Struggling with the temptation to practice Astral Projection, please help

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Gem02

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Recently I’ve had an intense temptation to practice astral projection. I realize that, though it might be real it can only lead you to new age beliefs which is a bunch of baloney I cannot believe in. Though the powers might be real the beliefs they seem to inspire lead to nonsense, evil and/or delusion. Although I don’t believe in the variety of stuff New Agers might, I’m attracted by some of their practices. There are times when I think that some how I’m going to find some special truth all the others haven’t realized yet.

But why do I think I’m going to find some inspiration? I’ve read through forums, watched Youtube videos and read books of New Agers/occultists. I know what New Agers believe, most of which is silly, much of it is delusional and as a belief system, its incredibly shallow and weak. I just can’t believe in that stuff.

But astral projection (AP), lucid dreaming, and to some limited extent psychic powers intrigue me because they can happen to people unprovoked. Sometimes I hear about a person waking up floating over their body, being able to control their dreams, or getting accurate premonitions. The person doesn’t know what’s happening to them, try to find out and come upon info on the new age/occult and then thinking they’ve come upon something amazing they end up in the new age movement. Why are people being led away like this?

And even though I don’t believe in new age beliefs astral projection sometimes feels like a challenge to Christianity. And sometimes I think it is. Maybe satan is trying to setup all of this to lead people away. But how do we stop this and convince people they are being deceived when these experiences seem so more convincing to them?

The temptation to try out AP is so strong. Satan is trying to get me to doubt God and leave Christianity. “If AP is real, how can Christianity be?” “What if the New Agers are right to explore these powers?” “What if there is something I am missing out on, some truth, some clarity by not exploring AP?” These are the questions that plague me. I wrestle with whether it is me asking these questions or simply satan suggesting these to me. It feels like a constant mind game.

Please help. I need something to really convince me to stay away from AP and the occult in general. Every time I make a resolve to avoid AP, doubts just keep coming up into my mind. I am not Catholic yet. I want to be but over the years I feel like satan has been dogging me with doubts about just about everything to keep me away and its been working. But then I keep being called back to God and the Church.

Has anyone ever experienced temptation like this? I’m not sure what to do or to think anymore.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

P.S. Sorry for the length and I hope no one takes my criticisms of the new age movement as a personal attack because they are not.
 
I often struggle with an attraction to witchcraft, so I can sort of understand where you’re coming from. I think that even if AP is real there are very good reasons that God wouldn’t want us practicing it — and yes, it can be both real and a sin, there’s no reason that it being real would invalidate Christianity. I think it could be quite dangerous. If it’s real then you’re leaving your body open to hostile forces. If it’s fake then you’re inviting them in by asking for a spiritual experience. Actually, that goes for ALL spiritual experiences apart from the charismatic gifts. Even though they CAN be holy, in the Church’s tradition we’re not supposed to chase them around lest we wind up deceived by demonic counterfeits.

However… lucid dreaming, so long as you leave out any occult elements and just use it for fun or to probe your own psychology, is fine. Go ahead and try that out. Ask yourself questions while you’re in there and stuff.
 
Hi,
No offense, but I’m not quite sure why you automatically equate AP with Satan, or a religious belief system of any kind. In my mind it is a fact of mind body for SOME people and nothing more.
I think you have already set yourself up for a fearful approach, and in that case it would NOT be a good idea to tinker with something you feel is inherently evil or “of Satan” 🤷
 
Hi

Satan and his demons are behind this temptation. He is using your natural curiousity as bait. If you go down this road I suspect you will have a measure of “apparent” success so as to confirm to you that there is some “truth” to this and that you are on the right track. Then what will you do? Use the ouija board, tarot cards, seances etc? Once you go down this road, how will you turn back? When will enough so called “hidden knowledge” be enough? It is a trap.

Satan used the same trick with Eve, promising that if she ate of the tree that she would gain “hidden knowledge” of good and evil. And look what happened there. That way ;ies only ruin and destruction.

