Astral body - Revision history

Odyssee at 16:23, 23 March 2021

2021-03-23T16:23:25Z

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			[[File:Ba ombre sortie tombe.jpg\|thumb\|250px\|The [[Ba]] of man in winged form, as depicted in the [[Egyptian Mysteries]], corresponds to the astral body.]]

	The '''astral body''' (from {{ELSalt\|ἀστήρ}} ''ástēr'' = "star", literally "star body"; {{DeS\|''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''}}), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.		The '''astral body''' (from {{ELSalt\|ἀστήρ}} ''ástēr'' = "star", literally "star body"; {{DeS\|''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''}}), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.

Odyssee: /* Fundamental properties of the astral body */

2021-02-26T06:58:27Z

Fundamental properties of the astral body

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	In the Egyptian mysteries the Ba was regarded as the carrier of the unmistakable soul qualities of the human personality and corresponds in anthroposophical terminology to the astral body, closely connected with the sentient soul. It was symbolically represented very aptly in the form of a bird with a human head. After death it accompanies Schut, the shadow of man, into the hereafter.		In the Egyptian mysteries the Ba was regarded as the carrier of the unmistakable soul qualities of the human personality and corresponds in anthroposophical terminology to the astral body, closely connected with the sentient soul. It was symbolically represented very aptly in the form of a bird with a human head. After death it accompanies Schut, the shadow of man, into the hereafter.

	Plato in the dialogue of Phaidros speaks in this contest of a soul vehicle, or soul carriage, which, pulled by two horses, one white and one black, carries the winged soul into the higher world of the planetary spheres, or synonymously of the "garment" or a "cover" of the soul. The Neoplatonist Proclus then for the first time called this soul vehicle "starlike" (Greek: astroeidés). The term "astral body," however, was not coined until modern times.<ref>Eric Robertson Dodds (Hrsg): Proclus: The Elements of Theology. A Revised Text, Oxford 1963, S. 313-321</ref>		[[Plato]] in the dialogue of Phaidros speaks in this contest of a soul vehicle, or soul carriage, which, pulled by two horses, one white and one black, carries the winged soul into the higher world of the planetary spheres, or synonymously of the "garment" or a "cover" of the soul. The Neoplatonist Proclus then for the first time called this soul vehicle "starlike" (Greek: astroeidés). The term "astral body," however, was not coined until modern times.<ref>Eric Robertson Dodds (Hrsg): Proclus: The Elements of Theology. A Revised Text, Oxford 1963, S. 313-321</ref>

	Aristotle calls the astral body aesthetikon~~; according~~ to Rudolf Steiner, the Hebrew term is lamuel (~~Hebrew~~ למואל, consecrated to God) {{GZ\|\|116\|82}}. In sleep - metaphorically speaking - the upper parts of the astral body lift themselves out of the body together with the I and remain connected with it only by the so-called silver cord or string of pearls formed from kundalini fire, which breaks only at death {{GZ\|\|88\|237f}}. After death the largest part of the astral body dissolves in the Kamaloka and scatters in the astral world. Unresolved remnants of the astral body can appear as doppelgangers in a later incarnation {{GZ\|\|93a\|28f}}.		{{Anchor\|aesthetikon}}
			Aristotle calls the astral body '''aesthetikon''' ({{ELSalt\|αἰσθητικόν}} "perceptiveness"), i.e. '''sense soul''' or '''sensitive soul'''. According to [[Rudolf Steiner]], the Hebrew term is '''lamuel''' ({{HeS\|למואל}}, consecrated to God) {{GZ\|\|116\|82}}. In sleep - metaphorically speaking - the upper parts of the astral body lift themselves out of the body together with the [[I]] and remain connected with it only by the so-called silver cord or string of pearls formed from [[kundalini fire]], which breaks only at death {{GZ\|\|88\|237f}}. After death the largest part of the astral body dissolves in the [[Kamaloka]] and scatters in the astral world. Unresolved remnants of the astral body can appear as doppelgangers in a later incarnation {{GZ\|\|93a\|28f}}.

	Awareness of the astral body is awakened especially by the third subsidiary exercise, which trains the equanimity of feeling. Rudolf Steiner shows a meditative way to experience the astral body in {{GZ\|\|16\|48ff}}.		Awareness of the astral body is awakened especially by the [[third subsidiary exercise]], which trains the equanimity of feeling. Rudolf Steiner shows a meditative way to experience the astral body in {{GZ\|\|16\|48ff}}.

