Astral Encounters

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One of the more intriguing aspects of the contact phenomenon is that many encounters do not happen in a 3D physical environment. They happen in altered states and/or non-physical or subtle realms. For lack of a better word, these encounters are usually referred to as astral encounters.

One fascinating account comes to mind where a contactee suddenly felt he had to sit down, and described a bilocation / out of body experience where he was simultaneously in a living room and aboard a ship. He described what was happening on the ship. And when he said they were using some laser-like device on his arm, red laserlike dots appeared on his arm in the living room as well. The whole experience only took a few minutes, but raises many questions and once more challenges what we believe about what reality is.

We asked our panel for their thoughts. Both Bill Konkolesky and Denise Stoner share personal experiences, while Giorgio Piacenza dives into the concepts relating to astral / subtle realms.

Image credit: Javier Rodriguez

Bill Konkolesky

Two of the great, if not greatest questions humanity ponders is whether consciousness persists outside of physical form and is there life elsewhere in the universe.  What if an affirmative answer that both of these do occur is found in the same package?  Within the ET contact phenomenon, not everything appears to be in the physical.  Some reported encounters with seemingly extraterrestrial beings are surprisingly outside of the body.

I, myself, am an experiencer and, when I look back even to just the first tender nine years of my own life, there is ample personal evidence of both physical and non-physical encounters.  I sport a scar on my arm from a very physical medical examination small gray beings performed on me while onboard a craft at age 7.  But then, I also was pulled from my body by them at age 4 and tested on my ability to function in essentially spirit form.  At age 9, I not only saw a UFO zigzagging through the sky one night but, two months later, I became lucid at the foot of my bed while a being in the room was trying to convince me to re-enter my body that was lying in the bed.  I encountered both physical and non-physical events related to what I believe to be one extraterrestrial source.

As it appears to me from my personal events, some extraterrestrials function quite well in both physical and non-physical form.  In my estimation, they are able to appear in physical form when required but, if they don’t need to, an astral encounter where all parties are in a disembodied form of consciousness is much more efficient.  In those instances where the entities need to simply engage an experiencer mentally, this solves the hassles they have of trying to find a place to park the craft, stealthily enter someone’s home, and sedate bystanders in proximity to the intended contact.  If they can instead just reach their target individual by pulling him or her out-of-body, this would be the logical route to take.

The idea that the phenomenon often exhibits itself through non-physical channels certainly isn’t new.  Notable experiencer Whitley Strieber and prominent UFO contact researchers Jacques Vallee and the late John Mack, for example, are some of those who have expressed their beliefs that this is the case toward the end of the last century.  It’s bold on anyone’s part to openly support that the phenomenon is not only real, but that there’s this non-material reality to it and some investigators avoid the challenging non-physical aspect for this reason. 

This leads to a catch 22.  When we try to define the phenomenon through specific criteria like only looking at the physical, we’re editing out so much potentially useful data.  On the other hand, if we don’t set some sort of focused easy-to-digest parameters, the subject grows so undefinable and sprawling in scope that we can never really meaningfully discuss it. 

Let the record state that I am on the side of letting everything in, as messy as that is.

I believe the two great questions of consciousness outside the physical and life out there in the universe are mutually supported in their joint reality when it comes to the non-corporal aspect of the ET contact phenomenon if we’re willing to accept the evidence.

And for those who doubt the possibility of the non-physical aspect, I quote the 19th Century physicist Sir William Crookes who said, “I never said it was possible.  I only said it was true.”

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Denise Stoner

You are lying in your bed in a meditative state, you are feeling peaceful and calm enjoying your time in meditation.  As you become acclimated to this place you have traveled to in your state of relaxation, a familiar figure appears off in the distance. You have been in his company several times. He approaches your side and you look each other in the eyes. You have known those huge, slanted, black eyes for many years. When you first met it was perhaps a situation where you were awakened from sleep and escorted outside where a huge unworldly craft awaited you. Or you might have received a “message” that called you outside, or had you get into your car so you could drive to a secluded area where you were “picked up” by a craft. This visit would be different. This time your “visitor” communicates to you that he will help you to leave your body to go with him minus your earthly vessel. You will leave that behind on the bed. How very odd for your familiar “Gray” to remove you from your body and take you to an Astral world unlike anywhere you have been in the past.