I have experienced this personally. Satan was using my falling into sin to get me to turn away from Christ, to doubt his mercy and then to despair and give up the good fight. Thankfully by the grace of God, this did not happen. What did he do then? I have an interest in spiritual warfare that is entirely healthy and legitimate. While reading up on this area I was struck by a very powerful temptation to try the ouija board. I am convinced that Satan used my curiousity to again try to lead me to deviate from the narrow path. Only through prayer, the Eucharist and confession was I able to overcome this temptation. I called on St Michael the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin for their help to not submit to this temptation.

Once I had avoided this evil Satan tried to use my interest in listening to sermons online to lead me astray. I listened to some sermons given by Protestant pastors. All good, sound biblical stuff. But what was the result? I found myself questioning the Real Presence, our reverence of the Blessed Virgin etc.

The point is this. Rarely will Satan and his demons lauch a full frontal assault. They can do by the way as St Pio, St Vianney and countlest others will attest to.

What they do is they exploit a legitimate activity or curiousity and try to pervert it and use it against us to lead us astray and to ruin.

I suspect this is what is going on with you. I would strongly caution you against any dabbling in the occult no matter how seemingly innocuous. If you do bite the bate you will have been snared and have given Satan and his demons a victory. There will be much malign rejoicing in Hell. I do not want to appear melodramatic but it is a fact that we battle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and the prince of this world, Satan. It is for this reason that the Word of God warns us against the occult.

Satan appears alluring, as an angel of light. He is seductive and tantalizes us with promises of knowledge, power, fame, success, wealth etc. What lurks behind such promises is always a lie for he is a liar and a murderer and the father of lies.

Do not be fooled. Call on the Holy Name of Jesus. Call oh His Blessed Mother and St Michael the Archangel to protect you. Use Holy Water, the St Benedict Medal, Miraculous Medal etc. as your armour. Put on the full armour of God and stock up your spiritual armoury with blessed sacramentals. Go to Mass, confession and Adoration as soon as possible.

Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.

Reject Satan’s false promises of “hidden knowledge”. Focus on Christ who is infinetly more powerful and who posseses and offers the only true wisdom and knowledge.

“Oh Holy Michael the Archange defend is in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil…”.

We are in a War, a spiritual war. We must know our enemy and his tactics and strategies. Be as wise as serpents yet as innocent as doves as cautioned Our Lord.

God Bless you. Keep the Faith.👍
 
I have not been on this site for ages;just happen to log in from an email and in a way I think that God has given me the grace to do so.
I recently had a conversation with a co-worker who in the past, has had positive readings from a fortune teller and just recently her daughter was at a party with a tarot card reader. The reader told the daughter there was a young man standing by her and he said," it wasn’t depression, my head hurt and I didn’t think the doctors could help me" , You see, this man was a close friend of the daughters and had committed suicide 2 weeks before. My co worker is Catholic but is open to other forces;I didn’t comment because I didn’t know what to say but I like the analogy of Eve in the Garden. I will use that because I truely believe that Satan uses those things we value most in order to win us over.
 
Satan has a masterful knowledge of the human condition. Though he cannot read an individual’s mind he can infer from our actions our deepest desires, our weaknesses, our interests etc. When I say Satan I am referring of course to his demons as he has delegated to them. Satan can only be in one place at any given time. He is a creature and is not omnipresent as God is. It is highly unlikely that Satan will personally bother with a ordinary individual. He tends to reserve only the most important tasks to himself such as engaging directly with the Saints such as St Pio, St Vianney, St Galgani, St Teresa of Avila etc. In other words he reserves the heavy lifting to himself. To his demons he entrusts the more “mundane” jobs.

Satan and demons are REAL. It is not medieval claptrap. In fact Satan’s best weapon is concealment and subterfuge. He has convinced “progressive” and “enlightened” minds that he does not exist. He does. He is a real person with intellect, will and intention. The only thing he lacks is a fleshly body. Our Lord was acutely aware of the demonic and it has been the constant teaching of the Church that this realm exists and is active. Anyone who doubts this is deceived and is in for a rude awakening.

