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ASTRAl 2b

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Astral 4b

Welcome To My little slice of the Net!

 However, when it comes to opening yourself up to buddhic energy, Eastern occultism has always been crystal clear about this, whereas Western occultism is not always so clear. Eastern occultism is yoga, and the purpose of yoga is to become enlightened. Becoming enlightened is exactly the same as opening up to the buddhic energies. This process goes under many names: enlightenment, samasamadi, mysticism, cosmic consciousness, satori. All these words refer to the same thing. However, it is not my purpose in these notes to digress on mysticism. For the interested reader, see the reference by van der Leeuww in the bibliography.

 To conclude this brief overview of occult anatomy, I would like to define the word "aura", which I used above and will have occasion to use throughout these notes. The word "aura" is a generic term and can refer to any one of the nonphysical bodies by itself or in combination with the other nonphysical bodies. I use the term to refer to all the non- physical bodies at once. Some people use the term to refer specifically to the astral body. "Aura" is a vague term. I prefer, when speaking, to call a specific body by its proper name. And again, if I want to refer to the four nonphysical bodies (i.e. etheric, astral, mental and buddhic) simultaneously, I will use the word "aura".

 So, we have gone over occult physics and occult anatomy. All of this to give some idea of the occult interpretation of the astral projection/OOBE experience! What I have done above it to lay out in a barebones outline the elements of the occult *worldview*. And a barebones outline it is. Again, readers that want more detail should consult the bibliography. What I have covered above, though, is sufficient for our purposes here.

 To summarize, occultists teach that there are 7 planes and that we have bodies for perceiving 4 of these planes. By this view, altered states of consciousness are explained by the fact that we shift our conscious awareness from the physical plane/body to one of our other, nonphysical bodies and perceive events occurring on the respective plane. This is indeed one of the valid theoretical approaches to explaining astral projection. And, as I've already said, we will find this is the most useful view to take. Below I will go into other theories of what astral projection is, but, when we start attempting to be practical and put the various theories to the test of practice, we will find our- selves returning to the occult theory again and again to explain what happens to us when we are "out of body".