Editing Astral projection (section)

==Terminology==
The expression "astral projection" came to be used in two different ways. For the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]]{{sfn|Cicero|Cicero|2003|p={{page needed|date=January 2023}}}} and some [[Theosophists]],{{sfn|Powell|1927|p=7}} it retained the classical and medieval philosophers' meaning of journeying to other worlds, heavens, hells, the astrological spheres and other landscapes in the [[body of light]]; but outside these circles the term was increasingly applied to non-physical travel around the physical world.{{sfn|Judge|1893|loc=ch. 5}}

Though this usage continues to be widespread, the term, "etheric travel", used by some later Theosophists, offers a useful distinction. Some experimenters say they visit different times and/or places: ''etheric'', then, is used to represent the sense of being out of the body in the physical world; whereas ''astral'' may connote some alteration in time-perception. [[Robert Monroe]] describes the former type of projection as "Locale I" or the "Here-Now", involving people and places that exist:<ref name="Monroe 1977" /> Robert Bruce calls it the "Real Time Zone" (RTZ) and describes it as the non-physical dimension-level closest to the physical.{{sfn|Bruce|1999|pp=25–27, 30–31}} This [[etheric body]] is usually, though not always, invisible but is often perceived by the experient as connected to the physical body during separation by a silver cord. Some link falling dreams with projection.<ref name="Bruce 1999">{{harvnb|Bruce|1999|p={{page needed||date=October 2022}}}}.</ref>

According to [[Max Heindel]], the [[etheric double]] serves as a medium between the astral and physical realms. In his system the ether, also called ''[[prana]]'', is the vital force that empowers the physical forms to change. From his descriptions it can be inferred that, to him, when one views the physical during an out-of-body experience, one is not technically in the astral realm at all.{{sfn|Heindel|1911|p={{page needed|date=February 2024}}}}

Other experiments may describe a domain that has no parallel to any known physical setting. Environments may be populated or unpopulated, artificial, natural or abstract, and the experience may be beatific, horrific or neutral. A common Theosophical belief is that one may access a compendium of mystical knowledge called the [[Akashic records]]. In many accounts the experiencer correlates the astral world with the world of dreams. Some even report seeing other dreamers enacting dream scenarios unaware of their wider environment.<ref name="Monroe 1985" />

The astral environment may also be divided into ''levels'' or ''sub-planes'' by theorists, but there are many different views in various traditions concerning the overall structure of the astral planes: they may include heavens and hells and other after-death spheres, transcendent environments, or other less-easily characterized states.<ref name="Monroe 1977">{{harvnb|Monroe|1977|p=60}}.</ref><ref name="Bruce 1999" /><ref name="Monroe 1985">{{harvnb|Monroe|1985|p={{page needed|date=October 2022}}}}.</ref>