THE ASTRAL WORLD EXPLAINED BY EDUARD HERMANN

 

Eduard Hermann was an American theosophist associated with William Judge and about the astral he wrote the following:

 

Although the term" Astral world" seems new and is little understood by many, yet it has been in use for centuries by the ancient philosophers as well as by those of the Middle Age. In our time it was the celebrated French Kabalist, Eliphas Levy, who wrote most about it; and, after the inauguration of the Theosophical Society, many writers appeared who had something to say concerning the mysterious astral world and its denizens. All agree that there is, besides our physical and visible world, another, invisible, but also physical, although consisting of much finer matter than that which we are accustomed to. The Secret Doctrine explains it as follows:

 

''All matter is condensed spirit; the condensing process of spirit is a very slow one, taking aeons of time and producing many states of matter. One of the principal agents in this slow evolution is vibration. The modes of vibration are not always the same, they are subject to great changes, and these changes of vibration necessarily produce changes in the matter of which the universe is composed. The highest thinkable rate of vibration would produce matter so fine, that no human being could ever be able to recognize it as such, whilst the lowest rate of vibration calls forth matter of coarse quality.''

 

The state of development in which our world is now, is the result of a comparatively slow rate of vibration which allows matter to become visible — we call it physical matter.

 

Now, if we accept the teaching that thoughts are matter, a teaching which is proven by the possibility of transferring thoughts from one mind to another, we come to the conclusion that thought matter must be of a higher rate of vibration, because it cannot be seen. Two things are thereby proven: (1) that we are constantly surrounded by finer matter, and, (2) that this finer matter is invisible. But this invisible matter is not really the matter of the astral world; it is finer than astral matter, for the latter sometimes becomes visible.

 

 

 

The astral forms

 

Take for example a vivid dream. There is no person who has not seen different kinds of forms in his dreams; forms which are sometimes so distinct that we seem to have physical objects before our eye. Well, they are physical; only the matter of which they consist is much finer than the matter of the outer world; they are astral forms, made of astral matter; and the reason that we are able to see them is that in sleeping we enter the astral world, that state in which the vibrations are higher than in our waking state.

 

Proof of this assertion is, that our thinking process is then many times quicker than when we are awake. In a few seconds we may dream a whole novel which it would require hours to read. A gentleman who had once been on the point of drowning, told me that in the short interval between sinking down and being brought to the surface by his friends, he had lived his life all over again. He had played as a child, had studied in school, in the university, had entered business, social life, had married, educated his children and was on the point of dying, when he suddenly awoke to life again.

 

This story proves furthermore that not only in sleeping, but in dying we enter the astral world — a statement which was made long ago by H.P. Blavatsky.

 

(Cid's observation: Eduard Hermann is wrong here because this recapitulation of our life when we are about to die takes place on the physical plane, not on the astral plane, and it is only after the brain has transferred its memories to the inner being that the person physically passes away and his consciousness is transferred to the astral world.)

 

 

Now, materialists will say that all this does not prove much, since it is only our imagination that creates the dream pictures.

 

True, it may be imagination that calls astral forms into being, but who knows what imagination really is? Who knows if it was not also some kind of imagination that created the forms of our physical world? And is the difference between the two worlds really so great that we should regard the manifestations of the one as hallucinations and those of the other as ever existent things? Are not both fleeting shadows, impermanent forms, subject to continual change and decay, with the sole difference, that the one changes more quickly than the other? And for this very reason the finer matter is able to exert a much greater influence on us than the forms of the outer world, as we shall see further on.

 

The materialists who deny the existence of astral forms are ignorant; for scientists who have investigated the phenomena of spiritism, have proven beyond a doubt that such forms really exist. They have been seen, touched, weighed, photographed at night and in broad daylight. Any one who is interested in these things can get enough information by reading Du Prel's works, or the proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, or, best of all, "Aksakow's Animism and Spiritism." If after reading them he still doubts, let him go to a genuine spiritistic seance and see for himself.

 

Now, according to Theosophic teaching, the astral world precedes the physical in the order of manifestation, that is to say, all forms appear first as astral forms, clothed in fine astral matter. This permeates physical matter as air permeates water; so that we really live in all the different kinds of matter which preceded the formation of our physical matter. The objects of the astral world much resemble those of our earth, but they are transparent, owing to the finer matter with which they are surrounded; for the same reason they change their form with startling rapidity.