Those who have used ouija boards often report that they have made contact with a deceased “child” which in reality is a demon posing as such. You see demons know how we humans experience loss and our desire to cling onto the dear departed and they exploit our grief and desperation to hook us and reel us in. The occult is powerful and can put us in touch with “the other side” but it is all an illusion, a counterfeit because Satan and dis demons hate God and HIS creation and human beings in particular and only seek to cause us pain, confusion, despair and even greater loss and grief.

It is only Our Lord who truly sets us free.

For many years I believed all talk of Satan, demons etc, was just fanciful, medieval story telling. I now know that they are real. But God is infinitely more powerful because he is the creator and they are just creatures when all is said and done.

Recall how the demons quaked in the presence of Jesus. They were terrified and rendered impotent, snivelling, quivering, pathetic wrecks. With one word our Glorious Lord rebuked them and cast them out. He is truly the Lord of Life. He was then and remains so to this day. One consecrated Host with Our Lord truly present is more powerful than a million nuclear bombs and for all the pain and havoc the satanic/demonic hordes can wreak they stand impotent before the Majesty of Almighty God, our most precious and beautiful Saviour Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit.

Give all praise and thanks that Satan’s schemes are exposed and brought ultimately to nought and though he may drag the world to the crack of doom he shall NEVER prevail or triumph over Christ and His Church.
 
Think about what you are saying here. You’re saying Christ is not enough for you. Could you look Him in the eye and say that?

Practice of the occult is a sin. It also happens to be FALSE but that is neither here nor there. It will accomplish nothing but alienating the practitioner from Christ. You certainly won’t achieve any out of body experience, that is ridiculous.

But even if it was real-- it isn’t-- why would anyone want to defy Christ? These are not arbitrary rules, if you violate them you are only hurting yourself, and thereby hurting God who loves you and wants what is best for you.

So please, for Christ’s sake, give up this nonsense.
 
I would strongly urge you not to practice Astral Projection. In the past I was involved in the Occult and the New Age. It is dangerous stuff. I am thankful that God helped me to get out of that stuff. Believe me, if you practice this stuff, it could open a door for demons to get a hold on your life. I was told that by a priest.

I would recommend that you pray for deliverance from these temptations. I would strongly recommend the Rosary. The Rosary has been said to be one of the most powerful prayers there is when it comes to spiritual warfare. I would also recommend the Divine Mercy Chaplet and also the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer. It might also be helpful to wear a properly blessed and exorcised Saint Benedict medal. Here are some quotes on the Rosary:

“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.”
–Saint Padre Pio

“Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world.”
–Blessed Pope Pius IX

“There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot solve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”
–Sister Lucia, of the seers of Fatima

“The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you’ll be amazed at the results.”
–St. Josemaria Escriva

You can find the approved blessing of the Saint Benedict Medal which includes the exorcism that the priest does here:

osb.org/gen/medal.html

The above link comes straight from the Order of Saint Benedict so I can assure you it is official. 🙂

Finally, I would also ask you to consider speaking to a priest about your problems. He can give you far more wise advice than I can.
 
Gem,
I would suggest that you stop reading New Age stuff and watching New Age videos! Use that time to find out more about Catholicism, and welcome to CAF, which is a great place to learn more about the Faith 🙂

You will learn that some great saints have been given the power to “bi-locate,” which I imagine is similar to astral projection, but this is a special gift from God for very holy people. You can develop that holiness–anyone can–but then you will no longer be interested in obtaining that gift, just in pleasing God.
 
Thank you all for responding. There are many posts here so I will try to consolidate my respond into one post which addresses the different things you have all suggested so far.

