THE 9 STEP ALGORITHM TO ASTRAL PROJECT

How to Astral Project, or enter the Sub-conscious Realm of the Imagination

The traditional view of astral projection is one in which the ethereal, or astral body, is projected out of the physical form to explore the physical environs and bring back information. Knowledge on how to achieve this type of projection is readily available in the public sphere and won't be gone into here. Instead what will be looked at here, is how to explore the realm of the sub-conscious or of the Imagination, which I think is a more pure and creative pursuit.

The 20th Century psychologist Carl Jung believed the unconscious minds of all beings were connected and that they contained all of the imagery of history, prehistory, of myths and legends. It was further his belief that the contents of the subconscious minds formed the basis for man's psyche, and were therefore archetypal. Previously, the map of the subconscious had been drawn up by the grandfather of psychology Dr. Sigmund Freud, in the latter half of the 19th Century. He warned of the dangers resulting from close interaction with the subconscious mind, due to the fact that it contained all of mankind's irrational impulses. This opinion is contested by the writings of William Blake, who referred to the Unconscious as the Imagination, and invited people to dive in.

Unfortunately, today people have become so disconnected from their subconscious mind that they have all but forgotten how to interact with it. Nowadays, people think any child who can pick up a stick and pretend that it is a spaceship as having a powerful imagination. But, in truth, they are not imagining anything at all, they are merely play-acting. The word 'imagination' implies the generation of imagery, and if you do not generate imagery you are not using your imagination to its fullest potential. The decline in the imagination is often blamed on television, and this is undeniable.

Television subjugates the imagination. Without the use of this imagination - in the fullest sense of that word - the average person loses faith in themselves and in reality, as doubts and fears crowd the mind. TV does not destroy the imagination, such a thing is impossible. It can only suppress it making people forget that they ever had its use.

Sigmund Freud's belief that the subconscious mind was somehow dangerous was a great influenced on his nephew Edward Bernays. Bernays was responsible for trying to limit people's interaction with their subconscious to try to engender a more cohesive society, in the United States. He has in the long run been criticised for creating passive, consumerist slaves. Whatever the case, Bernay's would have, no doubt, approved as television as a medium for stifling the imagination, and therefore control mankind's 'irrational' creative urges.

RAISING THE BAR

I have compiled a list of 9 steps in order to help you reconnect with the realm of the imagination more easily. I think it is interesting that there are 9 of these steps, as the number 9 is of great occult and psychological import. Furthermore, the steps have a non-linear algorithmic function in Step, 4a and 4b.

1. Close your eyes and imagine that there is a six inch wide line painted in white on the ground. It stretches off off into the horizon in both directions. Try to walk this line in your mind, one foot over the other.
2. Next, imagine that the line is actually a metal girder raised five ft above the ground and supported at either end. Now walk this in the same way.
3. Raise it 10 ft above the ground and walk it. At this point you should begin to notice a slight difference in the speed at which the ground moves relative to the girder. This is an effect that only your subconscious mind would include.
4a. Raise it to a height of 15 ft. and repeat.
4b. Continue raising the bar (by a factor of 10 ft.) until you feel ready to move onto the next step.
5. Next imagine a skyscraper made of iron girders. This skyscraper is still under construction. You take the elevator to the 50th floor.
6. Now you can walk around this environment. Pay attention to the foremen shouting orders to the workers. Watch from above as workmen weld the i-beams together.
7. Walk along a beam, and before you get to the end turn around and walk back the other way.
8. Jump off a beam and land on the next floor down.
9. Jump off the building and fly around the city.

After you complete these steps, go away and forget about it. Later, when you find a quiet moment to yourself, close your eyes and ask you subconscious mind to show you something. Your subconscious mind is always listening and does not really need any verbal command, merely your intent to be able to 'see'. At this point you should be presented with a lucid environment that is spontaneously generated, immersive and fully interactive. If this does not occur repeat the 9 Steps.

From my own experience, I needed only to do the exercise the one time, and then after the rest period, I was able to instantly access the Subconscious Realm of the Imagination. There I met my power animal, my guide to the Astral Plane. It was a giant falcon, or Thunderbird. It flew me to the ocean at the Edge of the World. There I saw a number of jagged rocks jutting up from the water. On the largest of these was a building, resembling a public toilet from the Georgian Era. Its concrete walls were badly eroded and the sea was breaking in. I dismounted and entered into the gloomy corridor. Among the detritus of cracked mortar, I saw rats turned to stone. Their little paws broken off at the wrist. There was no doubt about it, this was the lair of Medusa and her Gorgon sisters.

In the 9 steps, we start off visualising something relatively simple (a 2D white line) and escalate to a more complex 3D structure. This deliberate build up of the environment from first principles kicks starts the subconscious into generating worlds whenever you close your eyes and ask it to. You may want to adapt the 9 steps to suit your individual needs, for example I drew up these steps because I wanted to mentally overcome my innate fear of extreme heights. At any point you can use your imagination to visualise something that frightens you -- for example the open ocean -- and then come to terms with that fear. The most important thing to remember is that the subconscious mind will generate all of the imagery spontaneously and all you have to do is 'go with the flow'. There is nothing in your subconscious mind that can hurt you physically, or in any other way, so never be afraid of entering into the Gorgon's lair unarmed.

Once you have systematically used your imagination to generate an environment, as shown in the 9 steps above, the subconscious mind feels comfortable not only to generate imagery but entire story lines. It is basically like lucid dreaming, only the contents of the dreams have far more narrative and are far more believable than anything I have encountered whilst asleep. I have been witness to brightly coloured pterodactyls gliding down by sea cliffs, seen ancient satellites orbiting plasma worlds, and walked with the ghosts of Harlem. All of these things are contained in your subconscious mind. We have all been to these places numerous times.