SCENERY.
INHABITANTS.
PHENOMENA.
CONCLUSION.
Preface
The history of western magic started about 4000
years ago. And since then
it has been adding something to western magic. Originally, the
Latin
word magus nominated the followers of the spiritualist-priest
class,
and later originated to elect ‘clairvoyant, sorcerer’ and in a
judgmental sense also ‘magician, trickster’. Thus, the initial
meaning of the word ‘magic’ was the wisdoms of the Magi, that is
the abilities of attaining supernatural powers and energy, while
later it became practical critically to deceitful wizardry. The
etymological descriptions specify three significant features in the
expansion of the notion ‘magic’:
1)
Magic as a discipline of celestial natural forces and in the course
of formation
2)
Magic as the exercise of such facts in divinations, visions and
illusion
3)
Fraudulent witchery. The latter belief played a significant part in
the Christian demonization process.
The
growth of the western notion ‘magic’ directed to extensive
assumptions in the demonological and astrophysical argument of the
Neoplatonists. Their tactic was grounded on the philosophy of a
hierarchically ordered outer space, where conferring to Plotinus
(C205–C270 AD) a noetic ingredient was shaped as the outcome of
eternal and countless radiation built on the ultimate opinion; this
in its chance contributed to the rise of psychic constituent, which
formed the basis of the factual world.
Furthermore,
these diverse phases of release came to be measured as convinced
forces, which underneath the impact of innocent and evil views
during
late ancient times were embodied as humans. The hierarchical cosmos
of Iamblichus simply demonstrates the legitimacy of this process.
In
his work, the Neoplatonic cosmology has initiated a channel through
the syncretism distinctive of the late antiquity and in the essence
of Greco-Oriental dualism. Superior productions are taken closer to
inferior ones by various midway creatures. The higher the site of
the
mediators, the further they bear a resemblance to gods and whizzes;
the minor they are, the nearer they stand to the psychic-spiritual
part. The aforementioned group of intermediaries has been settled
in
order of series on the origin of cosmic gravity.
Proclus
(c410–485 AD) has described the system of magic origin conversed
above in better aspect: in the hierarchical shackles of cosmic
rudiments the power and nature of a firm star god disturbs
everything
mediocre, and with growing distance the impact slowly becomes
weaker.
The Humanists approached the Platonic notions from the outlook of
the
bequest of late antiquity, and were thus first familiarized to the
Neoplatonic form of the doctrine.
And
since Ficino’s work has been inscribed in the spirit of emanation
theory, and the author has been persuaded of the existence of the
higher and lower spheres of magic and powers defined in Picatrix,
he
claims that planets and cosmic movements have much to do with power
and magic spirit.
Today’s
occult marketplace also offers, in addition to books, multifarious
paraphernalia for practicing magic: amulets, talismans, pendulums
and
magic rods. Though added with modern essentials and
pseudoscientific
advices to give some weight to the fundamentals, they are nothing
but
the leftovers of the western ethnicities of magic.
INTRODUCTION
Reference to the astral plane, or Kâmaloka as
it is called in Sanskrit, has frequently been made by Theosophical
writers, and a good deal of information on the subject of this
realm of nature is to be found scattered here and there in our
books; but there is not, so far as I am aware, any single volume to
which one can turn for a complete summary of the facts at present
known to us about this interesting region. The object of this
manual is to collect and make some attempt to arrange this
scattered information, and also to supplement it slightly in cases
where new facts have come to our knowledge. It must be understood
that any such additions are only the result of the investigations
of a few explorers, and must not, therefore, be taken as in any way
authoritative, but are given simply for what they are worth. On the
other hand every precaution in our power has been taken to ensure
accuracy, no fact, old or new, being admitted to this manual unless
it has been confirmed by the testimony of at least two independent
trained investigators among ourselves, and has also been passed as
correct by older students whose knowledge on these points is
necessarily much greater than ours. It is hoped, therefore, that
this account of the astral plane, though it cannot be considered as
quite complete, may yet be found reliable as far as it goes.
The first point which it is necessary to make clear in
describing this astral plane is its absolute reality. Of course in
using that word I am not speaking from that metaphysical standpoint
from which all but the One Unmanifested is unreal because
impermanent; I am using the word in its plain, every-day sense, and
I mean by it that the objects and inhabitants of the astral plane
are real in exactly the same way as our own bodies, our furniture,
our houses or monuments are real—as real as Charing Cross, to quote
an expressive remark from one of the earliest Theosophical works.
They will no more endure for ever than will objects on the physical
plane, but they are nevertheless realities from our point of view
while they last—realities which we cannot afford to ignore merely
because the majority of mankind is as yet unconscious, or but
vaguely conscious, of their existence.
