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On The Astral
Mar. 16th, 2022 09:33 amI'm re-reading Robert Monroe's books on astral travel. He doesn't call it that because, he says, he doesn't know what "astral" means in this context. Neither do I but I like the way it sounds.
I assume the phrase was coined by some 19th century occultist. It has the feel of 19th century romanticism- of late 19th century romanticism. I think swirling mists. I think glittering stars.
Of course the planes themselves aren't particularly misty or glittery. Not unless you want them to be. Some are mundane, some are weird, some are transcendental. Monroe went through them from top to bottom- from hells populated by predatory demons (just ignore them, he says) through afterlife regions of various degrees of blessedness to spheres of pure being, unity and cosmic consciousness.
I'd forgotten how one of the "planes" he got to visit sounds awfully like it exists on Earth but in a different timeline. It is physical; the culture there is not dissimilar to ours- and at a roughly equivalent level of development- only they haven't harnessed electricity or fossil fuels and everything is done by steam. People travel in "buses" that are big, wide shambling wagons with rows of armchairs arranged in tiers so all the passengers have a view of the road ahead. Also they have railways. Narrow-gauge railways. Monroe studied their technology and it's somewhat different from ours but perfectly workable.
I don't travel on the astral myself. Not consciously. Though I think, as Monroe did, that we all do it in our sleep...
I assume the phrase was coined by some 19th century occultist. It has the feel of 19th century romanticism- of late 19th century romanticism. I think swirling mists. I think glittering stars.
Of course the planes themselves aren't particularly misty or glittery. Not unless you want them to be. Some are mundane, some are weird, some are transcendental. Monroe went through them from top to bottom- from hells populated by predatory demons (just ignore them, he says) through afterlife regions of various degrees of blessedness to spheres of pure being, unity and cosmic consciousness.
I'd forgotten how one of the "planes" he got to visit sounds awfully like it exists on Earth but in a different timeline. It is physical; the culture there is not dissimilar to ours- and at a roughly equivalent level of development- only they haven't harnessed electricity or fossil fuels and everything is done by steam. People travel in "buses" that are big, wide shambling wagons with rows of armchairs arranged in tiers so all the passengers have a view of the road ahead. Also they have railways. Narrow-gauge railways. Monroe studied their technology and it's somewhat different from ours but perfectly workable.
I don't travel on the astral myself. Not consciously. Though I think, as Monroe did, that we all do it in our sleep...
