VIAGEM ASTRAL TESTE: PRATICAS ASTRAIS

PRATICAS ASTRAIS

Shamans always use a ritual structure as a support for their soul flights. As we have

seen, for the shamans of Siberia it often involved ascending the trunk of the world

tree that is the living axis of the universe in a series of levels, represented physically by

notches cut into the trunk of whatever tree or pole was used to embody the World Tree.

A shaman may also mimic the movements and sounds of the totemic beast that carries

his astral body away from his physical body, as a way of becoming one with the beast.

In these and other ways, he pantomimes the initialization of soul flight, but the actual

journey is done while he lies in a state of trance, motionless and insensible. Drumming,

chanting, dancing, and the piping of flutes or whistling sounds made with the lips may

also be a part of the separation ritual.

Once the soul flight begins, the ritual has served its primary purpose. It is a way of

opening the astral gateway leading either upward to the heavens inhabited by gods and

spirits, or down into the maw of the underworld where primitive peoples believed monsters,

demons, and the souls of the dead to dwell. The shaman's use of ritualistic climbing

is significant as a technique for separating the astral body. Both Sylvan Muldoon

and Oliver Fox recommended that those attempting to project their astral bodies should

imagine that they were climbing or ascending. AIeister Crowley advised that those seeking

adepthood would do well to practice the Golden Dawn technique of Rising on the

Planes once a day. Rituals involving acts of ascent are helpful in the initial stages of soul

flight. The ascent may be physically represented by climbing a slope, stairs, or ladder in

order to reach an elevated chamber or platform from which the actual projection occurs,

but it should always be accompanied by the visualization of an ascent.

A repeated ritual builds habitual responses in the mind that spill over to the body so

that, when done regularly, the ritual is capable of causing physiological changes, such as

variations in heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and brain-wave activity. It is

the change in brain function that most concerns us. Through repetition, a conditioned

response can be created that is specific to the ritual, and occurs only within the ritual

context. We see conditioned responses every day. The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov

received the Nobel Prize in 1904 in part for demonstrating that a dog could be conditioned

to salivate at the sound of a bell when the sound was associated in the mind of the

dog with food. Because the response conditioned by a ritual does not occur at any other

time except during the conduct of the ritual, the response can be isolated and separated

from daily life. This is useful in order to generate a response that we would not wish to

cause while doing such mundane tasks as driving a car, having dinner with friends, or

working at the office.

Ritual serves the double function of helping to induce the separation of the subtle

body at a desired time and place, while preventing the accidental separation from occurring

when it is not desired. When a change in the mind-body gestalt is keyed specifically to

a certain ritual, that change will not occur in the absence of the ritual trigger. Those with

an abundance of psychic ability who practice the technique of astral projection at different

times, in various places and in several ways, without enclosing it in any ritual pattern,

may find that they are experiencing spontaneous soul flight when they do not wish it to

occur, and do not seek to cause it. This lack of control can be frightening. The practice of

astral projection only within a ritual context ensures that it remains controlled.

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 159

The ritual circle is a useful visual metaphor for ritual itself. The circle encloses a space,

dividing the inside from the outside. The inside is exalted, elevated, and heightened in

various ways for the purpose of accomplishing the ritual desire, whereas the outside is ordinary

and unchanged. Esoteric potency or mana can be accumulated and stored within

the ritual circle in the same way that energy is concentrated within a battery-because

the boundary of the circle prevents it from flowing away. At the same time, the barrier

of the circle excludes any discordant emotions, thoughts, or spiritual entities that might

interfere with the realization of the ritual purpose. In a real sense, the entire structure of

the ritual is an enclosing circle that divides the mundane universe from the heightened,

special place conducive to the purpose for which the ritual is worked.

Use of Ritual Often Misunderstood

Spiritualists had little understanding of the use of ritual, either for transformation or for

personal security. They conducted their astral experiments and dances in a casual way,

disdaining what they conceived to be the outmoded trappings of the ceremonial occultism

of the Middle Ages. They did not bother with a circle of protection, or with the use of

symbols to act as gateways, or with names of power designed to command various types

of spiritual beings, such as were used by members of the Golden Dawn. This indifference

is encountered quite often in modern times. Channelers in general express contempt for

ritual because they believe that they do not need it in order to establish communication

with the spirits that speak through their voices. True enough. But they seldom consider that

they may require ritual to prevent those spirits from speaking, or acting, through them.

Similarly, the remote viewers employed by the CIA and American military intelligence

during the various incarnations of Project STAR GATE had, in general, a contempt

for ritual, even though they employed a ritual of their own spontaneous design for their

extended remote viewing sessions. They were so concerned about being scientific in their

approach to remote viewing that they refused to admit or even to recognize that they

were engaged in astral projection because of the negative connotation the term holds

in the scientific community. Considering that one of them was a Tarot-card reader, this

nicety of terminology appears a bit silly. Because they did not use a formal ritual structure,

they were poorly protected when confronted by astral entities with malicious intentions.

Their response was to retreat as rapidly as possible.

The formation of simple rituals is difficult to avoid when repeating the same actions

on a regular basis. They define themselves spontaneously. We all have little rituals that

160 Soul Flight

help us get through our daily tasks. The morning grooming ritual. The first cigarette of

the day ritual. The meet a friend in the street ritual. Each of these and a hundred others

are like intricate little dances we do to facilitate the particular circumstances from which

they arise. We do not consciously compose them. They shape themselves as behaviors

that have served us well in the past, and which we rely on to serve us in the future. We

have these little daily rituals stored away in our heads, awaiting only a particular set of

triggers to start them running. Life would be much more difficult without them.

There is a quantum difference between a ritual that has created itself in an unconscious

way, as a necessary and unavoidable response of the mind to repeated actions, and

a ritual that has been deliberately and consciously structured for specific purposes, to

both heighten desired responses in the mind and body and to exclude discordant influences

that might hinder those responses. The one is a Model T Ford, and the other a Ferrari

Testarossa. Since the natural formation of a ritual pattern of some kind is inevitable,

it only makes sense to impose a pattern calculated to yield the best results.

Constructing Your Own Ritual

In constructing a ritual for soul flight, a factor that must always be considered is that

the unconscious mind knows better than the conscious mind which symbolic forms are

potent and which are weak. The unconscious cannot be relied upon to create complete effective

rituals, but it knows what it likes. Sometimes a ritual that seems as though it should

be effective in the abstract turns out to be lifeless in daily practice. When this happens,

there is only one thing to do-the awareness must be opened to the unconscious mind

so that it can express its needs, in the form of symbols, words, sounds, actions, gestures,

and postures. A dead ritual can be made to live if changes in its pattern suggested by the

unconscious are accepted and incorporated into it. There is nothing more pointless than

the attempt to impose by brute force a ritual that the unconscious rejects.

You will know your composed ritual for astral projection has been rejected if, after

you have performed it for two or three weeks on a regular basis, it remains lifeless. Then

there are only two recourses-you must discard it entirely and compose a new ritual, or

you must open your mind and allow changes in the ritual to suggest themselves during

the course of its daily enactment. The second course is better because, if you permit it,

your unconscious will rewrite your ritual for you and make it effective. If you choose to

impose a second ritual, there is no guarantee that it will contain any greater measure of

vitality than the first, and you may end up having to discard it also.

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 161

Your own ritual is always better than a ritual composed by somebody else because

your own ritual arises from your preconceptions and requirements. I can suggest a ritual

structure to you that is effective in its general principles, but I cannot ensure that

it is perfectly adapted to your personal needs. It may be dead to you when you practice

it and, if so, you will need to allow your unconscious mind to modify it until it comes

alive for you. Ritual is the most intimate of activities. The reactions of each individual to

each ritual are unique, and the factors that cause those responses are so complex that it

is utterly impossible to predict them. The most effective ritual structure for each person

must be arrived at through the use of intuition coupled with trial and error.

The process is made easier if a sound basic ritual structure is adopted in the beginning.

Such a structure provides a stable symbolic foundation upon which to build your

unique personal ritual. You can think of the basic ritual described below as a blueprint

for a house. If designed well by the architect, the blueprint provides all the basic needs

in a balanced way, but everyone who lives in a house built from a general blueprint will

personalize such a house and make it unique.

Bear in mind that ritual is more than the mere repetition of a set of actions. This is

a large part of its effectiveness, but some actions are inherently more meaningful than

others. Some symbols are more potent than other symbols, either on a universal level as

archetypes or on a personal level for the individual. The symbolic elements chosen to

compose a ritual are not arbitrary, but arise from a sense of necessity that lies beneath the

level of words. It may be impossible to express in an articulate way the reason one symbol

is more effective than another symbol, or why one ritual action is powerful and another

weak, but you will sense the difference when you experiment with the two.

Components of the General Ritual of Projection

Before presenting a general ritual of soul flight, to serve as a template upon which to

build your own personal ritual, it will be useful to examine its component parts in the

abstract. Many other ritual structures might be devised, but the form presented here

contains the basic requirements needed for success and security. The parts of the ritual

have been divided into two groups. The column on the left pertains to the house of ritual,

which is erected around what is perceived as the boundary of the body. The column on

the right pertains to the inhabitant of that house, and what is done with the body and

mind during the enactment of the ritual.

