A woman lies on a mat, eyes closed, a drum beating at four beats per second. Across town, another sits in a chair, her body still, her mind reciting a phrase she learned from a 1970s consciousness research institute. Both will later describe traveling: one through a tunnel into a realm of animal guides, the other floating above her own ceiling into a silver-lit space. Shamanic journeying and astral projection are both deliberate techniques for leaving ordinary consciousness, but they differ fundamentally in purpose, cosmology, and the role of the practitioner. One requires a helper; the other relies on the solitary will.
We keep a reference library. We also practice. Here is what separates the two roads.
Definition: One Travels with Company, the Other Alone
Shamanic journeying is a trance practice in which the practitioner (the shaman or journeyer) travels into a non-ordinary reality — often called the Lower, Middle, and Upper Worlds — with the aid of a drum, rattle, or song, typically to retrieve knowledge, healing, or power. The journeyer does not control the destination alone; the drum carries them, and spirit allies guide them.
Astral projection (also called out-of-body experience or OBE) is the intentional separation of the consciousness (often called the astral body) from the physical body, allowing the projector to travel in a realm that mirrors the physical world or extends beyond it. The projector relies on relaxation, concentration, and often specific visualization techniques. No external percussion is required.
Both produce veridical experiences — sights, sounds, and sensations that feel more real than a dream. But the worlds they enter do not obey the same rules.
Where the Two Histories Split
The history of shamanic journeying is older than writing. Cave art in France, the “Sorcerer” of Trois Frères (estimated 13,000 BCE), shows a human figure with animal features, leaning over a drum-like object. The term shaman itself comes from the Evenk language of Siberia, meaning “one who knows.” The Russian ethnographer Maria Czaplicka (1914) documented Tungus shamans who used drums to fly to the sky or descend to the underworld. The practice was not a theory. It was the village hospital.
Comparatively, astral projection has a younger, more textual lineage. The concept of the astral body appears in Hermetic texts such as the Corpus Hermeticum (circa 2nd–3rd century CE), where the soul ascends through the planetary spheres. The medieval Jewish Zohar (13th century) describes the soul leaving the body during sleep. But the modern form of astral projection was crystallized in the late 19th century by the Theosophical Society. Helena Blavatsky codified the “astral plane” in Isis Unveiled (1877) and The Secret Doctrine (1888). Then in 1929, the American mystic Sylvan Muldoon (with Hereward Carrington) published The Projection of the Astral Body, a detailed manual based on his own childhood experiences. In the 1970s, Robert Monroe, founder of the Monroe Institute, gave the practice a technical vocabulary and a research center. His Journeys Out of the Body (1971) offered step-by-step instruction using Hemi-Sync audio tones.
That difference in origin matters. Shamanic journeying is embedded in a community: the shaman journeys for the sick, the village, the clan. Astral projection is mostly a solo pursuit, driven by personal exploration or spiritual development.
What the Two Realms Look Like
The shamanic cosmos is vertical. The World Tree or axis mundi connects the Lower World (home of animals, ancestors, and raw power) to the Middle World (where we live) and the Upper World (home of celestial teachers and deities). A shamanic journeyer enters these worlds through a specific opening: a hole in the earth, a hollow tree, a waterfall. The terrain is stable and populated by intelligent beings. You can return to the same cave where a teacher lives. The place has geography.
The astral plane is something else. It is often described as a mirror of the physical world but mutable, subjective, and shaped by thought. A projector may see their bedroom exactly as it is, then a wall becomes a window into another scene. There is no fixed vertical or horizontal structure. Some traditions (the Theosophists, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) divide the astral plane into sublevels of density, but these are not the stable worlds of shamanism. The astral plane shifts as the projector shifts. It is a medium, not a place.
Both travelers may encounter beings. In shamanic journeying, the beings are sovereign, they exist whether you visit or not. In astral projection, the beings may be projections of your own mind, other travelers, or independent entities; sources disagree. The Theosophist Charles Leadbeater (1903) claimed the astral plane teems with elementals, thought-forms, and the dead. The Monroe Institute data suggests many “entities” are simply fragments of the traveler’s own consciousness.
How You Get There: Rhythm vs. Relaxation
The practices themselves feel different in the body.
Shamanic journeying begins with percussion. A drum at a specific frequency, around three to four beats per second, the theta brainwave range, is the engine. The journeyer lies down, closes their eyes, and listens. The drum does not hypnotize. It carries. Within a few minutes, the sound shifts from external to internal; the body feels heavy or numb; images arise. The journeyer does not force them. Michael Harner, the anthropologist who founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in 1979, called this “the shamanic state of consciousness.” His field recordings from the Conibo and Jívaro people in the Amazon show that drumming alone, without drugs, can induce the state reliably.
Astral projection uses stillness. The projector lies or sits, relaxes the body systematically (the “body asleep, mind awake” formula from Muldoon and Carrington), and then uses a technique: imagining themselves climbing a rope, rolling out of their body, or floating upward. Robert Monroe’s method involved lying in a dark room, focusing on a “vibrational state” he described as a full-body buzzing. Once the vibrations were present, the projector would will themselves out. No drum. No song. Just attention.
