The value of Monroe’s testimony regarding the nature and the beings of the “astral plane” is great. Although he himself became deeply involved in it and actually gave his soul over in submission to the fallen spirits, he described his experiences in a straightforward, non-occult language and from a relatively normal human point of view that make his book a persuasive warning against “experiments” in this realm. Those who know the Orthodox Christian teaching on the aerial world, as well as on the true heaven and hell which are outside it, can only be the more firmly convinced of the reality of the fallen spirits and their realm, as well as of the great danger of contacting them even through a seemingly “scientific” approach.29 As Orthodox Christian observers, we do not need to know how much of his experience was “real” and how much was a result of spectacles and illusions engineered for him by the fallen spirits; deception is so much a part of the aerial realm that there is no point in even trying to unravel its precise forms. But that he did encounter the realm of the fallen spirits cannot be doubted.
The “astral plane” can also be contacted (but not necessarily in an “out-of-body” state) through the use of certain drugs. Recent experiments in administering LSD to dying persons has produced very convincing “near-death” experiences, together with a “condensed replay” of one’s entire life, a vision of blinding light, encounters with the “dead” and with non-human “spiritual beings,” and the communication of spiritual messages concerning the truths of “cosmic religion,” reincarnation, and the like. Dr. Kubler-Ross has also been involved in these experiments.30
It is well known that the shamans of primitive tribes enter into contact with the aerial world of fallen spirits in “out-of-body” states, and once “initiated” into this experience are able to visit the “world of spirits” and communicate with its beings.31
The same experience was common among the initiates of the “mysteries” of the ancient pagan world. In the Life of St. Cyprian and Justina (Oct. 2) we have the first-hand testimony of a former sorcerer concerning his experiences in this realm:
“On Mt. Olympus Cyprian studied all manner of diabolical arts: he mastered various demonic transformations, learned how to change the nature of the air.... In this place he saw a numberless legion of demons, with the prince of darkness at their head; some stood before him, others served him, still others cried out in praise of their prince, and some were sent into the world in order to corrupt people. Here he likewise saw in their false forms the pagan gods and goddesses, and also diverse phantoms and specters, the invocation of which he learned in a strict forty-day fast.... Thus he became a sorcerer, magician, and destroyer of souls, a great friend and faithful slave of the prince of hell, with whom he conversed face to face, being vouchsafed to receive from him great honor, as he himself testified. ‘Believe me,’ he said, ‘I have seen the prince of darkness himself.... I greeted him and his ancients.... He promised to make me a prince after my departure from the body, and for the course of earthly life to help me in everything.... The outward appearance of the prince of darkness was like a flower. His head was covered by a crown (not an actual, but a phantom one) made of gold and brilliant stones, as a result of which the whole space around him was illuminated; and his clothing was astonishing. When he would turn to one or the other side, that whole place would tremble, a multitude of evil spirits of various degrees stood obediently at this throne. I gave myself over entirely into his service at that time, obeying his every command” (The Orthodox Word, 1976, no. 70, pp. 136-38).
St. Cyprian does not state explicitly that he had these experiences out of the body; it would indeed seem that more advanced sorcerers and adepts do not need to leave the body in order to achieve full contact with the aerial realm. Swedenborg, even while describing his own “out-of-body” experiences, stated that most of his contact with spirits was, on the contrary, in the body, but with his “doors of perception” opened (Heaven and Hell, Sections 440-42). Still, the characteristics of this realm, and one’s “adventures” in it, are the same whether one happens to be “in” or “out” of the body.
One of the famous pagan sorcerers of antiquity (2nd century), in describing his initiation into the mysteries of Isis, gives a classic example of the “out-of-body” experience, the contact with the aerial realm, that could be used to describe some of today’s “out-of-body” and “after-death” experiences:
“I will record (of my initiation) as much as I may lawfully record for the uninitiated, but only on condition that you believe it. I approached the very gates of death and set one foot on Proserpine’s threshold, yet was permitted to return, rapt through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining as if it were noon; I entered the presence of the gods of the underworld and the gods of the upper world, stood near and worshipped them. Well, now you have heard what happened, but I fear you are still none the wiser.”32
Conclusions about the “Out-of-Body” Realm
All that has been said here about “out-of-body” experiences is sufficient to place today’s “after-death” experiences in their proper perspective. Let us summarize what we have found:
1. These are, purely and simply, “out-of-body” experiences, something well known especially in occult literature, which have been happening with increasing frequency in recent years to ordinary people who are not at all involved in occultism. These experiences, however, in actual fact tell us almost nothing of what happens to the soul after death, except that it does survive and is conscious.
2. The realm into which the soul immediately enters when it leaves the body and begins to lose contact with what we know as “material reality” (whether after death or in a simple “out-of-body” experience) is neither heaven nor hell, but an invisible realm close to earth which is variously called the “After-death” or “Bardo plane” (Tibetan Book of the Dead), the “world of spirits” (Swedenborg and spiritism), the “astral plane” (Theosophy and most of occultism), “Locale II” (Monroe) — or, in Orthodox language, the aerial world of the under-heaven where fallen spirits dwell and are active in deceiving men for their damnation. This is not the “other world” that awaits man after death, but only the invisible part of this world that man must pass through to reach the truly “other” world of heaven or hell. For those who have truly died, and are being conducted by angels out of earthly life, this is the realm where the Particular Judgment begins at the aerial “toll-houses,” where the spirits of the air reveal their real nature and their hostility towards mankind; for all others, it is a realm of demonic deception at the hands of these same spirits.
29
Monroe’s observation, made also by many other experimenters in this area, that “out-of-body” experiences are invariably accompanied by a high degree of sexual excitement, only confirms the fact that these experiences attract the lower side of man’s nature and have nothing whatever spiritual about them.
30
Stanislav Grof and Joan Halifax,
32
Apuleius,