162 Soul Flight

1. Chamber 6. Posture

2. Door 7. Gesture

3. Key 8. Sound

4. Corridor 9. Imagery

5. Elevator 10. Will

Chamber

The ritual is conducted on the astral level, its parts created and sustained in the

imagination. These astral components are reinforced by a physical space, material objects,

and movements of the body. What is done on the physical level during ritual is

reflected on the astral level, but the astral environment often differs in its details from

the physical environment. For example, the physical space in which the ritual is enacted

will seldom look the same as the astral space. Because the astral world can be shaped and

transformed by the imagination and the will, the astral space can be made larger, richer,

and more beautiful than the physical space, or it can be molded in specific ways to serve

the purposes of the ritual.

You will remember that the remote viewers of the CIA adopted the practice of going

to their "safe place" on the astral level in their extended experiments, as a staging zone

from which to depart on their assignments. This "safe place" was nothing other than a

ritual space created on the astral level. The formation of a ritual chamber or temple on the

astral level that corresponds with the physical ritual space is universal in modern Western

ceremonial magic. Since the CIA operatives had no clear idea of what they were doingthey

probably believed they were the first to have invented the technique-their physical

ritual space gave poor support to their astral space. Ideally, the physical chamber or place

in which the ritual is enacted should have some correspondence with the astral chamber

or place that is created and sustained in the imagination.

This correspondence is usually created by moving the body during the ritual in the

same way the projection of the body in the astral chamber is moved so that, as the magician

physically goes through the motions of the ritual, his astral form does substantially

the same things on the astral level in the visualized place of working. For example, when

a shaman of Siberia climbed the trunk of the tree or pole erected in the ritual enclosure,

he simultaneously climbed up the astral levels of the World Tree. A modern magician

will walk three times around the altar in his ritual temple in order to create an invisChapter

Ten: Uses of Ritual 163

ible vortex of force, while at the same time holding clearly in his imagination that he is

walking around a corresponding altar in his astral temple, invoking a visible and tangible

vortex on that higher level.

Ritual is thus enacted simultaneously on the physical level and on the astral level-that

is, with the physical body in the material chamber and with the astral body in the astral

chamber. Unless the mind is divided in this way between physical and astral perception,

the ritual will have little efficacy. The point of consciousness cannot occupy both levels

simultaneously, but it can jump back and forth between then so that it seems to occupy

both levels. The ritual space is here referred to as a chamber, but on the astral level it may

be a place out of doors, or even a place that bears no correspondence with any earthly

environment. As a practical matter, it is useful to make the ritual place of working on the

astral level somewhat similar to the physical place of working. Doing so allows it to be

sustained more easily in the imagination. Most who experiment with soul flight will do

so in a room of their house or apartment, so a room is a good choice for an astral place.

Whenever we imagine an environment in our mind, we create it on the astral level.

This happens automatically. The mind of the average person is too vacillating and weak

to create an astral environment that has any significant degree of duration. Astral places

are formed and discarded by the restless thoughts of every man, woman, and child from

moment to moment. No doubt even the higher animals generate astral landscapes of a

simple type. However, when a magician trained in the techniques of Western magic creates

an astral temple, he is able through the exercise of concentration to visualize it with

greater than average clarity and in uncommon detail. Each time a magician works the

ritual, he reinforces the astral place of working, so that it is sustained in the back of his

mind between ritual operations. It becomes as real a place as any environment can be in

the ever-shifting astral world.

The astral chamber is equivalent to the magic circle, in the sense that its four walls

erect a boundary that separates the place of working from the greater astral world. The

walls both contain the mental energies raised during the ritual, and prevent the entry of

discordant forces that might hinder the ritual or even render it impossible. Even if the

walls are not seamless in the physical room in which the ritual is enacted, they can be

made so on the astral level because the astral chamber does not need to correspond with

the physical chamber in all its details. Simply by not visualizing anything that lies on the

other side of the walls, floor, or ceiling of the windowless astral chamber, those walls can

be rendered completely impervious.

164 Soul Flight

Door

The only opening in the astral chamber described in the following ritual is a single

closed door. Just as the walls of the chamber correspond in a symbolic way with the barrier

of the magic circle, so the door corresponds with the point at the center of the circle

through which entry or exit of the circle is enabled. A magic circle can have only one

opening: the point at its center. By expanding the point, it becomes an aperture into or

out of the circle. It is necessary to create a doorway in the astral chamber to allow travel

in the projected astral body to other places in the astral world.

On the astral level, it is possible to shift the central aperture of the circle to its circumference.

This change is sometimes reflected in the physical temple of working magicians

by moving the altar-which ideally resides in the center of the chamber-to one of the

four walls of the room. It is usually done for convenience, to obtain a larger open floor area.

The altar symbolizes the center of the magic circle, even when it is placed at its edge. The

door visualized in the astral chamber does not need to have a corresponding door in the

actual room in which the ritual is conducted because it represents not the physical door of

the room, but rather the expanded central point of the ritual circle-which is understood

to be embodied in the four walls of the astral chamber.

Key

The key does more than simply lock and unlock the door of the astral chamber. It

determines by its symbolism what environment the door opens upon. On the physical

level, there are many kinds of symbolic keys that can be used to access different astral

locations and different astral planes. These will be treated in detail in later chapters. The

tattwa symbols used to open astral gateways by members of the Golden Dawn are one

type of key. The twenty-two picture cards of the Tarot are another type. The ancient

Germanic symbols known as runes are yet a third kind of key.

The key, visualized in the form of a modern keycard on the astral level, is used to unlock

the door of the astral chamber when you exit the chamber in your projected astral

form. The door is conceived to be of a type that will relock itself behind you automatically.

The locked door keeps your physical body safe from harm while your awareness is

elsewhere. Because you are protected by the magic circle, the only access from the astral

world to your physical place of working, where you sit or lie during the ritual, is through

the astral chamber, and entry into that chamber is only possible through the door. When

the door is locked, and you carry the keycard with you, no astral spirit can gain entry.

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 165

You might object that, since the astral chamber is only visualized in the imagination,

its walls are not real, and so locking the door is meaningless. However, on the astral level,

things visualized clearly in the imagination have as much reality and tangibility as any

astral entity. Or to put it another way, a locked astral door is as real a barrier to a spirit

as a locked physical door would be to a living human being. The stronger and the more

tightly sealed it is imagined to be, the more substantial it becomes.

The symbol that serves as the astral key selects the particular type of astral environment

to which the door will provide access. All other astral landscapes are excluded, or

tuned out, by the specific occult vibrations of the key, which emits a kind of psychic musical

chord that is different for each key. The key does not open the door of the chamber

directly upon that astral environment, however. In order to reach the desired location

in the astral world, it is necessary to travel there in the astral body. This travel is effected

laterally or horizontally, so to speak, across the base level of the astral plane that corresponds

closely with the physical world. When the door is opened by the keycard, it leads

into a long, windowless corridor through which this journey may be safely made.

Corridor

There are various ways to express the transition from one astral landscape to another.

A popular method is by flying through the air in the astral body until the desired

location is reached. Shamans often flew on the backs of great birds, but the astral body

can fly on its own, either with or without wings. A bird was helpful to the shaman as a

kind of animal guide. A more mundane way is by walking to the location. In the astral

world, it is possible to take giant gliding steps that cover large distances with each stride.

You may remember having done this in your dreams.

The lower level of the astral corresponds very closely with the physical world. Indeed,

it is often difficult for astral travelers to tell the difference. They believe themselves to

be moving through the physical world. This is impossible, as the astral body cannot be

present in our physical reality. Physical things stay on the physical plane, and astral things

stay on the astral plane. Confusion arises when astral travelers projecting on the base

astral plane that corresponds most closely with the physical plane are perceived by other

human beings during waking consciousness. Then it appears to those who have seen the

astral double that the double is present in the physical world. Not so. The double always

remains in the astral world, but for a short time the observer has seen the astral double

overlaid upon the backdrop of the physical world.

As members of Theosophy and the Golden Dawn clearly defined in their writings,

there are two possible movements in the astral. A traveler can move across the astral

landscape in the same way a traveler in the material world moves from one location to

another on the face of the earth. This is the only way many individuals understand astral

travel-as a change of location across the lower astral plane that corresponds with the

physical world, so that the astral traveler seems to be moving through the physical world.

However, in addition to horizontal movement across the base astral plane, there is vertical

movement up and down the heavenly and infernal astral levels. The Theosophical

system of seven distinct planes, one above the other, is an artificial imposition on the

astral world, which has an infinite number of possible levels or zones of reality. Seven is a

number laden with esoteric significance, and was often used in religious and occult texts

to indicate related sets of realms, worlds, or ideas.

Division of modes of travel through the astral world into horizontal movement across

a plane, and vertical movement through successive planes, was not invented by Theosophists,

but is an essential part of the objective reality of the astral world. When a Siberian

shaman of the Altaic people wished to visit the land of the dead, he first journeyed across

the base astral plane, traversing barren steppes and high mountain ranges, to reach the

gaping black pit known as the yer mesi (Jaws of the Earth) into which he descended

to reach the underworld. Sometimes, access was by direct descent through seven lower

levels, illustrating that these two types of movement through the astral world are independent

of each other.ls0

Each location on the earth has its astral correspondences. The level of the astral nearest

the physical world is virtually identical in appearance to the physical world. It is possible

for an astral traveler to travel up and down the astral levels, while staying in exactly

the same place. For example, you could travel vertically through the astral while remaining

in a hotel room in Baltimore, and as you ascended or descended, the appearance of

the hotel room would change. The farther you ascended or descended, the greater the

changes would be, until the hotel room ceased to exist and was replaced by a completely

different environment.

