Marie's OBE Technique

by Bob Peterson

In this article I'm passing along an immersive OBE technique from one of my readers; a woman who calls herself Marie. I've edited it from the original, but the essence is unchanged.

First, sit in a comfortable chair with your eyes closed, hands to your side, and relax. Start slowly tapping the side of your thigh with one finger. Imagine you are at a physical location you know well on the side of a big hill with friends (or family). It must be an place felt happy and relaxed as a child, like a park.

In your imagination, take in the environment: the orange and blues of the sky as the sun sets, the summer breeze in your hair, the laughter of your family or friends. Imagine a pleasant smell in the air, like flowers (or even cigarettes if that appeals to you). Imagine you feel a paper cup in your hands with your favorite drink. Imagine the green color of the trees. Imagine your clothes flowing in the breeze flapping against your leg. Imagine the sound of a distant dog barking. You're having a good time and feel safe, happy, and carefree. Stay this way for a while and act out conversations with your friends (or family), knowing you've got all the time in the world.

Check in with your physical body for a second and tap your thigh then disregard it and get back to your imagination.

Imagine your friends play Frisbee and laugh with each other. After a while, imagine there are stone steps going down the hill (even if they don't exist in that physical location).

Check 1: Remind yourself you're still in the room, sitting in a chair, so you don't fall asleep or go into a lucid dream. Then return to your imaginary park.

Imagine you and your best friend go down the steps to get away from the main group and talk about your experience as kids on that hill. Pretend that you dare each other to go faster and faster as you go down the steps and it starts declining steeply downward.

Pretend you see your other friends rolling down the hill in a race and giggle as they all reach the bottom, laughing and pushing each other in the distance. In your imagination, you decide to take a short cut and run on the grass to beat your friend on the steps. As you run, you laugh and feel the wind in your hair.

Your best friend waves at you from the steps. Pretend you look toward the bottom and cannot see your other friends. You begin to wonder if they reached the bottom of the hill first. They must have gone to get ice cream (or some treat) and you don't want to be left out.

Check 2: you're still awake can feel the chair on your back.

Pretend you run faster to catch up. You feel the blades of grass on your ankles. Your best friend on the steps starts clapping and cheering you on. You reach the peak where it starts going very steep and down toward the bottom of the hill where there's a forest of trees.

At this point, your physical body has stopped moving so you're not tapping your thigh anymore. As you run down hill in your imagination, feel your stomach flip and a feeling of lightheadedness as you get faster.

Fully immerse yourself in the feelings of excitement. Feel the rush of energy as you stop thinking about winning now and start to think about flying.

In your imagination, run faster, smelling the air, feeling the ground beneath you, then pretend you do a nosedive, but rather than fall down the steep hill, you float up horizontally and fly. All of a sudden you head upward into the sky where you soar around like a bird.

At this point, your imaginary park scene may take on a sense of realness. You may also find your sense of motion come to a complete sudden stop. You may be in total darkness, and the vibrations may sweep into your body. The separation should be complete, so you should put some distance between you and your physical body by walking, running, swimming, or flying in any direction. Don't worry about your eyesight until you're at least 15 feet / 5 meters away from your body.

For instructions for what to do when the vibrations hit, read this article.

Bob Peterson
19 April 2022

Ten OBE Techniques From My Blog

by Bob Peterson

Many people ask which astral projection/out-of-body technique is the best? The answer is: the one that works for you. Everyone is different and requires different approaches to jar them out of their normal stubborn in-the-body programming.

In this blog article I want to share ten OBE techniques from ten years of this blog. These are in no particular order.

1. Hypnagogic Object Swinging Technique
   This is still my favorite AP/OBE technique because it engages the imagined sense of motion.
   
2. Sneaking Past the Gatekeeper
   This is one of the oldest techniques I posted on my blog, from 2013.
   
3. Turning Lucid Dreams into OBEs
   Everyone always wants to know "What is the easiest AP/OBE technique? Well, this is it. Simply induce a lucid dream, then transition it into a full-blown OBE. This article explains how.
   
4. The "Almost Move" Technique
   I developed this technique many years ago and have used it many times. It's quite effective. I didn't publish it on my blog until March, 2016. One year later, when I read Michael Raduga's book The Phase, I realized the technique is very similar to a technique Raduga calls "Phantom Wiggling."
   
