A questioned inspired by Rodan :)

[loopylucid]

Thanks again Rodan for inspiring this question :) So .. basically this isn't a questioned aimed at saying anyones right or wrong, wether its good or bad, its not about defending anything or dismissing anyone else! I just think its great topic of debate we can hopefully have purely for my own selfish curiousitys!!!! I wont be offering personal opinions, but I will probably ask a lot of questions... cause im like that lol!

So negative entitys in astral, For all of your different experiences, do you see the entitys as people who are alive in actuality on this plane and have travelled to the astral (wether consciously or unconsciously, aware or unaware), or those passed over and in the astral? Or neither, or I don't know never thought about it!
Perhaps for some of you it could be both?
Please note im only talking about negative entitys here and your experiences with them.

Look forward to reading your experiences :)
Kind Blessings Loopylucid :)

[WhiteLion]

Hi Loopy Lucid this excerpt is taken from The Astral body which is some of A.E.Powell's work Ive highlighted in Bold the more common entities ie the Astral body that has broken down.

To enumerate and describe every kind of astral entity would be a task as formidable as that of enumerating and describing every kind of physical entity. An attempt here is to tabulate the chief classes and give a very brief description of each.

ASTRAL ENTITIES

HUMAN
Physically Alive,
1- Ordinary Person
2- Psychic
3 Adept or his pupil
4- Black Magician or his pupil

HUMAN
physically dead
1- Ordinary Person
2-Shade
3-Shell
4-Vitalised Shell
5-Suicide and Victim of Sudden Death
6-Vampire and Werewolf
7-Black Magician or his pupil
8-Pupil awaiting Reincarnation
9-Nirmânakaya

Non-Human, Artificial,

1-Elemental Essence 1- Elementals formed unconsciously
2-Astral Bodies of Animals 2-Elementals formed consciously
3-Nature-Spirits 3-Human Artificial
4-Devas

In order to make the classification quite complete, it is necessary to state that, in addition to the above, very high Adepts from other planets of the solar system, and even more august Visitors from a still greater distance, occasionally appear, but although it is possible, it is almost inconceivable, that such Beings would ever manifest themselves on a plane as low as the astral. If they wished to do so they would create a temporary body of astral matter of this planet.

Secondly, there are also two other great evolutions evolving on this planet, though it appears not to be intended that they or man should ordinarily be conscious of each other. If we did come into contact with them it would probably be physically, their connection with our astral plane being very slight. The only possibility of their appearance depends upon an extremely improbable accident in ceremonial magic, which only a few of the most advanced sorcerers know how to perform: nevertheless this has actually happened at least once.

THE HUMAN CLASS, (a) Physically Alive.

1. The Ordinary Person. — This class consists of persons, whose physical bodies are asleep, and who float about on the astral plane, in various degrees of consciousness, as already fully described in Chapter 9 on Sleep Life.

2. The Psychic. — A psychically-developed person will usually be perfectly conscious when out of the physical body, but, for want of proper training, he is liable to be deceived as to what he sees. Often he may be able to range through all the astral sub-planes, but sometimes he is especially attracted to some one sub-plane, and rarely travels beyond its influences. His recollection of what he has seen may of course vary from perfect clearness to utter distortion or black oblivion. As he is assumed not to be under the guidance of a Master, he will appear always in his astral body, since he does not know how to function in his mental vehicle.

3- The Adept and His pupils. — This class usually [Page 170] employs, not the astral body, but the mind body, which is composed of matter of the four lower levels of the mental plane. The advantage of this vehicle is that it permits of instant passage from the mental to the astral and back, and also allows of the use at all times of the greater power and keener sense of its own plane.

The mind body not being visible to astral sight, the pupil who works in it learns to gather round himself a temporary veil of astral matter, when he wishes to become perceptible to astral entities. Such a vehicle, though an exact reproduction of the man in appearance, contains none of the matter of his own astral body, but corresponds to it in the same way as a materialisation corresponds to a physical body.

At an earlier stage of his development, the pupil may be found functioning in his astral body like any one else: but, whichever vehicle he is employing, a pupil under a competent teacher is always fully conscious and can function easily upon all the sub-planes.

4. The Black Magician and his pupils.—This class corresponds somewhat to that of the Adept and His pupils, except that the development has been for evil instead of good, the powers acquired being used for selfish instead of for altruistic purposes. Among its lower ranks are those tribes who practise the rites of the Obeah and Voodoo schools, and the medicine-men of tribes, but more blameworthy, are the Tibetan black magicians.

THE HUMAN CLASS. (B) Physically Dead.

1. The Ordinary Person after Death.—This class, obviously a very large one, consists of all grades of persons, in varying conditions of consciousness.

2. The Shade.— when the astral life of a person is over, he dies on the astral plane and leaves behind him his disintegrating astral body, precisely as when he dies physically he leaves behind him a decaying physical corpse.

In most cases the higher ego is unable to withdraw from his lower principles the whole of his manasic {mental) principle: consequently, a portion of his lower mental matter remains entangled with the astral corpse. The portion of mental matter thus remaining behind consists of the grosser kinds of each sub-plane, which the astral body has succeeded in wrenching from the mental body.

