Review: Diary of a Soul Traveller

by May Long

Today I'm reviewing Diary of a Soul Traveller by May Long. The subtitle is Beyond OBE and Astral Travel. The copyright is 2023. The book is 184 pages. The page size, margins and font are all great, so there's plenty of content to satisfy.

In case you're wondering, "traveller" in the title is the British spelling whereas the American spelling is "traveler."

When I see a title that contains "Soul Travel" I immediately think of Eckankar, the religion (some say cult) that teaches "Soul Travel," which they claim is better than astral projection and out-of-body experiences. So I was worried that this book might be preachy and filled with pro-Eckankar propaganda and nomenclature. It wasn't.

Yes, the author used Eckankar as a framework for her spiritual path, and yes, she uses a few of their words, like "Mahanta" (the inner master), but sparingly. She refers to God simply as "God" and not the Eck word. As early as the copyright notice she states: "This does not imply any endorsement or sponsorship of Eckankar."

Who is May Long? She is a Chinese woman with a son. At some point she moved from China to Canada. She comes across as well educated, sincere, level-headed, and wise.

If I had to summarize this book in one sentence, I'd say this is kind of "halfway between my first book (Out of Body Experiences) and my second book (Lessons Out of the Body)." Let me explain. My first book described my early OBEs with my analytical observations and conclusions. My second book had a more spiritual approach, trying to answer questions like: 

• What good are OBEs?
  
• Where can they take us spiritually?
• What lessons can we learn from them?
  

Diary of a Soul Traveller is a combination of both analytical and spiritual approaches. Every chapter teaches a life lesson, and the narratives illustrate the points she makes. We see not only her experiences and what she learned from them, but there's a spiritual side, a deeper meaning and a life-lesson. From a spiritual point of view, she came to many of the same conclusions I did, and that was satisfying. Here is a quote I loved. It might just as easily come from Lessons Out of the Body or my later book, Answers Within:

"If we are attentive, we can derive wisdom and answers from the most unassuming sources. I am convinced of the universe's benevolence, its continual attempts to educate us and facilitate our growth." (pg. 52)

She sees almost every moment as offering some lesson, and asks, What is the Universe trying to teach me? Like me, she sees events and objects as metaphors and similes. For example, here's another quote I loved:

"This extraordinary encounter forever transformed my perspective, leaving an indelible imprint upon my relationship with my son and the world at large. Gone were the rigid classifications and societal hierarchies predicated upon academic achievement. In their stead, a new-found understanding emerged -- the equality of all souls, each embarking upon their unique journey of experience. The beggar and the king, once perceived through a lens of hierarchy, now stood on equal footing." (pg. 15)

Here's another quote I loved:

"Everyone can find their unique spiritual path that aligns with their consciousness and fulfills their spiritual needs. The path that resonates with me might not be the one for you. Choose a path that echoes with your heart, a path that propagates love. For love is the only constant in a world where everything else can be deemed an illusion.

Do not get caught up in the desire for prestigious positions within spiritual or religious organizations, as such pursuits often serve the ego. What truly matters is our individual relationship with the Source, the Holy Spirit, or God." (pg. 44)

The book has lots of out-of-body narratives: her own personal experiences. So we get to see who the author is, what her OBEs are like, and what she got out of them. Like many of us, it's a journey of self-discovery, facing and conquering fears, and learning lessons.

Like my first book, she includes exercises at the end of every chapter to help the readers have their own journeys. Very helpful.

We get to see the author's spiritual evolution, starting with adolescence where she first started having unplanned OBEs. Like many of us, she had to overcome fears and learn how to do voluntary OBEs, astral travel. Along the way she enters and eventually leaves an unnamed ("mystery school") to find Eckankar.

Here's another quote I loved:

"Spiritual growth does not demand seclusion, excessive meditation, or detachment. Rather, it occurs through active engagement with life, imbuing every act, thought, and moment with love." (pg. 49)

And here's another:

"The interplay of signs, synchronicities, and inner guidance serves as a testament to the profound interconnection of all things--a symphony of seen and unseen, guiding us towards a deeper understanding of our purpose and the boundless potential that resides within us." (pg. 70)

Speaking of  synchronicities, I was absolutely stunned by her description of an experience that closely matches an OBE I shared recently in this blog, which I called "The Demonstration":

"What I witnessed was the transformation of their forms, but the underlying essence was the expansion of consciousness. The true result of their integration was a heightened awareness, a larger consciousness that enveloped their being." (pgs. 75-76)

It made me wonder: Did she witness my OBE firsthand? Is this some kind of universal experience? Note that her book was published well before I shared my experience with anyone, but the experience itself happened in the last few years.

One last quote from the book:

"This is the essence of the soul's journey: always evolving, ever-connected, and bound by love." (pg. 172)

It's chock full of personal experiences, and plenty of exercises. I was a tiny bit disappointed that she didn't name the "mystery school" she attended. And also in the lack of detail in some of the exercises. I would have liked more details on what exactly she did to induce her experiences. She included some of it, but I wanted more details.

