hadit93:

There are MANY different techniques for astral projection and I do recommend experimenting and finding the method which really works for you. One thing I feel I must say first and foremost is that Astral projection is not about wandering around an energetic backbone of this plane, that would be etheric projection. Etheric projection can be harder and is often what people call an out of body experience. 

Astral projection is about exploring different planes of consciousness in which non-human discarnate entities inhabit. I will not state what these entities are i.e. Projections of consciousness or objective beings, even if you believe in the latter like me you will also encounter the former. The main idea behind astral projection is detaching your consciousness from physical consciousness and directing it through your will to shift into another plane or level of experience- consciousness is fluid, it is not bound to the body, however, it certainly feels that way at times.

Another important thing to remember is that you needn’t be wholly out of your body to astral project. Consciousness can shift between the body and the other plane, you can even distribute your consciousness with practice so that you can simultaneously experience another plane of existence and also speak into a microphone to record your experience. Some people dislike this and prefer to try and fully project, others prefer this so as to not miss any details. Sometimes you will also find yourself drawn into the other plane deeper, I would say don’t fight this, go with it.

I am going to outline my methods for astral projection below which are largely based upon Crowley’s instructions.

Step one- Cast a circle/Perform an LBRP/LIRP. You need a protected space in which to work, if trying to explore a specific place of the astral banish the area you are in before invoking the appropriate force.

Step Two– Lie down and systematically relax each body part, remove all tension from the body. You can do this by cycling your consciousness around the body focusing on every bone, joint, and muscle. Or you can visualize a warm light of gold or white light at the bottom of your feet and see this moving up and surrounding you removing all tension as it does so.

Step Three– Once you have done this, take some deep breaths and focus on clearing your mind. You have removed the distraction of the body now you need to remove the distraction of the mind. If exploring a certain area or energy you may wish to use the appropriate God name or Angel name as a mantra.

Step Four– Visualise a ball of energy in front of you, see this energy flowing from you and into this ball. Many people see this at the solar plexus chakra. Feed it energy until you sense the energy is tangible, now cause this energy to grow into a large oval shape the size of approximately your body. Continue down this moulding exercise and bit by bit form a mirror image of yourself standing before you, robed and all, looking down upon you.

Step Five– As you cycled your consciousness around your body earlier try and push your consciousness through the channel into this other form of yourself. Feel with its feet standing on the floor. Anchor your energy and consciousness into this form before trying to see through this form. I like to do this by performing a middle pillar within the astral form- that is, I distribute my consciousness into the astral form by grounding it through the middle pillar.

Step Six- Again remember, you needn’t feel as if you are fully present in this astral form, only that you can utlise it to explore. You must feel like it is a part of yourself, perhaps like a garment you can wear and sense through. You needn’t be also no longer conscious of your physical body, only able to sense through the astral body. Once you can do this open your astral eyes. At first, this will be hard, your physical eyes will flutter and you will naturally want to see the back of your eyelids. Eventually, you will learn to switch back to your astral form and be able to see through it, start by using your astral eyes to see your physical body on the floor or bed. Then look around the room and at your altar, try and see as many details as possible. Don’t worry if you seem to miss things, you need to train the astral eyes first.

Step Seven– Well done, you have etherically projected. Now you need to astral project. The idea here is that you have to shake the consciousness up so that it shifts from the physical/etheric world and into the astral one. One way to do this is to will your astral form to rise into the air and keep going past the stars, the darkness etc until you come to a landscape. Once at this landscape you can explore it and call out for a guide, always test the beings you meet by drawing appropriate symbols. Some people like to draw an invoking pentagram upon arriving to energise the plane.

Step Eight– To return you simply descend back again and will yourself to your body, in truth you can instantly return to your body by just wanting to. Then slowly wake yourself up, roll from side to side and take deep breaths. Get up and write down your results. Grab a glass of water and do something mundane. Some people like to banish, I think the West is too preoccupied with banishing, but do it if it makes you feel better.

The Doorway Method.

I prefer to use this method in order to control where I am going. I do this by doing the above method up until etheric projection. I then visualize a doorway in the wall in front of me, on this door I draw a symbol which is related to what I want to explore on the astral. For example, if I wanted to explore solar realms I would draw the alchemical symbol of the sun or the Hebrew letter Resh. I would see this in a Golden light. If you wanted, you could see it in the appropriate colour in qabalistic correspondences which is normally the king scale for the paths and the queen scale for the sephiroth.