Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy

Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy: Encyclopedia II - Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy

Blavatsky used the term "astral" to refer to the double (linga sharira) which was the lowest but one of the seven principles (immediately above the physical). Later however, C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant (Adyar School of Theosophy), and following them, Alice Bailey, equated the astral with Blavatsky's Kama (desire) principle (the fourth of the seven principles of man, and called it the Emotional body (a concept not found in earlier Theosophy). In this way, astral body, desire body, and emotional body became synonmous, and this identification is found i ...

Astral body: Encyclopedia II - Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy

Astral body - The astral body in Theosophy

Blavatsky used the term "astral" to refer to the double (linga sharira) which was the lowest but one of the seven principles (immediately above the physical).

Later however, C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant (Adyar School of Theosophy), and following them, Alice Bailey, equated the astral with Blavatsky's Kama (desire) principle (the fourth of the seven principles of man, and called it the Emotional body (a concept not found in earlier Theosophy).

In this way, astral body, desire body, and emotional body became synonmous, and this identification is found in much of New Age and theosophically-inspired thought since.

The astral or emotional body here is understood as a sort of psychic body or aura that is made up of emotions, just as the physical body consists of matter. In occult thought, emotions are not just subjective qualia, but have an existence apart from the individual consciousness, and exist on a cosmic plane of existence, in this case, the astral plane.

Other related archives

Adyar School of Theosophy, Alice Bailey, Annie Besant, Anthroposophy, Astral plane, Astral projection, Barbara Brennan, C.W. Leadbeater, Cosmology, Esoteric cosmology, Etheric body, Etheric plane, Five Centres, Inner Plane, Max Heindel, Max Theon, Mental body, Mental plane, Mirra Alfassa / The Mother, Neoplatonists, New Age, Outer Plane, Physical body, Physical plane, Plane (Dungeons & Dragons), Prime Material Plane, Proclus, Ray of Creation, Rudolph Steiner, Subtle bodies, Sufi cosmology, The 7 Worlds & the 7 Cosmic Planes, The Agenda, The Laws, The Seven-fold constitution of Man, The Ten-fold constitution of Man, Three Centres, astral plane, aura, consciousness, desire-stuff, emotions, matter, occult, occultism, physical body, projection, qualia, seven principles, soul, spiritual sight, subtle bodies, subtle body, theosophical

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The astral body in Theosophy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

More material related to Astral Body can be found here:

Main Page
for
Astral Body Index of Articles
related to
Astral Body