Astral plane

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.

Origin and 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.

Some equivalent concepts to the astral plane in various esoteric teachings are the Barzakh or Imaginal or Inter-world in Islamic Esotericism (Ishraqism, Sufism, etc), the World of Asiyah in Lurianic Kabbalah (although this sometimes includes the physical plane as well), or Yetzirah in some interpretations of Hermetic Kabbalah, the "spirit world" in Spiritualism, the "Nervous" State in Max Theon's teachings, and the "Vital" World in the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa.

In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda has explained with amazing clarity and detail the difference between the physical, astral, and causal planes, as per traditional Hindu philosophy. According to him when one dies his soul moves to the astral plane. There he reaps the results of his past actions or karmas and accordingly reinhabits a physical body or moves on to the higher causal plane.

The term "astral plane" has also more recently come to mean a plane of existence where otherkin believe their souls reside.

The astral plane and 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 occult training and development. Some people would visit the astral plane by accident, simply by getting out of bed while the physical body remains sleeping. Unconsciously, the astral plane is the location of our consciousness while the vital body repairs damaged tissue and processes the wastes of the physical body.

Some forms of Theosophy state that the astral world vibrates its energy through astral atoms that copenetrate the physical world without trouble or confusion; and that all physical things have astral (and other subtle) counterparts.

The desire world in Rosicrucianism

According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings, in the desire world, contrary to the physical world, force and matter are almost indistinguishable from each other. The desire-stuff may be described as a type of force-matter, for it is in incessant motion, responsive to the slightest feeling of a vast multitude of beings which populate this world. He refers that a number of people and things may exist in the same place at the same time and be engaged in most diverse activities, regardless of what others are doing. The desire world is also said to be the abode of deceased persons, for some time subsequent to the event of death and, as it interpenetrates the physical world, these entities, the "dead", very often stay for a long while among their still living friends. It is also the home, among other various classes of beings, of the archangels which are native beings of this world.

Heindel states that in the lower regions of the desire world the whole body of each being may be seen, but in the highest regions only the head seems to remain. In the lower regions of the desire world, there is the same diversity of tongues as on Earth, and the "dead" of one nation find it impossible to converse with those who lived in another country. In the higher regions of the desire world, the confusion of tongues gives place to a universal mode of expression which absolutely prevents misunderstandings of meaning: thoughts take a definite form and color perceptible to all, and this thought-symbol emits a certain tone, which conveys the meaning to the one to whom they are addressed. He states that in the desire world all is light and there is but one long day, and as the spirit is not fettered by a heavy physical body, it does not need sleep and existence is unbroken. Spiritual substances are not subject to contraction and expansion such as arise here from heat and cold, hence summer and winter are also non-existent. Thus there is nothing to differentiate one moment from another in respect of the conditions of light and darkness, summer and winter, which mark time in the physical world. Due to inexistence of these conditions, only students of the stellar science are able to calculate the passage of time in the desire world.

The astral plane in popular culture

In the standard Dungeons and Dragons RPG planar cosmology, the Astral Plane is a dimension coexistent with all others, used as a means of transportation between planes. Color pools on the plane lead to the other worlds it touches.

The Astral Plane is also a location in the Marvel Universe. It is a metaphorical level of existence with ties to the physical world which only psychic entities can visit. In the Marvel Universe, Doctor Strange has practiced astral projection since his inception in 1963. Other Marvel characters with no psychic powers are capable of astral projection through other sources, such as by magic spells - for example, Illyana Rasputin [alias Magik] was able to astral project her own consciousness in New Mutants (Series 1) #15. Other mutants such as Professor X, Emma Frost, Jean Grey and other powerful psychics have access to the astral plane. As a means to prevent another powerful psychic from harming others, Professor X imprisons the Shadow King on the astral plane.

It is sung about in a NOFX song called "Kids of the K-Hole" on the album So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes (which refers to So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish).

It is also sung about in The Pogues song "Smell of Petroleum" on the album Waiying for Herb.

"Astral Plane" is the title of a song by The Modern Lovers.

In the song "Bring the Pain" by Method Man, the chorus begins "I came to bring the pain/hardcore from the brain/let's go inside my astral plane". This line was later interpreted in Tupac Shakur's "No More Pain".

Aerosmith mention the Astral Plane in their song "Draw the Line".

It is a major part of the musical "The True Story of the Bridgewater Astral League" by The World/Inferno Friendship Society.

In the Ozzy Osbourne song, 'Over the Mountain', on the album 'Diary of a Madman', Ozzy sings the lyric, 'I've seen life's magic astral plane I travel through.'

The Astral Plane is the final level of the computer game Nethack, where the player must sacrifice the Amulet of Yendor to his/her deity in order to win.

See also

• Archangels
• Plane (cosmology)
• Esoteric cosmology
• Linga sarira

References

• Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter III: The Visible and the Invisible Worlds), 1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3
• Powell, Arthur E. The Astral Body and other Astral Phenomena
• Steiner, Rudolph, Theosophy: An introduction to the supersensible knowledge of the world and the destination of man. London: Rudolf Steiner Press. (1904) 1970
• ----- Occult Science - An Outline. Trans. George and Mary Adams. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1909, 1969