'...
there appeared to me a brightness in the West, and a darkening of
the East; and whilst perplexed by this matter, I find I have entered
a dirty street, and see near me a young child sitting on the doorstep
of a very squalid house.
'I approached
the house, and seeing me, the child scrambled to his feet and beckoned
me to follow him. Pushing open the ricketty door, he pointed out to
me a rotten wooden staircase. This I mounted and entered a room ...
'...
I found a little old man, but could not see him distinctly, as the
blinds were drawn.
'...
he opened a book which was lying on the table before him and showed
me a sigil. After I had looked at it carefully, he explained to me
how I should use it, and finished by telling me that it was used to
summon things of earth.
'As
I looked incredulously at him he took hold of the sigil, and no sooner
had he done so than from out of every crack and seam in the floor
there wriggled forth a multitude of rats and other vermin.
'...
I saw a naked woman ... The Adept turned from me and said: "She is
in a trance; she is dead; she has been dead long." And immediately
her flesh becoming rotten, fell from her bones.'
So reads
an extract from the diary, or Magical Record, of Julian Baker for
December 1898. Baker, a friend of Aleister Crowley's and, like him,
an initiate of the Golden Dawn was neither mad nor suffering from
an acute attack of delirium tremens. He was recording an experiment
in what some magicians call 'skrying in the spirit vision' and what
is sometimes referred to as astral projection.
In our
first chapter we have already made a mention of the importance which
occultists attach to the astral body and its projection. Before we
outline the basic techniques for achieving the latter - techniques
identical with those used by Julian Baker to obtain the vision described
above - we think it worthwhile to briefly examine the historical development
of occult beliefs regarding non-physical vehicles of consciousness.
The
idea that each human being has an 'astral body' capable of separating
itself from the physical body and engaging in 'astral journeying'
is very old. Ancient Hindu writings describing the eight Siddhis (magical
powers) obtained through the practice of Yoga refer to one of them
as 'the power of flying through the air'. This almost certainly refers
not to physical levitation but to astral travel. In pre-communist
Tibet and China belief in astral projection was widespread, as it
still is in places so remote from one another as Haiti and Greenland.
In the
western world belief in the astral body and the possibility of astral
projection may well have evolved quite independently of any oriental
influence. Certainly the Neoplatonic philosophers of the early Christian
era derived their theories regarding the astral body from late developments
of Plato's doctrine of the existence of 'the souls of the stars' (hence
the word 'astral' from the Latin 'astrum', star) and from the Aristotelian
conception of the 'sensitive soul' supposedly 'analogous to that element
from which the stars are made'. Nevertheless, it is at least possible
that both these Platonic and Aristotelian concepts were ultimately
derived from Hellenistic folk-memories of the primitive beliefs of
the Aryan-speaking peoples who gave their culture to both Greeks and
Hindus.
Be this
as it may, there is no doubt that a belief in the existence of the
astral body has been held by at least some people throughout the history
of the western world. Thus Dante described the soul after death as
being surrounded by 'its own creative power, like to its living form
in shape and size' and went on to assert that it was capable of adopting
any shape it wished; this belief in the plasticity of the astral body
- the idea that it can be moulded at will into, for example, the appearance
of an animal - is today a commonplace of western occultism.
Two
centuries after Dante, astral projection was referred to by Cornelius
Agrippa, the metallurgist, occultist and philosopher. He wrote of
'vacation of the body, when the spirit is enabled to transcend its
bounds, and, as a light escaped from a lantern, to spread over space'.
(1)
----
[1]
Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia. Antwerp, 1531.
----
There
was an ambivalence in the attitude of the Church towards astral projection.
When indulged in by the orthodox it was called bilocation and regarded
as evidence of possible sanctity. When, on the other hand, it was
practised by those who might reasonably be suspected of heresy or
witchcraft it was looked upon as proof of co-operation with Satan,
or of deliberate attendance at the Witches' Sabbath, or even of dangerous
(and possibly diabolical) delusion. Thus Sprenger, the co-author of
that notorious inquisitors' manual The Hammer of the Witches (1484),
reported the case of a woman who voluntarily approached some Dominican
friars and related that she attended the Witches' Sabbath every night.
