Travel

Last revised: 17 September 2008

Visits to the Earth Plane

Ease of Travelling

Here we are mind (stepped down to our individual potency, I grant) but still mind, untrammeled by the destructive and apparent reality of matter. ... Therefore by thought and will, we can travel far out beyond what constitutes our immediate circumstances, if we wish. (Frances Banks, TOL, 72.)

It takes more energy on earth to put one heavy foot before another heavy foot, and to propel the hundred or two hundred pound body a mile, than it takes here to go around the world! That will give you an idea of the quantity of surplus energy that we have for enjoying ourselves and for dream-building. (Judge David P. Hatch, LLDM, Letter XXV.)

When I get through telling you what I desire you to know about my life here, I want to investigate other stars, if it shall be permitted.

I am like a young man who has lately inherited a fortune and has at last unlimited means and opportunity for travel. Though he might stay around home a few months, getting matters in shape and becoming adjusted to his new freedom of movement, yet the time would come when he would want to try his wings. (Judge David P. Hatch, LLDM, Letter XXIX.)

Traveling to Other Planets

- See here

Traveling the Earth Plane

We have been traveling extensively and have even been to take a look at the troubles in Ireland. Soon we must settle down and make up our minds what our work is to be. (A.D. Mattson, WOB, 89.)

I can travel in the mind and this I often do. I have visited countries of the world which I did not know. I have seen much and learned much. I return often to familiar scenes. I attend some Meetings and Meditation Groups and sometimes contact the friends and companions I had loved on earth. (Frances Banks, TOL, 143.)

Q: Can you travel about this world as well as the other?

A: Yes, we can go where we like. (Gordon Burdick to Grace Rosher in TR, 36.)

'Could you descend into the earth?'

"It is through spirit that the treasures of the earth have been found. It is through spiritual impressions on the mind of man that he has been sent to seeking and using the hidden riches which are there for the finding." (Spirit control Mary Bosworth in SWSL, 18.)

Those people who have begun to advance, or who are helped, soon realize that, in order to escape from the illusion of their thought-images, they must learn to use their thought force for themselves and usually they begin by exploring the surface of the earth. (Philip Gilbert in PTW, 193.)

I was having a spot of relaxation yesterday: I floated round all over the globe looking at the stories in the stones of all the old Temples and buildings. (Philip Gilbert in PTW, 180.)

I'm going on exploring - revisiting all the places in my life. That is the easiest thing to do. (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 102.)

I'm quite experienced now in moving round. I have been all over the earth-plane, in between doing other things. (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 124.)

If I am feeling like it, I act the fool with our band and sometimes we all go for a tour of places we knew and watch the antics of our old friends. (Philip Gilbert in PTS, 33.)

One day I found a very mediumistic cadet (though he did not know it) on the bridge and I managed to make him sense my presence without scaring. I told him he would be reading about me some day in a book - I got my name to him. He went about in a daze for hours afterwards and got hauled over the coals by the Old Man for day-dreaming. (Philip Gilbert in PTS, 35.)

Yesterday, with my thoughts turned on speed, as they were after talking to you, two other fellows and myself tried a bit out. We whooshed round the earth, from Australia to Hong-Kong and from Hong-Kong to London in no time - literally - no time! (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 233.)

Last night ... you came to me, and we went to many countries. I like to take you round the places I used to know, but, it seems, you often came to me in your sleep - when I was at sea and that is how you were able to write the little bits of information about me that you picked up in sleep. (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 195-6.)

Last night you and I went on a very long journey - we managed to pick up our Egyptian lives. It is not easy to do this even when discarnate and we did not get them very clearly - only a blur of images. Then we returned to what we think of as the present and I took you round some of my old haunts in Alex., Smyrna, and so on, and we made a united effort to impress some sense into the fuddled head of a young M.N. Officer - a chap of very fine inner self - who had been fooling round too much. We rescued him. He was blind drunk and wandering the streets looking for trouble. Two thugs were round the corner, but we made him veer away and emerge to sanity, and then we poured thoughts into his mind. I almost managed to materialize to him as his etheric body was still opened by the alcohol and, so, helpless against the incursion of discarnate entities. In our case, we were benevolent so he was lucky and learned a lesson. (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 195.)

As a rule, most persons stay near the place where they lived on earth; but I have been a wanderer from the first. I go rapidly from one country to another. One night (or day with you) I may take my rest in America; the next night I may rest in Paris. I have spent hours of repose on the divan in your sitting-room, and you did not know that I was there. I doubt, though, if I could stay for hours in your house when I was myself awake without your sensing my presence. (Judge David P. Hatch, LLDM, Letter XV.)

I took the boy [Lionel] out with me for what you would call a walk.

