Mediums

Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits., "In spiritualism, a medium is one with whom spirits communicate directly

TRUMPET MEDIUM

Mediumship is the claimed ability of a person (the medium) to experience contact with spirits of the dead, angels, demons or other immaterial entities. Not to be confused with a Empath though some people have both gifts. A medium is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the "supposed organ of communication with spirits".^[2] The role of the medium is to facilitate communication with spirits who have messages to share with non-mediums. Mediums claim to be able to listen to, relay messages from, and relate conversations with spirit, to go into a trance(it is not necessary to go into a trance, it all depends on the medium's control and knowledge) and speak without knowledge of what is being said, to allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it, perhaps using a writing instrument (psychography or surreal automatic writing).

Mediumship is also part of the belief system of some New Age groups. In this context, and under the name "channelling", it refers to a medium (the channel) who is said to receive messages from a "teaching-spirit". In some cultures, mediums (or the spirits to whom they are connected) reportedly produce physical paranormal phenomena such as materialisations of spirits, apports of objects, or levitation

Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to early human history. The story of the Witch of Endor, tells of one who raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew king Saul to question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the First book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament).

Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York state 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century.

Terminology

Spirit guide

Main article: Spirit guide

In 1958, the English-born Spiritualist C. Dorreen Phillips wrote of her experiences with a medium at Camp Chesterfield, Indiana: "In Rev. James Laughton's séances there are many Indians. They are very noisy and appear to have great power. [...] The little guides, or doorkeepers, are usually Indian boys and girls [who act] as messengers who help to locate the spirit friends who wish to speak with you."^[6] Then, describing the mediumship of Rev. Lillian Dee Johnson of Saint Petersburg, Florida, she noted, "Mandy Lou is Rev. Johnson's guide. [..] She was, on earth, a slave to Rev. Johnson's grandmother."^[6]

Spirit operator

A spirit who uses a medium to manipulate energy or energy systems.

Demonstrations of mediumship

In old-line Spiritualism, a portion of the services, generally toward the end, is given over to the A typical example of this older way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the 1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the Spiritualist Camp Chesterfield in Chesterfield, Indiana: "Services are held each afternoon, consisting of hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and demonstrations of mediumship."^[6]

Today "demonstration of mediumship" is part of the church service at all churches affiliated with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC). Demonstration links to Declaration of Principal #9. "We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine attributes proven through Mediumship."

Mental mediumship

Main article: Seance

"Mental mediumship" is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium mentally "hears" (clairaudience), "sees" (clairvoyance), and/or feels (clairsentience) messages from spirits. Directly or with the help of a spirit guide, the medium passes the information on to the message's recipient(s). When a medium is doing a "reading" for a particular person, that person is known as the "sitter."

Trance mediumship

"Trance mediumship" is often seen as a form of mental mediumship.

All trance mediums remain conscious during a communication period, wherein a spirit uses the medium's mind to communicate. The spirit or spirits using the medium's mind influences the mind with the thoughts being conveyed. The medium allows the ego to step aside for the message to be delivered. At the same time, one has awareness of the thoughts coming through and may even influence the message with one's own bias. Such a trance is not to be confused with sleepwalking, as the patterns are entirely different. Castillo (1995) states,

"Trance phenomena result from the behavior of intense focusing of attention, which is the key psychological mechanism of trance induction. Adaptive responses, including institutionalized forms of trance, are 'tuned' into neural networks in the brain."

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In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums were very popular. Spiritualism generally attracted female adherents, many who had strong interests in social justice. Many trance mediums delivered passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women's suffrage.^[7] Scholars have described Leonora Piper as one of the most famous trance mediums in the history of Spiritualism.^[8]^[9]^[10]

In the typical deep trance, the medium may not have clear recall of all the messages conveyed while in an altered state; such people generally work with an assistant. That person selectively wrote down or otherwise recorded the medium's words. Rarely did the assistant record the responding words of the sitter and other attendants. An example of this kind of relationship can be found in the early 20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs. Cecil M. Cook of the William T. Stead Memorial Center in Chicago (a religious body incorporated under the statutes of the State of Illinois) and the journalist Lloyd Kenyon Jones. The latter was a non-medium Spiritualist who transcribed Cook's messages in shorthand. He edited them for publication in book and pamphlet form.^[11]

Physical mediumship

Main article: seance

"Physical mediumship" is defined as manipulation of energies and energy systems by spirits.

Physical mediumship may involve perceptible manifestations, such as loud raps and noises, voices, materialized objects, apports, materialized spirit bodies, or body parts such as hands, and levitation. The medium is used as a source of power for such spirit manifestations. By some accounts, this was achieved by using the energy or ectoplasm released by a medium, see Spirit Photography.^[12]^[13] The last physical medium to be tested by a committee from Scientific American was Mina Crandon in 1924.