5. Wake Back To Bed (WBTB)
   I don't know who invented WBTB, but it has become one of the most widely-used astral projection techniques of the modern era. It's been quoted in several modern books on the subject. That's because it's very effective.
6. Motion-Based Techniques
   This article has several motion-based techniques like: (1) rocking forward-backward, (2) rocking side-to-side, (3) Swinging arms technique, (4) Elbow push technique, and (5) Yoyo technique.
   
7. Feet Zoom Technique
   This is another motion-based technique.
8. Lines of Force Technique
   This one is from Robert Monroe's first book, Journeys Out of the Body, and it the technique that gave me immediate results (the vibrations) on my very first attempt in 1979.
   
9. Harnessing Unfamiliarity
   This isn't exactly an exit technique, but I feel it's important to try, especially if you've been unsuccessful for a long period of time.
10. Clean Room Gloves technique. Some people may find it easier to leave the body by engaging as many non-visual senses as possible.
    

This is by no means an exhaustive list of out-of-body techniques. I recently sat down and wrote out a list of techniques and came up with almost 100.

Conclusions

If you want to have an OBE, here's what you should do:

1. Learn and practice rapid and total relaxation. To get started, read my article on Relaxation techniques.
2. Learn how to focus your mind for OBEs. To get started, read this article.
   
3. Get into some good OBE habits like the habits explained in this article. 
4. Try one of the techniques in this article. If that doesn't work, try another, and another, until you find one that works best for you.
   
5. Practice practice practice. Never give up.
   

There are many other important things to consider, such as conquering your fear and changing your belief system, but they're out of the scope of this article.

Bob Peterson
05 April 2022

Review: Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming

by Vincent Field

Today I'm reviewing Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming by Vincent Field. The subtitle is Spiritual Revelations and Out-of-Body Experiences in Higher Dimensions. The cover also says it is "A Complete Guide On Exploring Nonphysical Reality." It was published in January, 2022.

My first question is: Why didn't he call this--or even title the book--The "Field" Guide to Astral Projection? Now that's just an opportunity lost!

When this book was published, it was hyped. A lot. It made quite a splash. Lots of people were singing its praises. And of course, I was very skeptical. So how good is it? Well, it is actually quite good. In fact, I loved it. Not enough to give it 5 stars, but not far off.

I always like to start off with the negatives so I can end on an positive note. So let's get right to it.

The book is obviously self-published, because it's missing the normal dates, copyright notices and all that legal stuff at the front. Second, there were a few small-but-glaring mistakes that a publisher would have caught. I can't fault him for that; my self-published books have the same problem. And nowadays, publishers don't seem interested in this kind of book anyway. But I must say, for a self-published book, he did an excellent job. The mistakes I found were few, and the book was very well written.

The biggest down-side is that Field does not give many solid astral projection techniques, nor much advice on how to induce them. If he had, it might have merited a five-star rating. The closest he comes is to mention using Hemi-Sync recordings, Wake-Back-To-Bed, and other types of meditation, but no real details. He does, however, stress the importance of keeping a dream journal. He also talks about practicing Mindfulness. He does, however, describe a technique he calls "fall asleep fake-out."

"The person essentially tries to fall asleep for several seconds, all the while holding the intention of reawakening the mind before it slips into total unconsciousness. This usually always causes an immediate deep internal shift into the out-of-body state. It's recommended that this is done immediately upon awakening from sleep as the first technique used to attempt an OBE, and it can be combined with other techniques for maximum effectiveness." (pg. 187)

He also mentions several motion-based techniques, including climbing a rope (while not crediting inventor Robert Bruce), (imagined) swimming, rotating (one of Robert Monroe's staples), and several techniques popularized by Michael Raduga (without crediting him): observing images, phantom wiggling, listening to internal noises, and creating various visualizations. I just wish he gave more details, and more credit.

I was disappointed that Field never mentions how he learned astral projection. He does some scant name-dropping, mainly Robert Monroe and The Monroe Institute, and some mysterious "other books." Why don't these authors want you to know who taught them? Was it William Buhlman? Michael Raduga? Robert Bruce? Inquiring minds want to know! Why can't they give credit where credit is due?

Why did I love the book? Because the whole book is pretty much all narratives, and you know how much I love OBE narratives. Field gives loads and loads of them, all of which lend credibility to what he says, illustrate the author's key points, and give you a good idea of what OBEs are like. The narratives are followed by an explanation of what he had experienced and what conclusions can be drawn from them. And they're very honest. He doesn't jump to absurd conclusions about his OBEs and openly admits there may be possible alternate explanations. For example, he openly states:

"I personally have never visited the same exact nonphysical location twice that I have been able to distinguish, so I can't comment on the objective nature of the astral dimension." (pg. 58)

And they're not just straight-up OBE narratives; they often show a progression from a dreaming state to a lucid dream state, to a full-blown OBE.

