Life On The Astral Plane/Life after Death

Have you ever wondered or ask what life is like on the Astral Plane? That is, when we physically die.

To properly discuss Life On The Astral Plane, or “life after physical death,” will require at least two extended levels of comments; one to build the scaffolding on which to attach the point of the comments. Our solar system is divided into microcosmic and macrocosmic Aspects, and seven major Cosmic planes, each having seven sub-planes. Since, analogy makes the invisible, visible, I will use the analogy of a three story building. Floor one is the gross visible Physical plane. Floor two is the invisible to us Astral Plane (astral=starry). The third floor is the Mental plane, also invisible. Planes are sometimes referred to as energy “bodies,” or “vehicles” with their unique consciousness; needed and used for physically relating to our material microcosmic environment.

All lower levels of consciousness require forms or bodies through which to manifest. Occultists refer to these three planes as the three worlds. These are the lowest sub-planes in our solar system (SS). Physics refers to them as Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous. To the Occultists these equate with Physical, Emotional, and dual Mental; concrete and abstract mind. To change one of these forms into the other requires the application of Heat. This is called transmutation. This corresponds in consciousness terms to the increase in the vibratory rate of the various energies by deliberate effort. Each floor and each conscious sub-plane is unique on its own sub-plane and available on no others. For example, the first floor cannot be the second or third floor, etc. Now, the physical body is imprisoned on the first physical floor, and can rise no higher.

But by transmutation the physical level consciousness can ascend to the sub-planes of the invisible Astral level; the second story, leaving the physical consciousness behind. From the Astral level by transmutation again, we can ascend to the mental sub-planes, leaving the astral level consciousness behind. For the ordinary human entity, the apex or highest level it can attain is the concrete mental. For those who live in their heads, the thinkers, the apex of their consciousness can expand to the Abstract mind. These three planes, the three worlds, constitute the Microcosmic Aspect of our SS. Higher planes of consciousness are located in the Macrocosmic Aspect and we call these the Spiritual worlds or planes; the Spiritual Triad.

         Most of us are aware that in the baby there is a soft spot, called the fontenella. In our Bible mention is made of the Silver Cord, called by occultists the Sutratma. This immaterial cord descends from higher planes of our solar system through the top of the baby’s head down to the bottom of the spine of the entity. When we go to sleep, our physical or awake consciousness literally dies and we ascend up the Silver Cord to the Astral sub-planes, called now the sleeping consciousness. When we awaken to the physical plane, we descend back down the Silver Cord and return to awakened consciousness. When we permanently physically die to the physical plane these three lower levels of consciousness also die. The molecules of our physical bodies return to their source. It is our Soul that ascend up the Silver Cord to the Astral sub-planes but this time the Silver Cord is broken, preventing any return to waking consciousness. This begins our life on the Astral Plane. It should be noted that at the final physical death from the human kingdom, the entire previous life flashes before him in an instant thus revealing all the person’s wrongful actions. Also, just before the rebirth of the soul after only one physical death, the future lfie ahead is also revealed to the soon to be born entity.

In essence what occurs are the two major streams of LIFE in the Heart and Consciousness in the Head withdraw their energy flow in our bodies.  

The Astral (means starry) plane is the plane above this physical plane where we are now in residence. The AP is the emotional plane, or the plane of desires. This is the plane where we go in our sleep, and also the plane where we go when we die to the physical plane. The first thing to know is there is nothing of a physical nature on the AP. The second thing to know is we are EXACTLY the same person there as we were here when we died; at least upon our first arrival. The AP is much more rarified and the energy of that level is much higher in vibratory rate than down here. We take memories of all of our desires and gross emotions with us. The ‘hell’ of this plane is any desires that require a physical body to satisfy cannot be satisfied. Thus, the strong frustrations. Many who die and first arrive on the AP do not know they are dead. So, they try to behave as if they were still or the physical plane (PP); as if they still had a physical body.

The energy sphere of the AP, extends from a short distance below our earth to that boundary where the moon is closest to the earth, or in perigee. So, is much larger in scope than the physical plane energy sphere. The form or the AP entity is transparent or translucent. i.e. shadowy. Since the AP entity has no physical senses, it experiences its surrounding with its entire astral body. It has not the limits we had on the PP. It could be said it is free of all physical obstructions or boundaries. Instead of the 180 degree sight of human eyes, the AP form “sees” 360 degrees; front, back, both sides simultaneously. AP forms can and do walk through each other with no concern; there are no physical boundaries. The AP has no time, no weather, no physical type transportation of any kind. If an AP entity, say, finds itself in California, or wherever and wants to be in say New York, it simply wishes it and is instantly there. If it wants to build a house, it simply thinks of house and a house instantly appears. We literally create in astral energy our own environment on the AP much like we did physically on the PP.  

