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The Astral Body: And Other Astral Phenomena
In print since 1927, this study of our subtle body is based on the works of Theosophical authors and noted clairvoyants, including H. P. Blavatsky, C. W. Leadbeater, and Annie Besant, and is one of a series of 5 books dealing with the bodies of Man and his role in the Scheme of Evolution. The astral body is the vehicle of feelings and emotions seen by clairvoyants as an aura of flashing colors.
265 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 12, 2009
This is series of 5 books edited by Colonel Arthur E. Powell. He very methodically combined information from a number of theosophical authors in the early part of the 20th century. These books are a wealth of esoteric information. They are more head centered than heart centered. However these books must be read in the following order: Etheric Double, Astral Body, Mental Body, Causal Body, and Solar System. Each builds on the last. Although not all are mentioned in Goodreads, I recommend ordering the Quest book editions. You can get them on Amazon or from Quest Books.
First published in 1927 this book covers the astral body, its constitution and function, its use during sleep, and its use after death. It also covers the astral plane and its inhabitants. It is a good basic book on the astral body and the astral plane. Towards the end of the book there is a very interesting logical breakdown of emotions.
First published in 1927 this book covers the astral body, its constitution and function, its use during sleep, and its use after death. It also covers the astral plane and its inhabitants. It is a good basic book on the astral body and the astral plane. Towards the end of the book there is a very interesting logical breakdown of emotions.
August 11, 2023
Definitely a classic! I read this book every so many years just to reinforce all the incredible information that is in this book. This is the second volume in a series of five books I believe which Powell did an incredible job of compiling all the information from a large number of books written by Annie Besant and C W Leadbeater as well as occasional tidbits from Blavatsky and other authors. It focuses solely on the Astral body, world and anything that touches on that realm though it does have occasional asides about other realms though these are kept to a minimum and are only to elucidate a point he is making. For those who don't know this is a Theosophical book.
June 10, 2013
To date I have read this book 4 times, and with each read my understanding proliferates. It gives one of the best descriptions of the astral world and it's inhabitants I've ever read. This text was written by one of the most celebrated psychic, and Theosophist A E Powell. This is the 2nd book in a series of works that outlines the various bodies of a person, as well as the "body" of the Solar system, and it's 6th dimensional workings. The complete list in the series are, The Etheric double, The Astral Body, The Mental Body, The Causal body, and The Solar system. All the books are consistent in their style and detail.
As you read about the wonders of the 4th dimension, a sense of awe, and inspiration unfolds. The level of detail is just such that a vivid visualization blossoms before the minds eye, and greatly enhances the curiosity of the reader. One such description is the viewing of a watch. When any object is seen from the astral world all views are seen at once. For instance you would see every view of every object in side, and outside of the watch simultaneously. Or in the case of a book, you would be able to see every page of a closed book, as though the pages were all laid out with the correct orientation. Time as a component of the 4th dimension does not enter the equation until you reach the higher sub-planes, when you can see the "history" of the object in all its stages of existent, from birth to dissolution. Because their are no specific sense organs in the astral body, the "entire" astral body can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel concurrently. Keep in mind you would experience the astral counter part of the five senses, which would be much more intense, because the experience does not have to go through the physical senses. The text also talks about the science behind, such phenomenon as disintegration(teleportation), materialization, and levitation, all by utilizing the etheric pressure which surrounds us constantly.
Also remember that astral matter responds to the slightest thought. One simply has to think of some thing, or somewhere, and the surrounding matter reacts to become the thinker's thoughts. What on this plane is a nomenon in the mind's eye, becomes a phenomenon in the astral world that is objective. This manifestation is explain because 4 dimensional matter is more alive, and is known as elemental essence . It has quasi intelligence, and can seem to be a living thing to the uninitiated. It is this type of information that makes this book a good source to any "neophyte" who wishes to "remember" how to travel into the inner realms.
