Character Talents and Skills: Astral Projection

Before we get to today’s entry, two housekeeping items. First, Becca and I are happy to announce that our PDF provider, GUMROAD, has officially put a VAT tax collection system in place, allowing us to once again be able to deliver our PDF books to VAT countries. WOOT!

Secondly, our friend Janice Hardy asked us to give a special shout out to KIDLIT WRITERS, because Springmingle is happening soon. What is Springmingle? An awesome conference event for writers in Decatur, GA.

Calling all kidlit writers and illustrators: Springmingle ’15 Writers’ and Illustrators’ Conference will take place on March 13-15, 2015. Meet editors and agents from industry-leading agencies and publishing houses—and the friendliest, most supportive colleagues one could ever hope to find. Attendees will find nearly a dozen workshop sessions, including: 101+ Reasons for Rejection, Writing La Vida Loca, and Traditional Picture Books in a Digital Age. Visit their website for a complete listing of workshops: https://southern-breeze.scbwi.org/events/springmingle-15/. Present by SCBWI/Southern Breeze Region.

ASTRAL PROJECTION

As writers, we want to make our characters as unique and interesting as possible. One way to do this is to give your character a special skill or talent that sets him apart from other people. This might be something small, like having a green thumb or being good with animals, to a larger and more competitive talent like stock car racing or being an award-winning film producer. 



When choosing a talent or skill, think about the personality of your character, his range of experiences and who his role models might have been. Some talents might be genetically imparted while others are created through exposure (such as a character talented at fixing watches from growing up in his father’s watch shop) or grow out of interest (archery, wake boarding, or magic). Don’t be afraid to be creative and make sure the skill or talent is something that works with the scope of the story. 

Description: using one’s astral body (a spirit form) to travel in an out-of-body experience to the astral plane. It is believed that astral projection occurs naturally during sleep, where one’s spirit body goes to another plane of existence to have actual experiences that create the basis for our dreams. If one becomes aware of being in a dream state, this is called lucid dreaming. A character experiencing a lucid dream would then be able to direct the dream, shaping what happens consciously. Or, they could push aside thoughts and emotions influencing their specific dream they are in and see the astral plane as it really is.

Astral projection can also happen consciously with relaxation and visualization techniques. Characters with this skill can astrally travel to different locations instantly by visualizing a specific place, meet with other beings in the astral plane, and receive spiritual lessons in the form of symbols to give insight into themselves, the past, or to receive premonitions of future events. The astral body remains tethered to the physical body during all travels until death occurs.

Beneficial Strengths or Abilities: being able to relax easily, concentration that forces distractions to fall away, having a thirst for knowledge, having strong convictions that there is something more and feeling driven to find it, having a strong memory

Character Traits Suited for this Skill or Talent: peacefulness, curiosity, focus, wisdom, open-mindedness, spiritual, perceptive, controlled

Required Resources and Training: practicing relaxation techniques such as meditation, honing one’s dream recall, learning to find the point just before sleep and balance in that state to slowly and willfully encourage the astral body (soul) to leave the physical body, practicing AP by going somewhere close by and studying an object in detail, and then waking to recheck the object to confirm if the details are exactly as one remembers

Associated Stereotypes and Perceptions:

There are many who disbelieve in astral projection and instead feel the experiences people have are merely due to vivid dreams. Because science cannot prove that people believing they are having an out of body experience are actually traveling anywhere, many believe the shared experiences of AP (such as flying) is merely “guided imagery” (an experience that happens because the person was told to expect that experience to happen).

Scenarios Where this Skill Might be Useful:

For communicating in a safe plane beyond the reach of one’s enemies
Using AP to travel to dangerous places and assess what is happening, and then to report back
to gain a higher understanding of spirituality and what everything means
to gain insight into what the future holds so one can act accordingly
to visit places too far away to travel to, including other worlds or planes of existence

You can brainstorm other possible Skills and Talents your characters might have by checking out our FULL LIST of this Thesaurus Collection. And for more descriptive help for Setting, Symbolism, Character Traits, Physical Attributes, Emotions, Weather and more, check out our Thesaurus Collections page.

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