This is the most unusual, and perhaps the oldest, book I’ve read about the astral plane.

I found the book somewhat, in fact exceedingly, abstruse, and the author’s information about the astral plane differs from that of other authors whose books I have read or dipped into. He concludes that the astral plane is not a place but seems to be one. He states that he was told by someone who should know that the “Astral Plane” is an old term for the “realm of the visual imagination”. He declares that “dreams are a function of the Astral Plane”.

He repeats that the astral plane is a “level of the mind”. Inner worlds are thought of as unreal, but this does not mean that no dangers lurk there. We are informed of several doorways we can use to enter the astral plane, something I have not encountered in other books.

We are warned about the dangers of using some of these doorways.

There are five elemental doorways to the astral plane. To work with these you will need to prepare cards with the various symbols of Ether/Spirit, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. You can choose one of these symbols and visualize it as a doorway in front of you. It all sounds very tricky and hazardous, not to mention unbelievable, but eventually you will be able to pass though this doorway.

The author describes some attempts to pass through an Elemental doorway by some of his friends, where they became ill. This is not a procedure that I myself would consider trying out. There is also mention of Guides encountered through entering such a doorway.

Also the Trumps of Tarot cards can be used as astral doorways. These doorways produce “lively visions” according to the author.

There are chapters about “Qabalistic” and “Oriental” doorways, which I found difficult.

The book includes chapters on hypnosis and the astral, the “hypno-astral experience”, the “objective astral”, astral entities and an “astral credo”.

One of the author’s subjects had a realistic astral experience under hypnosis where he apparently travelled to the Middle East and later found his experience to fit in with physical reality. I didn’t understand how conditions on the astral plane could correspond to physical reality.

He distinguishes between the etheric and the astral body, the etheric body being “something you are equipped with in the natural course of things”, and which “belongs to the physical plane”. In certain circumstances it can be projected out of the physical, and when this happens, “it can carry your consciousness virtually anywhere on the physical plane”.

For the average person, the astral body is used only on the astral plane, whereas the trained occultist can use it on the physical as well.

According to the author you need to build your astral body and this is “explained” in an Appendix. This is the first time that I have heard this postulate, and am not convinced of the veracity of this information.

To sum up, I found the book to be filled with sometimes conflicting and confusing information, not clearly explained, and feel inclined to say that I didn’t understand a word of the book, though this would be an exaggeration. At any rate, I found it hard reading. On the front cover it is stated that the author’s methods are “clear, easy-to-understand” and “safe, simple and effective”. But personally I have found no other book on the subject to be as confusing, and the author himself insists that the methods are not “safe” but in fact can be dangerous.

So I would not recommend that you read the book, but have given it three stars since some of the information contained is quite interesting, e.g. about the possibility of using Tarot cards etc as astral doorways. ( )