Oliver Fox "Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences"

[todd421757]

This is my all-time favorite book about OBE's. He is one of the first to write about OBE's. Oliver Fox's first projection occurred in 1902.

Fox first wrote articles about his experiences in the early 1920s just a few years before Sylvan Muldoon began writing. Below is a bibliography of his works.

Fox, Oliver.
-- 'The Pineal Doorway' (Occult Review, 1920, 31, pp. 256-64)
-- 'Beyond the Pineal Door' (Occult Review, 1920, 31, pp. 317-27)
-- 'Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences' (New York: University Books Inc., 1962)

His first projections started out as lucid dreams. He later was able to have spontaneous projections. And finally, he could achieve a fully conscious projection from start to finish with no loss of consciousness. This was done by his technique called the "pineal door method". It is a very intense projection that takes a lot of will power.

Towards the end of the book, he talks about losing his ability to perform the pineal door method. He gave two reasons why he thought he lost his ability.

He gives two validation proof experiences in his book. Both were very impressive.

Oliver Fox would practice his pineal door method by moving the two eyeballs upward and toward the center of the forehead, maintaining them in this position for about 10 seconds. Next return your eyeballs to their normal positions, relax the eye muscles and the eye nerve. You need to repeat this exercise several times and execute it with the muscles of the forehead and face completely relaxed.

After a certain time, and with some practice, you learn to coordinate the eye muscles and improve the process without feeling any discomfort or causing any damage to your eyesight.

The projection of your consciousness occurs with the sudden takeoff of the soul through the head. This occurs in a surprising but inoffensive manner which may produce head sounds and vibrations. You may sometimes hear a click or snap sound when the soul leaves the body.

[Pauli2]

Did O Fox (Callaway ?) mention meeting anyone while OBE, like guides
or other people?

Did Fox manage to verify that his OBEs in fact were OBEs and not LDs,
like confirming some event in the usual physical world compared to
the RTZ?

[todd421757]

Did O Fox (Callaway ?) mention meeting anyone while OBE, like guides
or other people?

Did Fox manage to verify that his OBEs in fact were OBEs and not LDs,
like confirming some event in the usual physical world compared to
the RTZ?

Dreams of Knowledge:
During his lucid dreams he did report meeting and talking with people and also meeting a guide. He did report experiences similar to others on the astral pulse.

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Pineal Door Projections:
During his pineal door projections, he had completely different experiences. These were all similar to mine. He wrote this:

"As a rule, I am quite invisible to the people I meet and therefore cannot talk to them. If I spoke to people, they would not hear, but if I touched them, they would feel me and give such a start that the trance would be broken".

"However, I can pass through their bodies without them becoming aware of my presence".

"In all these pineal door projections, I have seemed to be peculiarly isolated, meeting no superior intelligence, nor have I come across a fellow investigator. I have not seen any elementals or other terrifying beings - such as the horrible creatures and freakish animals to be found in the astral hells".
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Fox had confirmed projections could be objective in nature. He wrote an entire chapter on it called "The Elsie Projection". It is the greatest OBE validation I have ever read in a book.

Fox is one of the few projectionists who did a great job differentiating the different types of projections and how the experiences are completely different. He had three different types of projections.

1) dreams of knowledge (lucid dreams, astral projections)
2) instantaneous projections (spontaneous projections)
3) pineal door projections (etheric projection, classic OBE's)

[Pauli2]

Do you (or anyone else) know anything about "Elementary Occult Study",
by Oliver Fox (Hugh George Callaway).

It's also strange that Fox, as well as Muldoon, suffered from longterm
illnesses. Anyone who can fill in any details more than this article by
Susan Blackmoore?

[todd421757]

Do you (or anyone else) know anything about "Elementary Occult Study",
by Oliver Fox (Hugh George Callaway).

It's also strange that Fox, as well as Muldoon, suffered from longterm
illnesses. Anyone who can fill in any details more than this article by
Susan Blackmoore?

Oliver does talk about experiencing some illnesses like croup.