As I was researching AP a lot of people who first learn about it ask if they can become possessed or be hurt by Aping. They were always told no you can’t become possessed or get hurt. As far as I can seen no one has ever come back to a forum or author and written about being possessed by doing it. No one has come back and said that they were directly possessed by doing it. So, I don’t think AP is as dangerous as some people say here. I think what demons do is deceive people and lead them away. It is a matter of tricking them, and leading people astray. I guess you could argue that there is still a possibility for possession to happen but I think it is rare and many people have become possessed for much less than AP.

I don’t think AP in itself is bad. Like I said some people have had this happen to them spontaneously and saints have often had experiences like this by God’s grace but I do think that AP can be used to lead people into the New Age and occult which I do think is evil. AP is a spiritual thing and has to be associated with some kind of belief because when people attempt to actively produce them they run into books and information which tell them to believe in chakras, auras, “astral planes”, and chi energy. They also have to do things like going into trances. This to me is against the first commandment. It leads people away from God, truth, etc… in exchange for what I think to be rather weak beliefs of the New Age. There’s no truth there, some New Agers even admit to that. They just think everyone is right. In general, they are moral relativists.

Sometimes I do think I’m being tempted by demons. And it is quite embarrassing to have to admit it. I feel like people will think I’m crazy or being overzealous or something. Sometimes I’m not even sure. What if I’m being overly fearful and just attributing such temptations to something else. But how would I know? But doesn’t the church teach that there are demons prowling about seeking the ruin of souls?

I’ve been praying for more strength, more faith but I have to say it hasn’t gotten any easier. At one point I found it so hard to not doubt that there might be some other reality out there (even though I don’t want it or can hardly believe in it) that I couldn’t finish the rosary I was saying. I tried to just pulled through but it felt so empty and pointless I just couldn’t finish.

My interest in AP isn’t just because its sounds fun (it does) but that it can lead to finding out some truth about the universe, not hidden knowledge but a kind of experiential truth.

I think if I were to tell this to New Agers, or Pagans, or whoever actively pursues this kind of stuff they’d tell me I’m playing mind games with myself and that AP is real and they’d recount how AP completely change their perspective and I should try it. But from what I’ve seen New Agers have a wide variety and mishmash of beliefs so I don’t see any real truth there.

I know why I want to be catholic and why I couldn’t give it up easily. But what if I’m only holding on to these beliefs and there is some other reality out there. I’m not seeing Jesus and telling him I want to disobey him. I’m seeing Jesus and then having something like a UFO zoom by over head. How can I not look and wonder what that was. It shakes up everything I had previous thought was true.

Anyway, I know my post are really long but I think you all for reading them. I’m so confused and weak. This is becoming too much for me.
 
Gem02 said:
Recently I’ve had an intense temptation to practice astral projection. I realize that, though it might be real it can only lead you to new age beliefs which is a bunch of baloney I cannot believe in. Though the powers might be real the beliefs they seem to inspire lead to nonsense, evil and/or delusion. Although I don’t believe in the variety of stuff New Agers might, I’m attracted by some of their practices. There are times when I think that some how I’m going to find some special truth all the others haven’t realized yet.

But why do I think I’m going to find some inspiration? I’ve read through forums, watched Youtube videos and read books of New Agers/occultists. I know what New Agers believe, most of which is silly, much of it is delusional and as a belief system, its incredibly shallow and weak. I just can’t believe in that stuff.

But astral projection (AP), lucid dreaming, and to some limited extent psychic powers intrigue me because they can happen to people unprovoked. Sometimes I hear about a person waking up floating over their body, being able to control their dreams, or getting accurate premonitions. The person doesn’t know what’s happening to them, try to find out and come upon info on the new age/occult and then thinking they’ve come upon something amazing they end up in the new age movement. Why are people being led away like this?

And even though I don’t believe in new age beliefs astral projection sometimes feels like a challenge to Christianity. And sometimes I think it is. Maybe satan is trying to setup all of this to lead people away. But how do we stop this and convince people they are being deceived when these experiences seem so more convincing to them?

