Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Explorations Out of the Body

Explorations Out of the Body

by Eddie Slasher

Today I'm reviewing Explorations Out of the Body: A Beginner's Roadmap to the Universe by Eddie Slasher. The book is copyright 1997.

Eddie Slasher (it seems to be his real name, not a pen name) sets up good expectations and credentials right from the start: the introduction. He comes across as an ordinary guy, a self-described "nerd in every sense of the word" who kind of fell into OBEs by chance. In sixth grade of his school, the class was given assignments to do a research project. Eddie chose the subject of lucid dreaming and started by reading Stephen LaBerge's classic book, Lucid Dreaming. Then he learned to induce lucid dreams. It wasn't long before he discovered he could dispel the illusion of the dream and find himself in an out-of-body environment. From there he started to explore. He quickly discovered "False Awakenings" which he curiously calls "Breakthrough Dreams," in which you wake up and get on with your day, only to discover you're still dreaming.

Years later, when he was 18, Slasher found the book that got me started: Journeys Out of the Body by Robert Monroe, and it reignited his interest in OBEs. So we know where he got his knowledge about OBEs: his own personal experience, which is really the best way. In fact, he brings up several good points about OBEs throughout the book and always follows them with OBE narratives from his journal to show exactly what he encountered and led to his conclusions.

One of his most important conclusions is that some things--even some people--in his OBEs were hallucinations. And if he focused on them too long, they sucked him back into an ordinary dream state. This is something I described in my first book as "The Fantasy Trap." He also discovered he could dispel these hallucinations simply by questioning their reality. For example:

"The teenager looked very familiar to me. Then it struck me that he was a character in a fictional book I was writing. I asked him if he was Lance from my book and watched as he instantly disappeared. A few other people also disappeared. They were other hallucinations." (pg. 8)

He uses this trick in many of his OBE narratives: he asks whether certain things are real or imaginary, and they disappear, leaving him with a more objective OBE environment. He describes being in a room full of people and watching half of them disappear because they were dream characters. The "real" people stuck around.

The writing is unpretentious; it's honest, upfront and not at all conceited or superior. He's not a new age yoga-instructor vegan activist. He's an ordinary guy; sometimes unemployed, sometimes doing odd jobs like car salesman. He says things like:

"Pigs have no great worries, and don't concern themselves with such abstract thoughts as what is the meaning of their lives which, by the way is for the noble cause of great bacon. Incidentally if you're an animal rights activist or vegetarian I don't care. Throw down my book if you don't want to read it. Survival of the fittest is the rule in life, and the fitter eat the less fit both literally and figuratively." (pg. 13)

He doesn't hide or down-play some "less than noble" or morally questionable OBE experiments, such as mind control, which he talks about in chapter 10 (ref: page 151).

He found an easy way to visit any person, a process he calls "Indenting" in which you recall to mind a feeling or image of the person and literally screaming his or her name several times (in the OBE). I don't know where Slasher came up with the term "indent" but I suspect it's a mis-reading of Robert Monroe's "Ident" (short for identity: a mental frequency or address of a person) from Monroe's second book, Far Journeys, which he mentions in passing. Slasher says with a little practice and effort, he learned (and you can learn) to "indent" on places as well as people. (This matches my experience on the matter, but I never scream; I just "pull" myself to the identity of where I want to go.)

Here's one of his more interesting assertions:

"Thought is the Ultimate Reality. If you remember this one key phrase you will never go wrong in your OOB explorations. In simple terms, this is also The Secret To The Universe. Yes, You read it right. I said this is The Secret To The Universe, and no, I'm not on drugs. It's that simple." (pg. 21)

Later, he also asserts:

"Second, the Meaning of Life is that we exist in a physical universe in order to gain more control of our thought processes." (pg. 27)

Where this book shines is the numerous out-of-body experiments Slasher did. In a recent blog article, Are OBEs "Real?" - Part 6, I wrote about some of Slasher's (failed) attempts to prove whether OBEs were real by using his OBEs to predict the Georgia "Pick 3" lottery. But he did several other fascinating experiments. For example, he tried to photograph and even film an OBE while trying to make his non-physical body as dense as possible. (It didn't work; he couldn't see anything on film).

As for OBE techniques, Slasher strongly recommends you keep a dream journal. I agree wholeheartedly, and wrote about it in my blog, here. He also recommends Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) setting your alarm to wake you after 3 or 4 hours of sleep. He advocates a technique he calls "Reach Out" in which you focus on a physical object in the room that's at least 7 feet (2.13 meters) away and pretend to reach out and pull on the object with non-physical arms and hands.