I loved this book. Maybe I'm biased because it reminded me of my own. I give this book 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5. It was humble, relatable, personal and yet inspiring. The writing was mature, sophisticated, with perfect spelling and grammar. I only found a couple typos.

Bob Peterson
29 October 2024

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If you want me to review a book about out-of-body experiences or astral projection, send me an email: bob@robertpeterson.org, but please check the index first to see if I've already reviewed it. Also, I've got a huge pile of books I'm planning to review, so don't expect a quick turnaround.

If you like my work, visit my website, robertpeterson.org, where you'll find lots of other free OBE advice and links.

Return to the index of my OBE Book reviews

The Demonstration

by Bob Peterson

Many of my "more interesting" OBEs can be found in the online text of my first book, but most of them are from 40 years ago. People sometimes ask: What are my OBEs like today? When I rewrote my website earlier this year, I realized how few of my recent OBEs appear in my blog. 

Well here is an OBE that's much more recent. Hopefully it will some day make its way into a book.

 Review: The Astral Plane

by C.W. Leadbeater

Today I'm reviewing The Astral Plane by Charles Webster Leadbeater. The copyright on my copy is 1933 but the first edition was printed in 1895: 129 years ago! I'm reviewing this book at a Facebook friend's request.  

The author, C.W. Leadbeater, was one of the most prominent authors in Theosophy, which was a spiritual movement started by Russian mystic Helena P. Blavatsky in 1875. The book was published after her death in 1891. I've read several Theosophy books, including Leadbeater's The Inner Life and A.E. Powell's The Astral Body,  but I'm still pretty ignorant about the movement. They remind me of the younger Eckankar, the "out-of-body religion (cult?)"  founded by Paul Twitchell. Twitchell and Blavatsky had similar stories: both supposedly traveled to India and studied with secret esoteric masters with amazing spiritual powers. Both took it upon themselves to bring their "knowledge" to the Western world as a not-so-secret society, spooning out esoteric secrets for a price. Frankly, I think Theosophy goes deeper and has a lot more street credentials than Eckankar, but I'll leave that subject for another day.

I don't know if the book is still in print, but it probably is. At any rate, it's easy to find online copies. I acquired my copy more than 40 years ago.

The book is small in size, but it has 183 pages and a very small font, which provides a lot of content despite the small package.

Even though the book is small, it took a long time to read because it was written in 1890s British English. It's more cumbersome than today's writing. I'll give you an example:

"Illustrations taken from the physical plane seem generally to misrepresent rather than elucidate astral phenomena, because they can never be more than partially applicable; but the recollection of two simple facts of ordinary life may help to make this important branch of our subject clearer, if we are careful not to push the analogy further than it will hold good." (pg. 165)

The whole book is like that!

Leadbeater was extensively trained in Theosophy and supposedly got to the state where he had full astral sight. As he tells it:

"I worked at it for forty-two days, and seemed to myself to be on the brink of the final victory, when the Master Himself intervened and performed the final act of breaking through which completed the process, and enabled me thereafter to use astral sight while still retaining full consciousness in the physical body--which is equivalent to saying that the astral consciousness and memory became continuous whether the physical body was awake or asleep." (page X)

So we're supposed to just take his word for it. Call me cynical but I've heard that line before and I'm not buying it. He doesn't give any examples of his direct observations, nor any of his direct OBEs, so as far as I'm concerned, all the "information" he gives is unsubstantiated and therefore questionable. I suspect much of the information are hand-me-downs from other teachings of Theosophy, which are hand-me-downs from a variety of ancient Hindu scriptures, Vedas, Upanishads, Patanjali, etc..

For example, he states that there are seven planes of existence, each of which has seven layers or sub-planes. In order of materiality, from densest to finest, they are:

• Physical
• Astral
• Mental
• Buddhic
• Nirvanic
• Two others that are so far above our present power they're "left out of consideration"
  

Oddly, Leadbeater doesn't say much about the planes of existence themselves, other than saying there are too many places to describe.

Instead, the vast majority of the book describes the various entities that may be seen on the astral plane. That includes the nirmanakaya (those who have achieved nirvana but renounce it in order to work for the good of mankind), ordinary people after death, astral shells, vitalized shells, astral shades, dead people waiting for their next incarnation, victims of sudden death and suicide, and so forth. 

Much of this is just blatant fear mongering. For example, he describes "vitalized shells" like this:

"Let it suffice here to mention that it is almost always a malevolent bring--a true tempting demon, whose evil influence is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is frequently used to further the horrible purposes of the Voodoo and Obeah forms of magic." (pg. 74)

He also describes the "Vampire" and the "Werewolf" which have "unearthly horror and of extreme rarity." But again, he doesn't say whether he's actually seen these things or if he's just passing down lore from elsewhere. I personally have never seen anything like that so I tend to think of it as fear mongering, especially in light of ridiculous claims like this about vampires:

"Since the eighth sphere cannot claim him until after the death of the body, he preserves it in a kind of cataleptic trance by the horrible expedient of the transfusion into it of blood drawn from other human beings by his semi-materialized astral, and thus postpones his final destiny by the commission of wholesale murder." (pg. 81)

Here's another claim regarding werewolves made in the book that I see as nonsensical fear mongering:

 "When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, there are certain circumstances under which the body may be seized upon by other astral entities and materialized, not into the human form, but into that of some wild animal--usually the wolf; and in that condition it will range the surrounding country killing other animals, and even human beings, thus satisfying not only its own craving for blood, but that of the fiends who drive it on." (pg. 82)

On the astral plane, it is possible to shape-shift and take on the appearance of a vampire or werewolf, and I firmly believe that is the origin of such horrors. But Leadbeater seems to categorize them differently than a "run of the mill astral shapeshifter." And I simply refuse to accept them walking around on the physical plane. (Ask me again after the next season of The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch!)

