Astral Projection
In our last three lessons we considered that class of Psychomancy
arising from the erection and employment of the "Astral Tube." In the
present lesson we pass to a consideration of the third class of
phenomena, namely, that occasioned by the actual projection of one's
Astral Body to distant points.
In this class of phenomena the consciousness of the person does not
remain within the physical organism, but
is actually projected along
with the Astral Body to the point being psychically viewed or examined.
This form of Psychomancy is, of course, a higher degree of
manifestation than the class previously described. Here physical
consciousness is temporarily suspended (perhaps for but a moment or so)
and the Astral Body containing the consciousness of the individual is
projected to some point, perhaps far distant, with the rapidity of
thought, where it examines objects there situated, receiving sensations
through and by means of the Astral Senses. This phenomena may arise
while the person is in a trance, or sleep, etc., or else in a moment of
concentrated abstraction, when one is "day-dreaming"; in a "brown
study"; or "wrapped in thought," as the familiar terms run. When he
returns to his physical body he "comes to himself," and what he has
seen or heard seems to him like a "day-dream" or fantasy--unless he be
a trained seer, in which case the two planes of consciousness will be
closely related, and almost continuous.
Besides the more familiar phases of this class of phenomena, there are
wonderful possibilities open for the developed Psychomancer along these
lines. As a leading writer on this subject has said concerning it: "He
has also the immense advantage of being able to take part, as it were,
in the scenes which come before his eyes. If, in addition, he can learn
how to materialize himself, he will be able to take part in physical
events or conversations at a distance, and to show himself to an absent
friend at will."
The trained experimenter along these lines has also the advantage of
being able to search about on the Astral Plane for what he desires to
find or locate. He is able to direct his Astral Body to definite
places, either by means similar to finding one's way on the physical
plane, or else by following up the psychic clue afforded by a piece of
clothing, a lock of hair, a piece of stone, or some other object
connected with the person or place desired, by means of a higher form
of Psychometry. Of course, the person whose powers are not so highly
developed is not able to have such control over his Astral Body, or to
manifest such a degree of trained power. He is like a child learning to
walk, or read--he is awkward, and must learn to direct his movements.
There are many degrees of power, from the occasional, spontaneous
manifestations, to those of the highly trained Occultists who travel in
the Astral even more easily than in the physical, and with the same
degree of certainty and control.
The pages of reliable works on Occultism and Psychic Research are
filled with illustrations and examples of cases along these lines, in
which the Astral Body of persons have traveled to distant scenes, and
have reported occurrences and scenes witnessed there, sometimes
materializing so as to be seen by the persons in the places visited. We
herewith mention a few of these cases, in order to illustrate the
principle.
A well-known example is that of the Philadelphian, mentioned by the
German writer Jung Stilling, and quoted by some English writers. The
man in question was a well-known character, respected, of good
reputation and steady habits. He had the reputation of possessing
Psychomantic powers which he sometimes manifested for the benefit of
friends and others. He was once consulted by the wife of a sea captain,
whose husband was on a voyage to Europe and Africa, and whose vessel
had been long overdue, and from whom no tidings had been received for a
long time.
The Psychomancer listened to the story of the anxious and distressed
wife, and then excused himself from the room for a short time, retiring
into an adjoining room. Becoming alarmed at his continued absence from
the room, the lady quietly opened the connecting door, and peeped in
the second room, where much to her surprise and alarm she saw the old
man lying on a couch, showing all the appearances of death. She waited
in great alarm for a long time, when he aroused himself and returned to
her. He told her that he had visited her husband in a coffee-house in
London, and gave her the reasons for his not having written, adding
that he would soon return to Philadelphia.
When the husband finally returned, his wife questioned him regarding
the matter, and he informed her that the reasons given by the
Psychomancer were correct in every detail. Upon being taken into the
presence of the man, the old sea captain uttered an exclamation of
surprise, saying that he had seen the man on a certain day in a
coffee-house in London, and that the man had told him that his wife was
worried about him, and that he had answered the man, saying that he had
been prevented from writing for certain reasons, and that he was on the
very eve of setting sail for America. He said that he had then lost
sight of the stranger suddenly.
W. T. Stead relates the case of a lady of his acquaintance who has
spontaneously developed the power to travel in her Astral Body, and to
materialize the same unconsciously. She became a source of great worry
and distress to many of her friends, to whom she would pay unexpected
and involuntary visits, frightening them out of their wits by the
materialization of what they supposed must be the "ghost" of the lady,
whom they thought must have died suddenly. The occurrences, however,
became so frequent that her friends at last became familiar with the
nature of the appearances, and viewed them with merely great interest
and wonder.
The English Society for Psychical Research have several hundred
well-authenticated instances of such appearances in their published
records. One of the well-known cases is that of a gentleman described
as "S. H. B.," a member of the London Stock Exchange, and a man of
considerable business note. He relates his story as follows:
"One Sunday night in November, 1881, I was in Kildare Gardens, when I
willed very strongly that I would visit in the spirit two lady friends,
the Misses V., who were living three miles off, in Hogarth Road. I
willed that I should do this at one o'clock in the morning, and having
willed it, I went to sleep. Next Thursday, when I first met my friends,
the elder lady told me she woke up and saw my apparition advancing to
her bedside. She screamed and woke her sister, who also saw me." (A
signed statement of the two sisters accompanies this statement, both
ladies fixing the time at one o'clock, and saying that Mr. B. wore
evening dress.)
"Again, on December 1, 1882, I was at Southall. At half-past nine I sat
down to endeavor to fix my mind so strongly upon the interior of a
house at Kew, where Miss V. and her sister lived, that I seemed to be
actually in the house. I was conscious, but was in a kind of mesmeric
sleep. When I went to bed that night, I willed to be in the front
bedroom of that house at Kew at twelve, and to make my presence felt by
the inmates. Next day I went to Kew. Miss V.'s married sister told me,
without any prompting from me, that she had seen me in the passage
going from one room to another at half-past nine o'clock, and that at
twelve, when she was wide awake, she saw me come to the front bedroom,
where she slept, and take her hair, which is very long, into my hand.
She said I then took her hand and gazed into the palm intently. She
said, 'You need not look at the lines, for I never had any trouble.'
She then woke her sister. When Mrs. L. told me this. I took out the
entry that I had made the previous night and read it to her. Mrs. L. is
quite sure she was not dreaming. She had only seen me once before, two
years previously, at a fancy ball."
"Again, on March 22, 1884, I wrote to Mr. Gurney, of the Psychical
Research Society, telling him I was going to make my presence felt by
Miss V., at 44 Norland Square, at midnight. Ten days afterwards, I saw
Miss V., when she voluntarily told me that on Saturday at midnight, she
distinctly saw me, when she was quite wide awake."
We have related these accounts in order to show instances of the
appearance of a materialized Astral Body. But, we must remember that
these cases of materialization are very rare as compared to the cases
of Astral Projection (without materialization) in ordinary
Clairvoyance. And yet the phenomena is practically the same in both
instances, leaving out the phase of materialization. In many instances
the individual actually travels in his Astral Body to the distant scene
and there witnesses the events occurring at that point. There is a
"ghost" within each one of us, which under certain favorable conditions
travels away from our physical body and "sees things" at far-off
points. Under certain other conditions it materializes, and is visible
to others, but in the majority of cases it merely "sees" without being
seen. The Psychomancer, in this phase of the phenomena, actually
travels from the location of the physical body, to the other points
desired, and reports what he or she sees and hears there.
Astral Projection is frequently developed by faithful practice of, and
demonstration of, the simpler forms of Psychomancy. It is all a matter
of successive steps of development.