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The Out of Body Experience
The Early Trailblazers
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Sylvan Muldoon 18.2.03 -10.69
Young Sylvan Muldoon suffered from ill health throughout his early life and spent many a long day as a child laid up in bed. He was by any standards a weak lad and more than prone to any malady doing the rounds. He acheived his first fully conscious OOBE at the edge of twelve while staying with his Mother in a rooming house in Iowa with several serious mediums. His account of this incident outlined in his work THE PROJECTION OF THE ASTRAL BODY First published by Ryder 1929 is enough to give even the hardiest of souls reading it a serious case of goosebumps.
Shortly after retiring to bed early (as one often did in Iowa before WW1) he describes the familiar feeling of being glued down but is sensible or naive enough to relax and was soon experiencing a sensation of floating and then full consciousness. He tried to awaken the other residents in the house with little success while struggling against the pull of what he came to know as the astral cord. His book, although heavy going in places, is a must read for any serious student of Astral Travel and I would easily place it at the top of my list.
One has only to look at those tortured mis-shapen features of the man to know that here indeed is the ideal candidate for OOBEs and that he is certainly on the level, unlike many of his modern counterparts. This was Sylvan's only completely conscious OOBE in all of his many experiences. Despite his early problems, Sylvan was apparently working in a Health food shop in Greenwich Village up to his death.
Hereward Carrington
Hereward had already written one book on the art when he was contacted in 1927 by Muldoon regarding his own experiences and they formed a partnership to create the masterpiece The projection of the Astral Body in 1929. Hereward was an avid occultist and editor of a famous magazine of the time called The Occult Review. This was a time when sceances, mediums, table-rapping etc were immensley popular in England and hard a large number of devotees.
Oliver Fox
Fox's adventures pre-date Muldoon's and like Muldoon his childhood was blighted by constant illness requiring bed-rest. He was beset by nightmares from an early age and constant dreams of what he describes as the DOUBLE. To a child this must have been intolerable and the infant's desire to simply escape from it all must have been overwhelming. His articles appeared in the occult review in 1920 and books were written after this. His best work is probably A Record of Out of Body Experiences. There are others, notably The Pineal Door and Beyond the Pineal Door. He would never refer to the phenomenon as Astral Projection. Fox was certainly the first oober to make a serious effort to pursue his craft along scientific and closely documented lines. His methods are outlined in his books and he attempts to hide nothing from his readers. His preferred method he refers to as "Dreaming True." He was influenced heavily by theophysical notions and his accounts definitely have a strong leaning this way. His book was the first book I ever read cover to cover in a single sitting. Highly recommended to all.
Shortly after retiring to bed early (as one often did in Iowa before WW1) he describes the familiar feeling of being glued down but is sensible or naive enough to relax and was soon experiencing a sensation of floating and then full consciousness. He tried to awaken the other residents in the house with little success while struggling against the pull of what he came to know as the astral cord. His book, although heavy going in places, is a must read for any serious student of Astral Travel and I would easily place it at the top of my list.
One has only to look at those tortured mis-shapen features of the man to know that here indeed is the ideal candidate for OOBEs and that he is certainly on the level, unlike many of his modern counterparts. This was Sylvan's only completely conscious OOBE in all of his many experiences. Despite his early problems, Sylvan was apparently working in a Health food shop in Greenwich Village up to his death.
Hereward Carrington
Hereward had already written one book on the art when he was contacted in 1927 by Muldoon regarding his own experiences and they formed a partnership to create the masterpiece The projection of the Astral Body in 1929. Hereward was an avid occultist and editor of a famous magazine of the time called The Occult Review. This was a time when sceances, mediums, table-rapping etc were immensley popular in England and hard a large number of devotees.
Oliver Fox
Fox's adventures pre-date Muldoon's and like Muldoon his childhood was blighted by constant illness requiring bed-rest. He was beset by nightmares from an early age and constant dreams of what he describes as the DOUBLE. To a child this must have been intolerable and the infant's desire to simply escape from it all must have been overwhelming. His articles appeared in the occult review in 1920 and books were written after this. His best work is probably A Record of Out of Body Experiences. There are others, notably The Pineal Door and Beyond the Pineal Door. He would never refer to the phenomenon as Astral Projection. Fox was certainly the first oober to make a serious effort to pursue his craft along scientific and closely documented lines. His methods are outlined in his books and he attempts to hide nothing from his readers. His preferred method he refers to as "Dreaming True." He was influenced heavily by theophysical notions and his accounts definitely have a strong leaning this way. His book was the first book I ever read cover to cover in a single sitting. Highly recommended to all.