Just My Thoughts
Christina M. Meide

Astral travel. Not as controversial a subject as many others within the realm of the paranormal - at least not on whether it's possible or not. I think the controversy actually lies more in "what" is leaving our body. Is it really our soul or spirit or just a transparent misty identical twin?

I've read in many sources that we all travel astrally quite regularly while we sleep. It is said that this is when we confer with those who helped us plan out our lives here on Earth so that we are certain not to miss the next step. These would be our Guides. We also have the opportunity to visit the Akashic Records where all of our life plans are written out in minute detail. Here we can view other people's life plans as well. It is also said that this is the time that our spirit takes to "stretch" itself and get some relief from the physical body it lives in at the moment. Our physical bodies are extremely restricting so this is a very necessary thing for our spirit to do.

Of course, some of our own life plan is hidden from us, or at least hidden from our conscious mind such as our time of death. This makes sense. Wouldn't it be terrible to know exactly when you are going to pass on and how? It would make living very difficult I think.

Many will not believe that they travel astrally in their sleep because they're not aware that they ever leave their bodies. That's okay. Some are not ready for this kind of experience and their conscious minds protect them as needed. However, if you often dream of flying and your dreams are of very vivid color and logical from one point to the next, you can be quite sure that you've been on an astral travel. Not everyone dreams of flying, of course, but the "dreams" you remember will always be brilliant in color and sequential and will be your first clue that you've been on an "astral trip."

I have never had an astral travel that I am actually "aware of." In my mind, part of the criteria for being able to do this by will is the ability to relax. I am not a relaxed person. From the moment I awake to the time I go to sleep, I am always doing something. Oftentimes it is hard for me to shut off my brain as it continues, even when I'm trying to sleep, to barrage me with the next day's plan. Where is that shut off switch when you need it?

Even meditation eludes me. I thought that it might get easier with age, but so far, this has not been the case. It seems the older I get, the more my brain gets in the way.

I have been privy to The Night Watchman's astral projection episodes, however. In more ways than one which I will explain later in this article.

The Night Watchman has not been able to create an astral projection by will as yet. He has, however, had a number of them over the last two and a half years. He apparently has had them since childhood.

For him, it seems that being extremely tired will cause it to happen. He has described it as starting out with a strange vibration in his head and then throughout his body.

All I can tell you is that he has awakened me on these occasions by a huge intake of breath as though he hasn't breathed in quite some time. This intake of breath sounds panicky, and when you've been the mother of four, this kind of sound wakes you out of the deepest sleep.

Apparently he also goes through what has been termed "sleep paralysis" as he is coming back into his body. When he has traveled and awakened me with that horrendous first breath, we'll talk about what has happened after he has had a bit to get his mind back to the "here and now."

His travels, unlike many who can astral travel when they choose, seem very nonsensical. He cannot tell me exactly where he has been though he can describe such things as being in a white tunnel where he seems to be moving at light speed and seeing other people or beings within this tunnel. This particular episode actually made him ill as it was the most amazing roller coaster ride he's ever taken. He loves roller coasters, but at the speed of light, it would test anyone's stomach strength.

The Night Watchman believes that much of what stops him from doing astral projection at will is fear. This fear seems to stem from thinking that if we leave our body, we won't be able to get back. This is very natural amongst those who have these experiences and are aware of them. Those who can conquer this fear, or get their conscious minds out of the way, can then travel astrally at their will and, oftentimes, remember where they have been, what they were doing, and tell about what other people were doing.

It has been told by many who are able to travel this way that the part of us that actually travels is connected to our sleeping body by an extremely stretchy silver cord. This cord is like a rubber band and can snap us back very quickly if necessary or allow us to ease ourselves back with no urgency. Snapping back quickly might be caused by a very irritating loud noise such as the dreaded alarm clock or just the sudden need to return home. This cord is also apparently so strong that nothing, other than our own planned deaths, can sever it.

Of course, our conscious mind has to believe that if we astral travel, we won't go floating off uncontrollably like an astronaut in space who is no longer connected to his rocket. Part of the fear is that we will be disconnected from our bodies and float for eternity who knows where.

Someone who has been able to realize that they are traveling, and has actually floated above their own sleeping body, is aware of this silver cord that keeps them safe and allows them safe passage back.