She
added that even being placed in a locked room would not suffice to
prevent her from attending the gathering. At nightfall the Dominicans,
who seem to have combined a healthy scepticism with a taste for experiment,
placed the woman in a locked room, leaving her alone but all the while
observing her through a concealed spyhole. She threw herself onto
the bed, becoming totally rigid - clearly she had entered some sort
of cataleptic trance. The friars entered the room and attempted to
awake the self-confessed witch, but all their efforts - some of which
were extremely rough and included burning her naked feet with a candle
- were ineffectual.
On her
eventual spontaneous recovery from the trance she gave a lurid description
of her visit to the Sabbath, of those she had met there and of the
rites in which she believed she had taken pan. The woman was lucky;
the friars simply told her that she was indulging in fantasies, gave
her a penance and sent her home. Other witches experienced less humane
inquisitors. Some were burnt on no better evidence.
In the
18th century belief in the existence of the astral body and the possibility
of astral projection survived only amongst the initiates of certain
small secret fraternities. Such beliefs did not again become fashionable
until the burgeoning of the spiritualist and theosophical movements
in the second half of the 19th century.
It is
only in the last fifty years, however, that certain techniques of
astral projection, derived from the writings of Oliver Fox, Sylvan
Muldoon and Hereward Carrington, have become widely known in the western
world. The first-named of these writers discovered for himself what
he called 'the pineal doorway' while the second developed a mode of
astral projection involving reducing himself to a state very near
to physical death.
In spite
of the admiration which that extraordinary personality Dion Fortune
expressed for the writings of both Fox and Muldoon - some of the subjective
experiences undergone by the hero of her novel Sea Priestess are clearly
based on those of Muldoon - there is no doubt that the overwhelming
majority of serious occultists would regard the methods advocated
in them as being undesirable. Not only physically undesirable (although
of course, it is apparent that there are material risks involved in
subjecting one's body to a death-like trance), but spiritually undesirable,
for such uncontrolled projection without adequate protection can sometimes
result in the astral traveller finding himself in one of the so-called
'astral hells', undergoing the dangers of a possible obsession by
some hostile entity.
Even
more dangerous is the short-cut practice of using drugs as a key to
open the astral doorway. This was probably the method used by the
witches of the Middle Ages, for it is likely that the 'flying ointments'
with which they anointed their bodies before attending the Sabbath
were neither more nor less than mixtures of hallucinogenic substances
designed to induce a dissociation of consciousness.
Similar
methods were used, sometimes with tragic results, by some of the French
occultists of the 1890s, notably Stanislas de Guiata, and are today
being employed by some of the 'head' occultists who are prominent
in the occult revival. Here are the recipes of two 'ointments of astral
projection' currently popular in such circles:
Lanolin
(2) - 5 ounces
Hashish - 1 ounce
Hemp Flowers - 1 handful
Poppy Flowers - 1 handful
Hellebore - 1/2 handful
Alcohol
- 1/10 oz
Laudanum - 1 1/2 oz
Betel nut - 1 oz
Tincture of cinquefoil - 1/5 oz
Tincture of henbane - 1/2 oz
Tincture of belladonna - 1/2 oz
Tincture of cannabis - 8 oz
Cantharides - 1/5 oz
----
[2]
Originally hog's fat
----
Before
we go on to a detailed description of the methods which we suggest
that you should employ as modes of obtaining astral projection we
feel it worthwhile considering whether astral visions partake of objective
reality. In the last analysis this is a question which each seer must
answer for himself. Our own beliefs and the beliefs of many occultists,
past and present, were admirably expressed by J.F.C. Fuller who wrote:
'The
truth is, it does not matter one rap by what name you christen the
illusions of this life, call them substance, or ideas, or hallucinations,
it makes not the slightest difference for you are in them and they
in you whatever you like to call them, and you must get out of them
and they out of you, and the less you consider their names the better;
for name-changing only creates unnecessary confusion and is a waste
of time.