Another technique is "Indenting out" which is basically the same as Micheal Raduga's "immeditate relocation" from his book The Phase.

Another technique is trying to imagine walking through the room and seeing from your non-physical body's perspective. As a visual aid, he talks about the old television show "Tales From the Crypt" in which they would slowly move and pan a first-person point of view. This really isn't too different from the Target Technique.

He also talks about hypnosis and the importance of changing your belief system, much as Rick Stack recommended in his book. Slasher writes:

"If you convince your subconscious that OOBEs are simple to induce and that you will have one, in all probability you will." (pg. 69)

By far his most used technique is upgrading from a lucid dream into an OBE, which he often does just by asserting, "Wow, I'm out of body!" and dispelling the dream hallucinations. He asserts that:

"The mere Act of questioning whether you are out-of-body or not guarantees that you are actually out-of-body." (pg. 60)

As for other tips and techniques, he mentions that a good workout before sleep increases your OBE ability. This matches my experience (as noted in chapter 19 of my first book) as well as a few other authors.

He has some interesting observations about OBEs that aren't found in other books, such as the effects of drugs on his OBE ability. For example, he claims that aspirin interferes with his ability to induce OBEs. 

"Although aspirin isn't a strong drug, it took away a degree of my conscious control making it very difficult to get out of body. When I did finally manage to get out I experienced difficulty in seeing and in controlling my motions." (pg. 71)

He also claims drugs like Ritalin, Phenobarbital, and Tegretol inhibited or neutralized his OBE ability.

His take on the silver cord is pretty simple and straightforward:

"Your silver cord is not going to sever because it doesn't exist. It's only an hallucination created by your mind." (pg. 79)

Like me, he tried several times to visit friends and family in an out-of-body state, talking to their subconscious mind. He writes: 

"I have yet to visit a consciously awake person who later remembered the visit." (pg. 90)

He experimented with using an OBE to do "mind control." For example, he claims to have used an OBE to influence a HR (Human Resources) person to hire him for a job. He writes at length how this is pretty easy and could be abused in the future. He even gives instructions on how to do it, much like the "Jedi Mind Trick" from the Star Wars movies.

In another fascinating experiment, writes about using his OBEs to inject himself into another person's dream, and strangely, he had no control over that persons dream objects. Unlike his own dreams, he couldn't simply dismiss the other person's hallucinations. He even felt "trapped" by the hallucination and unable to get out.

He talks a lot about using OBEs to time travel: to visit both the past (which he says is permanent) and the future (which he says is "probable" and can be changed.)

He also experimented with trying to change physical reality. He did several experiments where he would place an object, like a knife, on a piece of paper and write on the paper "Knife is on the paper" and the date. Then he'd induce an OBE and try to move the object, or knock it off the paper. In his OBE, the object would seem to move, then go zipping back to its original position on the paper. When he woke, the object was in the same place he'd left it. For a long time he was convinced the object was really moving and teleporting back to its original location, and he even tried to capture that on film (it didn't work). Then he tried to push an analog camera's exposure button from an OBE, but that also ended in failure.

He also mentions that his OBEs caused numerous electrical problems. For example, he blamed his OBEs for burning out the electronics of several televisions he bought. He had to return multiple televisions to the same store multiple times because of his OBE experiments were apparently causing their electronics to break. (A similar claim is common among psychic healers and Near-Death Experiencers).

Perhaps the most interesting experiments Slasher did was trying to locate missing children. He mentioned an OBE in which he tried to find "Jacob W. of the Jacob W. Foundation." Because I'm a Minnesota boy, I assume he refers to the famous Jacob Wetterling abduction case. Slasher's OBE took place on January 12, 1994. In his OBE, he was transported to a large field and could tell Jacob was dead, but then he had a moral dilemma: What should he do with the information? The true fate of Jacob Wetterling wasn't known until October, 2015 when authorities learned that the boy had been killed shortly after his abduction, in 1989. So Slasher's OBE observation (again, published in 1997) was, in fact, correct.

The book is 178 pages with good font and margins, so there's plenty of content to satisfy. The spelling and grammar are good. The writing is personable and non-assuming, but there were several typos that should have been caught by the editor.

I loved this book when I first read it, and I love it even more now. I give it 4 and a half stars. This book is a rare gem and well worth the money, if you can find a copy.

