Callaway, Hugh G. (1885-1949)

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.