'Let
us therefore call the world a series of existences and have done with
it, for it does not matter a jot what we mean by it so long as we
work; very well then; Science is a part of this series, and so is
Magic, and so are cows and angels, and so are landscapes, and so are
visions; and the difference which lies between these existences is
the difference which lies between a cheesemonger and a poet, between
a blind man and one who can see. The clearer the view, the more perfect
the view; the clearer the vision the more perfect the vision. The
eyes of a hawk are keener than those of an owl, and so are poet's
keener than those of a cheesemonger, for he can see beauty in a ripe
Stilton while the latter can only see two-and-sixpence a pound.
'A true
vision is to awakenment as awakenment to a dream; and a perfectly
clear co-ordinate vision is so nearly perfect a Reality that words
cannot be found in which to translate it, yet it must not be forgotten
that its truth ceases on the return of the seer to the Material plane.
(3)
'The
Seer is therefore the only judge of his visions, for they belong to
a world in which he is absolute King, and to describe them to one
who lives in another world is like talking Dutch to a Spaniard ...
The
vision of the adept is so much truer than ordinary vision that when
once it has been attained to, its effect is never relinquished, for
it changes the whole life. Blake would have as soon doubted the existence
of his wife, his mother or of himself, as that of Urizen, Los or Luvah.
'Dreams
are real, inspirations are real, delirium is real, and so is madness;
but for the most part these are Qliphothic realities, unstable, unbalanced,
dangerous.
'Visions
are real, inspirations are real, revelation is real, and so is genius;
but these are from Kether, and the highest climber on the mystic mountain
is he who will obtain the finest view, and from its summit all things
will be shown unto him.'
Fuller's
statement is adequate so far as it goes, but he leaves unanswered
the question as to whether there is an authentic relationship between
the physical and the astral worlds. Whether, to give a particular
example of such a general relationship, the symbol employed by the
seer has a genuine correspondence with his vision?
It would
seem that such a correspondence does exist; for almost all those who
have used the technique of projection-by-symbol have claimed that
the visions they have experienced have in some way correlated with
the symbol employed. If, for example, they have used the Tarot card
named The Magician, traditionally attributed to the god Mercury, they
have undergone visions of a mercurial nature in which the plants,
animals and entities seen 'have been those traditionally associated
with Mercury'.
----
[3]
Our italics.
----
A particularly
interesting illustration of the relationship between symbol and vision
has been given by the late W.B. ('Willie') Seabrook, a professional
journalist who learnt most of his occultism from Aleister Crowley.
In the 1920s and 1930s Seabrook produced well-written, amusing and
financially successful books with an occult slant; these still make
enjoyable light reading in spite of Seabrook's gross inaccuracies
and misunderstandings - Magic Island, for example, reveals a total
lack of comprehension of the real nature of the things its author
had witnessed and makes hilarious reading for anyone who knows anything
at all about the real nature of the voodoo religion.
It is
likely that any casual reader of Seabrook's books would assume their
author to have been a complete sceptic regarding occult matters; in
reality he had been a close associate of Crowley's during the period
1917-19 and the two had participated together in magical rituals.
It is likely also that Seabrook's wife Kate was one of Crowley's mistresses
and that Seabrook himself enjoyed some sort of homosexual relationship
with Crowley.
Seabrook
made little use of the astral-projection-by-symbol technique until
1922 when he began a course of experiments employing as symbols the
64 Hexagrams of the I Ching. He himself did not have any particularly
interesting experiences on the astral plane. His friends were more
fortunate; one found himself living in the body of a mediaeval Benedictine
monk while a staid academic found himself transformed into an ancient
Greek wanton. The most existing experience was undergone by a White
Russian refugee named Nastatia Filipovna.
Nastatia
had been for some time experimenting with astral projection quite
independently of Seabrook, using a crystal ball as a means of inducing
auto-hypnosis. The results she had achieved had been disappointing
and her experiences had been both boring and unpleasant. Almost always
she found herself in the camp of some primitive tribe engaged in skinning
and gutting an animal with a stone knife.
Seabrook
re-met Nastatia, an old friend with whom he had lost touch, in the
summer of 1923, and told her of the use of the I Ching as an aid to
astral travel. She wanted to try the method, Seabrook agreed to help
her to do so and took her along to his friend John Bannister, a wealthy
occultist who filled his Studio with every variety of 'esoteric' junk
from Tibetan tankas to South Seas devil masks.
