I am reading a book called “flying without a broom” by D.J. Conway. It is interesting read with lots of practical examples. But I am unsure what is the difference between Astral travel and Lucid dreaming.
I can already LD quite well, and do it almost every night, but I don’t know much about Astral travel apart from that it exists, and that I am reading a book about it. But the book itself doesn’t really state it properly for somebody who hasn’t got a clue.
I mean I have had LDs where I felt somewhere else or was a completely different person, instead of the person I am IRL, from what I read in this book I have been reading, this also could be astral travel. But I am not sure. At the moment I can’t tell the difference of whether I am sometimes astral travelling in dreams or LD.
I just hope someone out there could clarify the difference and whether some of my experiences have been astral travel?
Many people believe in an “invisible world” with many planes.
Astral Projection is the same thing as an OBE (Out of body Experiance). meaning that astral projection involes your “astral body”.
the astral world is said to contain 7 planes people can only get up to the first 4.
1st plane “real time zone” or etheric plane. On different planes your are supposed to vibrate at different frequencies. on the etheric plane you are said to vibrate at a frequency close to the physical plane (the place we are at). so this is the plane that people would be on in a typical OBE in which they claim to see the real world.
2nd plane “Astral plane”
This is the one that would be confused with lucid dreaming. This plane is the one where surroundings are shaped by the thoughts of visitors. just as it would in a lucid dream.
i’m going to stop here because I only wanted to explain the first 2. Many people believe that lucid dreaming is still astral projection in another form… however I think the two are different.
In short Astral projection is described as more vivid and it being in a separate place outside your body. You will come acrossed other astral travelers and it is populated by entities and/or spirits.
Lucid dreaming I believe takes place in your mind when concious and subconcious meet and is populated by Dream characters .
So although they sound very similar, Lucid dreaming is simply in your mind where you are aware of your dreams. And Astral projection is believed to be outside of your body.
And although I find astral projection to be believable I do not agree with it.
Lucid Dreaming is great, it allows you to control your dreams and do what you would like.
Astral Projection allows you to leave the body and travel any where in the physical world (although with no pyshical contact with it) - I’ve never known someone to LD to a location and be able to tell people what was happening there, I’m not saying it isn’t possible but to me they see very different.
All i really know is that my friend used to visit me via Astral Projection a fair bit and was able to tell me exactly what I was doing, wearing (or in one case wasn’t wearing)
I also see a difference between Astral Projecting and OBE, since OBE is generally done from being asleep similar to DILD and AP is done from being awake similar to WILD.
Everyone has their own oppinion on what OBE/AP/LD are and how/if they are related. I can only speak from experience (not much, granted) and the experiences of a close friend and my own mother.
It’s hard to say whether you were experiencing a form of Astral Travel or LDing, but i suppose it’s really down to you and what you believe based on what you know of the two from books.
thanks “Lunatic” for your explanation but it isn’t really needed to go into the depths of the astral planes, as the book I am reading is explaining that.
I wasn’t really interested in astral projection for this post but astral travel.
well thats the reason I put this post to find if there is a difference. But I was thinking if when astral travelling, do you go somewhere elsewhere or is it seeing outside of your body and then experiencing somewhere else entirely after OBE. It may sound confusing I hope someone understands. I have tried to do astral projection before but nothing happened. I haven’t cousciously tried astral travel, but I am uncertain if I have done it in dreams.
Astral projection, is leaving your body but inhabiting the physical realm in the sense you leave your body but are still confined to the world, such as the room you were in and to explore the world around you.
where as
Astral travel, is entering the astral plane which once entered isn’t that of the physical world, but of a different place entirely different than the room you were in, and through the power of thought you can be in any situation, such as a river, a garden, a library but with no reference to actual physical reality of as the room your in.
I hope I made some sense. Its just the book I am reading does seem to make the definition that astral travel isn’t here in this room, but far away somewhere else. I am not sure where the somewhere else is, whether it is your cousciousness connecting to the collective cousciousness in your imagination or your cousciousness leaving the body and entering the astral body or double.
Hmm, well my guess is that projecting and travel is the same thing, travel may be a bit deaper into it. Next time you are LD’ing or AP’ing try this as a test: Just close your eyes and meditate on leaving your body, in theory if you are already out of body than you wont leave it again.
The base stays same in all cases- its your mind(soul, counciousness) being on its own- without the body.It sees,hears,tastes,feels with no body help/disruption.
Same is for Lds,OOBEs, Astral travels or projections.
You are there.
Once you discover that your mind can do well without the body you`re left with many options- have fun with it, gain knowledge, discover,travel.
One obstacle(or actually suprise/fun factor) is that “out there” your thoughts arent just a voice in your head as we are used to- they became “flesh and blood”- real in a way.
We are not acustomed to have a control over our thoughts-in normal everyday living we let them flow.
This is why our experiences vary so much and why we keep on discussing wheter Lds,OOBEs or else are same or not.
But we can all see for ourselves that after cleaning our mind of all the “garbage” thoughts we can see everything in a new ,clear light- and door to this light and truth are same.
Its just US -like if we all went for a trip to Africa and some of us stayed on hotel pool, some went to see the city,some did hunting etc…and then after we got back we argued that those who didnt go to jungle werent in Africa at all:)
Well said Jack. I think there are many different possibilities for us when we Dream…the important thing is being awake and aware when our bodies are sleeping.
Ok, have you ever meditated in RL? It is quite similar just a lot easier. Instead of having to get all comfortable and lay down or something you can just close your eyes, your not really a body in a dream so closing your eyes is no different. Then you just will yourself out of your body, I find that just visualizing myself rizing out of my body does the trick. You do have to concentrate and be focused on it but really it doesn’t take much.
Hi Azurescen
I don’t know what it is to be out of my body, so how is it possible to visulaize myself leaving my body if I have never done it. I have mediated IRL but think about, its like how can you know what it likes to be in space, if you yourself have never done it. Please think!!
Dude trust me, its not difficult at all. Before I ever had an OOBE I just tried to will myself out and out I went. Really dude, all it takes is thinking of how you are really just asleep and just willing yourself up and out of your body. I mean if you know anything at all about an out of body experience than you should have some idea of what to look for. When you hear the vibrations just try to get up, or roll over, like you would IRL you should just roll on out. Just do a RC and you should realize that you didn’t just wake up but went out of body. There are tons of ways you can probably will yourself out, sometimes I just let go of everything and just fall thru the planet and end up falling out of body, just use your imagination and you will find a technique. I was just as skepticle as you before I just did it, trust me its not like I worked on it for months, or even weeks, it just happened to work one night. Im not trying to sound difficult its just that you are taking this as way more than it is, when you go out of body for the first time you will know what I am talking about. The best thing to do is be confident that you will do it, hell I know you can do it with what I have told you. Just try it at least once and tell me what happened, if you dont get it than I dont know what to say, it was that easy for me.
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