the same for getting through ceilings and floors or walls. There must either be something there that you need to see or learn, or you are holding yourself there. Once again, you have to identify what is holding you there, and change it or learn it.

As to fear, well, there we enter into another whole section of the psyche.

Fear is natural, it is what keeps headstrong and stubborn people whole and healthy. Without fear, there would be a whole lot more people dead or hurt in real life. It's a tool and a warning nothing more.

However in this case, fear can be paralytic. Fear can prevent you from reaching your goals and ultimately keep you trapped in your own body.

The secret to overcoming this fear is to convince yourself that you KNOW what you are doing, that you understand the dangers involved, and that there is nothing for you to fear.

By this time, if you read like I do, you have probably finished that download I asked you all to get and read, and you hear Dr. DeGarcia talking about this fear, in the "Watcher at the door" or the "Guardian at the Gate". Your mind will produce these apparitions to keep you in your body, because your soul knows it is not time for you to die and that it is not time for you to be on the Astral Plane. So, it will make these entities to scare you back into your body.

Understand that these fears, while important, are not necessary or desirable. They are inhibiting you, and as such either need to be faced or allowed to keep you in your body. It's ultimately up to you to decide just what you wish to do, but NOTHING on the Astral Plane can permanently hurt you.

Which also leads us to blackdove's last question of:

in the lecture you mentioned one battle that you had and rendered the other person unconscious. if you are on the losing end of the battle and have fatal injuries, can you actually die or will you just return to your b

It is possible to be hurt, even to perceive yourself as injured, but ultimately nothing has happened to you. Let me explain a bit.

In the movie, "The Matrix", the main character gets told that the entire world around him is nothing but an illusion built by computers. There were rules and many other things that were "programmed" into the environment to fool him into thinking that it was real, but that ultimately, it was his belief in the reality that made it real.

The second character, played by Lawrence Fishburn helped Neo discover these facts and open his mind to what really was. That understanding of the unreality of the Matrix allowed Neo and Lawrence Fishburn to do multiple inhuman things in several fight sequences.

In this case when dealing with the Astral Plane, the same rules apply. Everything around you, from what you see to what the "opponents" look like to any injuries sustained by you are projections of your mind. Your mind creates them, and your mind can dismiss them just as quickly. Understand this and your trip will be much easier.

When you get hit on the Astral Plane, or even any of the other planes, your mind expects certain things to happen based on THIS world's rules. You get hit, there is an impact, some damage, pain, and a loss of function. However, since everything is a projection of your mind, then you can dismiss every aspect of the hit if you choose to.

I didn't understand this when I had that adventure, I was operating as though the Astral Plane was the same as this world, with the same rules. So when I got hit, I perceived myself as hurt.

I didn't have to. Think about how many times you hear about a sports superstar who ignores the pain of an injury, even up to a broken limb, to continue doing what they enjoy and wish to keep doing. The mind can override anything it chooses to and on the Astral Plane it is even easier.

Had I known these rules, I would have felt the impact, but dismissed the damage, the pain, and the loss of dexterity in the leg, as well as the soreness later. Since learning these rules, I have done this multiple times. It's interesting to watch your limbs flying from you, have it not hurt, and to regrow them instantly from yourself.

So, the answer to blackdove1's question is that yes, it is possible to get injured on the Astral Plane, but only if you want to get hurt.

These rules are the basis of everything on the Astral Plane:

Your mind controls all
Your mind tries to protect you any way it can
Your mind will attempt to keep your in your body
Your mind will perceive itself hurt if you want it to
Your mind chooses where to go and not to go
Your mind can override any other part of itself if you want it to.

Do you see the pattern here? It's the mind that is controlling everything, and thus if you truly want to project, anyplace you choose to, you must learn your mind and train your mind to do what you want it to.

Meditation and self-hypnosis is the key to this. With these twin tools, you can reprogram your mind to do and to be what you want it to be and do. And then everything is possible.

Stars light your path

Daven

Assignment: I want you to review and write an evaluation of your own performance. Tell us what you feel you are doing right, what you are doing wrong, where you need help and what you can help others in. Write all this down in your AP books, and copy it here to post. All of these things are important to your continued progress. Be brutally honest with yourself. I want you to get into the habit of self-evaluation. In future lectures and lessons, there will be times when you will NEED to know why you are doing what you are doing, because knowing is the only way, usually, to fix it.

To keep: I want you to make a checklist based on the above evaluation, of goals and things to work on. Make it as long as you like. There should be things like, "Work on my mental discipline" and "I need to overcome my fear of small places" and so on. Every lecture, from here to the end of the class, I want you to choose one of these items to work on in the coming weeks. Then I want you to work on them, everyday, until either they are better or the next lecture comes around. If you have not fixed it or gotten better, keep working on it during the coming times, until it is fixed or eliminated. Then I want you to check that item off.

To read: If you have access to a copy of "Journeys out of Body" by Douglas Monroe, read it. In Lecture 8, we will be discussing his technique of Astral Projection, but I DO have a document that I will take the material from and comment on. If you can read it, good. If you can't read it, no big deal. It would help, but it's not necessary.

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