In the ritual structure presented in this book, travel across the lower astral, and hence

travel across the surface of the physical world from place to place, is effected by means of

a corridor extending from the doorway of the ritual chamber. Where the corridor leads is

180. Eliade, 200-2.

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 167

determined in a general sense by the symbolism on the keycard used to unlock the door.

The corridor will lead to an environment that is in harmony with the nature of the key.

When traveling across the landscape of the physical world, the key can be made quite

narrow and specific-an address in a particular city, for example.

The corridor has no windows or doors on its sides. This provides secure travel, since

there is no entry to the corridor, which leads only to a single place. At its far end, there

is a single locked door that is accessed with the same keycard that opens the door of the

chamber. Beyond this door is a smaller square room. In the opposite wall of the room is

set a second door, and when this door is unlocked with the keycard, it opens directly onto

the astral landscape or location defined by the key. The traveler takes the keycard out of

its slot and retains it when exiting this small room.

Elevator

The small, square room at the end of the corridor is a special kind of elevator. Beside

the second door, beneath the slot of the cardlock, is a keypad with five buttons arranged

in the shape of a cross. The central button, marked with a circle, lights up when the elevator

comes to a stop, and remains illuminated while it is at rest. The top button has on it

an up arrow, and the one below a down arrow; the button on the left has an arrow that

points left, and the one on the right an arrow that points right.

When journeying across the astral world on the base level that reflects the physical

world, the elevator does not ascend or descend and none of these buttons are used.

However, when the traveler wishes to rise or fall through the planes, he presses either the

button marked up or the one below it marked down, in order to ascend or descend as

far as desired. This vertical movement occurs at the same location that was reached by

traveling through the corridor. For example, if the corridor led to the astral reflection of

Paris, ascending the planes would take place in the astral equivalent of Paris. While the

elevator is ascending, the up button remains illuminated. When it reaches its level, the

central button lights.

The elevator travels not only up and down through the astral levels in the present,

but can also carry you to the future or the past. The button with the arrow that points to

the left is pressed to move back into the past; the button with the arrow that points right

takes you forward into the future. Movement through time occurs on the base level of

the astral world, at the location accessed through the corridor. For example, if the corridor

led to Paris, pressing the back button would take you to the time in the past specified

168 Soul Flight

on your key. You might have written on your key, "champs-elys6es, Paris, on June 21,

185 1 ." The corridor would take you to the physical place, and the elevator would take you

to the specified time.

Descent on the elevator leads to the infernal regions, and should not be casually undertaken.

It is possible to reach the lower levels of the Christian hell, and to interact with the

damned souls and demonic inhabitants of those levels, by descending in the elevator and

exiting through the far door. Any level of any hell may be reached in this way-the levels

of the astral world are infinite in number, despite the narrow templates that have been imposed

on them by individual religions and cults. What you believe becomes your personal

reality in the astral world. If you firmly believe that there are only seven astral levels, that

is how many you will experience. If you believe that you will encounter only the spirits of

once-living human beings on your travels, that is all you will encounter.

Posture

Soul flight is best accomplished in a reclining posture. A few gifted astral travelers,

such as Emanuel Swedenborg, were able to project while walking around, but this is uncommon.

The more usual posture is to fully recline on the top of a bed. Doing so makes

it convenient to experiment with the projection of the astral double just before going to

sleep at night, but this practice has its disadvantage, in that sleep usually comes before

useful work can be done. The Golden Dawn preferred the sitting posture and employed it

with good success. Most people find that they do not fall out of their chairs, as might be

expected. This is also true for hypnosis-hypnotized subjects rarely fall from their chairs.

The body automatically maintains its balance.

My own recommendation is that experiments of projection be done lying on top of

a bed. You may, if you wish, practice while seated, but better results are usually gained by

those who lie on their backs. I do not recommend that you practice while in bed under

the covers, as a general rule, only because it is too easy to drift into ordinary sleep due to

the sleep habits you have formed throughout your life. For the same reason, it is best to

practice soul flight at a time of day other than your usual time for going to bed. I prefer

the afternoon or early evening.

The room should be dim or dark. It is not necessary to have total darkness. The temperature

should be moderate, so that you do not notice it. Wear loose clothing that leaves

your breathing and the circulation of blood in your body unrestricted. You should avoid

wearing jewelry and such things as a wristwatch, a hearing aid, eyeglasses, or shoesChapter

Ten: Uses of Ritual 169

anything likely to feel tight or that exerts pressure on your body. However, if you are so

comfortable wearing your hearing aid or watch that you never notice them, then you can

leave them on. Do not worry that you will need your glasses in the astral world-you no

more require eyeglasses when you engage in soul flight than you do when you dream.

Soul flight is a kind of consciously directed waking dream. The trick is to induce a dream

state without falling asleep. For this you need a peaceful mind, a comfortable and quiet

environment, and a relaxed body.

It is best to lie on your back if you project while on a bed. It is possible to project the

astral body lying on your side or stomach, but success with these postures is rare. Your

legs or feet should not be crossed one over the other, as doing so tends to inhibit the free

flow of energies throughout the body. Your arms may be left at your sides, but you may

find it better to fold your hands over the center of your abdomen at your solar plexus.

Energy and warmth are focused beneath the folded hands. If you are using a physical image

or inscription as a key, as you should in most cases, you will want to place it beneath

your folded hands, assuming it is something that cannot be damaged by perspiration or

your movements on the bed, should it slip under you.

Gesture

Since the ritual of soul flight is done while lying down, the motions involved occur

mostly on the astral level. I have reduced the ritual structure to its necessary minimum.

There are three very basic gestures: casting the circle, the sign of departure, and the sign

of return.

For convenience, the circle may be cast while sitting on the middle of the bed from

which the projection is to be made. This is done by drawing a small circle in the air in

front of your chest with your right index finger, at the level of your heart. The circle is

drawn flat, as though you were projecting the tip of your finger up from under the surface

of water and drawing the circle in the surface of the water from beneath. Slowly and

smoothly, draw it sunwise, which is the same as clockwise from a perspective looking

down at it from above. Join the end with the beginning so that the band of this invisible

circle is seamless.

As you draw the small reclining circle, visualize at the same time as clearly as you are

able a larger circle of light painting itself upon the air of your practice chamber around

your bed, so that you are completely enclosed in the larger circle. This circle of light

imitates the motion of your finger, moving around the room in a clockwise direction,

and forms itself on the same horizontal plane as the tip of your finger, which should be

at the level of your heart as you sit up on the middle of the bed. The circle of light is the

real circle you draw-the small circle only symbolizes it. Sustain this glowing circle of

golden light that surrounds your bed clearly in your imagination for a minute or so, and

when at last you turn your thoughts to other matters, keep it in the back of your mind.

It continues to float upon the air of your chamber, surrounding you and protecting you,

throughout the exercise.

Lie back comfortably upon the bed, and prepare yourself to visualize the astral chamber.

With your right index finger, draw upon the air in front of your face a small counterclockwise

circle of blue light. Touch the center of this circle with your finger and extend a

red line straight up through the circumference of the circle. The length of this line should

be about three times the radius of the circle, so that the line projects above the circle for

a distance equal to the circle's diameter. As you draw this symbol, be aware that the circle

represents the circle of your body, and the line shows the departure of your consciousness

from your body. Close your eyes, but hold the symbol of the blue circle and the red

line in your inner sight for a minute or so, reinforcing it with your imagination when it

becomes dim. Try to see it as clearly as you can, as though it were projected against the

inner surface of your eyelids.

The blue circle also stands for the astral chamber. The red line begins at the center of

the circle, which is its natural aperture, and represents the extension of the corridor from

the door of the chamber. The red line terminates at the elevator. It is not necessary to be

conscious of these correspondences during the practice of soul flight, but you should be

aware that they exist. The red line pierces the blue circle at its center and flies beyond its

boundary to its destination. It is a sign of going out of the body.

When you finish your exercise and lie on your bed in the astral chamber in your

projected astral body, you must make the opposite sign of return with your right index

finger upon the air in front of your face. This has the same shape and colors as the sign

of departure, but is formed in a different way. The sign of return is made by drawing a

blue circle clockwise upon the air, and then tracing a red line downward from outside

the circle through the circumference to terminate at the center of the circle. This symbol

represents the return of the astral body to the physical body. It is formed on the air of

the astral chamber while still in the astral body, as a guide to its return, just as the sign of

departure is formed in the physical chamber before the astral body departs the physical

body, as a foreshadowing of its departure. The sign of departure is the first thing done in

Chapter Ten: Uses ofRitual 171

the physical chamber after the circle is projected, and the sign of return is the last thing

done in the astral chamber before the circle is indrawn.

Indrawing the circle is an easy matter. Sit up on the bed in your physical chamber, so

that the projected circle is once again at the level of your heart. Visualize it around your

bed as before, glowing with pale golden light as it floats upon the air. Mentally cause it to

shrink inward toward your heart until it is drawn all the way into your chest and forms

a bright star in your heart center. Allow it to disperse its gentle warmth throughout your

body, even to the tips of your fingers and toes, as it dissolves and melts away through

your bloodstream.

Sound

Sound can act as a vehicle to carry the consciousness out of the body. It is possible to

ride sound as you might ride a horse, and allow it to do the work of crossing the distance

on the astral level. It can take the form of composed music, if you find that the music

does not engage too closely your thoughts or emotions. Classical music is best for this

purpose. Something should be chosen that can play in the background for an hour or

so without any abrupt changes of tempo. You should avoid works with clashing cymbals

and thundering drums. For the same reason, rock-and-roll music is not the best type of

music for astral projection. Discordant sounds and jarring changes will cause you to lose

your concentration, which must be focused on the visualization of the astral components

of the ritual, not on the music. It is best to experiment with music, and if you find

that it distracts you rather than provides you with a sound vehicle that carries your mind

like a boat floating down a river, do not use it.

