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How can you tell the difference? Astral projection/Lucid dreaming/Imagination?

slim116

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Howdy,

Just want to know from people who actually have done astral projection, how do you know when you are actually doing it? Because from reading a lot of magick books, it just seems like pathworking, or just using your imagination.

I have had a few lucid dreams in my life, and I can definitely tell when I'm lucid, so when you really do astral project, do you definitely know that you are doing it?

How does it feel? What signs tell you that you are really doing it?

Also are there any decent practical books about astral projection?

Thanks
 

MageJohn183

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Journeying, pathworking, lucid dreaming, and guided meditations attempt to access the spiritual worlds be going deep into your mind, into yourself. It's an internal way to spiritually travel.
Astral projection, however, accesses the spiritual worlds by going outside of yourself. You do not go deeper into your mind. Rather you project your consciousness OUT of your body. You will know the difference! Oh yes you will, lol. It's unmistakable.
 

Mycelial_Adept

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Mage is correct the difference is unmistakable. the astral world is a much more real experience than the lucid dreaming world, or even being in the normal world.
Post automatically merged:

In another post I just recommended the works of William Buhlman, so I'll do so here as well
 
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Keldan

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Experienced practitioners who astral project daily can distinguish astral projection from regular dreaming. Most people can’t. When they do manage to astral project, they often dismiss it as just another weird dream.

Why do you think there are so many posts where people ask others to interpret their dreams for them? It’s because they don’t recognize the difference between a psychological dream and an out of body experience.

You can actually astral project and lucid dream at the same time. Meaning you can be fully conscious or lucid while your awareness has shifted out of the physical body. To someone who doesn’t know the signs, this combination feels like an especially vivid dream. To someone who does know the signs, it’s a controlled transition where you’re not just watching the dream, you’re navigating the astral environment. And that means you can change scenes at will in your dreams.

This is why discernment matters so much. There is a lot of “advice” floating around about astral projection. Many of the voices you’ll see commenting on astral travel can’t actually project themselves. They repeat second hand ideas, posture as experts, or talk like edge lords to seem impressive without any real skill behind it.

If you’re serious about astral projection, you don’t want to take every comment at face value. You need to pay attention to whether the person shows understanding regarding the subject, not just edgy language. And do look for a testing method, not just some vague mystique.

Everyone who can do it has many testing methods. One simple test I’ve described before somewhere on the forum and still stand by is that you have someone else write a sentence on a piece of paper and hide it anywhere in the house. You must not see what they’ve written. Later on, you deliberately astral project into that room. Locate the paper and read what’s written on it while you are out of body.

When you return to your body, go physically to the paper and check what’s written. If what you saw matches what is on the page, you’ve just proved that you were not simply dreaming, you were perceiving something that exists in the physical world, outside your body.

If you’re just starting, tests like this are how you separate actual astral projection from just another dream. And they are also how you filter the advice you listen to. Again, those who can project will show you a way to verify it and will speak very differently from those who only want to sound powerful but can’t astral project.
 
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Experienced practitioners who astral project daily can distinguish astral projection from regular dreaming. Most people can’t. When they do manage to astral project, they often dismiss it as just another weird dream.
It's pretty damn obvious when you're out of body. From my experience talking to many people they don't consider it a 'weird dream' unless they are unswervingly devoted to a materialistic worldview.

If you’re just starting, tests like this are how you separate actual astral projection from just another dream. And they are also how you filter the advice you listen to. Again, those who can project will show you a way to verify it and will speak very differently from those who only want to sound powerful but can’t astral project.
Well the Monroe Institute conducted many, many tests with many projectors and in only one single instance was someone able to identify a hidden object. I don't agree with some of their work but they did get a number of people projecting. I think what you're saying doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
 

Keldan

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From my experience talking to many people

So you have experience talking to people instead of experience astral projecting yourself?

You’re forgetting the fact that people are wired very differently. For many, astral projection comes more easily that they slip into it without realizing they’re doing it. It blends into their dreams so seamlessly that they mistake it for just another vivid dream, because for them it doesn’t feel extra or anything.

For others, it’s the exact opposite especially those who struggle with astral projects. They will recognize it immediately when it happens. Because it is so different from their normal state. It feels “out of this world” from everyday consciousness, and it doesn’t happen often or happen at all that it stands out as a very memorable event.

Which is why I’ve already said that those who can actually project and do so daily speak very differently from those who can’t. And if anyone is interested in astral projection, they need to learn to recognize this difference and apply discernment when reading comments, posts, or advice.
 