There appears to be considerable misunderstanding even among
Theosophical students upon this question of the reality of the
various planes of the universe. This may perhaps be partly due to
the fact that the word "plane" has occasionally been very loosely
used in our literature—writers speaking vaguely of the mental
plane, the moral plane, and so on; and this vagueness has led many
people to suppose that the information on the subject which is to
be found in Theosophical books is inexact and speculative—a mere
hypothesis incapable of definite proof. No one can get a clear
conception of the teachings of the Wisdom-Religion until he has at
any rate an intellectual grasp of the fact that in our solar system
there exist perfectly definite planes, each with its own matter of
different degrees of density, and that some of these planes can be
visited and observed by persons who have qualified themselves for
the[3] work, exactly as a foreign country might be visited and
observed; and that, by comparison of the observations of those who
are constantly working on these planes, evidence can be obtained of
their existence and nature at least as satisfactory as that which
most of us have for the existence of Greenland or Spitzbergen. The
names usually given to these planes, taking them in order of
materiality, rising from the denser to the finer, are the physical,
the astral, the devachanic, the sushuptic, and the nirvânic. Higher
than this last are two others, but they are so far above our
present power of conception that for the moment they may be left
out of consideration. Now it should be understood that the matter
of each of these planes differs from that of the one below it in
the same way as, though to a much greater degree than, vapour
differs from solid matter; in fact, the states of matter which we
call solid, liquid, and gaseous are merely the three lowest
subdivisions of the matter belonging to this one physical plane.
The astral region which I am to attempt to describe is the
second of these great planes of nature—the next above (or within)
that physical world with which we are all familiar. It has often
been called the realm of illusion—not that it is itself any more
illusory than the physical world, but because of the extreme
unreliability of the impressions brought back from it by the
untrained seer. This is to be accounted for mainly by two
remarkable characteristics of the astral world—first, that many of
its inhabitants have a marvellous power of changing their forms
with Protean rapidity, and also of casting practically unlimited
glamour over those with whom they choose to sport; and secondly,
that sight on that plane is a faculty very different from and much
more extended than physical vision. An object is seen, as it were,
from all sides at once, the inside of a solid being as plainly open
to[4] the view as the outside; it is therefore obvious that an
inexperienced visitor to this new world may well find considerable
difficulty in understanding what he really does see, and still more
in translating his vision into the very inadequate language of
ordinary speech. A good example of the sort of mistake that is
likely to occur is the frequent reversal of any number which the
seer has to read from the astral light, so that he would be liable
to render, say, 139 as 931, and so on. In the case of a student of
occultism trained by a capable Master such a mistake would be
impossible except through great hurry or carelessness, since such a
pupil has to go through a long and varied course of instruction in
this art of seeing correctly, the Master, or perhaps some more
advanced pupil, bringing before him again and again all possible
forms of illusion, and asking him "What do you see?" Any errors in
his answers are then corrected and their reasons explained, until
by degrees the neophyte acquires a certainty and confidence in
dealing with the phenomena of the astral plane which far exceeds
anything possible in physical life. But he has to learn not only to
see correctly but to translate the memory of what he has seen
accurately from one plane to the other; and to assist him in this
he is trained to carry his consciousness without break from the
physical plane to the astral or devachanic and back again, for
until that can be done there is always a possibility that his
recollections may be partially lost or distorted during the blank
interval which separates his periods of consciousness on the
various planes. When the power of bringing over the consciousness
is perfectly acquired the pupil will have the advantage of the use
of all the astral faculties, not only while out of his body during
sleep or trance, but also while fully awake in ordinary physical
life.
It has been the custom of some Theosophists to speak[5] with
scorn of the astral plane, and treat it as entirely unworthy of
attention; but that seems to me a somewhat mistaken view. Most
assuredly that at which we have to aim is the purely spiritual
plane, and it would be most disastrous for any student to neglect
that higher development and rest satisfied with the attainment of
astral consciousness. There are some whose Karma is such as to
enable them to develop the purely spiritual faculties first of
all—to over-leap the astral plane for the time, as it were; and
when afterwards they make its acquaintance they have, if their
spiritual development has been perfect, the immense advantage of
dipping into it from above, with the aid of a spiritual insight
which cannot be deceived and a spiritual strength which nothing can
resist. It is, however, a mistake to suppose, as some writers have
done, that this is the only, or even the ordinary method adopted by
the Masters of Wisdom with their pupils. Where it is possible it
saves much trouble, but for most of us such progress by leaps and
bounds has been forbidden by our own faults or follies in the past:
all that we can hope for is to win our way slowly step by step, and
since this astral plane lies next to our world of denser matter, it
is usually in connection with it that our earliest superphysical
experiences take place. It is therefore by no means without
interest to those of us who are but beginners in these studies, and
a clear comprehension of its mysteries may often be of the greatest
importance to us, not only by enabling us to understand many of the
phenomena of the séance-room, of haunted houses, etc., which would
otherwise be inexplicable, but also to guard ourselves and others
from possible dangers.