This astral corpse, known as a Shade, is an entity which is not in any sense the real individual at all: nevertheless it bears his exact personal appearance, possesses his memory, and all his little idiosyncrasies. It may therefore very readily be mistaken for him, as indeed it frequently is at séances. It is not conscious of any act of impersonation, for as far as its intellect goes it must necessarily suppose itself to be the individual: it is in reality merely a soulless bundle of all his lowest qualities.

The length of life of a shade varies according to the amount of the lower mental matter which animates it: but as this is steadily fading out, its intellect is a diminishing quantity, though it may possess a great deal of a certain sort of animal cunning, and even quite towards the end of its career it is still able to communicate by borrowing temporary intelligence from the medium. From its very nature it is exceedingly liable to be swayed by all kinds of evil influences, and, being separated from its higher ego, it has nothing in its constitution capable of responding to good ones. It therefore lends itself readily to various minor purposes of some of the baser sort of black magicians. The mental matter it possesses gradually disintegrates and returns to the general matter of its own plane.

3. The Shell.—A shell is a man's astral corpse in the later stages of its disintegration, every particle of mind having left it. It is consequently without any sort of consciousness or intelligence, and drifts passively about upon the astral currents. Even yet it may be galvanised for a few moments into a ghastly burlesque of life if it happens to come within reach of a medium's aura. Under such circumstances it will still exactly resemble its departed personality in appearance and may even reproduce to some extent his familiar expressions or handwriting.

It has also the quality of being still blindly responsive to such vibrations, usually of the lowest order, as were frequently set up in it during its last stage of existence as a shade.

4. The Vitalised Shell.—This entity is not, strictly speaking, human: nevertheless, it is classified here because its outer vesture, the passive, senseless shell, was once an appanage of humanity. Such life, intelligence, desire, and will as it may possess are those of the artificial elemental animating it, this elemental being itself a creation of man's evil thought.

A vitalised shell is always malevolent: it is a true tempting demon, whose evil influence is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is frequently used in Voodoo and Obeah forms of magic. It is referred to by some writers as an “elementary”.

5. The Suicide and Victim of Sudden Death.—These have already been described in Chapter 15 on After-Death Life. It may be noted that this class, as well as Shades and Vitalised Shells, are what may be called minor vampires, because when they have an opportunity they prolong their existence by draining away the vitality from human beings whom they are able to influence.

6. The Vampire and Werewolf.—These two classes are today extremely rare; examples are occasionally found, chiefly in countries where there is a considerable strain of Fourth Race blood, such as Russia or Hungary.

It is just possible for a man to live such a degraded, selfish and brutal life that the whole of the lower mind becomes immeshed in his desires and finally separates from the higher ego. This is possible only where every gleam of unselfishness or spirituality has been stifled, and where there is no redeeming feature whatever.

Such a lost entity very soon after death finds himself unable to stay in the astral world, and is irresistibly drawn in full consciousness into “his own place”, the mysterious eighth sphere, there slowly to disintegrate after experiences best left undescribed. If, however, he perishes by suicide or sudden death, he may under certain circumstances, especially if he knows something of black magic, hold himself back from that fate by the ghastly existence of a vampire.

Since the eighth sphere cannot claim him until after the death of the body, he preserves it in a kind of cataleptic trance by transfusing into it blood drawn from other human beings by his semi-materialised astral body, thus postponing his final destiny by the commission of wholesale murder. The most effective remedy in such a case, as popular “superstition” rightly supposes, is to cremate the body, thus depriving the entity of his point d'appui.

When the grave is opened, the body usually appears quite fresh and healthy, and the coffin is not unusually filled with blood. Cremation obviously makes this sort of vampirism impossible.

The Werewolf can first manifest only during a man's physical life, and it invariably implies some knowledge of magical arts — sufficient at any rate to enable him to project the astral body.

When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, under certain circumstances the astral body may be seized upon by other astral entities and materialised, not into the human form, but into that of some wild animal, usually the wolf. In that condition it will range the surrounding country, killing other animals, and even human beings, thus satisfying not only its own craving for blood, but also that of the fiends who drive it on.

In this case, as so often with ordinary materialisations, a wound inflicted upon the astral form will be reproduced upon the human physical body by the curious phenomenon of repercussion (see page 242). But after the death of the physical body, the astral body, which will probably continue to appear in the same form, will be less vulnerable. [Page 174]

It will then, however, be also less dangerous, as unless it can find a suitable medium, it will be unable to materialise fully. In such manifestations, there is probably a great deal of the matter of the etheric double, and perhaps even some of liquid and gaseous constituents of the physical body, as in the case of some materialisations. In both cases this fluidic body seems able to pass to much greater distances from the physical than is otherwise possible, so far as is known, for a vehicle containing etheric matter.

The manifestations of both vampires and werewolves are usually restricted to the immediate neighbourhood of their physical bodies.

7. The Black Magician and his Pupil.—This class corresponds, mutatis mutandis, to the pupil awaiting reincarnation, but in this case the man is defying the natural process of evolution by maintaining himself in astral life by magical arts—sometimes of the most horrible nature.

It is considered undesirable to enumerate or describe the various sub-divisions of this class, as an occult student wishes only to avoid them. All these entities, who prolong their life thus on the astral plane beyond its natural limit, do so at the expense of others and by the absorption of their life in some form or another.

