What's the Connection Between Astral Projection and the Occult?

Astral projection is one of the classic practices you find inside modern occult systems. Occult traditions provide the language people use for these experiences - astral bodies, planes, guides, cords - and they set out the rituals, symbols and trance methods that are supposed to make leaving the body easier. If you have heard of astral travel at all, you have already brushed against how the occult thinks about consciousness and non physical experience.

Key points

• Astral projection sits alongside ritual, divination and meditation as a core practice in many occult systems.
• Occult writers map out astral planes and subtle bodies, then use that structure to explain visions, dreams and spirit encounters.
• Ceremonial magicians, witches, pagans and New Age teachers all talk about leaving the body, even though their stories and symbols differ.
• Modern psychology links astral projection to out of body experiences and lucid dreaming, but occult practitioners still treat it as valuable training for focus, vision and spiritual development.

A dream in which Captain Ducie holding a dagger approaches himself asleep and sees a black man emerging from under his bed.
Process print after R. Taylor after M.L. Gow, 1891. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.

What Do We Mean By “Astral Projection” And “Occult”?

Astral projection is the sense that your awareness has stepped out of your physical body and moved somewhere else. Some people say they floated above their bed, some describe tunnels or sudden shifts into vivid landscapes, others talk about visiting inner temples or star filled spaces. You will also hear it called astral travel or lumped in with out of body experiences.

The occult is a broad label for hidden or specialist approaches to magic, divination and spiritual practice. It includes ceremonial magic, occult rituals, tarot, astrology, spirit work and the more structured side of witchcraft and Wicca. If you want a wider overview, What is the Occult? sets out the basics.

The link between the two is straightforward: occult systems treat astral projection as both a practice and a map. It is a method for having striking inner experiences and a framework for explaining what those experiences mean.

How Did Astral Projection Enter Western Occult Thinking?

Hints of astral style ideas show up in older philosophy. Neoplatonic and Hermetic texts talk about the soul rising through levels of existence and wearing different “vehicles” of body and soul. Later occult thinkers happily read those passages as early discussion of subtle bodies.

In the 19th century, spiritualism popularised trance and “spirit travel”. Mediums claimed to leave their bodies to visit spirit cities or bring back messages from guides. Around the same time, Theosophy built a detailed ladder of planes - physical, astral, mental, buddhic and so on - and taught that humans have matching bodies on each level. That teaching strongly shaped later discussions of the astral body and astral plane.

Ceremonial magicians in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and similar groups absorbed both streams. If you read about figures like Crowley and Blavatsky in Who Are the Most Famous Occultists?, you can see exactly how their writing fused Theosophy, magic and this new fascination with leaving the body consciously.

Astral Planes, Subtle Bodies And Occult Cosmology

Most occult explanations share the same rough structure. They talk about:

• A physical body.
• A life or etheric layer close to health and vitality.
• An astral body linked to emotion, imagery and dreamlike perception.
• Higher mental or spiritual layers linked to will and insight.

The astral plane is described as a level of existence where emotions, symbols and thoughts have more substance. It is supposed to be fluid and responsive: fear can twist the scenery; calm focus can build stable inner temples.

This cosmology supports a lot of other practices. In How Do Occult Rituals Work?, astral projection and meditation are framed as ways to shift state before any spellwork. Articles on what types of divination are used in the occult often mention reading “energies” or patterns that occultists would say live on the astral.

People like this layered approach because it gives their dreams, visions and synchronicities a place in the structure. Instead of random brain junk, they become encounters and journeys on a subtle level of reality.

Photo by MARIOLA GROBELSKA on Unsplash

Astral Projection In Ceremonial Magic

Ceremonial magic takes astral work and gives it timetables and homework.

Golden Dawn style systems teach students to build a “body of light”. They start with banishing rituals, then visualise an inner temple in detail, and only then imagine shifting awareness into a subtle form that moves within that temple. Typical tasks include:

• Walking symbolic paths on the Tree of Life.
• Visiting inner versions of planetary or elemental temples.
• Contacting angels, spirit allies or inner teachers for guidance.

Ritual structure matters here. Protective work and clear intent come first, exploration comes after, and journalling wraps it up. If you compare that to the framework in How Do Occult Rituals Work?, you can see the same stages: preparation, raising power, focused work, then grounding.

Astral Projection In Witchcraft, Paganism And New Age Scenes

Beyond ceremonial lodges, you find similar experiences described with different language.

In some forms of witchcraft and folk magic, practitioners talk about “spirit flight” or hedge riding. They slip into trance and travel to underworlds, forests or crossroads to meet spirits, animal allies or ancestors. In Wiccan settings, this kind of inner travel sometimes appears inside a formal Wiccan ritual, especially in guided visualisations during circle work.

Modern pagans also use astral language when they discuss visiting the lands of the gods or walking through Otherworld landscapes during seasonal rites. If you are curious how symbols support that, What Are Some Common Symbols in Wicca? shows how pentacles, moons and circles frame that kind of inner work.

