I have profoundlyhesitated over the telling of this tale for many years. I have a lifetime ofexperiences like this to share, but some (likethis one) may seem way over the top to some people, no matter how itswritten. This is simply because they lack any kind of experience that wouldallow them to relate to it. Because of this, part of me says to keep thesethings to myself, while another part urges me to share everything freely. So,although I am still undecided on this matter, I've decided to take a risk andlet you, the reader, be the judge.

The following experience happened in the mid 80's. This isone of the most extraordinary OBE (Out of Body Experience) experiences I have had to date. It occurredduring a powerful real time projection around midnight. It depicts some highlyunusual events. Please trust that I have taken great pains to add nothing tothis powerful experience; and have not taken poetic license nor romanticized itin any way. On the contrary, I shortened and toned it down a great deal duringthe writing of it.

Many of you are, or will soon become, projectors in your ownright. Some of you, I am quite sure, will have experiences every bit asawe-inspiring as this one may seem to you right now. And after reading this, atleast you will have something to measure your own extraordinary experiencesagainst. And maybe one day you'll think to yourself, hey, that Astral Knightsstory of Robert's is not so weird after all. When out-of-body it really doespay to be prepared for the unexpected -- understatement! And if you think:"Hey, Robert's getting really strange on us here" then I challengeyou to prove me wrong or otherwise: get out of your body and see for yourselfwhat's really and truly out there.

My friends, there is a whole lot more to OBE and otherdimensions than meets the eye. Other dimensions, even the relatively simple andstable real-time zone, have aspects to them that are hidden for the most part,even to the most serious and dedicated of experienced projectors. I honestlythink its more a matter of sincerity, heartfelt open-mindedness, belief and awillingness to believe, than it is of skill or ability or natural talent. But Ido not extend this thought to include the imaginations and fantasies of avaporous mind.

The following is, going by all I know and trust and holddear, a fully objective Real-Time experience, had immediately after leaving myphysical body. I was fully awake when I left my body, fully awake and coherentduring the experience, and fully awake when I reentered it. There was no breakin consciousness at any time, and I had a full shadow memory download. I didnot leave the real-time environment; nor my own house (nor my own mind for that matter) at any time during thisexperience.

It begins. Buzzing out of my body around midnight, I floatedtowards the dining room and stopped cold. A being, looking much like atraditional gargoyle, was hovering near the kitchen entrance, high up on thewall. It was an ugly brute about the size of a large dog, humanoid but withover-long legs and arms, dark leathery body and a leering caricature of a facewith dull-red glowing eyes. It was hunched motionless with knees held to its chestjust inside the wall about head-high. It seemed to be watching me but I don'tthink it was aware I had spotted it yet. I floated forward to confront it andit sprang to life. It moved with the strobe-like jerkiness common to manynegative entities; when seen clairvoyantly or during a real-time OBE. Turning,it moved through the wall away from me…and into the nursery. A fierce shiver ofenergy coursed through me and all fear vanished as I thought about what thisthing might be doing to my children.

A cold, calm rage filled me and my heart center (of my projected double) throbbedheavily as energy poured into me; coming from my physical body. I desperatelywanted to drive this thing away, or kill it if I could. There had been anuncomfortable atmosphere in our house lately that came and went. My childrenhad not been sleeping well, having nightmares, night terrors and et cetera. I racked my brain for a way to attack it and rememberedsomething I'd read many years ago by Dione Fortune, in her excellent book,Psychic Self Defense. Dione said to ask for your sword and armor whilstout-of-body, or if this failed, to create them for yourself. I decided to trycreating one first, not having much faith that some mysterious being or forcefrom above might actually give me a sword and armor. I'm a realist at heart andalthough I'd seen a lot of strange and wonderful things, especially duringout-of-body experiences, I'd never seen anything that might lead me to believesomething as fantastical as this might ever happen.

I held out my hand and visualized a big, double-handed broadsword, just as Dione had suggested in her book. The sword slowly formed andcame into sight over a few seconds, like an image appearing on photographicpaper in development fluid. I turned to move after the creature but the swordfaded as soon as I ceased holding it in shape with my mind. I remade it severaltimes but it kept fading away. Frustrated and with a sense of growing urgency,I gave up on the idea of creating a sword. In exasperation, I decided to trythe other method. 'What did I have to lose,' I thought? Quieting my mind Iraised my hand, sincerely and most-reverently asking God aloud for my sword.What happened next totally blew me away and changed my understanding of OBEforever!

