Callaway, Hugh G. (18851949)
Pioneer British experimenter in the field of astral projection
or out-of-the-body traveling, about which he wrote under
the pseudouym Oliver Fox. Born in Southampton, England,
November 30, 1885, Callaway studied at the Harley Institute
(later renamed Southampton University College), taking a
three-year course in science and electrical engineering. In the
summer of 1902 he experienced his first astral projection.
Callaway joined a theatrical touring company, but his career
as an actor was brief. Afterward he invested in two business ventures,
which were both unsuccessful. From 1908 to 1910 the
Callaways lived in poverty, but in 1910 Hugh inherited a small
legacy. He started writing short stories and poems, with which
he had some success. Some had mystical themes based on his
own astral experiences.
During the early part of World War I, he worked as a clerk,
studying occultism in his spare time. In March 1917 he served
in an army labor corps in Germany. After leaving the service
in October 1919, he moved to London and continued to publish
short stories, many of which have powerful occult themes.
Callaway also contributed articles on his out-of-the-body experiences
to the Occult Review, edited by the Honorable Ralph
Shirley, and in 1938 his pioneer work Astral Projection was published
(under the pseudonym Oliver Fox). He compiled an
equally remarkable work in association with Paul Black (G.
Murray Nash), with whom he established occult rapport in recording
The Golden Book of Azelda. Only fragments of this large
work of automatic writing have so far been published, in pamphlet
form. These extracts have a Gnostic character and are
said to employ a code of celestial symbolism. Hugh Callaway
died April 28, 1949.
Sources
Fox, Oliver [Hugh Callaway]. Astral Projection. London
Rider, 1938. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y. University Books,
1962.
Muldoon, Sylvan, and Hereward Carrington. The Projection
of the Astral Body. London Rider, 1929. Rev. ed. 1958.
Rogo, D. Scott. Leaving the Body A Complete Guide to Astral
Projection. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice-Hall, 1983.