Most physical mediumship is presented in a darkened or dimly lit room. Most physical mediums make use of a traditional array of tools and appurtenances, including spirit trumpets, spirit cabinets, and levitation tables.

The term "physical mediumship", should not be construed as implying that any induced apport is confined to the physical plane. The apport ("ectoplasm", or whatever) may be composed of "etheric", "astral", "mental", or "causal" substance (i.e., a substance naturally residing on one of those planes and only temporarily transported into the physical plane). Instead, the term "physical mediumship" is employed to imply an effect manifested upon [objects naturally existing on] the physical plane, by means of interaction (merely physical, not chemical) with substance transported out (temporarily) of another plane of existence.

Direct Voice

Main article: Direct voice

Direct voice communication involves spirits extracting ectoplasm from living persons (not limited to the medium) to create a spirit voice-box, which enables the spirits to communicate with the living during seances. This form included the medium Leslie Flint.^[14]

Channeling

In the latter half of the 20th century, Western mediumship developed in two different ways. One type involves psychics or sensitives who claim to speak to spirits and then relay what they hear to their clients. Clairvoyant Danielle Egnew is known for her alleged communication with angelic entities.

The other incarnation of non-physical mediumship is a form of channeling in which the channeler goes into a trance, or "leaves their body". He or she becomes "possessed" by a specific spirit, who then talks through them.^[15] In the trance, the medium enters a cataleptic state marked by extreme rigidity. As the control spirit takes over, the medium's voice may change completely. The spirit answers the questions of those in its presence or giving spiritual knowledge.^[16] A widely known channeler of this variety is J. Z. Knight, who claims to channel the spirit of Ramtha, a 30 thousand-year-old man. Others claim to channel spirits from "future dimensional", ascended masters,^[17] or ,in the case of the trance mediums of the Brahma Kumaris, God.^[18] Other notable channels are Jane Roberts for Seth, Esther Hicks for Abraham,^[19] Margaret McElroy for Maitreya, Serge J. Grandbois for Kris, and Lee Carroll for Kryon.

Psychic Senses Associated with Mediums

In Spiritualism, psychic senses used by mental mediums are sometimes defined differently than in other paranormal fields. The term clairvoyance, for instance, may be used by Spiritualists to include seeing spirits and visions instilled by spirits. The Parapsychological Association defines "clairvoyance" as information derived directly from an external physical source.^[20]

Clairvoyance or "Clear Seeing", is the ability to see anything that is not physically present, such as objects, animals or people. This sight occurs "in the mind’s eye". Some mediums say that this is their normal vision state. Others say that they must train their minds with such practices as meditation in order to achieve this ability, and that assistance from spiritual helpers is often necessary. Some clairvoyant mediums can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. They see the bodily form as if it were physically present. Other mediums see the spirit in their mind's eye, or it appears as a movie or a television programme or a still picture like a photograph in their mind.

Clairaudience or "Clear Hearing", is usually defined as the ability to hear the voices or thoughts of spirits. Some Mediums hear as though they are listening to a person talking to them on the outside of their head, as though the Spirit is next to or near to the medium, and other mediums hear the voices in their minds as a verbal thought.

Clairsentience or "Clear Sensing", is the ability to have an impression of what a spirit wants to communicate, or to feel sensations instilled by a spirit.

Clairsentinence or "Clear Feeling" is a condition in which the medium takes on the ailments of a spirit, feeling the same physical problem which the spirit person had before death.

Clairalience or "Clear Smelling" is the ability to smell a spirit. For example, a medium may smell the pipe tobacco of a person who smoked during life.

Clairgustance or "Clear Tasting" is the ability to receive taste impressions from a spirit.

Claircognizance or "Clear Knowing", is the ability to know something without receiving it through normal or psychic senses. It is a feeling of "just knowing". Often, a medium will claim to have the feeling that a message or situation is "right" or "wrong."

Trance Mediumship

Trance is a form of advanced mediumship where a spirit person uses the medium's body and voice to communicate with others, usually in a séance. It is not to be underestimated in seriousness, as it is a form of possession. It is very dangerous to attempt if one hasn’t a high level of mediumship experience.

Mediums in trance often appear physically different while in trance, taking on the persona and mannerisms of the spirit person, and can even speak in different voices and languages that they have no prior knowledge of.

There is also a light trance state, sometimes referred to as overshadowing or overtaking, which happens when guides and/or spirits who are already communicating with the medium during a séance or paranormal investigation almost channel their own voice through the medium’s voice box.