A more reliable sound vehicle is white noise, which is any hissing or fuzzy sustained

noise, such as the sound of a television tuned to a channel that has no signal. True white

noise contains all possible sound tones mingled together, but you can get much the same

effect from any sustained background noise, such as the low rumble of a furnace. To be

effective, the sound should be sustained. The ticking of a clock or metronome is not

particularly helpful because the sound is interrupted rather than continuous, although a

clock ticking may not interfere with your practice if you are so accustomed to it that you

no longer consciously hear it.

You can create your own sound vehicle to ride into the astral by humming or whistling

a single sustained tone very softly over and over. I find a low whistle effective. I sustain

a tone on my breath and project it mentally outward, allowing it to carry my awareness

172 Soul Flight

away from my physical location. When I run out of air, I simply breathe in and renew the

tone. Sometimes it can be effective to allow the whistle or hum to vary slightly, by letting

it rise or sink in pitch. This must be done according to the directive of your intuition. It is

not something you can plan ahead of time. If it feels right to you that you allow the tone

you are creating to gently rise or fall in pitch, do so. It may make a sort of atonal melody,

but you should not let your awareness focus on the sound as music, but instead continue

to ride it farther and farther away from your body.

This sound technique is effective as a way of initially entering the astral chamber. Visualize

the chamber as you sustain the tone, and allow yourself to be carried to the astral

chamber, where you will find yourself lying on your bed, just as you are in your physical

chamber of practice. When you feel yourself present in the astral chamber, you can allow

the whistle or hum to cease. Do not be surprised if your low whistle has some curious

effects on those in the same house or building where you are practicing. Even though the

whistle may be much too low for anyone else to hear, the focus and projection of your

mind will make others around you restless and uneasy. If someone is sleeping in the same

house, they may begin to talk in their sleep, or they may even wake up. This is merely a

side effect caused by the intense focus of your awareness, and should not be allowed to

become a distraction in your work.

Imagery

The use of creative imagery is crucial to success in this ritual of soul flight. The protective

circle, the sign of departure, and the sign of return must all be formed in the imagination

so clearly that they seem present before your eyes. You do not need to actually see

these symbols, but you must imagine them more clearly than you ordinarily imagine

forms in your mind. The astral chamber, the corridor, and the elevator must be created

in the mind, and sustained while you are present within them in your astral body. They

are the ritual machine that launches you to your ultimate destination. How effectively

they work depends on how well you create them on the astral level.

The way to create an astral object or environment such as the astral chamber is by

continuing to visualize it over and over as it fades. This is best done by focusing the

awareness on details, such as the pattern of the wallpaper, the shape of the overhead

lighting fixture, the texture of the quilt or blanket beneath you on the bed, the way the

light reflects from the floorboards or tiles, the colors of the rug, the shape of the molding

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 173

around the door. All details of the chamber must be created by you, and re-created by

visualizing them over and over.

In the beginning, you will have to invent details, but as you go back to the astral

chamber day after day in the course of your regular practice, you will discover that it

changes in subtle ways, and that new furnishings or details of its decor suggest themselves.

It is an astral place, so its form is not fixed. You hold it together by re-imagining it,

but if you are successful in creating the chamber on the astral level, it will begin to sustain

itself, so that the process becomes less an exercise of creating the chamber anew each day,

and more a matter of visiting a place that already exists.

Will

Your will is the driving force that projects you from your physical body to the astral

landscape that you wish to inhabit temporarily. How effectively you are able to use

it depends on your powers of concentration. There are exercises designed to enhance

concentration, but we will not go into them, since they should not be necessary for the

average person with a strong determination to succeed in soul flight.

A useful trick is to imagine that you project your astral awareness out of your body

through your ajna chakra, the so-called third eye that is located approximately between

your eyebrows.You can intensify your focus by turning your eyes to look at this spot with

your eyelids closed, but you should not turn them so strongly that the strain becomes a

distraction and reduces the effectiveness of your practice. A gentle turning inward and

upward works best. Imagine that you see the sign of projection shining in the darkness,

and will yourself to rise toward it. Do not attempt to visualize your astral body-simply

use your willpower to lift your awareness toward the sign of projection, which recedes

back into the darkness as you approach, drawing you out of your body. Eventually you

will catch up to it, and when you do, visualize it changing into the astral chamber, and

visualize that you are present within the astral chamber in your astral body.

The use of the power of the will is crucial in successful astral projection because it is

the driving energy that allows you to progress and pass from place to place. But it cannot

be forced. If you push too hard, you will defeat yourself and get nowhere. A gentle, constant,

determined pressure is best. It is like the straining of the muscles of the body, only it

occurs within the mind and the effort is directed at achieving the desired purpose. Dripping

water will wear away the hardest stone, and a constant pressure of the will toward an

objective will overcome any obstacle.

The Ritual of Soul Flight

Sit on the center of your bed with the lights dimmed. Mentally project the circle of light

around the physical chamber clockwise at the level of your heart, while using a small

symbolic circle made with your right index finger to guide its projection. When you have

visualized the large circle clearly, lie back on the bed. Make the sign of departure in the air

before your face with your right hand. Close your eyes and sustain the sign of departure

in your mind, as though it were projected on the inner surface of your eyelids or upon

the inner surface of your forehead at your ajna chakra. Be aware that the blue circle in

the sign of departure is your body, and is also in an expanded sense the circle of light you

have projected around your bed. The red line that extends upward from the center of the

circle is your flight path into the astral world.

The symbolic key you have chosen to define the astral place or environment you

wish to visit should be beneath your hands on your abdomen when you are lying down.

If you find this positioning of the hands uncomfortable, you may wish to lay the key on

your abdomen and leave your arms at your sides. The best location for the key is over the

solar plexus. The slight pressure of the weight of the hands bearing on the solar plexus

can assist the separation of the astral body. You will carry an astral double of the key

with you when you enter your astral chamber. It is not identical to the physical key, but

is always in the form of a plasticized keycard.

While holding the sign of departure in your mind, let the music or white noise you

have set playing in the background carry you up and out of your body, or ride the sustained

tone of a quietly whistled note. The use of sound is not essential-if you find it

distracting, work in silence using only visual imagery. Let the sign of departure draw you

onward. With your physical eyelids still closed, shape the astral chamber around you.

See it as though you lie on the bed within the astral chamber with your eyes open. See

through your closed eyelids. Place yourself into the astral chamber. You will probably still

feel yourself lying or sitting in the physical chamber, but you will also be present in the

astral chamber.

With the astral landscape you wish to visit held in your mind, get up in your astral

body and walk to the door. It has a modern electronic card reader attached to the side of

the frame, even though the door itself may not be that modern. Momentarily insert the

card upon which your key is printed into the slot of the card reader to unlock the door.

The key may be drawn or written on a piece of paper in the physical world, or printed or

Chapter Ten: Uses ofRitua1 175

inscribed on some other material, but in the astral world it is always on a stiff, plasticized

card. Step into the corridor beyond. It is well lighted, but has neither windows nor doors

along its sides. Move down the corridor to the far end, holding the location you wish to

visit firmly in your thoughts with the keycard still in your hand.

The corridor may seem quite long if the place you wish to visit is far away in space.

You can assist your progress down the corridor by using your willpower to push your astral

body along in enormous gliding steps, as though you were almost weightless. When

you reach the door at the far end, insert your keycard through the slot of the electronic

lock and enter the small, square room that is the elevator. Like the corridor, the appearance

of the elevator is a matter you must decide for yourself. My chamber, corridor, and

elevator are from the Victorian period, paneled in rich, dark mahogany, but you may find

a modern decor more conducive to success.

If you are not ascending or descending on the planes, use the keycard to immediately

open the opposite door of the elevator onto the place you have chosen to visit. It may

not appear as you imagined it in every detail. Do not try to force the astral landscape to

conform to your preconceptions, but instead allow it to express itself to you. Remember,

you are traveling in the astral world not to experience what you already know, but to experience

what you do not know. The door that leads to the elevator will disappear behind

you, but you can summon it at any time merely by pressing the keycard to your forehead

and willing it to appear.

If you are ascending the planes at the location you have chosen to visit in the astral

world, perhaps to communicate with shades of the dead, fairies, or angels, then press the

button with the up arrow while you are inside the elevator, and the elevator will ascend

to the level you wish to reach. As it ascends, hold your desired destination clearly in your

mind. When the elevator stops, use your keycard to open the far door and step into the

astral world at that higher level. The first door through which you entered will automatically

seal itself when the elevator is above or below the base level of the astral world, and

you will not be able to open it until you have returned the elevator to the base level.

All other levels are higher or lower than the base level of the astral world that duplicates

the physical world. The resemblance is never perfect because the astral world is a

kind of mirror of the mind-and belief, expectation, and emotion distort its reflection,

introducing errors. While visiting the base level of the astral, you can watch the astral

doubles of the living as they go about their daily lives, and they will appear completely

normal to you, so that you seem to be standing in the physical world with them. They

will probably not see you or hear you, but if you touch them they will feel your touch as a

cool sensation or a light breeze, or perhaps as a slight tickle on the skin. Since they are not

inhabiting their astral bodies with their consciousnesses, which function in their physical

bodies while they are awake, they usually remain unaware of your presence. Those with

an uncommon degree of psychic ability may become aware of you. Sometimes a person

with whom you share a close personal connection will see you.

