It is always good, at the beginning of lectures, to be present, to be aware of our mind, our mental state, our thoughts, but also our emotional qualities or mood, to take a moment, to get centered. If we are at home, if we’re driving, wherever we’re listening, we should become present, here and now, to listen with profound attention, to set aside analysis, interpretation, the mind, to learn to receive, with a pristine and clear cognition, to listen with our heart.
It is in this way that we can learn to perceive the new, and if you’ve been following the sequence of this lecture series, you’ve been given many practices that teach you how to perceive the novel, the unusual, the original, that which is sparkling and new, something we’ve never seen before, and which escapes the mind, that which cannot be confined to a label, a category, a box. The intellect is useful for storing information. But it can only compare. It cannot discern the profound reality of the thing, the experience. If you’ve ever looked at a sunset, our concepts cannot equate with the beauty and the reality of that pristine moment. It is something unusual and rare. It escapes definition. This is the quality of conscious astral projections: a state of reality that is beyond the body, that is so clear, colorful and vibrant, that it is more real than our physical existence, our physical states. It is this innate beauty that attracts us to the study of dreams. It is what draws us to remember dreams, which was the focus of our last lecture. Now we are going to take a close examination of how to consciously enter the dream state, to make something mechanical, unconscious and unintentional into something conscious. So rather than looking at a sunset and getting lost in our own approximations or estimations of that beauty, we merely see the dream for what it is, our illusions, our attachments, and instead, we can access something more, beyond the limits of the mind. I will say that there are some advantages to being mechanical. We’ve talked a lot about this, how we often react to life without understanding. We don’t really understand the roots of our behaviors. We’re not really conscious of ourselves. Mechanicity is something that can be utilized for our spiritual development in the sense that our own behaviors, mind, and states are predictable. We can learn to anticipate and recognize the novelty of the moment by first becoming aware of our own psychology, to recognize the patterns of our daily life. When we do that in our waking state, we will do it within dreams, and in this way, we will start to see more. We can even experience recurring dreams. We remember them because they emerge within our interior, boldly, and with great impact. These recurring dreams are useful. We can take dreams, we can focus upon them, and we can become conscious of them, so that by entering the dreaming state willingly, we learn to enter the astral world, and then to depart from the dream itself, to be awake, to see the reality, to see the internal dimensions. We will talk a lot about this―recurring dream symbols―how we can use them to our advantage, how we can become aware of how we dream all the time, and how we can learn to see them for what they are, to enter them, to understand them, and then to transcend them. We will give you some techniques for this particular practice. Preliminaries for Tantric Dream Discipline
There are a couple of preliminaries that I would like to review for you, briefly, so that we can have some context for why we are studying this discipline.
As we emphasized before, it is important to remember and document all dreams. We do so so that we have some material by which to study ourselves. We don’t want to forget our inner experiences within the astral world. We want to have enough data to look for the new. We want to profoundly watch for unusual or anomalous dream experiences, because when you are documenting your dreams, you will start to see recurring themes, much in the same way that you will find a narrative in your own life: the things we tell ourselves at our work, in our relationships, in our homes, in our travels. We want to study that which repeats, so that we can transcend it, and when we document our dreams, we may find that something new emerges within our experience. This constant awareness, this study of ourselves, is known as tantra within the Tibetan Buddhist sense. Tantra means “continuum.” It is the infinite. It is the continuity and comprehension of consciousness that we develop within ourselves through practice. It is a state of awakening that is constant. It does not rest. It is the state of awareness that does not sleep, but is present even in dreams, that can begin to understand the new, to see what is unusual. Also by documenting our dreams, we can learn to distinguish a gradual progression of dream experiences. We see that there is a type of thread uniting all of it. In the beginning we may dream vague, incoherent, crazy states, though with time we begin to see there is more cohesion. Our dream states become more integral. They are less dispersed and fragmented amongst confused and delusional states. We should also discriminate the distinct qualities, moods, and impact of our dreams, especially the dreams that have the most significance for us, even if we don’t know what they mean. The mood, the quality and the impact of the dream is really important to analyze within ourselves, because if a dream has a great influence on us―perhaps in a positive or a negative sense―it means that it is going to have some type of deeper significance and impact, a greater consequence for our spiritual life. Now, to really begin to use our dreams to our advantage, to learn to take a dream and to learn how to enter it willingly, we have to really identify recurring dreams. We have to document them. When you find that pattern, it is like a key that can open up the door to the internal worlds. It is a doorway into our inner reality. Usually, recurring dreams which have a spiritual flavor come in the form of symbols. They arrive from the spiritual world and condense within the astral dimension to teach us something profound. When we see those symbols, we can learn to consciously concentrate upon them, to imagine them, and then to enter them by falling asleep in meditation. In the process of this we have to revere and aspire through such divine archetypes, these allegories of the spirit. To revere and to aspire mean to feel a sense of beauty and awe before the new. In the conglomeration and messiness of our dreams, we find patterns that make sense. So, we can utilize them as a source of religion, of yoga, of reunion, because we know they come from God, and they help us to yearn for the truth. They are a rope that can pull us out of the abyss, into the heights of understanding. 
The Divine Mother
The source of all that wisdom is the Divine Mother Kundalini. She is a symbol of a profound core reality of our Being, our inner divinity.
Many people talk about the divine feminine, and all religions pay homage to her. She is an expression, an enfoldment, a quality of God. We have an image here of the Virgin Mary, a representation of the divine feminine that gives birth to something spiritual within us. Some people get caught up in the names of different religions, different traditions, rather than looking at what the sign points towards. You have many flags, many nations, with their symbols. Like diverse countries and states, all religions are like flags, with their symbols that represent the unity of the divine. The Divine Mother is our inner goddess. She is part of us. She is profound compassion, serenity and love, and she, the truth, is the one who inspires us within dreams. The Tibetan Buddhists call her Tara. She is the one who creates order within us, equanimity, dispassion, peace. She is the light that illuminates our astral experiences when they are objective and real, and she can teach us within dreams, how to awaken. Amongst the Aztecs, and I believe the Maya, she is known as Tonantzin. Tonantzin is an honorific title like “Our Lady” or “Our Great Mother.” This title has been used to designate the Goddess of Sustenance, the Snake Goddess, the Bringer of Maize, Mother of Corn, and the Honored Grandmother. These are not literal representations. They are symbols, just as dreams are symbolic. Likewise, there are symbols within religion that are oneiric. They are condensed and compacted within the language and parables of dreams. She is the one that gives us sustenance, who gives us hope, who gives us food for our soul. She feeds the consciousness with wisdom through astral experiences. She heals the broken heart, and she teaches through the inspirational symbols of dreams. So she may arrive in many forms, whatever is conducive for our development, like the snake, the serpent, which in its positive sense, is the divine energy of her, the bronze serpent that healed the Israelites in the wilderness of pain. She is a balm for all suffering, and that her energy, her wisdom, kills that which is impure within us. She is known as Teteoinan, “Mother of the Gods” coming from Teteoh, plural of Teotl, “God,” and innan, “their mother.” This is another name for Quetzalcoatl, from coatl, “snake,” and icue , signifying “she who has the skirt of snakes.” Beautiful symbols with profound meaning, which make sense to us the more we awaken within the astral world where those symbols unfold magically before us. She is the serpentine energy of Kundalini, mentioned in Hindu yoga, and we work with her through Tantric Buddhist practice, through the continual awakening of the soul, in order to see reality. We call upon her because she is the one who helps to organize our inner experiences. She is the one who creates integrity within the soul, and when in our dreams, when they are chaotic, futile, incoherent, strange, illogical, instinctive, animal, she comes to us like a breath of fresh air, with a quality that is so distinct that the soul knows that this is from our own divinity. Recurring Dreams: The Initiator or Unifying Element
So as we are exploring our dreams, as we are documenting them, we begin to find patterns, as I said. We start to see recurring dreams. There are dreams that begin to repeat which no longer have the flavor of something subjective, illusory, or egotistical. They speak to our heart, even if we don’t understand what they mean. However, there is a way to learn to understand what they mean.
When you have a recurring dream, when something appears amongst the chaotic and formless expression of your own unconsciousness, you will start to see a state or a symbol, a situation, color, a sound, a person―anything that hits us and inspires us and makes us question what is really going on here. What is being taught to me? What am I seeing? What is happening here? This is known as the initiator or unifying element of dreams. People call it recurring dreams. We call it the initiator element. It is the initiator element because it is the symbol, the key, the entrance to the internal worlds. It is a symbol or a message that is giving us some type of clue regarding our own psychological states, our situation in life, our sufferings, and also the solution. It is also a symbol that can be utilized to initiate a very particular type of spiritual work. We call it the unifying element because out of the plethora and plurality of conflicting and disparate desires and dreams, we find a symbol that makes sense, even if intellectually we don’t have a definition or an explanation. But there is something there that is very deep. It is a unifying element. All of our chaotic dreams begin to unify in a sense, within our attention, by this recurring dream. The symbol both initiates us, and we can use it to initiate conscious awakening. As I said, when you recognize a pattern in your life, you can begin to find a solution to things, whether it is in your daily states or within your dreams. So when you learn to become conscious of a recurring dream, you can begin to utilize that for your understanding. When that recurring dream happens again and you recognize it, you immediately know that you are in the astral world. You are shocked. You are sparked to attention. You are alert and aware that you are not in your body. You are present. This unifying element is really like a thread, Ariadne’s thread within Greek mythology, that leads us out of the labyrinth of our mind. It is a rope given to us by divinity, for by concentrating upon it, by imagining it, by focusing on it when we fall asleep, we can start to initiate the conscious awakening of our soul within the astral dimension. We can say that the initiator element symbolizes what we need to comprehend most in ourselves. More particularly, it relates to how we must change, how we must stop dreaming physically, daydreaming, letting the mind wander, not being concentrated, not being awake, alert in our daily life. This initiator element or recurring dream can teach us something about our essential problem in our life, what keeps us hypnotized. What is the repeating behavior that we continue to enact that makes us and others suffer? Because without rectifying that, we will not awaken. We will be dreaming all the time. This initiator element helps us to make sense of physical events. Dreams are merely the internal reflection of our physical reality. If our dreams do not coincide with physical facts, then we have to discard them as illusory. But the initiator element, the recurring dream, helps us to recognize our problem, what we need to do, what we must work upon. Now it is possible to possess more than one initiator element. What qualifies them is that they are impactful and that they recur. They have a very distinct quality, mood and even prophetic element. They can predict for us things that are going to happen in the daytime. Whatever situations of life hit us, they can teach us about what is going on. 
An example of a recurring dream can be the sky. This is something that many people have experienced. We have in this image a citadel floating upon an island in the clouds. On the left we see the rising sun, and on the right, the moon. A young girl walks towards the horizon, contemplating both paths. Oftentimes, the sky in our dreams is showing us, by divinity, the state of our mind, the qualities of our mind.
If the sky is full of clouds, if they are obscured, it means that we are very asleep: physically and internally, in a spiritual sense. We do not understand where we are at, where we came from, or where we are going. If the sky is clear, if the sun is rising, that is something very positive, because something is being born in you, something spiritual: virtues, humility, patience, compassion. The full moon will often reflect moral pain because it is related to the lunar forces. We know that the moon, physically, is mechanical, and it has great influence on our planet in terms of menstruation in women, the flowing of the tides, and a lot of animal life on our planet is regulated by the moon. Even crimes rates are deeply affected by the lunar influence. We even have the term “lunatic,” relating to those people whose minds are very diseased. The moon is a symbol of suffering, and depending on how full it is, this determines for us the magnitude of whatever suffering we are going to experience. These are warnings from divinity, not meant to punish or put fear in the soul, but to help us be conscious, to be prepared for life. If a person is sick with cancer, it is important that he or she knows the diagnosis from the doctor. Our doctor is our Divine Mother, and she shows us within dreams what is most necessary for us, what we need to be cautious about, to be prepared for, to be watchful. Some people, their recurring dream might be their childhood home. Maybe you wake up in your old house where you grew up. You see your parents there, your family. These can also be a recurring, initiator, unifying symbol. Your divine parents often come in the form of your physical parents, and seeing them is important. We need to see divinity, who often takes the form of our physical parents, to teach us something symbolic. Another recurring dream could be something like a car, an object. Some people dream of cars. A car is a symbol of knowledge. It is a vehicle of the mind. How you drive is how you drive your mind. So if you’re being shown a car in your dreams, it could be teaching you about how you’re using your mind in your daily life. Are you driving off the cliff? Are the wheels falling off? Or are you on the road, arriving to your spiritual destination, with your loved ones, your friends, with your spiritual family? Beautiful symbols. They repeat depending on the person. Not all people will have the same recurring dream, but these are some common ones, some interesting ones. The car can also symbolize the internal bodies: our emotional body, the astral body, the mental body, the causal body. Beautiful symbols. So when you recognize what that recurring dream is, you can take it, concentrate upon it, imagine it, and enter it willingly. This is often very useful for after you’ve just woken up from bed. Maybe you wake up in the middle of the night after having a recurring dream, something vivid, something profound, and you want to go back to sleep. You want to re-enter that dream. You want to enter it consciously. You want to see it for what it is, to confront it, live it, experience it more, and even transcend it for something more divine. So the first clue is to not move your body when you wake up. We talked about this in How to Remember Dreams. Don’t open your eyes. You wake up. You are in bed again. You just returned to your body, perhaps early in the morning, 3 or 4 am. This is very common for people. Close your eyes, concentrate, and relax. Remember the dream you just left. Before, you had the dream. You experienced it. You brought the memory back into your physical brain. Now when you wake up in bed, you want to try to maintain the lucidity of that state, the clarity, the magic, and then, you are going to focus on it. You are going to imagine it, and you are going to fall asleep. In principle you are going to meditate on it. 
Meditation in the Sacred Arcana
This process is beautifully symbolized by The Eternal Tarot of Alchemy and Kabbalah. You see the first 3 arcana, the first 3 laws of the sacred tarot represented here. These 3 cards represent this entire practice, the essence of meditation, the essence of becoming conscious in dreams.
These are beautiful symbols from the Egyptian pantheon, but they’re not exclusive or limited to Egyptian mythology. They are eternal principles related to the consciousness. The tarot are often depicted with Egyptian symbols because it is most convenient for our understanding, particularly within Western esotericism. It is not to say that the tarot themselves, what they represent, is literal to the cards themselves. We use art to reflect consciousness, and these beautiful art forms show us something very luminous and spiritual. They are archetypes. They are principles and forces. They represent the qualities and states of divinity, and how we must practice if we want to enter consciously into dreams. Numbers are in themselves something intuitive. Rather than just being mere quantities, they are qualities of the spirit. They represent forces, eternal truths. 
The first card of the tarot is The Magician. He is a masculine principle. He is the Divine Father that initiates spiritual life. The staff in his hand is a symbol of willpower, and he stands above a cubic stone, mastering the stone of our energies, the foundation of our spiritual life, our vital force. Our vital energy, the vital body, is really the foundation of our spiritual practice. If you want to know more about how to work with the vital energy, you can study The Perfect Matrimony by Samael Aun Weor.
In synthesis, this magician stands upon a stone, because his foundation is in the work of conserving and transforming energy. By saving psychological, emotional, physical, vital and spiritual energy, we empower our consciousness. We learn to stand spiritually. We are no longer weak people, vulnerable, victims of circumstances. We can concentrate on anything and not get distracted. We learn to see life for what it is, symbolized by the eyes of Ra or Horus, seen above the Magician, in the top third of the card. These eyes of the spirit are the sign of the infinite, the continuum of conscious awareness, remembering ourselves physically and when we sleep. Those stars behind the Magician represent illuminated spiritual qualities when the mind is very serene and clear, calm, dispassionate. If you have dreams of seeing beautiful stars in the sky, that is very positive, because it represents that the Divine Father is present with you. There are objects on the card: a vase and a sword. These are deep symbols, representing the duality of sexuality, which is also talked about in The Perfect Matrimony by Samael Aun Weor. They represent masculine and feminine energies that we can learn to work with, to develop concentration. So with concentration, you are bringing to attention the dream that you just experienced. You focus on it. You remember it. But looking at it, unwaveringly without distraction, is not enough. You have to see it with deep, vibrant clarity. That is the quality of imagination, the next card: The High Priestess. 
She is the Divine Mother Kundalini who holds an Ankh cross above her breast, a symbol of spiritual life. She feeds her children with wisdom, from an open book, and her dress is a mantle of stars, signifying her absolute perfection.
She represents for us, sitting there, the passive quality of the consciousness. Or better said, the passivity of our mind. She is active, reading a book. She is looking from behind her mysterious veil, because she sees through illusion. She is the quality of imagination: the ability to take an image, such as from a dream, and to see it, to look at it with a lot of depth, range, color, hues. She has a profound, penetrative insight, the ability to see internal images, to see them for what they are. With imagination we are looking and seeing―with our mind’s eye, with a calm mind and an active consciousness―the dream itself. The Magician is active because in the beginning it takes a lot of willpower to concentrate. But with imagination, with the Divine Mother, we learn to receive wisdom. That is why she sits on a throne. She is passive, not in that she allows bad things to happen, or doesn’t act, but she is perfect stillness of the lake of our mind. When the lake of our mind is calm, it can reflect images. If the surface of our waters, if our mental states are agitated, we will only see chaos. So the more equanimitous and calm we are in mind, the more we will see. This is why it is very beautiful, wonderful, and opportune to wake up from a dream, and to have it fresh within our mind. We can go back to sleep, we can concentrate upon the dream, we can imagine it, so that we can awaken. 
This is the third card of the tarot: The Empress. The Empress is the perfected soul. She has 12 stars above her head, relating to the Zodiac, the laws of eternity, and many beautiful spiritual archetypes.
A beautiful bird representing the Holy Spirit flocks to her. She sits on a cubic stone of perfection, a symbol of the purity, the clarity, and the magnitude of awakening. She is the ruler of our spiritual kingdom, and she represents for us the fact and quality of going back to sleep, and reliving the recurring dream. When you concentrate upon it and imagine it with clarity, hold it with your attention and fall asleep, you will awaken again in the dream. You will relive it in full activity. This is the opportunity, when you awaken, to go from that dream to explore the astral dimension. 
Separating from Dreams
Now, the initiator element is useful for this practice. But it is not the only dream we can use. This principle can be used with any dream experience. It just takes practice, takes some skill. But with patience, it can be done.
So, initiate the dream. Begin it again and relive it. The next step, when you’re within the dream, is to know how to separate from it. Some people can do the first step, but not the second, and for that, we need meditation. Meditation teaches us how to separate from illusory dreams, to discriminate what is true and what is false. We can train the consciousness within the daily state of our existence to not react to the different impressions and external stimuli of life. We often go through life asleep, mechanically, with the five centers of the human machine, reacting to different situations, but not really comprehending them, understanding them, seeing them for what they are. So in meditation, we pray to our Divine Mother. We ask for strength to awaken within a dream, and have the strength necessary to depart from it. Oftentimes people will relive the dream, but then become unaware again. Then a few hours pass, they return to bed, and they lost their chance. If you train yourself within your waking life to not get caught up in dreams, when you learn to meditate on your dreams—your thoughts, your emotions, your movements, your habits, your desires—you can see them for what they are, and no longer feed them the precious energy of your consciousness. We don’t waste energy. We examine dreams and how our ego keeps us asleep and steals that precious part of us that we need to cultivate. Part of this practice in meditation involves becoming drowsy. Become drowsy. Let your body rest. Introspect. Concentrate and remember the events of your day. Examine and imagine the moments of your day in which you were interacting with other people, when you were at different places, when you were involved with life, and look at the ways that you dream. At what moments did you get distracted? When does your mind become confused? When do your emotions make you bewildered, vulnerable and weak? Where do you desires take control of you? If you can’t see those instincts and impulses and thoughts for what they are, and separate from them, it will be very difficult to do this practice, to do the return practice. The return practice is taking the initiator element, concentrating and imagining it, falling asleep, and entering the dream willingly, to return to your dreams, to consciously enter dreams. If you want to be able to enter the dream but then to leave it, at will, you have to train yourself. Achieve the very delicate balance of wakefulness and sleep, when your body is drifting off but you’re very clear. You maintain continuity of remembrance, and look at the ways, in your daily life, that your ego keeps you pulled and dispersed and distracted, pulled in multiple directions. You will gain more strength if you practice this: reviewing your day, retrospecting your day, remembering your day. Look at yourself, find your weaknesses, and comprehend them. In this way you take your initiator element willingly. You have a robust attention, a very well-developed imagination, and you can enter with great ease into your dreams, and then leave them if you wish to explore the astral world. 
Four Blessings: Steps for Entering Dreams
As you are practicing this exercise, you will experience what is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the Four Blessings. These are the different steps for entering dreams.
The first is Revealing Light. The second is Increasing Light. The third is Immediate Realization, and the last is Inner Profound Illumination. Every dream manifests through these four blessings. We have to learn to recognize what they are, because they are an eternal process. Every time you go to bed, every time you go to sleep, you go through these stages—consciously or unconsciously. The latter tends to be the case for most people. But if you learn to understand what these are, you can very intentionally comprehend and initiate your dream Tantric Buddhist practice. But it takes a lot of efforts. We have to be very patient with ourselves, and to have some tenacity to try this every time we go to sleep, to try to recognize these states whenever we sleep. These are known as the Four Lights within Tibetan Buddhism. More specifically, we call them the Four Blessings. 
Revealing Light
Revealing Light is perceived during the first hours of sleep. Many people report, when they go to bed, hearing a cacophony of voices or sounds. These are the voices of our different egos. They are residual impressions from our day that are manifesting within our consciousness.
So if you are paying attention as you are resting in bed or sleeping, you will start to hear these sounds. They are like fragmentary, broken expressions of half-truths. Some of them are male voices. Some of them are female. Some of them are animals. These are representations of our own ego, the multiplicity of our defects, which are slowly starting to detach themselves from the physical body. So as you are transitioning into dreaming, and you are trying to become conscious of your dreams, to learn to enter dreams willingly, you will start to see and perceive these things. They are memories, impressions, images, conversations, sounds, lights, and many different thoughts that flow and flux, that churn, through association, and seemingly without order. They emerge from the abyss of our consciousness, and if you’re watching them, you see them emerge, sustain, and then pass. You want to maintain this state when you are entering dreams, to have enough distance from those elements that you don’t get caught up, identified or hypnotized by them. You want to see them for what they are, and just watch, like you are a director making a film and different actors are coming onto the stage and screen of your awareness. These impressions are often very undesirable. Some people get very uncomfortable when they recognize that our psychology is riddled with faults. There may be snippets of conversations from earlier in our day that are tinged with negative emotion: anger, resentment, pride, fear. This Revealing Light is named so because you’re starting to tear the veil to the internal worlds. Such perceptions, coming from our interior, are often qualities that are undigested. They just emerge, and when we look at them and comprehend them, they lose their power and they pass. These egos emerge because as we are entering the astral world, our defects and our desires are beginning to detach themselves from the five cylinders of our human machine. So this is very good if you’re seeing this! It is important. It is necessary. 
Increasing Light
Do not lose your concentration, and your observation. Be present. In this way, you enter Increasing Light.
As your sleep becomes much deeper, the residual impressions and the train of discriminatory thoughts fortunately dissolve. They dissipate. They cease, and in the stillness and vastness of your consciousness, you start to receive a very profound and invigorating astral energy. These are the astral forces that are separating your consciousness from your physical body. Many people report, at this stage, the electrical sensations of departing within the astral body. Your light is increasing, because you are beginning to transition to the astral world. You are about to achieve a conscious astral projection. Some people get very frightened by this stage, because the sensations are often very unusual. If you have not felt or experienced them before, you can be very frightened, mostly because they are unknown. But they are not dangerous! We do this all the time, but we’re just not aware of it. We are not conscious of it. We do not remember it. With familiarity and practice, you will start to look forward to these sensations, these psychic vibrations, and welcome them, because they are indicating to you that you are on the right path. You are about to enter the astral world consciously. You are entering the threshold. Some people get very excited, or fearful, and they may lose the experience. But with meditation, with familiarity, with practice, you can learn to train yourself to experience this state again and again, so that you do not get afraid of it. You do not fear it. You allow it to happen. Just like you breathe, just like you drink water, just like your heart beats, these are a part of you, in order to sustain your physical life. In a sense it is your spiritual life that is sustained. You are allowed to enter the internal worlds so that your body can rest. It is a function of nature. Nothing is dangerous about it, and you will come back to your body when it is time. So, nothing to fear there. So, do not be afraid, and do not get identified. Do not get caught up in it. 
Immediate Realization
In this way, if you maintain your vigilance, and allow yourself to enter the astral plane, to consciously astral project and enter the dream of your choice, you enter Immediate Realization.
With our practice we are going beyond the first two lights to experience two superior lights. This here is the awakened consciousness. It is direct knowledge of the astral world. It is Immediate Realization because it happens in the moment. We are awake. We know that we have entered, and now we can begin to enter the dream, or revisit the dream of our choice, to understand it, and even to go beyond it. So this happens oftentimes, in these recurring dreams, this Immediate Realization, often in an unconscious way. Sometimes we may have a dream or go through a recurring dream, where we are acting in it and seeing it, but not realizing it. Here in this practice, we want to be intentional. We want to be specific. We want to take the unconscious process and become aware of it. We know we are in the astral body. We are seeing things for what they are. 
Inner Profound Illumination
But there is another stage, something much deeper than merely being awake in the astral plane. We have what is called Inner Profound Illumination.
These are the most elevated mystical states that are possible for us. This is when we are guided by our inner God, when we are speaking face to face with divinity, through symbols, through messages, through teachings. Inner Profound Illumination is when the ego is not there. There is only the soul and the Being. So, the recurring dream is useful for this because it helps you enter the astral plane. You relive the dream, then you have the possibility of stepping away from it. You have the Immediate Realization that you are awake in your astral body, and now you have the choice to go explore that dimension and to invoke your inner God. So with Inner Profound Illumination we invoke divinity, and our Divine Mother and our Divine Father can concur to our call to teach us what we need to know. Usually these states that are the most illuminated do not have any type of egotistical element if we’re very dedicated. In the beginning, it will take some practice to get there. Preparation for Death
This process of entering the Four Lights, the Four Blessings, returning to dreams consciously, is really preparing us for death.