This overshadowing can make the medium feel as if their features or bodily form are changing from the norm, or that they have taken a step back and someone else is trying to steer their thoughts and speech. It is similar to transfiguration but more physical and much stronger in feeling.

The medium may feel heavy headed and unable to speak for a few moments, with particular pressure around the larynx or throat chakra.

This should never be attempted without supervision, as there is training required for a “buddy” to bring you back forward if you are overshadowed for more than a few moments. It is not to be underestimated in seriousness, as it is a light form of possession, only to be undertaken by experienced mediums.

Silver Birch

One of the most well known accounts of trance mediumship is that of the spirit guide Silver Birch and his medium. Do a Google on the name and see what you find!

SHAMANIC Trance States

In order to journey to the other dimensions of existence a Shaman induces an altered state of consciousness in himself similar to a state of self-hypnosis called a state of flow. While in this state of flow, or Shamanic Trance, he is in complete control. He is able to take his consciousness and subtle bodies into nonphysical reality where he visits the heavens and hells of existence, communicates with and controls spirits, gains information, retrieves souls, and makes subtle changes in reality which may affect the physical world. Properties of the Shamanic altered state of consciousness are:

There is a sense of egolessness. It is as if a person feels as if they are merging with people and objects around them. As if they are in a single state of consciousness.

A distorted sense of time and space of time. There is a breakdown of normal boundaries. Intuition takes over in situations where a rational approach was the normal operating model.

Extraordinary psychic and other mental powers.

An intense and accurate sensitivity to the emotional states of others.

A trance like state often called The State Of Flow

In a state of flow, you feel as if you have actually become one with the activity you are focused on. You may lose track of your body, emotions, sense of time and even of your physical location. When you are giving everything you can to a particular vision or challenge, you become free of fear and anxiety. You have no room in your consciousness for boredom. Many people who function in this way speak of it as a "drug free high" that comes from the rhythm that seems to be part and parcel of working at this l00% level. Many people relate to this to activities as simple as tying your shoes, to something more complicated such as driving a car. There is an "automatic pilot" effect. When tying your shoe, you JUST tie your shoe. When driving you know where you are going and you are driving effectively and safely and yet your mind is not intensely focused on the road. This is still attention to detail and focus, but it is different than intense concentration. It is not the type of concentration that creates great mental strain. The easiest way to describe "state of flow" is that you function at a level of excellence with ease [1]. See also Nirodha.

The lighter trance states feel like those times when you are reading a book, or watching television or a movie, and are so engrossed that you are not aware of your surroundings. The deeper trances feel similar to how you feel when you are first waking up in the morning. You are aware that you are awake, your imagery is vivid and dreamlike, and you feel relaxed, calm, and good.

The ability to attain and control a trance is the result of cumulative conditioning and mental training.

A weight lifter trains himself by practicing daily. He begins by lifting relatively light weights and progresses to heavier and heavier ones. Eventually he is able to lift a 200 pound weight above his head with relative ease. By working in this manner he has trained his muscles to respond according to his will. After he has reached his goal he can maintain the ability by practicing only two or three times per week. If he stops practicing entirely his muscles will gradually loose their conditioning and strength and, after a time, he will no longer be able to lift the weight. By reestablishing a routine of practice he will bring his ability back to where it was.

This same principle applies to the trance state. You train your mind to respond in accordance with your will in order to produce the ability to develop a deep trance. This is done by daily practice. It may take some time and effort to establish that ability, but once you have it you will be able to maintain it by practicing only once or twice per week. If you stop practicing entirely your ability will gradually lessen. Like the weight lifter you will need to begin a more regular practice in order to reestablish your abilities.

When you go into any trance you gradually progress from ordinary consciousness into deeper levels. It's convenient to have a means of measuring the depth of your trance, so the paragraphs that follow outline some of the symptoms found at various depths. For convenience sake I've divided the depths of trance into four major sections, and, using terms borrowed from the hypnotic sciences, called them the Hypnodial, Light, Medium, and Deep Trance states:

Hypnodial Trance
: You progress from ordinary consciousness through the following steps: feeling physically relaxed, drowsy, your mind becomes relaxed and you may feel apathetic or indifferent, your arms and legs start to feel heavy, you may have a tendency to stare blankly, and have a disinclination to move your limbs. As you border this and the Light Trance your breathing becomes slower and deeper, and your pulse rate slows. (See also: LAYA)

