Something's Blocking Me

[Mockingjay]

I've attempted astral travel a few times, but in the past I haven't really had the patience or determination for it. Today, however, I tried it again.

I was connecting with the spirit of a crystal (smoky quartz) for the first time, by meditating whilst holding it. This seemed to work and I felt the crystal's energy inside my mind. I interacted with it, but only in the constraints of my own head. After a while, it left me. Since I was already in a calm, restful state, I decided to attempt astral travel again. I went through the whole rigmarole of imagining each part of me relaxing and focusing my energy on being released from my body, but...it felt like something was blocking me.

I'm currently working with a deity who is temporarily bound to me (for reasons completely unrelated to this exercise) so I asked him to help me break these bonds and he broke some of them, but couldn't (wouldn't?) break them all. So it was like my astral self was loose and free, but still trapped within my body. I'm not sure why this is, and as always, I'm not sure whether this actually was an astral experience, or just my overactive imagination?

Any ideas of how to overcome this? Or am I just imagining things? Thanks in advance.

Edit: It might be worth mentioning that after I "woke up" I was freezing cold, despite it being a relatively mild day. I don't know if this is relevant or not.

[Seraphin]

My astral travel/projection "break-through" happened some six years ago. Since then, I've had my "ups" and my "downs" with respect to this consciousness work -- some good and successful astral projections and some less-than-good ones. However, overall, astral projection for me remains to be an extremely important part of my practice and path for getting in touch with my Deities, Orishas, guides, angels, and daemons with my own inner being, inner awakening of my spiritual self, transformation of my self-concept, and for getting my priorities straight.

Since that time, I've increased my astral travel and consciousness work understanding, which includes a deeper understanding of the energies and forces around us, and a better appreciation of the purpose of this particular psychic manifestation.

So two tips:

• Take time to jot down notes and ideas about your experience. Make a journal. Obviously, the more serious you are is about astral traveling, the easier this step is to achieve and the easier for you to know the answers. Patience and relaxation are crucial keys for successful Astral Projection.
• Set a goal. Astral Projection is more than just having your astral body go and explore out of your body. You need to have a goal so that your consciousness will know where your astral body is going and will do. Taking the time to understand and appreciate those goals and purposes may overcome all the obstacles that block you from traveling -- and make your time of astral travel a tremendously self-fulfilling opportunity.

Sometimes though, it bothers me when I don't fully understand what's happened, and I'm learning to accept that sometimes I am just not going to know for sure one way or the other and to simply be pleased that I had the experience and learned something from it. Sometimes letting go of the part I don't fully understand requires a good deal of effort. For that, it helps me to leave a blank space in my journal alongside the questions I'm left with. It's an act of hope (or maybe faith) that at some point understanding will come, and I can go back and fill in the blanks. Makes it easier to walk away from the questions rather than stew over them.