Astral projection

[sacred1]

AMEN !! I agree with you all … thank you folks i will take your advice . that kind of induced stuff is not what is going on and i’ll let it go at that. i really appreciate all of your words of wisdom . it’s so hard to discern without a director. they are not on every streetcorner , for sure…

 

[asd72]

I have experienced Sleep Paralysis. There was no sense of flying or of floating. I just couldn’t move.

ICXC NIKA

Yes but there are other symptoms also caused by sleep paralysis, one of which is a floating or flying sensation. It can happen as you are falling asleep like the OP experienced.

 

[thistle]

stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html

 

[RubyT]

A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide On Reported Revelations by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR may be of help to you. Although, the book is about private revelations, it touches on discerning paranormal and paramystical experiences. Sections of this book may be of help to you and may lead you to reliable church sources concerning this phenomena. If you truly are experiencing this sort of phenomena, then you need to find a good Spiritual Director who is knowledgeable in this area to guide you.

Thanks Sonic for the book reference.

A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide On Reported Revelations by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR

I do believe I will check it out.

 

[RubyT]

thistle,

Thanks for the link on sleep paralysis.

Once in my 20’s (yep along time ago) during half/sleep I ‘may’ have experienced that Hag phenomenon. It felt like the Devil himself was sitting on my chest, it was NOT pleasant. It scared me so much I was shaking when I was woken up by my roomate slamming the door on arrival to the house.
It literally paralyzed me and I felt death very close, blackness was enveloping me and I could not move. I was half /sleeping but having this awful nighmare, when I woke up I was still paralyzed and being tormented (held down) for a few split seconds.

I always wondered what that was about and I will never forget it. Fortunately, it has never happened again.

 

[centurionguard]

I’ve seen a similar thread in the past that brought up this topic about Astral Projection or Travel. It was famed and coined by a famous Buddhist Monk named Lobsang Rampa who wrote numerous books in the 1960’s and 70’s. From a Catholic standpoint I stay clear of such pursuits that are studied practices of the occult in nature.

 

[GoldenLight]

I once had an AP experience… … At the time I hadn’t even heard the term…

I think you have the right idea… Do not encourage the experiences, they are what they are…

In my case, It actually served as a warning…

 

[centurionguard]

I once had an AP experience… … At the time I hadn’t even heard the term…

I think you have the right idea… Do not encourage the experiences, they are what they are…

In my case, It actually served as a warning…

I have had similar experiences with AP and like you I didn’t know what it was until I had studied this topic. Ultimately; though for a Catholic who delves into the interests of these weird experiences must ask themselves if it takes us away from our focus on God and you realize it for yourself in humility, stay away from it.

It goes the same for some who preoccupy themselves in the Dream-World etc.
If it takes your focus away from God your meddling into things you shouldn’t be.

 

[zertech]

I do not know as can no one here know what you are really experiencing and i would advise you to proceed with the upmost caution, however the other day i was watching “through the wormhole” on the science channel. Its a show that explores various scientific theories.

On thing that the show tackled was what they called a 6th sense. Among other things the show documented multiple experiments which just about proved the existence of some sort of 6th sense. by that they meant an aditional way of gathering information about something in our world other than through our main 5 senses.

One experiment involved covering the good eye of a man who was blind in one eye and than displaying pictures of faces showing an assortment of emotions. The men would demonstrate an unconscious facial reaction to what was being displayed in-front of them.

another experiment involved separating 2 people in rooms that were completely sealed off from the earths natural magnetic waves and than they filled both rooms with the same electro magnetic frequency and for 15 minutes or so the 2 people would sit in the dark and at different times throughout that 15 minutes a light would flash in front of the eyes of one the people. What was interesting was that when the light flashed in front of one persons eyes the other person described (After the experiment) that she felt like she saw a bright light flashing at the same time and in the same side of her vision as was actually flashed in front of the other person. This is significant since neither of them new what this experiment entailed and again proved that there is some sort of additional way we humans attain information about our environment and the people around us other than through our 5 main senses.

There were other things, and i highly recommend watching this to anyone its extremely interesting it examines the 6th sense and the nature of consciousness as like an additional part of the fabric that makes up reality or at-least who we are as living beings so like physics and chemistry and than consciousness.

Now although this is not astral projection it may be fair to say that if your average person has a built ability to use this 6th sense on an unconcious level, than perhaps what you are experiencing could be an advanced form of what i just talked about. Just like there are people who are born with amazing abilities to do math, or play chess, or sports perhaps you were born with an unusually acute 6th sense.

Its interesting reading what you said though because as a young child i think i may have experienced something similar. When i was young(probably like 5) i remember having dreams where i would come out of my body and look down and see myself sleeping and i would be able to float around and see my town and than eventually i would sort of fall back into my body and wake up. Occasionally there also used to be some sort of scary monster thing that would scare me back to my body but still remember how vivid and completely lucid those dreams were. And they repeated themselves very frequently.

