Beyond the Edge
by Nurit Weiss Davicioni
Today I'm reviewing Beyond the Edge by Nurit Weiss Davicioni. The copyright is 2026. The author sent me a copy of the book to review.
This is a big book--more than 400 pages--so I took a lot of notes. The review got so long I had to break it into two parts. This is part 1. I'll release part 2 next Tuesday.
The first question I always ask is: Who is this author and what is their level of experience? Are they writing from experience or is it just another data dump? I can usually tell which by the book's out-of-body (OBE) narratives (or lack of them) and the subtle things authors say in their descriptions.
Unfortunately, in today's age of Artificial Intelligence, it's no longer easy to tell. Anyone can use AI to "write" a book about astral projection, and there's plenty of public material to draw upon. Sometimes the writing gives it away, as was the case in two of the three previous books I reviewed, Astral Projection by Emily Oddo, and The Astral Plane by D.R.T. Stephens. This book was different, in a good way. However, AI has also gotten much better than it was just a few months ago.
I asked google how to detect AI writing and listed a bunch of things to look for, like:
"Finding five em dashes in three short paragraphs—especially when commas or parentheses would fit better—is a strong sign of automation."
This is especially true for ChatGPT and Claude. For non-writers, an "em dash" is the long "—" symbol that separates thoughts, just like you see after the word "paragraphs" and "better" in the sentence above.
So as I read this book, I paid close attention to the "em dashes." Guess what? The book is 413 pages long, and if I had to guess, there were em dashes on 390 or more pages, and often several per page. I found very few pages without them.
So, okay, it looks like the book was probably written with the "help" of AI. Does that make it a bad book? Not at all. As an author, I'm greatly concerned by the use of AI in writing. But in many cases, AI can be used to improve writing, sentence structure, and paragraph structure. This is especially true if English isn't the author's first language. I'd rather read AI-modified content than poorly-worded sentences with poor grammar or excessive use of passive voice like some books. This book flows well.
So what is Nurit Weiss Davicioni's level of experience? That's impossible to say. The book contains several out-of-body narratives from the author, and they're pretty decent.
Since astral projection experts just seem to appear suddenly out of nowhere, I went out to the largest astral projection group on Facebook and asked the moderators if they had ever heard of Davicioni, and what they knew about her. Much to my surprise, they jumped all over her (in private discussions). They said she had joined a bunch of astral projection groups, acting like a complete novice who knew nothing about the subject, copied a bunch of people's legitimate OBE narratives, claiming them as her own, then they kicked her out, and she suddenly claimed to be an expert on the subject. They out-and-out said she was a "fraud."
Is any of this true? I didn't see any of that exchange, so I have no direct knowledge of these accusations. But I can tell you this: The book is actually pretty good.
There are a few unscrupulous authors who make money by pumping out book after book on new-age subjects like astral projection, but they always write short books. They write books from 40 to 80 pages. They don't craft a 413-page tome like Davicioni's.
I'll tell you another thing AI doesn't typically do: make mistakes. This book has very few mistakes, fewer than most books. I found one sentence that ended with two periods, and then this:
"WBTB helps to increases [sic] awareness..." (pg. 42)
I don't think an AI could have written a sentence like that. There's another on page 51 where she writes, "...your ability to recall you [sic] dreams..." which, of course, should be "your dreams." But, of course, the book was probably edited by a human, so mistakes might have been added during editing. Don't get me wrong: Most books have mistakes, but in this case, it didn't bother me. It actually gave me a bit of comfort that I might not be reading the output of a machine.
Enough about AI and the accusations. Let's dive into the contents of the book.
Even before the first chapter, in the introduction, Davicioni sounds intelligent with quotes like this:
"The stories we tell ourselves, the beliefs we hold--these form the foundation of everything we experience." (pg. XV)
Near the beginning of the book, she gives the read clues about her level of experience and tries to explain why she wrote the book.
"My journey into astral projection and lucid dreaming began unexpectedly when I was a teenager...
Through years of practice, I refined techniques that helped me leave my body at will and explore realms beyond the physical...
And something shifts when you realize you are more than your physical body." (pg. 6)
Likewise, in chapter two she describes how she had a terrifying episode of sleep paralysis when she was 16. (pg. 9) My impression, after having read the book, is that Davicioni has much more experience with lucid dreaming than astral projection. She applies almost every observation equally to astral projection and lucid dreaming. That was a little off-putting for me, but still, I didn't really disagree with any of her observations.
The book has basic out-of-body and lucid dreaming techniques. It covers your basic WBTB (Wake Back To Bed), Rope Climbing, Roll-out, "Target" technique, Vibrational Lift-out, Mind Movement Technique (similar to my own "Almost Move Technique,") breath-work, and many others.
In fact, she does a good job of presenting techniques. She even brings a few new ideas to the table. For example, she gives a "Vanishing Body Technique" (pg. 63) that I hadn't seen in other books. She gives a "Pendulum Focus" technique (pg. 87) similar to some of my own motion-based techniques, "Sensory Shift" technique," and others.
She also gives solid techniques for lucid dreaming, although not as good as Robert Waggoner's book, Lucid Dreaming.
She also gives a fair amount of tips and helpful hints. For example, she recommends things like "Breathing like you're already asleep." (pg. 47) and "The Stillness Trick." This is not too different from my own "Sneaking Past the Gatekeeper" technique. She writes:
"The more your body believes it's asleep, the easier the transition becomes." (pg. 47)
Again, this is helpful, and if she was just out to grab money, she wouldn't have cared enough to add so many. She took great care to make the book helpful to people who want to do it themselves.
Davicioni has an interesting discussion of how her demeanor is different in her experiences. She undergoes somewhat of a shift of personality. For example, during her experiences:
"I become more confident, assertive, expressive and extroverted, while in the physical world, I'm more introverted, gentle, and quiet." (pg. 128)
I haven't noticed any major personality shifts during my experiences, but I have described how sometimes I'm more right-brained, and more "spiritual." I'm also more curious and "awestruck" even after all these years.
Unlike many "money-grabbing" authors, Davicioni gives several of her own experiences, although like I said, many of these are probably lucid dreams and not OBEs, and she does little to differentiate them. Still, she reflects on her experiences, so there's a personal touch. For example:
"And maybe that's the beauty of our multidimensional nature: We are constantly evolving by integrating these different facets--balancing the bold with the gentle, the confident with the humble, the expansive with the grounded." (pg. 131)
She gives some good advice on sleep paralysis and controlling your fear. For example, she writes:
"The key is to shift your perspective. Instead of seeing fear as a threat, see it as a signal that you are about to unlock something important." (pg. 143)
And I absolutely loved this quote:
(To be continued)Fear wants form. Awareness dissolves it." (pg. 147)
Bob Peterson
22 September 2026
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If you want me to review
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If you like my work, visit my website, robertpeterson.org, where you'll find lots of other free OBE advice and links.
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