On higher levels, the spirits that are the inhabitants will be aware of you, but may not

take any notice of you if they decide that you are not of sufficient interest or importance

to engage in dialogue. If you demand their attention, most spirits will give it-very much

as a human being might take notice of a particularly noisy and insistent child. Those

spirits who are closer to your own level of development, or who have some personal connection

with you, will talk with you freely.

It really is not wise to press the down button of the elevator. The infernal levels of

the astral world contain spirits of a coarse and sometimes malicious temperament. There

you will find human spirits of an unhappy or aggressive nature, who cling to the physical

appetites they enjoyed or were enslaved to during their mortal lives, as well as those inhuman

spirits known as fallen angels or demons. Hell, if it can be said to exist at all, is an

astral construction built by centuries of expectations on the part of the human race. There

are different hells that correspond to the various belief systems of different cultures. None

of them is a particularly pleasant place to visit.

When you wish to return to your physical body, press the keycard to your forehead

and will the door of the elevator to appear. If you look around, you will generally find

it in a short while. It tends to merge itself with whatever environment you are visiting,

becoming a door in a brick wall, for example, or a door hidden amid a tangle of brush

and branches if you are in a forest landscape. It will always be near at hand when you call

for it. Insert the keycard into the slot to open the door, and if necessary, press the central

button with the circle on it to return to the base level of the astral world. If you are above

the base level, the elevator will always stop its descent at the base level-it will never go

past into the infernal regions. Then, with your card, exit the elevator through the inner

door to the corridor and follow the corridor back to your astral chamber, using the keycard

again to open its door. Remember, all doors are opened by inserting the keycard into

the slot, and all lock automatically.

Once in the astral chamber, lie down on the bed and make the sign of return in the air

in front of your face. You make the sign of return by drawing a blue circle clockwise, then

Chapter Ten: Uses of Ritual 177

a vertical red line downward to the center of the circle, so that it pierces the circumference

of the circle. Hold the sign of return in your imagination and place the keycard beneath

your hands on your abdomen. Close your eyes in your astral body so that you see only

the sign of return and focus on the center of the blue circle. Concentrate your will on descending

back into your physical body by riding down the red line to the center.

When you open your eyes, you will once again be in your physical body. Sit up and

mentally will the protective circle of golden light that surrounds your physical chamber in

your imagination to constrict itself to a shining star in the center of your chest. Allow the

light and warmth of this star to expand through your physical body to your fingers and

toes. Do not neglect to indraw the circle at the end of the ritual. It returns your practice

chamber to its ordinary state.

Astral

Doorways

T he term astral doorway is used here to mean a symbol, object, or practice that aids

consciousness to perceive the astral world or its inhabitants. Throughout history,

certain things have been recognized to assist in both scrying and astral projection. These

activities are closely related, and in my opinion are aspects of a single mental faculty that

also shows itself in the form of lucid dreams and near death experiences. This psychic talent

to gain awareness of the astral world is present in all individuals, but usually lies dormant

unless triggered by a traumatic event such as an illness or a sudden physical injury.

It appears to be related to the ajna chakra of the body, the mystical third eye between the

eyebrows that may correspond with the pineal gland. The regular use of certain objects

and practices can help to develop this latent talent.

The underlying unity between scrying and astral projection is indicated by the way

in which these activities overlap. At times, astral travelers are aware of being in their

projected bodies yet on other occasions feel themselves present in astral landscapes as a

disembodied consciousness. Still other times, they observe astral scenes yet remain separated

from them, as though they were viewing projected three-dimensional images.

Those who engage in scrying find that the boundaries tend to blur between visions

viewed at a distance and visions experienced all around them in the same location they

physically occupy. The alchemist Edward Kelley, who was the hired crystal gazer of the

Elizabethan mathematician, cartographer, and spiritualist John Dee (1527-1608), would

scry spiritual beings within a globe of rock crystal and relate their actions and words to

Dee, who then copied the narrative down in his diaries. Kelley was also able to see complex

astral landscapes in the crystal. Sometimes, the spirits came completely out of the

crystal and were present to Kelley's astral vision in the chamber in which he scried, yet

Dee could not see them because he lacked Kelley's psychic talent. On various occasions,

they even touched Kelley so that he felt their contact: once pressing a heavy weight on his

right shoulder,lXa1n d another time clawing him about the head.lX2

Not only was the boundary between seeing astral images at a distance and being surrounded

by them blurred, but also blurred was the separation between the astral and the

physical worlds. Once when Kelley deliberately ignored Dee's familiar spirit, Madimi, so

that he could examine a book, the spirit repeatedly tapped the book on the cover to get

his attention, and at last tried to pull the book out of Kelley's hands. Dee could not see the

spirit, but he heard the taps on the parchment cover of the book.ls3 Another time, a spirit

knocked over an object in the scrying chamber, and both men saw it and heard it fall.

The most singular event of a physical kind was the apport of a crystal-scrying globe that

appeared out of thin air in the scrying chamber beneath the window. This globe subsequently

became Dee's principal showstone, and was used by Kelley with excellent results.

Four Levels of Astral Awareness

You will remember that Emanuel Swedenborg distinguished three types of astral projection,

although he did not use that term, but instead resorted to biblical references. The naked pro-

181. Casaubon, True & Faithful Relation, 25.

182. Ibid., 62.

183. Ibid., 31.

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 181

jection of his awareness into astral scenes he referred to as being "in the spirit," and regular

astral projection, during which he was able to feel as well as see and hear, he called being

"taken out of the body." The third type, which was a deeper and more complete experience

of astral projection in which he remained in his physical body yet completely lost awareness

of his physical surroundings while walking in an astral vision, he termed being "carried by

the Spirit into another place."184 If we add scrying to Swedenborg's three types of astral projection,

the result is four successively deeper levels of astral awareness:

1. Scrying: visual perception of astral scenes at a distance

2. Projection in the spirit: direct disembodied perception of astral scenes

3. Projection out of body: direct perception of astral scenes in the astral double

4. Projection to another place: direct perception of astral scenes in the physical

body

Swedenborg's final kind of vision-being present within an astral landscape in the physical

body-is not really possible, but it can seem completely real to those who experience

it. It happens when an astral scene is superimposed on the perception of physical

surroundings, completely excluding that perception, so that the person experiencing it

appears to walk through the astral landscape in the flesh. This is the level of astral perception

described by those who report alien abductions. They have no way to distinguish

between ordinary physical reality and the imposed astral experience, so naturally they

assume that the astral events are physically happening. They believe the evidence of their

senses, even though their senses are lying to them.

It is even possible that repercussion may occur in some cases, causing those who

have alien abduction trauma to suffer some corresponding physical injury. The connection

between mind and body is still a mysterious zone largely unexplored by science.

Stigmata, the wounds of Christ, sometimes spontaneously appear on the bodies

of Christians. If the mind can cause this degree of injury to the body, it is not difficult

to accept that it can also open a lesion in the neck where an individual who suffers an

abduction event believes an alien device was inserted.

184. Swedenborg, 625-6.

182 Soul Flight

Soul Flight and the Moon

It is important to understand that scrying is not a psychic activity separate from astral

projection, but merely the first level of the induced astral perception to which I have given

the general title soul flight. The activities, materials, and objects that aid in scrying can

also be used to aid in astral projection. In an occult sense, scrying falls under the influence

of the moon, and the same lunar influence governs astral projection. By using lunar

substances and symbols, soul flight in all its forms can be facilitated.

To say that something is under the influence of the moon is a bit misleading, although

that is the way that the connection is expressed in the Western esoteric tradition.

It is a holdover from a period when astrological terminology dominated the practice of

ritual magic. In ancient times, the moon was believed to send down rays of occult influence

that affected those individuals susceptible to them, as well as certain plants, animals,

and substances classed as lunar in nature. These rays never physically existed, but were

a kind of visual metaphor to account for the observed sympathetic response to active

influences classed as lunar.

The Renaissance magician Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) summarized the nature

of lunar things in his Occult Philosophy:

These things are lunary, amongst the elements, viz. the Earth, then the Water, as well

that of the sea, as of the rivers, and all moist things, as the moisture of trees, and animals,

especially they which are white, as the whites of eggs, fat, sweat, phlegm, and

the superfluities of bodies. Amongst tastes, salt and insipid; amongst metals, silver;

amongst stones, crystal, the silver marcasite, and all those stones that are white, and

green. Also the stone selenites i.e. lunary, shining from a white body, with a yellow

brightness, imitating the motion of the Moon, having in it the figure of the Moon

which daily increaseth, or decreaseth as doth the Moon. Also pearls, which are generated

in shells of fishes from the droppings of water, also the

Agrippa included among lunar plants hyssop, rosemary, the palm tree, and the olive tree.

Among animals he mentioned the dog, chameleon, pig, deer, goat, panther, otter, baboon,

cat, and any beast with horns that curve inward, such as the cow. Water fowl are also lunar

in nature, as are mice, flies, beetles, and any creature that breeds in the mud. Sea animals

particularly lunar in nature are the tortoise, crab, oyster, clam, and frog. He particularly

185. Agrippa, 80.

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 183

singled out menstrual blood as the most lunar of substances. He mentioned a number of

other creatures, but this list will give an impression of the lunar nature.