Bob Peterson
30 March 2021

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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



 

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Lightworker's Guide to the Astral Realm

Lightworker's Guide to the Astral Realm

by Sahvanna Arienta

Today I'm reviewing Lightworker's Guide to the Astral Realm by Sahvanna Arienta. The book is copyright 2019.

One thing I wished Arienta had done differently is this: The epilogue should have been chapter 1, before everything else, not an after-thought. For me it was the best part of the book. In the epilogue, the author explains how she started to have spontaneous "soul travel" as a child, how it was accompanied by loud humming, vibrations, sleep paralysis, and such. She explains how she would leave her house, in her astral body, like a kid who sneaks out the window in the middle of the night to go off with friends. Later in life, she became involved with a Spiritualist church and studied under legendary medium Emily Hewitt. These are the credentials I need to see--and you should demand--in every astral projection / out-of-body book.

She also talks about being influenced by Jane Roberts, author of the "Seth" books, which I like. She even gives a taste of her philosophy:

"So, when you experience soul travel, be open to all possibilities and scenarios. You never know where your soul will carry you. As conscious beings, our abilities are without limitation. The practice of soul travel is an adventure that can show you the limitless potential of the universe and how you share in that potential." (pg. 155)

That really sets the stage for the rest of the book. But since she didn't start out with the epilogue, the reader is instead forced to take her word for everything (or not) without any credentials or hint of where she got her information, at least until the very end.

The book is more about new age philosophy than it is about astral projection or out-of-body traveling. It's good philosophy. I do like it, but it's not quite what I was hoping for.

Part 1 of the book is "The New Age Soul Traveler" and it's pretty much setting up expectations, and yes, new age philosophy. Here's an example:

"As humans, we tend to adopt a bit of an attitude of greatness and power. This feeling of greatness will quickly diminish when you get a glimpse of the higher planes." (pg. 4)

That's true. Traveling out-of-body is exhilarating, but it also kind of puts you in your place. I agreed with most of what she wrote, but I did disagree with this:

"When practicing lucid dreaming, there is no separation of astral body and physical body. Astral projection (or soul travel) is a true out-of-body experience..." (pg. 27)

In my experience, we are in an out-of-body state when we're both dreaming and lucid dreaming, often floating a few inches above the body. The difference is that we're completely trapped in (or focused on) a hallucinated dream environment.

In chapter 4, she gives her one and only "Soul Travel" technique. Unfortunately, it's a simplified version of Robert Bruce's "Rope" technique, but visualizing the rope rather than feeling for the rope. This is so common in OBE books that it's tiresome. If you're looking for out-of-body induction techniques, this book isn't it.

Part 2 is "The Realms." This is where the author describes the various planes of existence, according to her worldview. She lays them out as:

  1. The earth plane (where we all live now)
  2. The astral plane (the buffer zone: the world between the living and the dead)
  3. The third plane (the turning point: where spirits and guides reside)
  4. The fourth plane (leveling up: a place of healers, artists and love)
  5. The fifth plane (divine intelligence: where the akashic records are)
  6. The sixth plane (the multiverse: think celestial beings walking around in crystal cities)
  7. The seventh plane (the power generator: aka "God")

She claims to have visited all of these planes, but the seventh only for a split second.

Part 3 is "Beings of the Realms." This is where she describes what goes on in the various planes. She talks a bit about spirit guides, spirit-guide turn-over, and even her own spirit guides.

Part 4 is "The Lower Realms." I liked her philosophy about this too. For example, she wrote:

"Those of us who subscribe to love and light may not want to acknowledge what I have to say here, but the simple truth is: knowledge is power, and when you have the power, nothing can ever harm you." (pg. 115)

Part 5 is "The Keys to the Multiverse." Here the author focuses on more new age philosophy. For example:

"If you find that you constantly focus on negativity or what you don't want, it starts to dominate your thoughts. Change your focus to something that is much more positive, and your thoughts will be more positive." (pg. 134)

That is coupled with the Seth / Jane Roberts notion that you create your own reality based on your beliefs and thoughts. She even says:

"Through your consciousness and intention, you will seamlessly create your own subjective reality." (pg. 147)

This example hit home for me:

"For example, you can set an intention that you will find a great parking space at the store. If you focus (put thought behind it) on that intention, you will find the best parking space." (pg. 140)

I laughed out loud when I read that because I always do this. My wife and friends constantly shake their heads in wonder at how I always get the best parking spaces; usually the spot next to Handicap parking. They often ask me to drive to crowded events (like parades or Independence Day fireworks) because they know I always get a good parking spot.

