The Astral Plane

The Astral Plane, by C. W.
Leadbeater

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Title: The Astral Plane Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena
Author: C. W. Leadbeater
Release Date: April 15, 2007 [EBook #21080]
Language: English
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THEOSOPHICAL MANUALS. No. 5

THE ASTRAL PLANE
ITS SCENERY, INHABITANTS AND
PHENOMENA

C. W. LEADBEATER

London:
Theosophical Publishing Society
7 Duke Street, Adelphi, W.C.
BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,
MADRAS: The Theosophist OFFICE, ADYAR.
1895
* * * * *

PREFACE.
Few words are needed in sending this little book out into the world. It
is the fifth of a series of Manuals designed to meet the public demand
for a simple exposition of Theosophical teachings. Some have
complained that our literature is at once too abstruse, too technical,
and too expensive for the ordinary reader, and it is our hope that the
present series may succeed in supplying what is a very real want.
Theosophy is not only for the learned; it is for all. Perhaps among
those who in these little books catch their first glimpse of its teachings,
there may be a few who will be led by them to penetrate more deeply
into its philosophy, its science and its religion, facing its abstruser

problems with the student's zeal and the neophyte's ardour. But these
Manuals are not written for the eager student, whom no initial
difficulties can daunt; they are written for the busy men and women of
the work-a-day world, and seek to make plain some of the great truths
that render life easier to bear and death easier to face. Written by
servants of the Masters who are the Elder Brothers of our race, they
can have no other object than to serve our fellow-men.
* * * * *

CONTENTS.
Introduction.
Scenery.--The Seven Subdivisions--Degrees of
Materiality--Characteristics of Astral Vision--The Aura--The Etheric
Double--Power of Magnifying Minute Objects--The
"Summerland"--Records of the Astral Light.
Inhabitants.--I. Human. (1) Living:--The Adept or Chela in
Mâyâvirûpa--The Psychically Developed Person--The Ordinary Person
in Astral Body--The Black Magician. (2) Dead:--The
Nirmânakâya--The Chela awaiting Reincarnation--The Ordinary Person
after Death--The Shade--The Shell--The Vitalized Shell--The
Suicide--The Victim of Sudden Death--The Vampire--The
Werewolf--The Black Magician after Death. II. Non-human:--The
Elemental Essence--The Kâmarûpas of Animals--Various Classes of
Nature-Spirits, commonly called
Fairies--Kâmadevas--Rûpadevas--Arûpadevas--The Devarâjahs. III.
Artificial:--Elementals formed Unconsciously--Guardian
Angels--Elementals formed Consciously--Human Artificials--The True
Origin of Spiritualism.
Phenomena.--Churchyard Ghosts.--Apparitions of the Dying--Haunted
Localities--Family Ghosts--Bell-ringing, Stone-throwing,
etc.--Fairies--Communicating Entities--Astral

Resources--Clairvoyance--Prevision--Second-Sight--Astral
Forces--Etheric Currents--Etheric Pressure--Latent
Energy--Sympathetic
Vibration--Mantras--Disintegration--Materialization--Why Darkness is
required at a Séance--Spirit Photographs--Reduplication--Precipitation
of Letters and Pictures--Slate-writing--Levitation--Spirit
Lights--Handling Fire--Transmutation--Repercussion.
Conclusion.
* * * * *

THE ASTRAL PLANE.
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