#astral ref

About: This is more of a general story created of high consistencies I experience, rather than detailing one specific astral adventure. I believed story format would provide easier comprehension.

I position myself at the door I use to leave my mindscape. I set the intent to follow conjurings/callings, and set specifics of the qualities I want the conjurer to have. I open the door and pass through it, into a dark void. I get the feeling of transcending upwards, and see nothing but darkness for a few seconds.

Once that passes, I am floating in a void with various rectangular scenes playing out. In a 360 around me, it looks like an unorganized mess of screens. These scenes are of different entities attempting to call others. I can feel the strands of energy connected to each in the “air”.

Sometimes, I am pulled along into a scene before I can make the decision to pick one of my own volition.

But usually, I’m attracted to one or two scenes in particular, by the energy sent out by the caster. I can read and distinguish the energy threads in the “air” to be able to learn some things about whoever is caling.

When I pick a scene, I “swim” towards it. I don’t know if I shrink, or the scene becomes huge, or if size is a mere construct here, but the scene is large enough for me to enter it.

Typically I fall roughly onto the ground, an effect of switching from an entirely nonphysical to semi-physical or even primarily physical realms. If a summoning circle was used, I will usually appear right in the center. If not, I appear around the general vicinity of the caster.

Returning to my mindscape (“home”) has no notable differences from regular astral travel.

Notes:

The “upwards” feeling has been consistent each time I leave with the intent of being conjured. This leads me to think that that area is a plane with more “framework”, perhaps easily understood by the phrase “higher up”, though that’s not exactly correct in connotation. 

Energy readings skills are an absolute must to be able to perform this. 

You should already know this is an advanced magic blog, however this skill is particularly dangerous. Think of how many layers of protection/banishing methods us humans have; what would species skilled in magic have? There are many spirits that are known to eat people, and you could likely be strolling right into someone’s trap. (Aka the nice version of: If you attempt this and you get hurt, you’re a dumbass, your fault not mine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Questions to Answer:

Does method of astral make it easier/harder to reach that “higher” plane? Example: Leaving your mindscape versus a random door you visualized? 

Ways to spot traps?

How to resist a strong “pull” besides cancelling the astral session and starting all over?

If you have any questions, send in an ask or PM and I will add it to this list to be answered in the future.

If you do happen to attempt this, please feel free to share your experience with me! 

These are Frequently Asked Questions I get about astral. Please check this guide before asking me questions concerning astralling! This will be updated regularly, as I receive more questions.

What is the astral?

Note that this is MY definition: I consider the astral to be absolutely everything; our plane of existence, spirits’ planes of existence, pop culture realms, etc. The astral is everywhere and everything.

How does astral travel work?

When you travel, a small portion of your consciousness leaves your body.

This consciousness manifests as its own body on the astral, or it could “awaken” in an astral body you already have. In travel, you do not see/hear/feel/think as clearly as you do during projection, simply because only a portion of your consciousness has left your body.

What is astral travel versus astral projection versus OBE?

Note, again, these are MY definitions:

In astral travel, a PORTION of your consciousness leaves your body and is able to explore other realms.

In Astral Projection, nearly your entire consciousness leaves your body. Astral projection is much harder to achieve than travel. This is the “gold standard” of astral travel, where you see/hear/feel/think with complete or almost complete clarity.

In an OBE, Out-of-Body-Experience, your consciousness FULLY leave your body. As of right now, I do not believe this is possible without a near-death experience, or actual death.

What are some ways to astral travel?

Meditate.

Guided meditations

Trance

Have a spirit you know and trust “pull” you into the astral.

(Visualization) Imagine a door. Imagine/focus on what is on the other side of the door. Walk through it.

(Visualization) Imagine an X (pool, mirror, etc). Imagine/focus on what is on the other side of X. Walk through it.

Lucid Dreaming

“Splitting”: Imagine a copy of yourself hovering above you. Notice your consciousness in your own body, then “jump” your consciousness into that copy of yourself floating above you. Proceed to go where you want.  

What are some ways to astral project?

Just….keep practicing astral travel, maybe try new methods. I highly recommend reading Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce, I have literally NEVER EVER found a more comprehensive, extremely informative, and yet still beginner-friendly and not overly complex guide to astral travel/projection.

Differentiating “true astral” from imagination?

True Astral:

will always have external interactions that are not in your own head; entities talking/living their own lives whether your imagination/consciousness directs them to or not. Entities moving independently of your will.

Spirits (good or bad) being able to follow you back home, to your physical body and interact with you there

Unexpected/Unpredictable occurrences happen

You get injured and it may hurt your astral body and maybe feel it a little physically too. Injury damages your magical abilities/astral abilities

Your astral body can die and you won’t be able to access “true astral” until you regenerate.

You can meet other humans consciously. As in, you can text your friend and meetup on the astral together, and talk about it IRL afterwards. 

Imagination:

You are in full control of everything.

What you expect to happen, will happen

Entities are like puppets or dolls; they don’t move around unless you imagine them doing so, and if/when they interact with you, it’s things you expected them to say

You will not tire, or will tire extremely slowly.

You die/get extremely hurt and nothing happens. You can regenerate at will/heal whenever and wherever you want.

You talk to your friend, then you talk to them later IRL and they have no idea what you talked about. 

