An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present - Doreen Valiente 2018

Astral Plane, The

Belief in the astral plane is part of the common heritage of occult philosophy which is shared by witch and ceremonial magician alike. The word ’astral’ is derived from the Latin astrum, a star. It was used by medieval occultists to designate that super-physical medium by means of which the influence of the heavenly bodies was conveyed to the earth, and affected all things upon it.

In brief, the astral plane is part of the super-physical world, a world composed of finer essence or of energy at a higher rate of vibration, than that of the physical world. It is not higher in the sense of being above in heaven. On the contrary, everything in the visible world of matter is surrounded and permeated by its astral counterpart. Occultists see the universe as a great scale of vibrations, of which our physical plane is only one; the one to which our physical senses respond.

Because the writings of such nineteenth-century Theosophical authors as Madame Blavatsky, and the many books on modern Spiritualism, have tended to familiarise readers with the idea of the astral plane, it is not always realised that this is in fact a very old magical concept. Nevertheless, Francis Barrett in The Magus, published in 1801 (one of the classics of ceremonial magic), explains it as one of the fundamental ideas upon which magical practice depends. Eliphas Levi, another great nineteenth-century magus, treats extensively of this concept, which he calls ’the Astral Light’.

One of the chief claims made by occultists about the substance of the astral plane is that it is responsive to thoughts and emotions. Hence the astral body of man, the double, doppelganger or ’fetch’, is called by the Hindus the Kama Rupa, or ’desire body’. It is a remarkable fact that all ancient occult philosophers, even though they lived continents and centuries apart, have had these ideas and beliefs. The Ancient Egyptians, too, believed in the human double, which they called the Ka. Old Norse legends tell of the Scin Laeca, or ’shining body’, the apparition of the human being surrounded by ghostly light. If the beliefs of occultism are a mere chimera, why does the same mythical beast gallop through the minds of men, from one race and one time to another?

The astral body is the means by which man functions upon the astral plane, and which survives the death of the physical form. He can, however, visit the astral plane, and perceive visions in the astral light, while still incarnate upon this earth. This clairvoyant travel is one of the attainments sought by the witch. It is the reality behind the wild stories of witches flying through the air. The flying witch is not in her physical, but her astral form.

This was realised by Henry More as long ago as 1647. More was a Platonist and a student of occult philosophy. In his Poems (University of Manchester, 1931 and AMS Press, New York, 1878) published in that year, when witchcraft was still a capital offence in Britain, occurs the following significant passage:

And ’tis an art well known to Wizards old

And wily Hags, who oft for fear and shame

Of the coarse halter, do themselves withold

From bodily assisting their night game.

Wherefore their carcasses do home retain,

But with their souls at these bad feasts they are,

And see their friends and call them by their name,

And dance about the Goat, and sing har, har,

And kiss the Devil’s breech, and taste his deadly cheer.

More, as a Christian, regarded the witches’ Sabbat as being diabolical but his occult studies had enabled him to penetrate to the truth behind the tales of popular fantasy, namely that astral projection is one of the secrets of witchcraft.

This is also the explanation of the old belief that a witch or wizard casts no shadow. If one saw them in their astral form, of course the double, not being of physical matter, would cast no shadow; and such was the superstitious terror engendered by the Church’s ban on any use of psychic powers, that a person who could project their astral body was automatically regarded as a witch.

The astral plane and its related phenomena constitute such a vast subject that whole books could be and have been written about it. Any brief sketch such as this must necessarily omit many interesting and important points. Many occultists divide the astral plane into seven gradations, or sub-planes, from the lowest to the highest; though it must be remembered that in this connection the terms ’lowest’ and ’highest’ do not refer to position in space, but to different states of being.

The higher gradations of the astral plane are regions of beauty transcending that of earth; they are the ’Summerland’ of the Spiritualist. The lowest regions of the astral, on the contrary, are the dwellings of spiritual darkness; but this darkness proceeds from the debased and vicious souls of their dwellers. The mind creates its own surroundings; this is even true of the physical world, and still more so of the astral. Like attracts like; and the soul after death is drawn to that region which is its natural affinity.

These ideas are by no means the invention of modern Spiritualists or Theosophists. They are as old as Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, and probably older. Even Neanderthal Man buried his dead with grave-goods, indicating a belief in a continuing life in the Beyond.

Beside the discarnate human souls who dwell upon the astral plane, there are many orders of other spirits which are not human. There are the souls of animals, some of whom have achieved individuality, while others belong to a group soul of their species. There is the vast kingdom of nature-spirits, which contains many ranks, some lower than humanity and some much higher. The nature spirits were divided by medieval occultists according to that element of Nature with which they had affinity. The earth spirits were called gnomes, the water spirits undines, the air spirits sylphs, and the fire spirits salamanders.

These spirits of the elements should not be confused with the semi-intelligent entities called artificial elementals. The latter are formed from the elemental essence of the astral plane, by the power of human thought and desire acting upon that essence. Hence they may be beautiful or hideous, protective or menacing. Their life depends upon the power of the thought which calls them forth. Most people are quite unconscious of the power of their thought, and what it can do; but the occultist uses this power deliberately, to create artificial elementals and thought-forms. This power of thought is another of the fundamentals of magic, which have been known all over the world, throughout the ages. It is known in the East as Kriyashakti.

Artificial elementals and thought-forms may be perceived by one whose power of astral vision is opened, intentionally or otherwise. They account for many of the fantastic visions seen by people who rashly experiment with so-called ’psychedelic drugs’.

Beyond the astral plane are still higher and more spiritual levels of being. To attain these is the goal of the true occultist and magician, so that he may master the astral light, instead of being mastered by it.