The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-07-10
Theosophical Society Column.
BULwER-LYTToN BRANCH.
THERE is NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN THE
RECOGNITION OF TRUTH
THE LINGA SHARIRA.
sULWER-LYTTON BRANCH.

body, eJheric double, doppelganger, etc.
is the second principal OF our septenary
man The astral body is OF cosmic ms IT.
ter, state just beyond our solid, liquid
and gas OF this material or objective
plane. 1t is normally fluidlc, though 1T
may be compacted and made objective.
1t is generally the counterpart Of the
body to which it belongs and is the We
hlcle OF the life principal. At deat tn of
the physical it Is liberated and may be
partially during life by disease, during
sleep; or projected by will power. The
astral is the model upon which the fu-
ture man is formed and by susceptibl-
| lity to the mind OF the mother causes
birth marks, detects and deformities.
Some OF the phenomena OF "spiritualism'
such as slate writing, moving OF objects
and materllizatlons are due to the as
tral ClairvoYants often see the Linga
Sharira oozing out OF the left side of the
medium, being moulded into shapes by
| the thought currents ef the circle and
gaining strength as the medium sinks
INTO trance. Spirltualistlc litera ture is
full Of phenomena produced by the as
trail; not only papers and periodicals
but works by trustworthy writer's such
as Owen, Davis, Sargent, Crooks, Stain
ton, Moses and others. The astral at
death is frequently seen bv physicians
and others as a violet light near the
physical form and by sensltlves. 1t is
the 'spook" OF the grave yard and dis
integrates with the body. Countess
Wachtmeister and a multitude of other
clairvoyants and sensa tlves have testl-
| fled to seeing hundreds OF these BLUSH
white forms hoverlng over the graves
where are laid the vestures and as these
shades, like the bodies, are in various
stages of disintegra tlon, the faculty OF
SO seeing is not at all times pleasant
one. During life this "double" may
be partially projected by the trained
expert and as it IL the vehicle OF vitality
and sensa tion, the body will in proper
ton he torpid. This projection lis a de-
licate operation aud in india is strictly
IOl UlIOcll uul060 uultSS ullueE UuG guar
dian teachers supervision. In the Sun
day Inter Ocean of June 21st or 2Sth
ult. is an illustration and description OF
such phenomen at the Buda-Pesth ex-
glass coffin and apparently dead for
eight days. Such instances are fire.
quently related by Europeon and Amer
lean travellers IN the east. Indians have
hermeticallv sealed boxes; the grave
qua rded night and dav by soldiers and
at the end Of forty days or so the body
exhumed and drought back to lfe'' by
few mesmeric passes by native atten-
dants. These things are of official re-
cord.
Eastern occnltists state that the re-
suscltation Of corpse ls possible until
the organs essential to the performance
of the vital functions are so injured
that if life were reinfused they could not
perform their functions-after that i'm
passible, for there is nothing supernatu-
ra! ii nature.
In anaesthesia and hypnotism, the
astrel body, the medium OF personal
consciousness. is in part expelled and
the physical body, which of itself has no
sensation may he cut, picked and other
wise injured without suffering, vet near
by is the seat OF sensation, which
though generally unseen, if struck will
show the effect of the blow on the body
OF the victln,. Hypnctisrn is debasing-
no man has the right to subjugate
another's will.
We have but barely touched upon
the lowest phrase or aspect OF the
astral body - there are two
others of vastly more Importance and
which pertain more to the real man-
the individual, than to the personality
which is being considered. 1t should he
remembered that there are definite
planes or degrees of be,ng. The states
Of matter which We cali solid. LIQUID and
gaseous are the lowest subdivisions Of
this physical plane. That There are
Others. science now recognizes and is ex-
ploring. There are many persons and
the number 10 increasing with our evo-
luton who can work consciously ON the
astral plane. The limits Of the phvsicsl
are nearly reached. Science ia searching
for new methods. Men look dimly
backward and isarfullv forward, con-
tinnallv coming to walls thev cannot
scale. With expansion onoiconsciousnpss oi q
wider knowledge OF other planes will be
acquired.