Astral Projection and Shape Shifting

      Dream work is a key tool in astral projection and shape shifting.Dreams have been held to be omens and portents of the future by many cultures throughout history.When interpreting dreams, symbolism must be viewed within the context of the entire dream. You must consider the dreamer's personality and their circumstances.Meaningless dreams and nightmares can be caused by eating before you go to sleep especially if the food is spicy.Sounds such as running water, bells, or other noises can penetrate your dreams and influence them as they are registered in your mind. The position in which a person sleeps can also be influential, as can the amount of clothes and blankets they are sleeping under. Sexual dreams may be induced by sleeping naked.

Once you become proficient in dream work, you'll be able to selected any type of dream setting you wish to have. This can be achieved by doing a corresponding meditation before bed, and concentrating on the desired destination.

The first step in dream work is to start a dream journal. A plain notebook will do.If you are serious about achieving the ability to project and transform, you will probably go through quite a few notebooks before you get there. The dream journal is an important tool to have in your bag of tricks. It will bring insight into past events, help you solve the problems of the present, and even allow you to peer into the future.
It is vital that your dream journal be updated immediately upon awakening, before you do anything else. Keep it on your nightstand for easy access.Once you begin keeping a dream journal, you will notice that in a very short time you remember more of your dreams, with more clarity, and you will eventually begin to have lucid dreams.

A lucid dream is a dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming, and so are able to control your movements within the dream. Lucid dreams are the precursor to astral projection. Lucid dreams are experienced more in the hours just before waking, when your in a half awake, half asleep condition.
This state is ideal to achieve astral projection. Astral projection is a term used to describe the shifting of consciousness from the physical plane to the astral plane.The experience is sometimes felt involuntarily by people who are pronounced clinically dead, and then have been revived. Such people have described themselves standing beside the operating table as doctors were working on their lifeless bodies. Some of these people have even described conversations that had taken place while they were clinically dead.

There are several methods for reaching this state intentionally. One of the more basic methods is to visualize a vivid simulation of your physical body floating above you. Once this is achieved, you will then focus on transferring your consciousness into the simulation.

Another version of this exercise is to get a full length mirror, and use your reflection as the simulation of yourself. Sit in front of the mirror, relax you physical body, and will your consciousness to enter the mirror image.

A more in depth method is to walk around the room that you'll be using with a tape recorder and describe what you see in detail. After you are satisfied with the recording, lay back and relax while visualizing your simulated self taking the tour of the room along with the recording, simultaneously willing your conscious self to transfer to the simulation.

These are just a few of many techniques available. No matter which method you chose, when you find one that works, you'll know it.You will suddenly find yourself looking around, free from your physical; body, and your visual and auditory awareness will be sharpened greatly.

You will feel a weightlessness, or a floating sensation. Most people panic at this point, causing them to snap back into their bodies immediately. But once this state has been achieved, it is easy to return, so all that remains is to overcome the surges of fear that come with your initial experience.
       You must be aware that the astral plane is subject to be inhabited by entities of other worlds, and potent black magicians from this one. You may find some to be quite helpful, while others strictly predator. The astral plane is prime feeding grounds for vampires, for with your astral body you carry the life force on which they feed.

Your astral body can pass through physical object, because it does not normally effect the physical plane. However, advanced magicians can effect the physical plane through great charges of telekinetic energy, usually as the result of channeling extreme emotion.

Also, just as you can observe the physical world from your astral body, at times your astral body can be seen by others on the physical plane. I believe that many cases of ghost sightings and poltergeist phenomenon can be explained by this. It usually takes an experienced or highly sensitive person to make these observations.

This experience can be very scary to a person who does not know what they are looking at, because the astral body is extremely malleable, and can take the shape of virtually anything. This is where the term shape shifting comes from, and many have mastered it. Using it in combination with the ability to visually manifest themselves on the physical plane, they can show themselves as anything.

The world of dreams and the astral plane are fascinating mediums through which to explore yourself and expand your psychic abilities. You can use them to understand your past, and see into your future. With practice, astral projection can be practical and efficient means by which you can travel quickly to destinations and apply your magic, spy, or launch a psychic attack.