Since the time of the ancient Egyptians out of body travel has been recorded by various cultures. The Egyptians called the astral body or soul, Kha and produced images of the astral body hovering just over or beyond the real body. Often it was depicted as translucent, airy and haloed.
The ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the astral body, and experimented with many methods of controlling it in order to visit other planes of time and space while the physical body stayed behind. It is suspected that it is through astral projection experiences such as these that they were able to learn the skills necessary to build the pyramids using only the materials they had at the time, which is something that still baffles scientists to this day.
Meditation is the first element that the ancient Egyptians used for out of body travel. They recorded this as concentrating on nothing more than the visions they would see with their eyes closed and being nearly asleep. The flashes of patterns and lights that they would see represented the beginning of their journey to another plane in space and time while traveling in their astral body.
After passing this state, the astral body entered into an emergence phase. This caused the humming and tingling of the physical body and then the feeling of heaviness followed. The feelings of tingling and then heaviness the ancients believed was the feeling of the astral body pulling away from the physical body, while initiating the unknown out of body journey to other planes.
They accomplished this in different ways yet the most common was that of walking out of the physical body by using the astral body. Beginning with the minds eye, followed by the shoulders, chest, hips, legs, knees and then the feet. This continued until there were two separate entities, that of the physical body and that of the astral body.
This separating of bodies, then allowed the astral body to pass freely through solid objects, it could also hover and fly about without being effected by the lack of oxygen or changes in the atmosphere.
Recordings of the ancient Greeks include examples of out of body astral travel, which expanded on the meditatively-induced state of the ancient Egyptians. This included the experiences of out of body travel by the means of some sort of mental or physical trauma. Plutarch of Queroneia an ancient historian cites that Arisdeu had suffered a blunt head trauma after falling and then slipped into a coma that lasted three days.
During this time the experience of Arisdeu included seeing his immobile physical body on the ground, although he was able to freely move about. He was able to travel out of body to previously unimagined places. After adapting to this new environment, the spirit guide of Arideu met him and assisted him and then advised him of the projection of his astral body into other dimensions.
Although, he was eventually pulled back into his physical body, while in his altered state he did learn and explore. Once returning to his physical body, he did spend the rest of his life using the knowledge he found during the time of his out of body experience.
Other ancient cultures recorded their findings of out of body travel similar to that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. For instance, the history of the Native Americans includes various full accounts of such happenings to their people as well. Their accounts include the meeting of their spirit guides and totem spirit animals. These entities also advised them concerning the astral plane and the astral body. For centuries, the Native Americans have used specific plants for burning and inhaling in order to relax the mind to the point of being more receptive to out of body travel on the astral planes.
The ability or the human body to explore various spheres of space and time is possible. The ability to do so has been recorded since the time of the ancients. Channeling our consciousness into a spiritual body is possible. However, along the way many have forgotten how to do such a natural thing. Knowing how to alter our consciousness to the point that we can release it from the confines of our physical limitations, seems lost to so many modern individuals. However, with patience and practice we can relearn how to astral travel to meet our spiritual guides on the higher astral planes.
In order to reopen this door to higher planes within us all, we have to remember how we can reconnect with our higher, spiritual selves. Once we are able to do this, we are able to use our out of body experiences to reach the higher planes of existence. This natural process is unlimited in its possibilities. When we are able to rediscover this natural part of us that so many have forgotten, we open ourselves up to the potentials of traveling the astral plane and understanding our higher, spiritual self.
Tags: astral projection, astral travel, out of body, out of body experience, out of body experiences