William Blake, "The Soul Hovering over the Body, Reluctantly Parting with Life," engraving for Robert Blair's The Grave, 1808 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

What is Astral Projection? Since the dawn of humanity, men and women from all cultures have reported experiences in which their consciousness seemed to separate from the physical body and move freely through a different space. This phenomenon is known today as astral projection or, more clinically, an out-of-body experience (OBE).

You wake in the dark, unable to move. A roaring fills your ears, your body hums, and then, suddenly, you seem to be floating above the bed, looking down at yourself. Many people have had some version of this, and every culture has a word for it. In the Western occult tradition it is called astral projection, the idea that a subtle double of the person can leave the body and travel. Whether it is a journey or a trick of the brain is an open question, and the honest answer has two parts: what people report, and what the evidence shows. An Old Idea The notion of a second body is ancient. Greek philosophers spoke of a light, airy "vehicle" that carries the soul. In the late nineteenth century, the Theosophists, followers of Helena Blavatsky, gave the idea its modern name. They described several layers of the person, among them an "astral body" made of a finer substance than flesh. In Theosophical writing, the Sanskrit term kama rupa , "desire form," refe...

Many people have described a strange and vivid experience: the feeling of leaving their own body, floating above it and seeing it from outside. Esoteric traditions call this astral projection, the journey of a subtle body through a world beyond the physical. Psychologists and neuroscientists call it an out-of-body experience. For those who live it, it can be one of the most unforgettable moments of their lives. The experience is real as an experience. What it means is a question that believers and scientists answer in very different ways. An Ancient Idea The belief that the soul can travel outside the body is very old. Shamans in many cultures were said to journey to other worlds while their bodies lay still. In ancient Egypt, the ba, often shown as a bird with a human head, could leave the tomb and return. Taoist texts, such as The Secret of the Golden Flower, describe the formation of a subtle body through meditation. In the nineteenth century, Theosophy gave this idea its mode...