I have never heard of the book Elementary Occult Study. There is a chance it may be his main Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences book just with another name. This book was published later. So, there are multiple versions of it with different title names. I believe they all have the same content inside.

On Amazon, you can buy a used copy of his Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences book for very cheap.

Susan Blackmore has stated Oliver Fox has some of the closest objective experiences of all the obe authors. I would agree with her. She is a big skeptic of the paranormal. Her book review is very positive though.

Susan Blackmore stated in Pauli's above link:
"One interesting feature Oliver Fox points out is that when projected he could never see his physical body. This seems odd because one of the most common features of spontaneous OBEs is that the person sees his body as though from outside. But Fox had a rationale for this: he argued that if he was seeing the astral world when projected, then he should see the astral counterparts of physical objects rather than their physical or etheric aspects. Since his own astral body was projected he would not expect to see it without using some special extra power. After all, he was travelling in his astral body.

Thinking about this, it seems odd that other writers have not used the same argument. Certainly I have not come across any other projectors who have been unable to see their own physical bodies. Is there, then, something wrong with the traditional astral projection theory? Or can people see both astral and physical at once? I would guest not, for often things look slightly different, or even grossly different, when 'out of the body', and this is supposed to be because one is seeing the astral not the physical. One cannot have it both ways. It seems to me that this argument presents an interesting problem for the holders of the traditional view."

The above quote is very important to consider if your goal is to scientifically investigate obe's. Every time I am successful at Oliver Fox's pineal door method or my 4 variations of it, I have never seen my physical body laying on the bed. But multiple times, I have seen my dog lying on my bed next to the empty space where I should be. I can see my dog, but not myself. Oliver's reasoning for this is superb.

[Contenteo]

I like to rest my eyes downwards too. Not to that extreme though. That's intense.

I mean you have to learn to not move them to get through F12. It seems like a full proof way to do something that requires a great deal of discipline otherwise. After you get to that point. That's the time you focus. I agree with this workflow. But these ocular acrobatics, which are very ingenious, are not a requisite nessesity.   

"One interesting feature Oliver Fox points out is that when projected he could never see his physical body. This seems odd because one of the most common features of spontaneous OBEs is that the person sees his body as though from outside. But Fox had a rationale for this: he argued that if he was seeing the astral world when projected, then he should see the astral counterparts of physical objects rather than their physical or etheric aspects. Since his own astral body was projected he would not expect to see it without using some special extra power. After all, he was travelling in his astral body.

Yeah That is good. I have only seen my body once in a projection and in that one, I had this terrible long hair covering my face. It was eerie.  I feel the same way. you are seeing the astral through your own mind. Without a reflective surface, you really never see your own face.

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Volgerle]

I also only once saw my body. It was very realistic without any fluctuations. I believe it was what is referred to as the RTZ (proper).

The exit was accompanied not by 'vibrations' but by heavy peristaltic/snake-like Kundalini-related symptoms. I wonder til this very day if this is of relevance to my ability of spotting my own body perfectly and the lack of reality fluctuations.

However, it was a short experience (out, lift off to ceiling, turn around, look down, back down in again), maybe this contributed to the absence of reality fluctuations.

[Pauli2]

Certainly I have not come across any other projectors who have been unable to see their own physical bodies.

I think there are. I can't remember exactly, but I think some authors have
been unable to see their phys. body, some have seen their phys. body,
but been unable to see their phys. head, as it has been enveloped in
a hazzy smoke.

Then, non-phys. sight may change over time. Remember that after some
years, Monroe noticed that he had two non-phys. bodies, and when he
was in his third non-phys. body, the second non-phys. looked more real
than his phys. body. The second non-physical body stayed in close
proximity to his phys body, when Monroe was out in the astral in
his third body.

[todd421757]

I also only once saw my body. It was very realistic without any fluctuations. I believe it was what is referred to as the RTZ (proper).

The exit was accompanied not by 'vibrations' but by heavy peristaltic/snake-like Kundalini-related symptoms. I wonder til this very day if this is of relevance to my ability of spotting my own body perfectly and the lack of reality fluctuations.

