What is Astral Projection and Lucid Dreaming? Tips from Erin Pavlina

Erin Pavlina, is an Intuitive Counselor and author of The Astral Projection Guidebook:  Mastering the Art of Astral Travel. Erin does spirit readings and can use a photo of you to connect with your spirit guides.

Erin is very experienced in astral travel – which is how I came across her awesome website. The astral plane is a plane of existence that has been imagined by many spiritualists and even mainstream religions. According to Wikipedia, “It is the world of the celestial spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and generally said to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings.”

Erin kindly answered my questions on astral travel and the astral plane as I had many questions and wanted to ask someone with more experience than me.

I thought I would start by asking Erin about her first astral experience.

Erin has a very interesting tale to tell. “It was January 7, 1985.  I was 15,” she tells me. “At that point in my life I’d been consciously trying to astral project for three years to no avail.  But on that night, I had my first astral experience, and that’s what launched me into mastering astral projection.”

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Her story is slightly scary, but obviously it was the start of a long and fulfilling journey for Erin. Those who are interested can read about Erin’s first experience in this blog post, Astral Projection: My First Experience. Erin had been doing significant night-work already and had learned to raise her awareness within dreams.

I wanted to ask Erin, do we go to the astral plane every night when we dream?

Sadly, the answer for me was, no.

“No, that’s a myth that a lot of people believe,” Erin told me. “When you are actually astral projecting, it is the most conscious experience you can imagine.  It is not a dream.  It does not take place in your mind.”

So what actually happens? “Rather your soul leaves your body,” Erin explains, “and enters the astral plane which is filled with other conscious beings.  No one there is dreaming.  When you are dreaming, you go inside a mental construct of your own design where you are the only conscious person.”

Erin mentions, “Once you actually do astral project you will never mistake it for a dream again.”

Do we all have spirit guides?

Erin unequivocally believes that we do. “Yes,” she says, “your guides are assigned to you before you are born.  They are there to help guide and nudge you in the direction your higher self intended for you to go.”

What other beings exist on the astral plane?

Erin tells me a little about the beings that we might encounter and also talks about their energies.

“There are other conscious beings on the astral plane,” she explains. “Some of them originate on that plane and some are just visitors.”

Erin mentions that it’s often down to our own personal vibrations as to who we might encounter on the astral. “You can encounter high vibrational beings or low vibrational beings,” she says.

“Your own vibration determines who you will encounter.  Those with a lower vibration cannot interact with you when you’re at a higher vibration and vice versa.”

Do you know of any higher planes than the astral?

Erin explains that the astral plane is “more like a highway to many destinations.”

“Relatively speaking,” she says “I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle in terms of frequency.  There are many planes higher than the astral.  They are much harder to get to from this frequency though.”

Can I communicate with my guides while conscious?

I have to say I was very excited to hear that Erin says, yes we can. She told me that “there are several ways to tune in to your guides and get advice and insight from them.”

“Two of the best ways are through meditation or lucid dreaming.  If you can consciously control your dreams you can invite your guides to come speak to you there.”

So, how about the astral body? What is it?

“Your astral body is your soul or spirit.  It is your consciousness,” Erin says

She mentions that we should learn to, “think of your body like a shell and your soul like the peanut. The peanut is encased in the safety of the shell.  Your astral body can live without the shell, but stays connected to it while you live.”

“Once you die, the shell is sloughed off and your astral body remains, ascending to the ether to reunite with loved ones and your higher self.”

What can we do in our waking life to give us more consciousness in the astral?

So, for those of us who might be reading this and who need some additional tips, how can we start to work on our spiritual selves?

“Start practising conscious awareness,” Erin instructs.

“Suddenly realise you are awake, often.” This excited me as it’s often something I do, and I do have some success with this technique. While you are awake, become aware of your five senses. “It will help you learn to wake your spirit up while your body remains asleep,” Erin suggests.

Another tip she gives is to learn to lucid dream. “It will give you practice flying and will help you become comfortable being conscious,” Erin says.

“It’s also great if you can have a plan for what you will do if you go astral,” Erin advises. “Many people become astral and then don’t know where to go or what to do.  If you know in advance what you’ll do you can achieve it more easily.”

Is the astral plane anything to fear?

Erin reassures me here and says that it is not. “I’ll use an analogy,” she says.

“Is a picnic anything to fear?  If you go on a picnic and put your blanket down next to a beehive, you may attract the bees.  If you put your blanket down next to a beautiful lake on some soft grass with no bugs in sight, you’ll have a better time of it.”

So astral travel can be as pleasant as a nice picnic? “Don’t astral project near the beehives and you’ll be fine!” laughs Erin.

Have you ever seen the Akashic Records?

I had one more question for Erin. I found during my research into the astral, lots of experts were talking about the Asashic Records.

According to Wikipedia, “In theosophy and anthroposophy, the Akashic records are a compendium of thoughts, events, and emotions believed to be encoded in a non-physical plane of existence known as the astral plane.”

The term was coined in the late 1800s from akasha, the Sanskrit word for “sky”, “space”, “luminous”, or “æther”.

Erin tells me, “I have had occasion to visit the Akashic Records in the past, though that’s not really my specialty.”

She mentions that her mode and method of contact with the higher planes is slightly different. “During readings with clients,” she explains, “I connect with their spirit guides, higher selves, and angels to get insight and practical guidance for their lives.”

Would you like to learn more?

Erin’s website has lots of resources you will find useful and provides plenty of guidance. Erin also gives one-on-one help and advice. Contact Erin Pavlina here.

What are your experiences in the astral? Please tell me in the comments below. Good luck on your spiritual journey.

Photo is by Vince Alongi thank you!