Lunar elements are earth and water, making their combination in the form of moist

soil or mud highly lunar. Earth was probably classed as lunar because the moon was believed

to influence the germination and growth of all plants, giving plants in general a

lunar quality-but not the onion, which according to Agrippa, is wholly under Mars, and

is inimical to the things of the moon. Water is lunar for the obvious reason that the moon

rules the tides. Hence, anything cool and moist is lunar, as is anything living in the cool,

moist mud or generated in the mud, such as frogs and beetles. The colors white and silver

are lunar because those are the general colors of the moon's face, yet black is also her color

because she hides that face periodically. This monthly period of the moon links her to the

menstrual cycle, but more generally to things that wax and wane, or open and close, particularly

when they occur in darkness.

Rock crystal and similar crystalline stones such as beryl are lunar because they resemble

water and are cool to the touch. Stones that are white or silvery, such as pearl or

moonstone, express the moon's nature in their color, as does silver marcasite, also known

as the mirror stone. All the cool, milky, and tasteless or slightly salty fluids or substances

of the body are lunar, especially those that are cast off such as sweat and phlegm, because

they wax and wane in quantity. The dew was believed to fall from the moon as a kind of

lunar sweat, making dew lunar in nature. The cow is particularly lunar not only due to its

curved horns that resemble the horns of the moon, but by virtue of its white milk. The

cat is lunar because the pupils of its eyes resemble the lunar crescent, but can open into

full disks just as the moon expands to show a full face.

It is no accident that the goddess of witches was held to be Diana, goddess of the

moon, or that one of the primary activities of witches was the use of the flying ointment

for travel to the sabbat gatherings. The active ingredients in the flying ointment were

highly lunar substances. All narcotic or soporific plants such as monkshood and nightshade

are lunar because they induce sleep or dreams and visions. It is no accident that

the animal most closely connected to the witch as her familiar is the cat, one of the most

lunar of all beasts. These things show the influence of the lunar virtue over witches. In

paintings and illustrations of witches the moon is almost always visible in the sky, emphasizing

the connection, which is understood by artists on the unconscious level.

By considering lunar things individually, and comparing them with each other, we

can gain a general impression of the lunar virtue that rules over or governs the act of

184 Soul Flight

astral perception. Once this understanding is gained, the lunar virtue can be attracted

and directed as an aid to soul flight through the conscious incorporation of lunar objects

and materials into the projection ritual. The appropriate use of occult correspondences

has almost been forgotten in modern times. Those practicing astral projection today

might laugh at the idea of using lunar objects or symbols to assist in the separation of the

astral double, yet such correspondences were employed with good results for thousands

of years by philosophers, mystics, and magicians.

Lucid Dreaming

The moon rules over sleep and dreams as mistress of the night sky, when the world lies

in sleep. Just as the sun, the great light of the day, symbolizes consciousness, so does the

moon, the great light of the night, symbolize the unconscious mind. However, unlike the

sun, the moon is variable, so she presides over partial consciousness as well. During waking,

the awareness appears to be constant and unvarying, even as the light of the sun is

unvarying. In sleep, there are various degrees of awareness that range from the complete

oblivion of dreamless sleep to the full consciousness of lucid dreaming.

A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer has full control over his thoughts and

actions. In my opinion, no significant distinction can be made between genuine lucid

dreaming and astral projection. Most of the projections of Oliver Fox were lucid dreams,

or extensions of lucid dreams. Fox became aware that he was dreaming without waking

up, and once he had attained this self-awareness, he was able to move out of the dream

setting into other astral landscapes. His primary technique for astral projection involved

inducing self-awareness while dreaming, which he was able to accomplish by noticing

anomalies in the dream, minor details that would not or could not exist in the actual

physical world.

I have used a similar anomalous trigger to achieve consciousness in my own dreams.

For me, it is the light switches in my house. If I am in a dream and go to turn on a light,

and the light does not turn on, I think in the dream that it may be just a burned-out bulb.

But if I try another light and it also fails to illuminate, I at once know that I am dreaming.

Then if I choose not to remain on the astral level, I can compel myself to awaken,

although it is difficult-rather like drawing myself up from the bottom of a dark, deep

well. I become aware that my body is paralyzed. This is a natural condition known as sleep

paralysis, a protective mechanism of the body to prevent self-inflicted injuries during violent

dreams. I also become aware that my sense of hearing has been turned off. At some

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 185

point as I force myself to wake up, my hearing will suddenly cut in as though a radio were

switched on, and I am able to hear the background sounds in my bedroom.

I assume that, during sleep, sound is still being monitored by some level of my mind,

but it is being filtered in such a way that ordinary background noises do not intrude

upon my dream awareness. Sylvan Muldoon observed that it is only unusual sounds that

disturb astral projection-common and familiar noises such as the ticking of a clock pass

unnoticed, lS6 This awareness of unusual noises is probably designed to guard against attacks

or dangers during sleep, but common sounds that have been classed as harmless

pass completely unheard during the dreaming state-not only unnoticed, but actually

unheard on the conscious level.

Oliver Fox mentioned something he called the False Awakening.lS7 It is when the

awareness passes from ordinary dreams into a condition that seems to be normal waking,

but is actually still deep sleep. When I experience the light-switch trigger, I am usually

in a condition of false awakening. That is, I believe myself to have just woken up in

the middle of the night, and believe myself to be reaching across to switch on the lamp

beside my bed. When it fails to light, I seem to get out of bed to try the overhead light by

means of the switch near the bedroom door. Only when this fails to light do I abruptly

realize that I am not awake at all, but still asleep. At this point, I am in a state of astral

projection in my body double, and fully conscious, even though still sleeping.

One method I use to wake up from this state is to lie down in my physical body, which

I can see on the bed in the dimness of the bedroom, and then attempt to sit up and stand

up, carrying my physical body with me. I usually have to do this several times--each time

leaving my physical body behind me when I arise-before I pass into an awareness of

lying within my physical body in a state of sleep paralysis. Then it is a matter of pulling

myself up from the depths of sleep, which feels very similar to what must be experienced

by a deep diver rising from the depths of a shadowy ocean to the surface. The apparent

distance traversed in rising through the darkness can be considerable.

Induction of Lucid Dreams

However, we are not so much concerned with awakening from the condition of astral

projection during sleep as inducing it. No induction method I have used to initiate a lucid

186. Muldoon and Carrington, Projection of the Astral Body, 198.

186 Soul Flight

dream has been completely reliable. Consistent success probably depends as much on innate

talent as it does on the technique employed. Some individuals are just better at astral

projection than others, although with practice and the use of induction methods, the rate

of anyone's success can be increased. Muldoon's advice was to hold your arm up as you

are falling asleep, as a way of carrying consciousness into the sleep state. I-Iis theory was

that as you start to drift off and your arm begins to fall, you can catch yourself and regain

awareness. You can try this method, but I have found it to be worthless. Holding my arm

balanced upright on my elbow tends to keep me from falling asleep for a longer period,

but when at last I do drift off, it is not with conscious awareness.

Here is a symbolic lunar trigger that you can try, as a way of encouraging separation

of the astral body. Cut a small twig from a water-loving tree or plant. Trees such as

the willow or poplar, both of which love to grow in wet ground, would be appropriately

lunar, but which plant is available will depend on the region in which you reside. Cut

the twig from a living branch. It should be quite small and light-no more than a few

inches long. Tie it in the middle to a length of white sewing thread and suspend it in the

air about three feet above the center of your bed. Make sure you attach the thread firmly

to the ceiling with masking tape or a pushpin so that it does not fall. The thread should

be tied around the twig at its center of balance so that it moves in the slightest breeze or

at the touch of your breath.

As you fall asleep in the darkness, be aware of the suspended twig above you and

allow your consciousness to be drawn up toward it. Imagine it spinning and bobbing in

the tiny currents of air stirred by your own gentle breathing. As you drift into sleep, recite

this little verse, either aloud in a low voice or mentally:

Diana of the silver bow,

My soul has wings;

Diana of the coursing hounds,

My soul flies up;

Diana of the leaping mare,

My soul soars free.

Needless to say, you may compose your own invocation to the goddess of the moon. To

be effective, it should be brief and rhythmic. It is a way of indicating to your unconscious

mind that you are preparing to project your astral double while asleep, and of opening

your mind to those influences that will contribute to this separation of awareness. As

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 187

you recite this invocation, visualize the moon above the clouds in the night sky and see

the wild hunt of the goddess pass as though racing across the tops of the wind-borne

clouds-Diana on her pale mare rushing after her pack of hounds, her silver bow drawn

to launch an arrow at her unseen quarry.

Another trigger that historically has been effective in inducing specific dream events

is a charm placed under the pillow just before going to sleep. This can also be employed

to produce a lucid dream state. The charm should indicate by its symbolism the effect

it is intended to produce, and will be more potent for purposes of astral awareness and

astral projection if it is lunar in nature. Such a charm may be called an astral doorway.

An effective design would be a disk of black craft paper three inches in diameter, on

which you have drawn or painted with silver ink or silver paint the waxing crescent of

the moon, between the points of which is the oval of an open, staring eye. The crescent

invokes the moon, as does the black color of the paper and the silver ink. The open eye

indicates conscious awareness. Because it is between the points of the lunar crescent,

it is awareness under the control or domination of the moon-awareness in sleep and

during dreams.

If you are able to find the feather of a crow or raven, or better still the feather of an

owl, it will serve as a potent lunar talisman for soul flight when placed beneath your pillow.