	== The astral body and its relationship to the stellar world ==		== The astral body and its relationship to the stellar world ==

Odyssee: /* References */

2021-02-25T09:10:50Z

References

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	[[Category:Members]]		[[Category:Members]]
			[[Category:Astral body]]
	[[de:Astralleib]]		[[de:Astralleib]]

Odyssee at 16:23, 22 February 2021

2021-02-22T16:23:02Z

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	== The evolution of the astral body ==		== The evolution of the astral body ==

	The first seminal stage of the astral body was created during the planetary phase of development of the ~~old moon~~. In terms of development, it is thus younger than the etheric- and the physical body and therefore still in its infancy. However, the soul organs of the astral body, tha chakras or lotuses can consciously be further developed through an appropriate spiritual training.		The first seminal stage of the astral body was created during the planetary phase of development of the [[Old Moon]]. In terms of development, it is thus younger than the etheric- and the physical body and therefore still in its infancy. However, the soul organs of the astral body, tha chakras or lotuses can consciously be further developed through an appropriate spiritual training.

	== How does one become aware of the astral body? ==		== How does one become aware of the astral body? ==
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	== The Astral Body as a Carrier of Consciousness ==		== The Astral Body as a Carrier of Consciousness ==

	The astral body possesses an independent, very wise consciousness, which forms the basis of consciousness in animals and humans, but which is partly strongly corrupted by the Luciferian influence and distorted into desire. The astral body, from which the soul is also substantially taken, forms the actual carrier of consciousness. In waking consciousness, however, this astral consciousness is normally only accessible to us to a small degree, but as a subconsciousness which is tied to the ego it constantly weaves in the background of our waking consciousness activity. Only in dreams does the astral consciousness emerge more clearly, because then it is not overshadowed by the brighter daytime consciousness. Dream-filled sleep occurs when the astral body has already separated from the physical body, as is usual during sleep, but still it has a certain connection with the etheric body, which remains in bed. The human being then begins to perceive in pictorial form certain processes in his etheric body. In dreams in which one faces oneself, one perceives a part of one's own astral body. Our dream-consciousness today is a transformed rudiment of the picture-consciousness that man had on the ~~old moon~~. It is closely related to our emotional life; in feeling we actually dream constantly even during the waking life of the day.		The astral body possesses an independent, very wise consciousness, which forms the basis of consciousness in animals and humans, but which is partly strongly corrupted by the Luciferian influence and distorted into desire. The astral body, from which the soul is also substantially taken, forms the actual carrier of consciousness. In waking consciousness, however, this astral consciousness is normally only accessible to us to a small degree, but as a subconsciousness which is tied to the ego it constantly weaves in the background of our waking consciousness activity. Only in dreams does the astral consciousness emerge more clearly, because then it is not overshadowed by the brighter daytime consciousness. Dream-filled sleep occurs when the astral body has already separated from the physical body, as is usual during sleep, but still it has a certain connection with the etheric body, which remains in bed. The human being then begins to perceive in pictorial form certain processes in his etheric body. In dreams in which one faces oneself, one perceives a part of one's own astral body. Our dream-consciousness today is a transformed rudiment of the picture-consciousness that man had on the [[Old Moon]]. It is closely related to our emotional life; in feeling we actually dream constantly even during the waking life of the day.

