All About Astral Traveling

The reason behind the article.

Don’t worry,lol,  this isn’t a book plug. Bryn’s article: Writing Sub-Cultures got me thinking today and then I remembered something I recently went through during edits. And this article isn’t about writers, either,  however, it was spurred by a mistake writers sometimes make when ‘writing’. We get so caught up in what we know, and what those in our circles know, that it never occurs to us that a reader might not know.

In Wyntress Nyght’s Supernatural Crack: Exes & Hexes, I wrote that there is a way for a person of the Living World to visit  Wyntress Nyght’s surreal world without having to die. And the supernatural vehicle the living person could use happened to be Astralling.  While in edits, my awesome editor became stumped on the word astral. Hand to forehead, I never thought once while using the term that an average reader might not know or understand it. In my life and circles, its a common word. So it never occurred to me that, HEY, others might not know. So while I explained it in the book, I also decided to write up an article for Divination month at the ol’ Pagan & Pen.

Ready?

What is Astralling?

Also known as Astral Projection, Out- of- Body- Experiences, Soul Travel, Spirit Travel, and more.

The Ancient Egyptians knew about it, those in China, India..and now, in our Age, we are still fascinated.

In short, Astral travel is when your spirit (or in some circles– mind’s eye) leaves your body and goes elsewhere. People may explore this during a near death experience, or when revisiting past lives, or when simply visiting. It has been known to happen consciously, as well as subconsciously. It has been known to happen voluntarily and involuntarily. Sometimes people have vivid memories while others will never remember. Sometimes when people do remember, they embrace and master it, while others simply pass it off as a dream.

Signs for those with no memory…how do I know?

If you  went to sleep, hardly moved, or did not move at all… then you might have traveled.  When you woke up,if  it felt as if you have ‘just’ went to sleep…as though you have not slept at all,  when you know you have, yet you don’t even remember dreaming…then you may have astraled or traveled.

Why don’t we remember? How do you tell the difference between a dream and an Astral trip?

Well to give a short answer…dreams are some what out there. You will dream something like being in your underwear while singing the star spangled banner in front of a bunch of Budweiser drinking nuns. Clearly, that’s a dream, and could very well be symbolic. (Different article.)

Astral is like real life playing out, only its in another time, or a far off place, and you most likely look like what you’d mirror in your mind’s eye (Third Eye) –or so many have experienced.

Some people have said they mimic what they look like now, but have a different hair color, could be a different gender, are genderless, or are totally someone or something else. Some people claim their true self is an animal or mystical creature. 

No matter how different the person is, though, astralling and the place they visit is like real life. You can feel what you touch, smell, embrace…and sometimes you bring things back with you. For instance, one person I knew astraled and dreamed she tripped and cut her ankle. Strangely enough , the next morning she had a red mark on her ankle.

How are these physical proofs capable of happening when it is your spirit leaving your body? I don’t know. But people have literally said to have brought back sand from beaches, a lock of hair from a lover’s head, and so on.

For those who don’t remember anything but bits and pieces, some believe this is because remembering is too painful.

A sixty-year old Crone once told me that she visited everyone that had passed from this life, as well as those that shared past lives with her, and now existed elsewhere. She remembered going to them and that she had the time of her life. She even remembered being younger as so were they. But beyond that, nothing. She said, "can you imagine if I did remember everything and  how depressing it would be to come back here to an old body living alone?" So she claimed that is why many don’t remember, but at times, are given enough memory so that they KNOW it’s happening. And to me, made sense.

When can a person Astral?

As I said in the beginning, some do it naturally while sleeping, while others do it consciously, while awake. Those who try to master this while being awake, have reported feeling dizzy in the beginning, or sick to the stomach. Some have felt headaches or have totally disconnected from themselves. It’s a challenging thing to do, and most are never able to pull it off. The symptoms are many, but the reason is it is so difficult, or so I have heard explained, and that we are not used to being pulled out of our bodies. The body becomes home…something we grow used to and comfortable with.

Our spiritual self and our physical self are used to being one and not separated when our conscience minds are in control. When we sleep, our subconscious leads us, and is said to be much more connected with things, acceptable to what comes, and all knowing.

When our conscience self is leading the way, however, we suffer slight side effects, which are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it shows us that its working. So if you feel dizzy and slightly sick, don’t worry. It is only a sign that you’re doing it right AND that your conscience awareness is , well being aware.

One friend of mine was trying to tackle this and actually made it all the way out of her body. However, when she looked down at herself and realized what was going on, she completely freaked. She had a fear she was dead, and then back stepped. She had a lot of difficulty getting over that fear.

There are many techniques and books which will help you learn to astral. The hardest part is becoming comfortable with yourself, overcoming the weird, and or fear, and finding a way that works for you.

How does this fall under Divination?

People use Astral to rediscover their Past Lives, to heal, or to connect with those who have passed from this world and into another, or to visit with Spirit Guides, and or other Deities.

I once met a woman who used to go to her grandchild at night when he had to move far away. The Grandmother thought she was dreaming until the Grandchild came to her house for Christmas and said, "Grandma, you didn’t come to my house last night. How come?" And then every detail she remembered, her Grandson surprisingly said…including the lullaby she sang to him, word for word–a  song she knew while astralling, but never in life.

Also, many people explore their Akashic Records, The Halls of Valhalla, and many other enlightened, spiritual places not of our world.

Further Reading…

Below are some sites I found if anyone is interested in reading more.

