Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs)
Have you ever seen your physical body sleeping peacefully in bed while you are looking down from the ceiling? Have you ever dreamt that you are flying? Did you ever “visit” with a spiritual guide or angel in a heavenly realm? If so, you’re one of many who have had an out-of-body experience (OBE).
Science may call OBEs hallucinations, caused by psychological and neurological factors, but the 10-15% of people who admit to having had such experiences know otherwise. They know that these experiences feel even more real than what scientists call reality. Whether your OBE happened spontaneously as part of a lucid dream, as you were falling asleep, as a near-death experience due to some trauma, as a result of extreme physical effort, or if you deliberately induced it through astral projection, these events are hard to deny. And why would you want to?
We all leave our bodies every night. In the dream world, you roam free, totally separate from your physical body lying in bed. The difference between that and an OBE is that during an OBE you have a greater consciousness in your astral body than you do in a typical dream, and you are aware that your physical body is still in bed while you are free to travel about.
I recently had this type of lucid dream/astral travel while I was at Miraval, where I lecture and teach workshops. I was semi-awake, lying in bed, when I was suddenly transported back to L.A., visiting with my cats. Ginger, who is old, was with Mr. Manx, who has been dead for quite some time. The two of them had lived together for ten years, and I thought that maybe Mr. Manx had come to take Ginger to the Other Side. Then I “left” and went to see my mother, who lives in northern California. The cats had come to take me to my mother. Their eyes, and my mother’s eyes, were shining white. I woke up and called my mother immediately to find out how she was.
In an out-of-body experience, you may find yourself in a location here on Earth or in an apparently real domain that’s clearly not on Earth—the “other worlds” talked about by traditional peoples or the astral plane as it’s called by occultists and New Agers. Normal physical laws don’t apply as travelers go from one realm to another. You can travel backwards or forwards in time, go to heaven or hell realms, visit with loved ones who have passed on (including pets!), or meet with high spiritual beings who give you insight and guidance.
While we are alive in our physical bodies, our astral bodies are the ones that do the traveling. Of course, there are beings who only possess etheric bodies, such as planetary angels or solar angels, called devas. Devas often appear to clairvoyants as colored flames about the size of a human being. The Theosophists also believed that nature spirits, elementals, and fairies, who can all be observed through an activated third eye, are all etheric entities on the path of deva evolution. These types of beings possess etheric bodies, but no physical ones.
Your astral/etheric body can travel out of your physical body, but where it can go is related to how high your vibratory level is. You can nurture your etheric body with light and positive energy. You lower your vibration through negative thoughts and emotions, especially fear. When you learn to control your astral body through soul mastery of your thoughts and feelings, it can help your physical body to heal, slow down the aging process, and take you to visit higher planes while still alive on Earth. This is the key to ascension, which I will discuss in detail in a later blog, as well as to spiritual out-of-body experiences.
When you learn how to deliberately induce an out-of-body experience through lucid dreams or in deep meditation, you’ll come to appreciate the great potential of your astral body, as well as its connection to energy healing.
Starting next week, on Thursday, March 14th, I’ll be teaching the ins and outs, ups and downs of astral travel in a 4-week live online Hay House event (/events-workshops//astral-travel). Join me to learn how to astral project and explore the higher astral realms safely. It’s a sure-fire way to deepen your connection to spirit and to lose your fear of death. Really!