: You progress to a reluctance to move, speak, think or act. You may experience some involuntary twitching of your mouth or jaw, and sometimes of the eyes. You will feel a heaviness throughout your entire body and a partial feeling of detachment. You may also experience visual illusions. As you border this and the Medium Trance you recognize that you are in a trance, but may find that feeling hard to describe. (See also: BOMPU)

: You definitely recognize that you are in a trance and may experience partial amnesia unless you consciously choose not to. By giving yourself the proper suggestions you can make any part of your body insensitive to pain, and can experience the illusions of touching, tasting, and smelling. You will be more sensitive to variations in atmospheric pressure and temperature changes. As you border this and the Deep Trance you may experience complete catalepsy of your limbs or body. In other words, if your limbs or body positions are changed you will leave them in the new position until they are changed again. (See also: GEDO)

: You can have the ability to open your eyes without affecting the trance. You will also have the ability to control such body functions as heart beat, blood pressure, digestion, and body temperature. You can make your body and limbs completely rigid. You will be able to recall lost memories and experience age regression. Here you can vividly experience the sensation of lightness, floating, or flying. You can also experience both positive and negative visual and auditory hallucinations both while in the trance, and, if given the proper suggestions, after awakening from the trance state. (A positive hallucination is when you are told that you see something that is not there, and you see it. A negative hallucination is when you are told that you do not see something that is there, and you do not.) In this state you can also stimulate dreams and visions, both during the trance state and (upon proper suggestion) later in your natural sleep. (See also: SHOJO)

Deep Trance

Medium Trance

Light Trance

Each depth of trance has valuable uses. For example, in the Light and Medium Trances you can learn to begin practical Shamanic Journeying so that you can see, hear, touch and smell experiences in the worlds which border ours. In those trance states these journeys will feel similar to a fantasy or daydream and you may wonder if it is real, or just your imagination. As you train yourself to deepen the trance the journeys become more vivid, until, in the Deep Trance, they look and feel as though they are taking place in physical reality.

Opening The Third Eye

Please read all of the following if you wish to perform this 'opening the third eye' exercise. You need to understand what you will be doing. It is important to follow the instructions as this is very advanced:

Opening the Third Eye is directly related to the 6th chakra; the psychic chakra, located on the middle of the forehead above the brows. It is closely associated with the "pineal" gland. The pineal gland id dormant in most people,as is the true 3rd eye. French Philosopher Rene Descartes believed the pineal gland to be "the seat of the soul" where mind and body met.

In the average person, the pineal gland is atrophied and dormant. The following exercise will change that. Please read this thoroughly, as much of the exercises I write of are very advanced and can cause problems if one does not do them correctly.

The pineal gland is like a grape in size; like a raisin in most people where it remains dormant.

Opening the third eye/pineal gland:

This is done with a specific tone and chant. You only need to do this exercise for 3 days, afterwards, it is permanent.

The mantra to be used is "Thoh," pronounced "TOE." It must be within the correct vibration. Not deep, not high pitched, inbetween, like alto range. You will feel it when you hit the correct tone.

1. Sit with your back straight.

2. Breathe in through your nose and hold your breath as long as is comfortable- open your jaws so there is a small space between your top and bottom teeth, place the tip of your tongue between the space of your slightly parted teeth.

3. Put a very light pressure onto the tongue with your teeth. This is like the same process of saying the "TH" part of the English word "the." Once your tongue is in position, release your breath slowly through your mouth saying T-H-H-O-H-H in one long exahle (say the word one time pre exhale) Your tongue will be vibrating between your teeth. You should feel the air moving past your tongue and teeth. If this technique is done properly, you will feel a pressure or sensation in your jaw and cheeks. The tone will also vibrate in your 3rd eye. It may take a few seconds to adjust this, don't worry, just keep going.

4. Do the above 5 times in a row.

5. It is very important the above exercise be done for 3 consecutive days, 24 hours apart. Then it is a done deal.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

1. One of the first experiences is a headache or pressure in the center of the forehead. This sensation may also feel like it is originating from within, usually an inch or more beneath the surface of the forehead. This is a positive indication the pineal gland is awakening and beginning to function in a healthy manner. *Some people can experience a migrane lasting several hours. The severity of the side effects will depend on how atrophied your pineal gland is to begin with.

2. After the occurence of headache or pressure in the forehead, you may wake up one morning with a throbbing or tingling sensation in your forehead; it may feel like a goosebump. The feeling may be very intense like something is there. The sensation of pulsing or throbbing will continue throughout the day. This is the final physiological event you will experience after opening the third eye. It indicates your pineal gland is awankened, functioning and alive.