 

[zertech]

I have had similar experiences with AP and like you I didn’t know what it was until I had studied this topic. Ultimately; though for a Catholic who delves into the interests of these weird experiences must ask themselves if it takes us away from our focus on God and you realize it for yourself in humility, stay away from it.

It goes the same for some who preoccupy themselves in the Dream-World etc.
If it takes your focus away from God your meddling into things you shouldn’t be.

just as a thought though, if such experiences are actually real and not a dream or some kind of illusion than it would stand to reason that God would allows us to have those experiences for a reason, as to what that reason could be no one knows and i would say may not be for us to persue directly but allow events in our lives to take due course and reveal God’s will for us and how AP could be part of our journey towards holiness. Perhaps just to lead us to a life event that is needed for us to find our vocation or meet a specific person. Only God knows.

Just a thought.

 

[centurionguard]

just as a thought though, if such experiences are actually real and not a dream or some kind of illusion than it would stand to reason that God would allows us to have those experiences for a reason, as to what that reason could be no one knows and i would say may not be for us to persue directly but allow events in our lives to take due course and reveal God’s will for us and how AP could be part of our journey towards holiness. Perhaps just to lead us to a life event that is needed for us to find our vocation or meet a specific person. Only God knows.

Just a thought.

Perhaps yes its true Only God knows. However; Satan too is a master of deception.
I think its prudent to follow the teachings of the Church in these matters.
And the Church recommends staying away from such interests.
There are many things in this world beyond the capacity of human understanding.
Realizing this is humbly a good starting point not to delve into things beyond our understanding and humbly let the Spirit of God guide us through prayer…

 

[centurionguard]

I found an old closed thread worthy of mention.

In particular I liked the following quote from post # 3 which strongly recommends against practicing Astral Projection.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=187692&page=3

from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7E.HTM

III. “You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me”

2110 The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.

Superstition

2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.41

Idolatry

2112 The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of “idols, (of) silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.” These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them."42 God, however, is the "living God"43 who gives life and intervenes in history.

2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon."44 Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast"45 refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.46

2114 Human life finds its unity in the adoration of the one God. the commandment to worship the Lord alone integrates man and saves him from an endless disintegration. Idolatry is a perversion of man’s innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who "transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God."47

Divination and magic

2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future.48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.

My hope is that the Moderators close this thread because its not worthy of entertaining thoughts about for the good spiritual welfare of all Catholics.

 

[zertech]

I havent read everyone’s comments however discussion about this topic does not have to a matter of superstition or magic. Just because we do not understand something does not mean it is magic. as in my previous post, there is clear scientific evidence that there are ways in wich humans are able to sense the world around them that are completely unknown/ not understood.
The danger of topics like this is not the actual idea itself but how it is approached. I think it is very interesting if it is approached with a sort of scientific method while always remembering what is most important is honoring and serving god.
Chances are if someone is awake and they think the are astral projecting they are hallucinating for one reason or another, there are many reasons why a person may experience hallucinations, however that’s just another lens through which we can look at this topic.
As for wondering if satan/demons could have a role in it, if someone is in a state of grace they are pretty much un touchable(atleast to a degree where something like astral projecting would manifest), plus there’s nothing evil about the idea of astral projecting in itself.

 

[sacred1]

again - i want to thank all of you for your insights on this subject. again , i want to emphasize to you that i NEVER tried to practice AP ( i never knew there was such a thing until recently ) . these experiences have just occurred on their own. i do not intend to follow these new agers or whoever they are - what they try to practice is wrong and scary to me. i do not know when they happen - they just do . i have prayed and prayed for enlightenment from Jesus and have begged Him many times to help me for clarity. i NEVER want to go against His Holy Will . however , they continue . so i have accepted them as a part of my life and i do not linger on them. i only wanted to know if there was someone who could clarify astral projection for me as i was wondering if that is what was happening to me . looking at the internet i became frightened at all the crazy stuff going around and i thought " dear Lord help me - if this is what it is - make it stop. " so - to all - again i thank you - just keep me in your prayers and i will do likewise…pax

 

[sacred1]

dear moderator-
i am sorry if this thread has violated any rules of this forum . it was not intentional …if necessary please close this forum for the good of all - thank you

 

[deafjazzy]

dear moderator-
i am sorry if this thread has violated any rules of this forum . it was not intentional …if necessary please close this forum for the good of all - thank you

Shame to see this forum closed because of someone believe they are not God’s. I keep it to myself because others would say it is all work of the devils. I find them so beautiful and peaceful within me.

 

[Matrix_Refugee]

I have experienced Sleep Paralysis. There was no sense of flying or of floating. I just couldn’t move.