Perhaps he was using these fear tactics to drive would-be students to Theosophy where they can be "properly trained by the experts" to deal with such ghastly entities. If the carrot doesn't work, use the stick, right?

He does say:

"Intending explorers of the astral plane need have little fear of encountering the unpleasant creatures described under this head, for, as before stated, they are even now extremely rare, and as time goes on their number will happily steadily diminish." (pgs. 83-84)

But then, later, when describing Elementals and Nature Spirits, he's back to fear mongering:

"There is, however, undoubtedly a sort of bias or tendency permeating nearly all of their subdivisions which operates to render them rather hostile than friendly towards man. Every neophyte knows this, for in most cases his first impression of the astral plane is of the presence all round him of vast hosts of protean spectres who advance upon him in threatening guise, but always retire or dissipate harmlessly if boldly faced." (pg. 101)

He takes it a step forward and actually gives good advice:

"Though tricky and mischievious, they are rarely malicious unless provoked by some unwarrantable intrusion or annoyance; but as a body they also partake to some extent of the universal feeling of distrust for man, and they generally seem inclined to resent somewhat the first appearance of a neophyte on the astral plane, so that he usually makes their acquaintance under some unpleasant or terrifying form. If, however, he declines to be frightened by any of their freaks, they soon accept him as a necessary evil and take no further notice of him, while some among them may even after a time become friendly and manifest pleasure on meeting him." (pg. 115)

Clearly the author is describing the guardian of the threshold but attributing it to Elementals. His advice is sound, but I don't think it has anything to do with Elementals.

That brings us to a discussion of something the author calls "The Fifth Root Race" which I only know about from my study of Edgar Cayce. Cayce was born in 1877, so he was 18 years old when this book was published. I wonder if the book--or Theosophy in general--influenced Cayce? Or perhaps Cayce influenced Leadbeater? But again, those are best left for a future discussion.

I do agree with Leadbeater on some points, such as:

"The horrible doctrine of eternal punishment, too, is responsible for a vast amount of most pitiable and entirely groundless terror among those newly arrived in this higher life." (pg. 61)

Another curious feature of this book is that he describes godlike inhabitants of the astral plane: Kamadevas, Rupadevas, and Arupadevas. Likewise, he talks about "devas" in general, and four "Kings" or "Regents of the Earth" describing them as associated with the "elements" of earth, water, air, and fire. Since the author gives us no idea of his direct experiences, I can only assume this all comes from the ancient traditions of India (or Blavatsky) and not from his own observations. In other words, secondhand information, also known as hearsay.

Toward the end of the book, Leadbeater branches out and talks about other phenomena, such as churchyard ghosts, apparitions of the dying, haunted localities, family ghosts, bell-ringing and stone-throwing ghosts, fairies, communicating entities (think seances). This is all pretty old-school and not very enlightening.

He also talks about various phenomena related to seances and physical mediumship: clairvoyance, prevision, second-sight, etheric currents, astral forces, etheric pressure, latent energy, sympathetic vibrations, mantras, disintegration, materialization, table tipping, spirit photography, reduplication, precipitation, slate writing, levitation, spirit lights, handling fire, and so forth. Much of this is described as real phenomena with scant explanations, but I wrote most of it off as nonsense in the light of modern science.

That's not to say I don't believe in mediumship. On the contrary, I've studied it extensively. I have an entire shelf of my bookcase dedicated to mediumship and channeling. (Compare that to the four shelves for my astral projection books.) I've also known many talented spirit mediums whose gifts seem "real." Any doubters in the audience should read the excellent book The Truth About Medium by Gary Schwartz, Ph.D.

I give this book just 1 and 1/2 stars out of 5. It's hard to take the book seriously when it talks about physical manifestations of vampires and werewolves. There are no astral projection narratives and no techniques. It's just a "data dump" (of questionable data) with little substance to back it up, topped off with fear mongering.

The previous book I reviewed, Jurgen Ziewe's Elysium Unveiled, is a much better description of non-physical environments and their inhabitants. It's also much newer and not burdened with superstition and fear mongering.

Bob Peterson
08 October 2024

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If you want me to review a book about out-of-body experiences or astral projection, send me an email: bob@robertpeterson.org, but please check the index first to see if I've already reviewed it. Also, I've got a huge pile of books I'm planning to review, so don't expect a quick turnaround.

If you like my work, visit my website, robertpeterson.org, where you'll find lots of other free OBE advice and links.

Return to the index of my OBE Book reviews