An Astral Envelope

How I receive messages from Asher in The Realms

I shouldn’t be surprised, I suppose, given the way this all works, that the words ‘Astral Envelope’ just appeared in my mind one night. I certainly didn’t think them up in any usual way and Asher doesn’t generally work with words. I suspect he put the concept into my mind and somewhere in the process my brain selected a couple of words from my personal working vocabulary that were the best fit. Sorry if that’s unclear. Working with the ineffable, and trying to make it, uh, effable is quite a challenge.

Anyhow, the name is a good fit for the idea. If you can imagine receiving a big, chunky, exciting-looking mystery envelope through the post, you’ll get something of my sense of anticipation when Ash sends me a non-physical package telepathically and my mind opens it up to see what’s hiding there.

For those new to our story, Asher is a young man, living in London, whom I’ve worked with for many years. His neurodivergent way of being allows him to travel out-of-body into a non-local dimension he calls The Realms and to contact me telepathically.

He uses this Astral Envelope (AE) method when he wants to share wide-ranging, complex concepts with me. It’s more immediate and effective than that hunting-out-the-right-words thing. Rather like a dream, it can reach my senses — sounds, mind-movies, visions, movements, touch, colours and so forth. Once I report back on my experiences, he helps me to interpret the symbology.

First I get as close as I can to a relaxed, neutral state — put down the notebook and pen, take off my glasses, sit back on the pillows, yawn a few times and take a couple of deep breaths. Then I wait.

Perhaps an example would help?

On one particular evening, I’d asked Asher to send me a random AE, to see what I got from it, and he agreed to do so. It’s relevant that this message came during 2021, in the midst of the COVID lockdown in the UK, and when I was in the early stages of planning my book.

I heard the words ‘dark horse’ first. Then I saw the horse, galloping from the area of my heart away to the left — far off, across a plain. Next, someone was coming along behind the creature and smoothing or sweeping the grass. It felt that they wanted the horse to run free, but the plain had to be smoothed out again afterwards. I sensed that this was virgin grass and had never been stepped on before. It had to be kept pristine.
As that image faded, a new one appeared to the right. There was some kind of meeting room or hostel. Young people were gathered there. They were cold and hungry and were being looked after. I was amongst those helping them — handing out hats I’d knitted for them.

When the astral envelope was empty, I returned to my notebook and wrote what I’d seen and felt, then asked Ash whether that was what he’d sent, and what its meaning was:

Jes: I’m getting the idea that you are the horse, moving into uncharted lands, but I don’t know about the rest.
Asher: Yes, I’m the dark horse. The galloping has two meanings: moving fast and covering a lot of ground and also putting distance between myself and the rest of society. I kind of ruffle their feathers by not wanting to follow the tried and tested routes, so they sweep over my tracks. They’re unsure about me travelling that way but in a sense they’re glad someone is doing it. Perhaps they’re worried others will try to follow.
Jes: Who are ‘they’ — the rest of society, the materialists?
Asher: All of the above, yes.
Jes: So the second part: the city and the hostel. What did the kids represent and who was caring for them? I felt I was there, but I don’t know whether you were.
Asher: We both were. We are both, for different reasons, currently cut off from society, but we want to help. It was an image of wishing to give support and strength to the youth. It’s a shared task between the two of us and there was a connection between the two parts of the AE. I want to ease the way for the other young people who wish to follow my trail. I’d like to make it easy for them to follow and expand that path.
Jes: Not at all what I was expecting, but that makes sense. You had me to help, but I’ve been working blind, in that I had no idea what you were doing. It would be great for those who follow to have some guidance.
Asher: I think it would help. They won’t do what I did exactly, but I want them not to doubt themselves. I spent so much time doubting what I knew and putting it aside.
Jes: Yes, I understand. So we do it through this book I’m trying to create, do we?
Asher: Yes.