 

All our thoughts, all our feelings and desires, cause vibrations in the astral essence and are apt to create forms which are more or less distinct according to the strength and precision of our thoughts. A man, for instance, who has hundreds of vague or loose thoughts, produces only loose clouds of astral essence, while another who concentrates his thoughts for some time on a certain thing really gives form to that thing, which form may become so distinct that it can be seen with the physical eye. An illustration of this is the great English painter Blake, who always distinctly saw, or at least believed he saw the objects which his imagination created and which he was about to paint. The same thing happens to great poets who often see the persons of their imagination as living and moving entities.

 

 

 

 

Our influence on others through the astral

 

We constantly create forms in the astral world by vibrations set up by our thoughts, and those thought forms are ensouled by our own life — they are alive for a time and able to exercise a certain influence on the astral bodies of those people to whom they are attached. The vibrations which called them into being are thereby transmitted to those persons, and in this way good or bad thoughts are spread far and wide, from mind to mind. But not only thoughts are thus transmitted, but feelings and desires, which may then produce a veritable epidemic of some kind or other. Take for example the French Revolution, where the thirst for blood spread over a whole nation and caused such dreadful killing of men, women, and even innocent children; or the terrible persecution of witches in the sixteenth century, when in Germany alone over two millions of women and girls were burned and drowned.

 

The astral forms which we create by thoughts, feelings, and desires are called artificial elementals; they are beings who live by the life power with which we endow them. As soon as this power is exhausted, they disintegrate and disappear. If, for instance, a man ie murdered, and the force of his last thoughts concentrates in the desire to let the world know that such a crime has been committed, then his dying thought can create an astral form which becomes visible and able to give expression to his last desire. We then have a spectre, a ghost, a haunted house.

 

Or if a bad man sends out a thought of deadly hatred toward another man, this thought may become a dangerous elemental which tries to enter the astral body of the victim. It may even kill the latter, if he does not know how to protect himself. This kind of sorcery was practiced in the middle ages and is even now done consciously among some people of Central America, China, New Caledonia, Borneo, and unconsciously by many western people. Investigations and experiments in hypnotism have proved that it is possible to transfer thoughts of pain and suffering to other people, and I do not doubt that this is now sometimes done by revengeful persons, in order to hurt someone. The time will surely come when thought-crimes will be committed everywhere, and this is one of the reasons why we should investigate the hidden laws of nature and develop the divine powers latent in every man, for they alone can protect us from those practices of the black art.

 

(Cid's observation: it is very difficult to be able to kill a person with the simple force of our thought because it already requires being a very powerful sorcerer  to do that, and most of the negative thoughts that people produce only harm the victim but they do not annihilate it.)

 

 

Happily, eternal justice is always silently working. An artificial elemental which is created by hateful thoughts cannot enter the astral body of a man who has no hate in his mind. In such a case the injurious thoughts which were sent out rebound back to their creator whom they strike with a force proportionate to that of their projection. The same law pertains to good thoughts. If a thought of love or friendship, of protection or help is sent out towards a person who is not worthy of it, that thought is not lost, but returns and adds to the power of that good soul which had sent it out.

 

This teaching shows how important it is to know some of the laws which govern the hidden or astral world; but, it must not be forgotten that the more we know of the laws, the greater becomes our responsibility if we deliberately send out thoughts that may cause suffering. It is known that many a sickness originates through thoughts of anger, hate, jealousy or envy. In many of such cases artificial elementals are created who injure us or others. They also produce national or racial feelings, for we are all constantly surrounded by thousands of elementals who embody certain ideas and call out from us similar vibrations. Most people are very receptive to such influences, and the less they know of them, the easier do thoughts of others reach them. In consequence, such people become automatons who reproduce the thoughts of others and thereby intensify national prejudices.

 

The struggle for life is so hard, and. the moral and religious teachings which young people receive are very often so unphilosophical and unsatisfactory, that we must not wonder if thoughts of fear, hatred, envy, revenge, superstition, go out into the astral world and create myriads of those demons which we call artificial elementals, whose only object is to enter the minds of other people in order to arouse there the same destruction through vibrations. Truly if it were not for the thoughts of love, goodness, wisdom, kindness and forgiveness which are sent out by greater and stronger souls, the human race would have destroyed itself long ago. It is the duty of all men, but especially of Theosophists because they are taught the secret working of astral forces, to become masters over their thoughts, in order not to people the astral world with those dangerous phantoms which are bound to cause evil and eventually to destroy humanity.

 

 

 

 

The spirits of nature

 

The artificial elementals are not the only beings who live in the astral world; there are others called true elementals, who were not created by man, and who have a certain work to do. They are the elementals of the fire, water, earth, air, and ether, in which they live and do the work pertaining to the respective elements.

