Could a spirit really be a living person whose consciousness is in the astral plane? What is an astral body or a parasomatic? Lets explore the possibilities of the astral plane.

Ideas for paranormal discussions often come at the most curious times.  This topic of course is not immune.  It was while watching an episode of the television series 'The Magicians' that a storyline plot got me thinking, and more importantly researching.  In the series, a character with the nickname Penny had almost what seemed like psychic abilities.  One of these abilities meant he was able to astral travel.  In this storyline, his physical body was poisoned and he was slowly dying.  His friends were looking for a way to cure him.  When they returned with the cure, they found his physical body had died.  The twist of course was that he was standing in the corner in what we would think of as 'spirit' form looking on with no one able to see or hear him.  It was soon mentioned that he was not a spirit - he was something different.  At the time his physical body died, he was astral traveling and in his words 'his mind had no physical body to go back to'.  This immediately opened up some different trains of thought that I thought I would explore here.  This is all just asking questions of course as I don't know the answers here, but what if?

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What is astral projection

Astral projection is a deliberate attempt for what could be considered to be a person's consciousness to leave their body intentionally in what is called an Outer Body Experience (OBE).

According to theology, we are thought to have many forms beyond just our physical form.

• Physical body - our physical form
• Etheric body - considered to be the first layer, otherwise known as our aura.
• Astral body - referred to as the subtle body, it is the intermediate between the intelligent soul and the mental body
• Mental body - this is made up of our thoughts

It is said that our etheric body is in contact with our physical body to sustain and connect it to our higher bodies such as the astral and mental bodies. These are all connected by what is referred to as a silver cord. It connects the physical body to the etheric body, onwards to the astral body and finally to the mental body. Metaphysical literature talks about the Silver Cord being almost like our life line. It is thought to be the cord that anchors the astral form to the physical body. It is what allows a person to essentially travel out of their bodies and return. The cord is thought to only sever when the physical body dies.

There are many different techniques used to access this state ranging from meditation to entering a lucid dream. The key is supposedly letting the physical body fall asleep, but the mind is very much awake and allows you to travel in this astral state. Some people say they can see themselves sleeping in bed, others say they have visited other countries. While a person is considered to be in control, much like in a lucid dream, people often report waking suddenly with a jolt abruptly ending their experience.  From what others have told me, this often happens if they become aware that they are out of their body.

So with the above mentioning the 'silver cord' and it severing once the physical body dies, this in some ways I guess could line up with what was happening in the storyline of the Magicians.  Penny was unable to return to his physical body because the cord had been severed.  When we pass away, does our consciousness leave our body in the same way that allows us to astral travel?  If this is the case, could this mean that when we think we are communicating with a spirit that we may actually be communicating with someone who is on the astral plane?  Meaning they are very much a living person with a physical body that is alive, but by astral projection their consciousness allows them to be somewhere else?  Is this the 'presence' we are picking up on?

Astral Bodies

What if a person was able to communicate with another or somehow create an apparition by using astral projection?  They could create what is called an experimental apparition.  People achieve this by using astral projection or meditation in order for their consciousness to leave their body and travel elsewhere. Their form appears to another person as an apparition. These are also referred to as Astral Bodies.  Parapsychologists refer to this as a 'parasomatic form'.  

The parasomatic form most commonly is a replica of the physical body.  A few older experients have depicted their astral body as the image of themselves when they were at their physical peak.  Occasionally the parasomatic form is localized as a point or a small sphere, while in other cases its dimensions are more vague, being described as a cloud, a mist, or a band of light

An introduction to parapsychology 5th edition by Harvey J. Irwin, Caroline A. Watt'

The above information is quite intriguing as it describes many familiar accounts of sightings from witnesses.  You have a sphere or light which could be described as an orb.  While we generally dismiss orbs on camera, people do report to see light anomalies with their own eyes.  Whether or not they are environmental is up for discussion but what if this sphere of light is someone in an astral form?  You then of course have the mist, a cloud or a band of light, again common sightings people report when on a paranormal investigation.  Such things are even caught on film and sometimes we can't seem to explain them.  Then you have the comment about a person making themselves appear their best at their physical peak.  I have very often from people who have said that a spirit shows their form as their 'best self'.  So again, it could be something or someone that is in the astral plane.  So I have to ask ....

Is a spirit a consciousness on the astral plane?

There are a few ways to approach this I guess.  First of all, obviously not every single person claims to be able to astrally project out of their body.  In fact a lot of people spend years trying to do so with no results.  While it may be something that automatically happens when we die, what if we are able to do so unknowingly while we are alive?  When we sleep, are we capable of doing this unknowingly?  Is this just where our consciousness goes when we are asleep?  Or in the same way that we speculate a person can project other things or even unknowingly create a spirit, are they able to project themselves to this astral plane?  Time I would assume does not exist in this astral plan in the same way that it would with us here on Earth.  What if the spirits we think we are communicating with are very much alive but in their own time but somehow communicating with us on this astral plane?

It is a lot to absorb I know and probably a bit out there for some which I can appreciate but I feel like we should at least be asking a question and thinking about things.  There are a lot of theories out there and I know other people have discussed this one before and this will be nothing new to those of your are are much more spiritual, but I guess it wasn't until seeing it on a fictional tv show that it actually made a bit of sense to me.  If you were sitting next to me you may have seen a light bulb go off at the top of my head.  When you open up to the possibility of the astral plane, things start to make an unbelievable amount of sense - to me anyway.

So what do you think?  What are your thoughts on the astral plane?  Have you astral traveled?