Review: The Last Astral Projection Book You'll Ever Need to Read
by Kenneth Diaz
Today I'm reviewing The Last Astral Projection Book You'll Ever Need to Read: How to Finally Leave Your Body and Explore the Astral by Kenneth Diaz. The copyright is 2020.
You've got to love the author's enthusiasm and confidence. He says:
"I entitled this book as The Last Astral Projection Book You'll Ever Need to Read because I guarantee that you will be successful in projecting with these methods. In fact, you can do try to do so right this minute by attempting Method 2." (pg. 20)
Needless to say, I was skeptical (or if you're British, sceptical). I was pleasantly surprised.
The whole point of this book is to teach the reader the basics of astral projection and how to induce the out-of-body state, and Diaz does a pretty good job of that. He makes it very clear at the start of the book that his knowledge is based on personal experience, although he doesn't have many narratives or personal stories to back that up. Still, you can tell from his writing that he's legitimately been out-of-body. In other words, he's not just passing on book-knowledge from other authors. Still, he draws on the works of other authors. The only author he mentions by name is Robert Bruce, but you can tell from the book's content that he's read several other books; probably even mine.
I agreed with almost everything he said in the book. The one thing I disagreed with is this curious quote:
"Remote viewing is a different exercise which has been proven to be unsuccessful in practice." (pg. 16)
I'm not sure if that's a typo or if that's what he really meant, but I'm pretty convinced, based on the evidence, that remote viewing is successful. Especially if you do the kind of meta-analysis Dean Radin provides in his books.
What I liked about this book is Diaz's no-nonsense approach to teaching astral projection. For example, he writes:
"Some people use special talismans and go through special diets to achieve astral projection. Some forgo certain foods such as meat to increase their chances, others will use special music to artificially produce certain brain waves in the brain. There will be no need for such things, you do not need to take up a new diet to successfully project. Talismans, amulets, and other equipment are often unnecessary and most of the time, a waste of money." (pg. 20)
Diaz presents three different methods to achieve astral travel:
- Using sleep to experience OBE.
- Having an OBE while your mind and body are awake.
- Turning lucid dreams into OBEs.
Charter 1 is "Method 1: How to Use Sleep to Have an OBE".
His first technique here is pretty much Wake-Back-to-Bed, which he calls "Bed-Wake-Bed" combined with a good variety of exit techniques. He sums it up nicely:
"Deep relaxation + Light Trance = Astral Projection" (pg. 33)
Once you're in the proper trance state, you use an exit technique. He includes:
- The Gravity Press Method
I documented this as "Heavy-Light" in chapter 36 of Hacking the Out of Body Experience. Basically, you imagine an enormous gravity field pulling you down below the bed, then alternately, pulling you up into the sky. - The Imagined Movement Method
I gave several variations of this in Hacking too. Movement techniques have always been my favorite.
- The Rope Method
The technique made famous by Robert Bruce and parroted by many. Diaz, like almost every author out there, misses the fact that you're supposed use tactile imagination: focus on the feeling of the rope in your hand rather than visualize it.
- Roll Over Technique
This was made famous by Robert Monroe as the "Roll Out" technique.
- Gravity Orb Technique
This is my favorite technique from my first book, "Out of Body Experiences". I suggested using cubes or octahedrons, but any orb will do.
- Bounce Method
This is another Robert Bruce technique, although Bruce suggests it not as an exit technique, but an energy manipulation/body loosening technique. - Breathe Method
Similar to Bounce, but trying to expand your awareness with each breath. - Spin Loosening Method
This is also similar, meant as a body loosening technique. - When none of these work, Diaz suggests technique cycling, which is something popularized by Michael Raduga.
Chapter 2 is "How to Astral Projection While You Are Awake." Diaz writes that:
"It is a surefire way to astral project which makes it an excellent method for beginners." (pg. 51)
In this technique, you sit in a not-too-comfortable chair, close your eyes, relax, induce a light trance, then visualize an out-of-body scenario, usually of a familiar place, pretty much like the "Target Technique" taught by William Buhlman and many others. It's like daydreaming, but you keep with it, trying to focus exclusively on the visualized scenario. He says if you keep at it long enough, eventually the experience seems to become real and you find yourself entirely out-of-body, although you never really lose touch with your physical body. He says to expect lapses in focus, but just re-center and re-focus and keep going.
Chapter 3 is "How to Project from a Lucid Dream"
In this chapter, Diaz covers the basics of lucid dreaming (the DILD variety - Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming, not WILD), employing the usual devices:
- Dream recall (and journaling)
- Setting intentions
- Doing reality checks
The advice is all pretty sound.
Chapter 4 is "A Successful Exit"
Here Diaz gives a bunch of random advice, such as don't go near your physical body. One thing I thought was interesting was his technique for getting "unstuck" in situations where you find yourself (astrally) stuck to your physical body. He writes:
"Instead of trying to pull yourself away when things won't budge, create new limbs for your astral self instead." (pg. 69)
In other words, ignore the astral body that's stuck to the physical and focus on a new astral limbs that aren't stuck. This is not too different from the advice I give in my 2002 article about Awareness during Sleep Paralysis, but I like his twist on it.
Diaz also offers a new twist on lengthening your OBEs. If you find your awareness starting to wane, he suggests using an internal monologue. In other words, you say to yourself, "Now I'm walking to the window. Now I'm touching the wall." And so forth. He also gives plenty of classic advice on deeping/lengthening, such as touching everything in sight (from Michael Raduga) and "Clarity Now!" (from William Buhlman).
Chapter 7 is "Astral Projection FAQs. Here Diaz gives a wide variety of miscellaneous advice about astral projection, such as avoiding alcohol and caffeine. His FAQ is better than most, but still a lot smaller than the FAQ I wrote for this blog and I'm not sure I agree with all his recommendations.
The book is 103 pages with good margins and font. There's not a ton of content, but the content is streamlined and well organized. The author knows the difference between its and it's and the grammar is good, but there are actually quite a few small mistakes that would have been caught by a good editor.
I give the book 4 stars out of 5. It's actually very good. There's a lot of solid advice and techniques in there. Is this the last astral projection you'll ever need to read? I don't know if I'd go that far. There's a lot it doesn't cover. But the book is a great place to start for beginners: It provides a really good solid foundation for astral projection.
Bob Peterson
16 August 2022
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