The crow and raven are lunar birds primarily due to their color, which matches the

darkness of night. The owl is a night bird that hunts in the darkness and has uncommonly

keen night vision, so its feathers perfectly represent the desired conscious awareness during

dreams. The feather is the preeminent symbol of soul flight, which is why it was favored

by shamans the world over as part of their ceremonial costume.

Crystals and Crystal Gazing

Natural rock crystal (silicon dioxide) has been used since prehistoric times to induce

astral visions and astral projection. Pieces of rock crystal have been discovered in caves

amid the burial remains of shamans. Crystals were employed in Greek and Roman times

for scrying. The crystals grow to a large size and can be polished into spheres or ovoid

shapes. Pink quartz and smoky quartz are both common, but the most highly prized for

scrying purposes are transparent and free from both coloring and inclusions. In ancient

times, it was believed to be a form of petrified ice, created by intense and sustained cold.

188 . Soul Flight

The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder repeated the popular view when he wrote "that it

is a kind of ice is certain."1ss

Referring to the Persian magician Osthanes, Pliny observed: "As Osthanes said, there

are several forms of magic; he professes to divine from water, globes, air, stars, lamps, basins,

and axes, and by many other methods, and besides to converse with ghosts and those

in the underworld."189 Divination by "globes" is very likely a form of crystal gazing. The

conversation with "ghosts and those in the underworld" may have been effected by means

of astral projection, and travel to the land of the dead.

Science is at a loss to explain what power natural crystals may have to induce an

altered state of consciousness that facilitates soul flight. It is sometimes suggested that

staring at the shiny surface of a crystal may induce a self-hypnotic condition. This is

undoubtedly correct, but does not account for the widespread use of rock crystals and

similar clear gem stones, as opposed to other shiny objects, or for the degree to which

crystals are prized for this purpose. Crystals are a strongly lunar substance, being like

water in appearance and cool to the touch. The light shining through crystals resembles

the silvery color of moonlight.

Almost all of the Enochian communications recorded by John Dee between the

years 1582 and 1587 were scried by Edward Kelley in several small globes of natural

rock crystal. The best results were obtained by the globe Dee referred to as his principal

showstone, which was given to him in the form of an apport by the Enochian angels.

During the Enochian communications, the crystal appeared to act not merely as a viewing

window, but also as a power matrix and astral portal. It would glow at times with its

own internal radiance. Spirits came through it into the scrying chamber with Kelley and

Dee, and Kelley sent his awareness through it into various astral landscapes, so that he

not only saw them but was also present within them.

Crystal balls of large size are expensive, particularly when they are clear with few or

no flaws and inclusions. A ball of flawless rock crystal of three inches diameter or more

would be considered large, and might cost two or three thousand dollars. Fortunately, good

results have historically been obtained by scrying into crystal balls, globes, or natural unshaped

crystals of relatively small size, and these are inexpensive. A few flaws or inclusions,

188. Pliny, vol. X, p. 181.

189. Ibid.,vol.VIII, p. 287.

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 189

or cloudiness, does not inhibit the effectiveness of a crystal. Most crystal balls used in past

centuries were imperfect, as perfect crystals were quite difficult to get.

Uses of Rock Crystal

A use of rock crystal that I find effective is to rest a natural crystal upon the hollow just

above my solar plexus when I am lying on my back, with my hands clasped over the

crystal. The crystal acts as a mental focus during soul flight. At the same time, I visualize

a vortex opening in the air above the middle of my body and drawing me upward. This

is a simple, unstructured method of projection that can either be used by itself, or incorporated

into a ritual. You may wish to experiment with arranging crystals around your

body as you lie upon your bed, or with placing them upon your chakra centers. Another

effective trigger is to get a small, flat crystal that has been polished in a rock tumbler, and

to lay it on your forehead between your eyebrows, over your third eye. The weight and

coolness of the crystal aid in focusing awareness on the ajna chakra.

It would be impossible to demonstrate in any physical way why the mere touch of a

crystal should encourage astral perception, but we are not dealing solely with the physical

substance of the crystal, but with its astral substance as well-with the way in which

the crystal affects not only the physical senses but also the emotions, imagination, and

the unconscious mind. Crystals are power centers on the astral level. They accumulate

and retain the potential force to cause change in the astral world. When seen with astral

vision, they glow with internal radiance. It is as though a crystal, when it is contemplated

and held in the thoughts, creates a gateway in the wall of separation between normal

waking awareness and astral awareness.

One of the ways of scrying into a crystal ball was to hold it in the hands and gaze into

it in total darkness, so that the crystal was not visible with ordinary vision. My grandfather,

who was an accomplished crystal scryer, covered his head and shoulders beneath a

black cloth when scrying into his crystal, which he placed into a box open at the top for

the purpose. Since the cloth covered the box as well as his head, he could see nothing of

the crystal, or at most its dim outline in whatever trace of light may have filtered through

the cloth. My mother, who often watched her father scry when she was a little girl, assures

me that he could not see even a trace of the crystal ball under the cloth.

This would seem to inconvenience the popular scientific theory that the crystal ball

works by inducing self-hypnosis through prolonged staring at reflections of light in its

shiny surface. My grandfather saw no reflections of light. He held the crystal in his mind

190 Soul Flight

as well as beneath his hands, and any brightness it possessed existed only on the astral

level, since to his physical eyes it remained invisible in the darkness.

My grandfather's crystal globe was not crystal at all, but was made of common glass.

He ordered it by mail from Chicago around the beginning of the 1920s, and it cost a considerable

portion of his coal miner's paycheck at the time. He could never have afforded a

genuine crystal globe. Fortunately for him and for countless other crystal scryers of limited

means, clear glass is a wonderfully lunar substance. It is watery and cool to the touch,

just like rock crystal. Glass is made from silica, often collected in the raw form of beach

sand, and it provides another link to the moon. Anything connected with the beach falls

under the influence of the ebb and flow of the tides, and hence is lunar.

A Lunar Accumulator

It is possible to construct a kind of accumulator of lunar virtue that can be of use in

inducing astral projection. Take a clear glass flask or bottle and fill it with fresh seawater

collected from an ocean beach. Seal the flask so that it will not leak. This instrument can

then be left exposed to bright moonlight for several days. The best time to charge your

lunar accumulator is during the three days of each lunar cycle when the moon shows a

full face-the night before the full moon, the night of the full moon, and the night following

the full moon. It should be stored away when not in use in a wrap of black silk or

velvet, and never exposed to sunlight or even to the bright light of day. It can be taken out

and used to good effect at twilight or in the evening.

The accumulator should be placed near to the head while lying down to practice

soul flight. A good location is immediately behind the top of the skull. Another effective

location is beneath the center of the bed on which you are lying during your projection.

Even if you do not see the flask, you know where it is and what it contains. Indeed, even

if you should forget entirely that the flask is there, your unconscious mind will continue

to be aware of its existence.

Sometimes, those who are new to the concept of using traditional occult correspondences

as an aid during ritual work form the mistaken notion that they must somehow

trick their minds into believing that these objects are effective, or that they must infuse

effectiveness into them by a kind of repeated brainwashing in which they tell themselves

over and over that the object used has power of a certain kind. This is incorrect. The

whole point of using such recognized esoteric materials is that they produce an effect on

their own, by their own natures. Lunar materials will aid to induce a lunar state of mind,

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 191

which is a state of mind conducive to astral perception. No one can explain how they do

this, since whatever mechanism produces the resonance works below the physical level.

But centuries of tradition testify that such an effect is real.

Mirror Portals

If anything may be said to be more lunar than a crystal globe, it is a mirror. They are uncanny

objects that have always been accorded a measure of wonder and apprehension. By

reflection, a mirror creates an image seemingly within its depths that is similar in outward

appearance to the person reflected, but it is an image without substance. A reflected image

is in this sense similar to an astral form. A mirror also appears to be a kind of doorway

between the physical world and the reflected world that is its duplicate, just as the base

astral world is the duplicate of the physical world.

This property was used by the writer Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) who, in his 1871

fantasy novel Through the Looking-Glass, had his protagonist Alice crawl through the

surface of a large wall mirror into the reflected world, while she talked to her cat:

"Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why,

it's turning into a sort of mist now. I declare! It'll be easy enough to get through-"

She was up on the chimney-piece while she said this, though she hardly knew how

she had got there. And certainly the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a

bright silvery mist.lgO

This fictional account has several points of interest. The cat is a lunar beast, and the

primary familiar of witches, as I have mentioned. Witches are proverbial for their ability

to fly up the chimney, using it as a portal to the astral world when they set off for the

sabbat gathering. Alice's mirror is set over the fireplace. Her description of the change in

the surface of the glass is not unlike descriptions given by scryers concerning the apparent

change in the surface of the crystal just before they begin to see astral scenes in its

depths. A very common feature of such descriptions is the appearance of a mist. Carroll

specifically wrote that the mist was "silvery" in color. Silver is the color, and the metal, of

the moon.

Mirrors are lunar not merely because they seem to create astral images in their depths,

but because the substances of which they are made-glass and silver-are both strongly

190. Carroll, 146.

lunar materials. Add to this their common rectangular shape, which resembles a window

or doorway, and it is little wonder that they were used both for scrying and as astral portals.