The temptation to try out AP is so strong. Satan is trying to get me to doubt God and leave Christianity. “If AP is real, how can Christianity be?” “What if the New Agers are right to explore these powers?” “What if there is something I am missing out on, some truth, some clarity by not exploring AP?” These are the questions that plague me. I wrestle with whether it is me asking these questions or simply satan suggesting these to me. It feels like a constant mind game.

Please help. I need something to really convince me to stay away from AP and the occult in general. Every time I make a resolve to avoid AP, doubts just keep coming up into my mind. I am not Catholic yet. I want to be but over the years I feel like satan has been dogging me with doubts about just about everything to keep me away and its been working. But then I keep being called back to God and the Church.

Has anyone ever experienced temptation like this? I’m not sure what to do or to think anymore.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

P.S. Sorry for the length and I hope no one takes my criticisms of the new age movement as a personal attack because they are not.
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DO NOT DO IT.

It cannot be emphasized enough: such practices are extremely dangerous! They can damage not only your psychological, but even your physical and certainly your spiritual health.

I strongly recommend continuing your process of conversion to Catholicism, which is super-abundantly (indeed, supernaturally) rich in perfectly healthy (and even health-giving) spiritual practices and exercises; also, I would recommend seeking out (i) an approved and (ii) well-recommended Catholic spiritual director -even now.

And pray : develop your relationship with the Lord; ask Him for help, grace and strength. Invoke your guardian angel to pray for you but also to protect you; moreover, pray the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.

I am and will be praying for you.

God bless.

P.S - to all (Catholic) CAF’ers: I really think the Church needs to start tackling and taking issue with Hollywood explicitly. Without doubt it is encouraging a lot of dangerous interests and practices, not to mention its general tendency to saturate society in and with complete moral filth.
 
the enemy can tempt people to seek Catholic spiritual experiences we hear about like ecstasy or visions or stigmata (just to distract them or make them proud or have the wrong approach), not just new age ones! the Saints who ACTUALLY had the stigmata, visions or ecstasies didn’t even seek or want them, they were humble and didn’t see themselves worthy, and just wanted to seek God and virtue. That’s what we should do, to grow spiritually and not go astray. I recommend focusing on DETACHMENT from any feelings or experiences. Seek real faith and virtue. If you are detached, it would be harder to tempt you to desiring spiritual experiences. And don’t do anything… you’ll just be sucked into something you’ll wish to escape, but it would be hard. See when God does something in our souls, that’s His action. When we SEEK it and want it, - for its own sake, and for feelings, rather than for His sake to love Him - the enemy can step in and give us a fake spiritual experience. For example, a fake vision. It’s a counterfeit… but that’s how he works. If we seek nothing but God, we’ll be more likely to receive from Him. Jesus said to St Catherine of Siena, and St Padre Pio said too - visions from God start out being humbling and a little uncomfortable due to our sins, then become very peaceful and consoling. Visions from the enemy, do the opposite: first there’s a lot of attraction, then afterwards, when it’s gone, a sense of guilt or sadness or anxiety.

you said that nothing happens to people who are involved in the new age (I’m not referring to AP itself, but to the new age in general, since i dont’ know much about AP. I think you must not seek it though). How do you know? Do you know when people get involved in the new age, first there’s a strong attraction, good feelings, etc, then after a WHILE it gets creepy, and then they see it’s dangerous. It’s all a mask, in the beginning. Don’t fall for the new age… don’t trust your feelings, trust the wisdom of the Church, and the experience of the Saints, who tell us how to distinguish good and bad spiritual experiences. I recommend reading them, going to Mass and Adoration, instead of thinking about all this.

When we die, God won’t ask: if we had spiritual experiences. He’ll ask, did we love Him and our neighbour.
 
Regarding astral projection: do you mean feeling like you’re outside your body?

Here’s what I’d say about it…

I have never read this in the lives of the Saints so I simply don’t know if they ever had this or not. (I don’t mean the new age technique of seeking this.) I know they had experiences while remaining in their body but feeling united to God and seeing visions, etc. Maybe someone can say if they ever left their body or not during life.