PSYCHIC EFFECTS:

Faster, easier learning and retention Marked increase in intuition Increased creativity Psychic gifts develop and become remarkedly stronger and more intense ability to see human auras Clairaudience (psychic hearing) opens up

This is a very powerful exercise and as with all powerful practices, your body will go through discomfort in order to adapt.

Source of reference~Spiritual .Com

Out of Body Experience (OBE)

Experience description:

In order to fully understand what an out of body experience (OBE) is, it must be understood as one of many related spiritual spectrum phenomena. An OBE can be defined as an experience in which a person seems to perceive the world from a location outside the physical body. In this writing, I will look at the history of OBE and research findings on near death experiences (NDEs), the most extreme of OBEs. An OBE is also compared and contrasted with dreams, lucid dreams, astral projection, and autoscopy.

HISTORY

Some of the earliest research is still widely used as the gold standard in the study of OBE. Much of the ground-breaking research in OBE paralleled that in NDE in the mid-to late ‘70’s and early 80’s. The best know OBEr is perhaps Robert Monroe, who founded the Monroe Institute of Applied Science. Dr. Twemlow worked with Robert Monroe. Dean Shiels is cited for his work in cultural acceptance of OBEs. Charles Tart is well known for his experiments, but only had a few subjects. Scott Rogo arguably did the most to legitimize OBE, in that his research findings normalized the occurrences of OBE, rather than stigmatizing the OBEr as having a psychological disorder.

In 1958 Monroe had his first OBE. The experience was profound enough to him that he spent the rest of his life trying to scientifically figure out what happened to him. Since Monroe was the son of a college professor and a doctor, he readily subjected himself to be scientifically studied at the Topeka VA hospital in 1977. Needless to say Monroe was greatly relieved when Dr. Stuart Twemlow, M.D. declared him a sane individual with no evidence of psychological disturbance or other mental imbalances. In 1980, Twemlow presented his OBE study of 339 individuals to the American Psychiatric Association of San Francisco, entitled The Out-Of-Body Experience Phenomenology. This is one of the first major studies of its kind and can be found at the back of Monroe’s second major book, Far Journeys. Charles Tart, a prominent OBE researcher, also conducted experiments on Monroe.

Other pioneering work on OBEs was done by Dean Shiels, in a 1978 study of almost 70 non-Western cultures around the world. Out of 54 cultures that responded, 46% claimed that most or all people could travel outside the physical body under certain conditions. 43% claimed that a few people could have OBEs, and only 3 cultures claimed that OBEs don’t happen. His formal conclusion was similar to what we typically observe in NDEs – that although there are significant differences in cultural upbringing, religious beliefs, and experiencers come from all walks of life across geographical and vastly different socioeconomic and educational stature, there remain striking similarities in the basic elements of separation of consciousness from the body. Moreover, the OBE phenomena is fairly common in that 14-34% of people have experienced an OBE depending on which of the numerous surveys one reviews. Susan Blackmore, an NDE skeptic, conservatively estimates the incidence of OBEs around 10%.

Some of the most fascinating research came out of the 1984 study by D. Scot Rogo, whose specific findings helped legitimize the OBE phenomena in the eyes of the world. He found that 10-20 percent of the adult population had an OBE. That OBE experiencers weren’t any special personality type (ie crazy, hyper, or mentally pathological). He also found that animals, humans and sometimes electrical devises can be used to detect when an OBE experiencer arrives at an arranged location. Rogo observed some people that were able to correctly identify surroundings at distant locations, and he also came to the conclusion that at least some OBEs are not dreams or hallucinations.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

A near death experience is loosely defined as a collection of memories occurring at or after the time of bodily death.One of the most commonly reported events during the period of death but prior to being revived, is the out of body component of the NDE.Veridical perception is what people see during the out of body (OBE) state.Due to the evidential nature of this component, it is recognized as the best method for proving the reality of NDEs.

The out of body component of an NDE could best be described as an involuntary OBE. It is well documented by leading NDE researchers, that in the OBE state, many who have physically died can verbatim tell nurses, doctors, and relatives exactly what they were doing or saying during the resuscitation efforts.During this stage, NDErs frequently report amazement at lack of pain.Of note, is Michael Sabom’s work published in Recollections of Death where his cardiac patients were asked to describe the resuscitation efforts, equipment, and/or any other things they may have seen or heard while being revived. Even Pim von Lommel, mentions a 44-year old who, while in a deep coma and in the process of CPR, later told the doctor that a particular nurse had placed his dentures on the crash car. The patient accurately described the resuscitation room, those in the room, as well as describing the attitude in the room that everyone was close to giving up on resuscitation efforts. Many of these evidential OBEs do not occur within the earshot of or even the same room as the NDEr, thereby ruling out the possibility of overhearing a conversation upon revival.