Why do people always imagine common fantasy stuff when astralling? Don't you think astral and what happens there is just your imagination and happens in your head? I mean strangely all the people who talk about astral experiences describe common fantasy stuff. I'd say if astral was real it would contain a lot of stuff people can't even imagine, and yet everyone describes dragons, elfs, etc, that which their mind already knows, nothing out of ordinary. Isn't this suspicious?

One reason people generally imagine common fantasy is stuff is because that’s what most people care about, and thus go to. It’s hard to care about a species that humanity has never even encountered before, isn’t it? Also, how can you visit the realm of something you have never even heard of/can’t imagine before? Astral travel needs knowledge of where you will go to, so it’s pretty hard (and probably super dangerous) to just say “take me somewhere beyond my imagination.”

There’s also the problem of perception: during astralling, the mind usually replaces things you don’t know with things you do know of, to use less energy while astralling. While you can force your brain to show “the truth”, the more the thing you are trying to look at is beyond your imagination, the more energy and effort it will take to see “the truth”.

How do you do astral laundry?

Note: Not limited to this list.

Have a companion you’re comfortable with seeing you nude do your laundry for you.

Astral travel two feet away from your earth self, take your astral clothes off, put them in your washer/dryer (with your astral self or earth self), physically run the washer/dryer (you can wash other clothes with it). Take your clothes out, travel again and put your clothes back on.

Destroy your clothes and remake clean ones.

How do past lives affect current astral shenanigans?

You might appear as one of your past life forms/bodies. Spirits from your past lives could also attempt to find you on the astral (whether malicious or friendly, so always be cautious).

How to meet spirits on the astral?

Tl;dr:

1. Be able to astral and able to distinguish between astralling/imagination.

2. Go somewhere with spirits.

How to safely meet spirits on the astral?

There is no 100% guarantee of safety when astralling.

Some suggestions are:

Have spirit guides/guardians/protective companions take you somewhere safe

Actually know where you are going and who you want to meet

How do you keep possibly malicious spirits/entities/beings from following you back home?

This is what wards in your living space/where you are when you astral are for. Wards can fuddle your energy signature from being found by spirits you don’t want to find you.

Make sure you “come back” correctly; that you walked back through your imagined door, imagined yourself falling back into your physical body, whatever.

Do a centering exercise, which will help you “pull back in” trace amounts of energy you left where you went when astralling. Do make sure your wards are up first, to make sure nothing follows the “pull” back to your physical body. If you don’t know what centering is/how to do it, check the “energy work” section of my FAQ/my energy work FAQ post.

Manners/social etiquette/social skills in the astral?

Obviously those will vary a LOT based on where you go. I literally can’t write a comprehensive guide as the astral is home to a limitless number of cultures.

But some things to keep in mind are:

Don’t fight every single thing you see ever. Don’t try and provoke fights with every single thing ever. Retribution is a thing and the majority of spirits have the advantage when fighting in the astral.

Just because something looks scary doesn’t mean it’s out to get you.

Observe the culture, maybe talk with some of the nicer (and not trickster) locals who can tell you the Do’s and Don’ts of their culture.

Heeeeeeey people keep talking about different places in the astral and are they alternate locations all on the same plane or are there alternate astral planes with alternate inhabitants?

There are alternate astral planes with their own inhabitants, and alternate locations on the same plane.

Example of the former: We are on earth. Heaven exists on its own plane of the universe.

Example of the latter: We are on Earth. An alternate location on our plane of existence would be Venus.

Is it possible for entities/other people to drag you into the astral (forcefully or not)?

Absolutely, both people and entities can bring you to the astral. And they can do it forcefully or consensually (consensually obviously takes a lot less energy). 

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Well...are you “ignoring” your astral/magic stuff because you want to or because you have to? Because graduating and getting a job both sound like very important mundane issues you shouldn’t ignore. Your subconscious also has ways of blocking you out from magic stuff if you NEED to focus on mundane stuff

ALSO you don’t need to astral to talk with ur companions. just sayin

But uhh to actually answer the question of “getting re-interested”. Just...do what you want I guess?? Maybe go to some chill healing place or something. tiny adventures 

It’s pretty hard to force yourself to be interested in something, so I wouldn’t push it too much. Could be a sign that you need to get your mundane shit together first anyways. 

There are ways our sight varies on the astral, as typically we do not see with crystal clear sight like while in our earthen bodies. Basic blurriness has already been addressed in other posts so will not be listed here. Here are some ways that astral sight varies that I have not seen previously listed. 

Figure 1: No Perception of Bodies

Sometimes you may perceive all the details of your surroundings but not the bodies of spirits or entities. 

Figure 2: Little to No Perception of Backgrounds

Or, perception of the surroundings itself may be highly limited. Sometimes you may see only simple lineart, or you may see nothing at all. 

Figure 3a and 3b: Energy Systems Only 

These versions likely only happen to those skilled at energy reading, but it is still a possibility for all nonetheless. Sometimes only the energy systems or general energy of the entities and surroundings are all you can see. Or you may see a variation on the ones above; perhaps some things you will catch the actual form of, and other things you will only perceive the energy system. 

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Ehhh the lines between astral and imagination can be very thin. True astral travelling will always have external interactions that are not in your own head, however it is up to your subconscious to interpret it, if that makes sense? 

So it involves your subconscious but you do need actual external things for it to be considered “true astral”.