|
Out of Body Experiences & Astral
Travel
Many people have had what is known as
Out-of-Body (O.O.B.) experiences. Unfortunately few are willing
to admit to these
let alone discuss
them. Fear of being thought of as deranged is the usual reason.
Usually the experience is amazing, and is often unwanted. Whoever
experiences this will never forget it. For almost all, it will
change their perception of life forever and almost certainly
any fear of death they had harboured will be dispelled. For many
years
I didn’t discuss my own experience (described below) except
with my family members, and it was for the same reason, I was
afraid of being seen as an oddity, or worse a liar. Some ten
years passed
before I mentioned it one evening at a friend's, and that was
because another guest related a story similar to mine.
My experience differed to most in that it happened, not as
a result of being in hospital or being ill. Evidence suggests
that most
O.O.B. experiences happen whilst under anaesthetic. These people
usually describe their experience as hovering at ceiling height
and looking down on their inert body. They can describe this
in the minutest detail. Some who are near to death will continue
the
journey, which is described as moving at speed through a long
dark tunnel. They see a light at the end of the tunnel as they
are propelled
towards it.
On emerging into the light they are
enveloped in an overwhelming sensation of love and peace. Sometimes,
at this stage, relatives
or friends may welcome them. They are also aware of a glowing
figure or immense light and may even be shown the present life
they have
experienced with all the wrongdoing as well as blessings. In
the case of those under anaesthesia it seems that if the operation
if successful, this is the point at which they return to their
body. Those who have ‘travelled’ as far as this,
return and will live their lives with different standards and
values than
they perhaps once did.
Whilst most people have a variation on the theme, all experience
joy and peace. Many, like myself, do not wish to return to their
bodies. They are usually given a choice, but some are told, as
I was, that their task on earth is not complete. Many people
believe that Jesus Christ is seen by them and/or speaks with
them. Of course
a spiritual being, encompassed in golden light, in such circumstances
as these, is likely to prompt this feeling. Without wishing to
be pedantic, or disbelieving, I think that it is more likely
to be a guide from a higher level. When you consider how many
people
are at near death or having O.O.B. experiences on a Global level,
it is highly unlikely that Christ would appear to every soul,
whilst a personal guide or guides almost certainly would.
Long after I experienced my own O.O.B. I heard of Elisabeth
Kubler-Ross, an international researcher into the paranormal.
She is an American
doctor, psychiatrist and scientist and lends credence to O.O.B.
experiences as she experienced this personally. Kubler-Ross researched
some 20,000 cases for corroborative evidence. There are many
books which have been written about this subject in great depth.
At midnight, a young couple had taken the last puppy of a litter
of ten from Birmingham. Only hours before that, Paul, my husband,
had motored hundreds of miles to fetch my parents here-my mother
was again extremely ill.
Having had to hand-rear the litter of
puppies because their mother had had kidney failure, I was
already exhausted when my
parent’s
arrived. My mother looked dreadfully ill and could not eat solid
food, so, having cooked a Sunday lunch, I liquidised her food
before feeding her. Once everyone's Sunday lunch had been served
up, I
couldn't face eating my own. Placing it in the oven I said 'I'll
eat later- I must lay down as I feel deathly tired.'
Some ten minutes later I lay down on
the bed, fully dressed, but expecting to sleep. It was 1.1Opm.
I was trying not to dwell
on
where I would find the energy to nurse my sick mother, as well
as looking after the rest of the family. All I knew was that
I was totally out of steam and near cracking up. Then, barely
before
I’d had time to close my eyes I suddenly found myself hurtling
through the tree-tops opposite our home and on, into an azure
sky.
I passed into a scene of unimaginable
beauty, vivid with colour I’d never seen on Earth. Filled
with an indescribable peace and joy, and touched with a sense
of awe, realising a strange nirvana
betwixt life and death. I knew that I was dying. Whilst I saw
no one, I sensed an overwhelming Presence of Love. Then I heard
a
voice neither male nor female-just a voice, strong and sure.
'It's your choice. You are free to decide, although your tasks
on the
Earth plane are not complete. Have faith. You will be granted
strength.'
I remember weeping tears of joy, whilst begging
this 'entity' permission to stay where I was. I wished to stay
within this
wonderful place
of peace and joy. Yet even as I longed for this oblivion from
earthly tasks and pain, my mother's face swam into my sub-conscious
and
I knew that I must return. She was totally dependent upon me.
At the exact instant of the 'knowing thought'
from my higher self, my spiritual body zoomed once more into
the inert shape,
which
was the physical me, still lying on the bed. It felt as though
a strong elastic band had catapulted me into my own body.
Only twenty minutes had passed since I had
entered the room and experienced what felt like a lifetime. I
knew I had not been
asleep. Brushing away the tears which still clung to my cheeks,
I got up
from the bed and went back downstairs to the family.
Nor could I hide the peace and joy, which
still engulfed my entire being. I was aware of radiance surrounding
me. I told my husband
was had happened to me and
later, my parents. They could all see the radiance for it showed in my eyes
and demeanour. The promise of received strength was not in
vain. Six months passed
of nursing my mother back to health. Just as she returned to her own home,
without warning, my husband and finally my daughter succumbed
to illness. Both were hospitilised.
It was amazing, but I rarely felt tired and my strength continued, as did
the feeling of peace and joy for a long time after that out-
of- body experience.
It remains something I cannot write about without becoming emotional.
It is strange now to realise that for fear
of being thought insane I dare not tell other than family-not
for years. Now so many people are coming forward
to tell of similar experiences. Yet, there will always be those who doubt.
But to
those who have experienced it there is no doubting, and their lives take
on a new maturity, an inner knowledge which confounds fear of
death. In a life
of
many small miracles and strange happenings, my out-of-body experience remains
for me perhaps the most joyous and profound spiritual event of my life. It
surpassed the joy of becoming a mother and even the delight of discovering
my healing gift.
