What is Astral Projection?

Astral Projection (sometimes called Astral Travel) is defined as the ability of the soul, spirit, or consciousness to leave the physical body and travel through many dimensions of reality, space and time. This has been referred to as a type of out-of-body experience. Practitioners and proponents state that the astral body or soul leaves the physical body (in parallel) and experiences new dimensions of the astral plane which has some similarities and vast differences to physical reality.

The typical astral experience involves the feeling of floating or rising out of the body while in a near sleep (hypnagogic), deep meditative state, or a spontaneous trance. Typical testimonies state that as the astral body begins to float out, the experiencer feels as if they are still in physical reality and can see their surroundings as well as their own body.

The traveller finds him- or herself in an apparently real domain, analogous to the "other worlds" experienced by traditional peoples, which have no parallel to any physical setting or to consensus reality, described by New Agers and occultists as the astral plane or the astral.

Environments here may range from populated to un-populated, artificial to natural to completely abstract environments and from beautific to horrific. Here, normal physical laws often do not apply and humans can often, for example, float or fly. Quality of physical detail ranges from crude and un-detailed and depressing to bright, vivid and fascinating as detailed, among other writers, by Robert Bruce in his Astral Dynamics (1999) Travellers may travel from one realm to the other.

Projectors may find access to visions of the past or future and to the Akashic records accessible from here. It's been said that space and time don't exist on the astral plane nor the higher planes - but no explanation is given as to how forms and entire environments can exist without spacial dimensions, nor why there can be a sequence of events and yet no such thing as time.

Many travellers have theorized that people having dreams actually travel to the astral realms, unaware, and, again as reported in Astral Dynamics, travelers have reported seeing dreamers enact dream scenarios on the astral plane, unaware of the more extensive and varied non-physical environment surrounding them.