Field's OBE narratives span from March 23, 2000 to March 3, 2019: an impressive span of 19 years, and they're basically in chronological order to give the reader a good sense of progression.

I can tell from Field's narratives that his experiences are genuine and not made-up or over-the-top. He describes things "out there" in such a way that he had to have been "out" himself; there are small clues that can't easily be faked. Here's an example:

"I decided to look to see if I had a body anyway, and found a pair of perfectly formed, solid-looking arms and hands reaching out in front of my field of vision. I was able to feel energy within these appendages as I observed them, but when I put them down and they were out of my field of vision, I could no longer sense them. It seemed as if my mind had temporarily created an illusory pair of arms and hands out of my desire and expectation to see them." (pg. 185)

This gives you a good idea of what I mean when I say "Schrödinger's Astral Body"!

I also like Field because his experiments were a lot like mine. He gives several OBEs in which he tries to make contact with God and Jesus Christ, and always with very interesting results. In other OBEs he tries to contact his "Higher Self." In at least one case, it seems like Jesus communicates to his Higher Self and the message is translated from there to his normal conscious self.

Unlike most OBE books, many of Field's OBEs are encounters with what he believes to be aliens / extraterrestrials, and almost all of them are the same kind of E.T. with triangular-shaped heads, big eyes, and orange skin. In fact, he writes:

"It's my belief that many alleged abductees are actually having out-of-body experiences involving nonphysical entities." (pg. 80)

I wrote a whole chapter about this subject in my second book, Lessons Out of the Body. If you're interested, you can read it at this link. Many of these Alien-Encounter OBEs are quite scary and concerning.

He has some good advice about overcoming problems, such as screaming out your intentions, forcing a change of expectations, and so on. For example, if you can't get through a wall or door, he recommends you visualize yourself on the other side of it, and that seems to work.

The book also contains many observations that mesh with mine. For example, most occult-oriented books assume you "inhabit" a non-physical body and use it to interact with a different dimension. But I agree with Field when he wrote:

"Usually a projector is only aware of one dimension of experience at a time, so it seems that one is merely shifting from one level of reality to another, when in reality one is engaged in multiple levels of reality simultaneously and simply shifting one's focus from one level of experience to another within the wider range of one's consciousness that expands throughout multiple dimensions." (pg. 170)

And elsewhere:

"OBEs are essentially a shifting of one's frame of reference from the body into the other areas of the wider system of consciousness in which one is intimately connected." (pg. 188)

Here's another revelation I completely agree with:

"There is a translation process between the higher mind and the conscious mind that converts non-physical experiences and knowledge into concepts and sensory data that can be related to and comprehended by one's base level consciousness, in a way dumbing down the true nature of these experiences, which my intuition tells me are far more convoluted than they appear to be." (pg. 205)

Hear hear! This is exactly why I hate books that have narratives that are too Earth-like: "My astral guide pulled me out-of-body and took me to a city, where we sat down at a table with pink roses and golden cutlery. He handed me a drink, then instructed me thus"...followed by four pages of new-age teachings from an "ascended master." Sorry, but it's just not like that. OBEs are otherworldly and in my mind it's not okay to give them Earthly trivialities. Field has been there and he gets it, and he portrays that well in the book.

This one also exactly matches my beliefs based on my own experiences:

"It seems there are higher aspects of my non-physical self that actively engage in various experiences and interactions totally hidden from my conscious mind. I believe I shifted into a more expanded state of consciousness in which a higher aspect of my mind was engaged in another level of reality. This experience supports the theory that there are multiple aspects of one's consciousness that exist in a spectrum or gradient, and that there are always multiple dimensions of experience simultaneously taking place throughout the spectrum, even though one is usually only aware of one level of experience at a time." (pg. 211-212)

Right on. This is true.

Field had a particularly troubling encounter with a negative entity in 2019, which caused him to end the book with this negative and cautionary note:

"It is also important to exercise caution and understand that malevolent entities exist in non-physical reality and can cause real harm, whether you believe it or not. I have heard many people downplay the reality and dangers of negative spirits, claiming that simply sending love and light will provide all the protection needed. However it is not as simple as that....Because of these dangers, I do not recommend the practice of out-of-body experiences, although that's not to say that one cannot benefit from them if approached wisely and carefully." (pg. 227-228)

Well, I'm not sure I agree with that. I think there's a lot to be gained through astral projection, and rare negative encounters just go with the territory: part of the challenge is learning how to deal with them. Would you stop camping because you had an encounter with a bear? Some might, but I wouldn't.