The following events, apart from being greatly shortenedand toned down here and there, are as accurately given as I can remember andwrite them.

A long, deep horn blast sounded far off behind me and hungin the air as a rumbling cloud slowly formed in front of me, just above mydining table. It looked like a heavy rain cloud: mottled dark-gray and solidlooking, like a miniature thundercloud about the size of a small motor car. Ithad shape, depth and movement and generated an atmosphere of great power andpresence. Flashes of internal lightning and sparks of colored light came fromwithin the cloud, lighting up the dimly-lit room with every flicker and flash.The cloud hummed and rumbled, pulsating with awesome power. A deep voice thenboomed from inside the cloud. It was mega-loud, deep and resonant, soundingjust as anyone might imagine the voice of God would actually sound.

To date, I still have no idea what this cloud was, where itcame from, why it appeared before me, nor of who the being was that spoke to mefrom within it was. I am not in any way, shape or form, claiming or intimatingthis was the actual voice of God -- but it does make one wonder, as this ismost definitely a 'burning bush' kind of experience.

The voice from within the cloud addressed me by my fullname. It then began a long address, speaking powerfully and eloquently in clearEnglish. It went through a lengthy spoken ritual and finished by listing theextensive virtues and accomplishments of something or someone named, Lauràelle.This went on for several minutes with no repetitions. I was absolutelyawe-struck and speechless by all this. I don't remember all the dialogue as thevoice had a whole lot to say, but as memory serves me the ritual went somethingalong the lines of this:

"You are summoned here by the Continuance."
"To stand forth; free and unfettered by flesh."
"For the timeless ceremony of knighthood."
"As in your beginning, so stand you now."
"Having passed the required trials and tests."
"As defined by the ritual of Continuance."
"Judged fit for service by your peers."
"Judged fit to rejoin the Continuance."
"Judged fit to renew your vows."
"Judged fit to receive your sword."

There was lots more, but in brief, the voice continued:

"Who holds this man to rejoin the Continuance?"

The far off horn sounded one loud, sharp blast.

"I do!"

Spoke a strong male voice from close behind me. Startled (understatement of the century!) Iturned to see a large man with an enormous broad sword, wearing a full suit ofheavy plate armor and chain mail standing behind me. He raised the great swordand moved to stand beside me. He lifted his visor and nodded as if he knew me.I smiled and nodded back at him. By this time I was beyond speechless andnothing would have surprised me. The voice continued:

"Who holds this man to rejoin the Continuance?"

The horn sounded another deep blast that made me jump; outof my skin if I had one.

"I do!"

Spoke a woman's voice from beside me. Turning, againstunned, another armored knight with a raised sword moved to stand on the otherside of me. This one was a woman by the sound of her voice and the shape of herarmor. She was much smaller than the man and wearing a different type of armor.Her's was almost white with a platinum sheen to it. They kneeled each side ofme, he on my left and she on my right. They faced the cloud with heads bowedand swords held by blades, points resting down with hilts before their faces asif they were praying.

This same ritual was repeated many times until a dozen armedand armored knights, both men and women, stood all around me with swordsraised. Each one appeared and answered as the horn sounded a blast and thegreat voice repeated the question. They slowly formed a semi-circle with me inthe center, all kneeling and facing the awesome cloud. At certain points in theritual they spoke, sometimes singly and sometimes together, answering the manyquestions put to them by the incredible voice.

The voice told us all to rise. The first two knights who hadspoken out, moved to stand close on either side of me, with each resting a handon my shoulder. They lifted their visors and smiled warmly at me. The big manlooked me straight in the eye and nodded his bearded head firmly. The womansmiled and winked at me. I nodded and smiled back. They both seemed very real,human and familiar, but from where or when I knew them I could not recall. Atthe time of writing this book, I still don't know who or what they are or wherethey come from, even though I've seen them many times since and have grownextremely fond of them all.

The great voice continued:

"Forged and wrought for the glory of God, shaped by angelic handsand blessed with the gift of life by the Holy Spirit, I give you thesword...Lauràelle! Lauràelle stands out against the darkness! Defender of life!Slayer of dragons! Scourge of all demons! Bringer of light and wielder ofdeath! Child of the holiest of holy swords...I give you thesword...Lauràelle!"