Skeptics raise the weak argument that nobody knows when the NDE occurred. Part of

this may be the skeptics own bias that consciousness does not reside outside of the body. There exists documented proof that although the exact time of the NDE may not be known, the OBE events documented after death but before resuscitation strongly suggests that consciousness can exist outside of the body after death.

Autoscopy is a term that is frequently misused by skeptics. According to leading NDE researcher, Dr. Bruce Greyson, the psychiatric syndrome of autoscopy is the characteristic "doppelganger" of literature. In classical autoscopy, the person's consciousness remains in his or her physical body, and the person sees a "double" of him- or herself, which usually imitates all the actions of the physical body. Most typically, the autoscopic "double" is hazy, colorless, and transparent, and only includes the face and shoulders, rather than the whole body.he "double" may move toward or away from the physical body, and the person having the autoscopic vision is usually quite sad.

In contrast, in the NDE, the person's consciousness is not in his or her physical body, but is rather in the "double." The person sees his or her own physical body from the point of view of the "double," and the physical body is usually motionless, while the person moves about in the double. The vision of the physical body appears as the whole body, and appears real and lifelike. Sadness is quite rare in NDEs.

ASTRAL PROJECTION, DREAMING

While out of body, astral projection, and lucid dreaming all share the common element of the consciousness separating from the body, there are some technical distinctions. OBEs may occur consciously (voluntarily) or spontaneously (involuntarily), but the person is usually in a wakeful or relaxed state, and then the consciousness leaves the body. The consciousness separates from the body and is free to roam the earth plane. Phenomena associated with the out of body experience, are things like remote viewing or other such seeing of places and people as they exist in this time and place. I have heard reports of bi-location, a phenomena where a person appears (as in the physical body) in another location despite the fact that the body is physically in another location.

ASTRAL PROJECTION. Astral projection is usually associated with inter-dimensional travel where places may sound like dreams since there are no earthly points of reference. The person is usually in a relaxed or meditative state and then the consciousness separates. Aethers are generally thought of as energy layers around the earth where different types of spirits reside depending on lessons they need to learn. People who talk about traveling the aethers such as students of Alistair Crowley, are astral traveling. Another big proponent of this theory is Madame Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society in 1875.

LUCID DREAMING. Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden, first used the term “lucid dreaming” in 1913, when referring to the type of dream one consciously knows they are dreaming.

Lucid dreaming is considered an altered reality, much like a dream, but one is usually asleep when the body travels. Lucid dreaming appears to be a type of dream where a person is super-alert and is open to communication from the other side. Frequently, people on earth are contacted by deceased relatives and loved ones through the lucid dreaming state as can be attested to on the after death communication website, www.adcrf.org.

OBE. Celia Green was an OBE researcher with the Institute of Psychophysical Research. Her definition of an OBE is “one in which the objects of perception are apparently organized in such a way that the observer seems to himself to be observing them from a point of view which is not coincident with his physical body.”

OBEs do not need a particular mind set or altered state in order to happen, although most OBEs happen when the physical body is relaxed and inactive. OBEs typically occur between the ages of 15-35.Physically, Green found that 75% of OBEs occurred lying down, and 18% occurred while sitting. Mentally, Green found that 12% of OBEs occurred during sleep, 32% while unconscious, and 25% were associated with some kind of psychological stress, such as fear, worry, or overwork. Long-term profound effects were most commonly reported by those experiencing spontaneous OBEs.

Physical testing shows that the body is more relaxed, but the mind is more alert in the OBE state. When Charles Tart researched OBEs with Ingo Swann as the OBEr, the EEG was markedly flattened and there were frequency changes, with a decrease in alpha and increase in beta activity. The heart rate stayed normal. There were no sudden changes in either EEG or autonomic functions to mark the beginning or end of the OBE. Any changes were gradual; unlike dreaming, the OBE does not seem to be associated with a discrete psychological state. When Keith Harary was tested at the Physical Research Foundation.No change in EEG, and the OBEs did not occur in a sleeping, dreaming or borderline state. However, skin potential fell, indicating greater relaxation, and it was this measure which provided the best indicator that an OBE had begun. Heart rate and respiration increased. Harary was more relaxed, but also more alert during the OBE stage.

During an OBE, people tend to view objects much as they are perceived in real life (as opposed to a dream). Interesting perceptual differences generally involve light and sound.Many objects or rooms are reported as much brighter or have light surrounding them. Moreover, there is a correlation between OBEs and practicing meditation, mystical experiences, and drug experiences. Palmer study confirmed that few OBEs include all the features of a classical astral projection.

OBEs vs. DREAMING.

