Hypnagogic State
A condition between waking and sleeping characterized by
illusions of vision or sound. These appear to have been first
noted by J. G. F. Baillarger (18091890) in France and W.
Griesinger (18171868) in Germany about 1845. They were
studied by the scholar and antiquary Alfred L. F. Maury, who
gave them the name illusions hypnagogiques. They are distinguished
from hypnopompic visions, which appear at the
moment when sleep recedes and momentarily persist into waking
life. Both illusions are related to the faculty of dreaming.
Some hypnagogic visions have been noted as the precursor to
out-of-the-body travel or astral projection.
Sources
Monroe, Robert A. Journeys Out of the Body. Garden City,
N.Y. Doubleday, 1971.
Muldoon, Sylvan, and Hereward Carrington. The Projection
of the Astral Body. London Rider, 1929.
Tart, Charles T. Altered States of Consciousness. Garden City,
N.Y. AnchorDoubleday, 1972.
White, John, ed. The Highest State of Consciousness. Garden
City, N.Y. AnchorDoubleday, 1972