Sleep and death are the same process. We have explained this before. If we lack cognizance of our internal life, if we do not see anything, it means that we will be unconscious when we die. So we have to learn to train and awaken ourselves now, to prepare for these states after death. This is the principal tenet of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Bardo Thödol, and by awakening in the astral, we can investigate superior states and we can talk to people who have died. 
The Four Blessings in themselves help us enter the heavenly realms represented by this diagram of the Tree of Life. These four blessings are a form of conscious death. You learn to willingly enter the dream, enter the dreaming world, the world of the dead, so that we can resurrect within it, to go beyond our dreams, to leave our dreams behind. This is a miniature form of death and resurrection. As stated in the Qur’an, Surah 39, verse 42:
It is Allah that takes the souls of men at death, and those that die not, he takes during their sleep. Those on whom he has passed the decree of death, he keeps back from returning to life. For the rest he sends to their bodies for a term appointed. Verily in this are signs for those who reflect. ―Qur’an 39:42
So awakening to the Four Blessings will allow us to explore the heavenly realms. This is why we practice the return practice.
The Guardian Angel
To consciously enter dreams, to go beyond them and to see the higher realities, and in the process of this, we can work with what is known as the Guardian Angel.
We can work with a part of our Being that can help us to awaken within dreams. The Guardian Angel is very popular within our culture, especially Christianity. But often those symbols are now caricatures of a distant reality. The Guardian Angel has many powers within the soul. It is a part of our inner divinity who helps guard us in our spiritual life, our spiritual path. But more importantly, it teaches us how to consciously access our dreams. So we explained previously how the Being has many manifold expressions that all work in unity with the diverse functions of our being, which become perfected as we transform our psychology. We mentioned a few before like Morpheus and the Maiden of Memories, but the Guardian Angel is very distinct. This Guardian Angel is something very special and unique to us, and can help us maintain continuity of attention within the dreaming state. Once we are there, we can call upon our Guardian Angel within dreams to perform many magical works for us, which are very universal and unlimited. The authentic knowledge of the Guardian Angel was preserved amongst the initiatory Mystery Schools and was maintained within distinct monasteries and orders from antiquity. So we can invoke our Guardian Angel as we are falling to sleep, but also in the dream state itself, when we return to a dream, in order to take us to where we want to go, to go beyond ourselves. Initiates of dream yoga discipline can awaken internally, and when we are clear, awake, ecstatic with joy, we can work with the Guardian Angel. You can learn more about this in The Perfect Matrimony, for other practices relating to the Guardian Angel besides merely transporting yourself in dreams and helping you to guard your spiritual life. Exercises
In conclusion, throughout the day, practice self observation in the Key of SOL.
Before falling asleep, pray to your Divine Mother and Guardian Angel to help you consciously enter the internal worlds. Upon awaking from a dream, concentrate and visualize it while falling asleep again, praying to divinity to help you return to it. Lastly, record your dream experiences in your spiritual diary. Questions and Answers
Question: What are these symbols from the spiritual world and how can we recognize them?
Instructor: We kind of touched on them briefly. You will know them by your heart. What is your mood in relation to the dream? How did it impact you? What did you feel? Is it disturbing? Does it make you worry? Does it fill you with remorse? Does it inspire you? In the next lecture we are going to talk about this in great detail: How to Interpret Dreams. We will talk about inspirational knowledge. Usually, a spiritual symbol hits us with a lot of force. We are inspired in the consciousness by the distinct mood and flavor of the dream. We feel in our soul that there’s something unique about it, something out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with any murky quality, muddled or confused state which can typify most dreams. It is something that is very profound and penetrative. So we talked about that, but also we’re going to go into a lot more depth in the next lecture about this problem specifically: how to recognize dreams from illusions, or better said, visions from illusions. Question: In the astral plane, I don’t have any doubt that I’m experiencing something very profound, and more real than the waking world. However upon returning to the waking world, sometimes I start doubting my own experiences. Was this part of my own psyche creating these images? Were they really real? These doubts are exacerbated by non-linearity of time and space in the astral plane. Although on a couple of occasions I have seen places that seem to be on another planet, in most cases all objects and places seem to have a quality of the waking world. So I ask myself: how come I never experience or see something I’ve never seen before? I ask myself: if time is relative in the astral plane, then why did people who traveled in the astral plane a thousand years ago not see our time? To see reports of people flying by airplanes, watching TVs and using iPhones? In the same way if time is relative in the astral plane, then why can’t I see our own distant future and technology? Of course I’m not interested in seeing our future, I just want to find a way to validate my experiences in the astral plane. Instructor: So there is a lot going on here, I’ll break down some points. It is common in the beginning to doubt our experiences, to fear that somehow we are going to be manipulated by our own illusions, that our ego and our mind are really projecting the contents of our own subjectivity. This is oftentimes compounded with the difficulty of the real nature of the astral plane, which is eternity, beyond the scope of our material temporality and time. You will learn what is real and what is false by meditating. When you look at your own desires and see them for what they are, and learn to be conscious physically, and when you meditate, discriminating images in the astral world becomes easier, because you are transferring the same skill from your physical life to your internal life. You learn to stop projecting like a film on a screen. When the mind stops projecting, when it is clear and luminous, when you have reached the Immediate Realization of the consciousness, you see reality. Even if you see things objectively within dreams, it is important to have caution—to learn to compare the vision with physical facts, to compare data. What was the dream about? How does it relate to our daily life? If it doesn’t relate, then it is a lie. But if it is teaching you something about something physical, what is going on in your daily experience, teaching you about an ordeal or problem, a challenge, you can be more certain that there is more objectivity there and that you are receiving something spiritual. When you stop projecting your mind onto the screen of the astral world, you can start to see that dimension for what it is—whether it is traveling to other planets, seeing cities and buildings, seeing landscapes, seeing the future, seeing architecture from other eras and ages, whether from the past like in Atlantis, or perhaps even in the future, with the Koradi. All these things can play out within our vision if we have clarified it. So, be patient. You can start to see those things more objectively and more consistently the more you meditate. Turn off the projector of your mind. Do not let it dominate yourself in your daily life. Work hard to differentiate in your waking states what is real from what is false, and in that way you will start to have more clarity and intuition about how to discriminate what your dreams are about. In that way, when you actually see things that are objective, you will not interpret them egotistically, because you could be very awake internally, and yet you are going to be interpreting things in the wrong way. That is a very dangerous place to be. Many people in different movements have made very grave errors, because they mistook an authentic vision which was true, and turned it into a falsehood, giving it meaning that is not there. It is a very deep topic. We will talk more about it in the next lecture. I hope this will suffice. Question: We understand that proper invocation involves spontaneity, sincerity, a willingness to experiment. My question is: in working with invoking the Guardian Angel, do you have suggestions of movements, mantra, prayers, and how? Instructor: Sure. “In the Name of Christ, by the Power of Christ, for the Majesty of Christ, come unto me, my Guardian Angel! Divine Father, bring my Guardian Angel unto me. Help me to perform this magical work.” Speak from your heart. You can call to divinity in that way. The best formula is from your own being, from your soul. You can say, “My Guardian Angel, help me!” when you’re in that state. Often you will get a response if the time is ripe, if you are ready, and if what will be offered is something that you can use for your spiritual benefit. That often happens with invoking our Divine Mother and Divine Father too. Divinity will come to us, or give us an experience, right there. Sometimes the landscape can change. Many things can happen. But really, the best invocation is whatever is most sincere. You do not really need a script. Your heart knows what is best. But if you want something to begin with, you can try that. Question: What is a crab a symbol of esoterically? Instructor: The crab is the symbol of Cancer in the Zodiac. There is a deep relationship there. You may have dreams of crabs. It could be related to the zodiacal sign of Cancer, to the waters. Crabs are shellfish, and in a sense shellfish are a symbol of our ego: lunar forces, lunar entities. My understanding is very limited, so you can take this with some discretion, depending on whatever it is you have experienced. Because only you can really judge and ascertain the meaning of what these crabs may be symbolizing in a dream of yours. It is good to really open our intuition more to our own judgement and wisdom from our meditations, than to perhaps look for explanations online. However, my limited knowledge is that the crab could relate to the Zodiac. If you dream of shellfish, it could represent perhaps egotistical elements, desires that live in the waters. This is why in the Book of Leviticus, I believe in the Old Testament, stipulated for Jewish dietary guidelines not to consume shellfish. Some people interpret this literally, but I like to look at things within the astral language presented in the Old Testament. The shellfish could represent, like lobsters specifically―maybe not crabs, but lobsters―can relate to ego or egos. But there are dual elements and dual relationships within any symbol. There could be positive and negative meanings embedded all at the same time. This is the real mystery of dreams, because while there is a literal narrative within the experience, the symbols can operate on multiple conceptual dimensions all at once. There could be 15 different things happening all at once, in terms of how the symbol plays out in your dream. So rather than looking at someone’s definition of it, it is good to meditate on what was going on in the dream. What was the situation? What was the impact or mood of the experience? How did it play our in your vision? What was the situation? What was your relationship to the situation? How did it unfold? What was the problem or the ordeal or the storyline related to that experience? Because there are a lot of elements that are condensed within a dream, and this is why dreams are so powerful. This is why divinity does not speak oftentimes to us in a very literal way, and when he does, it is often very succinct, because symbols communicante much more than any language physically. So I hope that satisfies your question or curiosity. But that’s just my limited understanding. Question: My dreams have the same recurring element of water. The water is always different, but water is usually present when I can remember my dreams. Should I focus on water as I fall asleep, or a dream that I can remember that had water present? Instructor: You can do both. It is interesting that you dreamed of water. Water is a universal symbol. We often talk about its meaning within the writings of Samael Aun Weor, who explains that water is related to our sexual, creative, vital energies, and the quality of those waters are depicting for us the quality of our psychological states. You can focus on water. You can imagine it, or you can even pick out a dream―which is better, one that you actually experienced―and visualize that quality and its impact on your consciousness. That’s the best approach. Because when you have an internal experience, you can use that and should use those images as meditation symbols, like the recurring dream, the initiator element, the unifying element. They’re showing us something deep and significant. So imagine the image that you saw in your dreams. If you have any other questions, feel free to unmute yourself. Ok, there are no more comments or questions, we will conclude. I thank you all for coming! We will continue I believe in the beginning of October, the lecture on How to Interpret Dreams. So, I thank you all! Much appreciated. 
Any person who has been applying these techniques faces an inevitable problem. Better said, there are many impediments to consciously astral projecting. It is the purpose of this lecture to explain what these are, but more importantly, how to apply effective remedies.
There are two primary obstacles. The first is a lack of effective methods, and the second is our own mind. The first problem is easily fixable, although there are some issues. Anyone who explores this topic, searching on the internet, discovers a multitude of teachings. There are many astral projection techniques, theories, and instructions. It is so easy to get lost by the interpretations and the novelties of diverse knowledge. It is incumbent upon the student to discriminate the real from the illusory. But for beginners, this is not easy. It is not easy to discern what is true and what is not. But there is a way to know what is effective and what is not. It is the lived experiences of the teachers. People have to live what they teach to a more or less degree. It is important that when we study from a school that we can verify or determine that whatever is being taught is experiential and has been experienced. Unfortunately, there is a tendency in spiritual schools to teach what one does not know. In fact, many people make a business of the divine. They take the teachings that have a tremendous potential and merely leave it in the intellect. Personally, I have known groups that teach about astral projection, even when the instructor has never had that experience. It is really sad, and it unveils the necessity to experiment and to test, to know. My purpose in teaching these lectures is because I have had many experiences about the techniques, so I can teach from my own faith that this is real. However, even though any missionary can give you knowledge and offer promises, can provide any type of wisdom, the reality is that it is necessary for the student to know what is being taught. The only way to know is to practice daily for many years until the results you long for become a reality. 
Obstacles to Astral Projection
But of course, there is a major problem: the mind.
The mind is an obstacle. Even if the techniques are genuine, it is our own conditioned states which prevent the actualization of conscious astral projections. The tendency of the mind to be distracted is the fault, is the ultimate impediment. Anyone who has been following this series of lectures, perhaps studying the last lecture on mantras, has experienced that the mind wanders. You may be lying down, very relaxed and yet your mind is all over the place— thoughts appearing and disappearing, cycling, churning, and fleeing from one idea to another or in a chain of associative thinking, never on the goal. These mantras and techniques work, but only in accordance with the discipline of our mind. We can give an example. A carpenter has tools: hammers, saws, rulers and whatever is necessary to do the job. But a carpenter cannot do anything, cannot build anything, if he does not know how to apply the tools. You have to be concentrated on what you are doing. You also have to know how the techniques work and the purpose of the tools. You cannot take these items and create anything real if you do not have the knowledge of their effectiveness and purpose. For example, an astronomer cannot study the stars with a microscope, nor could a biologist study the microbes with a telescope. These techniques have a purpose, and the only way that they work is if you are fully immersed with your whole Being into them and that your mind is not thinking of something else. I know that the analogy may not be perfect, because someone who is very experienced in carpentry may be thinking of something else and doing one thing, but the reality is that people who do a really good job are fully focused. Their whole Being is there. They do not think of other things. They are not distracted. So, if we lack the ability to serenely observe ourselves, to be present, to know what we are doing, then we cannot enter the astral dimension with awareness. Samael Aun Weor gave a quote in The Aquarian Message which emphasizes these points: Before anything else, comprehend that in order to consciously travel in the astral body, the process of thinking is an obstacle. We have given many clues in order to travel consciously in the astral body. However, we have seen in practice that those people who cannot quiet the mind, not even for an instant, who are accustomed to hopping from school to school, from lodge to lodge, always inquiring, always preoccupied are not able to astral travel. —Samael Aun Weor, The Aquarian Message
It is the tendency of the mind to be superficial, to move from thing to thing. I do want to mention that from this quote, that Samael Aun Weor made a very profound point. He is not talking about going form school to school not learning about objective spirituality. He was a student of many teachers, many religions, many groups. But he did not approach each school or each religion with a superficial attitude. He had his own discipline of mind, his own character development, his own meditation, so he was able to learn from all of these diverse teachers and schools about how to perform this work. But most people when they go from idea to idea do so without a ground, without a foundation, and it is this foundation that is at the heart of spiritual success.
Litelantes and Simplicity
In this next slide we see the Venerable Master Litelantes, the wife of Samael Aun Weor. She is a great master. I say this not because I read about it, but because I have met her. The first time I met Samael Aun Weor was with this initiate in the astral plane in an Aztec temple. She is a very awakened master. She has knowledge of reincarnation from experience. She is a judge of the law of destiny in this solar system. She is one of the forty-two judges of the hierarchs of karma. She helped Samael Aun Weor rise. She is a severe but profoundly loving master, and despite all of her achievements, what is most remarkable, is that she was illiterate.
She could not read. She is very simple, but unfortunately in our Western culture, we think of illiteracy as stupidity, and this is wrong. There are many people who are not literate who have profound memory, imagination, understanding, but also intelligence. Real intelligence is spiritual. It is the ability to know how to navigate life with selflessness and love. Sadly, in our modern era, the intellect predominates. The intellect has been used to create the atom bomb. That is not real intelligence. That is stupidity. So why mention this master? It is because in astral projection, it is the heart that matters. The intellect is secondary. People who are very intellectual, who have a head like a library but have no sentiment, and no heart, are polarized in a very negative way. The intellect divorced of the spirit is detrimental, because the intellect is used for cunning, for sophistry, for articulate sarcasm, for cruel words, for manipulation and deceit. If we want to be really successful with astral projection, it is important to develop the heart, superior emotion, and qualities of the Being. Samael Aun Weor stated the following in The Perfect Matrimony in a chapter called “The Flying Serpent”: In practice, we have been able to prove that people who are very intellectual, full of bookish culture (the library book worms) do not manage to go out at will into the astral body. On the other hand, people who are simple, humble peasants, poor servants of families can do so perfectly. This has made us think a great deal about the matter and we have carefully investigated the problem. The fact is that traveling in the astral body is not intellectual. Rather, astral travel is more aligned to sentiment and to superior emotion. These qualities are related to the heart and not to the brain. The intellectual polarizes himself in the brain in an exaggerated fashion and abandons, in fact, the world of the heart. The result of his lack of equilibrium is the loss of the psychic powers of the Soul. —Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony, “The Flying Serpent” 
Balancing Mental and Spiritual Faculties
We need balance, like in this image. We have Anubis judging the mind and the heart of the defunct, and above are the Egyptian gods of judgment, the lords of karma, who are ascertaining the moral caliber of the student, of the initiate. This feather represents the mind, and obviously the heart represents superior emotions.
Sadly in this era, most people do not know what superior emotion is, but we have had rare glimpses: perhaps a mother to her child, who sacrifices herself despite her faults and imperfections; to be kind, to be pure, to be compassionate; also comprehension, understanding and the building of communities. These qualities unfortunately, for most people, are very rare. We do not genuinely identify ourselves with the best, primarily because we are afflicted with ego, by pride, anger, lust, resentment, and fear. When the heart is heavy with emotion of the negative type, of the ego, the scales tip and therefore we have an imbalance. Any imbalance between the mind and the heart results in failure. If we really want to be effective with conscious astral travel, astral projections, the mind needs to be in balance and the heart needs to be calm, present, and still. Anytime we exercise a faculty, we strengthen it. For most of us in the West, we have a mind that is very filled with knowledge and our hearts tend to be depleted and deficient. Wherever we direct attention, we expend creative energy. Therefore, whatever actions we perform strengthens the machine that is facilitating it. If you use your intellect more than other faculties, it becomes, in a sense, more experienced, more developed, like a muscle. However, the intellect must be balanced. You would find it strange to go to the gym and see a person who only works out their right bicep at the expense of all of the other muscles. It would be absurd, but in our Western culture, which is so intellectual, requiring intellectual responses to life, to stimuli, we tend to have the mind very fat, ignoring other qualities of our Being, and because of this, there is a problem. In our Western world, we need the intellect. We need it, but it should not predetermine everything we do. The connection between the mind and the heart has to be established because there is a fine connection and thread which is our own Being, our own Essence. By this we are not stating, because of the faults of the mind, that we should be illiterate or should not have the intellect. For most of us who are in North America or Western countries, this is where we begin, because of our education, our personality, our background or our experience. Now it is more important that we learn to reunite the mind to the heart. Samael Aun Weor stated in The Perfect Matrimony, “The Flying Serpent”: Unfortunately, a faculty cannot be acquired without the loss of another. Whosoever wants to develop the intellect does so at the expense of the psychic facilities. This problem is serious because we can in no way approve ignorance and illiteracy. It is logical that the intellectual culture is necessary. Ignorance leads to very serious errors. —Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony, “The Flying Serpent”
So by this statement, it might seem that, well, if he argues against illiteracy, what about his wife Litelantes who was illiterate? For her, she was already awakened before she was born. She had a type of consciousness or has a type of consciousness that is very distinct, very alert, comprehensive, intuitive, and awake. She was already awake before she was born. Therefore, she had a faculty in her early years that allowed her to navigate existence. But for most of us, we are asleep. We lack knowledge of our past lives, of our previous states, and of who we really are.
Blavatsky and Illuminated Intellect
We begin where we are at, and because we are hyper-intellectual in the West, we have to develop ourselves kind of like this master, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. We included her in this slide because she is a perfect example of both a scholar and a master. Anyone who reads her Isis Unveiled or The Secret Doctrine can immediately ascertain her facility with knowledge. But that is not all where she left it off. She had an illuminated intellect, and she knew how to use the mind in balance. There is a quote by Samael Aun Weor in Igneous Rose, the chapter called the “Esoteric Discipline of the Mind,” which explains what that type of illuminated intellect is.
We must learn to think with the heart and to feel with the head. —Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose, “Esoteric Discipline of Mind”
This is something you have to experience. Understanding is a distinct quality from rationalization. The mind that thinks, that theorizes, that debates, that argues, that churns, that stews, is not comprehension. Comprehension is a light. It sparks in you when you know in your very core the meaning of something, and therefore, you do not have to think. You do not rationalize. The real solar mind, the divine intuitive mind, receives knowledge and wisdom in a receptive way. The consciousness is hyper-active, but the mind is still. This is how the images of the internal worlds enter into the psyche. When the mind, the intellect is in perfect equanimity, when these surfaces are clean and still, then wisdom emerges. But to do that, we have to become like children, as Jesus says in the Gospels.
I will emphasize another quote again by Samael Aun Weor about what we must do if we want to be experts at astral projection: Now the interesting thing is to know how to reconquer the lost psychic faculties. A man with a brilliant, illuminated intellect and with all of his psychic faculties in full activity is really in fact, by his own right, a true illuminated one. The occultist needs to establish perfect equilibrium between the mind and heart. When the mind has become excessively frozen in the brain, leaving at will in the astral body becomes completely impossible because there is imbalance. It is urgent then, that the intellectual occultist re-establish the equilibrium between the mind and the heart. Fortunately, there is a technique to re-establish the lost equilibrium. This technique is inner meditation. —Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony, “The Flying Serpent” Dream Yoga Discipline
We are going to talk about some practices that you can use to develop all of this. Dream Yoga becomes our lifestyle. We will give some techniques, some guidelines you can follow. We are going to elaborate upon them now so that by learning techniques like meditation and introspection, we can become more intuitive. Samael Aun Weor states in The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac:
Those candidates who sincerely long for physical direct experience must unquestionably begin the dream yoga discipline. The Gnostic must be very demanding with himself and to learn to create favorable conditions, to remember and understand all these inner experiences that always occur during sleep. —Samael Aun Weor, The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac 
Preliminaries
Let us talk about this discipline. Here are the preliminaries. In this image, we see in the top left a woman whose face is transposed beyond her own, looking at herself. We chose this because it is a perfect illustration of self-reflection. When you go to bed at night and even throughout the day, how often do we see ourselves? How often do we actually look at what we are thinking, at what we are feeling, our state of mind, our quality of perception, how we see, how we react, how we behave?
Self-observation is essential, but many people get stuck in this. It is easy to consider this an intellectual exercise, thinking: “I am now looking at my surroundings and at myself. I see anger in me or I see pride. I see fear.” The mind can label but it cannot understand, unless it is in a passive state. The consciousness must be hyper-active, but the mind must be calm, equilibrated. But before you go to bed, especially, examine your state. Do not go to bed angry. Do not go to bed with negative emotions. It is better, like in the bottom right of this image, that we meditate. It is better that we really comprehend why we behave the way we do, why we suffer. Look at it. If you had a problem with a family member, an ordeal with someone, look at the emotion. Look at your thoughts. Look at yourself, and do not struggle with it or suffocate it or suppress it, but look. See it. This is psychological judo, real, spiritual martial arts. When you see something in yourself that you may not like, look at it and look at your reactions. Look at your mind. The mind struggles. The soul can disarm our own psychological opponents, which are our own defects, and as you are doing this, we learn to develop superior emotion. When you recognize that you are not your thoughts, not your desires, not your hatreds, you can begin to see that you are a spark of the divine, the Divine Mother Kundalini, the Being. In moments of stillness, we access our true nature, and when you taste that, it will give you joy. It gives us happiness, because we realize that we are not the mind. We are not our pain, our fears, our anxieties, our insecurities. We are something more, and that we are a spark of Her. This develops prayer. When you connect with that, you ask, “Help me, my God, to not be what I am, but to be something more, to be united with you!” 
Exercise, Diet, and Mood
In the process of introspection, we can develop our lifestyle.
Exercise is important. If you live a sedentary life, if you do not work out or get some type of exercise, consider it, because if you go to bed with tension, pain in your body, inflexibility, it is going to make it very difficult to practice astral projection. You will not be able to relax. It is very simple. You may find an exercise regimen that is conducive to your schedule, your needs. Some people do martial arts, or they do exercise in the gym. Some people run. Some people walk. Find our what works out best for you. Also, it is good to work daily with our sexual energy. We see this woman on the top left performing pranayama. Pranayama, especially for single people, is essential. Transmute every day. Conserve your energies. That is the power that is going to awaken you and give you insights. Also, listen to good music. We often recommend classical, especially, primarily because the works of initiates like Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, and Tchaikovsky originated from the Being. This kind of music awakens the heart, the superior emotion. It inflames the soul. I have had experiences about Beethoven’s music, especially his Ninth Symphony. What was very startling for me was that when I had this samadhi, I later listened to his symphony, and I immediately recognized what I experienced. It scared me. I did not know how someone could articulate perfectly within music every sentiment and movement of that vision. Therefore, music can inspire our spirituality and help us to work, opera especially. We have given a course which is ongoing, which is The Secret Teachings of Opera, where we study operas such as Turandot by Puccini. There are many works. They educate the mind but also the heart. So, if you are looking for a practice that will equilibrate your psyche and also teach you kabbalah, study opera. Our diet should be light at night. It is not good to eat heavy foods before we go to bed. You might find it difficult to practice. Too much food in the stomach at night can cause indigestion and then nightmares, especially from red meat in the evenings. If your diet is very heavy in that, consider diminishing it or limiting it. Your last meal of the day should not encumber your body. It should help you feel balanced, because when your stomach is filled with food when you sleep, you activate, especially with red meat, the chakras of the abdomen, which are infernal, that could awaken you down in the infernal planes. It is very common. This is well documented in science or the study of dreams, that indigestion causes nightmares. So, eat lightly at the end of the day. 
Home and Environment
Something to consider, too, is that our home or our environment should be conducive to our practice. Our bed should have, like in this image on the top left, good support for our body, our neck and our spine. Our bed should be comfortable. It should not be so rigid or hard that you cannot sleep. If you cannot fall asleep, you cannot practice, or if you cannot maintain your awareness when going to bed, then consider adjusting your environment. Beds with springs that are creaking or noisy are very discomforting.