The similarities between OBEs and lucid dreaming were explored by Stephen LaBerge. In both, OBEs and lucid dreams, the person seems to have a waking consciousness, or something close to it. Out of 572 people, about one-third of the group reported having had at least one OBE. Just over 80 percent had had lucid dreams. People who had more dream-related experiences tended to report more OBEs. For example of the 452 people claiming to have had lucid dreams, 39 percent also reported OBEs, whereas only 15 percent of those who did not claim lucid dreams said they had had OBEs.

When looking at the difference between OBEs and dreams, OBEs usually occur when the person is awake. The lucid dream starts more often when the subject is asleep, and the dream world is less distinct and real than the OBE world, allowing less controls and freedom of movement; in addition the person who has an OBE starting from the waking state never actually thinks he is dreaming. The imagery and activities of an OBE are more coherent and not as surreal as in a dream.OBEs tend to be like our earthly environment that we see in every day life.

The OBEr is able to see clearly, but what is seen may not be quite like the physical and it appears to have some properties of a dream world or imaginary world. Interestingly, OBErs are adamant their experience was not a dream, while dreamers readily admit that the experience was a dream.[58] Ordinary dreams are characterized by very cloudy consciousness at best, and are only recognized as dreams on waking up.However, during lucid dreaming, the dreamer will be adamant that the experience was real even though still classified as a dream.Most lucid dreams involved only the subject, but there are cases on record of meetings in lucid dreams.

CONCLUSION

While this discussion by no means is a thorough, in-depth study, it does give one a foundation in which to understand the portion of the spiritual spectrum that includes OBEs, the OBE component of the NDE, astral travel, and lucid dreaming. One can quickly garner that while many of these phenomena are related in the study of consciousness, there are some clear differences as well. Further study will be necessary to determine what unifying factor exists to tie all of these phenomena of consciousness together. That is why the websites exist is to gather data to study consciousness in all its various facets.

Source~www.spiritweb.org/

Astral Body and Astral travel

The body that the consciousness inhabits within a dream or astral plane.

The astral body is one of seven bodies each of us has, according to Madame Blavatsky. The astral body is the seat of feeling and desire and has an aura. How the physical body and the other alleged bodies interact is unknown, but it is said to be by some sort of occult force. The astral body is said to be capable of leaving the other bodies for an out-of-body experience known as astral projection.
The evidence for the existence of the astral body remains a mystery. There is no scientific evidence for such an entity. As James Randi says: the idea of an astral body "appears to satisfy most of the questions about dreaming, [life after] death, or hallucination, without offering any proof or appeal other than the convenience of such an invention and the resulting lack of requirement for applied thought and/or research."
Wikipedia says the following about the astral body~The astral body is a subtle body posited by many religious philosophers, intermediate between the intelligent soul and the physical body, composed of a subtle material.[1] The concept ultimately derives from the philosophy of Plato: it is related to an astral plane, which consists of the planetary heavens of astrology. The term was adopted by nineteenth-century Theosophists and neo-Rosicrucians.
The idea is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife[2] in which the soul's journey or "ascent" is described in such terms as "an ecstatic.., mystical or out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms".[3] Hence "the "many kinds of 'heavens', 'hells' and purgatorial existences believed in by followers of innumerable religions" may also be understood as astral phenomena, as may the various "phenomena of the séance room".[4] The phenomenon of apparitional experience is therefore related, as is made explicit in Cicero's Dream of Scipio.
The astral body is sometimes said to be visible as an aura of swirling colours.[5] It is widely linked today with out-of-the-body experience or astral projection. Where this refers to a supposed movement around the real world, as in Muldoon and Carrington's book The Projection of the Astral Body, it conforms to Madame Blavatsky's usage of the term. Elsewhere this latter is termed "etheric", while "astral" denotes an experience of dream-symbols, archetypes, memories, spiritual beings and visionary landscapes. In reference to the secular scientific world view the concept is now generally considered superseded, being rooted in an attribution of materiality and dimensionality to the psychic world.

Astral Projection
In astral projection the conscious mind leaves the physical body and moves into the astral body. The astral body is one of our subtle bodies.
Some people can astral project naturally. Others are afraid to leave the physical body and never are able to astral project. An alternative approach is remote viewing.
In astral projection you remain attached to your physical body by a silver "umbilical type" cord. Some people see the cord and others do not.
You are aware of things you encounter along the way while out of your body.
To astral project, as with all out-of-body experiences - one must feel totally relaxed, clothing fitting comfortable, reclining is best. Often a comforter is best over the body as the physical body sometimes gets cold when you travel out.