If you have a hard time believing in this cord, take a look at the Bible. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 says, "Before the silver cord snapped... and the spirit returns to God who gave it."

There are literally hundreds of books out there on astral travel with great amounts of information and proof, if you can put it all together, that our spirits do travel. Countless studies and tests have been done which also adds to the proof.

As I said previously, I have been a part of The Night Watchman's sporadic travels over the last two and a half years. However, there is one episode that I am still unable to understand and that I probably wouldn't have believed if my 15 year old daughter had not experienced it with me.

I have read many times that we can also travel during the day when we are awake. I can believe this, but when someone tells you that seeing is believing, you might think twice about that statement.

It was evening, only a few months ago, shortly before bedtime. This is the time that either myself or The Night Watchman will go to the computer, pull up our web site server and see how many visitors we had to our site that day. This is how we determine if we are doing good things on the site or if some things need to be changed.

This particular night, The Night Watchman had gone into our back bathroom while I pulled up the stats on the computer. After looking, I waited for him, as both of us will always look so that we can discuss things about what we see.

I heard the bathroom door open, and turned to see The Night Watchman passing through the kitchen to the door that leads to our upstairs bedroom. Our 15 year old daughter was standing in the kitchen doorway leaning against the doorframe and when she saw The Night Watchman, she said "sorry" and moved to the other side to allow him to open the door and go upstairs. He opened the door and went up.

I sat at the computer for a few minutes thinking that he had gone up to get something and would be back down shortly. About three minutes passed and I thought that maybe he was extra tired and had forgotten our nightly routine, but it was odd that he would go up without saying something to me. This is something he never does.

I went to the doorway, climbed a few stairs and called his name. He didn't answer, so I climbed a few more stairs and looked through the railing to see if he was lying on the bed. He wasn't there. I called his name again as I climbed the rest of the way up the stairs, only to find the room completely empty. I remember shaking my head and saying "this is weird" as I came back down the steps.

My daughter heard me say this and asked me what was weird. I asked her if she had seen The Night Watchman. Her response, as expected, was "he went upstairs." I told her that he was not up there. She immediately stated that he HAD to be up there because she'd had to move from the spot she'd been leaning against in the doorway to let him go up. She also was still right next to the door so would have seen him come back down. I would have also seen him come back down as I had been turned in the computer chair waiting for him.

The search began. She went outside to see if he'd stepped out for a breath of air. I went back to the computer room to see if he'd gone there though you can easily see the computer chair from the upstairs door. Of course, both of us knew this didn't make sense as we had not seen him come back down, but it seemed the most logical next thing to do. I went back upstairs, my logical mind saying I just hadn't seen him. My daughter went back to the laundry room to check if he'd gone back there.

Moments later, she came to the bottom of the stairs and called up that he was in the bathroom. She'd called his name and he'd answered without hesitation saying he'd be out shortly.

When he came out, we were both staring at him apparently very strangely. Neither one of us seemed to be able to say anything right away and he was, as anyone would be, very confused.

After several minutes, I asked him if he had been in the bathroom all that time. His response was, "Well, yeah" as though it was a very stupid question.

My daughter and I looked at each other and I said, "No, you weren't."

As he opened his mouth to argue the fact, I stopped him to explain what I meant by those words. Needless to say, he was beyond words himself when I was done. Like me, had our daughter not been witness to it, we might have both figured I had imagined it, but when there are two eye witnesses...

It was very odd and even a bit "creepy" to say the least. Why he would have astral traveled through our house is hard to say, but maybe his astral body was trying to tell his physical body that it was time to get some rest. It HAD been an extra stressful week.

What bothered us most, I think, was that if he had traveled astrally, we assumed that his body would be kind of transparent. What my daughter and I saw was him - just as he always is - solid and human in all aspects. Nothing about him had changed. The only things I noticed that were any different was that he didn't respond to my daughter when she said sorry when normally he would have said, "no problem" and that he was walking through the kitchen much slower than he normally would have.

He was even able to tell us what he had been reading while in the bathroom, so we knew he had not "actually" left as we had both visually seen.

Needless to say, we keep a good eye on one another now and very rarely go somewhere in the house without saying, "I'm going..."