Am I Astrally Projecting

[FoxTracks]

These quotes are only garnered from wikipedia, so take them as you will.

"the astral body is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul to the physical body"

Okay, sure, sounds good.

" [the planets] planes of existence are depicted as a series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate [astral] body traversing each realm."

Interesting. This seems to be corresponding to what I am experiencing. There were some things in this very old, christian definition I didn't think were necessarily accurate, such as each astral plane corresponding to a planet, but basically, the idea is that there are multiple astral planes (dimensions) and a separate astral body explores each. In this view, I have been operating on the first astral plane.

On this first "Astral Plane", things correspond to the physical world almost completely, except for the presence of energy fields. I can move what I've been calling an astral body out of my body. I can change its shape, size, hardness, and softness at will, even when it is still roughly lining up with my body. The larger it gets, the more raw strength I seem to have in this plane. I can manipulate and sense the energies in this plane, having access to my own or others subconscious (If I go inside them). I can do this all without losing any control or consciousness of my physical body, although it is very distracting. In addition, making this astral body larger makes energy, including emotional energy, much easier to deal with. Even huge amounts of emotion can be easily dealt with this way, although I choose not to do this typically because I believe experiencing my feelings fully has intense value. (I believe I actually had an experience on a different plane today -- it felt much different and more ethereal, and corresponded less if at all to the physical world, and was much more visually involved and the sensations of warmth, the buzzing sounds, as well as structure seem to match up with descriptions of astral projection. It was also much more distracting and I seemed to lose an amount of physical awareness.) I can do energy work without actually having this leave my body-- in fact, I'm not sure what it's really useful for unless someone wanted me to go deep into there subconscious, as it's the only way I've found to do that besides actually just going on and soul melding. In which case, why wouldn't you just meld, it has such a calming and healing effect when you're tapped into connective energy. It actually is very useful for defense against things like vampires, people who go around shoving their negative energy on others, but I've found better ways of dealing with that, recently. Is it possible this is just a form of energy work?

However, people usually describe astral projection as becoming unaware of your physical body and fully aware with every sense of a different plane, instead. That's not what happens to me at all, I'm operating 100% on feeling energies on the first "plane". I know these experiences are very real however... I'm hoping that I can find out what these experiences are called, although I suppose it does not really matter.

[FoxTracks]

After shifting the focus of my inquiry to energy work and the subtle bodies, it appears that what I have been referring to as an astral body is actually a combination of my mental and emotional bodies, seeing as I control them with a combination of thought and feeling. I decided to see if I could control them as two seperate fields by doing something different with my thoughts than my feelings, and lo and behold, I could! Whaddaya know, solved my own riddle. Thank you to anyone who read this, sorry for the clutter :)

[inavalan]

I couldn't make out your first post is about, so I had nothing helpful to reply to it. Now, the you "solved your own riddle", I'd like to remind you that what you believe, including your emotions, is what you'll get, especially in non-physical.

[FoxTracks]

I know what I'm speaking of can be confusing. It very much confused me at first. But I feel that you're not being especially open minded that what I'm experiencing could be more than just a projection. If I understood and was able to describe it all perfectly, I wouldn't have posted in the first place.

Coming to the amount of understanding that I have was a long journey of introspection and sorting out projections from truth, of self discovery. Perhaps I shouldn't share so much in the future... But it doesn't matter, because the questions I have right now have been answered through a combination of self study, some helpful people here and elsewhere, and deepening my connection with the spirit world. Things are becoming more clear, little by little, every day.

Thanks for your reply.

[iamthat]

Theosophy teaches that a human has various bodies of differing frequencies. The most relevant bodies regarding this discussion are the dense physical, the etheric or energy body, the astral or emotional body, and the mental body.

There are corresponding planes of existence. The dense physical plane, the etheric/energy plane (usually considered as the subtle aspect of the physical plane), the astral plane and the mental plane. Each plane can be divided into sub-planes. For example, the physical plane has seven sub-planes consisting of the dense planes of solid/liquid/gaseous plus four etheric planes.

We use the physical/etheric bodies to explore the physical/etheric planes, we use the astral body to explore the astral planes, we use the mental body to explore the mental planes. Exploring the higher planes beyond the mental requires the ability to function in our spiritual vehicles.

Regarding astral travel, writers such as Robert Bruce separate it into two stages. Firstly our consciousness shifts from the dense physical body into the etheric energy body, and we then project out of the etheric body and function in the astral body. Robert Monroe calls this phasing, moving through different levels of focus. You may also want to look up Frank Kepple.

We shift from the dense physical into the etheric through relaxation, breathing exercises, etc. The second stage of projection is where we shift from etheric awareness to being aware of other realms away from the physical. There may be a stage where we are simultaneously aware of both, which may be what you describe.

I won't go on at length because the literature on this subject is vast, but keep on experimenting.

Peace.

[FoxTracks]

Thank you for your informative reply. For now I'm satisfied with my understanding of the matter, but I may seek some literature soon. Your reply made it evident there is much more to be understood.