The voice went on at some length here, listing virtues and deedsand battles and all kinds of stuff that made no sense at all to me. I rememberonly a very small part of the entire dialogue.

At the end of this, the voice stopped and a brilliant shaftof light appeared, coming from high above and piercing a hole through theswirling clouds, up where my ceiling used to be. Something long and sparklingswirled and sank slowly towards me from a great height. The voice startedtalking, and again it had a whole lot to say. I was prompted to kneel in prayerat this point and then to raise my right hand and repeat some lengthy vows, asgiven me by the voice. It felt right so I went along with this in allsincerity. My outstretched arm and hand I noticed at this point was covered inburnished steel. Glancing down at myself, I found I was wearing a full suit ofarmor. With a final sparkling sunburst, the sword Lauràelle spun down into myopen hand, slamming into it like an old friend shaking my hand. I stood up andthe wonderful cloud slowly faded from sight with a final verbose blessing.

I hefted the sword and swished it about, marveling at itsglittering length and feel. Engraved along its blade were strange designs andwords etched in a language I did not recognize. These moved under my fingers asI ran my hand over them. The sword felt alive and vibrant with energy.

I had originally tried creating a huge two handed broadsword like my bearded friend held, so tried to manipulate the shape of thissword with my mind. It faded slowly and formed into the huge sword I had earliertried to create, but snapped back into its original form the moment I relaxedmy will. Lauràelle has a set form I cannot alter. She looks something like youmight expect an ornate knight's sword to be, possibly French, with abeautifully engraved blade and bejeweled cross hilt. Lauràelle has a qualityand presence that demands respect, making it very clear she is not just somepretty toy or adornment.

Looking around, wondering what I should do, dumbfounded atthe enormity of this whole experience, I saw the other knights were sheathingtheir swords and waving, as if about to leave. They began fading and winkingout all around me, disappearing to God knows where or when: maybe back tonormal lives like mine, maybe not. I soon found myself alone and moved throughthe wall to check on my children. They were all sleeping soundly, thankgoodness. There was no sign of the thing I'd seen earlier.

Taking one last incredulous look at Lauràelle, I let her go.She faded from sight along with my armor. Returning to my physical body, I gotout of my recliner in the living room and switched on a lamp. I had been out ofmy body for less than thirty minutes. Writing down this whole amazingexperience, over a pint of cold milk and a cheese sandwich, I remember smilingand saying to myself: "Mat one is EVER going to believe any of this!"I could hardly believe it myself, but it did happen.

Later, as I sat in the near-darkness, pondering on what hadjust transpired, I suddenly felt a bit lonely and out of place. The house seemedto have a surreal quality and, just for a moment, I wondered if this realitywere any more real than the one I'd just experienced. "Oh my dear God itsall so very real", I said to myself. And as I walked through the house onmy way to bed after tucking in my children, I stopped and looked back at thedining table where the awesome cloud had been earlier. I felt something naggingat the back of my mind, like a far-off memory. Something was telling me thatwhat had just happened was more important than I realized, and that someday OBEwas going to play a very important part in my life. Of course, this was manyyears before Astral Dynamics was even a proverbial twinkle in my eye!

Since having the above experience, I only have to raise myhand and think of Lauràelle, at anytime whilst out of my body, and she appearsinstantly, sliding into my hand. This continues to amaze me every time ithappens, but I must admit I've become rather attached to the old girl over theyears. I have also put her to good use many, many times since all of thisstarted. But about that part of my life I cannot really speak any more on atthe moment; sorry. I have, however, been considering writing two more books,called "Advanced Astral Dynamics" and "The Astral Missions".These would, of course, include further investigations into the Astral Knights phenomenon.

I know the above experience sounds crazy, but its the Godstruth; I swear this on my life and all I hold dear. I almost did not share thisexperience because of this. And the Astral Knights chapter was cut from mybook, Astral Dynamics, for this same reason -- re its just too crazy toconceive of! I still know very little about the astral knights, their purpose,history and origins. They seem a loose-knit group of projectors who areoccasionally gathered together: but gathered by whom or by what or for whatpurpose I have no idea. By loose-knit I don't mean to say its casual. Far fromit, the Astral Knights seem a fairly disciplined group. I meet up with theAstral Knights, during OBE, a couple of times a year on average. I have no ideawho or what controls this group, but some higher-force most definitely appearsto be behind it all. There are usually a dozen or so knights present, but manymore will appear at times.