The
hexagram to be used was selected by throwing notched tortoiseshell
sticks into the air. They fell in a pattern which indicated the forty-ninth
hexagram, Ko, meaning an animal pelt, moulting or, by analogy, revolution.
Nastatia
knelt in the centre of the darkened room, formulating mentally a door
marked with the chosen hexagram. For three hours there was silence,
interrupted only by a complaint from Nastatia that her knees were
aching. Then she spoke:
'The
door is moving. The door is opening. But it's opening into the outdoors
...
'Snow
... everywhere snow ... the moon on the white snow ... and black trees
there against the sky. I am lying in the snow ... wearing a fur coat
... I am warm in the snow ... It is good to lie warm in the snow ...
I am moving now ... I am crawling on my hands and knees ... I'm not
crawling now, I'm running on my hands and feet, lightly ... now! now!
... I'm running like the wind ... how good the snow smells ... And
there's another good smell. Ah! Ah! Faster ... Faster ...'
By now
Nastatia was, in Seabrook's words, 'breathing heavily, panting'. He
went on to say that when she next broke silence 'it was with sounds
that were not human. There were yelps, slaverings, panting and then
a deep baying such as only two sorts of animals on earth emit when
they are running - hounds and wolves.'
Seabrook
and the other two observers - Bannister and a young vice-consul -
became alarmed by Nastatia's extraordinary behaviour and attempted
to 'bring her round' by slapping her face. Her reactions were, firstly,
to attempt to tear at the vice-consul's throat with her teeth and,
secondly, to retire snarling into a corner of the room. Eventually
all three approached her, forcibly smothered her struggles in blankets
and thrust ammonia under her nose. Slowly she reverted to her normal
state of consciousness.
'We
didn't talk much,' wrote Seabrook, 'We brought her brandy. In a few
minutes she made us find her handbag with powder and makeup. She went
into the bathroom. She came out and sank into an armchair and lighted
a cigarette ...'
At least
some element of wish-fulfilment must have accounted for the form of
Nastatia's animal transformation but the really interesting thing
is this: that not only does Ko mean animal pelt but that several of
the texts referring to this hexagram are connected with the idea of
transformation.
This
form of astral projection, using a symbol as a doorway has already
been described in detail in the chapter on tattwa vision, and is further
elaborated in Chapter Eleven, in connection with the Tarot Trumps
and the Paths of the Tree of Life. At this stage, especially as you
will have worked with the I Ching, in its divinatory capacity, it
is useful to select a hexagram at random and skry it without first
referring to its divinatory meaning. The hexagram should be selected
by casting the sticks, thereby ensuring that there is no conscious
direction in its selection.
This
skrying can be used simply to explore that part of the 'astral' to
which each hexagram belongs (without reference to the text) or can
be incorporated in a divination, by skrying the hexagram produced
by the sticks, before consulting the text itself and then combining
the results to answer the question. An example of two such skrying
records follows. The first is the I hexagram:
'I indicates
that with firm correctness there will be good fortune (in what is
denoted by it). We must look at what we are seeking to nourish, and
by the exercise of our thoughts seek for the proper ailment ... His
position is perilous, but there will be good fortune. It will be advantageous
to cross the great stream.'
The
fifty yarrow sticks were laid out upon the altar, the I Ching unwrapped
from its silk cover, the incense lit, the sticks cast and the hexagram
drawn up:
'Upon
passing through it the first impression was of crushed honeycomb,
a result of the rigid outside but soft sweet inside of the hexagram.
'A black
doorway with the white hexagram engraved on it opened, revealing a
softly tumbling blackness. Passing onwards, a blue bird brushed past.
I formulated the hexagram on further veils ahead but failed to pass
through. About to withdraw, but realized that the doors should be
Chinese square double doors not a European arched doorway, and that
the hexagram was actually the seal on the door handles. The door refused
to open until I gently pushed forward. On passing through, the skin
on my face seemed to tighten itself round my skull, and intuitively
I visualized the hexagram on my forehead.
'Immediately
an image of pine cones appeared which then resolved into a pine tree
over a very bright blue creek with a red lacquer hump-back bridge
over it. I crossed the bridge into a clearing paved with pine-needles.