Another section of the book talks about the vast types of inhabitants. From the astral corpse( shell, shade), to people in the dream state, people who have died, people who are waiting to reincarnate, thought forms, nature spirits, Astral bodies of animals, The Devas, Adepts and their students, The dark magician and his student, elemental essence, Elementals, Artificial Elementals (created by people to carry out their will). These and other "life forms" are covered in detail by the author.
The 7 sub planes are talked about and what can be expected when one is balanced between them. The lowest of the sub astral plane extents below the surface of the earth. Its easy to see why hell was thought to be below ground. Only the most base and lonesome people go there, by default of their choice in maintaining a coarse, and low vibration. The highest sub-plane of the astral world is said to reach to the surface of the moon. Beyond that the heaven (5th dimension))world begins. According to the book, depending on your temperament, and personality type, you will naturally migrate to one of these sub levels. This condition can be changed by a change of character, and an act of will. Also knowledge of what to expect is a great plus.
The author talks about the why of what people see of the astral world. A person can be awake on the astral plane, and live only in their imagination. They would be totally oblivious to the rest of the 4th dimension. There are groups of people who live in their stereotypical definition of heaven, with the angels flying around on clouds playing harps, and drinking milk and honey throughout eternity , while endlessly praising their version of God. This is what the person wants, and this is what they create. This will be experienced untill their soul cries out for change and expansion, this is called evolution. Also the author talks about how a person works out all the things they would have like to have done in the physical world, if only they had the fortitude, and resources to complete them. From being a rock star , to feeding the indigents, to solving all the world's problems and creating a utopia, to finally house training the family pet. All things are worked out in a grand series of what if scenarios. A person cannot go beyond themselves, until they first go through themselves.
Another section of the book describes what an average person goes through when they die. The type of environment they create, the type of cities they inhabit. Keep in mind, some of these astral cities have been around for centuries, such as Agam Des, Retz, Damcar, Shamballa, Sat Dham, Akeviz, Kimtaved, Nampakbe, and of course Sahasra-dal-Kanwal of the lower heaven world. Adding to the wonder of such a "place" is that each person who has passed through, leaves a little of their creative design.
It is highly stress that a person's moral character be develop to a high degree, least they abuse the possibilities that come with being able to transfer their consciousness to their astral body. The book goes further into detail as to what happens when you die in the astral world, the average stay there is from 20 to 30 years). If a person has over come certain character flaws, and has some knowledge of esoteric things, their stay in the astral world can be as little as 1 to 2 years, with some people by passing it altogether. The stage you pass into after the astral world(the heaven world) is beautifully describe in the 3rd series of his 5 books called the Mental body, of which I give a succinctly interesting review on. Walk, run, or astral project to audition this book, and view it the way you would a road map for a trip you are about to embark on. There's enough gaps in the map that there is a sense of adventure and the unknown, but enough information that you don't get lost.
As you read about the wonders of the 4th dimension, a sense of awe, and inspiration unfolds. The level of detail is just such that a vivid visualization blossoms before the minds eye, and greatly enhances the curiosity of the reader. One such description is the viewing of a watch. When any object is seen from the astral world all views are seen at once. For instance you would see every view of every object in side, and outside of the watch simultaneously. Or in the case of a book, you would be able to see every page of a closed book, as though the pages were all laid out with the correct orientation. Time as a component of the 4th dimension does not enter the equation until you reach the higher sub-planes, when you can see the "history" of the object in all its stages of existent, from birth to dissolution. Because their are no specific sense organs in the astral body, the "entire" astral body can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel concurrently. Keep in mind you would experience the astral counter part of the five senses, which would be much more intense, because the experience does not have to go through the physical senses. The text also talks about the science behind, such phenomenon as disintegration(teleportation), materialization, and levitation, all by utilizing the etheric pressure which surrounds us constantly.