I'd like to make it very clear here that I do not controlthis group and cannot call them up at will, or get them to do my bidding -- Iwish! I have been in many situations over the years where I have tried tosummon this group, to help people in cases of apparently genuine need, withvarying results; usually negative. Also, these knights will not always appearwhen I call them, even while I am out of my body. This makes research extremelydifficult. To be perfectly honest, I know very little about this phenomenon andam still trying to come to terms with it myself.

A Case History

Following is another example of an astral combat type ofexperience, but this time from another projector's viewpoint. This illustratesthat this type of out-of-body event is not quite as uncommon as it may appearto be. I have come across many other projectors over the years who also appearto be astral knights, and the majority of these men and women are very matterof fact about it. They do not consider themselves as being anything special. Itis just something they are moved to do occasionally during OBE's. Please notethat coming across seriously negative type entities during a projection, asshown in the above and below experiences, is extremely rare...unless you goactively looking for trouble, as Rod seems to have done.

Rod:
I have found my sword at last! I tried many times to summon and create one, buteventually it just appeared in my hand. It has an embossed leaf pattern formingthe entire outside of it. It also has a leaf-like shape which is like nothing Ihave ever seen before, but my sword it is. After your armor and swordsuggestion in your last letter, I also created a suit of armor. It justappeared on me and is made of leaf-like plates, in a similar pattern to thesword. Suffice it to say - I like it!

I was out-of-body recently and, K, was with me. I feltsomething was missing and raised my arms above my head. I saw a light above meand a beam of silvery-white light shot down from a portal about 30 feet aboveme. It touched my hand and formed into my leaf sword. It felt right andcomfortable and I knew it could never be taken from me. Now I have it I can'vanish' it and bring it back any time I like. In all other projections, sincethis, I did the same thing and the sword came back to me each time. I havesince used it against several malevolent entities I have come across on mytravels.

The other night I was out of my body, in real time, andpassing over the city. I saw a black fountain, huge and cloud like, coming outof a building, extending maybe 50 feet above the roof. I went to investigateand the fountain disappeared. I felt it was some kind of a marker and thatsomething was inside the building, and I was being called to it. I went inthrough an open window on the fourth floor and found something in that room. Itwas horrible and black - very difficult to describe - and worse than any filmmonster I've ever seen. It was standing, snarling over a cowering person lyingon a bed. I tried to push it away but it pushed me back a 'lot' harder and Iwas thrown out the window. I went back in and invoked my sword. It came at meand I swung the sword over my head and cut the thing in two. Then I swung thesword from right to left and cut the thing into four. On some level I knew thiswouldn't work and as I watched, the creature flowed back together, trapping mysword inside it.

I knew the sword was mine and couldn't be taken from me, soI 'vanished' it and formed it in my hand again. Intuitively, I raised the swordabove my head and visualized a tunnel above me, going straight up. It formed,and at the other end of the tunnel I saw a very bright light. Something orsomeone flew down the tunnel. They were vaguely humanoid and surrounded bygolden fire. It looked around and then shot back up the tunnel again. I sent abeam of golden energy out of my sword, and used it to push the creature upwardinto the tunnel. It resisted very strongly, but I kept pushing until finally itfell in. It tried to crawl back down again but I pushed it one more time andthen closed off the entrance. The tunnel vanished, the room went dark again andmy sword disappeared. I looked at the person curled up on the bed and saw bigpurple and black bruises on them, although maybe this was in their aura. I triedto send energy and love and healing to them and hope it helped. Then I left andwent back to my body. It was an exhausting and rather disturbing series ofevents. I got up and wrote this down and then wandered around my house, feelingdisoriented and odd for quite some time...Rod

Receiving a sword and armor when requested appears to be thesign a projector has long-term connections in the astral planes and/or higherrealms, but of which they may be totally unaware. It may also mean they have insome way passed a test and been promoted to active astral duty, or so to speak.Asking for your sword should ideally be done at the very start of a real timeprojection, after moving away from your physical body. You should raise yourhand (feel yourself doing this but don'ttry and look at your hand) and ask aloud with deep sincerity and reverencefor your sword. If you are ready for it you will receive it; its as simple asthat. If your first request is not answered, try again the next time you areout, and keep on trying until you are ready.