This is true of anything it wishes. Some newbie's to the AP who wanted to build a house began looking around for materials to build with. The AP form creates its own life on the Astral plane, much as we do down here. If groups of AP forms say they want to go to the opera, or the theatre, they simply wish it. The AP entity literally creates its own environment on the Astral plane; such as parks, mountains, streams, buildings, or whatever just by thinking about the item.

Now, if you ask what is the purpose of the AP, which the occultists call the kama-rupa, or “desire body,” it is to completely destroy all of the gross emotions and all the base desires it created while on the physical plane, after which it dies to the AP and proceeds to the sub-planes of the Mental plane (MP) which we call Heaven and the occultists call devachan. How long a period of time it takes any particular entity on the Astral plane to “graduate” to devachan depends on how quickly the above can be accomplished by the AP entity.

Devachan is where we reap all of the rewards and good Karma for the good and righteous deeds we created on earth. After which we die to the MP and are reincarnated into a new baby body, which the occultists refer to as reincarnation.  The length of life here depends upon how much Good karma we earned on the PP. While on the PP, we are continuously creating disharmony and imbalances, called “sins,” or “Disharmonies,” (imbalances) and all sins have to be corrected or rebalanced by way of karma; the twin side of reincarnation by way

of a rebalancing of all disharmonies. This usually takes numberless physical reincarnations, so all of us rather we know it or not have undergone multiple reincarnations over and over again in the hundreds. Each new Root-race are US in future reincarnations. There is a fixed number of souls allotted to this planet. Occultists say some 60 thousand millions. The majority of these are out of manifestation at any one time. Most of us cannot recall our previous lives since our new bodies require new bodies to be developed; new bodies, new emotions and a new mental apparatus. What we inherent from our previous lives is our automatic characteristics. That is, characteristics not developed by the new body. By studying those automatic inherited traits we can have some idea of what type of existence we had in our previous lives.

           As we gain in spiritual development it becomes possible to recall some aspects of our previous lives. For example, if one has an “unknown” magnetic pull for a particular country, such as Egypt, there is a good chance the entity lived one of its previous lives in Egypt. This could well be the explanation of why someone would undergo sexual or gender transgender operations. A woman in a previous life who does not “feel right” in a new man’s body, or vise versa, might wish to regain a previous gender body. Those who have a special talent in a particular field of human endeavor is probably the result of having acquired such a talent in a previous life. In each reincarnation we rotate between the sexes, human relationships, and various civilizations and locations. The author realizes that reincarnation is not a totally accepted concept in western society due to our cultural conditioning, but it is well established that more of the world’s population accepts reincarnation and karma as givens and without question. Accepting reincarnation requires the acceptance of a large self-responsibility. Karma is known as the Divine Justice. That is, we each literally create our own lives and lifestyles by our choices and decisions. Every decision has a consequence according the Law of Cause/Effect. Or, as St. Paul tells us, “Whatsoever ye sow so shall ye reap.” Literally true. To become totally responsible for one's self, and to consciously and deliberately choose our every thought, our every emotion, our every action, requires us to have gained total mental control over our three lower natures. Which, it might be stated, requires many lifetimes of experience, experiment and expression on the three lower worlds of the Microcosmic Aspect of our solar system, and a continual spiritual advancement to levels of consciousness of the Macrocosmic Aspect, where we can attain an identity with our true Higher Selves, or our inherent “God Within,” which we call Soul, a fragment of Spirit, the Soul being the “vehicle” for the eternal Spirit that expresses itself in the

lower levels of our SS. The Consciousness aspect of Spirit reflects the Universal Mind, or the “Rainbow of knowable things,” that we refer to as Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience. In sum, in the physical world we live in three worlds. In the Astral world we live in two and in Devachan, we live in only one.  

(Note 1: The more spiritually advanced of our society many not follow this course. They may skip or only spend hours on the Astral plane and go directly to Devachan. (See, Annie Besant’s The Ancient Wisdom chapter for an explanation of the seven sub-planes of this Astral plane.) www.theosophicalsociety.org/books.

(Note 2: The author of this article has been a serious student of the Ancient Wisdom for over

fifty years, and the material in this article has been gleaned from that lifetime of experience and

study.) End. DC.

.