So I’ve been working on an original fictional story that involves the Traveling and practical applications thereof. Yes, really.

But first, before I get into anything, a little personal definition time. I personally use the terms “astral projection” as projecting yourself out of your body but remaining in this plane of existence. You are here but not in your body. When I say “astral travel” I’m referring to Over There, the Other Side, etc. Again, these are personal definitions and are certainly not universal.

I briefed over it before on tumblr but the lack of response I received there was… discouraging. Still, I’ll explain.

Let’s say you astral project. You take a cruise about the world, dick around in a marketplace you’ve never been to before in a country you only hear about in the news. You chase a bunny up a mountain path and stop short when you realize the trees are bent funny. Intrigued, you fly up (because what’s the point of astral project if not to fly? OK, there’s lots of points to it but my statement stands). Below you see a small airplane, crashed into the rocks below.

You explore the site a bit and discover that some of the plane’s passengers are still alive but are hurt. What do you do?

There’s several options.

1. You can ignore it. Don’t look at me like that. I find most people would ignore it. People don’t like to get involved. And with Traveling and Projection it gives you an out. After all, how are you going to confirm it? What if it’s all in your head?
2. You can inform the authorities. Prepare yourself for disbelief, suspicious  and most likely to be ignored. You have no facts, no evidence, and saying “I saw it in a dream” doesn’t go over as well as TV shows lead you to believe.
3. Go and find them yourself. This would work if you a) can do so b) can afford to and/or c) are willing to.
4. You can manipulate or feed the data to someone. This is my preferred method of dealing with this sort of thing. I’ll find someone in charge. A police chief, a respected townsperson, military official. (Careful here. I’ve been seen before while Traveling by some military folks. I have NO idea how but I wouldn’t put it past militaries to have some sort of technology that can actually read our presence. I’m still playing with the idea that EMF detectors and other ghost hunting paraphernalia can record us while Projecting.) Either way, I enter their dreams, whisper in their ears, and convince them to follow the trail I’ve left to get help. I’ll literally haunt them (nicely!) until they do as I want them to.

There are other practical uses as well. Want to know if a shop’s going to be open? Pop down in spirit and check it out. Want to know what your kids/lovers/family are up to when they’re not home? Follow them in spirit. Want to spy on your friends for laughs or enemies for blackmail? Yeah, you can do that too.

Astral projection has tons of practical applications. It can literally be used as a preview to the day and can be hugely helpful in life.

How so? Lets say your boss is being an ass. He’s just being a complete asshole.  Harping on you, singling you out, embarrassing you in front of other people, etc. He’s made co-workers cry and others quit. You’re at your wit’s end. So you follow him and discover that he spends hours of the day looking at porn on his work computer. More investigation shows that he does lots of shady transactions. A quick anonymous tip to HR later and he’s being investigated. Perfect.

Let’s turn that on its head. Lets say you follow you boss and discover he’s going through a terrible divorce. Maybe his spouse was abusive. Maybe he just lost custody of the children. Maybe he sits over the divorce papers and cries into his whiskey because he still loves his spouse and the life they had and he can’t understand why nothing’s working out the way it should.

Now you can explain to your co-workers that he’s going through a rough time. Bake some damn cookies, offer to help. Make a gesture to show that he doesn’t need to take it out on the world, on you.

All that, from Projection.

It’s also great for witchcraft. You know that son of a bitch neighbor that you really just need to move the fuck away? You can spy on them in spirit and discover an accessible personal item to curse them with. That co-worker that keeps hitting on you? Follow them home in spirit so you can place hot foot powder to steer them away. Explore a path in a nearby park to see if there’s any herbs or plants you need for your collection.

There is so much you can do with it and from what I’ve seen it’s utterly underutilized. Possibly because so many witches focus on the spirits and the exploring of the other side they don’t focus on the actual traveling portion of it. The experience, the adventure and freedom being in spirit causes.