04/16/2026
𝑨𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒅𝒚
The idea that we have a soul that is separate, yet connected, to our bodies is not a new one. Neither is the idea that we can temporarily separate them. Shamans, witches, and energy workers of all kinds have been practicing astral projection for various reasons. Whether it is used just for the experience, the gathering of knowledge, healing, or any other magical/spiritual reason you can think of, it is a valuable skill to have. Technically, with the right knowledge and enough practice, anyone can learn to astral project. Some would say that you may already be doing it in your dreams. Like any skill, some may have a more natural talent for it, and can learn it more quickly, but that should not let anyone who wants to learn, be deterred. There are plenty of books on the market to learn this art. A Witch’s Travel Guide to Astral Realms by D.J. Conway and The Practical Guide to Astral Projection by Denning and Phillips come to mind. Astral projection is an intentional act that allows you to explore not only the world around you, but other planes of existence as well. That said, astral projection can be attained without conscious intention. It could happen while dreaming, particularly while lucid dreaming, or while our mind is in an altered state, like during meditation or while driving off to sleep. If one has a natural talent for it, they could also, unintentionally, astral travel more easily during one of those states. It is considered a spiritual practice/skill within the realm of metaphysics, and is often dismissed by mainstream science. Yet, there is much evidence, anecdotal and otherwise, that would suggest otherwise.
Another similar experience, that seems to be more widely accepted, is the Out of Body Experience, or OBE. This phenomena is considered to be a spontaneous and unintentional ejection of the consciousness/soul from the body. Stories of this occurring usually happen when the body is undergoing some kind of stressful or traumatic experience. There are plenty of anecdotal references to OBE’s happening during surgeries, accidents, or when the individual is having a near death experience. These stories are more likely to be discussed from a psychological or medical stand point, and is often described as a dissociative or hallucinatory event created entirely within the brain. The person only feels like they are outside of their body. However, that explanation leaves a lot of unanswered questions for me, especially when the person who undergoes the event can relay details of the situation they should not otherwise be able to (like seeing there actions of others while they themselves are unconscious, and a verbal account is not being given in the moment). You can read more about out of body experiences in plenty of paranormal books and psychology texts that talk about near death experiences.
While the main difference between these two occurrences is the intention, or lack there of, to have one’s soul or consciousness leave the body, there are many similarities between them as well. In both instances, the individual describes sensation like vibrations, and feeling of floating. They can also describe their surroundings, and even move around to see more than they could from their body’s vantage point. Both also require an altered state of consciousness that would allow for the physical and energy body’s to be become separated. By the above definitions, one could say that astral projection could be considered an out of body experience, but not all out of body experiences would be considered astral projection.
Regardless if you believe in the soul or not, there is much evidence that both astral projection and out of body experiences exist. What do you think? What do you think? Is it the soul or consciousness detaching from our body, or just our brain working over time because it is under stress/duress? Have you ever experienced either? Under what circumstances? I would love to know.
𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧
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