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Theastral plane, also called theastral realm, or theastral world, or thesoul realm, or thespirit realm, is aplane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental,esoteric, andNew Age philosophies andmystery religions.[1] It is the world of thecelestial spheres, crossed by the soul in itsastral body on the way to being born andafter death, and is generally believed to be populated byangels, spirits, or other immaterial beings.[2] In the late 19th and early 20th century, the term was popularised byTheosophy and neo-Rosicrucianism.
Another view holds that the astral plane or world, rather than being some kind of boundary area crossed by the soul, is the entirety of spirit existence or spirit worlds to which those who die on Earth go, and where they live out their non-physical lives. It is understood by adherents that all consciousness resides in the astral plane.[3] Some writers conflate this realm with heaven or paradise or union with God itself, while others do not.Paramahansa Yogananda wrote inAutobiography of a Yogi (1946), "The astral universe ... is hundreds of times larger than the material universe ... [with] many astral planets, teeming with astral beings."
The "World ofAl-Ghaib" and the "World ofBarzakh" are related concepts inIslam (also the concept of'âlam al-mithâl "imaginal world" inSufism). InJudaism, it is known as the "World ofYetzirah", according toLurianicKabbalah.
Plato andAristotle taught that the stars were composed of a type of matter different from the fourearthly (classical) elements – a fifth,ethereal element or quintessence. In the "astral mysticism" of the classical world the human psyche was composed of the same material, thus accounting for the influence of the stars upon human affairs. In his commentaries on Plato'sTimaeus,Proclus wrote the following:
Man is a little world (mikros cosmos). For, just like the Whole, he possesses both mind and reason, both a divine and a mortal body. He is also divided up according to the universe. It is for this reason, you know, that some are accustomed to say that his consciousness corresponds with the nature of the fixed stars, his reason in its contemplative aspect with Saturn and in its social aspect with Jupiter, (and) as to his irrational part, the passionate nature with Mars, the eloquent with Mercury, the appetitive with Venus, the sensitive with the Sun and the vegetative with the Moon.[4]
Such doctrines were commonplace in mystery-schools andHermetic andgnostic sects throughout theRoman Empire.
Among Muslims the "astral" world-view was soon rendered orthodox byQuranic references to the Prophet's ascent through the seven heavens. Scholars took up the Greek Neoplatonist accounts as well as similar material inHindu andZoroastrian texts.[5] The expositions ofIbn Sina (i.e.Avicenna), theBrotherhood of Purity and others, when translated intoLatin in theNorman era, were to have a profound effect upon European medievalalchemy andastrology. By the 14th centuryDante was describing his own imaginary journey through the astral spheres ofParadise.[6]
Throughout theRenaissance, philosophers,Paracelsians,Rosicrucians, and alchemists continued to discuss the nature of the astral world intermediate between Earth and the divine. Once the telescope established that no spiritual heaven was visible around theSolar System, the idea was superseded in mainstream science.[citation needed]
According to various occult teachings, the astral plane can be visited consciously throughastral projection,meditation andmantra,near death experience,lucid dreaming,hypnosis, or other means. Individuals that are trained in the use of the astral vehicle can separate their consciousness in the astral vehicle from the physical body at will.[7] The first stage in development, according toWilliam Walker Atkinson (also known as Yogi Ramacharaka), is "mastery of the physical body and its care and attention", which pertains not only to the physical body but also to its double in the astral.[3] In addition, one must spend time tuning the "instinctive mind".[3] The first three subdivisions of the instinctive mind are passions, desires, and lusts. The second stage is the intellect, otherwise known as the sharpening of the mind. Someone operating largely out of the instinctive mind would "have only a glimmering of intellect", similarly those who are centered in the intellect would only have an inkling of the third, 'spiritual' stage of development. Once both earlier stages are completed the spiritual mind can be awakened.[3]
In earlytheosophical literature the term "astral" may refer to theaether. Later theosophical authors such asAnnie Besant andC. W. Leadbeater make the astral finer[clarification needed] than theetheric plane but "denser" than the mental plane. In order to create a unified view of seven bodies and remove earlierSanskrit terms, anetheric plane was introduced and the term "astral body" was used to replace the formerkamarupa - sometimes termed thebody of emotion, illusion or desire.[1] Some of those propounding such claims explain their belief that letting go of desires is spiritual progress by noting that, the more one lets go of earthly 'desire' feelings, the less tied down to the physical world, a world of illusion, and the more connected to the astral, where all is visible and known.[8]
According toMax Heindel'sRosicrucian writings,desire-stuff may be described as a type of force-matter, in incessant motion, responsive to the slightestfeeling. The desire world is also said to be the abode of the dead for some time subsequent to death. It is also the home of thearchangels. In the higher regions of the desire world thoughts take a definite form and color perceptible to all, all is light and there is but one long day.
In his bookAutobiography of a Yogi,Paramahansa Yogananda provides details about the astral planes learned from his guru.[9] Yogananda claims that nearly all individuals enter the astral planes after death. There they work out the seeds of pastkarma through astral incarnations, or (if their karma requires) they return to earthly incarnations for further refinement. Once an individual has attained the meditative state ofnirvikalpa samadhi in an earthy or astral incarnation, the soul may progress upward to the "illumined astral planet" of Hiranyaloka.[9] After this transitional stage, the soul may then move upward to the more subtle causal spheres where many more incarnations allow them to further refine beforefinal unification.[10]