The book is 228 pages with small-ish font and pleasant margins, which means there's no wasted space and plenty of good content. The writing is mature and honest. I only wish he'd have given some OBE technique details. I don't think it was an oversight. I think he left them out because he didn't want people to dabble and have encounters with aliens and potentially negative entities.

I give the book 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5. The book is excellent.

Bob Peterson
22 March 2022

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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

Overcoming Problems During OBEs

by Bob Peterson

Out-of-body experiences/astral projections don't always go as planned. In fact, they often defy our expectations and we have problems. Like an infant thrust suddenly into a new world, we find ourselves in a sticky situation without skills and without a clue how to proceed. Here are some common OBE problems and how to overcome them.

Disclaimer: large sections of this article are take from chapter 31 of my second book, Lessons Out of the Body.

If you get stuck to your physical body

During my early years of OBE exploration, I used to get stuck to my body often.  It was frustrating to go through an hour-long procedure to leave my body and then be unable to go anywhere. When this happened, I usually struggled against it for a while, but it was useless; my astral body would just not move. Luckily, I found a two-part solution.

Part of the problem stems from our belief systems, so the first part of the solution is to work on your beliefs. If you get stuck, you may be identifying with your body too much. Your beliefs and/or fears may be holding you back. The solution is to work with affirmations that will help you move away from your body even when it is paralyzed. For example, use this affirmation:

“I can travel freely during my OBEs.”

This affirmation should be used throughout the day, not only when you have the problem.

Part two of the solution is to properly deal with the problem whenever it arises. I’ve used this technique many times. When you find yourself stuck to your body and unable to move, try to just forget the astral body completely, then try to push your consciousness forward, without the astral body. Yes, without it.

Pretend you're walking under water. Try to move the location of your consciousness to leave your astral body behind. Don’t try to move your astral body, try to move your mind forward instead. When you do this, your consciousness will move forward. Try to keep up the momentum until you are at least fifteen feet away from your physical body.

OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon wrote about a “cord activity range” of about 10 feet/3 meters to 15 feet/5 meters that acts like a strong gravity between you and your physical body. Once you are outside that range, you will be free to travel at will. Curiously, you will still have an astral body. Why? Some researchers have described an "etheric body," or "energy body," a dense semi-physical “vehicle of vitality” (in the words of author Robert Crookall)–that acts like a vehicle for consciousness–that is related to “ectoplasm” used by "physical spirit mediums." It’s possible that this etheric body might occasionally get stuck to your physical body, and perhaps that is what gets left behind when you try to force your mind forward. Some people insist the etheric body is permanently attached to the physical body and will never move until you die. Others say the ability to move the etheric body is why spirit mediums are different from normal people. But I digress.

I’ve also used another method to get unstuck, which is recommended by William Buhlman and Eddie Slasher: demand very firmly that you be released. Focus very strongly and forcefully on the thought, “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” and repeat this until you literally feel yourself pried away from the physical body, unstuck.

Astral blindness

At times when you leave your body you can find yourself completely blind. In my experience this is usually also related to Muldoon's "cord activity range." The way to get around it is:

1. Make an effort to close your (non-physical) eyes.
2. Do your best to walk, glide or otherwise move 15 feet/5 meters away from your physical body.
3. Make an effort to open your (non-physical) eyes.
   

Body sight

Another annoyance is when you make an effort to open your eyes, but your physical body's eyes open instead, giving you a completely different and confusing perspective that's not related to your astral body's position and orientation in space. The solution is the same as with blindness: Move away from your physical body and out of cord activity range.

Losing focus or consciousness

It’s not always easy to maintain consciousness during an OBE. If you feel yourself getting drowsy or losing focus, you can try to perk yourself up that same way you would when you’re feeling sleepy while inside your body. If that doesn’t work, William Buhlman suggests you ask for, demand or even scream, “Clarity now!”

Another trick comes from author Michael Raduga, and that is to engage your sense of touch: palpation. If you think you're starting to lose awareness, use your (non-physical) hands to touch everything in sight, including touching your own arms, face, and so forth. Engage your sense of touch as deeply as possible until your focus is stronger.

