Last Updated on January 7, 2021 by astrologerbydefault

I see so many people on Facebook and ‘spiritual’ websites claiming that they visit the astral realms or that they will teach you how to access the astral worlds. If they were genuinely visiting the astral and other dimensions they would never do this!

So what is the “astral” realm and why do we go there? Sleep/Nidra in Sanskrit, is a very complicated phenomenon. When you sleep quite a few things happen, for one the flow of pran/vital energy of the body changes its movement. When you are awake (Jagrit awastha) the pran energy is first brought at the ajnya chakra and distributed around the body, it is used by the organs of action and the organs of senses. But when you are asleep, this pran is consumed at the third eye chakra itself in a rather mysterious way, and used in repairing and rejuvenating the body.

One part of this pran, during sleep, is used to access the dream state (Swapna awastha). This dream state is where you partly access your own personal sub-conscious. You might get very vivid dreams, remember them, or you may not, but your Self stays within your energy bodies. You do not travel astrally or visit the other dimensions or access the collective-sub-conscious state. There is no need to do so as your own sub-conscious is competent enough to deal with matters related to your limited needs. Most of those who get excited about ‘astral travel’ are just experiencing vivid dreams and guidance from their own sub-conscious, a very normal and regular activity.

But then for some of you there is a need, a requirement to travel out of your energy bodies. Then you will be travelling in the ‘astral’ or the other dimensions. This is now quite serious. The 12^thhouse is the most important for this analysis. You will see combinations like the following in the chart.

1. Combination which grant the necessary dissociation of the bodies so that the astral body can separate from the physical. Eg ascendant sign /lord with Ketu.
2. Combinations which allows a link to the astral planes, so that you will find the routes. Also the planes need to become stable enough for you to enter them. And the astral body also to have the necessary ‘fluidity’ to slip out of the other energy bodies. Eg Moon in the 8^thor 12^thhouses or in the Scorpio or Pisces signs.
3. Combinations to ensure that you have the wisdom to travel the astral responsibly and remain safe there. E.g Jupiter and/or Venus, conjunct/aspecting the moon and/or the ascendant lord or the 12^th.
4. You do not enter the astral for entertainment, you travel there to work off your karmas and to serve. E.g. Saturn or the 6^thhouse, connected to the Ascendant Lord/sign or the moon

Travelling to the astral is a burden. You sacrifice the rest and rejuvenation of your sleep state and go to work in the other dimensions. You do not sleep when your astral self is out. When your astral self separates from the rest of the body layers, the entire body gets disturbed. You wake up with a pressure band around your head and somehow the center of your head ‘pains’. This ‘headache’ can go on for days. It is not a migraine. Your astral had separated while you slept and in the morning when you wake up it had not integrated back properly. If this goes on for a prolonged period of time, this imbalance manifests as a disease which has no physical reason and no physical solution.

I had a client who was continuously travelling out of her body for years. Not sleeping for years too. It was her karma to go and work every night. Seeing her photos from before this astral stuff started happening and her present self was disturbing. It was like she had aged 15yrs in a span of 3-4 yrs. This client had developed spots and black patches in her vision, the doctors could not see anything wrong with her. ‘Seeing’ the energies of the astral was destroying her eyes in the physical world.

Now a few points for those who are required by Karma to travel astrally. The astral is generally not a friendly place so this is what you should be aware of.

• The astral movements always destroy the physical body. You will wake up tired and drained, with a strange ‘headache’, nausea and dizziness to some extent. When you ‘see’ your energy bodies after you get back it will be like they are overlapping but not completely integrated. You should always consciously fix the bodies back into their places using the full form of the Gayatri mantra. I had written about it in this post here. Any damage to the astral body can take upto 6 months to manifest in your physical body. So better safe than sorry, use the Gayatri and fix them back intheir places immediately after every travel.
• You will be working in the astral, so you will have your enemies there too. So now when you are unaware of the astral (when awake), you will be attacked. These entities are often called Vetal or Pishachya in Sanskrit. I had this experience once, a Vetal had from his own dimension inserted small ‘injections’ so cleverly into my aura that it took a couple of days of queasiness to figure out what was happening. So be alert, make your protection amulets, or clean yourself everyday with peacock feathers.
• Any interaction with any entity/spirit in the astral leads to exchange of energy. A client was a tantrik in his several past lives. He had deep love for Shivshankar and thus in a life he changed and started his Self-discovery. His enemies still in that path of dark energies are now high level Pishachyas. They still visit him every night and challenge him to fight. He would fight them thus lose his energy to them. His aura was like cold ice. My aura touched his when we met and he instantly drained my energies, I got so dizzy and nauseated that had to drink a couple of lemon sodas (sea salt and lemon) to rebalance. So while moving in the other realms focus on what you have come for and shield yourself always. Do not interact needlessly with the denizens there.
• Then your work in the astral will bring you in contact with entities you owe energy to. As long as they take what they are entitled to it is ok. But more often they will insert tiny ‘hooks’ into your aura and use you continuously like a energy battery. This will cause tiny chronic health problems for you. So again shield yourself always.
• And then as you are now aware of these secret energies, you will become the ‘energy protector’ of your family. If anyone curses or ill-wishes any of your family members living in your house, that negative energy will attack you first. So be aware.

Now with this note of caution, there are several good things also in the astral. But you will be called to get them only if it is your Karma. If you are to receive positive energy from the astral it will be given to you in a gentler way. E.g. one client often sees her ‘higher self’, ‘healing’ her current self when asleep. Your astral body looks exactly like you, height/weight everything. But your ‘higher self’ looks different, it may look like you, but more likely it will look like the person you were when you had reached your highest level of spiritual development. My client sees hers as an aged, thin but very brilliant old sanyasi man.

(There is someting called sleep paralysis which is misconstrued as astral travel. Have written about it in this post here. )

You are now a resident of the physical manifested world, not the astral. When your body dies you will return to the astral, not now. While residing in the physical body, if you work too long in the astral, your physical body will deteriorate and you will return to the astral earlier. You should have been in Nidra/sleeping, using your pran energy to rejuvenate your physical bodies, but you were using up the pran in travelling and working there. So you have to make extra efforts to restore your physical health and maintain your manifested form. There is no other way, you have to do Dhyan. You can do reiki healing and other ways of manipulating energies but the best and most deep way is Dhyan. Reiki etc is healing energy from the universe. Dhyan is you yourself actively working with your own pran. It is a difference like heaven and earth!

Always remember that the astral and other dimensions are just like foreign places. They are unknown and more likely dangerous. You do not travel even upto the grocer’s shop unless you have something to buy. So why would you be travelling into the other realms unless you have a clear and pressing reason? It takes significant energy! If you have work, go there and do it, but always take adequate precautions. And steer clear of the online sites where someone offers to teach you ‘astral projection’ in 300dollar online class. It is not a ‘projection’, your astral body, you yourself, leave and go elsewhere. ‘You’ come back before you wake up. This is a burden and is not for everyone.