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So you have experience talking to people instead of experience astral projecting yourself?
I didn't say tnat. And discrepancies between 'real world' details and what one perceives out of body does not automatically mean one is dreaming. This has been talked about since at least the 1950s.
 

Keldan

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I didn't say tnat. And discrepancies between 'real world' details and what one perceives out of body does not automatically mean one is dreaming. This has been talked about since at least the 1950s.

You’ve completely missed my point, which only shows that you can’t astral project yourself.
 

Kepler

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I have had a few lucid dreams in my life, and I can definitely tell when I'm lucid, so when you really do astral project, do you definitely know that you are doing it?

How does it feel? What signs tell you that you are really doing it?

Also are there any decent practical books about astral projection?
There's a definite noticeable difference if Astral Projection means Out of Body Experience taken to the celestial. Time shear is insane.

Out of body when defined as possessing an adjacent but connected form to the physical can also be described as a lateral move in consciousness to another body for vector understanding.
Meaning that lucid is a good place to start. When I was learning it was helpful to go from realization of being in the dream state, to feathering awake, open eyes to check time and skies, then feather down into Out of Body. It was easier to sense the adjacent form to center consciousness and pop out.

My first time it was after three years of hypnosis recordings, dream suggestions, meditations, visualizations, documenting before success.

Since the books were essential for my success the exercises and reality model of Jane Roberts and the Seth books are decent. I started with The Nature of Psyche: Its Human Expression.
 
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You’ve completely missed my point, which only shows that you can’t astral project yourself.
lol sure it does

I doubt you've ever done any successful testing as you claim. I already informed you the Monroe Institute found it didn't work like that.

People know when they are out of body, just as someone knows when theyve been submerged in a pool. You've invented this scenario wherein they don't.
 

Keldan

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I doubt you've ever done any successful testing as you claim.

The individuals who are unable to astral project do not recognize the differences involved and cannot perform the test I described above. This is exactly why they continually debate these points because they lack direct experience.

For those who are interested in understanding this more, I recommend reviewing the astral projection experiences shared by other forum members.

These experiences are what I have already explained. Some people astral project so easily that they don’t even realize they are doing it, while others are shocked by the experience because it is so different, so far and few in between from ordinary dreaming.

I already said that you can dream, you can get out of your body, and you can directly perceive the real world and its details. Drakaina1313’s experience referenced in the link above speaks louder than opinions from those who have never successfully projected.
 
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Some people astral project so easily that they don’t even realize they are doing it,
lol so the people most experienced with it have no idea its happening. Nice absurdity.
I already said that you can dream, you can get out of your body, and you can directly perceive the real world and its details.
I didn't say one can't perceived the 'real world', but that discrepancies don't mean you are dreaming. The dimensions are not perfect copies of one another in terms of perception.
 

Keldan

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lol so the people most experienced with it have no idea its happening. Nice absurdity.

I didn't say one can't perceived the 'real world', but that discrepancies don't mean you are dreaming. The dimensions are not perfect copies of one another in terms of perception.

This is exactly why I say that you have not successfully astral projected because you dismiss the fact that astral projection can occur within dreams. This pretty much has outed you from the very beginning. You can shift scenes within a dream state and enter a dimension that is exactly like the physical world.

I have never claimed that highly experienced astral projectors are confused about what is happening. What I am stating is that in general there are two groups of people when it comes to astral projection.

If someone is able to access other dimensions, perceive details of the physical world, and interact consciously in those dream states, and you still insist they are “not dreaming” because it does not fit your belief system? That does not invalidate other people’s experiences. It only further demonstrates that you yourself have not astral projected.

Instead of relying on direct experiences, you keep falling back on quoting institute this and institute that. At this point, everyone who has followed the discussion can see the situation clearly. There is no need for me to spell it out any further.
 
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This is exactly why I say that you have not successfully astral projected because you dismiss the fact that astral projection can occur within dreams. This pretty much has outed you from the very beginning. You can shift scenes within a dream state and enter a dimension that is exactly like the physical world.
Of course people can project unconsciously. What I'm saying is someone phenomenologically experiencing an OBE is not going to mistake it for a dream. They are qualitatively different, as others have pointed out. And you can keep saying Ive never projected, but that doesn't make it remotely so.

Why dont you prove your ability to see exactly what is in the physical world and project to me? Should be a simple affair for you, right? Well, we both know you haven't read any hidden notes out of body, your only 'evidence' you point me to is someone on the forum claiming they had a conversation with someone while passed out. lol
 
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