ICXC NIKA

Yeah, if anything, sleep paralysis was at one point conflated or confused with incubus-like demonic attacks. The old name for sleep paralysis was “hag syndrome”, since some people who had it claimed to have woken up seeing a grotesque figure sitting on their chest, though the figure would fade from sight as the person became more alert.

 

[BluesPicker]

I believe Thistle’s advice is very sound and good. Opening one’s mind in an effort to participate in this in experience is forbidden. If one who is so close to God as St. Padre Pio then most assuredly this person would not have to ask anyone in this forum to explain to him what to do.

  There are prayers that describe the efforts of those who are the devil's people occultists who are fooled into thinking they can travel.  There are those who engage in this AP experience empowered by drugs, some apparently derived from animals and plants. But all of these engage in this with nefarious intentions that totally un-Godly.   The result is always the same they end up giving something to a demon or the devil himself that which is expressly forbidden by God.  And once they do the latter act whether willfully or unknowingly to that demon  this demon  has enslaved them so totally that the pleas and efforts  of those who love them seem some sort of affronts to compassion and love. They have walked so far away and grieved the Holy  Spirit, He has departed.  Then latter at some point they may even lament their mistake, much as Satan himself often does but never will they have the Grace of Reconciliation.  Never will there be true repentance and penance, unless someone is praying much for them.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=8755

Father Lawrence J. Gesy, cult consultant for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and lead author of “Today’s Destructive Cults and Movements,” has encountered people with these abilities for many years in his work and believes everyone has psychic abilities to some extent.

“A mother has psychic ability. She knows when her child is in harm’s way,” he said. "Haven’t you ever known that something was wrong before it happened? We all have this. It’s an instinctual psychic ability.

“There are some who have the ability — and I’ve experienced people like this — whose powers are so strong they can see beyond the veil of this world into the next. I don’t understand it, but they do. And I really believe that is just a part of their makeup.”

The problem is when people who have these abilities put them to the wrong use, such as acting as fortune-tellers. Scripture has shown God’s disdain for such practices:

“Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller or soothsayer, charmer, diviner or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead. Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord.” (Deut 18:10-12)

Many Catholics fall for these ploys, mostly because they don’t understand Christian prayer, Father Gesy says.

“Meditation is praying to God or to the saints for their intercession. We’re not channeling them. The difference is that we’re invoking and praying to them. A medium is inviting the spirit to enter them and speak through them or use them.”

The channeling of saints is never of God, Father Gesy said.

“We don’t channel saints. We cannot ask a saint to come and use us and our voice to speak through us. A saint won’t do that. It may appear to be a saint but remember, Satan is an angel of light and he can appear to be of God. You may think it’s God, but God is not channeled nor are the saints.”

According to an article by Mark P. Shea, editor of the Catholic Exchange Web site, titled “You Can Trust Me, I’m A Psychic,” he explains: "It is one thing if a person is made the recipient of a supernatural insight or gift (as for instance, St. Bernadette was when the Blessed Virgin appeared to her at Lourdes). It is quite another if a person defies God’s express will by seeking supernatural knowledge and power in ways the Lord has expressly forbidden in the First Commandment.

“And of course, the mere fact that someone has an unsought dream or supernatural insight about the future still does not mean that person is necessarily being visited by God. As Saints Peter and Paul say, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And he ‘disguises himself as an angel of light.’” (1 Pt 5:8, 2 Cor 11:14)

---

   There are people that may have some abilities that are imperfect remnants of those before the Fall of Man.  These remnants put them on the same plane and make them targets for demons.  God has reasons for setting boundaries or guide lines or laws.

BP

 

[puzzleannie]

i have been having experiences for years now which i have had spiritual advice about from 2 trustworthy priests who concluded that these " flying " or “floating” experiences i am having after nite prayer are probably from God.

you have spiritual advice from two trusted priests
why are you asking strangers on the internet
and why are you getting concerned about new age concepts that don’t even relate closely to what you describe?
stick with the priests, and stay off those goofy internet sites.

 

[CompSciGuy]

I have some friends who have very big imaginations and are always fascinated by these sorts of things. I think their experiences and fascinations are inspired by movies that they watch and books that they read. I remember a friend of mine saying that he and his friend were engaging in some kind of ESP nonsense and that it was actually working. One time he did it and claimed he saw a demon in the process. It didn’t surprise me that he had seen “The Rite” that very night; he is very affected by scary movies and obviously this movie greatly aroused his imagination beforehand and it helped create his “experience” with ESP. I would say try to think about it objectively; when you are going to sleep a lot of times that is when your mind is in-between consciousness and unconsciousness; it is very possible that your experience are a part of your subconscious manifesting themselves in this muddled state, and the experience is very vivid because you are crossing boundaries into the dream-world but aren’t quite there yet. Also think about whether some outside influence (perhaps the internet material) isn’t causing this.