Astral Light 22/02/2020, 01'10

Astral Light
"There has been an infinite confusion of names to express one and the
same thing. The chaos of the ancients; the Zoroastrian sacred fire, or the
Antusbyrum of the Parsees; the Hermes-fire; the Elmes-fire of the ancient
Germans; the lightning of Cybele; the burning torch of Apollo; the flame on
the altar of Pan; the inextinguishable fire in the temple on the Acropolis, and
in that of Vesta; the fire-flame of Pluto's helm; the brilliant sparks on the
hats of the Dioscuri, on the Gorgon head, the helm of Pallas, and the staff of
Mercury; the πυρ ασβεστον the Egyptian Phtha, or Ra; the Grecian Zeus
Cataibates (the descending); the pentecostal fire-tongues; the burning
bush of Moses; the pillar of fire of the Exodus, and the "burning lamp" of
Abram; the eternal fire of the "bottomless pit"; the Delphic oracular vapors;
the Sidereal light of the Rosicrucians; the AKASA of the Hindu adepts; the
Astral light of Eliphas Levi; the nerve-aura and the fluid of the magnetists;
the od of Reichenbach; the fire-globe, or meteor-cat of Babinet; the
Psychod and ectenic force of Thury; the psychic force of Sergeant Cox and
Mr. Crookes; the atmospheric magnetism of some naturalists; galvanism;
and finally, electricity, are but various names for many different
manifestations, or effects of the same mysterious, all-pervading cause--the
Greek Archeus, or Αρχαιοσ. [...] The thaumaturgists of all periods, schools,
and countries, produced their wonders, because they were perfectly familiar
with the imponderable--in their effects--but otherwise perfectly tangible
waves of the astral light. They controlled the currents by guiding them with
their will-power. The wonders were both of physical and psychological
character; the former embracing effects produced upon material objects,
the latter the mental phenomena of Mesmer and his successors. This class
has been represented in our time by two illustrious men, Du Potet and
Regazzoni, whose wonderful powers were well attested in France and other
countries. Mesmerism is the most important branch of magic; and its
phenomena are the effects of the universal agent which underlies all magic
and has produced at all ages the so-called miracles. The ancients called it
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Chaos; Plato and the Pythagoreans named it the Soul of the World.
According to the Hindus, the Deity in the shape of Æther pervades all
things. It is the invisible, but, as we have said before, too tangible Fluid.
Among other names this universal Proteus--or "the nebulous Almighty," as
de Mirville calls it in derision--was termed by the theurgists "the living fire,"
the "Spirit of Light," and Magnes. This last appellation indicates its
magnetic properties and shows its magical nature. For, as truly expressed
by one of its enemies--µαγος and µαγνες are two branches growing from
the same trunk, and shooting forth the same resultants. Magnetism is a
word for the derivation of which we have to look to an incredibly early
epoch. The stone called magnet is believed by many to owe its name to
Magnesia, a city or district in Thessaly, where these stones were found in
quantity. We believe, however, the opinion of the Hermetists to be the
correct one. The word Magh, magus, is derived from the Sanskrit Mahaji, the
great or wise (the anointed by the divine wisdom). [...] Now, what is this
mystic, primordial substance? In the book of Genesis, at the beginning of
the first chapter, it is termed the "face of the waters," said to have been
incubated by the "Spirit of God." Job mentions, in chap. xxvi., 5, that "dead
things are formed from under the waters, and inhabitants thereof." In the
original text, instead of "dead things," it is written dead Rephaim (giants, or
mighty primitive men), from whom "Evolution" may one day trace our
present race. In the Egyptian mythology, Kneph the Eternal unrevealed God
is represented by a snake-emblem of eternity encircling a water-urn, with
his head hovering over the waters, which it incubates with his breath. In this
case the serpent is the Agathodaimon, the good spirit; in its opposite aspect
it is the Kakodaimon--the bad one. In the Scandinavian Eddas, the honey-
dew--the food of the gods and of the creative, busy Yggdrasill--bees--falls
during the hours of night, when the atmosphere is impregnated with
humidity; and in the Northern mythologies, as the passive principle of
creation, it typifies the creation of the universe out of water; this dew is the
astral light in one of its combinations and possesses creative as well as
destructive properties. In the Chaldean legend of Berosus, Oannes or