 

Theophrastus Paracelsus speaks at length about these elementals and explains their nature as follows:

 

''Although the elementals resemble men more than animals, yet they are not men nor are they animals; they have some power of reasoning but no immortal souls. They can live only in their respective elements, the astral counterparts of air, fire, water, earth, just as we live only in the air and not in fire, or water, or earth."

 

Paracelsus distinctly says those elementals have bodies which are composed of matter that is much more subtle and refined than ours, wherefore, they can penetrate everything physical. He describes the Undines (water elementals), as being of about the size and form of the human figure; the Gnomes (earth elementals) as not quite five feet in height; the Salamanders (fire elementals) as very thin, long, and constantly changing their forms. The elementals of the air, which he calls Sylphs, are nearest to man because they live in the same element; they are taller and stronger than the others. All these beings are more highly developed than animals, but are one grade lower in the evolutionary scale than man, wherefore their constant desire is to become men and to unite with them.

 

The Germans have some beautiful legends, in which the elementals fall in love with human beings, and if that love is returned they may become immortal by uniting with them and receiving a divine soul.

 

(Cid's observation: the elementals are much more varied both in form and in degrees of evolution. Look at the immense variety that exists in the animal and plant species, and that will give you an idea of the variety that also exists among the elementals. As for legends, take them with caution.)

 

 

H.P. Blavatsky says:

 

''The elementals, or nature spirits, can not in this manvantara become men; they personify powers of nature like electricity, light, and air, and are servants either of nature or of adepts in white or black magic.''

 

The elementals are spoken of in the legends of all nations, and have been seen by many people, notwithstanding the denial of materialistic professors. It is most always these elementals which produce the manifestations of spiritism, and not the spirits of the dead as so many believe. They do it by condensing ether so as to form bodies that are visible and tangible for a time; and the models for those bodies are taken from the thought pictures which are always latent in the minds of the sitters. This explains the semblance of the materialized forms with dear departed ones, seen in spiritualistic seances.

 

The general division into fiery, airy, earthy, and watery elementals is fairly correct, but it will not cover all classes because there are some with forms of their own.

 

(Cid's observation: more precisely, there are various entities found in the astral: elementaries, ghosts, disincarnated black magicians, etc., who, with the help of elementals, manage to densify their astral body until it is visible and palpable on the physical plane.)

 

There is not a single thing taking place about us, no matter what, that elementals are not concerned in, because they constitute a necessary part of nature, just as important as the nerve currents in our body. "In storms you should see them, how they move about."

 

A very similar teaching we find recorded by philosophers of by-gone ages. Aristotle and Proclus say that there is no empty space in the universe; that there are living beings everywhere.

 

Demons, they call those beings who live in the elements and to whom they ascribe etheric, half-material bodies. Although these demons have little intelligence, yet their work is in the elements and they are concerned with the building of forms in the mineral, vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms. This they do first on the astral plane, for it must be remembered that no physical form can appear before it has been worked out in the astral.

 

 

 

 

Other beings found in the astral

 

Besides the nature elementals, which are the normal population of the astral world, there are other entities who travel in and through it. These are, first, the white and black adepts and their pupils, who have learned to leave the physical body at will and to retain consciousness when in their astral body. They are those unseen workers on the astral plane, who may influence humanity to a great extent, be it for good or evil, according to their own unselfish or selfish aims and ends. It has been pointed out by H.P. Blavatsky that the great power which certain religious institutions have, is principally due to such influences from the astral world, and there is no doubt that many well meaning seekers after truth have been led astray by them.

 

Furthermore there are psychics who leave their physical body when they are asleep or in a trance. We all do this very often and roam about in the astral world without knowing it. If we fall asleep with the strong desire to retain consciousness when we escape in our astral body, we may sometimes get a glimpse of what it sees, or feels, or hears; especially is this the case in the moment it leaves the physical body, which produces an agreeable feeling of freedom as if floating in the air, or when it returns, which often produces the sensation of a heavy fall.

 

Then, there are in the astral world the remains of human beings who are on their way to devachan (heaven), or to reincarnation; for, as said before, the astral plane is the one nearest to the physical plane, and all human souls have to pass through it, before they come to physical manifestation as well as after the death of the body.

 

 

 

 

The astral body of man

 

It may be just as well to consider here the astral body of man, since it really plays an important part in his evolution. The teaching is that man did not always have a physical body such as he has now, but a much finer one formed of astral matter, out of which developed in the course of his evolution the molecular body. This process repeats itself every time a man is reborn; the astral body forms first and serves as a model round which the molecules aggregate and build up the physical body.

 

(Cid's observation: in reality the elaboration of our physical bodies throughout evolution was a more complex matter, but in a synthesized way it can be conceived as Mr. Hermann summed it up.)