8. The Pupil awaiting Reincarnation.—This is also at present a rare class. A pupil who has decided not to “take his devachan”, i.e., not to pass into the heaven-world, but to continue to work on the physical plane, is sometimes, by permission only of a very high authority, allowed to do so, a suitable reincarnation being arranged for him by his Master. Even when permission is granted, it is said that the pupil must confine himself strictly to the astral plane while the matter is being arranged, because if he touched the mental plane even for a moment he might be swept as by an irresistible current into the line of normal evolution again and so pass into the heaven-world.

Occasionally, though rarely, the pupil may be placed directly in an adult body whose previous tenant [Page 175] has no further use for it: but it is seldom that a suitable body is available.

Meanwhile the pupil is of course fully conscious on the astral plane and able to go on with the work given to him by his Master, even more effectively than when hampered by a physical body.

9. The Nirmânakaya.—It is very rarely indeed that a being so exalted as a Nirmânakaya manifests himself on the astral plane. A Nirmânakaya is one who, having won the right to untold ages of rest in bliss unspeakable, yet has chosen to remain within touch of earth, suspended as it were between this world and Nirvana, in order to generate streams of spiritual force which may be employed for the helping of evolution. If He wished to appear on the astral plane he would probably create for himself a temporary astral body from the atomic matter of the plane. This is possible because a Nirmânakaya retains His causal body, and also the permanent atoms which He has carried all through His evolution, so that at any moment He can materialise round them mental, astral or physical bodies, if He so desires. [Page 176]

[rodan]

Originally Posted by loopylucid

Thanks again Rodan for inspiring this question :) So .. basically this isn't a questioned aimed at saying anyones right or wrong, wether its good or bad, its not about defending anything or dismissing anyone else! I just think its great topic of debate we can hopefully have purely for my own selfish curiousitys!!!! I wont be offering personal opinions, but I will probably ask a lot of questions... cause im like that lol!

So negative entitys in astral, For all of your different experiences, do you see the entitys as people who are alive in actuality on this plane and have travelled to the astral (wether consciously or unconsciously, aware or unaware), or those passed over and in the astral? Or neither, or I don't know never thought about it!
Perhaps for some of you it could be both?
Please note im only talking about negative entitys here and your experiences with them.

Look forward to reading your experiences :)
Kind Blessings Loopylucid :)

I'm actually just making another attempt at astral projection. I probably need to read up on it, before I make another go at it. I don't want to experience what I did back then, the first time.

That time I saw those ugly looking entities, the very first time I attempted AP, as I left my body, they confronted me, fairly close to me, right after I left my body. And, yes, I did get outside of my phsyical body.

They didn't look human, not to me. And, I didn't feel anything good about them. They were there, in front of me, four or five of them, all looked rather similar looking, very ugly, deformed faces.

They were staring right at me, and, as soon as I noticed them, I got scared, and popped right back into my body, seeming to jump off my bed a foot or two, so it seemed, and, I was drenched in sweat, and shaking like a leaf, I was so scared.

Now remember, this was my first attempt, at AP. I'm not saying it happens to everyone, nor, am I saying others will experience what I did.

My assumption is, I was in a very low, negative vibrational frequency, and, doing my first AP, I attracted what I felt. Negative.

Yesterday, I came across Erin Pavilina's blog, ( wife of Steve Pavilina ), read her blog about her first experience with AP, and, she mentioned her first time, she " heard " entities, in her head, talking about her, wondering if she was going to make it out, they then coaxed her, she then felt worried,, and thought they might be evil. She wasn't sure, so she went back in.

She also blogged about the silver cord, connecting the AP and physical body.

[loopylucid]

Wow white lion thats probably, wether i understand it or not, the most comprehensive personal summary of whats out there i myself have ever heard!!!
Are these your beliefs also or just somemthing you pointed me to for this thread as another viewpoint?
So in essence its the intention of the spirit that is the cause of the negative enerygs? And it could also be the intention of a deceased spirit to be negative?
The Shell.—A shell is a man's astral corpse in the later stages of its disintegration, every particle of mind having left it. It is consequently without any sort of consciousness or intelligence, and drifts passively about upon the astral currents. Even yet it may be galvanised for a few moments into a ghastly burlesque of life if it happens to come within reach of a medium's aura. Under such circumstances it will still exactly resemble its departed personality in appearance and may even reproduce to some extent his familiar expressions or handwriting......

Now this im chewing over, why would the astral planes need decomposition? So we basically as spirit do not automatically transcend our human erm... foilables! Is this akin to when mediums say that a transition of passing over hasnt been completed yet..
Id always thought these dont obviously get dumped upon passing but more disperse.. So is it viewed the astral plane then as a stepping stone for this?


4. The Vitalised Shell.—This entity is not, strictly speaking, human: nevertheless, it is classified here because its outer vesture, the passive, senseless shell, was once an appanage of humanity. Such life, intelligence, desire, and will as it may possess are those of the artificial elemental animating it, this elemental being itself a creation of man's evil thought..........

And wow im struggling with this one, not what he says but what he means,..? Sorry if im being stopid lol i dont get the obvious sometimes.

But in essence does this guys work basically mean as an answer to my question, that its both alive and dead astral bodys that have the potential to be negative entitys?


Hey rodan poker of my curiousitys lol in your opinion then hun these or those entitys, have you questioned what they were? Or where they come from?

Thanks guys for replying, this really fascinates me :)
Kind blessings Loopylucid

[WhiteLion]

But in essence does this guys work basically mean as an answer to my question, that its both alive and dead astral bodys that have the potential to be negative entitys?