Problems traveling

Most authors of OBE books made out-of-body traveling sound as easy as thinking about a place. It's not as easy as all that. When I first started having OBEs, I encountered many problems when trying to get around. Luckily, I learned to overcome these problems by doing three things:

1. Repair a damaged belief system
   Many of my early traveling problems were caused by flaws in my beliefs. Flying seemed unnatural and I doubted I would get to my destination. Traveling by thought-power alone didn’t make sense to me. My stubborn scientific mind was convinced couldn't be that simple. After all, there is no room in the laws of physics for thought-based propulsion. The best way to combat these problems is with affirmations. Repeat several times affirmations that empower your ability to travel freely. For example, “When I’m a spirit, it is easy and natural to travel by thought.”
2. Ask for help and accept it
   I never used to ask for help from spirits because I didn’t trust them. Plus, I’m a man, and men never ask for directions, right? Gradually, I learned that there are plenty of spirit helpers out there who are willing to help you travel where you want to go. Once you get over the fear and distrust, you’ll find out it’s okay to ask for help. These helpers are there whether you see them or not, and they can read your thoughts. To ask for help, simply think, “Can someone please help me get to...[your destination]?” Most likely, you will be assisted by a helper who may not even speak to you, or speak briefly, like "Sure."
3. Think yourself there
   Eventually I learned how to “think” myself to another location, as described in other OBE books. The process isn’t easy to explain, but it's easy to do. To travel this way, focus your mind on the desired location, almost as if tuning my mind to a new frequency. It feels like setting an anchor at a distant location and suddenly pulling yourself to the anchor. It doesn’t always work, so keep trying until you get it right.
   

Persistence is key to overcome OBE problems

The following OBE illustrates how to overcome OBE problems: Many years ago induced an OBE in which I had lots of problems.

I tried to sit up, but could only partially. I struggled to my right to get out of bed and stand up, but I was stuck. I tried to rotate around but I was zapped back to the body.

Round 2. I induced the proper state with extreme ease again, opened my astral eyes and saw the ceiling. I thought I heard some noises as if someone were in the room, playing with the things on the table near the foot of the bed. I tried to listen, and finally decided to sit up to see what was there, but I had no control. I could only sit up a foot off the bed, but not enough to see if someone was there. I tried harder until I lost consciousness and woke up in the body again.

Round 3 was the same as round 2, but this time I got brave and asked, “Who's there?” No reply. I still couldn't move.  I was quickly zapped back into my body again.

Round 4.  I got out of my body and tried to free myself again. I felt stuck, but then I felt a gentle pair of hands grab my feet gently and help me separate from the body. Unfortunately, I lost consciousness soon afterward and found myself back in my body again.

Round 5. I separated from my body again and decided to peel myself away from it with a backward-somersault. I peeled off awkwardly, floated about three feet off the bed. I didn't see anyone. I thought about what I wanted to do next. I decided to float/fly. With that thought, I started floating up to the ceiling. Then I decided to try to visit Julia, a friend I know from the Internet. I wanted to see if she could detect my presence, since she is psychically sensitive. I wondered how I should go about trying to get to her when I received a thought-communication from an unknown invisible source who said, “It's easy. Just think yourself there.”

I “thought” myself up through the ceiling and over the roof of the house. I tried to get my orientation so I could decide which direction was east. I started flying east at a great speed, perhaps as fast as an airplane, but decided “This might not work, or at least not quickly enough.” The same source said, “Just think yourself there.” So I thought, “With Julia.” It worked! My consciousness shifted. My eyes were closed but I mind-sensed a light/energy in front of me and knew it was her. I reached my astral arms/hands out and cupped the light/energy between my hands, as if holding her head. I tried to telepath to her, “Julia, this is Bob. How are you?” Then I lost consciousness. I decided against making a sixth attempt.

As this OBE illustrates, persistence is a key to solving OBE problems. If you get thrown back into your body, try to induce the OBE state again immediately before you move your body. Do this as many times as you need. If you get stuck to your body during an OBE, try different methods to pry yourself free until you find one that works. Approach unknown entities with caution, but don’t be afraid to ask for help from your spirit guides. If you’re having problems moving to your desired destination, close your eyes and reach out mentally to your desired location, then tell yourself to be at that location by force of will.

Be persistent and never give up.

Bob Peterson
08 March 2022

Review: Astral Projection Plain & Simple

Astral Projection Plain & Simple

by Osborne Phillips

Today I'm reviewing Astral Projection Plain & Simple: The Out-of-Body Experience by Osborne Phillips. The copyright is from 2003.