A group of figures wearing light blue appeared. I asked them where
I was. As if by reply, for they hardly stirred, the thought of the
blue bird again appeared. I withdrew re-sealing the doors with the
hexagram.'
'The
second hexagram skrying is of the Sui hexagram:
This
hexagram was very easy to formulate and felt strangely familiar: as
I formulated it, it took on the face of a Chinese blue-glazed lion
temple guardian, familiar and friendly. I passed through even before
I was ready, and immediately began falling through darkness, only
lit perhaps by a reddish fiery glow from below.
'I soon
hit the surface of a warm thick viscous liquid, and holding my breath
tried to prevent myself going under, but continued my fall till I
reached the bottom where I found I could breathe. Tried to look around
but the material was too viscous to move fast in and was ill-lit.
Starting to swim towards the surface, I saw a group of greasy looking
rocks ahead. I reached them only to find that they were really the
huge scaly claws of (I thought) a reptile which turned out to be rather
like a huge leathery Dodo.
'I tried
scrambling up one but as the claw and toe were about three to four
feet high, I slipped back several times. Finally succeeding, I clung
to the bird's leg. To solve the difficulty, I availed myself of the
plasticity of the astral regions and, growing larger (like Alice)
till the Dodo was about the size of a chicken, I stood ankle deep
in the liquid. Then the image of one of Louis Morellato's drawings
of a figure from the Sepher Yetzirah flashed into mind. At the same
time a ring of cloud spread around my waist and I realized that I
was standing with one foot on earth and one in the liquid. A bright
glow began to suffuse the air above my waist, dimming the rather reddish
glow from below. As in the drawing, so here, a crescent of stars spread
above me. I stood thus and formulated the hexagram on my forehead,
which increased the clarity of the vision. Expanding the hexagram
to my new height, I stepped through it. It broke like putting a hand
through a wet newspaper and I stepped out: but the vision seemed determined
to come with me, so I returned and unsuccessfully tried re-acquainting
myself with the landscape. Realizing that I should have established
a more peaceful frame of mind before exiting from the vision, I first
formulated the Middle Pillar (4) and retired again through the enlarged
hexagram.'
----
[4]
See Appendix III.
----
It is
interesting to compare the vision with the text of the hexagram (which
had not been seen by the Skryer before this operation). The text reads:
'thunder rumbling within a swamp! When darkness falls, the Superior
Man goes within and rests peacefully.'
This
type of vision is to be expected rather than the more dramatic vision
recorded by Seabrook, where an element of possession entered into
the experiment.
This
type of 'astral' projection is strictly speaking 'mental' projection.
There are three basic forms of projection, often confused one with
the other. These are (to use horribly approximate terms):
1. Mental
Projection, concerned mainly with exploratory acts of skrying or the
using of symbolic doors as an aid to understanding a particular part
of the astral plane. This is 'projection-by-symbol'.
2. Astral
Projection (proper) in which the astral body (or Second Body to use
Robert Monroe's term) (5) is able to move a distance from the physical
body and accurately report what it sees on the physical plane, facts
that could not have otherwise have been ascertained by the apparently
sleeping practitioner. There is little restriction on the distance
the astral body can travel.
3. Etheric
Projection, in which the physical body is reduced to a state resembling
catalepsy (the breathing in fact becomes very shallow and may cease
altogether for some time). Meanwhile, more of the basic 'etheric'
substance (6) is extruded from the body and accompanies the consciousness
a limited distance from the body.
Of these
three types of projection, the second type is most often referred
to, but sometimes phenomena such as the so-called 'silver cord' (which
is strictly an 'etheric' phenomenon) is incorporated in descriptions
of 'astral' projection. Likewise the visions accompanying the mental
projection, that is, the results of skrying, are often categorised
as 'astral' projections. Although this may seem a mere pedantic quibble,
it is useful to set out exactly what is meant before discussing the
practicalities of projection.
This
brings us to the techniques of astral projection (our second category
above). There are a number of these outlined in modern works on projection,
(7) but of the techniques set forth several have not before appeared
in print and are extremely effective if persevered in every day over
three or four weeks.