She also shares things like:

"Commitment to creating a higher frequency means repetition of practical application of whatever it is you want to commit to. If you want to expand your spirituality, if means committing to a routine of practical exercises that will help you grow spiritually." (pg. 151)

The book is well written and organized. I found no mistakes in grammar or spelling. It's 155 pages with good size, font and margins, which means there's a good amount of content. I expected the book to be more about astral projection and it turned out to be mostly new age philosophy. It's not bad philosophy; it's just not as focused on astral projection as I expected. It only had the one (abbreviated "rope") technique, and very little about actually traveling out-of-body. So I'm only giving it 3 stars out of 5.

Bob Peterson
16 March 2021

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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


 

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Astral Travelers

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Astral Travelers

By Bob Peterson

In this article, I'd like to share some habits of successful out-of-body explorers (astral travelers--or "travellers" for my British friends). At the same time I thought I'd poke a little fun at the "7 Habits" books by Stephen R. Covey. (The book cover above is fake. There's no such book; but if Mr. Covey wants my help writing it, I'm willing to give it). This kind of goes hand-in-hand with another article I wrote called "The Ten Commandments of OBE." Without further ado, here are the seven habits I recommend:

  1. Keep a dream journal
    First, learn to keep a dream journal. This establishes an important brain connection between experience "here" and experience "there." It trains your subconscious to be more lucid at night and pay more attention to what happens when we dissociate from our bodies at night. I wrote a more in-depth article about this. Click this link to read it.

  2. Learn to accept an alternate body schema and "story of experience"
    Every conscious moment your brain formulates two things: an idea of your body's boundaries and orientation (your "body schema") and a running story of what's happening to you, something I call the "story of experience". To get to the out-of-body state, you need to alter both of these things. To alter your body schema, it helps to do regular T'ai Chi or Qi Gong energy circulation, "energy bouncing" exercises as described in Robert Bruce's book Astral Dynamics, or similar things like closing your eyes and imagining your hands, arms, or other body parts are in a different position.
    To learn to accept an altered story of experience, you can do things like play video games, or use virtual reality (VR) goggles, read books, and don't forget to engage your active imagination throughout the day.

  3. Meditate Daily
    Successful astral travelers usually do some form of meditation. It doesn't matter what kind of meditation you do as long as you relax and make your mind as quiet and still as possible. Some people prefer binaural beats like hemi-sync, while others prefer "mindfulness" meditation, transcendental meditation, deeply focusing on your breath, or other meditation techniques. I wrote an article about some of my unconventional meditation techniques in another blog article. Click here to read it.

  4. Eat early, eat light
    Some people, especially Americans, seem almost programmed to keep their stomachs full. In general, that's bad for inducing out-of-body experiences. It's best if you eat an early dinner, or at least avoid eating late at night. Some claim it's best to eat nothing after 3:00 p.m. (15:00). You don't want hunger to be a big distraction either, so there's a balance.
    It also best to eat light. Stop eating before you're full and never over-stuff. Make lunch the biggest meal of the day.

  5. Do affirmations every morning
    Because our brains are divided into two halves, there's a constant interplay between your "story of experience" (your idea about what's happening--which is mostly right-brained) and your verbal translation of that story (your "inner dialog"--which is mostly left-brained). If you change your inner dialog (the "self-talk" or running inner commentary about your life) it will alter your story of experience as well. The best way to do that is with affirmations. Successful astral travelers do affirmations, especially early in the morning when you first wake up. Affirmations should be positive and simple. For example, "I can easily and safely leave my body" or "OBEs come naturally to me." I wrote a blog article about affirmations. You can read it at this link. Affirmations also help eliminate limiting beliefs, something author Rick Stack stresses.

  6. Read Astral Projection/OBE narratives before bed
    I've always found that my OBEs increase when I read about out-of-body experiences, especially narratives ("This is what happened to me" stories), and especially if you read them right before bedtime. This ingrains in your subconscious how important OBEs are to you.

  7. Practice astral projection in the mornings
    All the other things are useless unless you set aside time to practice, practice, practice. Early mornings are the most effective time to make your OBE attempt, especially after interrupted sleep. Never get discouraged. Be persistent. You may have negative subconscious beliefs that need to be overcome. You'll have an OBE when your persistence and "will" overpowers these self-imposed limitations.

It can take a lot of time and effort to learn to induce OBEs, but it's time well spent. Put these seven habits into daily use and it will make OBEs more easy to attain.

Bob Peterson

02 March 2021