It is a common report that astral scenes are reflected left to right, in exactly the same

way as mirror images. The members of the Golden Dawn made this observation while

scrying in the spirit vision. Israel Regardie wrote:

There was a good deal of glib parlance within the Order as to "astral vision" and "etheric

vision." The former was described as the ordinary Tattwa vision, in which objects

and landscapes, though vivid and alive, are yet "flat" as though reflected on a mirror,

rather like a cinematograph film. "In this form of descrying, note that you see objects

reversed, as to right and left, for which suitable allowance must be made." The use

of the phrase "mirror-like vision" is actually a very adequate description. Yet this is

capable, as development proceeds, of merging into another type of vision-a fullblooded

clairvoyance, in which things and people are seen in three dimensions, and

as though the seer were not merely watching the scene, but were actually in it. Some

explained that as "etheric vision" although the actual Order documents describe this

as the clairvoyance ensuing from astral projection.191

It is not very difficult to make the leap between describing a scried astral vision as mirrorlike,

and using an actual mirror as an astral doorway. To be most effective, the mirror should

be large enough to easily step into, were the glass to become soft and mist-like, as it did

for Alice. Although this is unlikely to happen in a physical sense, the astral body has no

trouble stepping through the surface of a mirror. However, it is not absolutely necessary

that the mirror be large. It can be enlarged in the imagination. This is what Golden Dawn

members did when using tattwa symbols as astral doorways. "YOU may modify the earlier

stages of the working by so enlarging the symbol astrally that the human being can pass

through it. When very vivid, and not until then, pass, spring orfly through it, and do not

begin to reason till you find yourself in some place or land~cape."'T~h~e same course of

action can be followed with regard to a small mirror.

191. Regardie, 463.

192. Ibid., 470.

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 193

How to Use a Mirror

A good location for a larger mirror that is used as an astral doorway is the wall at the

foot of the bed upon which you lie when you practice soul flight. When you exit your

physical body and leave it behind you on the bed, you can arise in your astral body and

step into the mirror, which if you wish can be used as a conduit to carry you directly to

your destination without the necessity to use the intermediary astral constructions of the

chamber, corridor, and elevator. Needless to say, once you arise in your astral body, you

are already on the base level of the astral world. It is helpful to imagine a vortex forming

in the center of the mirror just before you step into it, a sort of whirlpool of silvery-gray

light. In ceremonial magic, the symbol of the vortex, in the form of the two-dimensional

spiral or three-dimensional cone, is employed to open gateways. The technical reason

for this is that the vortex expands the point, which is the only entrance or exit from the

circle. To fall into the mirror in your astral body, visualize a clockwise inward swirl which

will draw you in toward its center.

To seal an opened portal created by a vortex, you can easily still the turning of the vortex

by means of a cross inscribed within a circle. This is a highly effective symbol for halting

change or freezing motion. The cross both preserves and defends. A regular Christian

cross will work if you prefer to use it, but I employ a cross of equal arms-inscribing first

on the air the vertical column downward, then the horizontal arm from left to right, and

finally enclosing the cross in a clockwise circle. As this is drawn with the right hand over

the portal you wish to seal shut, it should be visualized as glowing upon the air.

When using a large mirror as an astral doorway, it is best to keep it covered during the

day, and not to use it for common purposes. It should be protected from the direct rays of

the sun, and from strong daylight. To charge it with lunar virtue, set it outside or beneath

a window where it can reflect the light of the full moon. Covering the mirror with a black

cloth after it is charged will help retain this virtue.

To incorporate the lunar virtue of a mirror into the standard projection ritual, in

which the chamber, corridor, and elevator are visualized, a small mirror may be combined

with the symbolic key that specifies the astral destination. These can be held together with

tape or a rubber band. The mirror and the key can then be placed over the solar plexus

beneath the folded hands while lying on the bed during the projection. It is best to leave

the surface of the mirror unobstructed and to place the key against its backing. When a

small mirror is incorporated into the key, the keycard in the astral world should be visualized

as having a mirror backing.

This small mirror can be used as an offensive weapon against astral beings. If you are

confronted by an aggressive spirit and feel threatened, holding up the mirror surface of

the keycard so that it reflects the image of the spirit will cause the spirit to withdraw in

confusion, as its own hostility is reflected back upon it. In the astral world, a mirror reflects

more than mere images. It also reflects emotions and subtle energies. For this reason

it can be employed as a kind of psychic shield. It becomes a doorway only after it has been

opened by a vortex, either consciously or unconsciously. When you conceive the mirror as

a portal, you automatically open it even if you are not aware of this process. Hence, when

using the mirror as a shield, it must be conceived as sealed and impervious.

The Black Mirror

Another kind of mirror that is used in magic is the black mirror. This is a sheet of glass to

which an opaque black coating has been applied, rendering it into a midnight black surface

that reflects shadowy images. Black mirrors were used in ancient times for common

household purposes. They were made of sheets of polished volcanic glass, called obsidian,

or a polished coal-like material known as jet. The black mirror is often preferred for

magical purposes in our modern age because it is not found any longer in common use,

having long ago been superseded by the much superior reflecting qualities of polished

silver. John Dee owned a small black mirror that had supposedly been taken as plunder

from the Aztec 1ndia11s.l~I~t was made of obsidian and may have played a part in some

of the early scrying done by Edward Kelley, although Dee and Kelley preferred crystal

globes for this purpose.

The black mirror has a somewhat evil reputation in magic. This is a natural consequence

of its color, which links it symbolically to the phase of the new moon, when the

lunar orb is completely dark and hidden. This is the phase of the moon during which

magic of a malevolent nature was worked. It is also suitable for works of necromantic

magic, and for covert works of magic that must remain hidden. This association of the

black mirror with evil is simplistic. Black is not a color of evil, but of negation. The dark

is where the light is absent. A black mirror can be very effectively used for scrying and

astral projection, by those who understand this distinction. Those seeking to project

193. Clulee, John Dee's Natural Philosophy, 206-7.

Chapter Eleven: Astral Doorways 195

into the lower astral levels will find the black mirror particularly useful as an aid, since it

resonates with the shadows of the infernal realms.

The Water Mirror

Another even more ancient magic mirror is the surface of water. It was employed for both

scrying and divination in the form of natural springs and pools considered to be sacred.

Such springs and pools were believed to be the dwelling places of spiritual beings and,

without a doubt, spirits did appear and communicate with human beings through the

astral doorways of these pools and springs. In a later evolution of this method of scrying,

water was collected in a special scrying basin from such sacred water sources. Astral visions

would be scried by peering down into the depths of the basin, which was often made of

silver. The surface of the water might be stirred into a vortex by means of a wand. The great

seer Nostradamus used a basin of water as part of his scrying apparatus, along with a wand,

though exactly how they were employed remains a matter of conjecture.

We can adapt the ancient water mirror for the purpose of an astral doorway by filling

a silver or silver-plated basin with clear fresh water on a table in the scrying chamber just

prior to beginning the exercise of projection. A silver-plated basin is acceptable, since silver

is plated over brass, which is predominantly copper, and copper as the metal of the planet

Venus is not obstructive in any occult sense to astral projection. After leaving the body,

the basin of water can be used as a portal by enlarging it on the astral level until it is large

enough to dive into. The traveler should continue to descend deeper and deeper into the

water of the basin until a light is perceived. He will gradually become aware that he is no

longer descending into the depths of the basin, but ascending toward the light. As the light

approaches, it enlarges itself into an opening through which the traveler emerges into the

astral landscape he sought to reach. In this way, the basin of water can be used as a direct

astral channel, bypassing the chamber, corridor, and elevator of the general ritual.

I have provided this method of direct passage into the astral world, along with the

method of the mirror, because I know that some individuals who practice using the formal

ritual of the chamber, corridor, and elevator may find it too elaborate and cumbersome to

easily manipulate in their imaginations. The ritual of projection is not an essential part of

soul flight, and if it becomes more of an impediment than an aid, it should be abandoned.

This should not be done casually, however, since the ritual is structured in such a manner

as to provide a high degree of both precision and security to the traveler.

196 SoulFlight

The light at the bottom of the basin should be conceived as a kind of astral reflection

of the open surface of the expanded basin that leads to the astral world, in much the same

way that the reflection in the depths of a mirror may be thought of as the astral reflection

of the physical world. Since the astral world is a reflection, the traveler is, by swimming

down into the depths of the basin, actually swimming up on the astral side of the water

surface. The basin does not have a bottom in the astral world, but it is a water-filled passageway

similar to a submerged cave. It can be opened by making a clockwise stirring

motion above the surface of the water in the basin with the hand, to initiate a vortex in the

water. It is useful to conceive of the basin as a kind of silver bath when enlarging it on the

astral level, prior to stepping or diving into it. Lean over this bath in your astral body and

stir the water clockwise with your hand. Visualize a point of light in its distant, shadowed

depths. Then enter the water and swim toward the light.

You can use water as an aid in the general ritual of projection by placing a silver or

silver-plated basin or bowl filled with fresh, clear water beneath your bed prior to beginning

the ritual. The silver and the water will both attract lunar virtue, and will facilitate the

separation of the astral double during the ritual. Just before getting on the bed, you may

wish to wet your fingertip in the basin and touch the water to your forehead, between your

eyebrows, where your ajna chakra is located, so that this part of your skin wdl be drying

and cooling as you visualize the sign of projection.

The use of these and all other astral doorways is optional. They should be employed

where they are found to help, and discarded without a qualm when they are tried and

found to be valueless or obstructive. Every person who practices soul flight is different,

and no two human beings react to symbols in the same way. Some have an irrational fear

of drowning, for example. Needless to say, the method of diving into the water-filled silver

basin would be a poor method for those suffering from hydrophobia. Magic is the most

practical of human pursuits, and soul flight is a magical practice. You should use what

works, and discard what does not work. The various lunar doorways described above are

likely to be helpful in some degree to most who try them

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