Astral Travel (How to)

Astral Projection – Crystalinks

Astralweb | Out-of-Body Experiences, Dreams, and Astral Travel

Astral Travel & My technique – Unexplained Mysteries Discussion Forums

Videos:

Astral Projection – Guide and explanation

 

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© C.H. SCARLETT

www.chscarlett.net

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Writing Sub-Cultures

I heard on an egroup yesterday that Steampunk is the new big thing, publishers are asking for it. Assorted rom-erotica authors commented on it seeming interesting, and pondered if it was worth trying to get in on the action. I buried my face in my hands. (And then I wrote a somewhat shorter version of what I’m going to post here. It was grumpier as well.)

I remember a few years back, when everyone seemed to be doing pagan deities, things stolen from Greek mythology (satyrs, dryads etc) and there were a lot of druid and witchy characters turning up in excerpts posted to egroups. No doubt a few publishers had decided that paranormal was the new buzzy thing, and that writers should be encouraged to cash in.

My partner Tom recently did a panel at the Steampunk’s World Fair, where he was talking about paranormal. He told me he pointed out to people to tread carefully, that one person’s ‘paranormal’ is another person’s belief.

As a pagan, it’s painful, irritating and depressing watching our deities, myths and superficial contemporary practice being appropriated by people who really don’t know the first thing about our lives, but who have heard that paranormal sells like hot cakes. I can usually tell from a book blurb if the author is a pagan or not. It’s exactly the same for the BDSM crowd, I gather from friends. The frustration of getting books where the writers clearly don’t have the first clue what a genuine BDSM lifestyle looks like. There are huge and hungry niche audiences for kink. The thing is, they don’t want kink written by people who haven’t got the first clue how it actually works. It’s not just about having the right slang and knowing who ought to put what where. This is a lifestyle choice, these are subcultures, just as paganism is.

The same is true of Steampunk. I know enough to know that currently I do not know enough to write it. Steampunk is not just a fiction genre, it embraces art, music, clothing and innovation in all kinds of ways, and it has a growing community. Steampunk enthusiasts can and do have complex heated debates about what is, and isn’t, proper Steampunk. A person who is outside that, would struggle to catch the attention of true Steampunk fans.

I’d be the first person to say that writers shouldn’t restrict themselves to purely writing from firsthand experience. However, if you want to write in a niche and for a specific market (whatever that is) you can’t just appropriate some surface details and imagine that people will lap it up. They won’t. At the very least, you need to know your niche, read other writers who are part of it, go where the communities of real enthusiasts are, get involved, find out what it actually is and how it actually works.

I’ll offer an example – British author Phil Rickman is not a pagan. He’s said as much, being interviewed in pagan magazines. His occult mysteries, with a central character who is an Anglican exorcist vicar, who has a pagan daughter, are hugely popular with pagans. Why? Because he’s done his research well and writes things that are good representations of us, and the kinds of world views we hold and experiences we have.

Just as setting your erotic fiction on a spaceship doesn’t make it science fiction that sf readers will lap up, so giving a girl a corset and goggles does not make your book and instant hit with steampunks. It is not ok to exploit communities, ripping off what you can of their culture, with no respect for who they actually are, just to make a quick buck out of the next buzzy genre. Like most ‘get rich quick’ schemes it doesn’t work anyway. There is money to be made catering to niche audiences, but it tends to go to the folk who give those niches what they actually want, not dodgy pastiches.

Ancient Calendar: May 18, 2010

Ok, first off, a little announcement. Yes, Ancient Calendar is the same as Pagan Holidays. I just thought this title might be a bit more accurate. We also have our own page, located Ancient Calendar.

Now, on to what our Ancient Ancestors were doing.

On this fabulous Tuesday, it’s all about Apollo and Pan.

First, let it be known that the shadows (hint: my choice of art) had absolutely nothing to do with Apollo who was all about the Sun. And on this day in ancient history, the Romans were having one hell of a shin-dig Festival (called Apollon) all for him. Why?

Well this happened to be the time, for the Romans, to throw some celebrations down concerning how the light of day was now increasing for the awesome New Year ahead, and how the darkness of the past winter was now becoming few and far between.  And since Apollo, as I said, was the sun, Rome had to give him notice. Less not forget, though, that he also stood for archery, agriculture, poetry, medicine, prophecy, and of course, ethics.

Now, while Rome does their thing, Greece will be doing theirs for the God Pan. Pan happens to be one who likes to wander the forests (again my choice of art) and happened to be the envy of most Greek men especially because he had his own band of Nymphs following him around. (Groupies for the Deities). A good description of Pan was half man, half goat.. Although he had a lot of lust runnin’ through those veins, and the Greeks loved how he burned it.

The above picture is Pan sitting along the side of a Shepherd, those he was patron of. However, just because Pan watched over Shepherds and Herdsmen, didn’t mean they didn’t have to be careful.

You see, Pan was said to be a God who napped during the day. What rock star isn’t a total night owl, hu? Anyway, Greeks warned all Shepherds that they better not make any noise in the forests or meadows and wake the God up.

Also, Pan and his lust earned him rock star notoriety. In fact, not only were legends boasted of him, but the word PANIC was actually born of his name. It was said that this ‘feeling’ was what women felt if they were walking through the woods. In fact, if a woman felt Panic, then that meant she was being stalked or lusted for by Pan, himself.

*Hand to Forehead* Gotta love Pan for that.

That’s all for today peoples, but I hope you learned a little something and enjoyed today’s Ancient Calendar.

See you all tomorrow.

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© C.H. SCARLETT

www.chscarlett.net

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