The belief that one can travel outside of one's body during sleep is a relatively common one. Many expand that belief to include travel to other spiritual worlds that exist alongside our own (ie - the Other Side, Jotunheim, the Underworld, etc.), planets, or even other places in time. This has been linked to lucid dreaming: the act of awareness that one is in a dream state and the ability to control aspects of the dream.
In my experience, such dreams can be more physically exhausting after awaking than mundane dreams. (While I believe that dreams are often a gateway to spiritual experience, I also hold true that some really are simply the mind's way of processing our emotions and memories.) I often find that I struggle more than usual with waking back up and am more tired when I've Journied during my sleep, as compared to having mundane dreams. Those who do so with intention before falling asleep may have a different experience, but I am one who more often finds myself accidentally traveling to the Other Side while sleeping.
Aside from the after-effects upon waking up, one may wonder how to tell a mundane dream apart from astral travel. After all, vivid dreams can often leave one feeling more tired during the day regardless of whether they are purely psychological or spiritual in nature. To this, I posit that the answer must be a personal one. It is difficult to define the experiences that others have. We all know ourselves much better than anyone else does, after all.
In my experience, Journeying during sleep often includes stronger physical sensations. I can feel my feet touching the ground as I walk, the wind blowing across my face, when somebody makes physical contact with me, and when I am hurt. During vivid mundane dreams, only my senses of sight and hearing are equal to my waking life.
And what of the connection to lucid dreaming? One may practice lucid dreaming without traveling outside of one's body. In such dreams, one can control their own actions as well as other factors within the dream. It may be possible to change the setting from one's old high school to a relaxing beach. If a dream character is doing something one doesn't like, it may be possible to make it so that this character does something else or even disappears altogether. When traveling outside of one's body, one doesn't have that amount of control. It's only possible to control our own actions. Even then, it is my belief that we may sometimes lose that control due to other factors.
This leads to the potential dangers of astral travel. As it is in the physical world, not everyone has good intentions. One should take the same precautions as typically recommended in our waking lives. Not only that, but it is my experience that magic has a stronger effect in the spiritual world. As an example, while we can only influence the actions of others using spell work in the physical world, those adept with witchcraft may be able to effectively control others in the spiritual realms. It is my belief that this works in much the same way that illicit drugs can. By altering our states of mind, we may be more easily influenced to do things we otherwise wouldn't.
It is my recommendation to have a guide or deity you can trust to call upon when one astral travels. In my case, I have asked for aid from my patron/ fulltrui deities when I've found myself in trouble whilst outside of my body. It is also important to know how to return safely to one's body. One such method that I've learned (I believe it was via The Irish Pagan School) is to return the way you came. Practicing warding around one's home (or wherever your body is during Journeying) is also a good idea.
The connection between dreams and the spiritual world is an integral part of my spiritual path. From family tradition teaching of prophetic dreams to communication with my gods and other spirits, my experiences have led me to believe that dreams aren't always "just a dream."
(For those interested in a psychological take on the subject of OBE's: Can We Travel Out of Our Bodies When We Sleep? by John Cline Ph.D, Psychology Today.)
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