The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-28

subordinate place. This she said was he
cause belief in the life beyond was losing
its force The difference between Theoso-
ply and other faiths was that the former
asserted its certainty of the future life
from knowledge and not from mere faith
or authority; that Theosophy. looking be-
yond the veil here had demonstrated the
reality Of it with the certainty of an exper-
iment in the chemists laboratory. After
death the Theosophist was but traversing
ground already known.
The speaker said she asked no one to
take upon statement. TO accept nothing
they could not see with their own powers.
All she asked was that when the evidence
stopped that denials should stop with it,
that judgment should simply be held
under advisement. Those who knew most
were the slowest TO deny.
Death, said Mrs. Besant, meant only the
shaking off OF the body: and in order to
understand what was meant it was neces-
sary TO define what was meant by body.
st. Paui's trinity of body. soul and spirit
in nan was necessary and right and not
the present Christian duality of body and
soul alone. Her definitions of these three
were in effect as follows:
Body is that physical being we have in COM
Spirit Is that which we have out of the eternal
essence of the universe, that which makes pos
sibie our union with the divine. Divine was
the word Mrs. Besant used.)
Soul il the intelligence which separates man
from the brute, yet which is not divine The
soul Is that which makes character, iudg-
ment, the higher qualities; is the dual
part OF us. a Janus-iaced entity. face OF
which looks upward to better things, the other
downward TO the earth. 1t for us to choose
which direction our soul should follow, the up
ward or downward tendency.
The soul. Mrs. Besant said, was clad in
three bodies: first. its physical body of
senses, of material things; second, its
astral body. and third, its body of desire.
Death was simply the shaking OFF OF these
in the order named. The physical body
every one knew; the astral body she ex-
planned as follows:
The astral body is the ethereal garment of the
soul. the garment made OF ether which scientific
men were all more and more teaching. This is
that substance which pervades all matter. " hich
exists between the molecules OF all solids,
which is necessary tn carry the vibration
Of light, heat aud electricity. This
ether also peryades your human bodies, and 1t
is the etheric presence in your bodies which
constitutes your astral body. In describing
this, the speaker described in "a general way,
and accurately. the marvellous experiments of
Nikola Tesla, the young Montenegrin. who had
exhibited a eurrent oi electricity sent through
his own body which was loo times the strength
necessary 10 Kill human being, aud yet he re-
manned unframed.
At this point the speaker declared
science, so called. apart from Theosophy
Science SAID you could net separate the
astral from the physical body; matter
of fact, she said. ii could he separated; she
= 4.
an exact replica OF the physical being.
She then gave IN detail a deScriptlo of an
alleged experiment by three persons, the
eminent English scientist. William
crookes, his private secretary and an
honest medium" which had resulted IN
the obtaining OF a photograph of the
astral" or second body OF the soul. II
know that this astral body exists" said
Mrs Besant.
II could hypnot;se you so that no heart
hea. Of yours wou!d be rcrceptible. as
Charcot R.net and other eminent SCENT
lists have done: but wouldn't do so now
One has no night 10 do So merely because
one has that power" The astral BODY
once released. IN these experiments
follows the viii Of the eNpcrimenier So
thatit can lie made 70 read behind or
through Il board. see what exists only in
the mind Of the experImeuter and give ex-
preston To II. The feature of this exper-
iment, however. Is that the astral body
took hack into the physical body
no consciousness or impression of
what il had seen. In Theosonhv
however. 1t was possible - tram
che soul So that it would abide in the
astral body and returning 10 the physical
body would impress It's sensations on the
physicai senses. The speaker then re-
ferred Ia some wei-known words of
Tcnnyson's wherein he described how
come of his most wonderful thoughts came
to him in "a species of trance. how by
constant repetition OF his own name he
seemei 10 rise away from himself into a
realm where death seemed a ridiculous
impossibiiity. Mrs. Besant said that
fennyson's repetition Of his own name
had set up the otheric vibrations IF his
astraI body, shaking it loose from the
physical body. bat retaining withal the
poets soul.
After death the soni dwelt awhile in the
ethereal or astral double of the boty, which
sometimes appeared IN those near. as Mrs
Besant said. This fell away and letl the
soul still in the third garment. The bo3y
~ desire Thls body vas formed by me
life one had lived here. that life ut seusu-
atty and indulgence increased this gar
nent aud weighted down the soul, that as