However, it was a short experience (out, lift off to ceiling, turn around, look down, back down in again), maybe this contributed to the absence of reality fluctuations.

Volgerle,

I am interested in your experience. Did you do an obe technique or was it a spontaneous obe? If you used a technique, can you please describe what you did? Thanks 

[Stookie_]

I think there are. I can't remember exactly, but I think some authors have
been unable to see their phys. body, some have seen their phys. body,
but been unable to see their phys. head, as it has been enveloped in
a hazzy smoke.

Then, non-phys. sight may change over time. Remember that after some
years, Monroe noticed that he had two non-phys. bodies, and when he
was in his third non-phys. body, the second non-phys. looked more real
than his phys. body. The second non-physical body stayed in close
proximity to his phys body, when Monroe was out in the astral in
his third body.

In the majority of occult teachings, it's the etheric body that stays close to the physical body as it sleeps, and the astral body we use to astral travel. Traveling in the etheric double would be an RTZ projection.

This is my all-time favorite book about OBE's. He is one of the first to write about OBE's. Oliver Fox's first projection occurred in 1902.

I've never read any Oliver Fox, but I'm intrigued now. I'll have to check it out.

[Volgerle]

Volgerle, I am interested in your experience. Did you do an obe technique or was it a spontaneous obe? If you used a technique, can you please describe what you did? Thanks 

It was my first conscious OBE with many other interesting phenomena. It is a looong post and I don't want to kidnap the thread as it is another topic maybe. I might post it in an extra thread since I also would like to ask people here if they experienced sth similar.
Just one thing mentioned here: What I like to remember above all from this experience is seeing my own face with closed eyes in 'real-time'. This is such an eerie sight, unforgettable for me. It is so strange. When do we see ourselves with closed eyes? On photographs maybe. But in real-time? Priceless memory.

In the majority of occult teachings, it's the etheric body that stays close to the physical body as it sleeps, and the astral body we use to astral travel. Traveling in the etheric double would be an RTZ projection.

I also suspect my mentioned experience to have been an "etheric body" projection. This experience haunted me ever since as it was never repeated, except once but rather resultless with exit blindness. I will make a thread about (supposed) etheric projections soon. Maybe more people can report similar things.

[Szaxx]

Hi,
Interesting concept of two differing bodies for differing types of projection.
This applies to what happened in a topic I started
http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/welcome_to_dreams/just_a_dream-t36961.0.html
Its where the instantaneous transition from wherever I was (future) to the RTZ occured. Is it correct to assume swapping these bodies for a given intent is instantly possible?

[Stookie_]

The way I look at it is you have the spectrum of consciousness, but for simplicity I'll break it down into the "lower" 3 parts: Physical, Etheric, Astral. IMO these are all a part of the physical world and always at work and influencing, even though we are normally only aware on the physical level. They are simply parts of the physical that are beyond our normal perception.

On the physical, we use our physical bodies as our source of perception (our physical senses). On the etheric level, we experience through our etheric body, and on the astral level the astral body. While for this explanation and the experience these are separate bodies, they are really extensions of our entire being. While awake in the physical, your etheric and astral bodies are with you and constantly at work feeding your body information, feelings, desires, etc. But you are not aware of them... they are basically a part of your subconscious, as the etheric and astral planes are.

When the physical body goes to sleep, we become unconscious and our etheric body separates from our physical, though normally stays close by. In general, dreams tend to take place in the astral body on the astral plane. When we are done dreaming our astral body reconnects with the etheric body, bringing the dream experiences back, and the etheric body brings those memories back into the physical as we wake up. And if you catch it in time and you're awareness is still expanded a bit into the etheric body, you have better chances of remember your dreams.

(I'm going off topic, sorry. )

[todd421757]

When the physical body goes to sleep, we become unconscious and our etheric body separates from our physical, though normally stays close by. In general, dreams tend to take place in the astral body on the astral plane. When we are done dreaming our astral body reconnects with the etheric body, bringing the dream experiences back, and the etheric body brings those memories back into the physical as we wake up. And if you catch it in time and you're awareness is still expanded a bit into the etheric body, you have better chances of remember your dreams.