Also remember that astral matter responds to the slightest thought. One simply has to think of some thing, or somewhere, and the surrounding matter reacts to become the thinker's thoughts. What on this plane is a nomenon in the mind's eye, becomes a phenomenon in the astral world that is objective. This manifestation is explain because 4 dimensional matter is more alive, and is known as elemental essence . It has quasi intelligence, and can seem to be a living thing to the uninitiated. It is this type of information that makes this book a good source to any "neophyte" who wishes to "remember" how to travel into the inner realms.
Another section of the book talks about the vast types of inhabitants. From the astral corpse( shell, shade), to people in the dream state, people who have died, people who are waiting to reincarnate, thought forms, nature spirits, Astral bodies of animals, The Devas, Adepts and their students, The dark magician and his student, elemental essence, Elementals, Artificial Elementals (created by people to carry out their will). These and other "life forms" are covered in detail by the author.
The 7 sub planes are talked about and what can be expected when one is balanced between them. The lowest of the sub astral plane extents below the surface of the earth. Its easy to see why hell was thought to be below ground. Only the most base and lonesome people go there, by default of their choice in maintaining a coarse, and low vibration. The highest sub-plane of the astral world is said to reach to the surface of the moon. Beyond that the heaven (5th dimension))world begins. According to the book, depending on your temperament, and personality type, you will naturally migrate to one of these sub levels. This condition can be changed by a change of character, and an act of will. Also knowledge of what to expect is a great plus.
The author talks about the why of what people see of the astral world. A person can be awake on the astral plane, and live only in their imagination. They would be totally oblivious to the rest of the 4th dimension. There are groups of people who live in their stereotypical definition of heaven, with the angels flying around on clouds playing harps, and drinking milk and honey throughout eternity , while endlessly praising their version of God. This is what the person wants, and this is what they create. This will be experienced untill their soul cries out for change and expansion, this is called evolution. Also the author talks about how a person works out all the things they would have like to have done in the physical world, if only they had the fortitude, and resources to complete them. From being a rock star , to feeding the indigents, to solving all the world's problems and creating a utopia, to finally house training the family pet. All things are worked out in a grand series of what if scenarios. A person cannot go beyond themselves, until they first go through themselves.
Another section of the book describes what an average person goes through when they die. The type of environment they create, the type of cities they inhabit. Keep in mind, some of these astral cities have been around for centuries, such as Agam Des, Retz, Damcar, Shamballa, Sat Dham, Akeviz, Kimtaved, Nampakbe, and of course Sahasra-dal-Kanwal of the lower heaven world. Adding to the wonder of such a "place" is that each person who has passed through, leaves a little of their creative design.
It is highly stress that a person's moral character be develop to a high degree, least they abuse the possibilities that come with being able to transfer their consciousness to their astral body. The book goes further into detail as to what happens when you die in the astral world, the average stay there is from 20 to 30 years). If a person has over come certain character flaws, and has some knowledge of esoteric things, their stay in the astral world can be as little as 1 to 2 years, with some people by passing it altogether. The stage you pass into after the astral world(the heaven world) is beautifully describe in the 3rd series of his 5 books called the Mental body, of which I give a succinctly interesting review on. Walk, run, or astral project to audition this book, and view it the way you would a road map for a trip you are about to embark on. There's enough gaps in the map that there is a sense of adventure and the unknown, but enough information that you don't get lost.
May 3, 2021
Neizostavno za svakog ozbiljnog okultnog ucenika
September 16, 2015
A person needs a good background in the theory of astral plane to understand it. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand what is going on.
January 29, 2020
A summary of previous works by Anne Besant and Charles Leadbeater, this book presents a nice overview of the Theosophical view of the astral plane. I personally liked the original works on which this book is based better, as they are less academic and more experiential. I used to be a huge fan of Theosophy, and while i still find their teachings helpful and generally in alignment my personal truth, i am a little turned off by their tendency to explain very abstract and fluid concepts in ways that are entirely too concrete to be accurate. Nevertheless this is a good book and i look forward to reading the companion book about the etheric plane
December 18, 2017
Not much to say, yet. Still digesting it :))
May 10, 2023
This follow-on volume, published in 1927, to the author's The Etheric Double: The Health Aura of Man, extends the survey of the unseen world around us to the next level: that of the astral realm.