----
[5]
Robert Monroe, Journeys out of the Body. Corgi, London, 1974.
[6]
A rather vague term indicating the 'life substance' responsible for
the maintenance of the body, and sometimes referred to as ectoplasm,
more particularly in spiritualist circles.
[7]
These include: Battersby, H. P. Man Outside Himself. University Books,
New York, 1969; Butler, W. E. The Magician. Aquarian Books, London,
1963; Fox, O. Astral Projection. University Books, New York, 1962;
Muldoon, S. and Carrington, H. The Projection of the Astral Body.
Rider and Co, London, 1963.
----
By way
of a preliminary exercise which aids both visualization and the loosening
of the astral it is useful to practise the following before proceeding
to the techniques outlined below.
First
find as large a mirror as possible, sufficient to see all of your
body in. Seat yourself comfortably and examine in detail all of your
body. Then close your eyes and try to recall all the details of your
reflection. If you cannot see most of the details but have only a
patchy memory of your reflection, open your eyes and look again. When
you can finally visualize all of your reflection with closed eyes,
particularly the face, keeping your eyes closed, try to transfer your
point of view from your body to the visualization of your reflected
image, so that you are looking out of the mirror.
If you
are successful this far, try 'seeing' the objects in the room from
the point of view of the mirror, that is, behind your physical body.
To some extent you will be relying on memory here, but after a while
your ability to perceive the room from the new perspective will increase
to the point of certainty that it is not merely memory that is prompting
your vision. It is at this point that you should attempt one of the
following techniques.
Technique
A:
The
following is one of the easiest for the beginner. It uses the Tattwa
symbols, which were detailed in Chapter Three and with which you should
already have had some skrying practice. Their attributions to the
body, Elements, and Sephiroth of the Tree of Life are as follows:
As you
have already used the Middle Pillar exercise, you should be familiar
with the idea of attributing the Sephiroth to various parts of the
body, along with the vibration of their appropriate Godname. Now this
technique can be applied to the activation of the Daat centre by focusing
Vayu (Air) on the throat. The throat centre is chosen because although
the astral body may move out of the physical body as a whole, it is
the throat which is in practice the focus of the junction between
the two. Purely from a theoretical point of view, those who are familiar
with the Tree of Life will remember that the hidden Sephirah Daat
is ascribed to the throat, and it is always considered to be a link
with another dimension or partaking of a different reality.
However
returning to practice, the steps are as follows:
1. Assume
a seated position, the back straight, knees together, making sure
that there is no tension, so that if you fell asleep your position
would not change. If you prefer, a comfortable asana (yoga position)
such as a half lotus with the bottom slightly raised by a small cushion
can be adopted. The important thing is that the position is comfortable
and does not require a conscious effort to maintain, but is not conducive
to sleep. The usually suggested position of flat on your back has
this drawback. Close your eyes.
2. Perform
the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram from the seated position
by visualizing your own figure moving around the room. Formulate yourself
in your mind's eye standing up in robes and holding a dagger. Project
your consciousness into this form, open its eyes, and try to see through
them. In the form go to the East. Make yourself 'feel' there by looking
around, touching the wall, shifting your feet and so on. Begin the
Ritual and go round the room in the form, vibrating the words mentally
and trying to feel them coming from the figure. Return to the East,
and before finishing look around you from the point of the view of
the figure. Return to your body, and, standing behind the head, let
yourself be re-absorbed into it. This way the mental projection with
which you should already be familiar from skrying is used as a preliminary
to astral projection.
3. Perform
the Middle Pillar exercise (for which see Appendix III).
4. Visualize
the Vayu Tattwa, a ball of blue brilliance about four inches in diameter
and position it at the throat.
5. Vibrate
the Godname attributed to Daat, YHVH Elohim (Yeh-ho-wah El-o-heem).
6. Focus
your attention on the nape of your neck, continuing the Vayu visualisation.
At this stage you should observe the first signs of projection, which
are:
a. A
feeling of imbalance, a feeling that you are tilting in one direction.
