Astral Projection and Visiting Inner Planes

Try this . . . 

There are many techniques for getting "out of body" and experiencing soul travel. The reader is strongly encouraged to consider the many available books on the subject beyond what is written here.

My first OBE was attained after practicing the exercises given in Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts, which is a classic introductory course in western ceremonial magic.  However, "astral projection" is only a small part of modern ceremonial magic and "soul travel" out of body involves much more than visits to the astral plane.  So I have put together a very simple process for starting out, making use of the various approaches I've learned over the years..  Remember, every practitioner is an individual and therefore will have a unique experience.  Systematization and methods can only take us so far!

Three Basic Principles for Starting

1. The imagination is your doorway and your power comes from suspension of disbelief.  Can you pretend until it's no longer pretend?
2. It's "all in your head" and your "head" is enormous.  In other words, the "Inner Planes" are in your multi-layered consciousness and also beyond your individual mind.
3. If imagination and suspension of disbelief get you out, the ability to concentrate is what keeps you out.

Be Patient and Do It Right

Most people fail to attain an OBE when they're first starting out because they're in a rush.  Don't rush. The time you waste in frustration and failed attempts would be better spent laying the groundwork for powerful skills in this area.  The groundwork is "basic" in the sense that it provides a solid "base," a foundation that will serve you well.

Three Foundational Processes

I. Imaginative Power: saying that the "imagination is your doorway" out of body means that you have to develop the ability to think visually--to see moving pictures in your head.  You have several options for how you might go about doing this.  Here are three popular ones: (1) learn creative visualization, which will help you in all kinds of ways in addition to developing strong capacities for projection (see Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain); (2) learn a system of magic that emphasizes introspection and psychology (Kraig's book is excellent for this / also see William Gray's Magic Ritual Methods); (3) take a class on developing a "photographic memory," which is actually something that can be learned.

Here is my method: buy a tarot deck.  Practice every day until you can draw a card, study it, and see it clearly when you close your eyes.  When you can remember a card with great accuracy, you have attained this skill--which you need to maintain.  So a tarot deck is a great way to do this because learning a divination system is also very useful.

II. Inner Plane Knowledge: you need a map of your consciousness if you intend to explore it.  Otherwise, you may have interesting experiences, but you won't know where you went or how to get there again. There are many such maps.  Three popular versions are: (1) the Kabalistic Tree of Life; (2) the Nine Worlds of the Norse Edda; and (3) the Planetary Chains of Theosophy.  Note that I often reference Clint Marsh's simplified diagram of the inner planes and a more complex version taught in Eckankar (aka the "God Worlds") on this site.  Whichever model appeals to you, my recommendation is that you stick with it until you become confident in your abilities.  I say this because the Inner Planes cannot be perfectly or definitively mapped.  Therefore, all cosmologies are, at best, interpretive.  Keep this in mind.  Ultimately, you may use multiple versions (the way you might consult multiple maps to the same destination) and / or develop your own.

Here is my method: start by studying an Inner Plane cosmology.  If you are working with one of the ceremonial magical books I recommend here, by all means use the Tree of Life when you become confident with it.  Otherwise, I recommend that you read Clint Marsh's The Mentalist's Handbook: an Explorer's Guide to Astral, Spirit, and Psychic Worlds.  In my opinion, it has the most beginner-friendly map of the Inner Planes I have ever seen.  Marsh also includes many exercises for psychic development that can supplement / replace the method I am giving you here.  If you are interested in soul travel, it is a book that should be on your shelf.

III. Concentration: learning how to concentrate for long periods is challenging for most people.  Inability to concentrate may be the foremost reason why people have trouble developing OBE abilities.  The traditional way most orders and systems teach this is by having the student learn meditation.  This is good because it develops the will and opens the mind to deeper faculties as well as aiding concentration.  But, unfortunately, it is boring, at least initially.  Here are three alternate suggestions that also help with visualization: (1) take a drawing class or music lessons--great for developing the ability to concentrate and visualize at the same time; (2) join a martial arts studio—many fringe benefits here, too; or (3) read—believe it or not, reading for sustained periods (1-2 hours at a time) develops great capacities in these areas, especially if it requires visual imagination like fiction.

Here is my method: concentration is another skill that you have to maintain for it to be strong and available.  Once you learn how to go out of body, the act of projection itself strengthens your ability to concentrate.  Until you do that, however, I suggest that you take a tarot card and study it the way you have been to develop your visual thinking.  Only this time, you're not as concerned with reconstructing the image of it in your mind (you can already do that!).  Instead, you will spend time thinking about meanings for the card in question in addition to those given in the booklet that came with the deck.  In other words, you'll look at the picture and ask, "What else can this card signify?"  Write down your conclusions.  This will make you a better tarot reader and it will strengthen your powers of concentration.

The Method

If you have developed proficiency in the Three Foundational Processes given here, getting our-of-body will be extremely simple.  Pick a location on the Inner Planes.  Visualize what you think it looks like. Do this as a meditative discipline, picturing it in detail for a certain amount of time every day.  Then, when the location feels incredibly familiar, see your own ghost--a double of you in every way except slightly transparent and glowing--standing beside you.  "See" this with your Spiritual Eye (which you have, incidentally, been developing all this time) and not with your physical eyes.  Then shift your consciousness into the perspective of your double.  When I was starting out, I used to imagine this as a ball of white light that contained my conscious mind leaving my physical head and entering the head on my astral body.  Once you complete this shift (though it might take a few attempts), you will see from that perspective.  You will be able to look down at your physical body.  Then will yourself into the Inner Plane location that you have been visualizing.  After several attempts, you will certainly be successful.

This covers everything you need to have acquired the basics of soul travel to the Inner Planes.