First we went to the old quarter of Paris, where I used to live in a former life; but Lionel could not see anything, and when I pointed out certain buildings to him he asked me quite sincerely if I were dreaming. I must have some faculty which is not generally developed among my fellow citizens in the astral country. So when the boy found that Paris was only a figment of my imagination - he used to live in Boston - I took him to see heaven. (1) (Judge David P. Hatch, LLDM, Letter XII.)

(1) Probably a brief visit to the Mental Plane.

If a new-comer took himself from here to the earth plane (if he could), his body would be almost falling to pieces; it would be flopping about because the currents and forces in the atmosphere, would be too powerful for him.

When I come to you I concentrate and will my body to stiffen and consolidate, and not until I feel I have absolute mental command over myself in detail, even down to my toes and ears, do I start. I had to learn how to locate in my mind the exact place or distance from my mind to where my toes would be (we measure everything from the / head in this case), for I must set the mental picture to get exactly five toes on each foot. I must then switch off and yet retain the idea while I think of what the top of my head looks like (I know it seems to you a troublesome thing to have to do, but remember our consciousness or mind can hold a hundredfold what yours will). I do all this because as soon as I get in touch with these atmospheric forces I have to hold myself together strongly to resist them. (Claude Kelway-Bamber in CSB, 58-9.)

Circling the Earth or a Spirit Plane in No Time

We can travel from one end of this realm to the other as fast as lightning. (Mike Swain in FMW, 25.)

So you see, when I want to move round, I perform an act of mental switching on of the current - mind you, it becomes as automatic as walking on earth - and whoosh! - I'm off! Gosh, what a grand sensation. Speed in perfection! You know nothing of it on earth. The way man craves for speed is really an urge from his sub-conscious spirit which knows what real speed can be! (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 232.)

Yesterday, with my thoughts turned on speed, as they were after talking to you, two other fellows and myself tried a bit out. We whooshed round the earth, from Australia to Hong-Kong and from Hong-Kong to London in no time - literally - no time! (Philip to his mother, Alice Gilbert, in PTW, 233.)

Once free, we can travel at will over our own world and over yours. So great is our speed and method of travel that we can be in two places almost simultaneously. (W.T. Stead, BI, 134.)

Many Spirits Cannot See the Earth Plane Clearly

When I first came out I could not see my way about the earth very well, but now I can see better. (Judge David P. Hatch, LLDM, Letter XXXII.)

[Mary] was also asked if they could see the material things of earth sufficiently to make traveling about the earth's surface a pleasure.

"It is not easy. Some seem to have the ability to see their intimate friends and their surroundings, especially when they first arrive here. It is a special gift if they are able to continue. In a few cases the gift has continued, and so a few spirits can see the material things of earth quite well. We ourselves see very little of it, not enough to get any pleasure traveling about its surface. It is a gift that can be cultivated with some. But here again, very few do so, because the attractions here are so much greater that there is little incentive." (Spirit Control Mary Bosworth to Charlotte E. Dresser, LHH, 136.)

A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea

When I began looking around, Pat came to me and said: "How about a journey?"

"Where to?" I asked.

"The question is, shall it be on this plane, the next plane, or the earth plane, to see if you can understand how they all merge together?" / ...

Pat took me into churches and on to mountains and down to the bottom of the sea and here I began to use another set of vibs altogether: they are a mixture of astral, etheric and X vibs. (1) Now it's the X-vibs that I found so enthralling and I began to find them all over the place.

At first I discovered them for myself on the ocean bed. They lay in a mass of scintillating colour and I asked Pat what they were. She took up a handful and threw them into her aura and urged me to do the same. At first I just felt rather giddy; then I began to move unconsciously and I asked Pat what was happening.

"You are floating away into the next dimension or plane. Don't be frightened. I am coming too."

So we found ourselves in another land of exquisite beauty. (Rosamund Lehmann's daughter Sally in AL, 185-6.)

(1) The "X vibs" are an unknown energy source with the impact described in the quote.

Travel to Different Regions of the Same Astral Subplane

Travel Inspires Us to Advance

We do travel in the planes of the astral and talk to souls from other planes, exchanging experiences and wishes. By these means we often get the inspiration to try and evolve to a higher plane. (Donald Macleod in HT, 17.)

No Difficulty in Visiting "Other Countries"

There is no difficulty in getting to other countries in these realms, or, to be more exact, to those parts where folk from other earth lands have their dwellings.

You were thinking of frontiers mostly, weren't you? There are no frontiers. You may come and go as you please, and, what's more, you'll be as welcome there as the inhabitants of those parts are welcome here. In fact, if you wander along, you would hardly perceive you were "there," except for some slight difference in the landscape perhaps and in the dwelling-houses. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, MALIWU, 123.)

