The Astral Light, by Henry T. Edge

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Chapter 10: Denizens of the Astral Light

It is not to be supposed that there is any world, any plane of great nature, not inhabited and peopled with living beings, even as is our own familiar physical plane. The whole universe teems with living beings, appropriate to their particular spheres. If human beings such as we could not live on the planets, this is no reason for inferring that there are no humans at all there; and the same with the other planes of nature. As physical beings live on the physical plane, so astral beings live on the astral plane, adapted to their habitat as we are to ours. It must, however, be confessed that this is a ticklish subject to deal with, and one of which it may be said with some truth that ignorance is bliss. For, as has been said, we are mercifully protected by our physical bodies from too close contact with the pernicious influences of the lower astral light, and to remove that protection prematurely is to court disaster.

Yet on the other hand, knowledge may protect; so we must try to hold a just balance between these opposite maxims. To direct people's attention to pernicious astral denizens may be equivalent to encouraging them in the very thing they ought to avoid; for the morbid imagination of weak people may conjure up hobgoblins that have no existence outside that imagination, and cases of obsession are much better cured by a diversion of attention to healthy pursuits than by a morbid introspection or psychoanalysis of the slums of consciousness. Nevertheless it is of benefit to know that many of the impulses which we dignify by attributing them to ourselves may be actually the result of evil promptings from entities which are not ourselves at all but merely intrusive elements. It will place us on our guard and enable us to defeat them by taking our stand firmly on our own selfhood.

Following the disintegration of the physical body, there is a temporary survival of the astral and lower psychic parts of the human constitution; and that in some cases this may persist for a long while, perpetuating its life by vampirizing the living, such contact being caused by weakness and intemperance in the living, or perhaps inadvertently courted through spiritualistic practices or dabbling in "psychism." Such a psychic remnant or "spook" is of course destitute of the moral element, because all the higher part of the deceased's nature has separated and passed elsewhere; so that it is merely actuated by the desire to satisfy its gross instincts. So here is one kind of denizen of the lower astral light. The existence of earth-bound spirits, ghosts, larvae, etc., has always been recognized, and the mind will recall instances of various modes of worshiping them or propitiating them, or warding them off. Intercourse with such creatures is harmful both to them and to us, for they should be allowed to die out naturally and not be kept in an unnatural existence.

Next we may consider that class of beings known by such names as elementals, fairies, nature spirits, nymphs, etc. It is found that classical antiquity believed in nymphs, dryads, and other beings inhabiting rivers, mountains, forests, trees, etc.; and that many peoples of today whom we call uncivilized believe in such beings; also that there is no nation but has its stories of fairies and nature spirits. This kind of belief is called animism by our "wise men," and defined as the practice of attributing life to nonliving things. But these wiseacres have put the cart before the horse. It is they who have attributed inanimation to living things. The ancient and popular view is right. Everything in the universe is a living being of one kind or another. To the ancients a tree was a living soul, which they called a dryad or some similar name; the visible tree was merely the outer garment of this living being. The dryad did not inhabit the tree, but was the tree.

So with other nature spirits; the astral light is the home of these beings, all of whom are on the path of evolution, each in its appropriate stage. It would be absurd to limit the number of kinds of animate beings to those alone who happen to be on the plane of physical matter. But this is a large subject and we must leave its special treatment for another occasion.

As for elementals, no physical action can take place without them; they constitute a necessary factor among those components which contribute to the performance of an action, and are represented in science by gaps which have to be provisionally filled by words of vague meaning, like "force" or "affinity." What after all do we mean by the properties of matter? A more suitable expression would be the dispositions, instincts, or proclivities of matter. For mind lies behind all, and physical phenomena are merely the expression of mental states. Hence there must be in the astral world the elementals of all actions in the physical world. When we hum a tune we create an elemental, which is quite apt to worry us by insisting on being sung at inappropriate moments; as though we were haunted by a fly settling on us.

This little illustration will suggest fruitful thought as to the nature of habits. Our actions generate elementals, endowed with our own vitality and tending to come again to repeat themselves and to be revitalized. Thus we get an idea of an elemental as a being which can only do one thing, and whose whole life consists in doing that thing over and over again. If this is not a good explanation of habits, we should always be ready to hear of a better.

