Etheric body

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The Holy Grail, illustration by Arthur Rackham, 1917. Pre-Raphaelite art at this time often represented contemporary interest in the "spirit body", "aura" or "body of light".

The etheric body, ether-body, æther body, a name sometimes given to a supposed vital body propounded in esoteric philosophies as the first (lowest) layer in the "human energy field" or aura.^[1] It is said to be in immediate contact with the physical body, to sustain it and connect it with "higher" bodies.

The English term "etheric" in this context seems to derive from the Theosophical writings of Madame Blavatsky, C.W. Leadbeater^[2] and Annie Besant^[3] (Adyar School of Theosophy). The term gained more general popularity after the 1914-18 war, Dr.Walter John Kilner having adopted it for a layer of the "human atmosphere" which, as he claimed in a popular book, could be rendered visible to the naked eye by means of certain exercises.^[4]

The classical element Aether of Platonic and Aristotlean physics continued in VIctorian scientific proposals of a Luminiferous ether as well as the cognate chemical substance ether. According to the Theosophists and Alice Bailey, the etheric body inhabits an etheric plane which corresponds to the four higher subplanes of the physical plane. The intended reference is therefore to some extremely rarefied matter, analogous in usage to the word "spirit" (originally "breath"). In selecting it as the term for a clearly-defined concept in an Indian-derived metaphysical system, the Theosophists aligned it with ideas such as the prana-maya-kosha (sheath made of prana, subtle breath or life-force) of Vedantic thought.

In popular use it is often confounded with the related concept of the astral body as for example in the term astral projection.

[edit] Accounts of the Subtle Body

Linga sarira is a Sanskrit term for the invisible double of the human body, also aligned with the etheric body or etheric double (or astral body in some Theosophical concepts). It is one of the seven principles of the human being, according to Theosophical philosophy.

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, often referred to the etheric body (Ätherleib or "Life Body") in association with the etheric formative forces and the evolution of man and the cosmos.^[5] According to him, it can be perceived by a person gifted with clairvoyance as being of "peach-blossom color".

Steiner considered the etheric reality or life principle as quite distinct from the physical material reality, being intermediate between the physical world and the astral or soul world. The etheric body can be characterised as the life force also present in the plant kingdom. It maintains the physical body's form until death. At that time, it separates from the physical body and the physical reverts to natural disintegration.

According to Max Heindel's Rosicrucian writings,^[6] the etheric body, composed of four ethers, is called the "Vital Body" since the ether is the way of ingress for vital force from the Sun and the field of agencies in nature which promote such vital activities as assimilation, growth, and propagation. It is an exact counterpart of our physical body, molecule for molecule, and organ for organ, but it is of the opposite POLARITY. It is slightly larger, extending about one and one-half inches beyond the periphery of the physical body.

Samael Aun Weor teaches that the vital body is the tetra-dimensional part of the physical body and the foundation of organic life. ^[7][8] He states that in the second Initiation of Fire, which is reached through working with sexual magic with a spouse, the Kundalini rises in the vital body. Then the initiate learns how to separate the two superior ethers from the others in order for them to serve as a vehicle to travel out of the physical body.^[9]

On the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah, the vital body is often related to the sephirah Yesod.^[10]

Some clairvoyants and occultists have produced drawings and paintings that record their perceptions of the etheric body; see Leadbeater's Man Visible and Invisible for one example. The images produced by Kirlian photography bear obvious resemblances to these graphics, showing a spiky-looking energy field extending a few inches around the human body (as well as other biological specimens, like leaves, and objects like coins). The fact that Kirlian photography can capture the acupuncture points of the body links the technology with concepts of prana, qi, bioplasma, and related ideas and theories. For some believers in the etheric body, Kirlian photography provides important supporting evidence—though skeptics are generally not swayed.

[edit] Relation to physics?

Modern theosophists sometimes claim that the ideas discussed in this article are related to a contemporary area of fringe science, modern Aether theories. Even scientists who think that other fringe ideas in science are plausible are likely to disavow such a relation, and few if any physicists would recognize theosophy as closely related to physics. However, there are alternative explanations that some Theosophists may regard as plausible - which includes the model of the dynamic [mass-free energy] aether,^[11][12][13] sub-divided in different levels of density, with density proportional to the density of any physical substance occupying the area of space concerned, increasing around large bodies such as stars and planets, acting as a refracting medium and affecting the speed of propagation of light and electromagnetic forces, etc.—for all the experimental data and astronomical observations currently cited in support of the special and general theories of relativity, and the internal inconsistencies and unwarranted assumptions of standard relativity theory have been pointed out by dozens of scientists.^[14][15] It must be re-iterated, though, that these ideas should in no way be construed as being indicative of generally accepted scientific opinion on the subject.

[edit] See also

• Subtle body
• Etheric projection
• link Etheric Projection By Wingmakers.co.nz
• Esoteric cosmology
• Linga sarira
• Odic fluid, Prana, Qi

[edit] References

1. ^ Brennan, Barbara, Hands of Light : A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field (Etheric body), Bantam Books, 1987
2. ^ Leadbeater, C. W., Man, Visible and Invisible, 1902
3. ^ Besant, Annie, Man and His Bodies, 1911
4. ^ Kilner, Walter J., The Human Atmosphere, or the Aura Made Visible by the aid of Chemical Screens, 1911, reprinted as "The Human Aura" by Citadel Press, NY, 1965, ISBN 0-8065-0545-1. The Aura, by Walter J. Kilner. Introd. by Sibyl Ferguson. New York, S. Weiser, 1973.
5. ^ Steiner, Rudolf, Occult science - An Outline. Trans. George and Mary Adams. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1909, 1969
6. ^ Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter IV, The Constitution of Man: Vital Body - Desire Body - Mind), 1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3
7. ^ Samael Aun Weor, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled, Thelema Press, (1983) 2005
8. ^ Samael Aun Weor, "Death", The Book of the Dead, 1966
9. ^ Samael Aun Weor, The Three Mountains, Thelema Press, (1972) 2003
10. ^ Samael Aun Weor, The Initiatic Path in the Arcana of Tarot and Kabbalah, Thelema Press, (1978) 2007
11. ^ Aspden, Harold, The Physics of Creation (i.e. Chapter 7: "Aether Structure"), 2003 (pdf available)
12. ^ Wilcock, David, Light on Quantum Physics
13. ^ Mishin, Alexander M., The Ether Model as Result of the New Empirical Conception, International Academy of MegaSciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (html available)
14. ^ Pratt, David, Einstein's relativity theory vs. the ether from a Theosophic viewpoint (rev’d 09/05)
15. ^ Wilcock, David, The breakthroughs of Russian astrophysicist Dr. Nikolai A. Kozyrev (1908-1983)

[edit] Further reading

• Kambhampati, Parvathi Kumar. The Etheric Body, First Edition, Visakhapatnam: Dhanishta. .
• Powell, Arthur E. The Etheric Double