Very well said Stookie.

[Contenteo]

Sorry for playing the accounting theory part here, its what I do  . What what would you call the 'brightline', key differentiating factor(s), between the etheric body and the astral body.

I like it, I just want to understand the picture you are painting here better.

Cheers,
Contenteo

[todd421757]

What what would you call the 'brightline', key differentiating factor(s), between the etheric body and the astral body.

The etheric body is all about energy while the astral body is all about desires, emotions, and visualizations. The etheric body needs energy for its projection (kundalini vibrations, classic vibrations, or sound vibrations), while the astral body needs creative intent, desire, emotion, and visualizations for its projections.

No desires, emotions, or visualizations are necessary for etheric projection.

No vibrations are necessary for astral projection, unless astral projection is followed after an etheric projection. This is similar to Robert Monroe's description of separating into a second body (etheric) which is followed by separating into a third body (astral). In these cases vibrations may be present since the etheric body did originally separate.

Many times (but not always) the very act of opening the etheric eyes through "clarity now" throws the etheric projection into an astral projection, since visualizations are introduced into the etheric projection.

The only way I have found to be able to have an etheric projection into the rtz on a consistent basis is to find creative ways to get kundalini vibrations, classic vibrations, or sound vibrations while not using visualizations.  

[Stookie_]

Sorry for playing the accounting theory part here, its what I do  . What what would you call the 'brightline', key differentiating factor(s), between the etheric body and the astral body.

I like it, I just want to understand the picture you are painting here better.

Cheers,
Contenteo

I would say the key factors are the etheric body is on the etheric plane, the astral body is on the astral plane. The etheric body is more "solid" and tends to be an exact replica of the physical body just like the "RTZ" or etheric plane is a replica of the physical world. Though the astral body is much more fluid, just like the astral plane.

In theosophy, the astral body is considered the source of both our lower animalistic desires and higher yearning for creativity and knowledge (as well as many other functions). You could even say these 2 parts of the astral body are split between lower and higher astral planes. The astral body is much more of a subconscious part of us (except for those of us consciously working at that level).

The etheric body's functions are more about mediating energies/forces between the astral and our physical body, and tends to regulate subtle things like memory, blood flow, organ functions. Not in a complete physical sense, but how non-physical energies relate between bodies.

And of course the Chakras are the primary centers that the energy flows through and lets the bodies communicate with each other. That's also why chakras tend to be related with different functions and areas of the body, and why it can be so misunderstood and "mysticized". It's science, just a much more difficult one to perceive.

[todd421757]

.

[Contenteo]

That's just photoshopped. Opacity and blue effect + multiple layers. That or else this guy has fostered the ability to bring the lettering on his tank top along with him to the etheric plain. I'll put my chips on the former. 

Cheers,
Contenteo

[Pauli2]

I use a grade from 0 - 10 (10 is the best/highest) on books and documents.


Astral Projection: A Record of Out-of-the-Body Experiences, 1939 (1962 edition), Oliver Fox

GRADE: 10.0


What a book, what an incredible book!

I'm speechless, but once I get my composure I'll continue in a more modest manner.


The book's original title is "Astral Projection: A Record of Research" according to Wikipedia,
but the edition I have is from 1962, and the title was changed.

Oliver Fox's real name was Hugh George Callaway, but I'll continue to use his taken name, O Fox,
throughout this review.

He often used the expression "out-of-the-body experience" through the book, with some
variations. I don't know if that's the first use of something which could be abbreviated to OBE,
or if that expression already was firmly established in the 1930ies, but it clearly indicates what
his book is about.

The book is not a thick one. Still Fox manages to capture almost all discoveries of all the other
great astral writers of our time, like Monroe, R Bruce, Buhlman, Muldoon etc.

Fox experiences the Astral Wind at several occasions. He encounters "monsters", he manages to
upgrade LDs to OBEs, he travels into Focus 25, to astral towns with electric trams, he channels.
He touches on almost ever subject followers of him discover and deepens their knowledge into.