 

The astral body is the seat of feeling, and of all desire sensations. Although it is always formed of astral matter, yet it must be understood that astral matter has many grades of density.

 

Now, the less a man is progressed in his evolution, the coarser is the matter which he attracts for his astral body, and consequently the coarser are his feelings and desires, so that it can respond only to passions and animal appetites. The latter are regular stimulants for such a man, while they do not exert a great influence on a more highly developed man whose astral body consists of more refined matter.

 

The centres of the sense organs being in the astral body, their condition depends also on the development of the astral body. It is characteristic that activity is prompted from without in the less developed state and from within in the more highly developed state; so that the astral body of an undeveloped human being is drowsy and indifferent, the centres of the organs are inactive when not aroused by strong feelings of pleasure or pain from without. In this state the passions are really needed as an impulse to activity. If they begin to be mingled with a tint of unselfishness, as, for instance, in the love for a child or for a friend, then the higher vibrations of these feelings attract finer matter for the astral body, which constantly changes its material according to the desires and emotions.

 

It is an important teaching that ought to be remembered, that there is always an interaction between our thoughts, feelings and desires, and the forces of nature. All those of an evil character attract evil forces and coarser astral matter, while good thoughts, feelings and desires produce more refined astral matter, hence it follows that the higher development of our astral body depends entirely on our thinking: nobody else does it for us.

 

And it seems to be the design of nature, to so develop and vivify the astral body, that it may be brought under the complete control of its owner. When this is accomplished there is no break of consciousness after the soul leaves the physical body, because the finer vibrations of the astral world are transmitted to the astral brain, which then becomes the organ of thinking and enables man to gain knowledge of the astral world and its denizens, and to verify for himself the truth of these Theosophical teachings.

 

 

 

 

The dangers of the astral world

 

Before this state is reached, nobody ought to try to get into contact with the innumerable beings that people the astral world, for it would be more dangerous to do this than to walk on a rope over the Niagara Falls. Many a daring explorer of the occult world has lost his life, health, or reason, in this attempt; for to expose himself unprotected and unprepared to the invisible dangers would arouse elementals that are deadly enemies of the human race.

 

Eliphas Levy says:

 

''One cannot play with the mysteries of life, death, and the invisible world, without being punished for it, and such serious matters ought to be treated seriously and with the greatest reserve.''

 

And he says also  that such frivolous operations are apt to produce insanity, over-excitement of the nervous system, accompanied with terrible and incurable maladies, and even death, through cerebral congestion.

 

We must be satisfied with the knowledge which has so far been given out regarding the astral world, and if we conscientiously try to live the life that is necessary for our higher development, we may be confident that we are constantly perfecting our astral body, which is the bridge that connects ns with the unseen world. And he who does this for any length of time will get proofs enough to convince him that the teaching is true and that we are influenced for good or for bad by the occult forces of the astral world.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

The slow development which nature prescribes for all her children is the only rational way to perfection. How often do we see the unhappy state that is produced by a one-sided and hurried development of a certain gift or talent. Many a child has been made a physical wreck by its own unrestrained ambition, or, what is worse, by that of its parents or teachers. And we are all still children in regard to the tremendous and wisely hidden powers of the human soul. We must never try to enter the sanctuary of the unseen world before we are fully prepared for this last great step. It is entirely sufficient for us to know that the astral world exists, and that we live in it in our feelings, thoughts and desires; that we influence others with them and are in turn influenced by the thoughts of others.

 

All we can safely do is this : to refine those feelings and desires by directing them more to the spiritual needs of humanity than to material pleasures; by studying the life and work of the great men who have lived before us and who are recognized as sages, philosophers, great poets, statesmen, musicians, painters and architects. All such have done much towards leading humanity to a higher state of civilization, and they will continue to help us as long as we allow ourselves to be influenced by their immortal works. For all works are immortal that have their origin in the divine spirit of man; and we partake of this immortality if we receive the thought vibrations that were and still are sent out by those great minds.

 

Next let us work patiently and with firm determination on that most difficult task of getting perfect control over our thoughts, knowing that the origin of every good or evil deed is to be found in our thought, and that man cannot become perfect as long as he dwells in thought on imperfection. It will take us many more incarnations to become masters of our thoughts and desires, so that we will no longer create bad elementals in the astral world that may lead us or others astray. Only when this has been accomplished, when we have become so perfect that we cannot think an impure thought or speak an unkind word-then we are ready to face the dangers of the astral world, to pass through it unharmed by evil powers because there is nothing evil in our soul, and to enter the higher realms where the Masters live, and work, and wait for perfected humanity.

 

(Word, NY, vol 3, July 1906, p.207-215)