You have left the world as you know it. Far behind is your physical body resting very still on the bed. With the gray, you are guided to a “place” of existence that is difficult to understand and more often than not is not explained. In many cases, you are there to observe and experience. How do I begin to describe this place so very surreal? Yet, one feels so much a part of it.   

Do I believe in Astral Abduction? Yes, I do because I have been guided to this world, this strange spiritual place of being.  In my case, I recognized my surroundings as I had been there before only under a whole different set of circumstances. I had visited this place during a near death experience and now this visit escorted by an ET. I felt that both events took me to the same place. Where is this amazing plane of existence? Somehow I feel that this place is all around us. We are not allowed to see it most of the time.

This place is so alive and thick with beings. I discovered in both events that I did not have to turn around in order to see what was behind me. Vision was 350 degrees – I could see full circle without moving. I was aware of even more. In words difficult to find, I was a part of them yet I could be separate. When I was part of the whole, I was still myself. There was no difference when I was a part of them. Who are “they”? This is a place of being where we go when it is time for us to shed this physical part of us and move on as spirit. I had my ET guide there and spirits spoke to me. I was a visitor in a sense. I had not made a permanent shift. I was told to “separate” from the group in order for me to understand that I was still the same person.  I looked out on the vastness of this place and it seemed to have no end. I could separate into some odd form that was me. As strange as it is, I felt myself separate from the “Whole” and knew I had some form similar to my physical self here where I live at the moment. That form seemed to have an outline that was lit up somehow. It glowed. Not a bright light but a soft one. Way off in the distance I could see my ET looking down at me. He sent me a message that seemed to say “we are all one”.  I was there to remember what was said and to observe in order to learn on my own.

If my ET was there, who else was dwelling in this huge mass of living energy. Did it consist of humans, ETs of all kinds, and who else? For those who don’t know who my ET is – he is a Grey who has come for me since I was 2 ½. He escorts me on and off a craft, can remove fear and pain by touching my forehead and now has shown me this world. I had seen it years ago during a near death experience but that was all about me and what I was going to do so I did not notice this place with no end as I saw it now. Way off in the distance I began to notice a faint glow. I was thinking about what that was when a voice said to me “you will not visit there now”. We all have a strong desire to be in that light. You are looking at the light of the “source” and once we become one with that we are finally at the end of a long long journey. I am seeking more information and hope to receive that through continued meditation work and speaking with others who have also been there.  

I have a friend whose case I took years ago through an outside contact. This person lived just across the border of FL and Alabama. At the time he had moved east with his wife and young daughter in order to escape unwanted visitors. He had been watched and also followed. He was an experiencer. He had been visited by crafts that hovered over his home and had followed him in his car. As a result of these events he was being visited by strange men who wanted his physical evidence and any information he could give them. He was warned more than once not to speak to anyone regarding his involvement with these crafts.

He contacted our MUFON State Director and met with him in person. I was the Chief Investigator at the time and worked with experiencers so he was referred to me. Let’s call him Jim as I need to protect his true identity. What happened next has always fascinated me. I confirmed what he told me with his wife and one outside person.

He had a visit from a huge craft. It was night time and Jim had been relaxing in bed practicing his own style of meditation. While he was in meditation he was visited by an ET from the craft. He was told they were going to take him “out of body” to the craft and gave him some initial instructions that would help with the process.   He was told to make sure that he was never disturbed by his wife or daughter while in this “state” as he may not be able to re-enter his body. He did what he was told and was given some sort of notice when he should begin his meditation. There were times when his wife would enter the bedroom to discover that he was lying very still and breathing shallow. She would leave the room knowing she had to stay away for at least two hours. Jim never knew how long he was “out” and asked his wife to tell him using her best guess.

Jim wrote down what he recalled of these visits to the crafts. One afternoon there was a knock at the door.  When Jim answered he saw the black van parked against the curb across the street and the men in dark suits were standing in front of him. They wanted to search his house, specifically his bedroom. Jim said no but felt it was becoming unsafe for his family even though he had no idea what he should worry about. What did these men want? Several years passed and he continued to be visited while in a meditative state. I had not heard from him for at least two years when my phone rang. Jim has a very distinctive voice so I recognized it right away.

Several things had occurred. Here they are as he has told me. Jim’s daughter had married and was expecting a baby. His wife thought it best to go and stay with their daughter until this first grandchild was born. Jim agreed as he had a couple of important things to take care of and felt that his wife and daughter would be safe together. He had received a call from a mutual friend. That friend felt he was not going to live much longer and asked Jim to come for a visit. Jim set a date and went to see our mutual friend. When he arrived, he was soon to find he was going to be responsible for some “important documents”. He vowed to keep them safe along with a book holding information about a well-known case that took place here in Florida. The information contained in the book had never gone public yet somehow individuals knew it existed.