	{{GZ\|From the etheric body the extrasensory observation ascends to a further interconnecting member of the human being. In order to form an idea of this member, it points to the appearance of sleep, just as it pointed to death in the case of the etheric body. - All human creativity is based on waking activity, as far as the manifested is considered. This activity, however, is only possible if man again and again obtains the strengthening of his exhausted powers from sleep. Action and thought fade away in sleep, all pain, all pleasure sink away from conscious life. As if from hidden, mysterious wells, conscious forces arise from the unconsciousness of sleep when the human being awakens. It is the same consciousness that sinks down into the dark depths when we fall asleep and that rises up again when we awake. That which life awakens again and again from the state of unconsciousness is, in the sense of extrasensory knowledge, the third interconnecting layer of the human being. It may be called the astral body. Just as the physical body cannot preserve its own form through the mineral substances and its forces within, it must, for the sake of this preservation, be interspersed with the etheric body, likewise the energies of the etheric body cannot, by themselves, illuminate themselves with the light of consciousness. An etheric body left to itself would have to remain in a state of sleep. One could also say that it could only maintain a plant-like existence in the physical body. An awake etheric body is illuminated by an astral body. For sensory observation the effect of this astral body disappears when the human being sinks into sleep. Extrasensory observation can still perceive but shows separately from the etheric body. The sensory perception does therefore not perceive the astral body itself, but only its effects in its manifested stage. And such effects are not directly present during sleep. In the same sense that man has his physical body in common with minerals and his etheric body with plants, his astral body is of the same kind with regard to animals . The plants are in a perpetual state of sleep. He who does not judge these things accurately can easily fall into the trap of ascribing a kind of consciousness to plants like that which animals and men have in the waking state. This can only happen, however, if one has an inaccurate idea of consciousness. One then says that when an external stimulus is exerted on the plant, it performs certain movements just like the animal. One speaks of the sensitivity of some plants which, for example, contract their leaves when certain external stimuli act upon them. But it is not the characteristic of consciousness that a being shows a certain counter-effect to an external stimulus, but that the being experiences something within itself which is added as a new quality rather than a mere reaction . Otherwise one could also speak of consciousness when a piece of iron expands under the influence of heat. Consciousness is only present when the being experiences the effect of heat as for instance, inwardly pain .\|13\|58ff}}		{{GZ\|From the etheric body the extrasensory observation ascends to a further interconnecting member of the human being. In order to form an idea of this member, it points to the appearance of sleep, just as it pointed to death in the case of the etheric body. - All human creativity is based on waking activity, as far as the manifested is considered. This activity, however, is only possible if man again and again obtains the strengthening of his exhausted powers from sleep. Action and thought fade away in sleep, all pain, all pleasure sink away from conscious life. As if from hidden, mysterious wells, conscious forces arise from the unconsciousness of sleep when the human being awakens. It is the same consciousness that sinks down into the dark depths when we fall asleep and that rises up again when we awake. That which life awakens again and again from the state of unconsciousness is, in the sense of extrasensory knowledge, the third interconnecting layer of the human being. It may be called the astral body. Just as the physical body cannot preserve its own form through the mineral substances and its forces within, it must, for the sake of this preservation, be interspersed with the etheric body, likewise the energies of the etheric body cannot, by themselves, illuminate themselves with the light of consciousness. An etheric body left to itself would have to remain in a state of sleep. One could also say that it could only maintain a plant-like existence in the physical body. An awake etheric body is illuminated by an astral body. For sensory observation the effect of this astral body disappears when the human being sinks into sleep. Extrasensory observation can still perceive but shows separately from the etheric body. The sensory perception does therefore not perceive the astral body itself, but only its effects in its manifested stage. And such effects are not directly present during sleep. In the same sense that man has his physical body in common with minerals and his etheric body with plants, his astral body is of the same kind with regard to animals . The plants are in a perpetual state of sleep. He who does not judge these things accurately can easily fall into the trap of ascribing a kind of consciousness to plants like that which animals and men have in the waking state. This can only happen, however, if one has an inaccurate idea of consciousness. One then says that when an external stimulus is exerted on the plant, it performs certain movements just like the animal. One speaks of the sensitivity of some plants which, for example, contract their leaves when certain external stimuli act upon them. But it is not the characteristic of consciousness that a being shows a certain counter-effect to an external stimulus, but that the being experiences something within itself which is added as a new quality rather than a mere reaction . Otherwise one could also speak of consciousness when a piece of iron expands under the influence of heat. Consciousness is only present when the being experiences the effect of heat as for instance, inwardly pain .\|13\|58ff}}

Odyssee at 10:04, 20 February 2021

2021-02-20T10:04:51Z

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	The '''astral body''' (from ~~Greek~~ ἀστήρ ''ástēr'' = "star", literally ''star body''; {{DeS\|''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''}}), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.		The '''astral body''' (from {{ELSalt\|ἀστήρ}} ''ástēr'' = "star", literally "star body"; {{DeS\|''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''}}), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.

	== Fundamental properties of the astral body ==		== Fundamental properties of the astral body ==

Odyssee at 09:34, 20 February 2021

2021-02-20T09:34:20Z

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	The '''astral body''' (from Greek ἀστήρ ''ástēr'' = "star", literally ''star body''; ~~German:~~ ''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.		The '''astral body''' (from Greek ἀστήρ ''ástēr'' = "star", literally ''star body''; {{DeS\|''[[a:Astralleib\|Astralleib]]''}}), also called '''Kama-Rupa''' in Indian theosophical terminology, is one of the 4 basic [[members]] of the earthly embodied human being. It is the basic carrier of consciousness, but not that of self-consciousness, which solely develops through the ego. The astral body of the human being "is the manifestation of his passions, his instincts, drives and desires, but also of all his thoughts and ideas. In this astral body the clairvoyant consciousness sees depicted all that is called mental experiences, from the lowest instinct up to the highest moral ideals."<ref>The instincts have their actual origin in the wise formation of the physical body and the drives spring from the etheric body, but only in the astral body do they find their more or less conscious or semi-conscious expression. Only the desires also have their direct origin in the astral body.</ref> {{GZ\|\|104\|52}} It facilitates the experience of our senses, likes and dislikes, as well as sympathy and antipathy which are aroused by it and finally it allows for independent movement of the body and its sensory perception. Insofar as a more or less conscious inner world of the soul is already formed, the astral body forms the vessel in which the body of the soul unites or meshes with the soul of sensory perception {{GZ\|\|9\|58ff}}.

	== Fundamental properties of the astral body ==		== Fundamental properties of the astral body ==

Odyssee at 12:35, 19 February 2021

2021-02-19T12:35:40Z

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	* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Geisteswissenschaft und Medizin'', [[GA 312]] (1999), ISBN 3-7274-3120-2 {{Lectures\|312}}		* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Geisteswissenschaft und Medizin'', [[GA 312]] (1999), ISBN 3-7274-3120-2 {{Lectures\|312}}
	*''Beiträge zur Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe'', Heft 51/52: Der Weg zur höheren Erkenntnis im Lebenswerk und Lebensgang Rudolf Steiners, Rudolf Steiner-Nachlaßverwaltung, Dornach 1975		*''Beiträge zur Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe'', Heft 51/52: Der Weg zur höheren Erkenntnis im Lebenswerk und Lebensgang Rudolf Steiners, Rudolf Steiner-Nachlaßverwaltung, Dornach 1975

			{{GA}}

	== References ==		== References ==
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	[[Category:Members]]		[[Category:Members]]
			[[de:Astralleib]]

Odyssee: /* The shape of the astral body - the aura */

2021-02-18T08:12:39Z

The shape of the astral body - the aura

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	You see how the strong or weak personality is reflected in the aura of the person.\|96\|322}}		You see how the strong or weak personality is reflected in the aura of the person.\|96\|322}}

			== The astral pall - change of form and dissolution of the astral body after death ==

			After death, most of the astral body dissolves into the surrounding astral world during the purification period in the Kamaloka of the lunar sphere. It also undergoes characteristic transformations of form in the process.

			{{GZ\|But when a human being, after the end of his physical life, first repels the physical body and then also that part of the etheric body which is to be repelled, then the astral body already shows a changing form during the Kamaloka phase. This body is completely adapted in its form and image to the life of the soul, so that a person who has lost his body at death with ugly feelings exhibits a frightening appearance, while a person who has died with beautiful feelings shows beautiful, sympathetic shapes of the astral body. It can come to such a pass that people who are completely absorbed in sensual desires and who cannot rise to any noble feelings and impulses, really take on the form of all kinds of grotesque animals for a time after death, not such as those known on the physical plane, but such as are merely reminiscent of them. Now he who has clairvoyant experiences on the astral plane and can follow which figures present themselves there to the consciousness, knows which image corresponds to a soul with noble and one with ignoble contents; therefore, everything can be experienced and seen in these figures by him.\|108\|19}}

			During this phase we experience our past earthly life in retrograde again and thereby recognise quite objectively the moral value of all our earthly deeds and so we become conscious of our karma.

