Ancient or old philosophies about the astral world?

[Eliaz]

I'm just wondering if there are any Ancient or philosophical writings about the astral worlds and astral travel. There must be something, as I can tell the ancient people were more experimental and aware of their dreams much more than we are today. Would love to read something if it exists.

[mindflood]

its all there, just look at mythology/religion. its all a reflection of the divine, not just all about astral projection but of the illusion of our percieved reality.

If your looking for something specific on OBE's look into but dont limit yourself to shamanistic experiences (the oldest religion known to man), or vision questing.

[Bedeekin]

Well... if you really dig deep... you will find that the term 'astral' was coined by Madame Blavatsky who was the co-founder of the Theosophical Society, based in NewYork around 1875. It was a melding of the victorian industrial revolution (that was basically pushing away the prior dominant christian religion) and old Hindu beliefs. This gave birth to the term New-Age and nearly everything astral.. including the Akashic records and their connection to nonphysical exploration.

That is where it will lead you and this is one of the sole reasons I personally dislike the term 'Astral'. Blavatsky was found out to be a bit of a hoaxer.

[desert-rat]

In the King James Bible is something about the 7 th heaven , that sounds like astral levels .  desert rat 

[ChopstickFox]

The ancient Egyptians haven't been brought up yet. There are connections there with the Ba and Ka depending on how you look at it.

If you read stories from China from thousands of years ago, there's a subtle but direct connection. People would like leave their bodies and go do things and stuff. Visit heaven and all that jazz. There were different realities co-existing and it was really neat.

[Bedeekin]

Oh... I didn't answer the question properly.. .I thought you wanted to know where 'astral' came from.

Dreamtime... the aboriginal australians who believe the nonphysical and the physical run side by side... they are pretty ancient.

I think all ancient religion stems from the nonphysical.... altogether a warped version of it.

Would you not think?

The greek mythology and Norse is directly related I think.

Also Pagan.

[majour ka]

The bible, Bahgavita and the hindu Yogis, Buddhism. Theres a few thousand years there for you