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THE ASTRAL BODY
AND OTHER ASTRAL PHENOMENA
by Arthur A.Powell
The Theosophical Publishing House, London, England; Wheaton,Ill, U.S.A.;
Adyar, Chennai, India
Published in 1927, reprinted in 1954 and 1965
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated with gratitude and appreciation to all those whose
painstaking labour
and researches have provided the materials out of which it has been compiled
"To know man is to know God.
To know God is to know man.
To study the universe is to learn both God and man;
for the universe is the expression of the Divine Thought,
and the universe is mirrored in man.
Knowledge is necessary if the SELF would become free
and know Itself as Itself alone."
Annie Besant
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
XIII
Introduction
1
1
2
4
3
11
Colours
4
23
Functions
5
31
Chakrams
6
38
Kundalini
7
43
8
64
9
82
Sleep-Life
10
93
Dreams
Continuity of
11
104
Death and the Desire-
Elemental
12
107
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13
112
14
After-Death Life ; Special
Cases
15
138
16
146
Miscellaneous Astral
Phenomena
17
157
18
163
19
168
20
176
21
190
22
Spiritualism
194
23
Astral Death
206
24
Re-Birth
209
25
215
Development of Astral
Powers
26
224
Clairvoyance in Space and
Time
27
234
28
238
29
Discipleship
252
30
Conclusion
258
261
Index
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
THE author's purpose in compiling the books in this series was to save students
much time and labour by providing a condensed synthesis of the considerable
literature on the respective subjects of each volume, coming mostly from the
pens of Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. The accompanying list shows the
large number of books from which he drew. So far as possible, the method
adopted was to explain the form side first, before the life side: to describe the
objective mechanism of phenomena and then the activities of consciousness that
are expressed through the mechanism. There is no attempt to prove or even
justify any of the statements. Marginal references give opportunity to refer to the
sources.
The works of H. P. Blavatsky were not used because the author said that the
necessary research in The Secret Doctrine and other writings would have been
too vast a task for him to undertake. He added: "The debt to H. P. Blavatsky is
greater than could ever be indicated by quotations from her monumental
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volumes. Had she not shown the way in the first instance, later investigators
might never have found the trail at all."
INTRODUCTION
THE purpose of this book is to present to the student of Theosophy a condensed
synthesis of the information at present available concerning the Astral Body of
man, together with a description and explanation of the astral world and its
phenomena. The book is thus a natural sequel of The Etheric Double and Allied
Phenomena published in 1925.
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.
It is hoped that the present volume may be followed by similar ones dealing with
man's Mental and Causal bodies, thus completing the consolidation of all
information so far available regarding man's constitution up to the Causal or
Higher Mental level.
There is today a great deal of information on these and similar subjects, but it is
for the most part scattered over large numbers of books. In order, therefore, to
make the whole of it available for the student, whose time for intensive study is
limited, such books as the present is intended to be, are (in the writer's opinion)
urgently needed. " The proper study of mankind is man : " and the subject is so
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vast, so absorbing, and so important that everything possible should be done to
make readily accessible to all who thirst for such knowledge the whole of the
information which has so far been accumulated.
Arthur E.Powell
CHAPTER I
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
[Page 1] BEFORE proceeding to a detailed study of the astral body, and of
phenomena associated with it, it may be useful to lay before the student a brief
outline of the ground it is proposed to cover, in order to give in proper perspective
a view of the whole subject and of the relative dependence of its several parts.
Briefly, the astral body of man is a vehicle, to clairvoyant sight not unlike the
physical body, surrounded by an aura of flashing colours, composed of matter of
an order of fineness higher than that of physical matter, in which feelings,
passions, desires and emotions are expressed and which acts as a bridge or
medium of transmission between the physical brain and the mind, the latter
operating in the still higher vehicle the mind-body.
While every man possesses and uses an astral body, comparatively few are
conscious of its existence or can control and function in it in full consciousness.
In the case of large numbers of persons it is scarcely more than an inchoate
mass of astral matter, the movements and activities of which are little under the
control of the man himselfthe Ego. With others, however, the astral body is a
well-developed and thoroughly organised vehicle, possessing a life of its own
and conferring on its owner many and useful powers.
During the sleep of the physical body, an undeveloped man leads a dreamy,
vague existence, in his relatively primitive astral body, remembering little or
nothing [Page 2] of his sleep-life when he re-awakens in his physical body.
In the case of a developed man, however, the life in the astral body, whilst the
physical body is wrapped in slumber, is active, interesting and useful, and the
memory of it may, under certain conditions, be brought down into the physical
brain. The life of such a man ceases to be a series of days of consciousness and
nights of oblivion, becoming instead a continuous life of unbroken
consciousness, alternating between the physical and the astral planes or worlds.
One of the first things a man learns to do in his astral body is to travel in it, it
being possible for the astral body to move, with great rapidity, and to great
distances from the sleeping physical body. An understanding of this phenomenon
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throws much light on a large number of so-called "occult " phenomena, such as "
apparitions " of many kinds, knowledge of places never visited physically, etc.
The astral body being par excellence the vehicle of feelings and emotions, an
understanding of its composition and of the ways in which it operates is of
considerable value in understanding many aspects of man's psychology, both
individual and collective, and also provides a simple explanation of the
mechanism of many phenomena revealed by modern psycho-analysis.
A clear understanding of the structure and nature of the astral body, of its
possibilities and its limitations, is essential to a comprehension of the life into
which men pass after physical death. The many kinds of " heavens", " hells " and
purgatorial existences believed in by followers of innumerable religions, all fall
naturally into place and become intelligible as soon as we understand the nature
of the astral body and of the astral world.
A study of the astral body will be of assistance also in our understanding of many
of the phenomena of the séance room and of certain psychic or non-physical
methods of healing disease. Those who are interested [Page 3] in what is termed
the fourth dimension will find also a confirmation of many of the theories which
have been formulated by means of geometry and mathematics, in a study of
astral world phenomena, as described by those who have observed them.
A study of the astral body of man thus takes us far afield and expands
enormously a conception of life based solely on the physical world and the purely
physical senses. As we proceed, we shall see that the physical senses,
invaluable as they are, by no means represent the limit of what man's vehicles
may teach him of the worlds in which he lives. The awakening into functioning
activity of astral faculties reveals a new world within the old world and, when a
man becomes able to read aright its significance, he will obtain such an
expanded view of his own life, and all nature, as will reveal to him the almost
limitless possibilities latent in man. From this, sooner or later but inevitably, there
will come the impulse, and later the unshakable determination, to master these
worlds, and himself, to rise superior to his earthly destiny, and to become an
intelligent co-operator with what has been aptly termed the Supreme Will in
Evolution.
We will now proceed to study, in detail, the astral body and many astral
phenomena [Page 4]
CHAPTER 2
COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
ASTRAL matter exists in seven grades or orders of fineness, corresponding to
the seven grades of physical matter, which are solid, liquid, gaseous, etheric,
super-etheric, sub-atomic and atomic. No names for these astral states,
however, having so far been devised, it is usual to describe them, either by the

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