You should make your home a temple. On the top right we see a bedroom or a bed with the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. These three colors represent the three primary forces, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having these colors in your room can help you awaken, in a sense that if you are conscious of your environment and what the colors represent, they help to create beauty in our home. It is very difficult to relax if our home is a mess, or if it is in disarray. We should take care of our temple. Our environment or our nest should be comfortable, inspiring and uplifting. The three primary colors are beautiful for that because they represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now your bed does not have to look like this but you may find ways to decorate your home. For example, some people use the Tibetan prayer flags which have these colors. You can adjust this principle to suit your needs. Every night, keep a journal nearby, a dream journal, so that first thing when you wake up, you write down what you experienced. Remembering your dreams and documenting them is essential. We will give a whole lecture on how to remember dreams in the future. But the important thing is that you have some notepad or some way to document what you dreamed about before you wake up. There is something about the act of writing which helps us to remember things. Many people have documented that they remember things more when they write about what they experienced. The same thing with a dream journal. So, you may find that if you get up in the morning and you are rushing to work, it could be easy to forget your dreams. But if you wrote them down after performing some preliminary retrospection exercises to recall what you saw, you might not forget. So, journal it. Write it down. Your journal does not have to be super detailed. However, much time you have, whatever you can commit to paper, do it. Make sure you include enough information that it will help you recall things. Also, we should incense our home daily. Perfume it. Whatever incense or smells help you to relax, that help you feel at peace, use that. You can even incense your pillows with your favorite perfumes. There is something about aromatherapy and smells that help elevate our mood. If our mood is positive, you can enter the dream yoga practice with more enthusiasm. Also, cleaning your home of astral larva with sage or other incenses that I mentioned before can help for more cleanliness, psychologically speaking, and this goes a long way to help our practice.
Morpheus, Northern Magnetism, and Astral Projection Postures
You may find that astral projection can be very difficult and there are other remedies you can use to help cultivate your spiritual life.
You can lie down in the posture of the lion. This is the Buddha that has his legs, his left leg over his right, the knees bent, his right hand holding up his head. The left hand on the left hip. This is a very effective posture for astral projection. You may find that it may help you to relax, but also be attentive, and that is the key to any exercise, that you are able to relax but also stay awake long enough that you remember what you were doing. So, finally by hitting that balance, you knock on the door to the internal worlds. For some people, this posture may be difficult, and that is fine. You can do Chac Mool or other exercises. You can lie on your back. The key thing is that you have to be relaxed but attentive. You have to be aware of what you are doing at all times. But you will hit a transition point where, as you are entering sleep, you perhaps start to experience sounds, visions, colors, and images, and almost in a sense, it comes upon you without you really being aware of it. It just happens, and when you recognize it, that is the moment that you can get out of your body, get out of your bed, and do a test. Pull your finger as we explained previously, to see if it will stretch or jump in the air, to see if you float. The postures are helpful. You can try this, the lion’s posture. You can also lie down on your bed with your head facing North. Northern magnetism helps with astral projection. The planet is an energetic and even psychological and spiritual body. It channels forces and energy thoughout the globe that effect our psychology. Magnetism especially influences the astral body, and the Northern pole helps to orient and align our state of mind with the higher worlds. I know we mentioned in previous lectures that certain spiritual authors associate the North with the spiritual worlds, like the mountains or the cold. So, if you lay down with your head towards the North and fall asleep, that magnetism can help you make astral projections more frequent because the astral body is a fluidic vehicle. It is material in the sense that it has its organs and capabilities, but at the same time it is organized and dominated by different laws that are more energetic and subtle. We also have the God Morpheus, who is a part of our Being. Anyone who has seen The Matrix films knows about Morpheus and the analogy of how we need to awaken from illusion. So, Morpheus is actually the god of dreams in Greek mythology. He represents part of our Being. There is a part of our Being that helps us to awaken within the astral plane. You can concentrate on Morpheus and pray to your inner God to help you to enter the astral dimension consciously. Morpheus is a part of us. Some people often think of divinity as singular, but the truth is that there are many parts of the Being which we are learning to work with and unite. It is all the parts of our inner consciousness which have their roles. Morpheus is that part of our Being that helps us to awaken within our dreams. So you can pray to Morpheus. You do not need formulae. Simply pray: “Help me get out of my body,” or whatever comes naturally to us. 
The Lunar Influence
You can also take advantage of the lunar influence. People often report more vivid dreams and astral projections during the full moon, and this is because the astral body is lunar. It relates to the lunar-mechanical influences of nature.
There is both a positive and a negative aspect of the Moon. We know that women are naturally influenced by the lunar cycles, such as with menstruation. The tides of the Earth are regulated by the Moon. But in a negative sense, we find that there are more crimes on a full moon. We even get the term “lunatic” from the word luna. But because this is a mechanical influence that is a part of nature, but also a part of us, we can take advantage of it, take something mechanical and make it intentional. When there is a crescent, waxing moon or a full moon, we can dedicate more intensely to our astral projection exercises because the lunar influence will help us, help us to awaken. The Moon has both a material and a psychological, spiritual influence on our mind and heart, so we should use it to our advantage. 
Gemini
It is fortuitous also that we are now in the astrological sign of Gemini, as of today, May 21st to June 20th. Gemini is the zodiacal constellation associated with the brothers, the twins, and is intimately related to the sign of Mercury, the planet Mercury. There are masters in the internal planes associated with the planet Mercury. Samael Aun Weor calls them the lords of the mind. They are masters in the internal planes who can teach you how to astral project. In the sign of Gemini, they work more intensely, because the influence of that zodiac is entering our planet and is accelerating certain spiritual influences. If you become conscious of them and work with them, you can really intensify your dream yoga experiences.
In Gemini, the forces of Mercury are very powerful. Mercury is related with the mind, the mental body. But these lords of Mercury, these lords of wisdom, can teach us to astral project. So whatever technique we are using, we can also invoke and call upon these initiates. There are many beings throughout the universe not merely from our Earth. Now, in public discourse, we have more openness about extraterrestrials, other humanities. The question is at least being raised instead of being shunned. But we go a bit further, because if you awaken in the internal worlds, you can get help from other humanities. Personally, I have received help from other humanities, not physically, but internally, where certain beings have come, humanoid, that look just like us, to help me get out of my body. The lords of Mercury can do that for you. So, you can intensify your practice during this time in the sign of Gemini. 
Ethical Requisites for Astral Travel
There are also some things we can cultivate in our daily life that can help us promote our practice. Samael Aun Weor mentions the following ethical prerequisites for astral travel in his book Aztec Christic Magic, where he talks about how ethical discipline is really the key to our wellbeing.
He is not talking about morality, or whatever country thinks is good or bad. What is good in one time, is bad in another, and vice versa. We are talking about something more universal, having to do primarily with the cleanliness of the body, the lungs especially, and our sexual energy. If you faithfully practice each one of the exercises that we have taught in order, for these six consecutive days, you will soon project yourself in your astral body, this is if you are a respectable person, that you neither abuse liquors or tobacco, that you do not propagate gossip, that you do not enjoy making fun of your neighbors and that you live and respect every living being. —Samael Aun Weor, Aztec Christic Magic
Obviously, it is difficult for people who smoke or drink liquor, but we know conventionally that these elements toxify the psychology. These elements are also very difficult for our dream yoga practice. If the body is unhealthy, the mind is polluted. If we are sick from consuming these elements, it is going to be very difficult to practice.
On a more subtle note, it is important not to engage in criticism of our neighbor, as difficult as that may be, because negative emotions spread and cause pain. A negative emotion is another obstacle to dream yoga. The important thing is to have compassion for others. This is the ideal. We should strive for it. Tips for Astral Projection
Here are some tips you can use to astral project:
1. Rehearse the practice for 10 minutes beforehand
Before you actually practice, rehearse the practice. You can lay down, imagine, or pronounce the mantra that you are going to use as a kind of test run, so you get comfortable with the process of actually lying down and doing the exercise. If you are practicing, you may find it difficult in the beginning if you are unfamiliar with how to do it. So, if you rehearse it, it can make you more familiar.
2. Do not fear being unable to go to sleep. Practice whole-heartedly.
We should also not fear being unable to go to sleep. Some people do not practice whole-heartedly because they feel like they need to be alert in a ridged sense. Perhaps it is excitement or fear or agitation, or the idea that if I practice astral projection, I will not get any rest and therefore there is the obstacle of not wanting to practice. Do not fear that you are not going to get sleep, but give your self some space. You can practice for ten or twenty minutes, thirty minutes if you want, if you are ambitious, or maybe more but dedicate some time to yourself to figure out how long you want to engage in the exercise. You could do it ten minutes vocally and then ten minutes whispered and then fall asleep.
3. Slowly train the body to adopt a posture.
We also have to train the body to adopt the posture. Some postures like Chac Mool or the lion posture can be difficult for some people, so take some time to practice the postures. Get used to them, and then after a time of actually practicing them, you can always roll over on your side or your back, whatever is most comfortable for you to fall asleep. But do take some time to get familiar with them.
4. Deepen relaxation. Do not force the process. Let it happen.
Also, deepen your relaxation. These techniques only work if you relax. Be attentive but relaxed. It does not have to be tight and ridged. Being alert does not necessarily mean having five cups of coffee and being hyper. As I said, it is about being calm. Real alert awareness is relaxed. Do not force the process of astral projection. Let it happen. The more you try to force it or restrict it, you can jump out of the experience. You can lose it.
5. Gradually increase practice length from 10 minutes.
Gradually increase the time of your practice. Over time you can gradually increase the practice to lying down for ten minutes. Maybe you start with five at first, five minutes vocal and then you go to five minutes whispered and then you go to sleep. You may find that you get more into it or more relaxed and then you can basically extend the practice.
6. Conscious efforts, not mental exertion.
These are conscious efforts, not mental exertion. As we hinted before, the consciousness has to work. The mind must be passive. The personality has to be calm. You will know the difference through experience, through how you apply your perception.
7. Practice consistently and with dedication.
Also, practice consistently with dedication, because if you practice one night but not the other, you loose momentum. Then sleep becomes another reoccurrence of our former habits. We go back to bed and enter oblivion for eight hours and we do not remember anything.
8. Enjoy the exercise and the results of your practice.
Enjoy the exercise and the results of your practice. It is like working out. People do not stick with a workout regimen if they do not enjoy what they are doing. But if you find something that you enjoy doing and you enjoy it, like this exercise, you are going to be more enthusiastic to practice it. So that is something to keep in mind.
9. Maintain equanimity and dispassion.
We should maintain equanimity and dispassion. The more excited you are, the more agitated, the more fearful, the more anxious we are, the more attached to results, the less likely we will consciously astral project.
10. Develop concentration and visualization.
Concentration and visualization are the key, to focus on one thing and visualize what we are doing like with the Fa Ra On exercise we taught about previously. You imagine the pyramids. You see them with as much vivid intensity and color as you can, and you see yourself going there. Or better said, rather than imagining that you are imagining it, you actually imagine the sand, the wind, the heat, and the environment. It is important that we maintain our concentration and visualization exercises, so we have more depth and strength to our exercise or our work.
11. Adopt a prayerful attitude.
Adopt a prayerful attitude where we humbly ask for help and pray, “Show me, Divine Mother, the internal worlds. Help me to change. Help me to experience this for myself!”
12. Take a comfortable position when ready to sleep.
Lastly, take a comfortable position when you are ready to sleep.
Intermittent Sleep
There is another exercise you can do if you want to increase your likelihood for astral projection. We call it intermittent sleep.
You can practice getting up in the early hours of the morning or late at night. You set an alarm, sleep for a few hours, then get up in the middle of the night and you perform a practice. The Qur’an is a perfect example of a scriptural source of this discipline, where in Islam they mention about supererogatory prayer, which are additional exercises or prayers that one performs in the middle of the night or the early hours of dawn. As it says in Surah 17:78-79: Perform the prayer at the declining of the sun to the darkening of the night. And the recitation at dawn—truly, the recitation at dawn is ever witnessed! And keep vigilant prayer for part of the night, as a supererogatory act for thee. It may be that thy Lord will resurrect thee in a praiseworthy station. —Qur’an 17:78-79
You may find that if you wake up in the early hours and you practice and then go back to bed, that you suddenly enter the astral plane with a lot of intensity, a lot of vividness of color and depth. It is because you take the time to awaken yourself even physically to be more alert and aware until finally you take that alert state and go back to the dream world. It is very useful. It is a form of spiritual resurrection, because you are literally coming back from the world of the dead and then entering it again.
But of course, there are some caveats to this. You do not necessarily want to perform intermittent sleep or practices when maybe you have work during the week, or you have a busy schedule. It is not good to do it all of the time, especially if you find that you need rest. But instead, you can basically perform it maybe once in a while or whatever is conducive for your schedule. You can also go to bed earlier. That is important too, to make up any sleep you have lost, but also you do maintain a schedule that is going to be healthy for you. 
Elementotherapy: Nature’s Royal Art
We are going to explain these last few slides, a couple of practices with elemental therapy which is nature’s royal art. There are certain plants that can help us to astral project, especially if we struggle with achieving it.
In synthesis, elementotherapy is a term coined by Samael Aun Weor about working with the souls of plants. Every plant in nature has a soul. It is animated by life, and every plant has a spiritual purpose. So we can work with the intelligences of nature to teach us how to astral project, to help us go out of our body. I will only mention two. 
Elemental of the Angel’s Trumpet
We have a plant called the Angel’s Trumpet. Samael Aun Weor talks about this in Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic, in the chapter on “The Magic of the Angel’s Trumpet.”
So, typically what you do is you concentrate and visualize the soul of the plant. You perform a mantra that activates the plant itself and helps you to facilitate inner experiences. One thing to be conscious of with the Angel’s Trumpet is that it is highly toxic, so there is that caveat. It is important not to consume the plant. What we are working with is the elemental, not the physical substance of the plant itself. Samael Aun Weor, when he mentioned this practice, he mentioned how in his past lives in certain temples of the White Lodges, he would take some of the juice of some of the plant and dab it very lightly on the forehead of the initiates when they would fall asleep so that they, with the combination of mantra and prayer, would go out. But personally, since I am not a master nor am I under the jurisdiction of one in my physical life, and do not have that kind of guidance in my personal existence, I do not recommend doing it for oneself, with the juices. Personally, I do not know the accurate dosing, although he does describe dabbing it. But that is something very easy to abuse, and in fact, there are many indigenous shamanic cultures and traditions that have abused this plant. So, my personal recommendation for this type of exercise is that you work with the plant’s soul. Do not consume or touch the leaves of the juices itself because it could be harmful. But the elemental of the soul of this plant is very powerful. Here is what Samael Aun Weor stated in his book, Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic: Every angel’s trumpet tree has its corresponding elemental, which has to be utilized by those who wish to consciously depart in their astral body. […]
So, it is like a little prick, and we know that ancient blood rituals were performed by Jesus in the Last Supper, where he took a drop of his blood and deposited it in the chalice of the Last Supper, which was shared amongst his disciples or the Apostles. This united the astral bodies of all of the initiates with Christ.
So, blood is a very potent substance which carries the life of our humanity and our spirituality. With this, you take a little bit and connect it within the incision of the tree and it creates a bond where the elemental will vow to help you. Here is what Samael Aun Weor also had to say about this topic: Then the disciple will cut some hair on his head and will hang it on the tree. He will collect a few petals from the flowers of the tree and place them within a little bag and hang it around his neck as a talisman. Hence, from that moment on, the disciple has under his service this humble elemental, who will always assist to his call.
So, again he mentions a dab, but personally it is my recommendation to work with the soul of the plant, because one could abuse it, using too much of it, obviously, and that is a problem.
Elemental of the Peyote
There is another plant which is very controversial, which is talked about in a lot of shamanic traditions. It is peyote. But there are a lot of problems with peyote, even though authentic peyote can produce conscious astral projections. I will name a list of issues, although it is not exhaustive.
To find authentic peyote is very difficult. It is only found in certain regions of Latin America. Not only that, but one has to be educated on how to dose it which is learned by certain indigenous masters within Latin America. But then the problem becomes how to discriminate who is authentic and who is not, or who has maintained the purity of any lineage. Unfortunately, in these times, this is very rare. Personally, when I have met certain indigenous masters, it has been in the internal planes. That way one is not easily fooled, if you are very alert and conscientious. The elemental of the peyote also only works with meditation, and for this, one has to be a practical meditator, not merely learning how to calm the mind or how to concentrate for a few minutes, but actually meditate to experience internal truths. This is based upon chastity. The elemental of the peyote only obeys chaste people, not those who waste their sexual energy. It also requires sanctity, eliminating a lot of ego, because the elementals do not respect people who do not have any ethics. Also, when the authentic traditions of peyote were utilized, they were done so in sacred spaces and temples and even so, most of that has been in the internal worlds. Some people would be surprised how is it that one can work with peyote in the internal worlds. It is because the astral plane is material. It is a plane of spiritual matter and energy. This elemental magic is internal. While there is a physical component, the real work of that magic happens within the spiritual planes. There is also the issue of when to use the peyote, and when it is appropriate. That is based on divine will, in very rare cases, but also knowing what divinity is commanding what to do is obviously difficult for us as beginners. Most people do not discern reality from illusion or reality from desire and attachment. There is also the issue of frequency of use, how frequently to do it, when it is allowed, and how it is allowed, because often this can lead to abuse—and has. Also, it is illegal in many countries. Let me relate some things that Samael Aun Weor stated about this topic. In Mexico, the Aztecs used the buttons of the peyote to astrally depart. Such a cactus is very abundant in Chihuahua. Unfortunately, the peyote that is known in the valley of Mexico does not serve for this purpose. Whosoever wants to obtain the true peyote, has to search for it among the native Tarahumara in the mountain range of Chihuahua. Moreover, they have to learn how to dose it. Those native Indians are the only ones who can teach how to administer that cactus. Many people have wasted their time with the peyote in the valley of Mexico. The people who have obtained this cactus in the North of Mexico did not achieve anything because they do not know how to use it. This is the difficult problem of peyote.” —Samael Aun Weor, Aztec Christic Magic, “The Sephirah Hod”
He also states in a lecture called “Questions About the Path”:
Peyote is not found in the countries of South America or Central America. It is only found in Mexico and with difficulty. —Samael Aun Weor, “Questions About the Path”:
To corroborate on some earlier points, he continues in this lecture “Questions About the Path”:
The elemental of the peyote cooperates, yes, with meditation. It does not create any kind of tendencies. The elemental is very demanding. It demands chastity. In no way will peyote help, for instance, the indecent lustful ones. It has rules. Master Huiracocha talked about peyote. He narrated how the Master Racinchi inside the temple of Chapultepec, used peyote in order to cause an astral projection. This is the only recommended plant with the condition of not the abusing of it, since it is only for the K.H., Kosmic Humans.
So, we mentioned this in this lecture because a lot of people like to rely on certain substances or drugs to have astral projections because they feel blocked. Some people who are very impeded by their own mind, want to rely on other things to help them astral project, and so, they may turn to peyote or other substances to experience that. But we want to emphasize that if one were to use authentic peyote, it would be under very strict stipulations. There are certain difficulties as I listed, which are just some of many problems. So, this is why Samael Aun Weor mentions in Aztec Christic Magic:
We do not recommend the use of this marvelous cactus. Indeed what we recommend is practice, much practice and soon you will act and travel in the astral body. —Samael Aun Weor, Aztec Christic Magic
I know one missionary who was helped by the elemental of the peyote, but it was performed in a ritual in the astral plane. So, as you saw from that list, there is a certain discipline needed to work with certain elementals. This is something to consider, but this person I know was very awakened in that state as a result from receiving help internally. But for most beginners, obviously, we have attachments and weaknesses to consider. What is better recommended is much practice with these exercises, so that we can achieve the results that we want.
Concentration and Visualization of the Heart
We can also develop our concentration and visualization of the heart. Concentration and visualization are essential for astral projection. If you find that it is very hard to astral project, you can work on your concentration and imagination.
Concentrate and visualize. You can take an image of the heart, maybe in minute detail, depending on your interest or needs, and see it. Concentrate on your heartbeat. Meditate and enter a drowsy state. Visualize how the heart functions in you. Be aware of its presence and the life that it gives. See it. Feel it. Imagine it. By working with the two, concentrating on this image or any image of the heart, you can start to access knowledge that is internal, where you actually see how your heart functions, how it is the Sun in your own psychological and physical solar system. But the two, concentration and visualization, are very important. Without these two principles combined together, it is impossible to really enter the astral state with lucidity and ease. Exercise
We will conclude with a practice.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Questions and Answers
Question: In The Yellow Book, Samael Aun Weor speaks about how an obstacle to meditation is a lack of the drowsy or sleepy state. Could that also be an obstacle for astral projection?
Instructor: Absolutely. As we were saying in the lecture, if you cannot relax when you are practicing, when you are meditating, you cannot really access anything profound or deep, because relaxation is the threshold that leads to the internal worlds. It is when you progressively detach yourself from your physical body. So oftentimes when you are meditating and you are entering a drowsy state, you can start to perceive different images, sounds, colors, experiences, which are not physical, but they are within the screen of your imagination. You cannot access that if you are agitated, or you are in your body or identified with your body or if you are tense. The important thing is to really relax deeply. Without that, you cannot meditate. Actually, meditation without drowsiness is harmful. It is because you are very alert, but you are not going into your internal worlds. There is something about drowsiness and relaxation that suspends the mind and that is actually one of the limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, where he talks about suspension of the senses is the beginning of yoga, where you let everything get calm, relaxed and become still, whereby, like a tortoise, you retract your attention inward and no longer identify with the body. So, we need to relax. Without that, you cannot access anything authentic or real. Question: Forgive me, but I have forgotten the name of the posture but when we are lying down on our right side with the left leg on the right and our palm of our right hand is on our head, do you spend about ten or twenty minutes hoping to get into the meditative state in the posture and then could you relax on your back afterward? Or would you try to fall asleep in that position? Instructor: Good question. Basically, what you do is rehearse it for a while. Get into the habit of trying to relax in that posture and train your body. In the beginning you may find that you cannot do it for more than ten minutes or so. Therefore, it is good if you are not able to relax fully in it yet, at least get into the practice and habit of doing it. So, with time you will find you will be able to relax more in that position. The more you do it, you train yourself and the easier it becomes until finally, you can get drowsy and relax while doing it. But it takes time. Comment: Time and consistency. Thank you. Question: And on that posture, the lion’s posture, can you do that on your left side as well? Instructor: He mentions it on the right side and that when you finally feel like you are ready to go to bed, you can turn to another side, relax, and then fall asleep. But he does specify the right side, primarily because the right side relates to the lion, the solar forces. The Lion of Judah is the power of the Sun and also the Son. Question: I recently overheard that somebody was saying that they were taking a new heart medication and it caused him to have nightmares. So, what are some obstacles that medication can present? If it is something that you have to take, is there something you can do to overcome that? Instructor: That is really a good question. Personally, I know of students that have suffered a mental illness, therefore, they have to be medicated, for their heart or for something or a condition. It creates certain impediments while also helping to heal the body. If a person’s physical and mental health requires medication, obviously, that takes precedence, but medications that are perhaps causing nightmares or other types of experiences, obviously that is an obstacle. For some, taking medications related to depression or mental illness, those drugs are very powerful and can make a person very drowsy or perhaps clouded of mind, which commonly is the testimony they give and that it does create difficulties in practice. But it does not mean that because there are difficulties that one cannot overcome them. It could be difficult to have to take heart medication that causes nightmares, where that is one of the results of having to take it. Whosever’s health is affected by not taking it, obviously, you have to weigh the pros and cons. What is life going to be without the medication, if you are going to be without the medication? If you are going to die or if it is going to harm a person, then you need to take it and have to deal with the consequences. There are ways to remedy nightmares. You can do runes. Runes are a great way to overcome negative emotion. I knew of one missionary, whose father was a teacher of Gnosis, and while growing up he would have nightmares quite frequently. What his father would do for him was, as soon as he woke up from having a bad dream, they would stand up and do runes for two or three hours. It got rid of the problem. That energy will help elevate the soul. It can counteract some of the negative influences of symptoms of any kind of drug. So, yes there are obstacles, but it means that there is a pro and a con, so to speak, good and the bad. While it is an impediment, it is also possible to overcome it. Question: What role does cerebral spinal fluid play in dreams and in astral projection? If one is deficient in this, can that prevent astral projection? Instructor: Good question. Basically, with our brain and the functioning of our nervous systems, there is a connection between astral projection in the body with the health of our nerves, because when you are physically active, your astral body is integrated with your physical body. It is basically operating within the human machine. It is good to have good health, a good spine and a healthy brain, but of course in this day and age, there are difficulties. It is very rare to find someone who is very healthy, perfectly healthy in this era. Especially in the West, given all our technology, our results of medicine and achievements, and yet still, a lot of people are ill and suffer many conditions. If your car is damaged, obviously there is going to be an impediment to be able to drive around effectively, and there could be different problems with the car. It is the same with the physical body. It is the same with the heart, the emotional body and also the mind or the mental body. Internally, your mind, emotions and physicality can be represented by a car, and if you have dreams about a car, how it is driving and functioning, it is a representation of many things. It could be a representation of, for example, of your mental health, emotional health or physical health. If you ever get experiences of that nature, where you are being shown something about yourself and your health, it is good to consider the guidance of divinity showing that maybe we are being told to take care of our brain, our physicality, to take care of our heart or take care of our mind. We can often get warnings in the internal world, especially in the early morning hours of the dawn, where we can get insights into what we need to focus on. It is important to be healthy, but obviously if we have an illness, because of certain karma, it can be more difficult to do the work. But personally, I have known people who have suffered some kind of injury or condition that they have had to contend with, but because they were so persistent in achieving the results that they wanted, they awakened. It is not easy. It is not simple. Everyone’s situation and karma is different. But it can be done. I have faith in that because I have seen many students and learned about people’s hardships, challenges that were difficult to hear, but we have to do the best that we can given our circumstances. If it means taking care of one’s livelihood or one’s health, one has to do what they need to do. But it does not mean that one is going to fail. What matters is the consciousness, learning to operate with what one has, because what is more important than the car itself is how you drive. So maybe there are certain restrictions on how you drive. But, in the end, what matters more is that you take care of your needs or learn to drive ethically. There are a lot of people who are healthy and have had a life handed to them on a golden platter in terms of their physicality, and yet they are terrible people. They do not appreciate what they have, and therefore maybe in the future they will not have that. So, there is a balance of mind, body, and heart. If you are conscious and you are serious, if someone has a condition that they are dealing with, it can be done. Question: Speaking on the importance of the drowsy state, once I start to see events and hear voices projecting, I tend either to lose consciousness or I cannot control what I am seeing or hearing. How do I control what I see and hear? Instructor: Do not try to control everything. Watch it. Desire wants to modify, to change or to control. When you start to have inner visions or experiences, the thing is not to grip them more tightly. The thing is to let it go and watch. Let it unfold of itself like a clock that is unwinding. Let the mechanism spring and fulfill its own objective, and just look at the results. One obstacle to astral projection is trying to control the process. It is very common to want to accelerate things or to want to run away from the experience. I remember when I was a young kid, one of my first astral projections scared me. I was levitating above my bed, floating in the air with a lot of lucidity and intensity. I called out for someone to help me because I did not know what this was and obviously, I woke up. I wanted to control the situation. I wanted to get out. I did not want to be there. I was afraid of what I was witnessing with myself, levitating above the bed. It was very real, more real than my physical life. Had I not tried to be controlling of the situation or had I not been afraid, I could have prolonged the experience and learned to navigate effectively. The reality is that in order to be more dexterous with astral projection, to know how to do it more effectively, you actually have to relinquish a lot of control. Do not let your mind try to control things. In a sense, let it happen. Watch what happens. Let the images come. See them like you are watching a film. You are trying to learn what is objective and real here. With practice, you will sense that you are starting to lift out of your body, or you are in bed and the visions pass and you feel that you are about to transition, that you are about to step out of your body. When you recognize that moment, that is the moment that you have to act. But this is not a type of mental control. Do not try to modify or control the circumstances. It is about acting when you need to, but discriminating when to do that is going to be difficult in the beginning. You will learn it through time, through familiarity. So be patient. Another Instructor: Another factor that may be at play there is that the consciousness is too dispersed, and one lacks attentiveness. You can work with the practice that was discussed earlier in this course where in our waking state, you meditate on a candle or an object for a certain amount of time each day to strengthen the consciousness and strengthen the ability to focus the attention. Question: A gnostic instructor once advised me to pronounce the mantra “Wu” for calming the mind. How is that pronounced? Instructor: It is like an exhalation of air, like a hurricane. So, the breath sounds like this: (Sound of hurricane wind howling through a mountain’s throat):
Wwwwwwwwwuuuuuuuuu…
It is an exhalation. It is almost like you are trying to whistle but you are exhaling the air, letting it out, followed by the “U” sound. So yes, that is also a very good mantra to calm the mind and can help to train your mind to get ready for astral projection. Any other questions? I thank you all for coming! 