The methodology is the same: the author combed through about 40 Theosophical texts to distill the information on the astral body and astral realm into a series of short, well-organized chapters. Again, for those of us who think of ourselves as living in a purely physical world, it is mind-expanding stuff. According to the clairvoyants whose visions form the basis of these teachings, we are all living in the astral world already. It is the world of our sensations, emotions, and desires. We each have an astral body, composed of astral matter, which is not different from the physical matter we're familiar with except in being much more diaphanous. Like physical matter, it has grades, corresponding to our solid, liquid, and gaseous phases (as well as a few more). Our astral body is formed like our physical one, except that it fades out beyond the boundary of the physical, producing the phenomenon known as the astral aura, which some people can see. Every night, when we sleep, our astral body detaches from the physical and has experiences of its own in the astral realm; when we die, our astral body detaches permanently, and goes on to a further destiny in the astral realm. There are bodies and realms beyond the astral, so our astral body, too, will die. What happens then? That is the subject of the author's next book: The Mental Body.
The Theosophists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were optimistic that their discoveries would help usher in an age in which humanity would break the chains of materialism which hold us to a low level of spiritual development. That has not happened yet, but the teachings, which are based on the empirical findings of many people, are still with us in the form of this book and others like it. My own inclination is to believe that their findings are mostly correct. Our true existence is in a world much vaster than the one we usually think of--and which in itself is already big enough, to be sure. This book provides a brief and authoritative overview of one part of that vaster world: the astral plane. Since it is the plane of feelings and desires, it's one in which we all have an enormous stake. This book does much to help the reader gain insight into that part of life, and into the mystery of the cosmos altogether.
The methodology is the same: the author combed through about 40 Theosophical texts to distill the information on the astral body and astral realm into a series of short, well-organized chapters. Again, for those of us who think of ourselves as living in a purely physical world, it is mind-expanding stuff. According to the clairvoyants whose visions form the basis of these teachings, we are all living in the astral world already. It is the world of our sensations, emotions, and desires. We each have an astral body, composed of astral matter, which is not different from the physical matter we're familiar with except in being much more diaphanous. Like physical matter, it has grades, corresponding to our solid, liquid, and gaseous phases (as well as a few more). Our astral body is formed like our physical one, except that it fades out beyond the boundary of the physical, producing the phenomenon known as the astral aura, which some people can see. Every night, when we sleep, our astral body detaches from the physical and has experiences of its own in the astral realm; when we die, our astral body detaches permanently, and goes on to a further destiny in the astral realm. There are bodies and realms beyond the astral, so our astral body, too, will die. What happens then? That is the subject of the author's next book: The Mental Body.
The Theosophists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were optimistic that their discoveries would help usher in an age in which humanity would break the chains of materialism which hold us to a low level of spiritual development. That has not happened yet, but the teachings, which are based on the empirical findings of many people, are still with us in the form of this book and others like it. My own inclination is to believe that their findings are mostly correct. Our true existence is in a world much vaster than the one we usually think of--and which in itself is already big enough, to be sure. This book provides a brief and authoritative overview of one part of that vaster world: the astral plane. Since it is the plane of feelings and desires, it's one in which we all have an enormous stake. This book does much to help the reader gain insight into that part of life, and into the mystery of the cosmos altogether.
August 4, 2013
prodotto di un'attenta analisi della letteratura filosofica presente nei primi del '900, questo testo è il secondo di una serie di fortunati scritti di Powell. ottimo nella trattazione dei fenomeni connessi con questo corpo e semplice nella spiegazione
April 10, 2014
A must for those interested in understanding human nature at a deeper level.
May 30, 2014
Interest concepts..I don't believe everything in the book but found it very interesting.
August 19, 2015
You don't have to believe to read. Read you ever wondered what is that astral body that psychics talk about.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews