Customer Reviews

The Astral Body: And Other Astral Phenomena (Quest Book)

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This book is a classic, written in the 1920s, but still valid today. The astral plane is talked about and lectured on in New Age groups everywhere. It is a feature of teachings in the modern Wiccan movement and most occult schools of today. However, the ideas of the astral world were first put forward as a result of the late 19th century Spiritualist and Theosophical groups. There were many well-reasoned books written by early theosophical society members, notably by Leadbeater and Besant, but others too. Arthur Powell has done us all a great service by collecting many of the published tales and insights and putting them into this volume. It is well written, and contains most of what is still current knowledge on this subject. The astral plane is where we go in dreams, and also in life after death. There are all kinds of stories about ghosts and spirits nowadays which can be explained using material from this book. The book explains the Christian Heaven, Purgatory and Hell realms as being various astral worlds. It also describes the American Indian's Summerland. I've seen many books relating astral experiences, but Powell's book is often used as the definitive text.

Like the reader from California, I, too, thought I could obtain all the information I needed by reading newer, more modern books. I was mistaken. These old Theosophical texts contain important information that is ignored in contemporary books on the subtle bodies and metaphysics in general. Powell sifted through the voluminous literature available to him at the time and organized it in a fashion which reads clearly and logically. Especially important is his book "The Causal Body and the Ego" - material which is of central concern to any explorer of the subtle bodies - and which is rarely even mentioned in works by modern authors.

This book gives a logical delineation of the human Astral Principal (Body) and also its relationship to the Earth's Astral Light. I'd recommend it to anyone who wishes for some original research in the area, together with a plausible hypothesis. Certainly better then much New Age claptrap - i.e. material that would rather teach you how to 'Astral Project' instead of imparting a fuller vision of what you truly are.

The author's purpose in compiling the books in this series was to save students much time and labour by providing a condensed synthesis of the considerable literature on the respective subjects of each volume, cming mostly from the pens of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater.

Contents:

1) Introduction 2) General Description 3) Composition and Struture 4) Colours 5) Functions 6) Chakrams 7) Kundalini 8) Thought-Forms 9) Physical Life 10) Sleep-Life 11) Dreams 12) Continuity of Consciousness 13) Death and the Desire-Elemental 14) After-Death Life : Principles 15) After-Death Life : Particulars 16) After-Death Life : Special cases 17) The Astral Plane 18) Miscellaneous Astral Phenomena 19) The Fouth Dimension 20) Astral Entities: Human 21) Astral Entities: Non-Human 22) Astral Entities: Artificial .......etc

I have read many books about the astral world and this is the most infomative book I have found. It is not easy reading, you have to think about what you read and take time with the book, but once you have finished you will find yourself uplifted and going back to reread diffrent chapters again. Even years later I still keep it close so I can enjoy it over again.A must buy for anyone interested in the astral world or afterlife!

Like the reader from California, I, too, thought I could obtain all the information I needed by reading newer, more modern books. I was mistaken. These old Theosophical texts contain important information that is ignored in contemporary books on the subtle bodies and metaphysics in general. Powell sifted through the voluminous literature available to him at the time and organized it in a fashion which reads clearly and logically. Especially important is his book "The Causal Body and the Ego" - material which is of central concern to any explorer of the subtle bodies - and which is rarely even mentioned in works by modern authors.

This book is a very old, text style, research paper from 1927. It is very difficult to read, and rather boring. It offers a lot of information that the reader can obtain in newer more interesting books. Don't waste your money, buy another book instead.