There are many dimensions to reality, but most human beings today are only in touch with it at the lowest level which, from a vibrational perspective, is the 3D physical reality.
From time to time, I get a good, honest question and I devote the time to give an honest answer based on my own research and experiences in life. Below, you will find my answer to a YouTube question on how I connect to the astral realm, and a little bit about what it is.
Misha Vlaskalin: Hey Paul! You mentioned that you’ve spent lots of time in the astral (realm). How do you get into that state? Are you using plant medicines to connect with that realm or do you have specific techniques that you employ to get there through sleep? I’d love to hear more about this topic.
The astral realm is the intermediary realm between the noosphere — a sphere of mind or intelligence vibrating at an extremely high frequency, like thoughts move faster than light (you can find research and/or commentary on this if you choose to look into it) — and the etheric body — the slowest moving light or electromagnetic interface with the physical body.
The alchemists describe creation as emerging from the realm of Fire (if you study alchemy, you’ll find that there are multiple types of fire, but in this case, it’s the highest and most refined of the fire element expressions or Source energy/Intelligence/Consciousness) and stepping down into the Air Element, which is what embodies the mind or noosphere.
This steps down into the Water Element, which is where our sense of feelings and emotions emerge, which produce the basic language of consciousness.
Emotions are how we feel what kinds of energies we are engaging and creating, and give us the first “language” from which our experiences of ourselves, others and our environment emerges.
The astral realm is called astral because when one focuses their Awareness/Consciousness there, it appears as though they are in an infinite field of space full of stars and starlight.
The Earth Element makes up the “physical aspects of your body,” which, sadly, most people trapped in scientific materialism think is who they are without realizing that matter cannot organize itself.
When we close our eyes and begin to dream, or still our minds and hold a specific intention — communicating with someone at a distance from you, like your mother, a friend, pet or favorite plant — we are essentially using the Cosmic Internet of Spirit (the intelligence of the Cosmos) to call up and connect to that part of ourselves which is the Higher Truth beyond the individuality of the ego and ego-mind.
With practice, one is very likely to start to see that person or being for which one’s intention is directed. That would be the spirit-soul of that being. At that point, you can and are interacting with the intelligence/soul-spirit of that person or being, and it with you.
As a Shaman, I refer to this practice as dreaming awake. The truth is that you, and all of us, are doing this all the time.
For example, how many times have you been driving a car and listening to the radio, a CD or podcast and had to rewind because you realized that you missed something important because you were not there?
Where were you?
What were you seeing, feeling, hearing or experiencing in those moments?
You were in the astral realm, the realm of consciousness infused with emotion, without which thoughts have no means of being “felt” or having “presence within us” just as you are totally unaware of all the information penetrating you at all moments due to radio waves and other waves full of information, or the thoughts of others around you.
If anyone just simply pays attention to what is happening within them naturally all the time, and starts working with these other dimensions of themselves, they come to realize that they have been using them, engaging them and even communicating with and through them all the time, but unconsciously.
Now that you understand what the astral realm is and how it functions, simply start paying attention to what is happening within yourself all the time.
You may need to practice meditation, tai chi, qi gong or related practices long enough to learn to calm the ego-mind’s constant chatter (which is largely fear-based), or you won’t be able to penetrate the fog of your own mind.
If you look into Carl Jung’s technique called active imagination, you will have an excellent, practical tool you can use if you have the discipline to get past your ego’s fear dancing through the practices I’ve already suggested.
If you’ve not seen or read Jung’s The Red Book, it will blow your mind. This book gives many amazing examples of what Jung says and painted for you to see and learn from during his regular practice of active imagination.
One can use plant medicines. Using them can make it easier to see within the astral realm due to the influences of the chemicals within the plants and the effects they have on the default mode network (ego network of the brain), making it more porous to the flow of information in one’s unconscious and super-conscious mind.
But people who use such medicines will come face-to-face with their own unresolved pains, traumas and shadow issues, which act as images on the screen of their minds and carry the energy, emotions, fears, biases and energies of the moments they were created until they do enough legitimate healing work to polish the mirror of their hearts.
The bottom line: Although plant medicines can and often do enhance astral imaging and experiencing, they generally start by showing you your own limitations that need to be healed.
That is the most important place to start one’s healing through astral work, whether it’s through active imagination, meditation, other forms of inner work or the use of plant medicines.
If one does not do this healing work, and tries to use astral projection and connection to guide themselves or others, they will not have the necessary awareness to differentiate their own story and challenges therein with the information being offered to them from Source.
This is exactly why so many psychics and pseudo-Shaman mislead people: They don’t realize they are not seeing or perceiving the other authentically, but only through their own unresolved issues, traumas, illusions, fears and story.
For those of you who would like a great resource to study and deepen your understanding of the astral realm and related practices, I suggest reading Astral Dynamics: The Complete Book of Out-of-Body Experiences by Robert Bruce.
Love and chi,
Paul