Hey loopy in a nutshell yes! as one sheds the astral to shift up a level (remember we are soul in essence on the causal plane) the astral fragments can still carry the same appearance as its previous owner).

If the negative 'entities' you speak of - for example if previously having had some sort of addiction alcoholism etc will often be attracted to the astral of those that share the same addiction and attach if you choose to let it attach. They can also be found hanging around bars/nightclubs etc the law of attraction again happening on the astral plane. There are many variables on what is termed negative lets take anger, this vibration if held in the astral will be sure to attract the astral entities that hold that similar vibration whether they are people living with held anger or angry people that are passed over your going to attract those astral entities that are '****ed' at you.

For me its important for this reason to watch what I read and what I watch particularly before sleeping at night. Keeping ones mind out of the gutter therefore is paramount where attention goes energy flows is the old saying.

The Astral has an architecture that is made up of what is known as elementals. There are different streams of consciousness our stream is currently in its evolutionary stage ie we are seeking to evolve from the many to the one ie were seeking to reunite with our divinity and are on an upward spiral.

As part of our involution and now evolution the Astral has been en-souled with the thought forms of man and they are held in place by the investment in energy of those that hold similar vibrations (like attracts like). It has been said there will be a time in our evolution that we will do away with the astral.

Whether the astral body be that of a person that has passed or of a person that is living, the astral is none the less created from the vibrations that are en-souled from the plane above or the vibrations that come up from the plane below... to understand this its first best to investigate both inwardly and from your own research what the astral plane is and what is its function how did it come about etc how does our soul use the astral plane? its a lengthy discussion and you can get a pretty in depth read from the same source that I posted the above on entitys from.

Of course its not just our stream of consciousness that can be found on the astral plane but also the nature spirit stream as well as the anjelic though they 'step down' more to help guide protect teach etc.

Ive had dealings with all manor of entities but some of the most beautiful have come with the nature spirits who have opened me up to the most profound love ( I am a nature boy) where as I know many others that have had the opposite experience and are often purposefully confused by them and can appear as a 'negative' entity.

Just a note on negative... positive and negative only exist as part of the duality of mind if we transcend duality there just is vibration its best to traverse the inner realms as well as the outer with this in mind observe with intention to be shown that which is for your highest good and greatest joy and you will be led.

Just to give you some understanding of how the astral plane is made up Ive copied another blurb from A powells page again ive highlighted in Bold some of the text..


ASTRAL ENTITIES: NON-HUMAN


I. Elemental Essence.—The word “elemental” has been used by various writers to mean many different kinds of entities. It is here employed to denote, during certain stages of its existence, monadic essence, which in its turn may be denned as the outpouring of spirit or divine force into matter.

It is most important that the student should realise that the evolution of this elemental essence is taking place on the downward curve of the arc, as it is often called: i.e., it is progressing towards the complete entanglement in matter which we see in the mineral kingdom, instead of away from it; consequently for it progress means descent into matter instead of ascent towards higher planes.

Before the “outpouring” arrives at the stage of individualisation at which it ensouls man, it has already passed through and ensouled six earlier phases of evolution, viz., the first elemental kingdom (on the higher mental plane), the second elemental kingdom (on the lower mental plane), the third elemental kingdom (on the astral plane), the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms. It has sometimes been called the animal, vegetable or mineral monad, though this is distinctly misleading, as long before it arrives at any of these kingdoms it has become not one but many monads.

We are here dealing, of course, only with the astral elemental essence. This essence consists of the divine outpouring which has already veiled itself in matter down to the atomic level of the mental plane, and then plunged down directly into the astral plane, aggregating round itself a body of atomic astral matter

Such a combination is the elemental essence of the astral plane, belonging to the third elemental kingdom, the one immediately preceding the mineral.

In the course of its 2,401 differentiations on the astral plane, it draws to itself many and various combinations of the matter of the various sub-planes. Nevertheless these are only temporary, and it still remains essentially one kingdom.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as an elemental in connection with the group we are considering. What we find is a vast store of elemental essence, wonderfully sensitive to the most fleeting human thought, responding with inconceivable delicacy, in an infinitesimal fraction of a second, to a vibration set up in it by an entirely unconscious exercise of human will or desire.

But the moment that by the influence of such thought or will it is moulded into a living force, it becomes an elemental, and belongs to the “ artificial” class. Even then its separate existence is usually evanescent, for as soon as its impulse has worked itself out, it sinks back into the undifferentiated mass of elemental essence from which it came.

A visitor to the astral world will inevitably be impressed by the protean forms of the ceaseless tide of elemental essence, ever swirling around him, menacing often, yet always retiring before a determined effort of the will; and he will marvel at the enormous army of entities temporarily called out of this ocean into separate existence by the thoughts and feelings of man, whether good or evil.

Broadly, the elemental essence may be classified according to the kind of matter it inhabits: i.e., solid, liquid, gaseous, etc. These are the “elementals” of the mediaeval alchemists. They held, correctly, that an “elemental”, i.e., a portion of the appropriate living elemental essence, inhered in each “element”, or constituent part, of every physical substance.

Each of these seven main classes of elemental [Page 178] essence may also be sub-divided into seven sub-divisions, making 49 sub-divisions.