This lecture is about astral projection techniques. While we have discussed a lot of theories associated with astral projection, we will now discuss many practices to achieve it. Not only will we give many exercises from the writings of Samael Aun Weor, but we will also provide the necessary contexts for you to understand the purpose and utility of each exercise.
Mantras
Voluntary astral projections are often achieved through mantra recitations. But what exactly are mantras?
A mantra is conventionally understood as a repeated slogan, keyword, or phrase. In Buddhism and Hinduism, meditators recite particular words to aid in concentration. Mantras are a series of vocalizations that resonate in our body, mind, and spirit. Such words are usually imbued with spiritual meaning, transmitted from master to disciple through a lineage or tradition. The term mantra comes from the Sanskrit मन्त्र Man, “to think,” or manas, “mind.” Tra or Trai signifies “to protect, to free.” In synthesis, mantra means “mind protection” or “to free the mind” through sacred sounds. Mantras help to protect our mind from negative states. They also teach our mind how to be serene, concentrated, and obedient to our own will. Anyone who has attempted meditation or mantra recitation exercises has discovered that the mind is undisciplined or distracted. It is wild. Thoughts come and go, one after the other, in associative succession. They even appear to have no beginning or end. Although our meditation sessions might be brief, we do get a glimpse, in such moments, of our true psychological state. However, many tend to ignore this fact in their busy lives. Mantras are an effective tool for teaching our consciousness how to be focused. Right now, our conscious faculties tend to be deficient. In the beginning, we lack stability of concentration and clarity of visualization. If we cannot focus on one thing, if we are constantly distracted, and if we cannot clearly visualize imagery in our mind, then we will not have the capacity to consciously astral project with the frequency or sustainability we long for. Fortunately, mantras aid with concentration and visualization through the power of the divine word. 
The Divine Power of the Word
All religious traditions describe how sound is sacred and powerful. We know conventionally that a soft word of kindness dissipates anger. We also know that rude, incoherent, and abrasive words offend the mind and sensibilities.
This is because the spoken word is the vehicle of psychological meaning. If our intentions are bad—egotistical—then our words will reflect that. If we operate from psychological states of altruism, kindness, selflessness—in other words, the Essence—then our words will benefit all sentient beings. Not only do we create situations in life based upon the quality of our speech, likewise divinity creates spiritual being through the power of the word. As indicated by Samael Aun Weor: The Gods create with the power of the word, because, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). —Samael Aun Weor, The Spiritual Power of Sound
This slide depicts various sacred languages. We see Tibetan, Chinese, Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic. They are sacred, not just because they convey the wisdom of the prophets across various cultures, but also because of their linguistic and archetypal complexity.
We can state without a doubt that these are examples of divine languages. These languages have great depth, power, and impact for the soul. They are divine because their alphabets and pronunciations reflect metaphysical realities. Each letter of their respective alphabets represent principles, intelligences, and forces. Moreover, their conscious enunciation can facilitate our complete development as a human being. Languages represent the articulation of thought, of cognizance, and are referenced by the Greek term Λόγος logos. The first Christians iterated the fact that divinity is equivalent to the spoken word, because speech is the actualization of abstract potential. We bring into being our own psychological potential through speech. Therefore, what we say carries tremendous consequences for our own well-being and the well-being of others. 
The Universal Language
Rather than exclusively speak about the negative impact of words (which is something that we are all probably already familiar with), we will emphasize how certain languages, like the ones we’ve cited, are mantric in nature. As stated by Samael Aun Weor:
There is a universal language of life spoken only by Angels, Archangels, Seraphim, etc. When the sacred fire blooms in our fertile lips made verb, the word becomes flesh in us. All the mantras known among the occultists are just syllables, letters, and isolated words of the language of the Light. —Samael Aun Weor, The Spiritual Power of Sound
All sacred languages stem from a universal language and are vehicles of internal truths. They are mantric languages. Their original structures are expressions of the Being. They are more in tune with the nature of divinity. As vehicles of expression, they reflect spiritual truths with greater accuracy than is afforded by our more modern languages.
Many languages have progressively distanced themselves from their sources, as dramatized in Genesis by the Tower of Babel. While it is normal for languages to change over time, mantric languages retain a primeval coherence and integrity in relation to divine truths. These languages are rich with meaning. Their nuances cannot be simplified or synthesized into a single English translation, primarily since each word and letter operates on multiple conceptual dimensions. This is why if we wish to understand texts like the Bible or the Qur’an, we must have some familiarity with their original languages, since their letters contain tremendous significance. They embody eternal truths. One doesn’t need to be fluent in such languages to be successful in scriptural interpretation. One needs a basic education in the symbols of such alphabets, which, combined with an English translation, opens doors to wisdom that is not accessible to the uninitiated. This is why we pronounce mantras in their original languages, such as Sanskrit, Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic, because they convey tremendous power. These mantras are magical in nature. If you wish to benefit from the power of a certain mantra, you must pronounce it according to its original language and form, in the same manner that it was transmitted from master to disciple. This is why religious traditions have existed: to accurately transmit spiritual practices for the awakening of the consciousness.
The Seven Chakras and Their Mantras
Mantras activate chakras. But what are chakras?
चक्र Chakra in Sanskrit means “wheel.” A chakra is a wheel of energy, formed whenever two meridians or currents of vital energy cross. We have thousands of chakras since we possess thousands of meridians. However, when people often speak about chakras, they often talk about the seven main ones connected to our spine. Our astral body perceives the astral world through our chakras. Chakras help to channel divine energy in the same manner as a water mill. If there is no water flowing, the mill won’t turn. The same with the chakras. Most people typically don’t have their chakras activated, either permanently or even temporarily. This is why we train with mantra recitation, so that the senses of the astral body become rejuvenated. Mantras help to activate our chakras by concentrating and directing energy. Different sounds vibrate in different parts of our body. Sounds not only vibrate and permeate our environment—such as when our words reach our neighbor during a conversation—but also reverberate within our body, consciousness, and astral body. Therefore, the quality of our speech has significant results, both for ourselves and others. Just as we possess seven main chakras, we also activate them through seven primary sounds or vowels. Traditionally, a vowel is a basic unit of sound within any language, forming the nucleus of a syllable. In English we often reference five main vowels: A, E, I, O, and U. However, in our spiritual studies we also recognize that the letters M and S are also vowels. This can be confusing, since traditionally, M and S are considered consonants, which join with vowels to form syllables. However, we emphasize how the letters I, E, O, U, A, M, and S are esoteric vowels, because whenever you vocalize and prolong their sounds, they vibrate within specific nuclei or chakras in our body. Since a vowel forms the center or nucleus of a syllable, likewise these seven vowels activate the seven nuclei or centers of our chakras along the spine. There are seven main chakras, which each have their respective sounds, capacities, and astral powers. We will list them now from the top of our spine to the base:
Some native English speakers have been confused by Samael Aun Weor’s explanation of the seven vowels, primarily since he wrote in Spanish, which has some different vowel pronunciations than in English. We will list them here with examples: The vowel I, pronounced as the vowel in “tree,” vibrates the crown chakra at the top of our head and the third eye chakra between our eyebrows. These develop the capacity for omniscience and clairvoyance. The vowel E, as in “bet,” vibrates in the throat, activating the ability to hear mystical sounds. The vowel O, as in “boat,” vibrates in the heart, awakening the power of intuition and the capacity for conscious astral projections. The vowel U, as in “true,” vibrates in the solar plexus or abdomen, which grants us access to telepathy. We also possess a pulmonary chakra in our lungs that is activated by the mantra A. This chakra helps with remembering past lives. The vowel M, as in “hum,” vibrates in the prostrate in men or the uterus in women. It activates the ability to control and direct our creative energies, the waters of life. The vowel S, as in “serpent,” vibrates at the base of the spine and awakens sparks of the sacred fire or energy known in some traditions as Kundalini or Pentecost. Here is what the seven vowels sound like together from the top of the spine to the bottom:
Some people really struggle with pronouncing the letters M and S. M should be prolonged, with the lips closed, humming like a bull.
S is extended like the hissing of a snake. Place the tip of your tongue close to your tooth ridge. This is close to the upper backside of your top front teeth. Allow the air to pass through as you exhale, extending the sound. By working with our chakras, we can learn to consciously astral project. Each astral projection mantra is a key to the internal worlds. Just as our speech is imbibed with meaning, likewise astral projection mantras contain a fundamental keynote that allows our consciousness to resonate with the superior worlds, thereby facilitating the transition of our Essence into the internal dimensions. 
Types of Mantra Recitation
Before we get into actual astral projection mantras, let us describe different ways to vocalize them.
...the verb is of triple pronunciation and that it endows three norms: verbal, mental, and conscious. One can articulate with the creative larynx, one can vocalize with his thought, and one can vocalize with the superlative consciousness of the Being. —Samael Aun Weor, Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic
When we lie down to practice our astral projection exercises, we can first vocalize a mantra aloud, perhaps for fifteen minutes. Then we can whisper the mantra for just as long. Lastly, we pronounce the mantra in our mind. This gradual diminution of sound helps us to increase our concentration from vocalization, to whispering, then to silence. You allow yourself to eventually get drowsy as you are whispering, until finally you are concentrated within the mantra in your mind. Then, fall asleep reciting the mantra, immersing your entire being within it, until you consciously transition into the astral.
Egipto
Many people complain that they cannot achieve conscious astral projections. This is often the consequence of having abused the senses of the astral body.
Despite the fact that we have made our internal bodies sick, depleted of spiritual force, there is a way to restore such powers to their normal functionalism and capacities. We do so through pronouncing the mantra Egipto for one hour daily. We have included an image of the pyramids of Giza topped by an illuminated figure at their apex. This represents the illuminated powers of the astral body, which grants any initiate access to heavenly states of consciousness. Some contemporary anthropologists have questioned the age, utility, and purpose of these pyramids. Some have argued that the pyramids, rather than serve as a catacomb for dead kings, instead were conduits for spiritual forces. These buildings were meant to channel energy conducive for the psychological and spiritual elevation of the local Egyptians, whose culture once resonated with and reflected higher principles. Each corner of any pyramid represents the solar bodies: the physical, vital, astral, and mental vehicles. The apex can represent, much like in the American dollar bill, the divine eye of omniscience and mystical perception. It also can relate to the human consciousness or causal vehicle that has dominated the lower aspects of our psychology. This mantra is a primer for our psychic machinery, the spiritual engines of our chakras. By pronouncing this mantra for one hour a day, minimum, the chakras of our astral body activate and operate in an optimal manner. In this way, like the pyramids, we charge ourselves with tremendous power and teach our astral body how to be a useful instrument for our inner divinity. The mantra is pronounced like this:
Samael Aun Weor explained the significance of this mantra in The Seven Words, which was published in the book entitled The Divine Science:
Our disciples must acquire the power of astral body projection. This power is acquired by vocalizing daily for an hour the sacred mantra Egipto. The vowel “E” makes the thyroid gland vibrate and grants the initiate the power of the occult ear. The “G” awakens the chakra of the liver, and when this chakra has reached its full development, then, the initiate can enter and leave the physical body any time at will. The vowel “I,” combined with the letter “P,” develops clairvoyance in the initiate, and the power to depart in the astral body through the window of Brahma, which is the pineal gland. Pronounce the letter “T” with force over the vowel “O, “ which is intimately related with the chakra of the heart; this is how the initiate can acquire the power to project the self through this plexus and thus travel in his astral body. —Samael Aun Weor, The Divine Science: The Seven Words 
Fe Uin Dagj
Another mantra for awakening our lost astral powers is Fe Uin Dagj (it’s quite an unusual series of sounds, especially for Westerners). Arnold Krumm-Heller (Master Huiracocha) stated in his book Esoteric Rose that this mantra is of Egyptian origin.
Many chakras exist in our internal bodies. While we speak of seven primary ones, we also have other important chakras in our liver and spleen that regulate our vital currency or energetic values, which must be conserved and consciously utilized to achieve astral projections. Here is what Samael Aun Weor said about this: During the night, the splenic chakra gathers the energies left by the sun during the day. With those energies, the splenic chakra transmutes the white blood cells into red blood cells. During the day, the organic refuse obstructs the nervous canals of the grand sympathetic nervous system. During sleep, the vital energy makes that chakra spin, and this chakra uses the energy of the sun which passes into the spleen in order to transmute the white blood cells into red blood cells. Then the energy passes to the solar plexus and is distributed into the whole nervous system. The thyroid gland cooperates by disinfecting the whole organism. It is clear that when the ego (lunar astral) returns into the organism after sleep, it is already repaired, and we feel healthier. When one awakes tired, it is because the organism is sick.
Also, he says elsewhere that:
The mantra Fe Uin Dagj (the last word pronounced gutturally) serves to awaken all the chakras of the astral body. —Samael Aun Weor, Practical Astrology: Manual of Practical Magic
The pronunciation, especially with the guttural “G,” is in the back of the throat, like a prolonged “Gugh.”
Sing this mantra in the musical note Mi of the musical scale: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si. Therefore, we can find the right note by singing, then pronouncing the mantra like this: Do… Re… Mi…
This mantra enlivens our chakras. But remember that the proper functioning of our chakras is deeply connected with our physical health. This exercise purifies our spleen, liver, and abdomen, since the vibrations of the mantra invigorate our glands to work with greater intensity, efficacy, and wisdom. When our glands work optimally, our mental and spiritual health is also sustained, since our hormones, digestion, and lymphatic system intimately relate to the purity of our consciousness.
Ephraim
We will now discuss the mantra Ephraim.
In Genesis, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh was the first born and Ephraim was the second born son. They were both adopted by Joseph’s father Jacob to share in Jacob’s inheritance. However, rather than bequeath the first-born Manasseh his inheritance, Jacob honored Ephraim, the youngest. Jacob placed his right hand upon Ephraim and his left upon Manasseh, Joseph’s first born. This act displeased Joseph, since this blessing symbolized how the first born would be second in patrilineal succession, an act that went against custom and tradition. The Bible is a symbolic text, not just a literal retelling of history. Manasseh and Ephraim are mantras for the astral body, the former being inferior and the latter being superior. Manasseh symbolizes the lunar astral body, which is developed by black magicians, and Ephraim represents the superior qualities of the solar astral body, which is developed by white magicians. Just as both brothers contend for Jacob’s favor, in the same manner our defects and virtues strive for primacy within our consciousness. Most of us incline, psychologically, towards the ego, represented by Manasseh. He is the first-born, which represents how our psychological center of gravity is within the ego. However, the Essence—fully developed in Jacob—always favors Ephraim (the superior astral forces), even though he is younger and less experienced (in that these energies are less developed in us). Those powers are “of the stars,” signified by the term astra or astral. The Hebrew name אפרים Ephraim is also associated with “being fruitful” in Egypt, the land of affliction, since the mantra Ephraim makes our astral body fertile with heavenly forces. It’s important to understand how the Bible is replete with sacred geography, which have a symbolic rather than a literal designation. Rather than exclusively represent physical places, they actually reference spiritual states and the multidimensionality of our universe. This is because divinity communicates through an abstract, symbolic language, which is often contemporaneous to any initiate’s cultural setting and idiosyncrasies. Therefore, the symbols that Moses received were documented in the Torah, using the names, language, and locations of his time. Likewise with any sacred writing. God speaks to certain initiates in a way that is understandable to them. Therefore, spiritual knowledge is always clothed in the garb of the times, so that such wisdom becomes accessible. Egypt often represents our physical world where we live enslaved to mechanicity and suffering. To escape pain, we learn to ascend Mount Ephraim, a symbol of elevating our consciousness to superior states as outlined in the Tree of Life. We do so by making our consciousness fertile, to vibrate with divine power. Ephraim is also considered an Egyptian mantra because this exercise, like many in the Gnostic tradition of Samael Aun Weor, transforms the fertility, potency, or virility of our physical body and elevates it to spiritual use. Mastering and directing our creative energy helps to liberate us from suffering, from slavery, which is what the mantra Ephraim does. We will not elaborate upon using Manasseh as a mantra, because it is negative. We will explain how to work with the powerful mantra Ephraim instead. This mantra activates all of our chakras and invokes the Cosmic Christ within our interior. This mantra is pronounced like this:
Here is what Samael Aun Weor said about this mantra in The Seven Words:
All the occult powers of the astral body enter into activity with this powerful Egyptian mantra. 
The Microcosmic Star
We perform the microcosmic star before laying down to astral project, especially before vocalizing the Egyptian mantra Fa Ra On. Before we explain the next mantra, let us examine what the microcosmic star is.
It is a symbol of the perfected human being, made into the psychological and spiritual image of divinity. The upright apex represents the head, which should be above the rest of the body. This signifies that our spiritual understanding is in command of our other faculties, and not the other way around. The inverted pentagram, with the apex facing down and the legs up, is negative, because one’s reason is governed by animal instinct. This represents how the soul falls downward into negative states. We perform these movements to align our mind, heart, body, and soul with the divine. This exercise helps us to get into the right mood for astral projection, but also any spiritual practice. It is a form of spiritual protection against internal and external negativity. The gestures of the microcosmic star symbolize the descent of spiritual force into our inner universe. Movement is sacred, which is why Catholics genuflect with the sign of the cross, Muslims kneel and bow in submission to God, and Jews shuckle (sway back and forth) when reciting prayers.
Begin with your hands over your heart, the right hand over the left. This is the same posture as the Egyptian pharaohs praying to the solar deities, to the creative divine.
Next, join your palms together over your head. Then separate and lower them downward, so that your fingers touch your shoulders. Afterward, extend them to your sides. Next, lower your hands over your sexual organs. The right hand should be over the left. Divine influences descend into the matter of our body and eventually synthesize in our sexual energy. Our hands form the cross over our sexual glands, representing the union of spiritual forces within us. The cross is also a sexual symbol, a representation of alchemy (as described in our other courses). When our right hand covers the left, it means we enact divine will to dominate our animal impulses. We transform the sexual potential into a spiritual force through transmutation exercises. This is especially represented when we inhale and raise our hands. Hold them over your heart, the right hand over the left. Your palms should rest on your chest and your forearms should be crossed, right over left, with your fingertips reaching to the front of your shoulders. This indicates that we have elevated the creative energy into our heart, thereby strengthening our spirituality. Breath is deeply related with transmutation and prayer, since through rhythmic and profound inhalations, we channel our sexual force and transform it into a source of spiritual empowerment. 
Fa Ra On
Perform the microcosmic star whenever you feel the need. But also, perform it before you practice the mantra Fa Ra On.
This mantra is intimately associated with the mysticism of Egypt, since Fa Ra On syllabically and symbolically equates with the solar dynasties, the pharaohs or sacred kings of the Nile. It is important to remember that Egyptian, Aztec, and Mayan mysticism share Atlantean roots, since their pyramids, religions, and cultures originated from the same wisdom. You can see that a lot of mystical knowledge came from Egypt, evidenced by the mantras Egipto, Ephraim, and Fa Ra On. Such mantras are passcodes for entering spiritual states and dimensions. You can even astral project and approach the pyramids of Giza in the superior worlds, since a marvelous temple of mysteries is active there within the astral world. If you wish to visit this temple in the astral world, first lie down in the same position as the Aztec and Mayan sculpture of Chac Mool. This figure was described by Samael Aun Weor in Aztec Christic Magic: In the Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City there exists a stone figure of a man who is partially lying down in a dorsal decubitus position. The soles of his feet rest on his bed; thus his knees are elevated. The backs of his thighs are pressed up against the backs of his calves because his legs are bent. His upper body is arched as if he may get up at his first impulse; his face is towards the left and his sight is fixed on the horizon. At the height of his solar plexus his hands hold a container. —Samael Aun Weor, Aztec Christic Magic
Chac Mool is significant. He is the god of rain, holding a receptacle at his solar plexus. This is a symbol of the abdominal chakra, which receives and stores divine, solar energy from our spiritual practices. This collection of energetic potential is like a cup that accumulates the dew of heaven, the rain of transmutation.
It is this reservoir of energy that helps one to astral project. If you deplete your energies throughout the day, emotionally, psychologically, and especially vitally, then you will not have the energy necessary to activate the consciousness. However, saving energy is not enough. We must consciously utilize it. We do so through imitating the posture of this Aztec god. For this, our knees must be bent like the pyramids, whether of South America or Egypt. Our solar plexus receives the power of our solar divinity in the same manner as the pyramids transmit tremendous spiritual potential, which is why our knees must be bent in imitation of this fact. When performing this practice, you can rest your hands over your solar plexus and prop your head up with a pillow. However, Samael Aun Weor also describes placing one’s hands to the sides if that is more comfortable. What is also significant about Samael Aun Weor’s description of Chac Mool is the fact that he faces the left, his body is arched and ready to move “at his first impulse,” and “his sight is fixed on the horizon.” The left side of the body signifies the lunar energies we seek to dominate within our interior. We represent this fact by laying our face on its left side during this exercise. We must also be ready, through this practice, to get up in our astral body after we have consciously transitioned, thereby demonstrating Chac Mool’s alert and responsive state. These qualities are essential when distinguishing the time to transition and act through the astral body. Lastly, Chac Mool stares at the horizon, a symbol of how the consciousness aspires towards the height of spiritual attainment. We do so through remembering the presence of divinity. While in the Chac Mool position, concentrate upon and visualize the pyramids of Giza in your imagination. See it with as much color, vibrancy, and clarity as you can. Do not let your mind get distracted by thought. Become drowsy while pronouncing the mantra Fa Ra On. Fa Ra On helps us to resonate with the cosmos. As Samael Aun Weor stated: When this mantra is vocalized is must be divided into three syllables. The first is “FA,” which is the note that resounds in all of nature. The second is the Egyptian “RA.” The third is the “ON,” which reminds us of the famous Sanskrit mantra OM from India. —Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries
The mantra sounds like this:
Vocalize the mantra aloud at first, perhaps for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then whisper it for the same length of time. Finally, pronounce it mentally as you fall asleep.
The Mantra Rusti
Here we see an image a meditation mural, common amongst many Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples. It represents the top of the nine stages of meditative concentration. It is a map of the different degrees of serenity, from a wild, distracted mind to a disciplined and tranquil mind.
As we explained previously, conscious astral projections are facilitated through serenity and concentration. We can deepen our serenity and concentration through pronouncing the mantra Rusti. Samael Aun Weor provided this exercise in relation to the zodiacal sign of Gemini, the astrological sign of the twins. They represent the two pillars of any temple of mysteries, since balance is achieved through serene reconciliation of opposites. When the mind is no longer afflicted by dualistic notions, it learns to perceive reality with penetrative insight and discovers how to open the doors to the higher worlds. Some people become terrified by the idea of astral projection even though they unconsciously enact it every time they sleep. The mantra Rusti can help overcome that fear, to develop comprehension of the astral projection process. The mantra is pronounced like this:
Astral projection is natural. All living beings do it every time they sleep. When you pronounce this mantra, first aloud, then whispered, and lastly in the mind, you will become drowsy. Thereafter, get up out of bed. Do not imagine it. Actually do it. With enough practice, you will find that you have transitioned, seemingly without knowing how or when. Patience is the key.