This book falls into the category of modern esoteric, which means it claims from the onset that there are several (in this case four) different planes of existence: physical, astral, mental, and spiritual. Humans, then, have four corresponding bodies that may be used to experience these planes.

Like many occult-oriented books on the subject, its techniques center around creating a simulacrum, an artificially created astral body built from the non-physical energy of the upper abdominal region (the solar plexus). The simulacrum is then used to experience the astral plane. Like some other occultist writers, Phillips suggests you first send it out on its own (without your conscious awareness) to explore the astral and bring back its impressions to you. He gives a technique called "Creating and Sending the Watcher" that ends with:

"You should know allow the Watcher to go about its business while you go about yours." (pg. 51)

Later, you learn to integrate the two (another ritual called "Recalling and Reading the Watcher") and basically download the simulacrum's otherworldly experiences in real time to create the out-of-body experience. He calls this "Reading the Active Watcher." (pg. 53)

I don't know about you, but all this seems counterintuitive, cumbersome, and unnecessary to me. In my OBEs, I'm both the actor and experiencer.

Also, like many occult books, its astral projection techniques are centered around rituals, but they're not too excessive. His four astral projection techniques start with the same two rituals: "Setting Apart of the Place" and "The Foundation Technique."

Setting Apart of the Place (page 19)

In this technique, you:

• Stand in the center of your room, facing east.
  
• Contemplate "The Source of Light and Life"
• Reaching upward and outward, imagine yourself growing and expanding until you are immeasurably vast.
• Maintaining the sense of immensity, formulate imaginatively a globe of brilliant white light just above, but not touching, your head.
• Visualize its luminosity increasing to an intense radiance that falls upon you and through you, permeates your whole being and surrounds you as an aura of white brilliance.
• Imagine a wall of white light slowing revolving counterclockwise about your room.
• Mentally say to yourself, "By the power of the divine light of my higher self, be this place free from all hindrances and from every shadow of doubt and illusion.
• Visualize a second wall of pale blue light just within the first wall, revolving clockwise.
• Mentally say to yourself, "By the power of the divine light of my higher self, be this place filled with peace and with the blessings of love and goodness."
• Allow the visualizations to fade from your awareness.
  

(See the book for more details.)

Foundation Technique (pg 27)

In this technique, you basically do this:

1. Assume a well-balanced standing posture in which your feet are together and your arms are held loosely at your side.
2. Maintaining this posture, visualize the sphere of brilliant white light--your crown center--just above your head.
3. On an in-breath, imagine a beam of white light being drawn down from the crown center to your breast, where it forms your heart center as a brilliant white globe.
4. On an out-breath, imagine a beam of white light descending from your heart center to your feet, where it forms another center in white light, radiant but less brilliant than the crown.
5. On an in-breath, see a flash of golden light rise from your feet center and pass upward into your heart center.
6. On an out-breath, the movement of the light rests, and you mentally affirm the three centers and their connecting shaft of white light.
7. Now repeat several times steps 3, 4, 5, and 6 above.
8. Finally, you see your heart center emitting a powerful radiance, to encompass you in an aura of golden light.
   

The Techniques

The problem I have with Phillips astral projection techniques is that the critical steps are vague. For example, he gives "Method 1: The Stepping Forth" (which, as always) starts with the "Setting apart of the place" and "Foundation Technique" followed by an affirmation, a visualization, and then:

"5. Transfer your awareness into the astral simulacrum of yourself that you have thus formed, so that your awareness of your physical body is lessened and your consciousness of the silver-gray figure and the golden aura is heightened." (pg 56)

But how exactly is that accomplished? He writes as if you already know how to transfer your consciousness out of your body. If you knew that, why would you need all the rituals and such?

Likewise with "Method 2: Change of Perspective". He writes:

"6. Now, transfer your awareness to a point outside your body, say about eight feet above you and facing toward yourself." (pg. 58)

For "Astral projection method 3: The going forth" he gives a little bit more detail:

"8. Now make a mental resolution to transfer your consciousness into the astral figure above you.

"9. Immediately after making this resolution, imagine yourself--gathered as it were at your point of consciousness--gliding swiftly upwards to the astral figure and entering it at the corresponding point of consciousness." (pg. 58-59)

Astral projection method 4 is "The revolving formula." Similarly:

"6. Transfer your awareness into the simulacrum of yourself that you have thus formed, so that your awareness of your physical body is lessened and your consciousness of the astral figure and the surrounding aura is heightened." (pg. 59)

I'm sorry, but don't just tell the reader to "Transfer your awareness into your astral body." If they knew how to do that already, they wouldn't need your book.