This is something we all do, whilst asleep.
Although few are aware of their spirit/soul leaving their physical
body to visit people and places. Others
remember with
great clarity, vivid psychic dreams which strangely ‘come true’ in
their waking state. They may wonder how they knew this or that event had taken
place. This is usually where a soul has undertaken astral travel. If this happens
during the daytime when the sleep time is more of a short, but deep nap, the
effect can be rather frightening. The physical body can feel imprisoned, or
held down by a great weight and though one is aware of being partially awake,
feels
powerless to move. This happens when the spirit has not completely returned
to the physical.
On holiday in the Canaries I awoke in
the early hours having had a vivid ‘dream’.
I’d driven back to my childhood village, some 400 miles away and parked
the car near one of my parent’s neighbours. Busy locking my car, another
neighbour approached me and said ‘You can’t park there…Stan
is being buried today.’ I asked her if my mother knew, but she didn’t
answer, just looked at me oddly. (My mother had been dead for some years). So
I moved the car and went towards my parent’s home where I saw my mother
standing outside her gate with Stan. They were bathed in light and smiling. The
shock pulled me out of my dream state and I knew that Stan must have passed over.
When I returned home a letter was waiting from that neighbour to tell me Stan’s
funeral was on the very day I’d dreamt…I could only have ‘known’ this
by seeing it during astral travel.
I have had so many dreams concerning
close friends in which I have been with them, in my dream state
and when I awake, have
realised they must be experiencing
great problems, illness or near death. When contacting them they have, without
fail, confirmed what I’d felt during my dream state.
One patient with whom I enjoy a particularly
close friendship has stated that she has been woken up from
deep sleep, aware
that I was standing by her bed.
She said she knew it was me, as she recognised my voice and I’d said to
her ‘Don’t worry-you will be all right.’
Scarlett, my Irish Setter was probably
my first 'patient'. Though at the time (24 years ago), I did
not consciously realise I was giving her healing.
She’d
succumbed to nephritis when she was pregnant..and we almost lost her.
Twelve years passed and the onset of age brought many problems.
The inevitability of having to put Scarlett to sleep could no longer be delayed.
For almost
a year she had been incontinent, with some paralysis of the back legs and heart
problems. She was almost totally blind and, unable to take even a sedate
walk,
sought dark places as animals do when they know their time on earth is over.
The day I arranged to take her to the vet, our children
took her daughter Lara for a walk so that she would not see her mother leave
the home and bed
they
had shared for so many years. Long ago I'd decided that she'd be buried
on the common land where we'd been so happy. Here, she had chased skylarks
hidden
in the heather, and I had been content to watch as she ran hell for leather,
her glorious red-burnished coat, shimmering like fire, for then she had
glowed with health and love of life.
So it was, that when her time came, loving gentle arms held
her. I had lost a wonderful companion, one with a huge heart. We drove her
to her final resting-place
that day. As my husband dug the grave, I waited, her inert body lying across
my lap, growing steadily colder. Finally, when the moment was right, she
was buried deep on the land she had loved, amongst the cool ferns.
On arriving
back at our home, we were told by our children that Lara, used to taking
walks without her mother had howled and howled for ten minutes
whilst on the common earlier. It was at the exact
time that her mother was being put
to sleep. She did not look for her around the house; somehow she
knew! The next few days proved crucial as Lara grieved and we thought we
might lose
her too. Strangely, she only began to settle down after I took her to walk
on the
common. It was almost as if she needed to be certain her mother was not
there and to say a goodbye, although we did not go near the grave.
Three weeks elapsed, then one night I awoke in the early hours, tears streaming
down my cheeks at the vivid remembrance of my nightmare. My husband, though
alarmed at my obvious distress, dismissed my 'dream' of seeing Scarlett on
top of the grave, empty sockets, where once brown eyes had shone...'Impossible',
he'd said. 'She was buried far too deep.' But, within forty-eight hours,
this terrible nightmare was to be repeated. I awoke hearing her keening and
wept,
unable to dispel the strong feeling that her spirit was not at peace.
Later that day I took Lara for a walk, visiting Scarlett’s
grave for the first time in two weeks. Here my nightmare became grim reality.
Fighting
nausea, I looked with horror on the scene. Her once beautiful coat, was now
handfuls of dull red hair scattered across heather and briars surrounding
the grave that had been carefully camouflaged.
Many large stones had been torn away and there, just as
I'd foreseen in my nightmares, was the once proud and elegant head of my beloved
Irish Setter,
cruelly displayed to an uncaring world. Her eyes, sightless sockets taunted
me, my nightmare was grim reality.
The shock was total. More devastating than her expected
demise. She was re-buried and covered with quick lime and more heavy stones.
I did not understand then
how I could have had such an accurate dream. It was not even pre-cognitive
for it had already happened. It was true that even as a child such inexplicable
'incidents' had often occurred.
Years later, and with more knowledge of the esoteric, I
came to the conclusion my own Higher Self had tuned in to the event which I
have described, whilst
in the dream state. This was a clear case of Astral Travelling.
Many years
later we had another dog whom we called Elsa join our family. She never left
our side and could be taken anywhere
without a lead. However,
there
was one place she absolutely refused to walk-and that was anywhere near
the common where we had always exercised our dogs. I have no explanatin for
this,
unless she was ‘tuning’ into that past event. Friends looked
after her on one occasion and we warned she would go anywhere except the
common.
Not believing us, they took Elsa for a walk there. Having released her from
her lead, she immediately fled back home. After that, we never again tried
to persuade her to go near the common.
This article was first published in 1986 in the first edtion of the magazine
Beyond Science
|