Tai Re Re Re
The next mantra is Tai Re Re Re. It causes us to resonate with exceptional energetic vibrations. Like this image of a hummingbird, this mantra accelerates our consciousness into higher states, so that we rise like a bird to fly within the superior worlds.
The mantra Tai is chanted with strength, accentuating the vowel A. Chant the syllable Tai with a deep tone. The remaining three syllables are pronounced like the ringing of a melodious and prolonged bell. In this exercise you do not need to roll the R. Simply pronounce it, giving unto the vowel E (as in “red”) a song-like quality. Sing the syllable Re three times in a higher tone than Tai. Here is what the mantra sounds like:
With enough practice, you will transition into a drowsy state of equanimity, balanced between wakefulness and sleep. The student will rise from bed without hesitation, doubt, laziness, or reasoning. This is an instinctive, automatic process that does not require thinking. One must adopt the attitude of a child: inquisitive, alert, spontaneous. Birds don’t reason. They do not harbor doubts, nor entertain preconceptions. They simply fly away, naturally, instinctively, automatically. In the same manner, one must imitate the birds through this mantra, rising from bed to depart within the astral world towards any place of the cosmos.
The Anahat Sound of the Cricket
So what is the Anahat sound of the cricket?
Every existing thing is in perpetual motion, from the universal and the planetary level, down to the cellular, the molecular, and the atomic. Wherever there is movement, there is sound, even when it is not readily perceptible to our limited senses. Likewise, wherever there is movement, there is energy, since all action and activity requires the emergence, subsistence, and cessation of force. Our physical brain also vibrates with energies and forces. Just because we don’t perceive them in our waking state doesn’t mean they don’t exist. One such vibration is the Anahat sound. It is a vibrational keynote that characterizes our physical brain. All existing things are permeated by the spiritual power of sound, since every independent entity enacts a specific vibrational character. The combination and synthesis of such disparate notes make up a fundamental tone or keynote. All the cells of our physical brain produce the harmonious keynote known as the Anahat sound, otherwise known as the “still small voice” that Elijah heard in a mountain cave (see 1 Kings 19:11-13 in the Bible). This sound is similar to the chirping of a cricket, which is accompanied by an electrical current of tremendous force. This is why in the story of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, which is southern slang for “Jesus Christ,” is the wooden puppet’s guide. The still small voice that Elijah heard in the cave is also associated with the voice of Christ within the soul. Concentrating and meditating upon this mystical sound will unlock the entrance of the internal worlds. However, to hear it one must disassociate from all distractions, thoughts, preoccupations, memories, worries, problems. One must become absorbed within this sound, which is similar to a chirping cricket or the hissing of a serpent. Become like the bee that labors with love within the pollen of a flower, so as to transform that substance into divine nectar. Quiet the mind. Do not repress it. Do not stifle, gag, or choke it. It is essential not to treat the mind with violence. Tranquility is not found through suffocating thought. We experience equanimity through serene observation of our states, not identifying with any thought. Let the mind settle by looking at it. Do not invest your energy into thinking. Let it be. If you learn how to listen with clarity and spontaneity, when you no longer let yourself get carried away by mental chatter, no longer anticipating what might happen, remaining unattached, you can begin to perceive these mystical sounds directly. You can also acquire a cricket and keep it in a cage near your bedside. While falling asleep, concentrate and meditate upon the sound of the cricket. With enough discipline, attention, and consistency, your brain will start to vibrate with the cricket’s chirping, thereby expanding your own awareness of the Anahat sound. Allow your consciousness to vibrate with it. If your concentration is profound, these vibrations will produce the separation of the astral body with your physical body. Then you are free to travel to any place you wish in the astral world. 
La Ra
The next mantra, La Ra, is associated with the Caduceus of Mercury. This medical symbol has ancient roots, relating to the spiritual science of alchemical transmutation. The alchemical tradition is symbolic, representing the transformation of base metals (our terrestrial personality) into the gold of divine wisdom.
The staff is a spiritual symbol of the spinal column, whereby two serpents of power entwine. These serpents represent energetic channels where sexual energy rises to the mind, thereby blossoming, upon our backs, the wings of genuine spirituality. One serpentine channel is composed of lunar forces and the other with solar forces. Sometimes esoteric authors refer to these forces as spiritual atomic intelligences, which are not atoms as we think of in conventional physics, but internal principles and potentials. These potencies originate from our sexual gonads, the testicles or ovaries, and can rise up the spine through their respective conduits to illuminate the mind. Such energies, elevated through spiritual practices, aid us in achieving conscious astral projections. One way is through the mantra La Ra. Here is what Samael Aun Weor said about this: The sexual energy is bipolarized into positive and negative. The solar atoms from our seminal system ascend through the right ganglionic cord, which entwines around the spinal medulla. Likewise, the lunar atoms from the seminal system ascend through the left ganglionic cord, which entwines around the spinal medulla.
Here is how we pronounce the mantra La Ra:
Through activating our sexual potential through these mantras, we in turn awaken the power of the two witnesses, the Caduceus of Mercury, which opens the door to internal, spiritual perceptions
The Mantra S
Another way to produce conscious astral projections is to pronounce the mantra S. This letter activates and transmutes the sexual energy, allowing one to resound with the still small voice within the brain. Some people pronounce the mantra S on its own to achieve conscious astral projections. Some have combined the mantra La Ra with S, as follows:
The mantra La can signify the element earth and the mantra Ra can signify the element fire. When you combine the syllables La, Ra, and S together, Ra becomes Ras, or the Hebrew ראש Rosh (or ר Reish, א Aleph, and ש Shin), which means “head.” These mantras raise the solar fire of our sexual energy (Ra) to the head, from our physical body or earth (La), to ראש Rosh. The letter S sounds like the hissing of a snake, which also represents the element of fire. The mantras La Ra S or just S can provide powerful results if practiced with dedication and consistency.
The Mantra O
A simple but effective way to develop internal illumination, the capacity to consciously travel in the fifth dimension, is to vocalize the mantra O.
This mantra is often recited within Hinduism and Buddhism. It has tremendous potential for awakening consciousness. As we mentioned before, many people suffer because they can’t consciously experience the astral dimension, even after many years of study and practice. There is, however, a remedy. Vocalize the mantra O for the development of the cardiac chakra. As with other astral projection mantras, you vocalize the vowel O and immerse yourself within its vibration, energy, and sound. This exercise empowers the heart chakra, which grants the student the ability to project and travel within the astral world. For millennia, yogis have utilized this mantra to experience divinity and awaken intuition: the capacity to know without having to think. We’ve already mentioned how too much intellectual activity depletes us of energy, creates imbalances, and impedes the realizations of the heart. While the intellect is needed, balance is necessary, especially for Westerners whose intellectual pursuits predominate other activities. Conscious vocalization of the mantra O can aid in the restoration of our lost astral faculties. You also pronounce the vowel O while falling asleep, prolonged and pronounced like this:
You might suddenly find yourself transitioning into the astral world through the heart chakra. People often report coming out of their bodies through the heart with this exercise. It is very effective, especially when you charge your heart chakra through an hour-long vocalization each day. This mantra reinvigorates the powers of the heart.
Tips for Astral Projection
Here is some practical advice for performing any of these exercises.
Practice an astral projection mantra consistently. If you select a mantra, don’t practice it sporadically. Perform it every night before you fall asleep. These exercises work when we are consistent. Just as you would brush your teeth as part of a healthy, hygienic routine, likewise you should vocalize a mantra every night you go to sleep without expecting results. It is good to select a mantra to work with in accordance with your needs, intuition, and inspiration. Practice whatever mantra inspires you most. If you lack inspiration to use a particular mantra, then try another. However, whatever you select, be sure to stick with it for a prolonged period of time if you want results. Some people stick to a mantra for many years before getting results. Therefore, we should not expect immediate results from little practice. It takes dedication and effort. Do not change mantras during your practice. If you lie down to pronounce a mantra, don’t switch it up in the middle of your practice. Whatever mantra you start with, dedicate yourself to it fully. This is because each mantra trains your concentration, which will not become integrated and strong if your attention is dispersed among different practices during the same session. Vocalize a mantra aloud, gradually softening to a whisper, and then pronounce it internally. This general sequence helps us to initiate, sustain, and complete a practice. Vocal recitations help us get situated in the practice, since we are using our lungs and speech to concentrate and begin the exercise. You can vocalize for ten to fifteen minutes if you like. Then you can whisper the mantra as you get drowsy. Do so for another ten to fifteen minutes. Finally, recite the mantra in your mind, your being, silently as you go to sleep. This gradual abbreviation of sound, from vocal to silent recitation, helps us go from the body into our internal worlds. Also, be sure to completely relax and concentrate upon the mantra. You cannot go to sleep and astral project if you’re tense. You also cannot concentrate effectively if your mind is chaotic and strained. Relaxation is essential. To relax, vocalize the mantra and dedicate your entire being to it. Do nothing else. Do not even think of a problem. Eventually you will calm down and start to become drowsy. The key is to not lose your attention as you become sleepy. This is why we must hold onto the mantra as we fall asleep, because otherwise we drift and get lost within dreams. Any astral projection mantra gives us a foothold into the internal worlds, so that we can eventually transition with awareness and intentionality. Remember to practice astral projection whenever you sleep. This tip is simple: you cannot get results if you forget to practice every night. Lastly, do not pretend or imagine getting up from bed. Actually do it when you feel you have detached from your physical body. As we mentioned earlier, some people think that astral projection is an imaginary exercise, that you do it in your mind. The kama rupa or astral body is material. You operate in it just as you do with your physical body, although with less restrictions on your activities. Therefore, translate your movements into facts. When you feel that you’ve transitioned, get up from bed and perform a quick reality check. Jump in the air. If you float, it’s because you’re in the astral world. If you don’t, come back to bed to reinitiate the practice. Keep practicing each day until you get results. Exercises
Throughout the day, develop self-observation.
Each day, for at least 10-20 minutes, develop meditative concentration through visualization of an image. Select an astral projection mantra and work with it every time you go to sleep. Lastly, continue your spiritual diary. If you have any questions, you are free to ask them. Questions and Answers
Question: How important is it to lay down with the head toward the north for astral projection?
Instructor: For those who are not familiar, Samael Aun Weor mentions in a bunch of writings of his that you can facilitate astral projections with greater frequency and sustainability by falling asleep with your head facing the north. This is because northern magnetism has a profound effect on astral projections. This is something we are going to talk about in a future lecture, but I will explain some of that detail here. It is not necessary that you place your head toward the north to be successful with astral projections. What it does is increase the likelihood. So if it is possible in your room or your bedroom, your home, to place your bed with the head facing the north, that will be very helpful and conducive for your practices. If you can’t for whatever reason, whatever your living conditions are, that is not fundamental. But it is an additional help that can benefit us. It is because the magnetism of the Earth acts upon the astral body. We know that the northern climate tends to be more cold, particularly in relation to how the forces of the Earth magnetize. Some esoteric authors have attributed colder weather to spiritual states, such as Friedrich Nietzsche in his Thus Spoke Zarathustra where he explains that by climbing the mountain, he always felt rejuvenated. He utilized mountain symbology and geography to correlate with the experience of higher states. In the same way, the magnetism of the Earth helps to activate certain astral potentials. Since the astral body is fluidic and dynamic in nature, it responds readily to energy and magnetism. If you want to help facilitate astral projection practice, laying down with your head to the north can help with that. There is a deep correlation with that. But if you cannot, it is not going to be the end of the world. Yet it would be very useful. Question: Is it possible to listen to an audio recording of a cricket for the still small voice practice? Instructor: You can listen to the audio recording, but it is not going to create the vibrational equivalent of the real thing. The thing with this type of sound is that it acts upon the magnetism of the brain and the body. You need a physical cricket if you want to work with this, because the actual vibration of the sound has a much more profound and penetrative effect on the physical brain. The sound actually enters the ears and affects the brain directly, and therefore strikes at the consciousness. You need an actual cricket to do this, not an artificial recording. An audio recording is synthetic, digital, and doesn’t produce the same vibrational output. This is why it is always good to go to classical music concerts. I know we talked in previous courses about the effects of classical music upon the psyche. It is good to listen to recordings, but nothing can replace the actual live performance because the vibrations of those instruments act upon the soul. In the same way, the cricket has the potential to work upon the mind if we actually have the physical creature there to do the work. Question: Do these practices work for a person who has experienced emotional pain? I currently meditate and am getting used to calming my mind and body. I am also trying to stay in the present moment. Instructor: Yes, these practices work for anyone. They are universal in the same way that speech is universal to all human beings, the capacity to articulate thought. In the same way these mantras belong to the divine, golden, luminous language of the angels, of the prophets. Obviously, it is difficult for a person who has an emotional illness or is suffering from depression, from negative emotions, from anger, from resentment, or from problems of the heart, to access a deeper state of serenity. We have mentioned in the previous lectures how serenity and visualization are essential in order to achieve conscious astral projections with frequency and sustainability. While it is an obstacle and a hurdle to overcome when dealing with emotional pain, there are remedies to help alleviate suffering and to develop equanimity in the heart, so that the heart, aligned with the mind with its capacity for imagination, can open the doors to the superior worlds. These mantras are very helpful for calming the mind and the heart especially when you practice with them every night while falling asleep. We do also have another practice in our tradition in order to deal with emotional pain. It is called the magic of the roses. You can find it on Glorian Publishing’s website and we’ve referenced it a couple times on our website as well.
The magic of the roses can help to deal with emotional and spiritual trauma. That, combined with the mantras, can help us gain really profound results. So don’t lose hope, because these practices work. What matters is that we are consistent with them.
Question: What is the first, best thing to do when we awake in the astral plane? Instructor: It depends. Actually I am planning towards the end of this course to give a whole lecture on that. What do you do when you navigate the internal worlds? What do you do there? We kind of hinted at some of those things in the first lecture of this course (called Fact and Fiction). I’d say listen to your heart, your intuition. Your soul will tell you what to do. The mind will deliberate and perhaps hesitate, vacillate, wander, but if you are very in tune with your sentiments when you are actually there, when you are conscious, many times you will know what to do without having to think. It is instinctive. It is not an animal instinct. It is actually more of an automatic, spontaneous impulse from the soul. It is very different from animal instinct, but it is, in a sense, automatic. Sometimes when you awake in the astral plane you can simply know what you got to do. For some people it might be, in accordance with their dedication and practice, to visit a temple, to visit the white lodges, to go to pyramids of Giza, and enter, if possible, the threshold of that divine sanctuary, that temple of light. Others might require an answer to a difficult spiritual problem, and therefore they invoke their inner God, their Being, to teach them what they need to know. Some might wake up in the astral plane and wish to investigate a particular issue, maybe the past life of a prophet, or even their own particular past existences. It is going to depend. There really isn’t a best thing for every person to do, but there are many things that you can do, and that depends upon your own inclinations, the inquietudes of your heart, and most of all, the inspiration in the moment. Obviously, if you are practicing astral projection, it is because you want to visit, like with the mantra Fa Ra On, to the temples or pyramids of Giza. Then you have a specific, consistent, and established goal that is inspiring you to want to practice in the first place. So again follow your heart. Follow your intuition. The mind is the donkey that is awkward and flounders and stumbles. But if you listen to your heart, you will know what to do. Question: When performing mantras, is it OK to raise the pitch from the usual low tone? Sometimes the lower tones dry or affect my capability to perform the mantra for so long. Instructor: Yeah, I mean, you have the gauge your lungs and vocal cords when you pronounce these mantras. I have heard mantras from many different instructors and even pronounced by Samael Aun Weor, which are varied, different. Certain mantras have very specific tones to pronounce such as Fe Uin Dagj, right? Samael Aun Weor specified that that mantra is pronounced in the musical note Mi. But he doesn’t really give other types of specifics such as the particular note on the musical scale that you have to perform. There are generalities that are important to remember. Every person is going to be a little different. Obviously, our vocal capacities are unique and if you need to accommodate your lungs and your vocal cords by adjusting yourself when you pronounce these mantras, like raising your pitch from a lower tone, that’s fine. It comes to my mind the mantra Tai Re Re Re as we pronounced it. If you’re listening to my example, I always have a deeper voice, so I am going to pronounce it in accordance with my own range. So you have to gauge and judge your own vocal cords when you pronounce these mantras. Some people who listen to other instructors or even such as in Tibetan Buddhist chants, try to imitate very deep voices, very deep tones that are not natural to their capacities, and that can actually harm the vocal cords. It is better that you pronounce in the range that is natural to you, and you only gauge that through practice. So, it is good to keep in mind how the mantras were described in our tradition and to follow them accordingly. But there is going to be a little bit of leeway and play when you are actually performing them, to see how they actually work in your own circumstances. OK! I thank you all for coming. This recording will be available online so that you can also study these pronunciations on your own time and I appreciate the turn out! It is a nice day here in Chicago, and hopefully the weather is bright and wonderful where you are at. So I thank you very much! 
Today’s lecture is entitled “How and Why Do We Astral Project?” We have spent a lot of time discussing the preliminaries: the causes and expressions of dreams within our daily lives. Without an understanding of how our psyche functions (or malfunctions), it is impossible to consciously astral project at will.
You might practice what we present today, but without a thorough understanding of the psyche, your results will be sporadic and inconsistent at best. We suggest that if you are new to this series, that you take the time to study and reflect upon the previous lectures, since this course is structured in such a way that you can gain the necessary tools and understanding by which to make conscious astral projections a sustained reality. 
Why Learn Astral Projection?
So why learn astral projection?
A lot of people approach dream yoga, astral projection, lucid dreams, or out-of-body experiences due to an innate curiosity. Some seek the supernatural, the spectacular, or the sensational: the ability to fly, levitate, teleport, or pass through walls in the astral world. Truly, such possibilities inspire many to approach the study of dreams, which is the doorway to genuine mysticism and religion. However, many students do not realize that astral powers are just a tool. They are not an end. There is really a deeper objective than merely flying around or spying on one’s neighbor. Some have wanted to experiment and find material, physical proof of astral travel. However, this discipline is not about convincing skeptics. While some individuals have worked hard to scientifically demonstrate its reality to a larger public, the true depth of astral travel is personal and experiential. Its beauty and mystery cannot be communicated by another, although the great prophets and luminaries who founded religions all expressed the same truths in the scriptures. The truth is that astral travel can only be verified by you, through your own work, since it directly relates to the quality and capacities of your consciousness. The astral vehicle has many faculties that can help us find solutions to difficult spiritual problems. One can investigate the inner worlds to extract wisdom about how to live in one’s daily life. When we leave the physical body behind and enter the astral dimension, we have access to a type of knowledge that is truly transcendental. Beyond the limitations of the flesh, we can obtain objective knowledge that is not limited to any particular time, language, or place. Instead, our consciousness intuits and speaks a universal language, known through the divine archetypes or symbols of dreams. Such astral experiences are truly esoteric or occult. While these two terms have a negative connotation within mainstream culture, they simply refer to knowledge hidden from and inaccessible to our ordinary senses. However, they are perceivable and comprehendible through the awakened consciousness. The body of spiritual literature we possess, whether from religions or spiritual authors, are merely an introduction and not a conclusion. This is because mystical knowledge can only be known through experience. Therefore, the author M. of The Dayspring of Youth wrote: This work is but a slight introduction to an unlimited science... —Morya, The Dayspring of Youth
Samael Aun Weor corroborates the former statement:
Occult science is studied in the internal worlds; therefore, the one who does not know how to be willingly projected in the astral body does not know occultism. —Samael Aun Weor, The Major Mysteries
As we have explained in the previous six lectures, we need to cease dreaming and awaken consciousness. However, there are degrees to this. Just as you find more skilled, practiced, and experienced people within all disciplines, the same occurs with astral travel.
Samael Aun Weor also wrote: It is necessary for the dreamer to awaken within the internal worlds before converting himself into a competent investigator in the superior worlds. —Samael Aun Weor, Sexology: The Basis of Endocrinology and Criminology
By activating and training our consciousness, we can become familiar with the laws of the internal dimensions. However, you will only gain skill in navigating the internal worlds by first being aware of them. Some temporary experiences are not enough. One must sustain such states through practice.
Reasons to Astral Travel
There are great reasons to learn astral travel. One of them, which we previously discussed, is visiting the temples of the White Lodge. This is any order of divine beings, masters, prophets, or initiates who have perfected or are perfecting themselves spiritually.
“Whiteness” signifies the spiritual purity of the consciousness and has nothing to do with race. Many masters from all races constitute the White Lodges, including the Gnostic Church. While many Gnostic Churches, lumisials, or temples of light exist in the physical world, the real Gnostic Church is in the internal worlds. There one can personally speak with awakened masters, luminaries, Christs, without any intermediary. This is why Samael Aun Weor wrote: Our disciples should learn to project themselves in the astral body in order to visit all the White Lodges of the world. In the Gnostic Church, all our disciples will be able to receive inner instructions. —Samael Aun Weor, Practical Astrology: The Manual of Practical Magic
While we might deeply value the insights of physical Gnostic instructors or missionaries, such knowledge and assistance is insufficient. This is due to the fact that even effective instructors have limitations, either in relation to their capacities or their lived experience of the teachings. Also, some students seek guidance about deeply personal issues that is not even appropriate for missionaries or instructors to solve. Teachers have their place and role in the work, but not to tell students what to do in their personal lives. That power lies only within the Innermost Being or divinity. The most that a physical instructor can do is teach the student how to investigate solutions within.
Inner instructions are communicated to us by divinity, who is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Such instruction is personal and profound, conveyed through abstract dream symbols and spiritual experiences. They are direct representations of how to succeed in the secret path of initiation. This is the process whereby we spiritually develop, overcome inner obstacles, and transform our suffering for the benefit of others. The one who provides such powerful guidance is God. Individuals are liable to make mistakes, yet divinity is infallible. Therefore, it is important to consider the contexts of physical groups and why we should train in astral travel. The most secure guidance you can receive about difficult issues is within, from your Being. While physical groups can benefit us, the real transformations occur when we are in direct contact with the Gnostic Church of the higher worlds. In this case, the only obstacle to interpretation and insight we face is our own mind. Otherwise, we risk becoming confused by relying on people who may not be objective. 
Why Do We Astral Project When We Sleep?
Many do not recognize how common astral projection is. Due to conflicting testimonies, theories, or embellishments, there have arisen mistaken concepts within the popular imagination regarding the nature and frequency of astral projection.
Many think that astral projection is for the few. However, just as our heart beats and our lungs breathe without our awareness, likewise we unconsciously enter the astral dimension every time we sleep. Astral projection is a natural part of life. Without it, the human machine would not be able to recharge or revitalize itself. When the body goes to sleep, the consciousness and the ego depart through astral projection. In the same manner that you drive to a gas station and step out to refill your vehicle, the Essence, bottled up within the different egos, detach from the five centers of the human machine and enter the internal worlds during sleep, so that our physical body can recharge. Many people report hearing a cacophony of voices when falling asleep, random remnants of conversations, memories, moments, and recollections. These are the voices of our different egos which are separating from the five centers of the human machine. This occurs every time we go to sleep, whether we are aware of it or not. It is important for our psychological values to astral project every time we go to bed. In the same manner that you cannot drive a car without fuel, likewise the physical body needs rest and recharging in order to function. Astral projection allows the vital body, which is an energetic vehicle, to restore life and energy to our physicality. The vital body penetrates every atom of our physical body but becomes more active at night when we rest. We would not have life without the vital body, known as יסוד Yesod in Hebrew, “the Foundation” of our spiritual life in Kabbalah. This body attracts solar energy into our five centers and revitalizes them so that, once we get back into our physical body, we can operate in it again. This is why Samael Aun Weor wrote: During the hours of ordinary sleep, the internal man, dressed in his astral body, leaves his physical form so that the ethereal body can repair the physical body. […] Thus, this is how after sleep, our physical body is completely repaired for the new activities of the internal ego. —Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
Therefore, everyone astral projects. However, people who suffer from insomnia are an exception. They cannot enter the astral dimension regularly because they do not sleep. Therefore they suffer tremendous fatigue and illness because they cannot naturally recharge through the vital body, lacking the necessary fuel to optimally operate the human machine.
Who Can Astral Project?
Some people think astral projection is dangerous. But as we’ve demonstrated, this is a lie. We astral project every time we sleep, to recharge our batteries, so to speak. Our consciousness returns every time we awake in bed. Therefore, everyone does it. What happens is that most people are not conscious of the process, in just the same way that we lack cognizance of our heart beating and lungs breathing.
Here is what Samael Aun Weor had to say about this topic: Indeed, projecting the astral body is not dangerous, because every human being projects the astral body during the hours of normal sleep. Unfortunately, all human beings project themselves in their astral body with their consciousness asleep.
Unfortunately, very mistaken people have spread propaganda against astral projection due to lacking an awakened consciousness. Those who have awakened consciousness know and have experienced this reality for themselves. Therefore they do not rely on any beliefs, either from others or within themselves. They simply know.
Do Not Confine Yourself
To know how to consciously astral project takes practice and experience. What we want is to transform an unconscious activity into a conscious one. For this we need practice and discipline, not theories.
