Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

ASTRAL SHEATH, OR BODY, OF THE HUMAN BEING

This is the instrument of the incarnate ego on the astral plane It contains the mechanism appropriate to the forces of the plane, an the means by which the desires of lower emotions, and sensation function in the soul and are perceived by the lower consciousness on the mental plane.

“Arranged in numerical order, the seven principles may be described in the following way

1. Physical Body.
2. Etheric Double.
3. Jiva.
4. The Astral Vehicle.
5. Manas.
6. Buddhi.
7. Atma.

"The Etheric Double is an Etheric rather than an Astral counterpart of the physical body, and at the same time, the intermediate organism through which the Jiva, or life force, influences the whole system. Etheric matter is still physical according to the most accurate classification that be adopted." - A. P. SINNETT, Growth of the Soul, pp. 156–7.

The astral body may be taken to be next in order to the physical body, including the etheric double, as the life (jiva) is not a sheath but a directive agency from a higher plane. On the mental plane (manas) there are two sheaths, viz. the causal-body and the mental body. This makes four bodies in which humanity at present manifests. The life force of the lower planes works strictly according to the patterns on the higher planes, the results being modified by obstructions on the lower. The patterns are brought forward, as it were, to the astral-plane where they guide the growth of all animal and vegetable organisms.

In the astral body are to be found the apparatus of sensory and motor conduction paths which convey vibrations from the brain and nerves to the mind, and from the mind the brain and nerves. It must never be forgotten that consciousness is on the mental plane, and not below it.

See Also

ANDREW
CASTES
CAUSAL-BODY
CHILDREN OF HORUS
CLASSES
INCARNATION (Souls)
MARRIAGE (castes)
NEPHESH
NET
PRANAS
PROTOTYPES
QUATERNARY
SENSE ORGANS
SHEATHS SKANDHAS
VESTURES
VITAL AIRS