Since the time of the ancient Egyptians out of body travel has been recorded by various cultures. The Egyptians called the astral body or soul, Kha and produced images of the astral body hovering just over or beyond the real body. Often it was depicted as translucent, airy and haloed.
The ancient Egyptians were fascinated by the astral body, and experimented with many methods of controlling it in order to visit other planes of time and space while the physical body stayed behind. It is suspected that it is through astral projection experiences such as these that they were able to learn the skills necessary to build the pyramids using only the materials they had at the time, which is something that still baffles scientists to this day.
It’s recorded that meditation, nearly to the point of sleep, was the first component of out of body travel for the ancient Egyptians, followed by then concentrating on nothing but the visions one sees while his or her eyes were closed. Often, flashes of lights and patterns appeared, which the ancient Egyptians attributed to the beginnings of the astral body’s journey to other planes of time and space.
When this state passed, the astral body was said to then enter into an emergence phase, which in turn caused the physical body to hum or tingle and then feel very heavy. The ancients believed this feeling of tingling and heaviness was actually the feeling of the astral body pulling away from the physical body, and initiating the out of body journey into the unknown.
This could be accomplished in various ways. However, the most common practice was that of simply walking out of ones physical body. This would begin through the minds eye, then followed by the shoulders, chest, hips, legs, knees and then the feet until two entities of a astral body and physical body appeared.
After this separation, the astral body could freely pass through solid objects that the physical body could not. It could also fly and hover without becoming influenced by the lack of oxygen or changes in the atmosphere.
The ancient Greeks also recorded instances of out of body travel, and expanded on the strictly meditatively-induced state of the ancient Egyptians to include out of body travel by way of physical or mental trauma. The ancient historian Plutarch of Queroneia, for example, cited the case of Arisdeu who, after suffering blunt trauma to his head after a fall slipped into a coma for three days.
During this time the experience of Arisdeu included seeing his immobile physical body on the ground, although he was able to freely move about. He was able to travel out of body to previously unimagined places. After adapting to this new environment, the spirit guide of Arideu met him and assisted him and then advised him of the projection of his astral body into other dimensions.
Although, he was eventually pulled back into his physical body, while in his altered state he did learn and explore. Once returning to his physical body, he did spend the rest of his life using the knowledge he found during the time of his out of body experience.
Other ancient cultures recorded their findings of out of body travel similar to that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. For instance, the history of the Native Americans includes various full accounts of such happenings to their people as well. Their accounts include the meeting of their spirit guides and totem spirit animals. These entities also advised them concerning the astral plane and the astral body. For centuries, the Native Americans have used specific plants for burning and inhaling in order to relax the mind to the point of being more receptive to out of body travel on the astral planes.
The human body has the ability to explore different horizons of time and space. This has been recorded since the beginning of time. We are able to channel our consciousness into a spiritual body. However, many modern individuals have forgotten this wonderfully natural gift. Many have forgotten how to alter our consciousness to the point that we can release it from the confines of our physical limitations. However, with practice we can join with our spiritual guides and self on the higher planes of existence.
The door is within each of us, we simply need to remember how to reconnect with the higher more spiritual side so that we are once more about to journey out of body to those higher planes. The possibilities are unlimited. It is a natural process and once we rediscover this inside ourselves we can gain in the potentials of understanding our higher self.
