Post by bluefedish on Mar 8, 2008 22:28:44 GMT -5
The astral plane, also called the astral world or desire world, is a plane of existence according to esoteric philosophies, some religious teachings and New Age thought.
In the context of Unicode, astral planes refer to planes above the Basic Multilingual Plane.
Origin & History of the Term
Although the word "astral" is often associated with New Age ideas, this term was also used historically by alchemists. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy, especially as developed by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, and later Alice Bailey. In this cosmology, the astral is the first metaphysical plane beyond the physical, but is "denser" than the mental plane. The astral plane is also sometimes termed the world of emotion or world of illusion, and corresponds to Blavatsky's Kamic Plane.
It should be noted, however, that in original theosophical literature (such as those written by Blavatsky), the term "astral" does not have the same meaning as the term is used in later theosophical literature (such as C. W. Leadbeater). The astral body, in her works, does not refer to the emotional body but to the etheric double or linga sarira.
In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda characterizes the difference between the physical, astral, and causal planes. In this conception, when one dies the soul moves to the astral plane. There the result of past actions or karma is reaped.
The term "astral plane" has also more recently come to mean a plane of existence where otherkin believe their souls reside.
The word "astral" (like celestial) means of or like the stars and is used in reference to the astral plane because astral matter does not require a light source to make it visible -astral matter gives off its own light, like stars do.
The Astral Plane & Astral Experience
According to Occult, Theosophical, and New Age teachings, the astral plane can be visited consciously with the astral body through means of meditation and mantra, lucid dreaming, or other forms of training and development. The common human being normally separates his or her consciousness and astral vehicle from the physical body every night as he or she sleeps. Clairvoyants can see the astral vehicle floating a few inches over the sleeping physical body. This separation of the astral vehicle from the physical body every night is necessary for the human being to receive and process energies coming from higher, spiritual or more subtle planes of existence allowing the individual to awake the following day with his or her energies renewed. Human individuals that are spiritually advanced or trained in the use of their astral vehicle, can separate their consciousness and astral vehicle from the physical body at will and remain fully aware of the circumstances, using this capability at night to perform altruistic services or receive esoteric knowledge and training while in the astral plane.
The astral vehicle remains connected to the physical body during the separation through a so called “silver cord”, mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:6. All physical things have astral and other more subtle or spiritual counterparts that interpenetrate them.
Stephen LaBerge suggested in his 1985 book Lucid Dreaming that astral projection and all such "out-of-body experiences" may represent partially lucid dreams or "misinterpreted dream experiences", in which the sleeper does not fully recognize the situation. "In the dark forest, one may experience a tree as a tiger, but it is still in fact only a tree."
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_plane
In the context of Unicode, astral planes refer to planes above the Basic Multilingual Plane.
Origin & History of the Term
Although the word "astral" is often associated with New Age ideas, this term was also used historically by alchemists. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy, especially as developed by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, and later Alice Bailey. In this cosmology, the astral is the first metaphysical plane beyond the physical, but is "denser" than the mental plane. The astral plane is also sometimes termed the world of emotion or world of illusion, and corresponds to Blavatsky's Kamic Plane.
It should be noted, however, that in original theosophical literature (such as those written by Blavatsky), the term "astral" does not have the same meaning as the term is used in later theosophical literature (such as C. W. Leadbeater). The astral body, in her works, does not refer to the emotional body but to the etheric double or linga sarira.
In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda characterizes the difference between the physical, astral, and causal planes. In this conception, when one dies the soul moves to the astral plane. There the result of past actions or karma is reaped.
The term "astral plane" has also more recently come to mean a plane of existence where otherkin believe their souls reside.
The word "astral" (like celestial) means of or like the stars and is used in reference to the astral plane because astral matter does not require a light source to make it visible -astral matter gives off its own light, like stars do.
The Astral Plane & Astral Experience
According to Occult, Theosophical, and New Age teachings, the astral plane can be visited consciously with the astral body through means of meditation and mantra, lucid dreaming, or other forms of training and development. The common human being normally separates his or her consciousness and astral vehicle from the physical body every night as he or she sleeps. Clairvoyants can see the astral vehicle floating a few inches over the sleeping physical body. This separation of the astral vehicle from the physical body every night is necessary for the human being to receive and process energies coming from higher, spiritual or more subtle planes of existence allowing the individual to awake the following day with his or her energies renewed. Human individuals that are spiritually advanced or trained in the use of their astral vehicle, can separate their consciousness and astral vehicle from the physical body at will and remain fully aware of the circumstances, using this capability at night to perform altruistic services or receive esoteric knowledge and training while in the astral plane.
The astral vehicle remains connected to the physical body during the separation through a so called “silver cord”, mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:6. All physical things have astral and other more subtle or spiritual counterparts that interpenetrate them.
Stephen LaBerge suggested in his 1985 book Lucid Dreaming that astral projection and all such "out-of-body experiences" may represent partially lucid dreams or "misinterpreted dream experiences", in which the sleeper does not fully recognize the situation. "In the dark forest, one may experience a tree as a tiger, but it is still in fact only a tree."
Selected Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_plane