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Dagon, the man-fish, instructing the people, shows the infant world created
out of water and all beings originating from this prima materia. Moses
teaches that only earth and water can bring a living soul; and we read in the
Scriptures that herbs could not grow until the Eternal caused it to rain upon
earth. In the Mexican Popol-Vuh man is created out of mud or clay (terre
glaise), taken from under the water. Brahma creates Lomus, the great Muni
(or first man), seated on his lotus, only after having called into being, spirits,
who thus enjoyed among mortals a priority of existence, and he creates him
out of water, air, and earth. Alchemists claim that primordial or pre-Adamic
earth when reduced to its first substance is in its second stage of
transformation like clear-water, the first being the alkahest proper. This
primordial substance is said to contain within itself the essence of all that
goes to make up man; it has not only all the elements of his physical being,
but even the "breath of life" itself in a latent state, ready to be awakened.
This it derives from the "incubation" of the Spirit of God upon the face of the
waters--chaos; in fact, this substance is chaos itself. From this it was that
Paracelsus claimed to be able to make his "homunculi"; and this is why
Thales, the great natural philosopher, maintained that water was the
principle of all things in nature. What is the primordial Chaos but Æther?
The modern Ether; not such as is recognized by our scientists, but such as it
was known to the ancient philosophers, long before the time of Moses;
Ether, with all its mysterious and occult properties, containing in itself the
germs of universal creation; Ether, the celestial virgin, the spiritual mother of
every existing form and being, from whose bosom as soon as "incubated"
by the Divine Spirit, are called into existence Matter and Life, Force and
Action. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, and chemical action are so little
understood even now that fresh facts are constantly widening the range of
our knowledge. Who knows where ends the power of this protean giant--
Ether; or whence its mysterious origin?--Who, we mean, that denies the
spirit that works in it and evolves out of it all visible forms?" —H.P.Blavatsky,
Isis Unveiled

“There is one vital substance in Nature upon which all things subsist. It is
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called archæus, or vital life force, and is synonymous with the astral light or
spiritual air of the ancients. In regard to this substance, Eliphas Levi has
written: “Light, that creative agent, the vibrations of which are the
movement and life of all things; light, latent in the universal ether, radiating
about absorbing centres, which, being saturated thereby, project movement
and life in their turn, so forming creative currents; light, astralized in the
stars, animalized in animals, humanized in human beings; light, which
vegetates all plants, glistens in metals, produces all forms of Nature and
equilibrates all by the laws of universal sympathy--this is the light which
exhibits the phenomena of magnetism, divined by Paracelsus, which
tinctures the blood, being released from the air as it is inhaled and
discharged by the hermetic bellows of the lungs.” (The History of Magic.)
This vital energy has its origin in the spiritual body of the earth. Every
created thing has two bodies, one visible and substantial, the other invisible
and transcendent. The latter consists of an ethereal counterpart of the
physical form; it constitutes the vehicle of archæus, and may be called a
vital body. This etheric shadow sheath is not dissipated by death, but
remains until the physical form is entirely disintegrated. These “etheric
doubles, “seen around graveyards, have given rise to a belief in ghosts.
Being much finer in its substances than the earthly body, the etheric double
is far more susceptible to impulses and inharmonies. It is derangements of
this astral light body that cause much disease. Paracelsus taught that a
person with a morbid mental attitude could poison his own etheric nature,
and this infection, diverting the natural flow of vital life force, would later
appear as a physical ailment. All plants and minerals have an invisible nature
composed of this “archæus,” but each manifests it in a different way. [...]
The practice of magic--either white or black--depends upon the ability of
the adept to control the universal life force--that which Eliphas Levi calls the
great magical agent or the astral light. By the manipulation of this fluidic
essence the phenomena of transcendentalism are produced. The famous
hermaphroditic Goat of Mendes was a composite creature formulated to
symbolize this astral light. It is identical with Baphomet the mystic pantheos

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of those disciples of ceremonial magic, the Templars, who probably

"The Astral Light is the deposit of all of great Nature's past, present and
future forms. The Astral Light is the Azoth and Magnesia of the ancient
Alchemists, Medea's Flying Dragon, the Christians' INRI, the Tarot of the
Bohemians. The Astral Light is a terrific sexual fire springing from the Sun's
nimbus and is fixed to the Earth by the force of gravity and the weight of the
atmosphere. The Sun is the one that attracts and repels such an enchanting
and delightful light. The Astral Light is Archimedes' lever. The old sage said:
"Give me a fulcrum and I will move the universe." The semen is the human
being's Astral liquid. The semen is the Astral Light. The semen is the key to
all powers and the key to all empires. The Astral Light has two poles, one
positive and the other negative. The ascending serpent is positive. The
descending serpent is negative." - Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect
Matrimony

"The Astral Light is the battlefield between white and black magicians. The
Astral Light is the clue of all empires and the key of all powers. It is the great
universal agent of life. All the columns of angels and demons live within the
Astral Light..." - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of Beelzebub

"The souls of the dead live in the Astral Light. The Astral Light is the light of
all enchantments and magic spells. The Astral Light is related to the air; we
eat it, we breathe it, but we can see it only with the eyes of the soul." —
Samael Aun Weor, The Mysteries of Life and Death

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