There is a difference in control. In shamanic journeying, you do not decide what you will see. You set an intent (a question, a patient, a problem) and let the drum and your guides do the steering. In astral projection, you are the pilot. If the technique fails, you reapply it. The projector claims agency; the journeyer claims relationship.
The Intended Outcome
This may be the deepest difference.
Shamanic journeying is almost always service-oriented. A shaman journeys to retrieve a lost soul for someone else, to diagnose an illness, to negotiate with a spirit for the community’s resources. Even the modern practitioner in a city apartment journeys with someone in mind. The Harner method teaches that the journey is not done for yourself. The traditional Siberian shaman did not seek spirit helpers for his own amusement. He was a doctor, a priest, and a mediator.
Astral projection is predominantly personal. The goals include exploring the astral plane, contacting the dead, verifying survival after death, or simply enjoying the sensation of flight. There are exceptions: some traditions use projection to heal at a distance or influence events. But the overwhelming literature, from Muldoon to Monroe to the modern subreddit r/AstralProjection, frames the practice as self-development.
That difference shapes ethics. Shamanic traditions have protocols around when and for whom you journey. You do not enter a journey for someone without their consent. You do not try to force a spirit. Astral projection has fewer prohibitions, which has led to a reputation for hazard, which we will address below.
Notable Figures Who Drew the Line
Several practitioners have tried to bridge the two practices. Carlos Castaneda, in his books (1968–1998), described a shamanic path that included “dreaming”, an intentional control of the dream state that resembles astral projection. Anthropologists continue to debate whether Castaneda’s work is ethnography or fiction. The controversy illustrates the tension: shamanic journeying is an indigenous practice; astral projection is a Western occult synthesis.
The anthropologist Michael Harner explicitly argued against conflating the two. In The Way of the Shaman (1980), he wrote that shamanic journeying requires a specific cosmology, a relationship with spirit helpers, and a community context. Removing those elements, he claimed, reduces it to a psychological technique, which is what astral projection can become.
On the other side, the British occultist Aleister Crowley (1912) published On the Astral Plane as part of his Equinox series, treating astral projection as a core magical skill. He saw it as a tool for the individual magician, not for a village.
Common Misconceptions
“They are the same thing.” They are not. The states of consciousness overlap, both involve a dissociation from the body, but the maps are different, the methods are different, and the social context is different. A shamanic journeyer does not attempt to “leave the body” in the astral sense; they travel in a non-physical body that remains tethered to the drumming. The astral projector leaves the body and watches it from outside.
“Shamanic journeying is primitive.” The term “primitive” is a colonial label. Siberian shamans, Amazonian vegetalistas, and San healers have refined their techniques over millennia. The drum is not a lesser tool than EEG-based entrainment. It is a different technology.
“Astral projection is dangerous.” The most common fear is that you will not return, or that a parasite or demon will enter your body. There is no documented case of a projector failing to return. The fear is ancient (the medieval Malleus Maleficarum accused witches of leaving their bodies to harm others) but modern research, including Monroe’s and the Institute of Noetic Sciences, has found the practice safe for most people, with the main risk being sleep disruption or accidental lucid dreams. We do not promise magic. We report the evidence.
“Shamanic journeying always requires plants.” Not true. While Amazonian and some African traditions use ayahuasca, iboga, or peyote, the majority of Siberian and Mongolian shamans use drumming, rattling, and dance. The drum is the primary vehicle. Michael Harner demonstrated this in his own practice.
FAQ
Can you combine both practices in one session? Some practitioners do, but the techniques conflict. The relaxed, still state of projection is incompatible with active drumming. You can use shamanic journeying within a projection (visiting the Lower World while out of body), but the two states are not entered the same way.
Which one is easier for a beginner? Shamanic journeying tends to be easier because the drum provides a rhythm that overrides the analytical mind. Astral projection requires intense concentration and often many failed attempts before success.
Are the beings you meet in both realms the same type? Not usually. In shamanic journeying, the beings have distinct personalities and roles (animal spirits, ancestors, teachers). In astral projection, beings are often described as thought-forms, echoes of the living, or fragments of the projector. Independent existence is debated.
Does either practice conflict with religion? Shamanic journeying is itself a spiritual practice and may conflict with religions that restrict contact with spirits. Astral projection has been used in Buddhist and Hindu traditions (the subtle body) and in Christian mysticism (St. Paul’s “third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2). Compatibility depends on the practitioner’s traditions.
Two Roads, One Library
We do not rank them. The drum journey and the rope climb lead to different landscapes, and the traveler must decide what they need. If the purpose is to serve a community or heal a specific wound, shamanic journeying offers structure and relationship. If the purpose is to explore the boundaries of consciousness and verify the reality of the non-physical, astral projection provides a tested method.
Both tools belong in a serious reference library. We keep the drum and the manual on the same shelf.
For a deeper look at how to enter the shamanic state, read our guide to shamanic journeying. To understand the astral body and its history, see the glossary entry on astral projection. And for the broader framework of non-ordinary consciousness, explore our spirit guides hub.