1. Overcoming Fear:
Overcome all your preconceptions of what it will be like and overcome any fears that you may have before even considering making the first attempt. Fear will prevent you from achieving out of body states, so deal with your worries first! I suggest you spend a period of at least a month doing daily meditation, and working on your visualisation skills first, this will prime your mind and help overcome your mental conditioning.

2. What is your Goal?
If you leave the house you usually know where you want to go, it might be shopping or visiting a friend or simply going to work. In the same way, you will need to plan your journey for Astral Projection.

Do you want to go to a particular place? This might be good if plan on verifying the events after your journey. Or maybe you planning on entering the Astral Realms away from the reality of Earth to communicate with astral entities; or possibly if you are working in a group you may want to enter a mutual 'Astral Temple' to communicate with each other there. The list of possibilities are endless, and may also include some very practical applications.

3. Creating Protection
You may want to cast a circle in the space you will be working in before starting the journey using your usual method. You can also make yourself an amulet to help with and protect you on your journey and of course ask for the help and protection of the Goddess & God.

4. Preparation
It is important to make sure that the space you will be working in will be undisturbed and comfortable, so make sure its warm enough, that there is sufficient ventilation and if you have to, lock the door. Also make sure you have had enough sleep!

5. Calming your mind
Use a method you are comfortable with to calm your mind, a meditation method you are familiar with or alternatively meditate on a candle flame. The Chakra exercise given later in this article is also very useful!

6. The Method
There are many different tried and tested ways of achieving out of body experiences. The Body of Light method taught by the Golden Dawn is one of the most popular methods and many people find it works for them. The following steps are based on the Body of Light system. If it doesn't work for you the first time its worth remembering that some people take many years before they have their first experience so it is worth persisting. You may also want to do further research on other methods.

==Lie down or sit upright in a chair with a high back, make yourself comfortable.
==Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to deepen your state of relaxation
==Visualise a mirror image of yourself in front of you (you may want to practice this before starting by staring at yourself in a mirror for a period of time, closing your eyes and keeping the image of the reflection in your mind's eye)
==When the image of your body is clear in front of you start transferring your bodily sensations into your body double, and then feel yourself, your consciousness and your thoughts transfer into this body double.

When you can feel all the bodily sensations in the astral body you can then start your journey!

Although the above sounds simple, it can take a lot of practice, and its worth preparing for the experience even if it seems like a lot of work! No one said it would be easy!

You can also try a combination of the following to enhance your chances of success. Try experimenting with different methods until you find what works for you:

--Diet
It is generally believed that fasting, eating vegetarian foods only and abstaining from certain proteins (especially nuts), sugars and carbohydrates assists in achieving out of body states. Avoid eating for at least three to four hours before attempting Astral Projection, consuming only water during this time.

--Muscular Relaxation Exercises
Lie down on your back, with your arms next to your body. Make sure you are comfortable, start taking deep breaths. Inhale and Exhale breaths should be rhythmic. Then starting with your toes, tense and relax every muscle in your body, working your way up to your head.

-- Willpower
Instruct your mind through repeating over and over again "I will astrally project" - people who use this method allow themselves to become quite obsessed with it and personally I would not recommend it!

-- The Energy Body & a Chakra Exercise
The Chakras are energy centres in our subtle bodies. Although there are many chakras in our bodies for our purposes we will look at the seven main chakras which run from the base of the spine to just above our heads.

Keeping our chakras in balance has many health & healing benefits and for the purposes of preparing for Astral Projection it will help you to become aware of your energy body and this in turn will enable you to project your energy body more easily.

This article was first written for Avalonia by Sorita in 1997, updated in 2003. A version of this article appeared in Witchcraft & Wicca Magazine (2003).