In addition to, and quite separate from, these horizontal divisions, there are also seven perfectly distinct types of elemental essence, the difference between them having nothing to do with degree of materiality, but rather with character and affinities. The student will be familiar with this classification as the “ perpendicular” one, having to do with the seven “rays”.

There are also seven sub-divisions in each ray-type, making 49 perpendicular sub-divisions: The total number of kinds of elemental essence is thus 49x49 or 2,401.

The perpendicular division is clearly far more permanent and fundamental than the horizontal division: for the elemental essence in the slow course of evolution passes through the various horizontal classes in succession, but remains in its own perpendicular sub-division all the way through.

When any portion of the elemental essence remains for a few moments entirely unaffected by any outside influence — a condition hardly ever realised — it has no definite form of its own: but on the slightest disturbance it flashes into a bewildering confusion of restless, ever-changing shapes, which form, rush about, and disappear with the rapidity of the bubbles on the surface of boiling water.

These evanescent shapes, though generally those of living creatures of some sort, human or otherwise, no more express the existence of separate entities in the essence than do the equally changeful and multiform waves raised in a few moments on a previously smooth lake by a sudden squall. They seem to be mere reflections from the vast storehouse of the astral light, yet they have usually a certain appropriateness to the character of the thought-stream which calls them into existence, though nearly always with some grotesque distortion, some terrifying or unpleasant aspect about them. [Page 179]

When the elemental essence is thrown into shapes appropriate to the stream of half-conscious, involuntary thoughts which the majority of men allow to flow idly through their brains, the intelligence which selects the appropriate shape is clearly not derived from the mind of the thinker: neither can it derive from the elemental essence itself, for this belongs to a kingdom further from individualisation even than the mineral, entirely devoid of awakened mental power.

Nevertheless, the essence possesses a marvellous adaptability which often seems to come very near to intelligence: it is no doubt this property that caused elementals to be spoken of in early books as “the semi-intelligent creatures of the astral light”.

The elemental kingdoms proper do not admit of such conceptions as good or evil. Nevertheless there is a sort of bias or tendency permeating nearly all their sub-divisions which renders them hostile rather than friendly towards man. Hence the usual experience of the neophyte on the astral plane, where vast hosts of protean spectres advance threateningly upon him, but always retire or dissipate harmlessly when boldly faced. As stated by mediaeval writers, this bias or tendency is due entirely to man's own fault, and is caused by his . indifference to, and want of sympathy with, other living beings. In the “golden age” of the past it was not so, any more than it will be so in the future when, owing to the changed attitude of man, both the elemental essence and also the animal kingdom will once again become docile and helpful to man instead of the reverse.

It is thus clear that the elemental kingdom as a whole is very much what the collective thought of humanity makes it.

There are many uses to which the forces inherent. in the manifold varieties of the elemental essence can be put by one trained in their management. The vast majority of magical ceremonies depend almost entirely upon its manipulation, either directly by the will of the magician, or by some more definite astral entity evoked by him for the purpose. [Page 180]

By its means nearly all the physical phenomena of the séance room are produced, and it is also the agent in most cases of stone-throwing or bell-ringing in haunted houses, these latter being the results of blundering efforts to attract attention made by some earth-bound human entity, or by the mere mischievous pranks of some of the minor nature-spirits belonging to our third class (see p. 181). But the “elemental” must never be thought of as a prime mover: it is simply a latent force, which needs an external power to set it in motion.

[WhiteLion]

Whoops forgot to post the link its in two parts the second part can be accessed at the bottom of the first page -

http://hpb.narod.ru/AstralBodyByPowell-A.htm

Happy Reading

[Astral Explorer]

Originally Posted by WhiteLion

Hi Loopy Lucid this excerpt is taken from The Astral body which is some of A.E.Powell's work Ive highlighted in Bold the more common entities ie the Astral body that has broken down.

To enumerate and describe every kind of astral entity would be a task as formidable as that of enumerating and describing every kind of physical entity. An attempt here is to tabulate the chief classes and give a very brief description of each.

ASTRAL ENTITIES

HUMAN
Physically Alive,
1- Ordinary Person
2- Psychic
3 Adept or his pupil
4- Black Magician or his pupil

HUMAN
physically dead
1- Ordinary Person
2-Shade
3-Shell
4-Vitalised Shell
5-Suicide and Victim of Sudden Death
6-Vampire and Werewolf
7-Black Magician or his pupil
8-Pupil awaiting Reincarnation
9-Nirmânakaya

Non-Human, Artificial,

1-Elemental Essence 1- Elementals formed unconsciously
2-Astral Bodies of Animals 2-Elementals formed consciously
3-Nature-Spirits 3-Human Artificial
4-Devas

In order to make the classification quite complete, it is necessary to state that, in addition to the above, very high Adepts from other planets of the solar system, and even more august Visitors from a still greater distance, occasionally appear, but although it is possible, it is almost inconceivable, that such Beings would ever manifest themselves on a plane as low as the astral. If they wished to do so they would create a temporary body of astral matter of this planet.

Secondly, there are also two other great evolutions evolving on this planet, though it appears not to be intended that they or man should ordinarily be conscious of each other. If we did come into contact with them it would probably be physically, their connection with our astral plane being very slight. The only possibility of their appearance depends upon an extremely improbable accident in ceremonial magic, which only a few of the most advanced sorcerers know how to perform: nevertheless this has actually happened at least once.