It's also clear that Fox made many of his great discoveries before WWI.

Are there weaknesses then? Well, yes there are. As a poet, Fox like many other artists doesn't
have the full scientific approach of more strict individual, like Monroe.

But even compared to a more modern artistic OBE person like J Ziewe, I have to say that Fox
is above all my expectations.

The book itself - of course it is dated and Fox language is old. His knowledge about science also
seems aged compared to discoveries made in the 1930ies. Still I think you can disregard those
weaknesses in the same way as I've disregarded scientific weaknesses in Adventures Beyond the Body.

The greatness and the emotional sadness of the book are most likely the result of Oliver Fox being
a very skilled poet, having made lots of other writings.

Fox has collected so much in such a small book, including things like how to do WILD or experiencing
his eyelids become transparent. I've tried hard to see if there is anything he hasn't discovered, and can
only say that he doesn't seem to mention pre-exit vibrations or an exact description of Monroe's Park.

Much of his work he had to do alone and there was a sadness to his life.

When I came to the finish of the book, my hair stood on its ends for the last 5 pages.

Fox was a master writer.

[Lionheart]

 This is a excellent book, Here is brief write up from a lady named Susan Blackmore of Oliver Fox and his book. I particularly liked these quotes by her. This is why I had adapted to Robert Moss and his "Active Dreaming" studies http://www.psywww.com/asc/obe/whois_fo.html
#1.  The moment that he realized it was a dream, the quality of everything changed: the house, trees, sea and sky all became vivid and alive, and the dreamer felt powerful and free; but it lasted only a moment before he awoke. This type of dream, which Fox was to have many more times, he called a 'dream of knowledge', because one has the knowledge that one is dreaming. Others have called them 'lucid dreams'. After this first exhilarating realization Fox went on to practise, and found how difficult it is to realize one is dreaming, but eventually he did learn to achieve this realization fairly frequently.
#2   It was many years later that Fox made his next important discovery. He had assumed that a dream of knowledge was essential for projection, and that the trance condition came after projection, but one day as he was lying on a couch in the afternoon, he found that he could see with his eyes closed. He was in the trance condition although he had not been to sleep. He left his body, found himself in some beautiful countryside, and then passed quickly back through a horse and van in a street. After this Fox realized that he could project from waking, and proceeded, some time later, to experiment whenever he had an opportunity to lie down quietly by himself. In this way he learnt to use what he called the 'Pineal Door' method of projection.
#3  One interesting feature he points out is that when projected he could never see his physical body. This seems odd because one of the most common features of spontaneous OBEs is that the person sees his body as though from outside. But Fox had a rationale for this: he argued that if he was seeing the astral world when projected, then he should see the astral counterparts of physical objects rather than their physical or etheric aspects. Since his own astral body was projected he would not expect to see it without using some special extra power. After all, he was travelling in his astral body.
Here is the entire book in PDF form for anyone interested. http://www.scribd.com/doc/61595489/Astral-Projection-by-OLIVER-FOX

[eskimoswim]

Sorry for bumping such an old post. I'm about half way through this book. I really enjoyed it at first, and I prefer his writing style over most authors of OBE books. But, where I'm at right now is causing me to lose interest. A lot of his "Dreams of Knowledge" appear really bland to me and do not increase my excitement in the same way Monroe's experiences did. After seeing so many positives reviews in here, I suppose it will get better toward the end.

[Projector4life]

I found Oliver Fox's second book while browsing the internet.

http://www.metaphysicians.org.uk/pdfs/Society%20of%20Metaphysicians%20-%20Astral%20Projection.pdf

[Lionheart]

I found Oliver Fox's second book while browsing the internet.

http://www.metaphysicians.org.uk/pdfs/Society%20of%20Metaphysicians%20-%20Astral%20Projection.pdf

Thanks for the link, Projector4life! 

[Szaxx]

Ditto,
I'll listen to this (tts engine) at work.
It works well and will be very interesting to absorb.
Thanks P4L.