From Christian Bernard Monographs

Experiment No. 44 – Psychic Projection

Where the previous experiment equipped
readers with the basic tools to incite a psychic awakening, this experiment
makes good on the promise by providing detailed guidance on how to achieve a
complete separation and projection of the psychic body. 1.     The monograph recommends that
students undertake a ritual purification before engaging in this psychic
technique. Followers are asked to wash their hands and imbibe water to
reinforce a sense of respect and awe towards the Cosmic. According to the Class
Master, this should enhance the student’s psychic abilities.

2.     Before assuming the correct
posture, students must intone the following invocation,

“May the Divine Essence of
the Cosmic infuse my being and cleanse me of all impurities of mind and body,
that I may enter the Celestial Sanctum and attune in pureness and worthiness.
So Mote it be!”

3.     The initial steps for achieving
a psychic projection are the same as those found in Experiment No. 43. (The
full text can be read at amorconline.com)4.     Once the prescribed chanting
has been completed, students are told to concentrate on the thymus while
inhaling deeply through the nose. They should then hold their breath for as
long as comfortably possible. 5.     Upon exhaling, students should
intone an elongated “Ra” sound.6.     With this exhalation, students
should concentrate on projecting their bodies through the motion of the sound.
In total, the sound should be repeated 7 times, by which point students should
become integrated with the Cosmic.7.     Contact with the Cosmic is
concluded through a Celestial Sanctum, which is to be spoken as follows:

“May the God of my Heart
sanctify this attunement of self with the Celestial Sanctum.”

According to the Class Master, this technique will take some time to develop properly. With focused practice, however, students should be able to project their bodies for several minutes at a time.

Guided Imagery

According to scientific estimates, 55% of the
world strongly favors visual concepts and imagery, while the remaining
population is more geared towards kinesthetic and auditory information
processing. Guided imagery is a mind-body intervention technique that was
developed to take advantage of this collective preference for interpreting
external experiences through internally generated visual cues.

According to clinicians and researchers,
this alternative therapy has proven efficacy in reducing instances of nausea,
fatigue, anxiety, pain, stress and depression. It can also help induce more
positive emotions within patients. While guided imagery isn’t recognized by any
National Health body as a form of conventional medicine, the American Cancer
Society does consider it to be a beneficial adjunctive treatment when
prescribed alongside standard chemotherapy and medicinal programs.

While approaches towards guided therapy
differ, in general, the technique is characterized by a systematic process of
creating detailed images in the brain while simultaneously relaxing the muscles
of the body in a progressive order. In essence, these subtle methods work to
suggest a state of detachment in the mind from bodily emotions and
preoccupations. With continued practice, this state becomes easier and easier
to access through certain internal visual cues or auditory triggers. Although
guided therapy can work in isolation, it’s considered most effective when
administered by a figure of authority such as a therapist.

In her book “Beyond
the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences,” Susan Blackmore (whom we referenced in the previous analyses), had
this to say about individuals who reported instances of astral projection. “[they]
have been found to score higher on measures of hypnotizability and, in several
surveys, on measures of absorption, [a] measure of a person’s ability to pay
complete attention to something and to become immersed in it, even if it is not
real, like a film, play, or imagined event.”

Now consider this ability in light of an
intense ritual of guided imagination dictated by a revered figure of spiritual
authority. It seems clear that with the right incitement, certain personality
types will undergo far more intense experiences than their peers. Perhaps, they
may even imagine themselves in far-off fantastical settings, or in closer more
familiar locations.

LaCk of Oxygen

According to a Dutch Study conducted into
the near-death experiences of 344 clinical cardiac arrest patients, 12%
reported seeing phenomena such as lights at the end of the tunnel, or recently
deceased relatives. Researchers have drawn a clear link between these
incidences and the lack of adequate oxygen supply to the brain; and they go on
to posit that OBEs occur when this lack of oxygen is paired with a gap between
the stimuli occurring in the brain and the visual, kinesthetic and auditory
messages the patient receives from without. It’s interesting that Rosicrucian Order
AMORC’s own ritual practices involve long periods of withholding your breath
and a particular focus on the cardiac region of the body. Coincidentally, these
practices are also combined with strong mental imagery which seems to be
primarily focused on producing a prescribed response. In fact, students are
told that if the prescribed response isn’t achieved then this is entirely a
failing on their own part, and that more practice is required.