Are you familiar with the Astral and the Magick of it?

I am familiar with two types of astral work, but have only a passing experience with each. The first being the practice of astral travel, or “out of body experience.” I have used this a couple of times to see people I am close to. Usually, I try to conceive of at least some type of ritual to build gnosis for a magickal working, but my astral travels so far have always been spontaneous. I use deep-relaxation meditation, and then will myself to see the person in question.

My results have been limited. Once the person I went to see said they were engaged in an activity similar to what I saw at that time. No one has ever claimed to have felt my presence, nor have I seemed to have effected anything physically. The limited results do not surprise me, as I need to come up with some concrete ways to help me release my astral form. The only reason I think I had any success is that I went to people I have close ties with. Once perfected, I think it would be an excellent means of divination.

The second type of astral work I am familiar with is when a practitioner creates their own astral space for ritual or other purposes. I recently began serious work on building an astral temple. Every night as I go to sleep, I enter my temple, building up the details each night and thus making the realm as real as possible.

I would say, the major benefit of this type of work is exercising your visualization skills. It also gives you a safe room to retreat to if you find yourself under assault. There’s folks who say you can do all your work in the astral, and that it’s just as powerful or even more powerful as doing physical ritual. For every one of them, there’s someone who will tell you that doing all your work in the astral is a waste of time.

I see both sides, but lean towards the later. Yes, I guess you could do all of your work in the astral, but it seems to me to be the long ass way to do it. Creating something astrally, at least for me, takes a lot of time and repetition if you’re doing it right. Physical tools can take time to create as well, but at least you have it and can easily reach for it when needed.

Hope that answers your question. Feel free to ask more.