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Chapter 11: Social Influence of the Astral Light

Since the astral light teems with influences put there by human thoughts and emotions, and since there is constant reaction of the astral light upon human beings, then it follows that the astral light must play a very important part in determining human conduct considered as a society. The appearance of epidemics of disease simultaneously in widely separated regions is but imperfectly accounted for by the theory of minute germs transported by people or blown on high air currents. And even so, we have still to explain the origin of such epidemics, whose incidence is so little connected with physical events and so unpredictable that we can only fall back upon such weak words as "chance" and "casual." But, as has been said, physical events are the copy of astral events; physical epidemics follow upon astral epidemics, and these latter again are engendered by distempers in human thought. A familiar analogy is provided by physical science. We cannot transmit a sound wave through the air from Europe to America, but we can transform that sound wave into radio waves, then transmit them, and then reconvert them into sound waves. Similarly, epidemics may be transmitted, and their transmission explained by regarding them as being conveyed on astral currents and reproduced as physical diseases elsewhere.

But apart from physical epidemics there are astral epidemics, or perhaps we should say psychic epidemics; and in the case of these also the usual physical explanations do not suffice to explain all the facts. The propagation of such epidemics is of course greatly increased by word of mouth and the influence of the press, but these material means will not explain all the phenomena; for we find waves of opinion, emotion, enthusiasm, sudden crazes, appearing without assignable cause in widely separated places at the same time.

History furnishes us with strange instances of epidemic hysterias, and in the present day we may find great religious revivals sweeping over countries, or a war fever spreading over the world. What is called crowd or mass psychology is well known and shows the existence of something which is much more than the mere sum-total of the minds of the component individuals, for these individuals are swept away against their own judgment.

It has been said that "thoughts are things," and it is true. Ideas float into our mind, and we cannot tell where they come from; we work them over in our mind, and they pass from us, we know not whither. Of course there is a constant interchange of thoughts between people, and thought-forms are passing on currents in the astral light, like objects floating in water; we suck them in, and pass them out again in modified form. And not merely thoughts, but emotions -- or, better still, thought-emotions; currents of energy which cause emotions in us and prompt to action. Which of us can claim to be master of his thoughts and emotions, immune against influences coming from an unseen source, able to stand independent of this general atmosphere in which we are immersed? Truly, our individual separation grows thin when we think of this thought-atmosphere which we all share, from which we receive, and to which we give. And think of the responsibility which is on each one of us! No person can sin alone; the privacy of his thoughts cannot shield him from guilt. A thought is an act, and every act produces consequences. Before blaming others for acts which we would not commit, do we not need to be sure of our own unexpressed desires and imagination? May we not ourselves have contributed to their delinquency?

But for consolation we may look at the other side of the picture and realize that no good thought, no high aspiration, no feeling of true generous love and compassion, can be entertained by us without passing out from us as a potent force to work healing in other lives; and such a thought is all the more potent because it acts on a higher plane.

There are many problems studied by scientists and by those interested in bettering social conditions, which would be greatly clarified by an acquaintance with the astral light and with its counterpart the astral body of man. For instance, the question of heredity, which is by no means fully elucidated by the findings of scientific research. But this is not the place to multiply instances of this kind; and they may be left to the reader to supply for himself.

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Chapter 12: Psychic Phenomena, Apparitions, Etc.

Subject to what has been said above about the great risks attending heedless dabbling in psychism, a word may be said as to the relation of the astral light to the above matters. There are innumerable accounts of apparitions of recently deceased persons, the foreseeing of coming calamities, ghostly warnings, the poltergeist or racketing spirit, and suchlike; and in these cases certain peculiar and comparatively infrequent conditions bring about a temporary connection between the astral and physical worlds. Relations of time, space, physical obstacles, etc., are seen to be different on the astral plane; communication between the living and the dead is difficult, and is often only achieved by the mediation of particular people endowed with a mediumistic constitution. A study of such records will provide much information and serve to confirm what we have said about the astral plane.

Glass, crystal, water, some metals, have a power of condensing (if that is the right word) the astral fluid, thus assisting the efforts of a seer; whence is explained the use of crystal globes, magic mirrors, and the like. The phenomena of psychometry, by which some people are able, by handling some object such as a letter or article of attire, to arrive at much information about the writer or wearer, is an instance of the power which the astral light has of preserving images of events. It is an intriguing thought that nothing can perish, for psychometry proves to us by unimpeachable evidence that even scenes belonging to a remote past can thus be recovered. Explanations along the lines of our physical experience are out of order and are necessarily futile. Observation must precede theory; a large range of unfamiliar phenomena must be studied before we can venture to attempt their formulation into a set of laws.