It’s important to neither doubt nor believe in this discipline, but to experiment and know. One must test these principles with dispassion, just as a scientist has a hypothesis that he or she wants to explore through testing its principles. The point is to neither affirm nor deny what we don’t know. However, most students either fall into the extreme of intense excitement or outright skepticism. Intense emotions actually block us from consciously accessing the internal worlds. What’s necessary is a middle ground: to have spiritual enthusiasm and inspiration without agitation or attachment. Success comes when we neither expect results nor rigidly refute their possibilities. Skeptics reject these studies altogether due to doubt and pessimism. They might practice a few times and get no results. They ignore that this is a lifelong discipline predicated upon activating the consciousness, not the mind. Astral projection is not an intellectual exercise. It is a conscious activity. We’ve already discussed how we dream all the time. People who do not comprehend how they dream, who do not cease dreaming, never awaken consciousness. These exercises work when we do them consciously. In the same manner that you cannot build a house if you do not know how to use the appropriate tools, likewise skeptical people who do not know how to consciously perform these exercises never get the results they want. Also, craving experiences is an obstacle. Aversion towards astral phenomena is also an obstacle. To perceive these higher realities requires we learn to see without attachment or fear. One must see oneself and the astral transition process with equanimity and comprehension, neither chasing after nor running away from the facts. Samael Aun Weor stated: The disciple who wants to progress should not confine himself. The disciple who wants to progress must inevitably learn to project himself in the astral body so that he can transport himself to the Gnostic Church, where he shall be able to converse personally with Christ and with all the Masters of the White Lodge. —Samael Aun Weor, Practical Astrology: The Manual of Practical Magic
We confine ourselves through theories and beliefs. We also confine ourselves with statements such as, “I will never learn how to consciously project into the astral world.” Or: “I am not capable like other spiritual people. It is impossible for me to do it.” Others might even believe that it will only happen in a remote future through some type blessing.
However, the reality is that we liberate ourselves and experience the realities of the spirit when we discover how to practice with directed attention and conscious awareness. Becoming conscious of our full potential requires patience, just as learning any new discipline takes familiarity and practice. 
What Projects into the Astral?
People often talk about the astral body within esotericism, occultism, or New Age mysticism. However, there is a lot of ambiguity and imprecision when relating to others how we actually astral project.
I mentioned how the Essence, trapped within the ego, astral projects every time we sleep. This is an unconscious process. It is logical that if we astral project unconsciously, without will, then it means we are using mechanical methods and means. Falling asleep without cognizance, becoming unconscious for the eight hours when we sleep, is a mechanical function. It does not take any effort or will on our part. We have a vehicle through which we enter the internal worlds every night with our egos, but it is not a conscious or voluntary one. We call this the kama rupa, the body of desires. This is a mechanical vehicle, a lunar apparatus, that—like the physical moon—regulates our unconscious and instinctual processes. We know from astronomy and science that the moon influences many mechanical processes on our earth, like tides, vegetal life, and menstruation in women. These processes happen automatically. In the same way, we possess a lunar astral body that is a gift of nature. It is a vehicle composed of protoplasmic matter. As this term implies, such a substance is more ductile, malleable, and subtle than physical matter. Some people have the wrong idea that the astral world is immaterial. Yet this is not true. It is a dimension of matter, energy, and consciousness, but in a form more subtle than our physical dimension. The kama rupa, which is made of astral matter, allows us to go into the astral dimension automatically. However, there exists another type of vehicle that is not dependent upon mechanical laws or means. It is called a solar astral body. This vehicle is an earned luxury that few possess because it must be created through the spirit. It is the direct product of a particular labor known as initiation. Through the initiatic science of sexual alchemy, a married man and woman can conserve and transform their creative forces to give life to this interior vehicle. Just as a husband and wife can sexually join to create a physical child, likewise the same creative energy, through a specific procedure known as alchemy, can give birth to the solar astral body. It is made from a divine, solar matter and energy, the sexual energy, which is a solar force. We use the term “solar” to reference the creative potential and principle of God. This is the mystery of the second birth referenced by Jesus to Nicodemus in the New Testament, “to be born again” (John 3). The solar astral body channels superior forces and laws beyond mechanical nature. It is like a light bulb that can manifest a certain capacity, amplification, or magnitude of spiritual potential. Therefore, this body gives an initiate conscious access to superior dimensions, spiritual states, and realms. Such experiences tend to be inaccessible for people whose psychological center of gravity is in the inferior worlds, within desire, the ego. It is important to clarify that there are superior astral regions and inferior astral regions. The superior worlds are heavenly and divine, inhabited by angels, while the inferior astral world is negative, inhabited by demons. The inferior worlds are known throughout diverse religious traditions as hell. We travel to places in nature in accordance with our affinities. If our psychological center of gravity is in the ego, then we will be attracted to the inferior worlds, because that is where the ego belongs. To possess a solar astral body grants us access to the heavens. Now, people often confuse the legitimate, solar astral body with the kama rupa, and this is wrong. The differences between the solar and lunar astral bodies are like day and night. Even in appearance, the solar body possesses an interior luminosity and brilliance. When we speak face to face with a master of Major Mysteries within the astral plane, they often irradiate a powerful golden light with tremendous radiance, penetration, and depth. The kama rupa is also a material vehicle, but ephemeral, dark, phantasmic, like a ghost. The former grants spiritual capacities, full lucidity of the higher dimensions, the ability to consciously project within the superior worlds at will. For most, the lunar astral body facilitates unconscious astral projections into the inferior astral regions, unless we begin to train ourselves and start to learn how to use this vehicle intentionally. But to create a solar astral body requires work in initiation. For that you can study The Perfect Matrimony by Samael Aun Weor. It’s important to clarify for students that a solar astral body is not required in order to experience the superior dimensions of nature. It is possible to awaken within the kama rupa and learn to use it consciously, even to visit heavenly regions and the White Lodges. Samael Aun Weor related in The Magic of the Runes how he and his priestess-wife Litelantes visited a temple of the superior worlds and saw many neophytes there. Dressed in lunar rags, lunar bodies, these sincere disciples were given access to the temple by the guardians out of compassion. Despite the fact that superior beings see our lunar rags as a form of disrespect, such masters possess conscious love, mercy, and understanding. What matters is that we are sincere and genuine when seeking divine aid. 
How Do We Experience a Conscious Astral Projection?
Conscious astral projections are facilitated through comprehension and imagination.
Comprehension is a quality of the Essence, the consciousness. It is an alert, voluntary, cognitive state, whereby we discern the significance of any phenomenon without any sense of self. This is a very different activity than thought. We’ve already demonstrated how thoughts can be active while our consciousness is inactive. Thoughts merely happen to us. They are mechanical, whereas conscious attention requires will. Don’t believe me? Try to stop thinking. Tell yourself, “I will not think for the next ten minutes.” Observe the results. Anyone who has attempted meditation discovers this problem, that we cannot turn the mind off. This indicates that we are machines and have no control over our psyche. Not only are we victims of thought, but also negative emotions. Similarly, we are driven by unconscious impulses and desires whose existence we are typically not willing to acknowledge in ourselves. Each thought, feeling, and impulse originates from a different self, a desire or ego. Every ego expresses as a trio of thought, feeling, and will within our psychological centers, manifesting within us when the opportunity arises. Most people never question their psychological states. They merely think what they think, feel what they feel, and do what they do, attributing their multiple contradictions and conflicting desires to the illusion of a unified entity. This is the state of identification. When we become fascinated with our desires, we sleep as a consciousness. We persist with the dream that we are singular, not multiple. We shatter this dream through self-observation. What self are we observing? Our ego. Who is observing? The Essence, the soul. Compare your Essence to a director making a film. The director is the consciousness who observes the scene of any drama, comedy, or tragedy. The different actors are our defects, egos, reactions, thoughts, emotions, desires, etc. What do we want from psychological self-observation? By looking at ourselves without presuppositions, assumptions, attachments, expectations, or beliefs, we activate the consciousness. We direct our attention within. We can then understand the roots of our thoughts, feelings, and desires, so that they don’t control us and waste our psychic energies. However, this can only occur if you comprehend your defects. Comprehension is an active force born from direct observation. It is not static or passive, like knowledge. Observation of the facts is different from knowing. We may know we are angry, but are we observing this fact? Are we looking at the structures of anger, its logic, justifications, and reasoning? Are we actively perceiving this element and how it relates to a particular event? Or do we give it our energy and make it stronger, thereby deepening our suffering and the suffering of others? Knowing we are angry doesn’t require will. It is mechanical. Observing anger is a highly active, conscious state. The same with comprehension. Why does comprehension aid with astral projection? Remember that we involuntarily astral project every night without awareness. If you comprehend your psychological reactions during the day and no longer allow yourself to be mechanical, then that same skill will transfer to when you go to sleep. If you consciously manage your human machine when it is active, you will likewise consciously manage your psyche when it detaches and departs into the astral world. Comprehension is strengthened through imagination, since the more you can perceive within the spectrum of dimensionality, the greater your conscious range for discovery and insights. By activating the consciousness and its capacities to perceive—such as through imagination exercises—we also gain greater penetration, depth, color, hues, tones, and resolution within our soul. The ability to perceive non-physical imagery is the door to accessing the superior worlds, since the latter is the dimension of imagination. This is why Samael Aun Weor stated: Comprehension and imagination must replace reasoning. What Are the Superior Faculties of the Mind?
So what are the superior faculties of the mind that facilitate astral projection?
We already explained self-observation. Let’s talk about self-remembrance. Self-remembrance must be combined with self-observation. We cannot perceive objectively within the astral world if we do not remember the presence of divinity. What does it mean to remember divinity? This is a form of spiritual pressure within our interior awareness. We also sense it in the manner we direct attention. Is our attention and awareness manipulated by a desire? Or is it selfless, unconditioned, unafflicted? We recognize the divine presence in our heart, the superior emotional center, through conscious states like altruism, compassion, patience, fidelity, and conscious love for others. Such genuine states have no “I,” no desire or self. This means that we feel ourselves to be a child of God within the body, that we are aware of being in the body. Astral experiences are fueled by emotional energy. If you save such energies through curtailing negative emotion and enacting superior emotions, you open the door to the astral world. These conscious qualities are distinct from the ego and can only be discerned through patient work and experience. As a general rule of thumb, the less self you experience in your alert perception, the more conscious and objective you will be. However, the more attachment or identification with a sense of self you feel, the more egotistical your states and the greater your disconnection with divinity. Awareness is important for voluntary astral projection. To know our psychological states, surroundings, and locale are necessary, since you cannot consciously drive your car if you are inattentive at the wheel. In our studies of dream yoga, we activate the consciousness through the Key of Sol, which is an acronym for subject, object, location. First, Subject: become aware of your psychological states. Do not invest your energy into the ego, the self, desire, but learn to look at yourself like a director filming an actor, your own mind. Second, Object: expand that awareness to your immediate objects. What are you interacting with? Whom are you with? What are you doing? Lastly, Location: become aware of your environment. Where are you? What city are you in? What country are you at? By utilizing these three parameters, the consciousness clarifies, expands, and strengthens. However, awareness is not enough. Discernment is necessary. Are we aware as an ego or as an Essence? Who is using our body in a given instant? We already explained that the ego can be aware too, but that is not the type of awareness we are recommending. What we want is a selfless awareness, an awareness without any condition or sense of “I.” This is pristine cognition lacks an interpreter. It merely perceives and understands without having to label, compare, or critique with thought. The continuity of this awareness throughout the day and night is mindfulness. This means that we do not forget ourselves or what we are doing at any moment in our life. The longer you remain awake as a consciousness, the greater the possibility that you will maintain awareness when you go to bed. Through developing continuity of presence throughout the day, we also increase our potential for going much deeper into our understanding, to intuit what is really going on beneath the appearances of things. Intuition is the conscious ability of knowing without thought. You simply know without reliance upon the mind. The Essence knows how to voluntarily astral project. It is intuitive and does not require any activity of the mind. The more you rely on your intuition throughout the day, the better your outcomes for conscious astral projections. Likewise, the greater our serenity and equanimity, our dispassion or non-attachment, the greater our cognitive powers for astral projection will be. Strong emotions are an obstacle to astral experiences, but a calm and confident heart, a relaxed mind, are beneficial. Lastly, the awakened faculty of imagination deepens our astral perceptions, since we allow ourselves to see beyond our normal range of cognition. We expand our imagination through visualization exercises, some of which we have previously referenced. 
The Clue of Discernment
Let’s discuss a basic technique to achieve conscious astral projections.
The disciple should lull himself to sleep in his bed. When the disciple finds himself in that state of transition that exists between vigil and sleep, he should rise from his bed exactly the way a somnambulist does.
People often get caught up in their mind. What we are stating here is the need to actually get up from bed. Do not imagine doing so. Astral projections are an active phenomenon. Our consciousness must not be passive. The mind that fantasizes is an obstacle. The physical body must rest, yet the soul has to be alert.
Abandon thoughts as you lull yourself to sleep. However, we have to maintain a certain threshold between wakefulness and dreaming. This balance is very difficult to establish and maintain for beginners, yet is something one can learn through meditation. Meditation is the doorway to the internal worlds. By consciously regulating drowsiness, we allow ourselves to access these inner dimensions. We must neither be too drowsy that we lose consciousness, nor too tense that we don’t relax at all. Temperance is the key. When you hit that perfect balance, you are then ready to consciously leave the body. 
How to Astral Project
Samael Aun Weor also emphasized the following:
This is not a mental exercise. What we are saying here should be translated into facts.
A somnambulist is physically active while the consciousness is asleep. However with this exercise, we want the physical body to rest while the consciousness is active. The one who gets up like a somnambulist is the consciousness within the astral vehicle.
Detaching the astral vehicle is not something imaginary. It is factual. Do not imagine getting up from bed. Actually do it. Some people have the wrong idea that the astral vehicle is immaterial and unreal, and therefore they think that astral projection is a matter of the mind. As we stated earlier, the kama rupa is material, but of a more subtle composition. Yet recognizing this is not an imaginary exercise. It has to be done in the same way that you physically move your body. You do so when you identify the right moment between wakefulness and dreaming. Recognizing this state requires practice. You have to learn how to balance your attention within the threshold of wakefulness and sleep so that, once you’ve transitioned into the internal worlds, you can become aware of being in this other vehicle. 
Signs of Astral Projection
There are very specific signs that you have or are about to transition into the astral world.
They include “heaviness of body and lightness of soul.” As you are entering the dream state, your body might have the sensation that it weighs a ton, that it possesses a dense feeling of gravity and solidity, whereas your consciousness in the body is becoming like a feather, like it can float any second. Many people relate hearing “sounds, voices, vibrations, electric sensations, and energy.” Usually the voices we hear are our own egos detaching from our body. But some people also hear non-physical mystical sounds, auditory perceptions that are not coming from the exterior world, but from within. This is known as the faculty of clairaudience, or “clear hearing.” Another obvious sign that one is projecting are electrical sensations and vibrations, like energetic shocks permeating one’s body. This often occurs between the astral vehicle and the physical body during the detachment process. You might also feel and hear “high-pitched whirring noises in your head.” Or your heart beats intensify. Psychic palpitations occur when your heart beat becomes loud and magnified. It’s like listening to your heartbeat through an amplifier, accompanied with a psychic energy or force that intensifies to the point that you project into the astral out of your heart. Some people project out of their head by concentrating on those vibrations in the brain. Either option can work depending on the circumstance. You might also feel physically immobilized while you are still aware. Such physical immobilization can be similar to sleep paralysis, except that you might begin to perceive voluntary movements transferring to your astral vehicle rather than your physical body. Be mindful that there is no danger to sleep paralysis or astral projection. We transition every time we rest, but unconsciously. In such moments, one is now beginning the perceive a deeper reality. What matters is being fearless and intrepid, to take advantage of this marvelous opportunity. Other times people start to float above their bed, levitating and suspending in the air. You might even begin to see with your astral eyes while your physical eyes are closed. Types of Astral Projections
It is also important to mention that we can enter superior or inferior dimensions depending on which part of the body we project from. Astral projections through the heart or the head allow us to enter the superior dimensions. Astral projections through the anus or the base of the spine will take us to the inferior dimensions. But why is this?
The head and heart possess superior psychological centers. We discussed them previously as the superior intellectual and superior emotional centers. These register and process comprehension and superior emotion. The Being expresses through these two superior centers, whereas the ego manifests through the five centers or cylinders of the human machine. The instinctual center is located at the base of the spine and the anus. If you astral project through this area, you do so with the instinctual drives of the kama rupa or body of desires. These types of projections take one to the infernal worlds or hell realms, because such egotistical states vibrate with the instinctual desires of the animal ego. Not only are the five psychological centers relevant to different types of astral projections, but also our chakras. A chakra is a Sanskrit term for “wheel” or “disk.” These are wheels or vortexes of vital, psychic, and spiritual energies. Whenever two or more separate energetic currents flow together, they form a chakra. There are literally thousands of them animating our body and interior. However, we mostly speak about seven primary chakras parallel to the spine since they have the most influence in the way our psychology operates and expresses. The heart chakra has marvelous potential for conscious astral projections, since the astral world is animated through emotional energy. Although we can experience superior astral projections through the heart, we can also experience the highest spiritual realizations by projecting through the crown chakra. This is the seat of omniscience, symbolized by the halos of the saints throughout every spiritual tradition in the world. Projecting through this chakra allows one to experience the world of the Being, the highest truths, even without vehicles of any kind. After this explanation, some might wonder: how do you ensure that you have a positive astral projection and not a negative one? How we astral project is based on our psychological work throughout the day. The less ego we have, the greater our affinity for superior astral projections. The greater our psychological density, the heavier our desires, the more likely we will gravitate towards negative realms. Do not be discouraged if you experience an astral projection within the inferior worlds. It is actually a great step to realize our level of being or spiritual development. Only by honestly facing ourselves can we truly assess our situation and open the door to divine reality. Most of us are not saints yet. But to become one requires acknowledging what we presently are. In whatever way you begin to experience an astral projection, the key is to not be afraid. Do not exert or force the process. Force and exertion is egotistical. What matters is conscious awareness and control. Real control is when the consciousness is in possession of itself, which you relinquish if you react negatively to what you perceive. The consciousness knows how to respond to astral projections, to either let it happen or to take appropriate action. Conscious will is distinct from egotistical desire. The ego always reacts, but the consciousness knows how to respond with equanimity and composure. If you are experiencing an astral projection through the heart or crown chakra, do not force the process. Do not identify. Oftentimes one should let the process unfold of itself. Don’t try to accelerate or prevent superior states from happening. Just let these symptoms be. Sometimes acting prematurely can end the experience. Other times waiting for something to happen and remaining inactive can take you back to your body. You will gauge the appropriate time and way to respond as you familiarize yourself again and again with these states. Exercises
We always conclude these lectures with different exercises.
Throughout the day, develop self-observation. Each day, for at least 10-20 minutes, develop meditative concentration through visualization of an image. When in the transition state between wakefulness and dreaming, get up from bed and apply the clue of discernment: jump in the air to see if you float. Lastly, continue with your spiritual diary. At this point in time, I would like to open up the floor to questions. You are welcome to type in your questions in the chat box. Questions and Answers
Question: I can sense people are able to stop me lucid dreaming as I’ve been doing it all my life, until the attacks really started. Now all of that has been taken away from me. What am I to do?
Instructor: We are going to have a lecture in the future regarding spiritual self-defense. We’ve actually given a course with some lectures on our website that discuss different practices that you can use to defend yourself spiritually, particularly within the internal worlds. This is a topic that we are going to revisit again in this course where we will provide some prayers and tools, must like the ones we’ve covered before, so that you can train yourself, train your consciousness, to enact superior, divine will. It’s true that while we talk about astral projection as not being dangerous, there are entities within the interior worlds who can be an obstacle for our spiritual development, and therefore in the sense that there are negative entities within those regions, there are practices that we can fulfill to protect us from those influences. I recommend that you go on to our website, under the course Spiritual Self-Defense. We have three lectures up already, which talk about many different practices you can use that you can study and apply in your own spiritual discipline. Some of the prayers are very elaborate. Some of them are very simple, but I recommend that when you memorize them, that you learn to apply them with your consciousness. These conjurations or prayers, that we use in this tradition to reject negative entities, are very effective--if we are conscious. We can protect ourselves during lucid dreaming by memorizing these tools and prayers and techniques. The reason is, if you don’t memorize these prayers, when you’re awake in the internal worlds again, you will not know how to apply the method. Likewise, you cannot take a physical Gnostic Prayer Book with you into the internal worlds. Glorian Publishing has a small little book available with that title that has many different compilations of prayers like we’ve mentioned, which we’ve talked about on our website in Spiritual Self-Defense. The important thing is, remember the prayers, study them, use them every day, so that they become automatic. In the same way that you train in martial arts, you learn a technique from the basics and eventually develop it further. In the same way we use the prayers and conjurations of this tradition to be more effective in protecting ourselves. So yes, there are ways to help remove obstacles, whether they are from within your own mind or from entities that don’t want you to progress spiritually. Question: When asking to go to the Gnostic lodge, after we have successfully projected, we may be asked for a password. Can you speak on that? Instructor: There is a certain prayer that we use or password in order to enter the white lodges. What you do is you cross your hands over your heart, your right hand over the left. When you approach the guardian of any temple in the internal worlds, you then place your left hand on your solar plexus and extend your right hand in the form of the pentagram. You do so by folding your pinky and your ring fingers into your palm and extending your index, middle finger and thumb out. This is the real symbol of peace according to the Gnostic tradition. You then say to the guardian: “Inverencial peace!” which basically means: “Peace unto your innermost divinity!” Cross your hands again over your heart, your right hand over your left, and then bow with your head to the right pillar of the temple, saying “Jachin,” and then bow to the left pillar of the temple, “Boaz.” Every genuine temple of divine mysteries has the two pillars of Gnostic esotericism, which is very well known with the masonic tradition, Freemasonry. Jachin is the pillar of mercy. Boaz is the pillar of severity. By this act you are showing the guardian of the temple that you are working in yourself, and that you promise to uphold conscious control of your mind within any sacred precinct, because these types of temples are very divine. You have to be at your best behavior. If you don’t, they can kick you out—and will. So by performing this greeting after the guardian says “pass,” you step with your right foot first—not with the left. If you do that, they can bar you from entering. The reason is because the right foot is the symbol of spiritual force, and that we seek to walk the spiritual path by fulfilling the mercy of the law. The right pillar of the tree of life, the kabbalah—which finds its parallel within any gnostic temple—is a symbol of the purity of the consciousness, whereas the left can relate to how forces from heaven descend into the infernal worlds, and therefore there can be a negative connotation to that. So step in with your right foot. Perform that greeting and be very honest with the guardians. You can’t hide from them—anything. They literally see right through you and will prevent you from going further into the precinct if you do not know how to conduct yourself. Question: When the ego is aware there is mental chatter, and when the Being is aware there is serene mind and intuition with no thought? Instructor: In a sense, yes. The ego can be very aware and awake, but that’s problematic. Every ego manifests in accordance with thought, feeling, and will. Mental chatter is a part of that continual stream of egotistical loquaciousness in our mind, with all the cacophony of thoughts, mechanical associations, memories, daydreams. But when the ego is aware, one is intentionally experiencing any negative element such as anger, with thought, desire to hurt, and the will to act. That type of awareness is very negative. We’ve mentioned and discussed some of the nuances of this problem in the other course we gave online called Spiritual Self-Defense, where we talked about positive and negative awakening. A person can be very aware and awake, that they are killing someone. Of course this is very disastrous. The kind of awareness we are referring to [and promote] is when the Being is there, but within the Being there is no sense of “I,” or “me,” and “myself.” It is a serene conscious state in which there is no affliction of mind. There is no condition or self there. The Being is impersonal, is universal, is eternal. It is selfless in the sense of what we think of a self, but to experience and recognize that state requires that we abandon our thoughts. We observe the mental chatter. We observe our mind stream and allow it to settle and rest. When the mind settles and rests, when the different elements of our psyche stratify within distinct layers, such as when you allow a cup full of water and sediment to rest, naturally the impurities will layer themselves and become visible to you. However, if our mind is agitated and conflicted with problems, then the waters of our mind become agitated and murky, muddied. The Being is there when the waters of our mind are clean. When you’re serene, observant without a self, without an “I,” then you can start to experience what intuition is, to know without having to think. This is why we practice meditation. This is why we study ourselves. So it’s important. We have to discriminate what is going on psychologically. But for that, you have to train yourself in self-observation and self-remembrance, as we’ve explained. But usually, when there’s mental chatter, it often happens to us because we are on the threshold of sleep and wakefulness, even psychologically speaking. We may sense that we have a stream of mental chatter, but we just kind of let it happen. We are not even really aware of it. We are not conscious. Negative awakening is something very distinct and also harmful, like in the example I provided. So to be awake within the Being requires serenity and no thought, yes. Question: I feel like I am making progress in my meditations. It feels like I can get enough and there is much pressure in my heart space. Is this good progress? Instructor: You have to judge for yourself. Personally, I am of the opinion that real success in meditation occurs the more we comprehend our psyche. We focus a lot in our tradition on eliminating our defects. That only comes about by observing in ourselves our own faults in action, the ego, and then comprehending their roots. By comprehending the root of a problem, of our desires, we can eventually eliminate those elements and therefore liberate the consciousness. Having some type of psychic perception like a pressure in the heart can be a signification that there are certain psychic senses that are developing. While this is good and necessary, it’s important to bear that within the contexts of a particular psychological work. By awakening our astral senses, by learning to astral project, there is a form of progress, or developing more sensitivity in the heart is good. But having that skill of knowing how to sense more phenomena, it has to be done consciously, has to be directed. So I recommend that if you are having these types of augmented perceptions, even in relation to astral projection—where you are learning to awaken in dreams as well—it’s good to learn how to apply those serene states of observation towards a deeper task. For that we work on the ego. We study, such as in our course on Gnostic Meditation, the practice of retrospection meditation. That’s the discipline in which we review ourselves psychologically and evaluate the quality and content of our mind, so that we can comprehend our defects and remove them. So going back to your question, there are different levels of progress, obviously. But having a pressure in your heart, you have to judge and evaluate for yourself. What is the real consequence of that? But also, how does it relate to a broader and deeper issue, such as how you are approaching your psychology throughout the day? If your heart is more sensitive, are you becoming more aware of how to fulfill your conscience? Superior emotion? The right way to act, feel, and behave in life? I think that’s even more significant. If you can get a better gauge and sense of judging your own errors and learning how to make your life a paradise by fulfilling divine will (the more we work on our ethical discipline as we teach in our other courses), the better we serve divinity and the more inflamed becomes our heart, the more powerful it becomes, the more insightful. Question: How can we raise to a higher astral realm if we’ve already seen ourselves in an infernal dimension, and how can we differentiate one from the next? Where are we in our astral location? Instructor: It’s a really good question because a lot of people may awaken in dreams but don’t really discriminate where they are at. For that you have to use the Key of SOL: Subject, Object, Location, but also not only becoming aware of the particular environment you’re in, but also judging the quality of that state. You have to listen to your intuition, your conscience. Unfortunately for many of us, our heart is very deficient, depleted, and weak, mostly because of bad behaviors and bad choices in our life. But the more you learn to meditate on your distinct experiences, to look at a situation calmly and dispassionately, to visualize those experiences within your interior, you can allow those experiences to play out within the screen of your imagination and then listen to your heart. Pray to divinity to show you where you are at. What was this state that you experienced? Other times with training and eventual development in your heart, you can have those types of experiences and then immediately know where you are at. You do not have to think about it because you just know. You ascertain the situation for what it is. Now to go from a lower astral region to a higher one requires that we change our level of being, because as I said, we gravitate towards levels of nature in accordance with our dispositions. If you’re in an infernal astral state and you want to go to a superior one, I suggest you pray to your inner Being. Pray to your Divine Father. You can do the Our Father, the Pater Noster, especially, and if it is His will, He can pull you out, because divinity has that power. For that we have to rely on our inner God, the will of the Being. But again discrimination again requires intuition, and it is difficult because often times in our daily life, we do not listen to our heart, and that is the problem. The more you follow your conscience, the more you develop your inner judgment, the greater your powers will be for discrimination. There is a practice in our tradition called the runes. There is a series of yogic postures that we engage with whereby we adopt a certain posture and perform prayer and mantra (sacred sounds). There is a rune called Rita, which relates not only to divine inner judgment, to strengthen our inner conscience, but it is also very effective for deepening our intuition about what is right and what is wrong. Study in the book The Magic of the Runes by Samael Aun Weor. It’s a beautiful practice. It’s good for developing our inner discrimination of our own defects, and holding us accountable before divine law, but it can also help us be more conscientious about where we are at and what we are doing. You can also do the mantra O to vibrate with the heart, to feed the heart with superior forces. In that way, you have more power by which to act consciously and to know your situation. Question: Are object and location in the way the same, such as in the Key of SOL? For example, I notice an object in the room and become aware of the room, but the room itself is an object. Therefore I become aware of the object of the house that the room is in and then where I am is the town or street, which becomes then an object, etc., etc. So is it looking at the same thing in two different ways? Instructor: OK. So first off with the Key of SOL, Subject is ourselves, as we know, knowing our psychological states. Object has to do with any item in our vicinity, and this can be such as anything constituting our room or home: pens, pencils, paintings, whatever it may be. We differentiate objects with location because, for example, in the astral plane, you can be looking at certain objects that you’re familiar with in your daily life, and yet perhaps, strangely enough, you look outside your window in the astral world and see you’re in a totally different location. This can happen because the astral world is not limited to temporality, to time, or to any particular rigid location within the physical world. That dimension is very unusual, primarily because while we can see things there that are relative to our physical existence, there are going to be differences. The purpose of the Key of SOL is to be able to distinguish and discriminate that. So an object really just has to do with, perhaps, you are looking at a book or a painting in the astral world, maybe even in your own home. The location is distinct because that tells you and gives you a bit of context for where and what exactly you are seeing. You can be looking at objects in your home, perhaps in a room, and yet if you explore a little bit, you discover that you’re actually not located where you thought you were. Instead you can be in another country. You can be on another planet. The only way to know that is to ask these questions: “What are my states (Subject)? What are the objects that I am interacting with?” and then, “Where am I? What is my location?” Those three elements help us to expand consciousness. They give us the ability to comprehend what is really going on. So they are all aspects of one thing. They are different variations, but they combine together in the same way that if you want to expand the reflection of light, you can take multiple mirrors and reflect them. It is like expanding your consciousness. You’re perceiving and understanding more because you are distinguishing what is really happening, where you are at, but also what are the different items in your home. You can be in your home in the astral world, and yet you have objects in your room that are not specifically physical, things that you’ve never seen before. So? These are different: Object and Location. There’s some nuance to this. What I want to emphasize is that we have to rely on all three and look at the connections between what we are seeing, between our psychological states, the different items that we are interacting with or the people we are seeing, and the overall location of our environment. When you combine those three and question those three things in relation to yourself, you open the doors to understanding and the discrimination of where you are at and what you are doing. So do we have any other questions? Question: Does astral travel depend on physical factors such as health? If you have an injury in one or more of the three brains, would that stop you? Instructor: It’s a really good question! We astral travel or enter the internal worlds every time we go to physical sleep, so astral travel, or better said, astral projection, is a mechanical given. It’s a mechanical thing. It happens no matter what unless you have insomnia and you can’t fall asleep and therefore that’s another issue in itself. Now as to whether astral travel depends upon physical factors such as health, there is a relationship between how conscious we are and how we manage our life as a soul in relation to the three brains. 