Jim took the items saved for him. Shortly after that our friend passed away. On the way back to his home that evening, Jim was followed by a dark van. When he reached his house he pulled into the garage making sure the door was down and locked. He hurried into the house carrying the items he had promised to protect. Next, he slipped them into a lock box inside his closet and went to bed. In the morning he found a note on his front door requesting the information he had been given. He spoke to his wife and they decided it would be best if Jim were to take the documents out west and leave them in a safe place.

Jim packed his truck with everything he would need to set up a place to live when he reached his destination. He had contacted some people he knew out west and told them about his dilemma. They arranged to meet him as soon as he arrived and to take the documents from him. These would be stored in a place they all believed to be safe. He headed west and was soon close to the small town he was going to live in for some time. The documents have been safely tucked away and Jim was given a small apartment to set up housekeeping in. He was continuing his meditation and the visits from UFOs were still on going. Just about everyone in the town had seen these crafts moving across the desert and at times right through the town. Due to their own belief in these objects, nothing surprised them when these crafts began to hover over the area where Jim’s apartment was.

The last time I heard from Jim was about 3 years ago now. He said he was safe and doing fine. His wife was preparing to join him. He gave me the number of a track phone and the last time I attempted to reach him, the number was no longer in use. I can only hope his life has calmed down and he is happy. I know what is written in those papers but without them there is no proof. I am glad it was shared with me.
Are there more people out there who are going about their daily lives until night time arrives and they take flight due to an Astral Travel/abduction event? How many places do people visit and what are they like? I would love to hear from them to share these experiences and to learn what the commonalities might be.  How many types of ETs are involved in this type of visitation? Is it easier to take our spirits/souls from our bodies and then leave this earthly vessel behind?  I suspect it is and once one knows the secret of slipping out to go with the ETs, exploring may be more and more enticing. It all depends on the individual I suppose. I am just the type who has a need to know what is around the next corner. I and I believe others are prepared to “travel” freely remaining open to new places returning with new knowledge in hopes this will deliver amazing information that will benefit our beautiful world and those who dwell on it in a wonderfully positive way.

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Giorgio Piacenza

Astral Subtle Reality: An Integral Part of Extraterrestrial Contact and of Other Multi Ontological Cosmic Experiences

According to Vedanta and to other Indian experiential and mystical schools relating to the “Pancha Kosha doctrine,” human beings (and quite possibly other sentient beings that have physical bodies) are expressions of the universal source acting as an individualized “Atman.” But every physical being is in fact Atman (the Supreme reality) that is “covered” or “hidden” in illusion by three main “shariras” or “bodies” which, in turn, incorporate 5 different “sheaths” or modes of consciousness and experience.

The three bodies are the Gross, the Subtle, and the Causal. In Vedic terms, the “Sthula,” “Linga,” and “Karana” shariras. The gross or physical body would include a mode of experience by means of the Annamaya Kosha (or food sheath). That which we call “the astral body” would be an expression of the Subtle Body (Linga Sharira) that includes a lower comparative, concrete, emotional sheath (“manas” or “ManomayaKkosha”) and also the higher mind, or spiritually intuitive sheath (“Vigyanamaya Kosha”).  Some interpreters place another “sheath” or “kosha” (the Pranamaya Kosha) as an intermediate, semi-physical entity situated between the Gross Body and the Subtle Body and others simply locate it in the Subtle Body. Finally, the Causal Body (or “seed” body) would include the Anandamaya Kosha or sheath of bliss.

From a top-down, dualist perspective, when considering Atman as the origin, the Gross Body would be encompassed by the Subtle and the Subtle by the Causal.  The origin of the more exteriorized or dualistic and illusory expressions covering Atman would be in its immediate, more encompassing (and materially subtler) superior.  Here we are referring to three main types of ontological realities manifested in the world of duality and form.  And, according to Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (whose “quadrants” seem to apply across all ontological levels), we could say that there exist different kinds of exterior objects and matter, even in the non-physical “shariras” or “bodies.”  And, extending the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness based on the ability to decode information, these bodies (and possibly their corresponding “koshas”) would serve to decode different planes of reality located in distinct ontological realities. 