The first introduction to this remarkable region comes to
people in various ways. Some only once in their whole lives under
some unusual influence become sensitive enough to recognize the
presence of one of its inhabitants, and per[6]haps, because the
experience does not repeat itself, come in time to believe that on
that occasion they must have been the victims of hallucination:
others find themselves with increasing frequency seeing and hearing
something to which those around them are blind and deaf; others
again—and perhaps this is the commonest experience of all—begin to
recollect with greater and greater clearness that which they have
seen or heard on that other plane during sleep. Among those who
make a study of these subjects, some try to develop the astral
sight by crystal-gazing or other methods, while those who have the
inestimable advantage of the direct guidance of a qualified teacher
will probably be placed upon that plane for the first time under
his special protection, which will be continued until, by the
application of various tests, he has satisfied himself that the
pupil is proof against any danger or terror that he is likely to
encounter. But, however it may occur, the first actual realization
that we are all the while in the midst of a great world full of
active life, of which most of us are nevertheless entirely
unconscious, cannot but be to some extent a memorable epoch in a
man's existence.
So abundant and so manifold is this life of the astral plane
that at first it is absolutely bewildering to the neophyte; and
even for the more practised investigator it is no easy task to
attempt to classify and to catalogue it. If the explorer of some
unknown tropical forest were asked not only to give a full account
of the country through which he had passed, with accurate details
of its vegetable and mineral productions, but also to state the
genus and species of every one of the myriad insects, birds,
beasts, and reptiles which he had seen, he might well shrink
appalled at the magnitude of the undertaking: yet even this affords
no parallel to the embarrassments of the psychic investigator, for
in his case matters are further complicated, first by the
difficulty of correctly[7] translating from that plane to this the
recollection of what he has seen, and secondly by the utter
inadequacy of ordinary language to express much of what he has to
report. However, just as the explorer on the physical plane would
probably commence his account of a country by some sort of general
description of its scenery and characteristics, so it will be well
to begin this slight sketch of the astral plane by endeavouring to
give some idea of the scenery which forms the background of its
marvellous and ever-changing activities. Yet here at the outset an
almost insuperable difficulty confronts us in the extreme
complexity of the matter. All who see fully on that plane agree
that to attempt to call up before those whose eyes are as yet
unopened a vivid picture of this astral scenery is like speaking to
a blind man of the exquisite variety of tints in a sunset
sky—however detailed and elaborate the description may be, there is
no certainty that the idea presented before the hearer's mind will
be an adequate representation of the truth.
SCENERY.
First of all, then, it must be understood that
the astral plane has seven subdivisions, each of which has its
corresponding degree of materiality and its corresponding condition
of matter. Now numbering these from the highest and least material
downwards, we find that they naturally fall into three classes,
divisions 1, 2 and 3 forming one such class, and 4, 5 and 6
another, while the seventh and lowest of all stands alone. The
difference between the matter of one of these classes and the next
would be commensurable with that between a solid and a liquid,
while the difference between the matter of the subdivisions of a
class would rather resemble that between two kinds of solid, such
as, say, steel and sand. Putting aside for the moment the seventh,
we may say that divisions 4, 5 and 6 of the astral plane have for
their background the physical world we live in and all its familiar
accessories. Life on the sixth division is simply our ordinary life
on this earth, minus the physical body and its necessities; while
as it ascends through the fifth and fourth divisions it becomes
less and less material, and is more and more withdrawn from our
lower world and its interests.
The scenery of these lower divisions, then, is that of the
earth as we know it: but it is also very much more; for when looked
at from this different standpoint, with the assistance of the
astral senses, even purely physical objects present a[9] very
different appearance. As has already been mentioned, they are seen
by one whose eyes are fully opened, not as usual from one point of
view, but from all sides at once—an idea in itself sufficiently
confusing; and when we add to this that every particle in the
interior of a solid body is as fully and clearly visible as those
on the outside, it will be comprehended that under such conditions
even the most familiar objects may at first be totally
unrecognizable. Yet a moment's consideration will show that such
vision approximates much more closely to true perception than does
physical sight. Looked at on the astral plane, for example, the
sides of a glass cube would all appear equal, as they really are,
while on the physical plane we see the further side in
perspective—that is, it appears smaller than the nearer side, which
is, of course, a mere illusion. It is this characteristic of astral
vision which has led to its sometimes being spoken of as sight in
the fourth dimension—a very suggestive and expressive phrase. But
in addition to these possible sources of error matters are further
complicated by the fact that astral sight cognizes forms of matter
which, while still purely physical, are nevertheless invisible
under ordinary conditions. Such, for example, are the particles
composing the atmosphere, all the various emanations which are
always being given out by everything that has life, and also four
grades of a still finer order of physical matter which, for want of
more distinctive names, must all he described as etheric. The
latter form a kind of system by themselves, freely interpenetrating
all other physical matter; and the investigation of their
vibrations and the manner in which various higher forces affect
them would in itself constitute a vast field of deeply interesting
study for any man of science who possessed the requisite sight for
its examination.