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Astral travel:
Many of you may recognise this as out of body experience, astral travel is where the spirit part of you leaves your body and travels, but you do not have to die for this to happen.
Astral travel has been used by indigenous peoples around the world in some ceremonies, usually by the shamans of the tribe.
Shamanism is classified by anthropologists as an archaic magi co-religious phenomenon in which the shaman is the great master of ecstasy. Shamanism itself was defined by the late Mircea Eliade as a technique of ecstasy. A shaman may exhibit a particular magical specialty (such as control over fire, wind or magical flight). When a specialization is present the most common is as a healer. The distinguishing characteristic of shamanism is its focus on an ecstatic trance state in which the soul of the shaman is believed to leave the body and ascend to the sky (heavens) or descend into the earth (underworld). The shaman makes use of spirit helpers, with whom he or she communicates, all the while retaining control over his or her own consciousness. (Examples of possession occur, but are the exception, rather than the rule.) It is also important to note that while most shamans in traditional societies are men; either women or men may and have become shamans.
There are a number of relatively common practices and experiences in traditional shamanism which are being investigated by modern researchers. While the older traditional practices are ignored by some researchers, others have begun to explore these older techniques. The emergence of the new field of the "anthropology of consciousness" and the establishment of Transpersonal Psychology as a "Fourth Force" in psychology have opened up the investigation of research into the nature and history of consciousness in ways not previously possible. Outside of academic circles a growing number of people have begun to make serious inquiries into ancient shamanic techniques for entering into altered states of consciousness.
Traditional shamans developed techniques for lucid dreaming and what is today called the out-of-the-body experience. These methods for exploring the inner landscape are being investigated by a wide range of people. Some are academics, some come from traditional societies and others are modern practitioners of non-traditional shamanism or neo-shamanism. Along with these techniques, the NDE or near-death-experience have played a significant role in shamanic practice and initiation for millennia. There is extensive documentation of this in ethnographic studies of traditional shamanism. With this renewed interest in these older traditions these shamanic methods of working with dreams and being conscious and awake while dreaming are receiving increased attention.
The ability to consciously move beyond the physical body is the particular specialty of the traditional shaman. These journeys of Soul may take the shaman into the nether realms, higher levels of existence or to parallel physical worlds or other regions of this world. Shamanic Flight is in most instances, an experience not of an inner imaginary landscape, but is reported to be the shaman’s flight beyond the limitations of the physical body.
Astral travel has and possibly still is a phenomena experienced by spiritual healers whilst giving absent healing, one healer that springs to my mind is Harry Edwards, he it is reported often travelled to the persons bedside whilst giving absent healing, his sanctuary is still going today, and healing still continues to be given there..
There are investigations currently underway today by psychologists and universities exploring the phenomena of out of body experiences, and I will let you know how they are getting on as soon as I have any information.
If you have any stories or experiences you would like to share, then please contact me, either by e-mail or you can use the feedback form below.
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