The Guardian of the Threshold

Phillips addresses a subject covered by very few other authors, and that is the Guardian of the Threshold, which he calls "The Lurker on the Threshold," and how it tries to frighten you to keep you from going out-of-body. He talks about how some of this is caused simply by fear instilled by other authors who are inexperienced in the subject. His advice on getting rid of it?

"You'll need a great combination of sympathy, encouragement, and firm determination to help fight it." (pg. 33)

Well, yeah, I guess I can't argue with that. The most important thing is not to let it stop you or even slow you down.

The book has some excellent advice concerning breathing: Instead of trying to breathe in a particular forced way, counting seconds or heartbeats, it suggests a common sense approach:

"What is needed is breathing from the diaphragm. Standing, seated or lying, in the posture of a person who is wide awake, alert, but relaxed, one should imitate the breathing, deep and unhurried, of one who is soundly sleeping." (pg. 18)

I disagreed with Phillips' view of the unconscious mind. He writes:

"Your unconscious, remember, is rather like a child: it will take delight in shared endeavors and will aim to please you, but it needs to know the rules." (pg.50)

In my experience, the subconscious is very sophisticated and intelligent; not childlike at all. As a matter of fact, I often feel like a child that my subconscious just barely tolerates and it would rather get on with non-physical life without my bothering it.

Phillips talks a bit more in-depth about astral sex. He makes an interesting observation that was posed to him as part of a question from one of his readers:

"Although I've kept all my other astral activities entirely secret, everything I do that's concerned with astral sex gets back into my twin's dreams. Naturally this is causing a lot of curiosity and joking." (pg. 108)

He also gives details on how to pull someone else out of their body, once you've become advanced enough. This is the only book I can remember that gives instructions on how to do that, although again, it's steeped in ritual, and involves convincing them to go with you. What's the critical step here? No surprise:

"5. The subject then transfers awareness into the astral simulacrum of the self thus formed, so that awareness of the physical body is lessened and consciousness of the silver-grey figure and the golden aura is heightened." (pg. 136)

Ahem. Not helpful. Interestingly, he also claims that it's not possible to pull an animal out-of-body like you can a human, although pets can astral travel.

Oh, and my pet peeve: the book doesn't give any clues as to where Phillips got his knowledge or his level of experience. In fact, there are no astral projection narratives in the book.

Don't get me wrong. The book has its good points. I expected to hate this book, but it was actually much better than I expected. 

The book is 151 pages with good font and margins, which means there's a good amount of content. On the good side, it's very technique oriented and informative, despite the shortcomings mentioned above. On the bad side, the writing is a bit cumbersome and hard to follow. I'll give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Bob Peterson
22 February 2022

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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

Clean Room Gloves Technique

by Bob Peterson

It's been a while since I've posted an out-of-body experience/astral projection technique on my blog, so I thought I'd share one of my more recent ones.

Most astral projection techniques use visualizations--visual imagination--to derail your in-the-body "story of experience," which allows you to accept an out-of-body "story of experience." That's all fine if you're good at visualization, but many people aren't. (Also see my blog article "I Really Have Trouble With Visualization".)

Because so many people aren't good at visualization, there's a growing body of techniques that target the other senses, such as tactile imagination which instead uses an imaginary sense of touch.

Author Robert Bruce became a pioneer in tactile OBE techniques when he invented his famous "Rope Technique" in which you imagine holding and climbing a rope that hangs from the ceiling. Bruce invented this technique for blind or visually impaired people, so he meant for the rope to be touched, felt--with an imaginary sense of touch--not visualized.

I wanted a more immersive OBE technique that also employs tactile imagination, so I developed the following technique. So here's what you do:

First, close your eyes and relax your body completely. Here's a blog article I wrote about Relaxation Techniques for OBEs.

Second, focus your mind for an OBE. Here's a blog article I wrote about How to Focus Your Mind For OBEs. 

Next, forget visualizations altogether. Close your eyes and as vividly as you can, imagine you're standing in a laboratory "clean room," the kind that has long rubber gloves so you can use your hands to handle objects in a sterile environment. There's a photo of one at the top of the article.

 

Imagine you insert your arms and hands all the way into the gloves and feel the contents of the cabinet. Feel the rubber as it touches, then stretches, then pulls tight against your skin. Imagine the coldness of its touch. Try to feel this along the entire length of your arms as you slip them into the rubber gloves.