However - God gave us a body. We should not SEEK to leave it. We will leave it when we die. Sometimes people die and then come back, so they see what it’s like being without their body. It can often happen that that enemy tries (unsuccessfully or successfully) to attack them or deceive them, sometimes they see themselves in hell, sometimes Jesus rescues them, others see Jesus or the Blessed Mother.

Trying to achieve astral projection is wrong because:
  • it’s seeking a spiritual experience
  • how do you know you won’t be deluded? if you seek this, do you know how simple it would be for the enemy to give you an experience AS IF you’re outside of your body? Do you know that they can influence our imagination, use our memory, etc?
  • God ONLY gives things for a reason, for the good of our souls. Is this truly good for your soul?
  • if you seek it and experience it, how would you know if it wasn’t a trick, because YOU’RE the one who wanted it?
  • you can’t “make” God give you a spiritual experience - it’s His choice, in His will. If people seek this and experience it, - how do you know i’ts real, or just an illusion? Again it’s VERY easy for the devil to create this illusion, if you want it so much. If a person is detached, then they’re more open to what God wants, and God works in their souls. I’m not saying that every spiritual experiences that people want and then receive is from the enemy. I’m saying that it’s dangerous to seek such things.
  • I don’t understand the attraction. Even if you were to leave your body, do you realize there would be lots of demons swarming around you trying to tempt you? and they might not appear as demons either, but as something you like. Why go there? It’s not like you’ll see Heaven from this. If you’ll see Heaven in this life, that would be something God decides, not something you seek and “achieve” somehow.
Bottom line is: we CAN’T CAN’T achieve spiritual experiences. We can prepare ourselves for them, but ONLY God can choose to give it to us. No matter how much we want, or seek it, or try to achieve it, it would be fruitless unless it’s God’s will. It’s a gift! It’s not something we deserve. HOWEVER, - the devil doesn’t work this way. If we seek something, he might just give it to us. But why take this risk? The devil tempts only to hurt us, he tempts out of HATRED, - he hates you and wants to take you away from God out of hatred and jealousy for Him. But God loves you and wants to give you eternal life: so it’s not hard to choose your side, if you remember this 🙂

You said that you are considering Catholicism. Put away all distractions and go before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and pray to Him 🙂 pray to our Blessed Mother. She wants to help you, I’m sure, because she is our Mother.
 
I just read about astral projection. I think even if it’s possible for us to leave our body if God were to do this, - it would NOT happen like this. It would not involve meditation and then trying to “leave” parts of your body first. Again, if this were real, - God would do it in an instant, without us needing to have any of these special techniques! For example, in the Catholic Church, there are no techniques to get to spiritual ecstasy, or to have visions, etc, do you know why? Because we believe God is the one who initiates and does them. It’s not something “we do”. But in the new age, - and here’s the lie: they think we can do such things. This is a form of denial of God… it’s giving us God-like powers. We don’t have the ability to do such things at all.

Maybe it’s irrelevant here if a person can really leave their body, validly. The main issue I see here, is that in the new age, they try to achieve this. And that makes what they are doing wrong. Because it’s a denial that God is in charge. And once a person does this… would not the enemy step in and tempt them?

Leave your soul in God’s hands. Give yourself to Him… I recommend just giving all this control you are trying to achieve, to Him. He knows what is best for you. Don’t try to seek any of this or achieve it, you can’t. Even if it’s possible, you can’t. And God put you in your body.

I know that St Padre Pio could bilocate. This was a gift of God to help other souls. It was done by God and had a purpose. St Padre Pio did not “try” to bilocate. God did it for him. He said of souls who bilocate: “They cannot know if the body or the soul moves, but they are very conscious of what happens and they know where they are going.” Bilocation is not AP because it’s not travelling in the so called “spiritual realm” but the person appears to others, to help them, while being in another place too.

The real “spiritual realm” is not as the new age people say. It’s Heaven, hell, and Purgatory. Then there are good and bad spirits on earth, trying to help or tempt us. We get enough temptation as it is. Why expose yourself to any more.
 