THE HUMAN CLASS, (a) Physically Alive.

1. The Ordinary Person. — This class consists of persons, whose physical bodies are asleep, and who float about on the astral plane, in various degrees of consciousness, as already fully described in Chapter 9 on Sleep Life.

2. The Psychic. — A psychically-developed person will usually be perfectly conscious when out of the physical body, but, for want of proper training, he is liable to be deceived as to what he sees. Often he may be able to range through all the astral sub-planes, but sometimes he is especially attracted to some one sub-plane, and rarely travels beyond its influences. His recollection of what he has seen may of course vary from perfect clearness to utter distortion or black oblivion. As he is assumed not to be under the guidance of a Master, he will appear always in his astral body, since he does not know how to function in his mental vehicle.

3- The Adept and His pupils. — This class usually [Page 170] employs, not the astral body, but the mind body, which is composed of matter of the four lower levels of the mental plane. The advantage of this vehicle is that it permits of instant passage from the mental to the astral and back, and also allows of the use at all times of the greater power and keener sense of its own plane.

The mind body not being visible to astral sight, the pupil who works in it learns to gather round himself a temporary veil of astral matter, when he wishes to become perceptible to astral entities. Such a vehicle, though an exact reproduction of the man in appearance, contains none of the matter of his own astral body, but corresponds to it in the same way as a materialisation corresponds to a physical body.

At an earlier stage of his development, the pupil may be found functioning in his astral body like any one else: but, whichever vehicle he is employing, a pupil under a competent teacher is always fully conscious and can function easily upon all the sub-planes.

4. The Black Magician and his pupils.—This class corresponds somewhat to that of the Adept and His pupils, except that the development has been for evil instead of good, the powers acquired being used for selfish instead of for altruistic purposes. Among its lower ranks are those tribes who practise the rites of the Obeah and Voodoo schools, and the medicine-men of tribes, but more blameworthy, are the Tibetan black magicians.

THE HUMAN CLASS. (B) Physically Dead.

1. The Ordinary Person after Death.—This class, obviously a very large one, consists of all grades of persons, in varying conditions of consciousness.

2. The Shade.— when the astral life of a person is over, he dies on the astral plane and leaves behind him his disintegrating astral body, precisely as when he dies physically he leaves behind him a decaying physical corpse.

In most cases the higher ego is unable to withdraw from his lower principles the whole of his manasic {mental) principle: consequently, a portion of his lower mental matter remains entangled with the astral corpse. The portion of mental matter thus remaining behind consists of the grosser kinds of each sub-plane, which the astral body has succeeded in wrenching from the mental body.

This astral corpse, known as a Shade, is an entity which is not in any sense the real individual at all: nevertheless it bears his exact personal appearance, possesses his memory, and all his little idiosyncrasies. It may therefore very readily be mistaken for him, as indeed it frequently is at séances. It is not conscious of any act of impersonation, for as far as its intellect goes it must necessarily suppose itself to be the individual: it is in reality merely a soulless bundle of all his lowest qualities.

The length of life of a shade varies according to the amount of the lower mental matter which animates it: but as this is steadily fading out, its intellect is a diminishing quantity, though it may possess a great deal of a certain sort of animal cunning, and even quite towards the end of its career it is still able to communicate by borrowing temporary intelligence from the medium. From its very nature it is exceedingly liable to be swayed by all kinds of evil influences, and, being separated from its higher ego, it has nothing in its constitution capable of responding to good ones. It therefore lends itself readily to various minor purposes of some of the baser sort of black magicians. The mental matter it possesses gradually disintegrates and returns to the general matter of its own plane.

3. The Shell.—A shell is a man's astral corpse in the later stages of its disintegration, every particle of mind having left it. It is consequently without any sort of consciousness or intelligence, and drifts passively about upon the astral currents. Even yet it may be galvanised for a few moments into a ghastly burlesque of life if it happens to come within reach of a medium's aura. Under such circumstances it will still exactly resemble its departed personality in appearance and may even reproduce to some extent his familiar expressions or handwriting.

It has also the quality of being still blindly responsive to such vibrations, usually of the lowest order, as were frequently set up in it during its last stage of existence as a shade.

4. The Vitalised Shell.—This entity is not, strictly speaking, human: nevertheless, it is classified here because its outer vesture, the passive, senseless shell, was once an appanage of humanity. Such life, intelligence, desire, and will as it may possess are those of the artificial elemental animating it, this elemental being itself a creation of man's evil thought.

A vitalised shell is always malevolent: it is a true tempting demon, whose evil influence is limited only by the extent of its power. Like the shade, it is frequently used in Voodoo and Obeah forms of magic. It is referred to by some writers as an “elementary”.

5. The Suicide and Victim of Sudden Death.—These have already been described in Chapter 15 on After-Death Life. It may be noted that this class, as well as Shades and Vitalised Shells, are what may be called minor vampires, because when they have an opportunity they prolong their existence by draining away the vitality from human beings whom they are able to influence.

6. The Vampire and Werewolf.—These two classes are today extremely rare; examples are occasionally found, chiefly in countries where there is a considerable strain of Fourth Race blood, such as Russia or Hungary.

It is just possible for a man to live such a degraded, selfish and brutal life that the whole of the lower mind becomes immeshed in his desires and finally separates from the higher ego. This is possible only where every gleam of unselfishness or spirituality has been stifled, and where there is no redeeming feature whatever.