The natural reaction is to counteract this by leaning in the opposite
direction. It is then that it becomes apparent that the original tilt
was the astral body commencing to move out of alignment with the physical
body,
b. A
wave vibration up and down the body which gradually gets faster and
more regular. This can also manifest as a jarring and shuddering as
if you are in some way coming loose.
c. A
dull aching sensation in the whole of the neck, particularly around
the larynx (Adam's apple). (8) This third result however is less common
than the previous two. These signs have to be fought, not concentrated
upon, otherwise you associate your physical and your astral bodies
too soon in the process. Also surprise or interest tend to pull you
back to your physical body in much the same way. Continue concentrating
around the region of the atlas, the spinal vertebrae on which the
head rests, trying to regularise the vibration and detach yourself
from the physical body first at this point.
7. When
projection occurs remain within the immediate vicinity of the body
for the first couple of experiments getting used to your new 'body'
before moving further afield.
----
[8]
It is interesting to note that Daat has Vayu (Air) ascribed to it,
and is located in the body around the voice box.
----
8. Return
to the body can be simply and immediately accomplished by thinking
of it, or deliberately attempting to move a limb, but it is more useful
to slowly position yourself near to and parallel with the physical
body, and then slowly slide into it resisting any temptation to allow
yourself to be pulled rapidly back into it by simply 'relaxing your
grip' as a deliberate re-union with the physical body helps preserve
the memory of your experience and makes projection easier on the next
occasion.
9. Close
with the Middle Pillar Exercise and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of
the Pentagram. Again don't actually walk around the room but imagine
your own robed figure performing the Ritual.
If this
practice is kept up regularly with concentrated effort for three to
four weeks, preferably at the same time each day, then success is
fairly certain. However once the first projection occurs it is imperative
to re-double your efforts to ensure that this ability becomes one
that can be used at will, rather than a 'one-off' success.
Technique
B:
This
technique uses mental projection as a prelude to astral projection
just as the previous technique incorporated mental projection in its
application of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. However
the technique is less formal than the previous one and relies more
on the visualization abilities of the practitioner who is obliged
to build up an imaginary route rather like a path working.
1. Perform
the Lesser Banishing Ritual as usual, that is, moving physically round
the room whilst inscribing the pentagrams.
2. Seat
yourself as before in a straight-backed position or asana.
3. Concentrate
on your breath watching it flow through your nostrils. Regularize
it and allow it to slow down.
4. Transfer
the attention to an imaginative scene such as a rocky defile along
which you imagine yourself walking. Feel as if you are climbing up
one side of this until you reach a flat plateau on which there are
two pillars, one black, one silver, with a veil between them.
5. Visualize
yourself seated on the other side of the veil.
6. Transfer
your attention to the figure on the other side of the veil, and become
it. At this stage, the mental projection should become an astral one.
The actual astral projection occurs when you move the attention from
one figure to another through the veil, thus negating the difficulties
of moving out of the physical directly into the astral.
7. To
return, you sit down with your back to the veil and visualize your
other body waiting on the other side of the veil. Transfer your attention
to the other side of the veil.
8. Return
along the path through the imagined landscape.
9. Re-assume
your physical body.
10.
Perform the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
Once
you have successfully projected do not immediately attempt to 'run'
around, but carefully move about your room getting used to your new
body. You will find that leg motion is not required but that merely
willing yourself from one place to another is sufficient. Remain 'earthbound'
for the first few experiences, gradually getting used to resisting
the temptation to indulge yourself in the new sensations of weightlessness
and timelessness.
Explore
the adjoining rooms, something you can do by merely passing through
doorways and try to remember some feature which you might not normally
know about, which can be checked on later, as an objective test that
your consciousness did actually leave the room, Note these details
down in your Magical Diary along with your impressions of the appearance
of physical objects, their degree of apparent reality and colouring.
At a
later date attempt to record other sense impressions such as healing
and feeling as if you were feeling them in the physical body. This
way you will rapidly become accustomed to your astral body and will
be able to project it with much greater ease. Simultaneously it will
get stronger and will be able to remain projected for greater periods
of time.
When
trying to ascertain if you are seeing truly on the astral it is useful
to imagine that the contrary of what appears to be there. For example
if you 'visit' a friend in the astral body and you see him reading,
imagine that he is ironing instead. If the figure immediately changes
to conform with your imagination you are probably only viewing your
own astral creations, but if it does not alter then you can be fairly
sure you are actually there.