“My interest in AP isn’t just because its sounds fun (it does) but that it can lead to finding out some truth about the universe, not hidden knowledge but a kind of experiential truth.”

Some questions for you…
  • Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He gave His teachings to the Church. If you want to know real revealed knowledge from God, seek the teachings of the Church.
  • how do you know you’ll get real truth or just a lie. Remember there are evil spirits out there too, not just good ones. Don’t trust in your judgement to discern among them: this comes with much, much valid Catholic experience WITH spiritual direction.
  • truth won’t come to you by being outside your body. Truth will come to you by knowing God.
 
Gem02 said:
But astral projection (AP), lucid dreaming, and to some limited extent psychic powers intrigue me because they can happen to people unprovoked. Sometimes I hear about a person waking up floating over their body, being able to control their dreams, or getting accurate premonitions. The person doesn’t know what’s happening to them, try to find out and come upon info on the new age/occult and then thinking they’ve come upon something amazing they end up in the new age movement. Why are people being led away like this?

.
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I don’t understand what you mean that you are tempted to practice AP. I’ve had lucid dreams before, and I’ve also had precognition ( I guess you could call it that). With the lucid dream, it just happened. I’ve spontaneously lucid dreamt quite a few times, only once did I wake up and was looking down on myself asleep and it was like being in two places at once. I’ve never been able to make it happen, it just does. So I’m not sure how one practices it.

Similar situation with precognition. It rarely happens and I can’t control it. My most vivid instances are both times I became pregnant, I just knew with a kind of certainty I otherwise never have that I was pregnant and both times were on the day we had sex, I just I would be pregnant. Another instance regarding my children. When I was dating someone before I met my husband, I really wanted children then and dreamt of my first born. Let’s just say that there was no way the man I was dating could be the father of that child. Three years later we broke up and when I did have my first child, she looked exactly the baby I dreamt that time.

These things have no logical explanation, and no I do not think that Satan is planting the picture of my future child in my dream. I don’t seek these things out.
 
Cider,

I have never had any strange or weird experiences (lucid dreams, floating over my body, premonitions, etc…) but I have heard accounts of people like you and from books I have read of stuff like this and in the past have sought out more info and finally found info and purposefully acheiving what comes to you naturally. That is, I sought out those experiences but you didn’t. The reason I say I’m being tempted is because unlike you I started to associate myself with a variety of new age beliefs surrounding such phenomenon. Such things have become a temptation for me to leave the Catholicism in pursue of the new age or at least something other than belief in Jesus.
 
Monica4316 said:
Maybe it’s irrelevant here if a person can really leave their body, validly. The main issue I see here, is that in the new age, they try to achieve this. And that makes what they are doing wrong. Because it’s a denial that God is in charge. And once a person does this… would not the enemy step in and tempt them?
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Yes, I agree Monica. I think at this point it is irrelevant whether or not AP is real. The question is whether or not I trust in Jesus and willing to abandon any other belief in favor of him. Do I trust the catholic church is it, the truth? This has been the issue all along and I didn’t even see it.

I really do want to find a spiritual director. But I’m not sure how to find a good one. Do I just call up a church and ask “Hello, are there any smart, dedicated Catholics here who can handle questions on doubt, the occult and is willing to talk one on one on a relatively frequent basis?”

Thank you everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
This is not an idea that should be humored. Astral projection is false. There is no evidence for it. It is an absurd, false occult practice that is no different from horoscopes or any of that nonsense.

All that stuff has been consistently debunked. It’s a sin because when you practice divination you are rejecting God in your heart, because you are looking for some other truth besides the Truth that God is offering. It’s not about demons possessing you or whatever superstitious nonsense, that’s absurd. It’s about the sin of pride. You are turning your nose up at God, that’s the sin.

And you’re doing it over something that isn’t even real! What a tragic irony.

Just cut it out. Quench your spiritual thirst with God, it’s what He’s there for.
 
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