			{{GZ\|These forces of death, which are also the forces of birth, are the lunar forces. Mixed into these lunar forces is all that man has accumulated in strength of moral value from birth to death. If one has been good in one or other respect, then in this sphere of the death-moon-field there is, as it were, a being of one's own which contains within itself a force that has remained from our goodness. This being also has in it all that has remained of our being evil too. And while we live on earth, we form this being as well. Ordinary consciousness knows nothing of it, but we carry it within us. We carry it within us in such a way that we leave it every night when we sleep; when we leave our physical body, this being remains within the physical body. I have told you that the moral feelings and the religious feelings are left behind in the physical body and in the etheric body. And there is also left behind a real being which we form as our karma-bearer during our life on earth. But this being remains with us as long as we are in the sphere of the lunar forces. And because this Being keeps us in the lunar forces, that is, in the vicinity of the earth, we remain connected during the time phase after death both with these lunar forces and with our karma in such a way that we really have to relive all the actions we have done on earth between birth and death, that we have to relive them in a spiritual way, with triple speed - as I said in the public lecture - as we went through them on earth. But we have to live through them backwards and thus spend a time after death in which we no longer remain connected with the death moon forces through the physical body which we have laid aside, but in which we, as spiritual-soul beings, have to perform actions which are intimately connected with our earthly actions. So we go through our life once more in a backward order, and through this our karma comes to our consciousness all the more.\|218\|163f}}

			{{GGZ\|After one has gone through the actions in this way, has gone back with the actions to one's birth, it is in such a way that one judges these actions from the standpoint of the sphere of the stars. Now one does not receive the judgement from merely looking backwards alone, but one receives the judgement in a forward way too; one receives the judgement which may say : this you must do in order to balance this past action; this you must do in order to balance another action. - In that phase you stand for the next twenty or thirty years of your life after death, depending on how old you have become, amounting to a third of your earthly time. Children go through this for a very short time. It hardly comes into consideration for very young children, as you can imagine from what I have said. In this way, by still having a spiritual-emotional connection with one's earthly life, one actually experiences one's life backwards again . And when you arrive at birth, it turns out that the memory of all this remains with you. It is just as if one were to discard a body again. People say that they discard the astral body. But what actually happens is that the living activity in which one was before is transformed into a thought-image, only that now a quite different consciousness, a star-consciousness, thinks, whereas here an earthly consciousness has thought.\|218\|166f}}

			The complete dissolution of the astral corpse takes about 20 to 40 years; during this time these astral corpses can also penetrate in a disturbing manner the astral body of men living on earth, when it has lifted out of the animated body in sleep.

			{{GZ\|To the clairvoyant these astral corpses are visible, and it takes twenty, thirty or forty years for them to dissolve. As such, astral corpses are continually presernt, they occasionally pass through the bodies of living men, through our own bodies, especially during the night, when our astral bodies are separated from the physical bodies in sleep, and hence appear bearing certain harmful influences which man may receive.\|108\|57}}

			This process is not fully completed until the dead person has ascended to the sphere of Saturn:

			{{GZ\|As long as man undergoes this backward living through of his past life on earth, so long does he actually stand in the planetary sphere. One can say that as long as the human being progresses from the spiritual lunar field to the fields of Venus, Mercury, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, that is, as long as he is between the lunar and Saturn spheres, in other words, as long as he feels the planetary cosmos within himself, he is in this backward living mode through his past life on earth.\|218\|167}}

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==

Odyssee: /* The shape of the astral body - the aura */

2021-02-18T08:06:25Z

The shape of the astral body - the aura

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	The temperament of the human being, which is actually rooted in the etheric body, shows itself as the basic mood of the aura. The astral body of an as of yet still undeveloped human being, being permeated by many lower drives, shows a reddish-grey to grey-brown basic colour, as it is similarly found in certain animals. The astral body of a spiritually highly developed human being shows radiations which radiate from the bluish to dark violet shimmering I-centre. The nature of a person's personality, i.e. how strongly or weakly his I-ego-self shines through the lower members of his being, especially through the astral body, is clearly seen in his aura:		The temperament of the human being, which is actually rooted in the etheric body, shows itself as the basic mood of the aura. The astral body of an as of yet still undeveloped human being, being permeated by many lower drives, shows a reddish-grey to grey-brown basic colour, as it is similarly found in certain animals. The astral body of a spiritually highly developed human being shows radiations which radiate from the bluish to dark violet shimmering I-centre. The nature of a person's personality, i.e. how strongly or weakly his I-ego-self shines through the lower members of his being, especially through the astral body, is clearly seen in his aura:

	[[File:Aurisches Ei small.gif~~\|thumb~~\|left\|Auric Egg, Drawing from ~~{{G\|~~93a\|75}}]]		[[File:Aurisches Ei small.gif\|left\|Auric Egg, Drawing from GA 93a, p. 75]]
	{{GZ\|For the clairvoyant this is quite recognisable. He sees the human being bathed in a coloured aura, in which his moods, passions, feelings, sensations are precisely expressed in colour currents and colour clouds. If we imagine ourselves during the time when the three components of the being were just about ready to receive the human I-ego, we would also notice an aura in this being, which had not yet become fully human. But it would lack the yellow currents in which the higher nature of the human being is expressed. Strong personalities have a strong yellow radiant aura. Now one can be a strong personality but without activity, one can react inwardly strongly without being a man of action. In that case, the aura still shows a lot of yellow. But if one is a doer and the personality has an effect in the outer world, the yellow gradually changes into a radiant red. A radiant red aura is that of a man of action; but it must radiate.		{{GZ\|For the clairvoyant this is quite recognisable. He sees the human being bathed in a coloured aura, in which his moods, passions, feelings, sensations are precisely expressed in colour currents and colour clouds. If we imagine ourselves during the time when the three components of the being were just about ready to receive the human I-ego, we would also notice an aura in this being, which had not yet become fully human. But it would lack the yellow currents in which the higher nature of the human being is expressed. Strong personalities have a strong yellow radiant aura. Now one can be a strong personality but without activity, one can react inwardly strongly without being a man of action. In that case, the aura still shows a lot of yellow. But if one is a doer and the personality has an effect in the outer world, the yellow gradually changes into a radiant red. A radiant red aura is that of a man of action; but it must radiate.

Odyssee: /* Astral body and plant forms */

2021-02-18T08:02:33Z

Astral body and plant forms

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:02, 18 February 2021
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	One enters a new field of research by abandoning the postulate of objectivity of modern natural science, the demand to investigate nature objectively, i.e. to the exclusion of man. We do not want to discuss the extent to which this postulate has always been a fiction, but to point out that a methodical expansion of the knowledge of nature is only possible if one transcends the limits determined by this postulate. However, in order not to enter into the uncertain and unverifiable, one must proceed with great care and give an account of every step.\|Kranich, p 10}}		One enters a new field of research by abandoning the postulate of objectivity of modern natural science, the demand to investigate nature objectively, i.e. to the exclusion of man. We do not want to discuss the extent to which this postulate has always been a fiction, but to point out that a methodical expansion of the knowledge of nature is only possible if one transcends the limits determined by this postulate. However, in order not to enter into the uncertain and unverifiable, one must proceed with great care and give an account of every step.\|Kranich, p 10}}

			== The shape of the astral body - the aura ==

			The astral body does not belong to the spatial world and as such is actually shapeless.

			{{GZ\|... the astral body is actually without shape. And when one speaks of it, one speaks only of an image, of which one knows that the image serves only to represent it, for in truth it is shapeless. This astral body has changed quite a lot in the newer human being - this process has been going on for three to four centuries. People of the past had an astral body that was still relatively permeated by spirituality, by all kinds of spiritual forces; and whatever spiritual feelings and spiritual impulses people had in life came from this spirituality that was in the astral body. Now the astral bodies have actually become empty. They are strangely empty. And they are empty because at the time when, as it were, the spiritual world wants to reveal itself with power from outside, man is supposed to absorb this outer spiritual world. Therefore his astral body has gradually become empty. It is to fill itself again with that which reveals itself externally.\|193\|96}}

			To the clairvoyant gaze, the astral body, i.e. the image of the astral body, shows itself as an egg-shaped, inwardly moving cloud, in the middle of which stands the physical body. In the visual arts, the astral aura has often been depicted as a mandorla. In different people the size of this aura varies and it does not form a clearly defined, sharply outlined shape. But one can imagine that the astral human being appears on average twice as long and four times as wide as the physical one.