The Monroe Technique
Step One:
Relax the body. According to Monroe, "the ability to relax is the first prerequisite, perhaps even the first step itself" to having an OBE. (out of body experience). This includes both physical and mental relaxation. Monroe does not suggest a method of attaining this relaxation, although progressive muscle relaxation, coupled with deep breathing exercises (inhale 1, exhale 2, inhale 3... until about 50 or 100) are known to work well.
Step Two:
Enter the state bordering sleep. This is known as the hypnogogic state. Once again, Monroe doesn't recommend any method of doing this. One way is to hold your forearm up, while keeping your upper arm on the bed, or ground. As you start to fall asleep, your arm will fall, and you will awaken again. With practice you can learn to control the hypnogogic state without using your arm. Another method is to concentrate on an object. When other images start to enter your thoughts, you have entered the hypnogogic state. Passively watch these images. This will also help you maintain this state of near-sleep. Monroe calls this Condition A.
Step Three:
Deepen this state. Begin to clear your mind. Observe your field of vision through your closed eyelids at the blackness in front of your. After a while you may start to notice light patterns. These are simply neural discharges. They have no specific effect. Ignore them. When they cease, one has entered what Monroe calls Condition B. From here, one must enter an even deeper state of relaxation which Monroe calls Condition C-- a state of such relaxation that you lose all awareness of the body and sensory stimulation. You are almost in a void in which your only source of stimulation will be your own thoughts.
The ideal state for leaving your body is Condition D. This is Condition C when it is voluntarily induced from a rested and refreshed condition and is not the effect of normal fatigue. To achieve Condition D, Monroe suggests that you practice entering it in the morning just as you are getting up, or after a short nap.
Step Four:
Enter a state of Vibration. This is the most important part of the technique, and also the most vague.
Many projectors have noted these vibrations at the onset of projection. They can be experienced as a mild tingling, or as if electricity is being shot through the body. Their cause is a mystery. It may actually be the astral body trying to leave the physical body.
For entering into the vibrational state, he offers the following directions:
1. Remove all jewelry or other items that might be touching your skin.
2. Darken the room so that no light can be seen through your eyelids, but do not shut out all light.
3. Lie down with your body along a north-south axis, with your head pointed toward magnetic north.
4. Loosen all clothing, but keep covered so that you are slightly warmer than what might normally be comfortable.
5. Be sure you are in a location where, and at a time when, there will be absolutely no noise to disturb you.
6. Enter a state of relaxation.
7. Give yourself the mental suggestion that you will remember all that occurs during the upcoming session that will be beneficial to your well being. Repeat this five times.
8. As your breathe, concentrate on the void in front of you.
9. Select a point a foot away from your forehead, then change your point of mental reference to six feet.
10. Turn the point 90 degrees upward by drawing an imaginary line parallel to your body axis up above you head. Focus there and reach out for the vibrations at that point and bring them back into your body.
Even if you don't know what these vibrations are, you will know when you have achieved contact with them.
Step Five:
Learn to control the vibrational state. Practice controlling them by mentally pushing them into your head, down to your toes, making them surge throughout your entire body, and producing vibrational waves from head to foot. To produce this wave effect, concentrate on the vibrations and mentally push a wave out of your head and guide it down your body. Practice this until you can induce these waves on command. Once you have control of the vibrational state, you are ready to leave the body.
Step Six:
Begin with a partial separation. The key here is thought control. Keep your mind firmly focused on the idea of leaving the body. Do not let it wander. Stray thoughts might cause you to lose control of the state.
Now having entered the vibrational state, begin exploring the OBE by releasing a hand or a foot of the "second body". Monroe suggests that you extend a limb until it comes in contact with a familiar object, such as a wall near your bed. Then push it through the object. Return the limb by placing it back in to coincidence with the physical one, decrease the vibrational rate, and then terminate the experiment. Lie quietly until you have fully returned to normal. This exercise will prepare you for full separation.
Step Seven:
Dissociate yourself from the body. Monroe suggests two methods for this. One method is to lift out of the body. To do this, think about getting lighter and lighter after entering the vibrational state. Think about how nice it would be to float upward. Keep this thought in mind at all costs and let no extraneous thoughts interrupt it. An OBE will occur naturally at this point.
Another method is the "Rotation Method" or "roll-out" technique. When you have achieved the vibrational state, try to roll over as if you were turning over in bed. Do not attempt to roll over physically. Try to twist your body from the top and virtually roll over into your second body right out of your physical self. At this point, you will be out of the body, but next to it. Think of floating upward, and you should find yourself floating above the body.

Source’s of reference~ the Skeptics Dictionary, Crystal links

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