T.E. Lawrence Visits "Arabia"

I went to the coast, a coast corresponding in its features to the rugged cliffs of England and there I took ship. Yes, there are ships here just as there are houses and towns. Voyages are easier; no mischance can occur and the direction is assured by the purpose and desire of the voyagers. Our journey has not been a lengthy business of calling at port after port so we have soon reached our destination and I find myself in a country which is the counterpart of Egypt.

There are significant differences. Instead of the loafers and beggars and the dirt and smells of the East as I remember it here is a clean and smiling land but one which appears to have a very small population. I have seen no familiar face but all those I meet are friendly and happy souls. The slums and filth of the old towns have gone but so have most of the people. This is a dream city and I have left it and am out in the clear air of the desert again. Travelling on foot is no hardship; fatigue is never felt and desire impels one swiftly and surely onward.

The desert has all the more than its remembered beauty but none of its terrors. It is not possible to get lost and hunger and thirst can no longer prove one's undoing since one can go on indefinitely without food or drink. I am reveling in the clean, bare land and savouring again the desert air with its piercing purity. Lovely to be free also from dependence upon a surly camel, a train of followers and all the tiresome paraphernalia necessary in the old days to keep one alive. (T.E. Lawrence, PMJ, 50-1.)

Travel to Higher Regions

Transported by the Light

[Mother Florence] 'visits' other Spheres I am certain, although she has never told me so. ... Once I met her just as she came back to us, her face was radiant. I was sure then that she was clothed in the 'robe of the Spirit.' It / was a deep blue robe of great beauty. Later, without any explanation, she resumed the habit in which she greets our patients. (Frances Banks, TOL, 58.)

Mother Florence ... is so much further advanced; she seems to pass at will between the Planes. (Frances Banks, TOL, 60.)

My experience happened during the last season of willing and praying myself into the Light. I was transported (how I do not know) to another Place, another Sphere, another 'mansion' in this world ... maybe another planet, but of this I have no conclusive knowledge.

Suffice it to say that suddenly and immediately I was conscious of being in a great 'atmosphere' of learning. I realized that I was in a university; yet it was much more than that, for there were Halls of Learning, and a per/vading atmosphere of Thought which thrilled my soul and satisfied a deep yearning in me. The 'buildings' appeared Grecian in character, clean of line and symmetry. It was as though one imagined, or remembered perhaps in some deeply-buried soul-memory how such buildings should look.

There were outer courts and beautiful vistas of gardens, where fountains of Light played. Here there were many souls, groups of students, sometimes surrounding One who appeared to be a Teacher, intent upon His discourse, or composed in deep meditation with Him; sometimes in clusters eagerly discussing together, and sometimes a student alone and apart in contemplation.

These here were of all types and from all nations. I 'knew' that this man in his last incarnation on the earth plane had been dark-skinned. Here was a Chinese, an Indian, a Redskin. They were not different now, yet inwardly one was cognizant of the race to which they had latterly belonged. All had an air of concentrated clarity of thought and purpose, which clothed them like auras, brilliant and shimmering, yet varying in colour and in degree of intensity. ...

I attached myself first to one group and then another. As I wandered, I thought I recognized faces that I had known or figures familiar through their fame or their accomplishments on earth. Yet I could not be sure. I thought I saw your husband in one group in this court, intent, with others, on the discourse of a Teacher; too immersed in the subject, he only acknowledged me by a quick turn of the head, as though surprised to see me. I went on. I must find my place, I kept reiterating, in this great city of learning. I felt I was in some ecstatic dream, so uplifted and transported in my mind was I. This is heaven indeed. (1) Always this has been my objective, like some half-forgotten vision of reality. (Frances Banks, TOL, 72-3.)

(1) The details of her description suggest that Frances Banks was on the Mental Plane.

The thought came to me suddenly. What of the inner courts?

And I found myself with this speed of thought to which I am only slowly becoming acclimatized, ascending the steps towards one of the great doors which stood open. Here, I felt, was revelation indeed!

But when I reached the top step, a Light blinded me. The shock stopped my progress. I stood still, blank in mind and dazed, unable to push my way into this blinding flash. I was aware that the brilliancy of this Light was too much for my state.

Immediately something seemed to be extinguished within me. My own light had become dimmed. I had the inexplicable experience of shrinking. Again I felt the strange, half-frightening sensation of dwindling ... and dwindling....

And I was back again in my garden. (Frances Banks, TOL, 74.)

No Nations on the Higher Planes

[Omar the Chaldean and his friend the Egyptian] come into another category. Where they live nations have no significance for the people themselves are above or beyond nationality. Radiant Wing is just such another. In the realm proper to him, he loses his precise nationality though not his racial individuality. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, MALIWU, 121.)