Samael Aun Weor: With great pleasure, distinguished young lady, I will narrate for you a personal case. I want to narrate for you my first astral projection. I was still very young when I resolved to astral project myself by will. I clearly remember that I put much attention to my slumber process, thus, when I felt myself dozing in that state of transition that exists between vigil and dream, I acted intelligently.

I did not situate myself to think that I was going to be astral projected, because it is obvious that if I had been thinking about it I would not have performed the longed-for experiment. I repeat: I acted; I got up with great smoothness from my own bed, and when doing so a very natural separation between the soul and the body took place; the soul remained outside and the body remained sleeping in the bed.

I went out of my house in a spontaneous and clear manner and then walked down a solitary street. I stopped on the next corner of the street; for few moments I reflected about where I should go; then I resolved to go to Europe.

It is obvious that I had to soar over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean; thus, floating wonderfully in the luminous space, I was filled with a happiness that is inconceivable for human beings, and finally I arrived at the city of Paris.

Thus, walking -or better said, floating in that luminous atmosphere- I instinctively felt the necessity of entering into a house. I do not regret have entered into that house due to the peculiar case that within that mansion I encountered an initiate I had known in old reincarnations.

He was also outside his body; certainly I evidenced that his body was sleeping in the bed, and next to him I saw a woman and two children who also slept with him; I understood that these were his wife and children.

I affectionately greeted my friend and the soul of his wife, who was also outside her body; it is not irrelevant to also state that as the children were also sleeping, their souls were outside their bodies.

Those infantile souls began to be scared by my unusual presence; I then understood the necessity to withdraw in order to avoid the return of such frightened souls to their respective bodies; it is unquestionable that if this had happened, the children would have cried in bed and the weeping would have woken my friend and his wife; then the dialogue would have been suspended, since the soul of my friend as well as his wife would had been forced to penetrate in their respective bodies of bone and flesh.

Indeed, I understood all of this in thousandths of a second; thus, in order to avoid this problem, I proposed that my friend leave the house and go with me around the streets of Paris; my joy was great when he accepted.

Thus, together we went through the streets of that great city; I even advised him to return to the path, to enter the path of the Light; I also proposed that we visit a wonderful temple that exists in Germany, but regrettably, my friend declined the invitation stating that he could not because he had concentrated his attention on the problems of practical life, since he had a spouse and children, etc. I then said farewell to that Initiate and -soaring in the atmosphere- I passed over great walls and then soared over a highway, by a serpentine way full of curves, until I arrived at a wonderful temple.

In front of that sanctuary I saw many souls of different nationalities, people who during the hours of their sleep escaped from their dense body in order to arrive there.

So, all those people united in different groups were conversing amongst themselves; they spoke of the cosmos, of the laws, of reincarnations and Karma, the mysteries of life and death, etc.

I looked for a friend who was skillful in astral projection but I did not find him.

I then approached the threshold of the temple and saw an exquisite garden with delicious flowers that exhaled an inebriating perfume; at its depth, the silhouette of a splendid temple illuminated by the splendors of the stars stood out; I wanted to enter, but the guardian took the floor and told me, “This it is the temple of wisdom; withdraw, it is not time yet” .

Thus, obeying his orders, I withdrew to certain distance without moving too much away from the threshold. Then I examined myself; I observed my spiritual hands and feet and even had the luxury of comparing them with the hands and feet of my body of bones and flesh that I had left there in Latin America, the sacred land of the Aztecs, sleeping in the bed.

It is evident that the outcome of such comparisons originated the instantaneous return into my material physical vehicle that slept deeply, snoring in the bed; then I, astounded, woke up saying, “I was in the temple of the wisdom; what happiness, what joy”.

Even today, I cannot forget the immaculate white light that was shining in that sanctuary; indeed, such a light did not seem to come from any physical lamp, since it projected itself from all parts and it did not make any type of shade.

From “Beyond Death” (1970) by Samael Aun Weor.