THE ASTRAL BODY: and other Astral Phenomena

Back of the Book:

This classic text has long been used as a principal resource by students and scholars of astral phenomena. A natural companion to Powell's The Etheric Double, its subject is the structure, nature, and powers of the astral body, the vehicle of feelings and emotions seen by clairvoyants as an aura of flashing colours. Based on firsthand testimony by noted clairvoyants, including H. P. Blavatsky, C. W. Leadbeater, and Annie Besant, Powell's perceptive commentary is of enduring interest to all lovers of exoteric lore.

INTRODUCTION:

The purpose of this book is to present to the student of Thesophy a condensed synthesis of the information at present available concerning the Astral Body of man, together with a description and explanation of 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 had been to expound the principles underlying astral phenomena, omitting particular examples or instances. Lecturers and other s 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 mind, will thus recognize 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 to-day 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 subject is so 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.