The three brains are themselves are machines. They have certain elements, energies and forces that are necessary for our spiritual life and also our physical life. There are many people who perhaps have some type of injury in their three brains. Maybe they suffer from a mental, emotional, or a physical illness. Now learning how to consciously astral travel is dependent on how we as a consciousness learn to manage and conserve the energies of the three brains. Obviously if you are physically ill, it is going to be very difficult to want to practice, to want to change, and to make progress, because there is a certain balance that needs to be reached in terms of physical health, so that we can perform our spiritual work.
Now the thing is that we go into the astral plane every time we fall asleep, regardless. We do it mechanically, involuntarily. So we are doing it no matter what, regardless of if we are healthy or ill. But if you want to know how to consciously astral travel, if you want to see that dimension for what it is, it is important to take care of our health, psychologically, emotionally, and physically, primarily because as we are going to elaborate on in a future lecture (and we have kind of touched upon this too), you need energy to awaken. If we are wasting energy through any of the three brains, if our three brains are sick, if they’re not operating optimally, then the consciousness is going to be affected too, because consciousness is driving the car (or should be). What happens more often is that the ego abuses the three brains and therefore depletes us of energy, whether it is intellectual, emotional, mechanical, instinctive or sexual. An injury in one of the three brains, obviously, that is a difficult thing to deal with. However, the consciousness can work, even with a serious condition injury or illness. Obviously, we want to take care of our car, our physical body. We want to drive it well. We want to treat it well, but even people who suffer from a serious condition, illness, or injury can still practice this teaching and still learn how to consciously astral travel. It is going to mean that there will be some greater obstacles and conditions to deal with in the path, but it does not guarantee, well, that you’re not going to be able to perform this work. Anybody can perform this work, even if one is paraplegic, in a wheelchair, is sick, who suffered some kind of traumatic injury. What matters is that we work with where we are at, that one works with their particular karma in life, and does the best that with what they have because divinity helps any soul in accordance with their effort. Question: Here is a follow up question. Are there any guidelines for working with the three brains in a book? Instructor: For that, study Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology, The Great Rebellion, The Revolution of the Dialectic, and Fundamentals of Gnostic Education by Samael Aun Weor. Those books go into great depth and detail about how to work with the three brains. Question: Does heavy food make it hard to project within the astral dimension? Instructor: We advise against eating a heavy meal before sleep. It is very well known in science that indigestion can cause nightmares. Those types of experiences are lived perceptions within the inferior worlds, the infernal dimensions. Heavy food can make it difficult for one to have a positive experience. It is good to go to bed with a free stomach because you do not want heavy foods like meats or other difficult elements to digest to basically activate inferior chakras within the abdomen. We’ve discussed how heavy foods like that can cause indigestion which activate certain energetic centers in the abdomen, relating to infernal chakras or elements that relate to the inferior worlds. So its good to have an empty stomach when you are practicing. You don’t want to be hungry throughout the day, right? You do want to be conscious and manage how you take care of your body in relation to astral projection. We will talk later about certain elements related to that topic in a future lecture, such as on “Obstacles to Astral Projection and Their Remedies.” It’s going to be a future talk. Question: Regarding insomnia, how long is it reasonable to go without physical sleep, willingly or unwillingly? Instructor: I am not a doctor. I do not know all the science and mechanics behind how much should an insomniac sleep. It would be every night, I would think. I know in some traditions such as in Islam (it is even mentioned in the Qur’an), Prophet Muhammad would perform prayers in the middle of the night. Sometimes certain practitioners would meditate in the early hours of the dawn or even perform vigils. This is because they want to experience greater realities by making certain sacrifices. Personally when I have done this practice, such as staying up late at night or waking up early in the morning to meditate—such as with astral projection exercises—basically you can open kind of the doorway into the internal worlds. Now a lot of research and science might mention that usually two to three days without any sleep can lead to some problems. But if you go without a day or if you make the sacrifice to perform a practice within the early hours of dawn, or to stay up for a few hours to meditate and pray, that is not going to harm you if you do it occasionally. But obviously you want to balance yourself. You have to gauge your energy levels and know how much you can do. Obviously, don’t do too much! Balance is the key. Any other questions? So I thank you all for coming! We will have another lecture in the coming month, continuing this discussion, primarily talking about specific mantras or sacred sounds in order to have conscious astral projections. I thank you all for coming! 
Welcome everybody to our sixth lecture on Dream Yoga and Astral Travel. We spoke extensively about why we dream, the causes of oneiric experience, particularly in relation to our psychology—whether objective, clear, pure, selfless, factual, or subjective, based on the faults of our mind, our defects, our errors. We study our dreams because we have a very particular purpose, a very specific goal, which is to awaken our full potential, awaken to the reality of the divine.
Unfortunately, many approach the study of dreams with a mistaken attitude. There are many who wish to have lucidity, some type of intensity of experience related to the dream state, to have awareness of dreams. This has been called lucid dreaming, but we are different in these studies. We seek to eliminate dreams themselves, to no longer see through a lens or a glass darkly, but to see what is there within the reality of that dimension, the reality of that state, without any filter, any condition, any fault. Awareness of dreams can be good in the beginning: to have a type of depth, flavor, and expansion of perception. However, there is a fundamental problem. Dreams are but dreams. They are illusory. They are not real. They are not objective. They do not truly reflect the truth of the divine, the realities of the spirit, our innermost Being or God. Dreams, as we have mentioned, are projections of the mind. They are merely an expression of our psychological content, like a projector on a screen, and while we can have greater resolution of that imagery, more vividness, like watching an improved television screen, it is still a mirage, an illusion, a lie. The vividness and the intensity, the breadth and depth of imagination, to see what is there, that, in itself, is a quality of the consciousness, a quality of our true nature. While the capacity to perceive is wonderful, to have greater depth and breadth of one’s perception within the astral state, this, in itself, does not mean we are seeing reality, what is there. For that we need to turn off the projector, turn off the mind, and see with the soul, what we call the Essence, our true nature, our reality. Lucid dreaming, in itself, is a step. In these studies, we go further. We need to understand not only why we dream, but how. What are the mechanisms? What are the structures of the mind? What are the ways in which we do not see life as it is? How do we perceive? How do we see ourselves? This lecture is an expansion of the previous one where we talked about the cause of our psychological slumber, why we dream. But now we are going to explain the different dreams that manifest and what are the different types of dreams. By understanding the “how,” we can awaken. Our Focus
So, this is our focus. We are going to examine the expression of dreams—their manifestation within our psychology. In this process we learn that through the types of dreams that we experience, we understand how we use energy, how we use force of various modifications, densities, rarities, and subtleties.
In order to awaken consciousness, we need to save energy. To awaken within the dream state requires that we conserve our psychological, spiritual forces. We are going to examine how dreaming wastes energy and by learning to control the energy of our psyche, we have the potential to activate and drive our car—the astral, the mental vehicles—and even beyond. In this process we have to discriminate what we are seeing. What are we perceiving? How are we perceiving? In a sense, it is impossible to understand, or know how to liberate oneself from a cage, from a prison, if we do not know how we are locked up. What is the cell? What is the lock? When you understand how it all works together, you can free yourself—the same spiritually—free yourself and experience these higher realities. Dream Logic and Awakening
Unfortunately when we study ourselves, we often approach our spiritual life with the wrong tools.
We all understand that we have a form of dream logic. When we look at dreams, we find that there is a narrative, a thread, a story in which we are the actors, the participants, and the witnesses. We emphasize that by understanding the logic of dreams, we can fully know ourselves, because our dreaming life is a reflection of something deeper, psychologically speaking, which we fundamentally ignore. Anyone who has had a nightmare has directly perceived the reality of what religions call hell. Those are living manifestations of our deepest traumas, our deepest pains, our most unutterable fears. Likewise, dreams in themselves do not merely have to reflect our own inferior states of mind. There is a potential within the dream state to see something real. We call them visions, astral experiences. We call them samadhis. They too have a type of logic, a type of narrative, a type of thread, but distinct from the inferior type. It is a very different quality than a nightmare or an incoherent dream. This duality of dreams shows us that we are a true mystery. Our soul is an unexplored territory. Any person studying dream yoga and practicing it learns to experience and understand our real, inner worlds. While dreams in themselves may seem unsolvable, difficult to interpret—(this logic which escapes a type of analysis or interpretation)—the truth is that it is possible to understand what our dreams are communicating, whether they are from above or below, whether they are a vision or an illusion. It is possible to discriminate what is going on and to interpret with wisdom, so that we can make better decisions with our life. Visions from the divine teach us how to live. But for that we need to approach the logic of dreams with an entirely different apparatus. Many people approach the study of dreams with the intellect. They look to dream dictionaries, other people’s testimonies, symbols, to try and decipher what is going on. Many people rely upon the mind to solve the riddle of the soul. If you have been studying the course of this series, we have been discussing that difference. Consciousness and the Essence, the pure soul, is not the intellect. It is what perceives before thought. It does not require intellectual direction, analysis. It is merely looking at phenomena and them seeing for what they are. Thought is much slower. It comes later. The intellect is a useful tool, but it has its limited utility. People who study dreams with the intellect are like people trying to study the atom with a telescope, or study the stars with a microscope. The intellect has its place, but it must be used with understanding of its limitations. This implies that we are using the consciousness, the soul. Its distinct characteristic is comprehension, perception, and understanding—intuition. You know it without having to think. It is a quality of the heart. You perceive a phenomenon and you know what it means. It does not require comparison. The mind can only show A and B, good and bad, thesis and antithesis. This logic of dreams in itself can be deciphered when we learn how to use the consciousness, when we direct it at will, when we train it. But for most of us, that is very difficult, primarily because our soul is not active. It is not trained. It is not awake. Everything we have explained up to this point in this course is leading us to understand that the study of dreams requires the appropriate tools, the right methods. For that we need to abandon any type of assumptions, presuppositions, attachments, fears, desires, wanting these dreams to mean a certain thing, wanting a particular phenomenon to fit within a box. We need to expand our categories, and this is a type of logic that is not intellectual. It is profound. It is universal. It does not require thinking. Now this type of superior understanding does not mean that the intellect is not there. It is merely suspended. It ceases to be such an active force in our life, dominating our daily behaviors and making us dream. Instead, we activate a superior faculty of the mind, which is understanding: to receive knowledge, just like dreams are received or visions are received within the soul. For that we need to put behind our terrestrial self. Use it in its place. Use it appropriately. But be aware of being here and now. You are a soul within the body, like driving a car. You are not the car. You are not the engine, the organs, the mechanism. We will talk about all of that—how we are made up—so that we can understand our psyche deeply. For that we have to study our life, our moment-to-moment existence. As we stated, dreams at night are merely a reflection of our daily states. No one has known himself truly, who has not studied his dreams. The study of dreams at once shows what a great mystery our soul is, and that this mystery is not altogether insoluble, as some metaphysicians supposed. Dreams reveal to us that aspect of our nature which transcends rational knowledge. That in the most rational and moral man there is an aspect of his being which is absurd and immoral, one knows only through the study of one's dreams. All our pride of nationality and morality melts into nothingness as soon as we reflect upon our dreams. There is logic in our dreams or rather the logic of our waking consciousness is just like the dream logic. —Sivananda, Philosophy of Dreams
There are levels. We stated that we are 3% awake as a consciousness and 97% submerged as subconsciousness, unconsciousness, and infra-consciousness. We study the relationship between our dreams and our daily life to understand the connections.
Impressions
The way we do that is by studying our life, our impressions.
Life enters us all the time. We experience through our senses, sight, taste, touch, smell, hearing, all the different phenomena of life. We have a tendency in Western culture, especially, to go through existence without any awareness, thinking of something else, and yet we are not diligent. We are not present. Why is that? It is because we are not paying attention to our body and where we are at psychologically. Life enters us through our senses as impressions. An impression is basically data: sensory, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, olfactory, gustatory information. Our psyche, our consciousness while in the body, learns to perceive with the senses. Information enters the senses, and it strikes the mind. But unfortunately because we are not really driving our mind, our body with awareness, we just take the impressions of life unconsciously without awareness. Consider the mind and consciousness itself like a pool of water or like a film. For anyone who has done photography, you know that light imprints within a film strip in order to replicate an image. The psyche and the mind are no different. The mind receives the data of the world, and we ingest impressions within our psychology. It can be a food, conversation—really—there is an infinitude of impressions. But we have very distinct ways of recording those experiences. We call it memory. We call it images, imagination. You ever watch a TV show and later have a dream that you are acting with its characters? It is because you took in those impressions from the television. They entered the mind unconsciously, and they were not transformed. They imprinted within the psyche, and therefore that image comes to life within your dreams. This word impression comes From the Latin impressio, impress, “pressed in,” from the verb, imprimere, “to imprint.” We often relate the word impression “to an effect produced upon someone,” like “this person gave me a good impression,” or maybe a bad one. What is ironic is that, in example of the television show, we take in images and we don’t digest them. We ingest information. These images and experiences imprint within our mind, but we do not question what they are. We do not question the consequences of what we psychologically take in. The same applies to our relationships. For example, we meet a new person at work. They say something that offends us. We have a bad impression of them. That image entered our mind, our psyche, and we did not transform it. We did not understand it. That is because we are not awake. We are not conscious. We do not see, for example, that this person might have been having a bad day. Maybe their spouse is in the hospital. Maybe they are suffering from a terminal illness, and therefore, because we are ignorant of the situation, we may have anger, resentment, pride, fear and a conglomeration of different reactions which are based on fantasy. We are not seeing the reality of the person. We are merely interacting with the images that we have of them in our mind. This is dreaming. If we do this during the daytime, then when we go to bed at night physically, we repeat the same process, because what you are in your dreams is what you are in your daily life. There is no difference, except when you are in your physical body, you have limitations. Our mind is a film strip. We are constantly taking in data. But the question becomes: are we understanding what we perceive? Do we understand how we take in impressions and how we relate to them? It is not an intellectual exercise. It is a psychological sense that has to be intentionally activated. It has to be worked with. Otherwise these impressions enter us and leave a mark, as impressed upon a surface. The mind like water. When it is struck with a terrifying impression, a trauma, an ordeal, the mind is in chaos. It is a storm churning with emotion and pain. That typically defines the lives of most people. Perhaps a traumatic experience happened in our early years and because we have not trained ourselves to understand what we perceive and what have we perceived, we are living in disturbance, affliction. 
The Human Machine
There is a method to cease suffering and to understand how we live now, but also how we can live better, and how we can understand dreams themselves. How do we dream during the day? How do we dream at night? We study what is called the human machine.
This diagram is a representation of us. We know that the physical body is marvelous machine. We have organs. We have different systems which regulate circulation, breathing, digestion, which are so miraculous primarily because we usually perform them without any intention, any awareness. These things often work without any need to regulate them consciously. But likewise, not only is our body a machine, but also our psychology. We were discussing impressions. We receive data from the world, which enters our senses and then our mind reacts, intaking these different elements, these experiences. Then we have a type of response. The human body needs its energy, needs fuel, from food, water, from air, in order to subsist. Likewise, the consciousness needs its food. What is that food? It is impressions, but not impressions taken in without awareness, but digested impressions, masticated, digested and processed nutrition. We call it understanding. We call it comprehension. As of now, we take in information from the world, but without any cognizance, and then we react in different ways. We dream in different ways, whether it is through our intellect with our thoughts, comparisons, our beliefs, or emotions like pleasure, pain, etc. Similarly, we have movement relating to motor aspect of our psychology, which is where we process movement: to do or not to do, to act. Or instinct: fight or flight, freeze, for example. Lastly, we have our sexual reactions to life, our sexuality: attractions and repulsions. These are five centers that constitute what we are not only physically, but also psychologically. We call them the five centers. We also call them the three brains within our studies. These are mechanisms that have a physical component in our body, but they also operate in a multidimensional level, psychologically, energetically and spiritually. We know that we have an intellectual brain. This is well known from science. We likewise have an emotional brain or heart with its nervous systems. Lastly, we have our spinal column which gives us life. It allows to interact with the world—to do. These last three centers relate to our motor-instinctual-sexual brain. They are really three centers, but we conglomerate them as one for the sake of synthesis. We dream through these centers all the time because we are not aware of this machine itself. Usually, we are not paying attention to our body. Who is driving our car? Have we ever observed this fact? We may know that we are seated, listening, perhaps with the intellect. We are taking in these impressions and comparing with what is said to what was said in the past. Maybe there is an emotional reaction, like or dislike, discomfort or enthusiasm. Maybe with our movement we feel we need to fidget. We are restless. Or the instinct perhaps of wanting to flee. Likewise, the sexual center has its form of functionalism related to attraction or repulsion, as I said. This machine has marvelous potential. The body has marvelous capacities, but only if we know how to use them, if we know how to drive our car. We need to remember that the consciousness is not the car. This body is merely a vehicle, and this vehicle has many parts. Psychologically speaking, the vehicle of the intellectual brain is to process thought. The vehicle of the heart is to process feeling. Likewise with action, with the motor-instinctual-sexual brain. These brains have a very particular usage, and we use them all the time in life, but usually without awareness because we do not really observe the fact. We may know that we are seated in this chair, but are we observing this fact? Are we seeing ourselves and paying attention? If we wish to know how to awaken consciousness, we need to understand how we dream. To understand how we dream through different psychological reactions to life, it is important to understand how these machines work. Relative Speed of the Five Centers
We all know that some computers have different processing speeds. Some are faster than others. The same thing with our human machine, our psychology. These different centers receive impressions from the external world, but also interiorly, processing or receiving them with different types of capacities.
The intellect is the slowest aspect of who we are. It is not the quickest. Thinking, daydreaming, memorizing, remembering, recollecting, these in themselves are not really quick, although because our consciousness is not really trained, we tend to get distracted by a memory or problem, something we are trying to solve with the mind. There is something quicker than the intellect, which is our center of movement. We see that it is 30,000 times faster than the intellect. This is easily provable. Perhaps we are driving a car. Someone walks out in front of us and without thinking, we turn the wheel. We react and avoid an accident. That is because our motor center is quicker. It is faster. Likewise, instinct is 30,000 times faster than the intellect, like movement. You put your hand on a hot stove. You feel the pain. Then you retract your hand, and then you think “That hurt.” Then you feel the emotional reaction, perhaps anger. Instinct is faster than the intellect, which explains why martial artists or boxers train the way they do by using the instinctual center in order to react and respond to danger. Emotions are 60,000 times faster than the intellect because emotions are much more volatile than thought. Many like to pride themselves as intellectual people, being reasonable. Yet having a negative emotion is difficult because it is so quick. Maybe we received an impression of a loved one giving us criticism and then we reacted, feeling anger. That anger can be very difficult to control because emotion is quick. It is overpowering. But even faster than the emotional center is the most profound, powerful, and influential aspect of our psychology, which is the sexual center. It is 120,000 times faster than the intellect. This explains why in a moment of introducing yourself to a new person, you can determine an immediate sexual affinity. It does not require thinking. It is just an immediate spark of attraction—love at first sight, is the phenomenon. These centers operate in different speeds, and most of the time we receive impressions that interact in different ways with those centers. Our reactions are precisely, usually, egotistical. We react because we have anger, because we have pride. We have lust, resentment, attachments, fears. We said earlier in the previous lecture that this is ego, multiple defects, different errors. We are studying the human machine in relation to how we dream because we dream through the five centers. An impression hits our consciousness, hits the senses, and the consciousness is not active. We are not driving our car. We are not paying attention psychologically to what is happening within us, and therefore that impression enters the psyche and it is not transformed. Maybe someone treats you with a lot of disrespect, saying something hurtful. Because we are not paying attention, that impression enters us and we receive it with the emotional center, which is very quick. Because we are not transforming it with the soul, immediately anger emerges. That anger has its own thoughts, its own will to do. Therefore, that emotional reaction, that emotional response is a dream. We do not think of it as a dream, as an illusion, but it is. Perhaps, as in the former example, we are not listening or understanding where that person is coming from, or why they are upset. We feel anger in that moment, but we do not really question what is going on with the other person, to feel love for that person—compassion, understanding. Instead, impressions enter us, and we react. Maybe, we meet another person and we are married, and there is a sexual attraction there, lust, with its own logic, its own ways of thinking, its own ways of feeling. Because that impression of meeting that person was not transformed, it could lead to problems. This is why divorces happen. It is because our ego is making us dream all the time. 
The Bad Secretary: Psychological Mistranslation and Disequilibrium
We call our ego and the personality a bad secretary. If we are not paying attention to our car, or we do not know how to use it in the moment, we can get into accidents. While this is a physical example, it is also a metaphor for our spiritual life. A moment of inattention can bring disgrace. We can make a wrong decision, an error, because we are not seeing reality. We are not understanding how we are dreaming in the moment.
