Astral travel is the ability of the spirit – or some say the consciousness—to exit the body and travel independently of it. For those who believe that there is more to this mortal coil than meets the eye, the concept of a part of our awareness separating from the physical form is not that far of a stretch.
Naysayers will scoff, but for those who have had the experience there remains little doubt that astral travel—also known as astral projection or out-of-body experiences—are just a fact of nature.
Astral travel is natural. Just like when you take a road trip or a vacation overseas, there is nothing really terrible to fear. However, just like when you’re traveling in the mundane world, you can occasionally have an unpleasant experience while astral traveling. In order to prevent a ‘bad trip’ from happening to you, take a few, simple precautions.
PHYSICAL DANGER
Probably the biggest danger in astral projection is not with the spiritual body, but in leaving the physical body unguarded. Just like when you are in a deep sleep, if someone were to creep into your room at night they could hurt or kill you before you’d wake up and be prepared to fight them off.
What that means is that astral projection is no more and no less dangerous than going to sleep at night. It’s not a good idea to try it while walking through the park at night alone, or in someone’s house where you don’t trust the people, or around anyone violent or using substances. Basically, if you wouldn’t feel safe sleeping there, don’t astral project there.
POSSESSION
This is actually a controversial topic. There are horror stories that float around where a friend of a friend astral projecting was possessed while the soul was out of the body. Many people who do astral project reject the possibility because the soul is still connected to the body and springs back in a nanosecond when there is trouble.
If you do have this fear, it’s only going to prevent you from enjoying the experience so you may as well address it and take precautions. Some people will sprinkle holy water or salt around themselves before astral projecting, Others will meditate first, surrounding themselves with divine, protective light. Still others will call to their spirit guides and ask that the body be protected while out.
ASTRAL ENTITIES
When astral traveling you’ll occasionally encounter other people or entities from other planes. Most of these will be harmless, but occasionally you may meet a lower entity that expresses negative emotions, or an outright evil entity.
The first thing to know is that you should not panic. They cannot harm your astral body or sever your connection (often seen as a silver cord) to your physical body.
What they can do is give you a serious fright, or feed off your energy so that when you return to your body you may feel depressed and drained for a few days, and you may be susceptible to colds and pains.
In this situation—don’t engage them. You will get a sense from them that all is not right with such beings, and you should trust that feeling. Some may try to scare you or fight you—will yourself to ‘snap’ back into your body and you’ll be fine in an instant.
Some might even try to engage you in astral sex—avoid this; they’re trying to feed off your energy. While astral sex can be amazing, you have to be as choosy with your partners (if not more so) than you do in your waking life.
Astral projection can be a rewarding experience and an amazing adventure, but like all things in life, you need to apply a little common sense to stay safe.