New Age material tends to lean into silver cords, star travel and meeting guides or higher selves. It shares plenty of DNA with Theosophy and with the broader question of how the occult connects to witchcraft and Wicca.

Photo by Edz Norton on Unsplash

Techniques Linked To Astral Projection In Occult Practice

Most practical guides, regardless of tradition, lean on a similar toolbox.

Common steps include:

• Relaxation: loosening muscles, slowing breathing, sometimes through simple meditation.
• Focus: counting breaths, visualising light, or repeating a short phrase.
• Exit imagery: imagining rolling out of the body, climbing a rope, or rising up in a duplicate form.

Occult systems often add extra supports:

• Protective rituals or charms at the start.
• Crystals or symbols around the bed or temple - the use of stones like black tourmaline or onyx for protection echoes the ideas in How Do Crystals Play a Role in Occult Practices?.
• Grounding at the end with food, touch, or simple movement.

People are usually advised to keep a journal and treat early experiences as practice rather than revelation. A steady record also helps you notice patterns instead of chasing one-off fireworks.

Experiences, Entities And Dangers In Occult Lore

Reports from astral work cover a wide range, but a few familiar themes keep turning up:

• Floating above your own body and seeing the room from odd angles.
• Moving through tunnels or shifting from scene to scene suddenly.
• Meeting teachers, guides or relatives who feel wiser or calmer than your daytime self.
• Bumping into darker shapes or places that seem to reflect anxiety and fear.

Different paths label what shows up in different ways. A ceremonial magician might talk about planetary spirits; a witch might call them the dead or land spirits; a New Age traveller might say guides and higher beings. Some modern occultists talk about thought-forms: constructs made from repeated emotion and imagery, fed by attention.

Old books love grim warnings about astral parasites and possession. More balanced writers point out that obsession, poor sleep and pre-existing mental health problems are much more common hazards than dramatic entities. That is why a lot of modern material leans on the kind of common sense you see in What Is the Relationship Between the Occult and Spirituality? - spiritual exploration is fine, but it has to sit alongside psychological awareness and everyday responsibilities.

Psychological And Scientific Takes On Astral Projection

Psychology treats astral projection as a flavour of out of body experience. These have been reported during surgery, accidents and seizures, and in lab conditions researchers have shown that it is possible to trigger “floating” sensations or shifted viewpoints by confusing the brain’s sense of where the body is.

Sleep research adds more pieces. Many classic astral stories share features with lucid dreams and sleep paralysis - vivid imagery, a sense of presence, difficulty moving the physical body at first. From that angle, astral projection is a trained, story shaped way of working with these states.

This does not automatically cancel occult models, but it does suggest that whatever is going on, the nervous system is deeply involved. A lot of practitioners are perfectly happy holding both pictures: subtle bodies and brain states as parallel ways to describe the same weird experiences.

Why Astral Projection Matters So Much In The Occult

Astral work matters for three main reasons.

First, it is training. Holding a stable inner scene while staying aware is hard. People who can do it usually find ritual visualisation, sigil work and divination layouts easier. Articles like What Types of Divination Are Used in the Occult? quietly assume that you can imagine and feel into symbols; astral practice builds exactly that muscle.

Second, it offers a story for personal experiences. Instead of “I had a weird dream”, you can say “I travelled to an astral temple and met my guide”. That can be motivating, though it also tempts some people into treating every inner image as objective truth.

Third, it can become a claim to authority. “I saw it on the astral” is sometimes used to justify decisions, new rituals or even big life choices. Handled carefully, it can inspire. Handled badly, it can slide into fantasy or manipulation.

How To Approach Astral Projection If You’re Occult Curious

If you want to explore astral work as part of your path, you do not have to copy dramatic exit stories from internet forums.

A sensible approach would be:

• Sort your sleep and basic wellbeing first. Exhaustion and stress make wild experiences more likely but less useful.
• Start with dream journalling, simple meditation and maybe a gentle occult ritual routine so you have some structure.
• When you add astral techniques, keep sessions short, write them down, and treat them as experiments, not exams.
• Read a mix of material: some occult manuals, some sceptical or psychological takes, and broader pieces on how the occult relates to spirituality.

Big red flags include teachers who promise guaranteed instant exits, demand a lot of money, or hand you huge cosmic missions based on a single vision. That is less mysticism and more ego.

Conclusion: What’s The Connection Between Astral Projection And The Occult?

Astral projection is deeply woven into modern occult thought. Occult writers gave us the astral plane, subtle bodies, protective rituals and symbolic maps that shape how people describe leaving the body. Whether you treat astral travel as spiritual exploration, a specialised dream practice or a curious brain glitch, you are using language and models built by occult traditions. If you decide to experiment, keeping one foot in practical life and one eye on critical thinking will make the whole thing far more useful - and far less likely to drift into pure fantasy.

You don’t need astral projection to see our satanic jewellery, gothic keyrings or our boot charms - you can see all of them on our store!