Description

(combines four books by Arthur E Powell)

The Etheric Double, we have an energy body of lighter, less dense material that is connected to our physical bodies. Those who can see it call it the aura and can sometimes tell the state of a person's health by the way it appears. Those who use its energy refer to the force as prana, chi, vital force, orgone or a number of other names. There are seven chakras, or energy points, where this energy collects in the etheric body. Working with the chakras and these spiritual energies can play a big part in the psychic development and enlightenment of those sensitive enough to work on these levels.

The Astral Body - As in the case of The Etheric Double, the compiler has consolidated the information obtained from a large number of books, a list of which is given, arranging the material, which covers a vast field and is exceedingly complex, as methodically as lay within his power. It is hoped that by this means present and future students of the subject will be saved much labour and research, being able not only to find the information they require presented in a comparatively small compass, but also, with the help of the marginal references, to refer, should they so desire, to the original sources of information. In order that the book may fulfil its purpose by being kept within reasonable dimensions, the general plan followed has been to expound the principles underlying astral phenomena, omitting particular examples or instances. Lecturers and others who wish specific illustrations of the principles enunciated, will find the marginal references useful as a clue to the places where the examples they seek may be found. Again, so far as the complexities and ramifications of the subject permit, the method has been to explain the form side first, before the life side: i.e., to describe first the objective mechanism of phenomena, and then the activities of consciousness which are expressed through that mechanism. The careful student, bearing this in [Page xiv ] mind, will thus recognise many passages, which at first glance might appear to be repetitive, in which the same phenomenon is described first from the point of view of the outer material form and then again later from the point of view of the spirit or consciousness.

The Mental Body - Consider the mental body as the vehicle through which the Self manifests as concrete intellect, in which are developed the powers of the mind, including those of memory and imagination, and which, in the later stages of man-s evolution, serves as a separate and distinct vehicle of consciousness, in which the man can live and function quite apart from both his physical and his astral bodies.

At the outset the student must realise quite clearly that in occult psychology the mental equipment of man is divided into two distinct portions: [a] the mental body, which deals with particulars, with what are known as concrete thoughts: eg., a particular book, house, triangle, etc. ; [b] the causal body which deals with principles, with abstract thoughts: eg., books or houses in general, the principle of triangularity common to all triangles. The mental body thus deals with rupa or form-thoughts, the causal body with arupa or formless thoughts. A rough analogy may be taken from mathematics : arithmetic, dealing with particular numbers, belongs to the lower form aspect of mind : algebra, which deals with symbols representing numbers in general, belongs to the higher or formless aspect of mind. The terms form and formless are, of course, used not in an absolute, but in a relative sense. Thus a cloud or a flame while possessing form are yet formless relatively to, say, a house or a log of wood.

The Causal Body - This volume forms the fourth, and last, of the series of compilations dealing with the bodies of man. Nearly forty volumes, mostly written by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, were thoroughly searched and the material found within was arranged, sorted