From this perspective, we need to learn think how these ontological levels may interface, connecting to conscious experiences and how they relate to reported physical, astral, and unique encounters in which our perception of spacetime is modified. The mental or physically malleable nature of some physical contact experiences seem to reflect how subtle “matter” seems to respond to subjective inputs according to out-of-body practitioners. For instance, being floated out of bed through the ceiling or a window, quite often into a craft waiting outside. This also suggests an inter-realm mechanism in that more advanced physical effects may use the rules applicable in the Subtle worlds.   

According to serious researchers and experiencers like Preston Dennett and those anonymous reports received in the FREE Experiencer Survey, there are many kinds of physical and non-physical contact experiences and paranormal phenomena as normally associated with them. But, how can this be? What mechanism is in place and what is the nature of reality like to allow for it? Again, I consider the “Pancha Kosha” doctrine associated to the three “shariras” or bodies are a starting point to understand. Moreover, besides taking the word of sacred spiritual textbooks said to be associated to rishis or seers, there may be logical reasons to think that contingent or duality-based reality is indeed primarily subdivided into three main “realms.” 

So, are contact experiences with entities related to UFOS physical, astral (Subtle Realm-based), or both? The term “all of the above” would be adequate if we consider that according to Vedanta there are many worlds or “lokas” with sentient agents that can, in turn, be located in a variety of particular “locales” in the physical, subtle and causal realms. Moreover, coinciding with shamanic experiencers, these Indian traditions allow beings from different realms to interface and interact. 

A superior technology capable of utilizing these universal fundamentals would also be able to traverse different levels among these realms and to modify physical (otherwise stable) spacetimes utilizing their immediate source or origin in the next subtler adjacent realm.  Therefore, many of the beings encountered may actually be “trans ontological beings,” meaning that they can’t just be “physical” but also perfectly at home in various levels of the Subtle Realm associated to the previously mentioned “Linga Sharira.” 

In fact, by canceling our actual physical patterns, returning them to their Subtle Realm potential state, and reconfiguring them so as to express once again in physical reality, these beings may be able to temporarily alter our normally experienced physical patterns, even confusing us into thinking that a unique experience has taken place in astral or subtle form.

Then again, by comfortably operating with a technology reconfiguring patterns of physicality to how reality operates in the Subtle Realm, some advanced beings may interface with ‘our’ reality not only modifying it but also being partially modified through it. This may happen when their potentially different patterns temporarily become part of our experienced or actual physical patterns and this may be one of the reasons why they seem reluctant to openly interact with us.

Through their multi-realm , interface technology they might also might easily dislodge our astral bodies and take us into a particularly programmed or modified astral sub-realm, or to a less physically dense, spacetime-modified spacecraft environment in which our subtle body is perceived and can interact.  Furthermore, if we consider that the Subtle and Physical realms can intermingle, combine, or fuse under different proportions, many of these beings may be able to exist in stable form in alternative varieties of physical universes or of levels of physicality that could, for instance, be less dense than ours and thus we could in some occasions confuse these levels with astral or subtle realities.  

When in contactee lore we speak about “energies,” it may be more useful to think about a whole range of them, divided into the three main aforementioned categories of physical, subtle, and causal subdivisions of contingent reality. From our limited experiential perspective fixated in one physical universe, any less dense physical energy may seem “non-physical” and all non-physical interactions may seem like interactions simply with “energy” without any clear and necessary differentiation.    

But as Near-Death Experiencers (also often associated with UFO-related contact experiences) often testify, they have encountered an ultimately indescribable and beautiful conscious ‘energy’ (and being) of love.  As Preston Dennett and other experiencers testify, some persons might even be able to experience the subtlest energies associated with spiritual bliss (Ananda or the energies of the Anandamaya Kosha) of the subtlest “causal realm,” situated even beyond (or within) the beauty of the upper Subtle worlds. Apparently, some extraterrestrial, interdimensional, non-human entities may even be able to expose our awareness to some of these energies.   

The complexity and variety of experiences today overwhelming our human minds due to a lack of explanatory concepts may in fact be simplified if we understand the universal principles of interface connecting the three main realms. The concept of a “multiverse” could more easily make sense if – instead of quantitatively focusing on variety, multiplicity and complexity - we began to qualitatively discern and understand the underlying fundamental ontological patterns. It would be much better than trying to simplify by exclusively reducing them to physical or astral events. 

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