			{{GZ\|During a lifetime between birth and death, however, one can see that essentially the astral body looks like a kind of oval cloud in which the physical and etheric bodies are embedded. The body is a kind of egg-shape, on the outer borders of which there are constantly undulating movements in action, so that there can be no question of regularity. The astral body shows a comparatively firm, constant form as long as it is within the physical body. As long as this is the case, this shape remains. Already at night, when the astral body withdraws, it begins to adapt itself to the soul body. You can see how a person who lives in evil feelings during the day shows a different appearance at night than a person who has been living in good feelings during the day. In general, however, the form of the astral body nonetheless remains during the night, because the forces of the physical and etheric body work very strongly and continue to work during the night, preserving the astral body in its form essentially, but only essentially.\|108\|18f}}

			Especially in that part of the astral body which rises out of the body during sleep, one can nevertheless observe very characteristic changes of shape:

			{{GZ\|I have already said that this astral human body by no means shows absolutely definite inner and outer shapes, but only within certain limits is that the case. Even in physical life, especially in that part of the body which emerges after falling asleep, the astral body adapts itself in a certain way to what the soul experiences. And from certain formations and shapes which the astral body assumes, one can see what is going on within the human being and what he experiences.

			I would like to give you some information about some of the things that the soul can experience, namely, how the astral body is seen. Suppose a person is garrulous, curious or inclined to irascibility or other similar, let us say, vices. These vices express themselves in a very definite way in his astral body. For example, when a person is plagued by anger, especially when he is irascible, then bulbous formations, condensations through the astral body appear in his astral body. He becomes impure. From these condensations come quite bad-looking snake-like extensions, which also differ in colouring from other substances. This can easily be observed especially in irascible people. When people are talkative, this is shown by the fact that the astral body shows all kinds of condensations, which one could characterise in such a way that one says that through the condensations a pressure is exerted on all sides throughout the astral body. When people are curious, this is shown in the astral body by its wrinkling; certain parts become wrinkled and limp, and certain parts hang, as it were, towards each other; a general slackening is shown. So you see that this astral human body shares in a certain way the general characteristics of the astral world, that it adapts its form to the inner soul experiences of the human being.\|108\|19f}}

			Desires and impulses show themselves in floods of colour and form:

			{{GZ\|In shades of red, thoughts that spring from sensual life pervade the world of the soul. In beautiful bright yellow appears a thought through which the thinker ascends to a higher knowledge. In glorious rose-red shines a thought which comes from devoted love.\|9\|159\|72}}

			The temperament of the human being, which is actually rooted in the etheric body, shows itself as the basic mood of the aura. The astral body of an as of yet still undeveloped human being, being permeated by many lower drives, shows a reddish-grey to grey-brown basic colour, as it is similarly found in certain animals. The astral body of a spiritually highly developed human being shows radiations which radiate from the bluish to dark violet shimmering I-centre. The nature of a person's personality, i.e. how strongly or weakly his I-ego-self shines through the lower members of his being, especially through the astral body, is clearly seen in his aura:

			[[File:Aurisches Ei small.gif\|thumb\|left\|Auric Egg, Drawing from {{G\|93a\|75}}]]
			{{GZ\|For the clairvoyant this is quite recognisable. He sees the human being bathed in a coloured aura, in which his moods, passions, feelings, sensations are precisely expressed in colour currents and colour clouds. If we imagine ourselves during the time when the three components of the being were just about ready to receive the human I-ego, we would also notice an aura in this being, which had not yet become fully human. But it would lack the yellow currents in which the higher nature of the human being is expressed. Strong personalities have a strong yellow radiant aura. Now one can be a strong personality but without activity, one can react inwardly strongly without being a man of action. In that case, the aura still shows a lot of yellow. But if one is a doer and the personality has an effect in the outer world, the yellow gradually changes into a radiant red. A radiant red aura is that of a man of action; but it must radiate.

			But there is an obstacle when the personality urges to action. This comes in the form of ambition and vanity. Strong natures can be particularly easily afflicted by this. The clairvoyant sees this in the aura. Without ambition, the yellow changes abruptly into red. But if a man is ambitious, he has much orange in the aura. One has to overcome this threshold in order to reach objective action.

			Weak personalities are those who are more concerned that you give to them than that they give and do something. There you will see mainly blue colours, and when people are particularly comfortable, the indigo colour. This refers more to inner comfort than to outer comfort.

			You see how the strong or weak personality is reflected in the aura of the person.\|96\|322}}

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==