So, these impressions enter the psyche, and we mistranslate them. We do this all the time. Maybe a person approaches us who is speaking with the heart, is kind, is altruistic, generally concerned with, perhaps, our well-being. Maybe because we take in that impression without being conscious of it. We take it through the sexual center and think “This person likes me,” and therefore we ask, declare one’s attractions, even though that person had no intention. We often receive impressions through the wrong centers. When we should respond with our heart, sometimes we do it with our intellect. Maybe there is an argument between loved ones. One partner is dreaming through the intellect, having all these ideas: “I want to do this… and that. I think we should solve this problem with reason.” Meanwhile, the other partner is upset emotionally, responding with the heart, dreaming with that center and not seeing reality, not seeing the other partner, but seeing “what we want.” This produces disequilibrium. Disequilibrium means in a moment of crisis—or perhaps when receiving a difficult impression—the intellect thinks one thing, the heart feels another, and the body wants to leave or fight. There is conflict. There is no integration there. It is confusion. Our desires, our defects, create confusion, create discordance and problems. When we study our dreams, when we seek to understand how to awaken in dreams, we have to examine all these mechanical processes in ourselves during the day, because the way we react to life physically is a barometer of how we are going to act in the internal worlds, how we dream within the internal worlds. Our internal experiences are merely a deeper reflection of who we are all the time. But usually with our personality, our name, our language, our culture, our habits, our face, we do not tend to look in the depths or observe these mechanical actions in themselves. If we want to awaken the consciousness, we must learn to save energy, as I said, to cease dreaming, to be aware of our human machine. We must be aware of how we waste energy, whether it is through thoughts, whether it is through negative emotions, resentment, pride, etc. Or maybe we waste energy through the motor center, always hyperactive, and never resting. Perhaps we engage in sports, like martial arts, too much. We get into fights. That is the instinctual center. Or we waste energy sexually, which is the biggest problem for people. That energy has the potential to transform us completely psychologically. We know, even from Freud, how many of the unconscious drives of a person have a sexual root, the libido. This force often permeates the actions of our life: the way we dress, the way we talk, the way we try to impress others, our attitudes, our actions. Likewise, it is important to understand the energies of the psyche. How do we use intellectual energy? How do we expend emotional energy? Or movement? Or instinct? Or sexuality? — which we study in many other courses available on our website, particularly in relation to alchemy, which is another topic. 
Our Psychological Center of Gravity
It is important to ask ourselves a deep question: what is our psychological center of gravity? What center do we tend to use instead of others? Is it our mind, our heart, or is it our body?
The human machine needs energy to work. If we wish to use our conscious potential, it is necessary to save that energy and understand these processes in ourselves. It is because we waste energy in one of the centers that we get depleted. As just as an engine will not work without fuel, likewise, our psyche will not operate, to consciously investigate the higher dimensions, if we have wasted our mental, emotional, and vital force—whether through too much intellectual activity, or arguments and fights, sports, etc. When we waste energy through any of the centers—because there is disequilibrium, and if we keep trying to use that engine—it is going to steal energy from the other centers. Thus, there is an imbalance. It is like if you waste intellectual energy of the mind, that intellect will start to use the sexual force. Because the sexual energy is the most potent force we carry within, it will damage the mind. It does not belong there unless we know how to direct it with intelligence. That is why we study practices like alchemy, pranayama, runes, and many other exercises that we practice in this tradition. If the intellect runs out of energy and we steal from the sexual center it is like putting rocket fuel into a car. It will damage the mind. This is how people get mental illnesses. They become sick, whether through schizophrenia, paranoid delusions, many problems we see that are affecting humanity now. Those who abuse the emotional center through anger or self-directed hate, depression, develop emotional sicknesses. They become imbalanced in the heart. Those who waste the energy of the motor center become paraplegic, whether through excessive sports, violent sports, like UFC for example. That relates to the instinctive center as well. People who waste the instinctual forces of their body end up getting injured and sick. Likewise, with the sexual force. Prostitutes, people who abuse the sexual energy, get sick. We know that from news, or people we know that may have some kind of illness related to that abuse. 
Balancing the Five Centers
It is important to understand how to balance ourselves and that there are many ways to balance ourselves. By balancing ourselves, by having a reservoir of emotional energy, we can awaken consciousness in the astral world. Likewise, having a reservoir of mental energy, we can awaken within the mental world. Likewise, by saving our vital force, we can get access to all of it.
But for that, it is important to understand how to have equilibrium in our life, how to respond to different situations with intelligence, how to use our human machine. Some people may have to develop the intellect more. Perhaps when we find that we are in a sour mood, we feel emotional, we feel upset, it can be good to read scripture in order to balance ourselves, to give us orientation ethically. It can be any scripture from a tradition that resonates with our heart and give us inspiration. It gives us joy in order continue our spiritual discipline. Perhaps we are too intellectual, and we use the mind too much. We dream with the intellect too much. We analyze. We act through our head. It is good to put thought to rest when you feel like it is being drained and you cannot think anymore. Listen to classical music. Listen to great works of spiritual art that have a high vibration and help the consciousness resonate with superior forces. As we explained in the previous course called The Secret Teachings of Opera, there are art forms that teach about the path of the spirit and are direct reflections of higher truths. It is music like Beethoven, or Mozart especially, that have a type of emotional dynamism that help heal the heart and balance the mind. If your intellect is too active, balance it with activities relating to the heart. Listening to good music, lighting incense, aroma therapy, these things help calm the mind, help you be centered in yourself. Perhaps we are too emotional. Again, we are resonating with negative feelings. Sometimes it is good to get some exercise. Distract yourself from a problem. Put it aside for a moment and go jogging. Lift some weights, obviously, with some moderation. Extreme sports can drain the body, but everything in balance helps. Some people, in terms of the motor center as well, like to train in martial arts. Some people like to train in Tai Chi, Aikido, these help train the instinctual center—how to react to stressful situations and problems with equanimity. These could be useful too in order to balance the other centers as well, especially when they are performed consciously. Again, these activities are useful when we are using them with the soul, when we give those activities our full attention. Lastly, in order to balance all the centers—and probably the most profound activity—is working with the sexual energy. It is a very deep topic. We do exercises like pranayama, whether from yoga or Buddhism. We practice transmutation, which through deep breathing and visualization, prayer, we take the creative force and raise it up the spine, to the mind and then to the heart. This is very different from abusing the intellect and the intellect stealing energy from that center because it is unmodified. It must be modified. It must be worked with consciously and with intelligence. When you take that energy and you transmute it, you take it from one form of base matter into a spiritual force. It learns to elevate your heart, your mind. This is why you have all the saints with a halo above their heads. That is because they are illuminated by that force. It is a deep discipline. 
Sleeping, Subjective, and Objective Consciousness
It is also important to understand—in relation to how we dream and how to cease dreaming—how to understand different states of consciousness.
Most of the time we are not aware of our human machine, and unfortunately, we have the misconception in our modern society that just because we are active with the mind, heart, and body, this means that we are conscious. That is not true, not necessarily. We can be receiving the impressions of life, but, like I said, we are not transforming them. We are not even aware of our surroundings perhaps, observing actively where we are at, what we are doing, where we are going. Maybe we are speaking with someone, or they are talking to us, and because we are thinking of something or feeling in remembrance of a problem we have, or filled with fear, with a trauma, we have to ask, “What did you say?” The impressions were coming in, but we were not aware of what is going on. It is because we are very asleep. Now, what is important to also understand is that awakening has different qualities. Awakening consciousness physically, but also in dreams, has very distinct qualities. We all know about lucid dreaming, becoming aware in a dream, or seeing with greater lucidity. But just because we are aware of a dream does not mean that we are not identified with it. This is the subtle key that many people fail to grasp. You can be involved in a dream, have some type of intense experience. You may know it is a dream at first, but then you get sucked into it. You do not have control. It takes you. This is what dreams are like. It is mechanical. It is a machine. The human machine which has the potential to be fully lucid, clear, awake, spontaneous, perceptive, and in tune with the divine, in most cases, is stuck within its own mechanical reactions. That is what a dream is. Perhaps you go to sleep at night and you have dreamed of something really crazy. Maybe it has its own narrative: “Why is it that I thought I was some superhero in some other country fighting extraterrestrials?” But in the dream, it makes sense. Why is it that it makes sense? It is because we are not questioning how we are dreaming during the daytime. We do not have the same type of inquiry into what is going on in our daily states. Now, in our daily life, as I said, perhaps, you could of probably be invested in a very intense emotion. You have a selfish desire in reaction to a problem or conflict. You may be very aware that it is happening, but that is not good. It is not positive, not constructive. Awareness is not everything. A lot of schools push this idea that awareness is somehow this brilliant key to everything. But being aware of yourself does not mean you are in control. Someone can be very aware of murdering a person. In fact, that is worse than being asleep, because there is more energy invested into that act. What is necessary is that instead of being subjective or perceiving through our own selfish desires, we in turn have that type of lucidity and awakening with objective perception: no self there; no ego; no fear; no preference; no assumptions; no presuppositions; no attachments; no filter. We see reality, whether physically in our daily states or even in our dreams. We see clearly what is there and we do not dream. We do not interpret with a false sense of self, because any ego, vice, defect, error, is a false sense of self which misinterprets everything. We are dreaming like that all the time. The way to stop dreaming is to know how that error functions in you, to observe it in yourself. 
Self-Observation and Filial Love: The Superior Centers of the Being
This is why we study two superior centers in relation to what we call self-observation and filial love.
The human machine has its limitations, but also has tremendous potential. Fortunately for us, there are superior qualities of being which can exist within us when we train. We call them the superior intellectual and the superior emotional centers. These have a very different functionalism than what we are accustomed to. They allow us to receive divine data, the messages of God, the teachings of our inner buddha, our Being, our reality. These centers are like an antenna. They receive data from the heavens, the signals and messages from our Innermost, our spiritual potential. Dreams are projected. The intellect projects. It is hyperactive. But with the superior intellectual center, you receive knowledge. So, this happen often in a form of a vision in which you see a symbol acting out in front of you and you are engaging with it. Usually, you are the witness and the participant. The superior intellectual center is understanding. It is comprehension. Going back earlier to the beginning of this lecture, we were talking about the superior faculties of the mind, which is precisely this: the ability to perceive, but more importantly, to understand. It is possible in a dream to know what it means, if you are awake enough, and your intuition, your heart, is active. The superior emotional center is filial love. It is love for our inner divinity. It is love for our real identity, who it is like this image. It is infinite. It can not be conceptualized or limited by a culture, by a theory. It is only something you can understand by living it. However, that infinite abstraction expresses within dreams through a type of symbolism or narrative, in order to teach us what we must do in our daily life, our spiritual life. When we have those experiences, when we are directly communicating with the divine, we experience tremendous love and awe for the power of divinity, for knowing what to do and how to change. This also relates to self-observation, being aware, not just being aware with anger, or with pride. This means to be aware without a self. This can confuse people, because our contemporary ideas of identity, religion, and self are exclusive. We think of ourselves as “who I am”—these negative emotions typically associated with “me.” It is possible to be awake and aware without any “I,” to perceive without thought, without any reaction, without any perturbation. In that sense, you can receive impressions. They enter the lake of the mind and there is no ripple. If you want to know what that is like, again, look at a lake. It receives impressions and there is no reaction. It does not mean that there is no consciousness there. It means that the consciousness is super active. The way that the consciousness is active is like a reflection on that surface. You can see beautiful images of the heavens upon that screen. It receives, reflects, refracts within you, and therefore you have direct knowledge. You have direct understanding. So, the Being, our real identity, wants to teach us and often will give us hunches in our daily life. Perhaps we are doing something we know is wrong and we justify with our intellect. We dream that “I want to do this because I am going to get this result.” “I want this benefit in my life” even though we feel a sting of conscience that knows “Do not do this. It is wrong.” That comes from divinity. Most of the time we snuff it out. We try to justify ourselves, and we wash our hands clean like Pontius Pilate in the Gospels. We betray our divinity all the time. But intuition is precisely this filial love. You know what is right without having to think, and likewise when you receive superior symbolism from the higher worlds, you do so with understanding of their meaning. 
Visions and Astral Experiences
This is an image we come back to again and again. It is the Tree of Life. It is a map of our multidimensional reality, which we explained in one of our previous lectures of this course: Where Do We Dream? It is a map of our current perception, but also our potential, from the higher levels of energy, consciousness and perception to the densest materiality.
These ten spheres show us aspects of ourselves, and many times when we receive visions, superior dream, real prophetic, direct knowledge, it comes with this. This will teach us how to interpret what we are seeing, what we are perceiving within ourselves. Real visions and astral experiences come to us when our human machine is clean. It is good to take care of the body. Some of us were discussing earlier that our physiology relates to our internal psychology. For example, there are cleanses you can do to clean out your liver, such as drinking half a glass of olive oil with half a glass of lemon juice. It purifies the toxins of the liver, and when that aspect of the machine relating to that motor-instinctual-sexual brain, connected to the liver, when that is clean, sometimes you will have very vivid experiences in the astral world. That is one example of how to clean our human machine. But to be more specific to what I am talking about, in a deeper psychological sense, is cleaning out the ego, because the ego, our sense of self, the “I,” pollutes these five centers. These engines rust out and they work with less efficiency and less ability with time. If we abuse the intellect with too much thought, it rusts. It decays. It degenerates, likewise with the other centers. When you are a pure vehicle, when you are conscious, when you understand the mechanisms of dreams, you start to irradiate and vibrate with a superior emotional quality and a superior mind. Exercises
We always end these classes with practices. Every day, develop your self-observation from moment to moment. Observe the energy it takes to pay attention. Also, extend your mindfulness, the length of time that you are aware of yourself. At the end of each day reflect on how conscious you were that day. Everyday do this preliminary meditation exercise:
One reason we do mantras or sacred sounds, is because they vibrate the human machine. The vowel “O” is a very sacred syllable within Hinduism and all religions, Buddhism especially. It teaches the emotional center how to vibrate with superior sentiment and feeling. In that way, that sound, when you sing it, when you vocalize it, it charges the heart with tremendous force. That mantra can help you go out of your body. It can help you be aware in your dreams, to be awake. Likewise, we imagine, because imagination, as explained previously, is the capacity to perceive. You want to deepen the ability to be conscious while you dream? Develop your imagination: the ability to perceive images of a non-physical type. How well you are able to visualize in your mind, within your third eye, so to speak, can help you go a long way to acquire greater depth of perceptions within dreams. The point is to concentrate on the mantra so that you do not forget what you are doing. Do not let the mind wander. Do not think of something else while singing the mantra. Sing the mantra and immerse yourself into it like you are a bee making honey. Let it be your labor. Let it be your sole focus. Lastly, write the facts of your day in a spiritual diary. You can document your dreams by writing about what you perceive, but also what your spiritual work is about. You can study how to perform a spiritual diary within this link. At this point in time, I would like to open the floor to questions. Questions and Answers
Question: You mentioned that we should not be abusing the energy of the different brains or centers. Especially, you mentioned, sports. What is a good way to know that I am using the right amount of energy for each brain? How do I know when I have gone too far?
Instructor: That is a good question. It is good to gauge yourself. You have to learn and listen to your body. Your body will tell you, “This is too much.” But the problem becomes often because of too much desire or ambition, “I need to get thinner. I need to work out more. I need to train myself more.” That desire can indicate that this is too much. If you feel like you are pushing yourself too much—it is good to get exercise—but if you find that you are over fatigued, or that you are drained, give it a break. Question: What about the other brains? Instructor: Same thing with the intellect. For example, anyone that has gone to a university, you perhaps read, read, and read to the point that you cannot even understand what you have read. You have lost the thread. You read a page, and then you have to say to yourself, “I do not even know what I just read!” Take a break. Emotionally, when you find that there is simply too much emotion going on there, you are too invested in a problem, it is literally driving the other centers to act within imbalance, take a break. Try to do something else. Do another activity. One thing I did not mention was that even though the centers operate at different speeds, the ego always manifests in each of these centers. So, the ego of pride, for example, which is very emotional, may emerge in the heart immediately, overpowering perhaps, because its emotions are very quick. Then there is logic, thoughts that justify what is going on here and the will to act. So, in terms of finding balance, because the centers operate at different speeds, it is because the human machine, in a sense, balances itself out. If all the centers operate at the same speed, then there is no way to equilibrate the others, because everything is on the same wavelength, so to speak, in terms of the centers compensating for each other in different ways, so that if you overuse one center, take a break. Relax. Move to another. Question: So what is the sign then that the mind is stealing from the sexual center? Instructor: When the mind is stealing from the sexual center, you get a second wind. You ever hear that statement… a second wind? It is like you initially feel exhausted, whether intellectually or physically, and then suddenly you get a boost of energy here, operating like the white rabbit of Alice in Wonderland. It is a sudden reemergence of energy in which, if you are observing it carefully, you will see that it comes suddenly. You have the energy to do it again even though before you were too tired. Another thing to think about, if the intellect is stealing energy from the sexual center, that produces many problems intellectually. That mind cannot concentrate. It gets more distracted. The mind corrodes. This can lead to illnesses, in some people, like schizophrenia, mental imbalances, delusions. The mind just does not work anymore because it is operating on unmodified fuel. That person can start seeing things in a way that is not real. It can be different in terms of intensities depending on the person. Question: I have one more question. You have this lecture that also relates to today’s topic. It is the transformations of emotions [impressions]. Gurdjieff also talks about this. So every day we have to sit and observe. But it doesn’t always work. Which is the real work? I mean, which is the real way to do it? Instructor: Both are necessary, in a sense that it is not enough to perceive something, but you must comprehend it. Gurdjieff was excellent about teaching beginners to first observe what is going on, because most of us do not even pay attention to where we are at. We are not looking actively. We have the intellectual knowledge that “We know we are here,” but it is a passive state. Gurdjieff was teaching to activate the consciousness, meaning, first, observe what is going on. But the next step is to comprehend, transform, perhaps the impression that we received, and receive it in the right centers. Sometimes we take in information with the wrong centers, and that is one the way that we dream. As I said, maybe you are having an argument with someone, and they are trying to solve it with the intellect. But maybe what they need is just validation within the heart. It is like using the right tool for the right situation. That only comes about after comprehension: knowing intuitively what to do. It is one thing to, again, be aware, but it is a totally different thing to discriminate what you see. Comment: But sometimes intuition can get confusing because of egotistical desires. Instructor: That’s the big problem. Comment: People say I have an intuition, but in reality, it is not. It is my ego wanting this. Instructor: That is the big problem with many spiritual people. They attribute what they call intuitive impulse, when really it is a demon. It is why people have committed many crimes in many spiritual groups. They do things that are not ethical. The thing to understand about that is, if you really want to understand, if you really want to receive intuition from divinity, examine your precepts. Does it fit or coincide with compassion, with the laws given by the different spiritual teachers of humanity, like the prophets? We can study different scriptures and texts which teach about ethics, about how to be a true human being. Usually, this is from sources that are very pure, like Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, masters that have proven their caliber. Study what they taught, and perhaps see if this impulse that we may have. Is it contradicting that? People do not question what they are doing. They think, “Oh, this feeling is coming from God,” wreally it is not. Another Instructor: Another thing to consider is sometimes we say it does not work when we look at our emotions. At the beginning, when we are just observing our emotions or any of these three brains, what often happens is that the intellect starts to interfere and interpret, “What am I looking at?” There is this pressure of attention we have to exert. In the same way that we are sitting in a chair right now, if we think about it intellectually, we might imagine the chair or know that “I am sitting in this chair,” but if we actually feel it, we expand our attention. We feel our body. We feel the chair. The pressure of attention is the consciousness. So, what happens is that people are not familiar with distinguishing from, “I think this is an intuition!” but really it is just the emotional center or the intellect coming up with what it feels right to that egotistical self that we believe in, versus the attention, expanding, opening, and receiving something new, which is the comprehension that we are talking about. Instructor: In order to understand your intuitions, the mind needs to be passive, and the consciousness needs to be active. The only way to discriminate and really know is to taste it. Comment: I read The Yellow Book. I am fascinated with Jinn science and how to get to the lodges. It fascinates me! Instructor: Jinn science has a parallel with astral projection. In astral projection, you are leaving your physical body behind to enter with your soul in the fifth dimension. Jinn science, for one thing, you can take your physical body into the internal worlds. This is exemplified in stories like the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad in Islam. According to Muslim theology, he was meditating with his head against the stone of Mecca, the Kaaba. In a Jinn state, divinity took him, symbolically riding on this mystical creature, al-Buraq, “the lighting” in Arabic, from Mecca to Jerusalem and to the seven heavens. It is a symbol of Jinn science. That science is practiced similarly to astral projection but with a different objective. There are different exercises that you can use to train your body to vibrate with those forces, the superior energy of the hyperspace, the fourth dimension, which is related to spatiality and time. So, in a sense you are entering with your body into that state. Because of prayer and drowsiness you start to assimilate and accumulate forces that can help transport you. Similarly, that happens with astral projection. With astral projection, there is something magical that happens when we fall asleep, particularly if we are awake as a consciousness when it is happening. You might have experiences where you are falling asleep and you start to hear voices. You see start to see scenes of landscape and places just flash within your awareness. Often, we return to our body suddenly, awake, because we realize that we were seeing something internally with our imagination. That happens when we get drowsy, because when we are falling asleep, you start to open that doorway to the inner worlds. In training, especially for astral projection, you learn to take advantage of that state so that when you fall asleep with that awareness and attention, you enter that doorway with cognizance. Now, with Jinn science, you are asking divinity, “Take me into the internal worlds” — in order to experience something like Prophet Muhammad. The thing to remember is that it is not something that we can necessarily will for ourselves entirely. There must be divine help. Divinity does that magic. I believe it was one of the uncles of Prophet Muhammad who was against him. He said, “I do not believe you what you did,” about this ascension called الإسراء والمعراج al-'Isrā' wal-Miʿrāj. “Lift up your right foot,” and he did. “Lift up your left foot.” He said, “I cannot.” The man said, “How is it that you can travel from Mecca to Jerusalem and into the seven heavens, but not lift both feet?” The Prophet said, “I did not say that I went. I said that I was taken.” God does that work, and there are many exercises in The Yellow Book that can teach you how to do that. They are very powerful, and they work.
It will happen if the conditions are right. Question: How do the 49 levels of the mind correspond to the centers? Instructor: So, we talk about 49 levels of the mind because there are depths to our being that we are not aware of. In Kabbalah, we talk about the seven bodies, the seven lower spheres of the Tree of Life relating to different vehicles we operate with, the lowest being the physical body. There are seven levels of the mind within those seven bodies, making a total of 49. The most superficial level of the human machine is the intellect. It is the first level of the 49 levels of the subconsciousness. The intellect, as we said, is the slowest aspect of the human machine, but if we want to understand the deeper levels of the mind, you need to be aware of your human machine: how are you dreaming in those centers all the time? Again, you go into more complexity and depth of your psyche relating to the centers themselves. Some of the centers are easier to control, like the intellect, because it is the slowest. Motion is difficult, but sexuality is the most difficult. If you become conscious of those levels in yourself physically and you start to train in astral projection, you can go into those other bodies on the Tree of Life, those other dimensions, and learn to explore those regions within yourself. Question: Going back to Jinn science. I like to have actual hardcore evidence to research. Besides the prophets, is there anything to research about Jinn science and teachers you recommend? Instructor: Samael Aun Weor is a big one. He does not please the scholars too much. He has a very different style. First off, his writings are very comprehensive. He studied all religions really deeply. He did have a scholasticism about him, but he was not intellectual. He was not based in theory. His writing, especially, is really the most explicit of what Jinn science is. If you look at what he wrote compared to the Bible or any world mythologies, where you see heroes flying through space, like Perseus saving Andromeda with the boots of Hermes, that is a symbol of that. When you work with the energies of Hermes, which is the science of creative energy, the sexual energy, you can fly not only in the physical world, but enter with your physical body in those regions. Samael Aun Weor’s writings specifically are the most direct. Question: In The Yellow Book, it is not clear when he says, “as soon as you feel like you are falling asleep, you have to jump.” Are you doing an imaginary jump or are we doing a physical jump? Instructor: It is a real jump. One of the things he said about that: when you are in Jinn state, he said, you should test yourself. If you have some space, you can do this. By taking a marker of some kind to mark how far you have jumped, jump a certain distance as far as you can. Mark where you landed. If you keep repeating the experiment, you may find that your jumps are getting much further than before. Another clue that Jinn states are happening is, the main description that Samael Aun Weor gave—because the physical body is penetrated by the vital vehicle—you will feel this kind of expansion, like your feet to your ankles are bloated. It is similar to an astral experience. Your body is vibrating with that level of nature. You will find that you will be levitating. That is one of the main clues that he gives. This is obviously very difficult for skeptics. We have trained ourselves, the mind, to be very materialistic. A lot of the times, that is an obstacle to experiencing that for oneself. But if you simply practice with it and give it as much energy and time as you need to do it, the moment may come when suddenly, you will find that your feet are bloated and you are floating in the air. It is a very powerful practice. In Samael Aun Weor’s writings, you will find it allegorized in many different writings and scriptures. I am not too familiar if there are other more contemporary esoteric authors who talked about that. Primarily because, my assumption is that the level of being of certain modern esoteric writers are not high in comparison to prophets. Obviously, prophets, in terms of hierarchy, are something different, very distinct. Question: How does pranayama relate to the mind stealing energy from the sexual center? Instructor: If the mind is stealing from the sexual center, you are going to have less battery power to charge yourself in the appropriate way. Pranayama, which is the transmutation of the sexual energy, is the conscious control and direction of that energy to awaken spirituality, consciousness, awaken to Jinn states, awaken to astral projections. We say that, in a sense, pranayama is the opposite of stealing energy from the centers. When you steal energy from the other centers, there is an imbalance. You are putting fuel that does not belong in the intellect and you are going to have problems in the future. Pranayama is learning to transform and modify the sexual energy. This is the key: unmodified sexual energy can harm a person if it is not transformed or processed. What matters is that the consciousness must be present so that by processing that energy, it learns to circulate in a constructive way. Another Instructor: When we are performing pranayama and we are performing sexual transmutation, that energy is feeding the consciousness and the superior centers and not necessarily feeding the intellectual brain. Whereas, when we are just depleting the intellectual brain, then the sexual energy is unconsciously being rerouted to a lower center. Instructor: Thank you all for coming. |
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