Such a lost entity very soon after death finds himself unable to stay in the astral world, and is irresistibly drawn in full consciousness into “his own place”, the mysterious eighth sphere, there slowly to disintegrate after experiences best left undescribed. If, however, he perishes by suicide or sudden death, he may under certain circumstances, especially if he knows something of black magic, hold himself back from that fate by the ghastly existence of a vampire.

Since the eighth sphere cannot claim him until after the death of the body, he preserves it in a kind of cataleptic trance by transfusing into it blood drawn from other human beings by his semi-materialised astral body, thus postponing his final destiny by the commission of wholesale murder. The most effective remedy in such a case, as popular “superstition” rightly supposes, is to cremate the body, thus depriving the entity of his point d'appui.

When the grave is opened, the body usually appears quite fresh and healthy, and the coffin is not unusually filled with blood. Cremation obviously makes this sort of vampirism impossible.

The Werewolf can first manifest only during a man's physical life, and it invariably implies some knowledge of magical arts — sufficient at any rate to enable him to project the astral body.

When a perfectly cruel and brutal man does this, under certain circumstances the astral body may be seized upon by other astral entities and materialised, not into the human form, but into that of some wild animal, usually the wolf. In that condition it will range the surrounding country, killing other animals, and even human beings, thus satisfying not only its own craving for blood, but also that of the fiends who drive it on.

In this case, as so often with ordinary materialisations, a wound inflicted upon the astral form will be reproduced upon the human physical body by the curious phenomenon of repercussion (see page 242). But after the death of the physical body, the astral body, which will probably continue to appear in the same form, will be less vulnerable. [Page 174]

It will then, however, be also less dangerous, as unless it can find a suitable medium, it will be unable to materialise fully. In such manifestations, there is probably a great deal of the matter of the etheric double, and perhaps even some of liquid and gaseous constituents of the physical body, as in the case of some materialisations. In both cases this fluidic body seems able to pass to much greater distances from the physical than is otherwise possible, so far as is known, for a vehicle containing etheric matter.

The manifestations of both vampires and werewolves are usually restricted to the immediate neighbourhood of their physical bodies.

7. The Black Magician and his Pupil.—This class corresponds, mutatis mutandis, to the pupil awaiting reincarnation, but in this case the man is defying the natural process of evolution by maintaining himself in astral life by magical arts—sometimes of the most horrible nature.

It is considered undesirable to enumerate or describe the various sub-divisions of this class, as an occult student wishes only to avoid them. All these entities, who prolong their life thus on the astral plane beyond its natural limit, do so at the expense of others and by the absorption of their life in some form or another.

8. The Pupil awaiting Reincarnation.—This is also at present a rare class. A pupil who has decided not to “take his devachan”, i.e., not to pass into the heaven-world, but to continue to work on the physical plane, is sometimes, by permission only of a very high authority, allowed to do so, a suitable reincarnation being arranged for him by his Master. Even when permission is granted, it is said that the pupil must confine himself strictly to the astral plane while the matter is being arranged, because if he touched the mental plane even for a moment he might be swept as by an irresistible current into the line of normal evolution again and so pass into the heaven-world.

Occasionally, though rarely, the pupil may be placed directly in an adult body whose previous tenant [Page 175] has no further use for it: but it is seldom that a suitable body is available.

Meanwhile the pupil is of course fully conscious on the astral plane and able to go on with the work given to him by his Master, even more effectively than when hampered by a physical body.

9. The Nirmânakaya.—It is very rarely indeed that a being so exalted as a Nirmânakaya manifests himself on the astral plane. A Nirmânakaya is one who, having won the right to untold ages of rest in bliss unspeakable, yet has chosen to remain within touch of earth, suspended as it were between this world and Nirvana, in order to generate streams of spiritual force which may be employed for the helping of evolution. If He wished to appear on the astral plane he would probably create for himself a temporary astral body from the atomic matter of the plane. This is possible because a Nirmânakaya retains His causal body, and also the permanent atoms which He has carried all through His evolution, so that at any moment He can materialise round them mental, astral or physical bodies, if He so desires. [Page 176]

I found this all extremely interesting because recently I have been told by a spirit in the astral that his mother was dying. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask how exactly someone dies in the astral, of course he became very angry and said "how does someone die anywhere else?" I felt bad but I was under the impression life in the astral could be and was eternal if that was one's desire. Of course I have heard about the vital energy we're supplied with when our physical body expires but I figured that was expended purely in the RTZ dimension that overlaps the physical dimension. I have also encountered vampires in my astral travels, a couple times at this point. I have also encountered dozens of elementals most of them being water elementals, of course they don't call themselves water elementals but instead "wave" elementals. Some of them are a little mischievous and they all seem to know each other in one way or another. A specific group of them has helped me from time to time, specifically a female energy and male energy. The male is more of the guiding action and the female is the guiding voice. It would be a stretch to call them my guides though because they only come around every once in awhile, but every time they have came around it has always been a very profound experience. They took me to what they said was Neptune in a more recent experience, it was very intense emotionally for me for some reason.