 

Now imagine that your reach down into the box with your rubber-gloved hands and touch the objects inside. As you reach your hands inside the box, you touch the square glass walls of an aquarium. Imagine you dip your hands into the aquarium's warm water. Reach your imaginary wet-gloved arms all the way to the bottom where you feel sand at the bottom. On top the sand, you feel some gravel. Imagine you run your fingers across the gravel until you feel a jar. Imagine you pick up the jar and lift it up above the water to the dry air above. If you can, imagine you hear the dripping of the water as you pull the jar up.

 

Imagine it's a jar of crunchy peanut butter. Use your imaginary hands to twist off the lid, then reach in and touch the contents. Feel the thick, sticky, bumpy texture of the peanut butter inside.

 

Imagine that somewhere inside the jar is a beautiful blue sapphire ring. Twist your imaginary fingers through the peanut butter until you feel the ring. Pull the ring out and swipe away the sticky peanut butter from its surface. Dip the ring into the water and wash it clean.

 

Imagine the sapphire ring has magical powers to start the vibrations, then slip the ring onto your finger and expect it to work.

The idea is to immerse yourself completely in an imaginary sense of touch, and to do it so completely you forget all your other senses of sight, sound, and your body's "real" sense of touch.

Bob Peterson
08 February 2022

Review: The Truth About Astral Projection

The Truth About Astral Projection

by The Llewelyn Editorial Staff

Today I'm reviewing the book A Llewellyn Educational Guide To The Truth About Astral Projection by the Llewellyn Editorial Staff. The copyright is 1983.

For many years, Minnesota-based Llewellyn Publications has published metaphysical books, several of which are about astral projection, including Navigating the Out-of-Body Experience by Graham Nicholls, and The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Astral Projection by Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips (which I haven't reviewed yet, but it's been requested). I tried to get Llewellyn to publish my book Hacking the Out of Body Experience, but they turned me down (their loss: since I self-published the book, they're not dipping into my royalties).

This book is very small. In fact, it's only 32 pages, but the font is tiny, so they cram a lot of information into a small space. Still, it's way too small to go into any depth about anything. And you won't find any astral projection techniques.

I could best sum up this book with three words: "Astral Projection 101." In other words, it's a very basic set of basic information about astral projection and out-of-body experiences. If you're a newbie, coming into the subject for the very first time, this book is a good summary. It talks briefly about some of the experiments that were done with psychics like Ingo Swann and Alex Tanous, and it touches on other pioneers of the subject.

It has a few interesting highlights, one of which is an excerpt from the book Astral Projection by "Yram," (which I've also not reviewed) where the author describes his experience with "astral sex." Since many people ask about astral sex, I'll give Yram's whole quote:

"Her love penetrated into my being under the guise of a general warmth, while a feeling of absolute confidence filled my spirit. On the other hand, my aura penetrated hers and I had the sensation as if melting into her...In no other experience have I had so wide awake a consciousness, no love so powerful, nor a calm and serenity so profound...If you want to be united truly, eternally, with those you love, you must vibrate in harmony with them on all the planes, and in every kind of activity." (pg. 12)

And this matches my (admittedly limited) experience.

This book also talks about how well-known author Jack London became enamored with the out-of-body experience of Ed Morrell, and based his book The Star Rover on it. (Crap, now I've got to buy that too!)

The authors include a 14 point summary of the book themselves on page 29. Here's my summary of their summary:

1. Astral projection is safe.
2. It is a common human experience.
3. It is an extremely pleasant experience.
4. It is possible to travel almost anywhere.
5. The astral body is a duplicate of the physical body but is composed of a finer "etheric" substance.
6. It is connected to the physical body with a "silver cord".
7. People frequently project astrally without ever being aware they have done so.
8. Other persons, under some circumstances, are able to observe the astral body. Usually, however, it is invisible.
9. It is possible to have sex between two astral partners. The experience is blissful beyond description.
10. The astral body survives death.
11. At death it enters the astral world.
12. The astral world is populated by the spirits of the dead and also by its own native inhabitants such as devas and elementals.
13. Progress through the astral world is directly related to the progress of one's moral development.
14. In the end the soul passes through the astral realm and into the mental realm.
    

I'm not sure I agree with all of the points above, but in general, most of the book seemed correct to me. The book is just too small to be practical. I'll give it 2 stars out of 5.

Bob Peterson
25 January 2022

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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