Foreknowledge, prediction, the seeing of events not yet enacted in the physical world, presents a great obstacle to our power of conception. It is evident that here we have to deal with the nature of time. Coming events cast their shadow before them, it is said; if we can see the shadow, we may forecast the coming event. But what is foreseen is not a certainty; it is only a probability of greater or less degree. Some of the stories of forewarnings show that the foreseen danger was averted by the precautions taken by the dreamer or seer. It would seem that the astral time and physical time do not exactly gear together.

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Chapter 13: Concluding Remarks

Students of theosophy, especially those new to the subject, may find themselves perplexed in seeking a definite idea of the relation of the astral light to other cosmic principles. There are several reasons for this. In the first place let it be said that it is not desirable to expect a too narrow and hard-and-fast definition, for by striving to do that we narrow down the idea into something which will fit conveniently into our existing stock of ideas; and thus we limit the conception. It is necessary therefore for the student to keep his mind fluid until he has had time to study the matter from various angles and to relate it to the many collateral subjects from which it is inseparable. If he fails to do this, he will find what will seem to be contradictions; that is, his studies will bring him to statements which do not agree with the too narrow ideas which he has already formed from his first incomplete study. The difficulty here is the same as is met with in any other study; statements which at first appear contradictory are later found to be merely supplementary.

Again, the term "astral light" itself was borrowed from certain old philosophers, and has been borrowed many times by one writer or another, so that its meaning came to be vague and various; as those who used it were perhaps not very well informed, or each one used it in a sense of his own. Accordingly, when we read such a book as H. P. Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, we cannot safely assume that the term is always used in exactly the same sense, and shall need some judgment to decide in what sense it is being used at a given time. Sometimes other writers are referred to, such as Eliphas Levi, and the word may be used in their sense. Sometimes we find it used as synonymous with akasa, and sometimes as sharply distinguished therefrom. Such perplexities, however, will disappear on a more intimate study of The Secret Doctrine, and no doubt will be left as to the real meaning.

At the present time too we have the advantage of Dr. de Purucker's works, in which the teachings of The Secret Doctrine are so clearly analyzed; and it is now possible to give to the term "astral light" a more precise meaning, which can be regarded as the accepted meaning. In The Esoteric Tradition, by G. de Purucker, pages 952 and following, we find a tabular arrangement of the principles of the universe, of which the following is a brief summary:

1. The supreme monad or root, from which emanate the other principles, and called paramatman.

2. Alaya, akasa, the origin of cosmic soul.

3. Mahat, or cosmic mind.

4. Cosmic kama, the desire or impelling force of the universe.

5. Cosmic jiva or vitality.

6. Astral light; cosmic ether.

7. Sthula-sarira; the physical universe.

This then shows astral light as the next cosmic principle above the plane of our physical universe. It also shows astral light as the medium through which play the life-forces or "lives," collectively called cosmic jiva, impelled as these are by cosmic desire. Finally astral light is a medium connecting cosmic mind with the physical plane of nature. On pp. 949-50 of the same book we see the corresponding principles in the human constitution, the place of astral light being occupied by the linga-sarira.

It is always important to remember that these various cosmic principles do not actually lie one above the other in layers, but are interblended. It is often necessary to represent them in a tabular form for purposes of explanation, but we must avoid letting that tabular form create a false picture in our mind. Physical science has made us familiar with the idea of different states of matter occupying the same space and interpenetrating one another; and this might be represented by a diagram in which they were placed one above another.

Furthermore, every septenary division in nature is subdivided, and subdivided again, on the same septenary plan so that we can speak of various planes of the astral light and use such expressions as higher or lower astral light.

We find the following in G. de Purucker's Occult Glossary.

The astral light is with regard to the material realms of the solar system the copy or reflection of what the akasa is in the spiritual realms. The astral light is the mother of the physical, just as the spirit is the mother of the akasa or, inversely, the physical is merely the concretion of the astral, just as the akasa is the veil or concretion of the highest spiritual.