Astral Travel
Since Astral Travel is the highest level of conscious out of body experiences, we have to seek out the best guide (even though this is a guide meant to help beginners), the greatest of the great,the master of masters, for there can be only one: Thoth.
Not who you expected for an article teaching you to travel? The man who, according to legend, built the pyramids with a machine that negated gravity. The man who, according to legend, gave us the zodiac, alchemy, magic, philosophy, and much more. The man, who according to legend who was born in Atlantis approximately 50,000 years ago (his own words) and is still alive in one form or other today.
To the Egyptians, he was Thoth, to the Greeks, he was Hermes (or Hermes’ master, some speculate), to the Aztecs, he was Quetzalcoatl, to the ancient Sumerians, he was Ningishzidda (250,000 year old alien born on Earth according to Sumerian legend). Don’t worry beginners, we will not go in to these details too deeply. Heck I’m not even sure which of the legends is right about him, but one thing is for sure: this guy is all over the place. Who better to guide us? And more importantly for this article, he was supposedly a great master of astral travel, being able to easily visit the past and the future at will.
In the fourth Emerald Tablet of Thoth: The Space Born, he describes not only his experiences in his travels, but he also teaches us how to reach the astral plane, though he does not expressly call it so.
Apparently he uses a four step system, let’s look at each individually.
He who would follow the pathway of wisdom,
open must be he to the flower of life,
extending his consciousness out of the darkness,
flowing through time and space in the ALL.
Why is this the pathway to wisdom? Because the difference between wisdom and common knowledge is for one, that knowledge gained here on Earth can only be used in our transient mortal lives, afterwards most knowledge of mechanics and conventional mathematics and sciences are useless. Going to the astral plane, you will gain experience that is useful for all of eternity, thus to travel is to partake of the pathway of wisdom. “Open must be he to the flower of life.” Sounds poetic and strange doesn’t it. Let’s translate that into a language most people can understand, shall we? Your flower of life should be open.
So what our guide is saying is that our chakra system needs to be open, strong, and unblocked. Sorry beginners, time to train that chakra system! I actually read somewhere that it meant that the solar plexus specifically should be open, but that makes no sense at all, as Thoth mentioned in another tablet the importance of balancing ALL the chakras; he would not put emphasis on only the solar plexus.
Also, as it turns out, the seven chakras fit perfectly onto the Sacred Geometry shape called: the Flower of Life. Apparently having a strong energy circulation system helps. And indeed, my first success with conscious astral projection was after a chakra energy meditation session. The word, darkness, here only refers to the physical body, which Thoth often refers to as a prison that one must break free from.
Therefore extending your consciousness out of the darkness means to extend your consciousness beyond your body.
On to step two.
Deep in the silence,
first ye must linger until at last ye
are free from desire,
free from the longing to speak in the silence.
This part, at least, seems easy enough to understand, even for beginners. Just be quiet, still your mind. Almost all articles on astral projection mention this.
Conquer by silence, the bondage of words.
Abstaining from eating until we have conquered
desire for food, that is bondage of soul.
This one might be a doozy for many people. Let’s use modern terms. He is telling us to fast until we longer feel hungry, both mentally and physically. I imagine this is to prevent your body from suddenly feeling hungry while you’re in the astral plane, this may be distracting for beginners, zapping them back to their bodies! If you have never fasted before, it may be difficult for you to understand how fasting can remove hunger. In fact, when you fast, your body feels very hungry for 1-2 days. On the third or fourth day, (may go faster depending on the person) you will suddenly not feel hungry at all and will even have a rush of energy.
This is because your body has no intake of carbs and begins producing ketones for energy. It usually takes a while for the body to produce the machinery to make ketones from fat. Once ketones are produced, your body is using its own fat for survival and has a surplus of energy. Your body will no longer be spending as much energy on digestion.
I am guessing this is the point Thoth is talking about. Let’s trust our guide on this one! Of course, it may no longer be necessary for a great master to need to fast EVERY time he wants to travel, which is why I think this method is meant to help beginners, difficult though it may be.
Then lie ye down in the darkness.
Close ye your eyes from the rays of the Light.
Centre thy soul-force in the place of thine consciousness,
shaking it free from the bonds of the night.
So we’re at step 3 now: Lie down in complete darkness. Focus your consciousness on your 6th chakra (third eye, many others also claim this chakra is key to travel).
Place in thy mind-place the image thou desireth.
Picture the place thou desireth to see.
Vibrate back and forth with thy power.
Loosen the soul from out of its night.
Fiercely must thou shake with all of thy power
until at last thy soul shall be free.
And now for the final step, then we’re free to travel all over the place (ha!). Visualize clearly the place you want to go, then you vibrate back and forth, producing a swinging or swaying motion with your chakra energy. Though he says “fiercely must thou shake”, this does not mean your body should be under any strain, neither should you make the mistake of beginners by scrunching up your face or forehead. The “fiercely” is purely meant for your astral body and chakra energy. Hopefully, you won’t need a guide after this article!