Originally Posted by Astral Explorer

I found this all extremely interesting because recently I have been told by a spirit in the astral that his mother was dying. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask how exactly someone dies in the astral, of course he became very angry and said "how does someone die anywhere else?" I felt bad but I was under the impression life in the astral could be and was eternal if that was one's desire ... They took me to what they said was Neptune in a more recent experience, it was very intense emotionally for me for some reason.

Their bodies like ours is physical expression/manifestations of energy, they like ours can deteriorate. For this there can be many reasons, though it is possible for all kinds of physical bodies to be(come) eternal as far as I understand it, (it just takes the right formula sort of speaking). On another note: how did you like Neptune?

[rodan]

@Loopylucid: Quoted: "Hey rodan poker of my curiousitys lol in your opinion then hun these or those entitys, have you questioned what they were? Or where they come from?"
Thanks guys for replying, this really fascinates me :)"

No, I did not question what they were. I wouldn't have known who to question at the time. I believe I was reading and following the information on how to do it, from an Eckankar book, I had read a couple of them at the time, and followed the instructions on how to AP from them. A friend of mine, at the time, was into Eckankar teachings, and, he gave me a couple of books to read about it.

@ anyone reading this thread:

Please do not look at my first experience as what everybody experiences. They don't, from what I've read. My guess, looking back, I was in a very low vibrational frequency back then, and, shouldn't have tried to AP, in that state.

I've been trying to make contact with my Higher Self, my Guides, again. They don't seem to make their presence known to me, as they did a few years ago. I'd like to be able to have their assistance for me to journey in lucid dreaming, then with AP.

I think I caught a glimpse of what could have been one, upon awakening one morning three months ago. It was a man, jet black hair, not too long, combed back, had on a very bright short sleeve green shirt, dark jeans or slacks.
I was waking up, and, there he was, walking away from my bed, then, as he neared the bedroom door, he just seemed to "stretch" into another dimension, and disappeared. I saw him from the back, walking away from next to me near my bed, then, got a profile look at him, as he was leaving.

That bright green, short sleeve shirt, means something, but I don't know what. Maybe just the color.

[Astral Explorer]

Originally Posted by Dream Librarian

Their bodies like ours is physical expression/manifestations of energy, they like ours can deteriorate. For this there can be many reasons, though it is possible for all kinds of physical bodies to be(come) eternal as far as I understand it, (it just takes the right formula sort of speaking). On another note: how did you like Neptune?

I loved it there for some reason. It was a huge water world sort of like Venice but the water ways were much larger, the buildings were much larger and more modern/futuristic looking. The boat-like vehicles I saw didn't look like boats as we know them. It was extremely wet and somewhat cold but that didn't bother me. The male water spirits all had no shirts on and were very physically fit. The females were all extremely beautiful and were wearing very little clothing just enough to cover up their sexual organs. For some reason I felt like I was home there, I'm by no means saying it is my home but I just had this intense desire to stay there and as I felt myself fading from the projection I began to internally weep. To briefly tell the events that occurred what happened was I was in a dark place as the projection began and I had been hearing a female's voice for quite awhile, a voice that I recognized. She told me that I was lucky to have this specific male water spirit looking after me and then she began talking about me going to Neptune.

At some point the male spirit grabbed me and I felt myself go under water. We swam for a little bit of time and then we rose up out of a pool that was in the middle of a room. The room had no walls so I could see the water world all around us. There were about a half a dozen or so water spirits sitting at a table in the middle of the room, half were males and half were women. But there was one more woman in total in the room than males. Well shortly after arriving I looked into the distance at the end of the room where the water began and I saw this huge Humanoid fish being. It had two arms and two legs like a Human but it had scales all over its' body and was a greenish blue color. It had a huge fish head with a huge mouth and had a spiky dorsal fin going all the way down its' back. I asked the male spirit what it was and he replied "Oh those are an interesting form of life, you don't have to worry about them." I asked what they were called and it appeared it was one question too many.

He grabbed me and made it so I could not talk anymore. I began getting really cold and shortly after lost my ability to see. As the seconds passed I felt the projection fading and my insides started screaming no to me, I wanted to stay there no matter the circumstances. I knew he was causing this to happen so I focused as much as I could mentally and made myself warm up enough to where I could just get out of a few words and I screamed with everything inside of me "I don't want to wake up!" Right after saying that I heard all of the water spirits there gasping and talking between each other like they couldn't believe I managed to do that. I then felt myself warming up and shortly after regained my ability to see, but he wouldn't let go of me. At this point the experience was being dictated and controlled by him, but I was OK with that I just wanted to stay. The emotional level of this experience is impossible to put into words unfortunately.

He was walking me around the room holding onto me and then I started hearing war drums. The drums were playing a tune that was extremely familiar and moving to me. I know I have heard those drums before, maybe not that exact set but the type of drum and the tune it was playing. All of the spirits in the room were standing around looking at me with this look of happiness and fascination, like they appreciated my desire to stay there and it made them feel good. I was staring so deeply into their eyes trying to talk to them with my eyes and say I want to stay here. One by one I looked into them and they smiled and then we went to the next one. I tried to smile back to show my happiness that I was being allowed to stay longer. Then all of a sudden sitting on a table I saw this huge decapitated head. The remaining neck was about as thick as a Human's torso. The head was really big and had white hair, a long white beard, and looked like what I would expect Neptune the God to look like. I ended up seeing two heads in total, both of them looked different compared to each other but they both had a theme to them. Shortly after that the projection ended.