The
whole secret of astral projection is persistence initially till you
succeed, then practise to perfect the ability and eliminate any possibility
of error.
Etheric
projection is an extension of astral projection and involves transmitting
more of the etheric matter to the astral form so that it can, to a
certain degree, experience the physical surroundings. The price to
be paid for this is that the physical body is reduced to a cataleptic
state; indistinguishable from death in extreme cases.
Consequently,
when preparing to project the etheric body certain precautions have
to be taken. The most important precaution is making sure that the
physical body is protected from any form of disturbance.
It is
therefore important to eliminate the possibility of visitors, telephone
calls, or even too much noise. The body must also be protected from
getting cold during the projection. Any sudden stimulus can have serious
consequences, as the etheric material is drawn back into the body
too suddenly. If the practitioner has a weak heart, shaking or touching
his body whilst the etheric is projected could be fatal: for this
reason it is suggested that nobody with a heart condition should attempt
the following projection technique.
As the
etheric material is extruded there remains a connecting link between
it and the physical body which has sometimes been seen as a silver
connection between the etheric body and the physical body. This connection
seems to prevent the etheric body moving too great a distance from
the physical body and tends to limit the distance travelled till use
gradually attenuates it.
As the
etheric matter is connected with the breath cycle, and relies upon
normal breathing to keep it integrated with the physical body, the
ties between the two can be loosened directly by certain breath techniques
which form part of Hatha Yoga. However the following technique is
indirect and relies on first projecting astrally and then transferring
etheric matter to the astral body. This rather complex sounding process
is best understood by actually using the technique.
Technique
C:
1. Use
one of the two previously described techniques for projecting astrally,
making sure that the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and
Middle Pillar exercise is included.
2. Look
at your physical body. Don't in fact try to open your eyes, for this
will activate the physical eyes and draw you back into the body, but
will yourself to see the physical body. Observe carefully the breathing
of the physical body without trying to actually experience it.
3. Visualize
a link between the solar plexus of your physical and the solar plexus
of your astral body. Along this link should be seen flowing the etheric
matter, from the physical body to the astral. At the same time the
physical breathing should become irregular. Don't worry about this
but just continue the visualization whilst observing the breath. As
soon as the breathing becomes irregular try to breathe in the astral
body, not by lung movement but simply by willing it. If you are successful
the astral breathing will take up of its own accord, there will be
a feeling of a slight pressure on you and the breathing in the physical
body will cease. This is nothing to be worried about at this point,
for after a short time (this interval increasing with use) you will
be drawn back into the physical body, and should anything untoward
happen to your body in the meantime you will be drawn back immediately.
4. Try
not to be drawn back into the body involuntarily. When you begin to
tire, reverse step 3 by returning the etheric matter to your physical
body, and at the same time willing your lungs to take up the job of
breathing again. As soon as the body shows the first sign of taking
up the breath cycle again, will the astral plane breathing to cease.
5. When
the physical body is breathing regularly and the etheric matter returned
to it, visualize the solar plexus connection rolling up back into
the physical body.
6. Move
the astral body back into the physical and close as you would normally.
Recovery
after an etheric projection will take longer than for an astral projection,
and you should be prepared to be a bit stiff and sometimes quite cold
after such a projection. It is quite helpful to have something hot
to drink handy to warm you up and ensure complete integration of the
bodies.
Etheric
projection should only be done with adequate preparation, never omitting
the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram or making provision against
intrusion. An alternative to the latter is to have a trusted companion,
who knows exactly what you intend to do and understands that the physical
body must under no circumstances be touched during projection, to
look after any contingency that may arise. If these precautions are
observed there is no reason why you should not project the etheric
with absolute safety.
If by
any chance you come back too quickly and find that you appear to be
'looking down the wrong end of a telescope', carefully repeat the
Banishing Ritual, then without haste project again and return slowly.
Remember
that it is no use just reading this and thinking how interesting projection
might be. Resolve now to persevere for a period of say four weeks
every night with one of the first two techniques, recording every
detail and reaction in your Magical Diary. You will be surprised how
rapidly persistence brings success.
