The Awakening
In the case of the majority of persons, the first emotion on awakening in the Astral World is an intense and weird loneliness, a confused consciousness of being surrounded by vague shadowy forms, and of being watched by innumerable eyes, yet without the ability fully to formulate their thoughts or understand by whom or what they are watched. For at this stage the awakened ones have not yet learned to use their astral senses or to discriminate among the strange sights, sounds and feelings. It must be remembered that in the Astral World for a time they are in the same relative position as is a new-born babe when it first opens its eyes to earth life. Could we enter into the babe’s feelings we would find vague memories of the life it had left, a sense of just awakening from a deep sleep (the period of gestation) and a newborn and uncomprehending wonder at the strange sights and sounds surrounding it. If, however, the ones passing over have studied or have had at least some understanding of what they are to expect, the confusion is but momentary. And if they have prepared for the change by having some wise Soul gather together their loved friends and relatives to meet them, it is a joyous reunion.
In the case of sudden death, either by accident or in the war, when the mind is filled with the desire for life and the intense excitement of battle, the first awakening often brings the soldiers a sense of being suddenly awakened after having fallen asleep at their posts, and they look around in amazement for the familiar battlefield. The great stillness after the roar of battle strikes terror to their Souls. Then perhaps a bird can be heard singing joyously near them for physical sounds can be heard in the astral until its singing melts their hearts and perhaps a flood of tears brings relief. Even those who have passed out in hatred, with the lust for killing strong within them, awaken in this great silence and loneliness only to find no one near them. In both instances this is purposely arranged, so that whatever is good in them may have a chance to awaken.
Especially is this true In the case of those who pass out through an explosion or who have been victims of a bursting shell, in which case the astral as well as the physical body has been shattered. In such a case it will take some time before the attractive and cohesive power of the life-principle can draw the astral atoms around it and reconstruct the bodily form. During this period the Soul remains unconscious. In such a case the feeling on first awakening will be quite similar to the sensations of returning consciousness after an anesthetic, the same feeling of faintness and exhaustion, which, however, soon passes off.
Many, after passing through the first period of silence and great loneliness, when they first begin to recognize others around them, even one whom on earth they would have called an enemy, are so glad to find companionship that, be they on their side or the enemy’s, they are eagerly sought; for at this stage it is the attitude of the real Inner Man that is apparent, hence those of similar natures and ideals are instinctively attracted, no matter what their positions may have been on earth. Only as they begin to identify themselves with their old earthly conditions, with the old personality, its uniform, equipment, last orders, etc., do they realize the difference in nationality. With some few however, the force of the old hostilities and thoughts may for a time impel them to hunt out and attack the enemy. In such cases they at once, through their strong thought-force return to the battlefield on the physical plane, but where they find conditions greatly changed.
When in the flesh it was quite easy to know on which side they were fighting; friend and foe could be distinguished merely by their uniforms, but now all is different, for to the astral sight the real forces back of the war (good and evil) are plainly seen, and the aura of each man who is truly and heroically fighting for principle, even though mistaken, is illumined by the light of his ideals, the light varying in color and brilliancy according to the strength and purity of these ideals. While over each one filled only with cruelty, hatred and the desire to kill – sort of blood madness – can be seen hosts of the most malignant entitized forces, i. e., forces manifesting in forms which express the thoughts of evil which generated them. These forms are seen to surround their victims, sometimes like monstrous serpents, which writhe in and out of their bodies, emerging from the heart or solar plexus or again from the mouth or head. And over all may be seen clouds of evil faces; forms of unspeakable cruelty and lasciviousness horribly pictured in living but unearthly shapes. If the Soul belongs to the side of evil he will join his forces with these monsters in orgies of horror and throw himself madly into the fray, becoming in turn, because of his disembodiment, an obsessing demon. If, however, he has in him even a spark of better feeling (and how few are entirely without it) sooner or later he allies himself on the side of good.
But there are thousands of helpers on the battle fields and in the trenches trying to help all who will listen, to realize their real condition and what they are really fighting against. They are thus gradually taught that it is not their fellow men they should attack, but the evil forces that are obsessing certain leaders of the Central Powers and trying to obsess the rank and file as well, playing upon and enlarging and driving to extreme expression every animal and brutal instinct and selfish desire which become like open doors through which such forces can manifest. All the lust-forms and demons which are the inciting causes of the war are there seen in their true and hideous form, the personified forms of lust, hate, greed, cruelty, ambition, desire for power, etc. These evil entities are seen to swarm around and mingle in among the fighters on both sides and urge them to give vent to cruelty and their baser passions. But as we have seen, they are successful only with those whose minds are open and receptive to such incitements. Therefore hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the astral, gathered from both sides of the conflict, are fighting side by side to destroy the obsessing demons. In fact, many of the soldiers from the Central Powers, seeing how their former leaders and comrades are obsessed by these swirling vortices of evil force, are the most eager, energetic and courageous of all for it takes courage of a high moral as well as physical quality to encounter these vaporous, clammy whirlpools of evil – in their efforts to destroy them and free their people from their influence. Especially is this true of those illiterate portions of central Europe where witchcraft and black magic have been practiced for ages, and whose inhabitants are especially susceptible to such influences.
Those in the astral who keep trying to fight are only those few who have made themselves channels through which the evil astral forces could express and who would be so filled with hatred and lust of battle that they would desire to continue after passing on, just as it is only the comparative few out of the great mass of mankind who desire to continue their habits of debauchery after passing on.
As we have said, the real instigators of this war are the evil astral forces, the hosts of the accumulated thought-forms of lust, greed, envy, hate, selfishness and unbrotherliness engendered by the wrong-thinking of humanity from the beginning, as well as the results of their evil words and deeds, all of which are ever seeking expression through their creators. During this battle all the stored up evil must have a focus through which it can pour itself out upon the lowest or physical plane where its precipitation will end the cycle of its manifestation, adjust the Karma and permit the good aspect of the forces involved to be extracted. Germany through ambition, pride and lust for power has opened the door to the hordes of evil astral forces which are seeking to obsess humanity and wreck their will upon it. Hence, through giving expression to these forces, Germany has become the instrument through which they are being poured out into the world to the testing of the other nations.
Astral Helpers
In the Physical World we are able to mold or shape the matter of this world according to our thought, but it requires special instruments such as knives, saws, chisels, etc., or special processes such as dissolving or melting the materials and pouring them into specially prepared molds, etc. But the material of the Astral World is so plastic that it is molded by thought-form and will. Hence all that is necessary in that World is to think intently of the thing desired and it will soon appear. It will be perfect and beautiful in proportion as the thought held is clear, definite and perfect, or will be hazy and imperfect as the thought is not clear or is allowed to wander. The thing desired will also appear quickly or slowly according as the will and desire for it is strong or weak. For forms in the Astral World seem to the astral sight as solid and substantial as do the forms on earth to our physical sight, although we know that the particles of such physical forms are separated by relatively large spaces. A person in the lower Realms of the astral can even pinch himself and feel the substantial flesh or injure himself by being struck by an astral object. In fact the astral body can be wounded, not only by astral weapons, but by physical instruments with sharp points or cutting edges. When swords are struck at shades, it is the sword itself, not its Astral, that cuts. Sharp instruments alone can penetrate Astral, e. g., under water a blow will not affect you, but a cut will. This is one reason why swords crossed above a bed have for ages been considered a protection against astral entities. No blood flows from such wounds, but for a short time the life-force may be seen oozing out as a lavender mist.
Astral forms and objects, when seen by the living but untrained clairvoyant, might seem most shadowy and unsubstantial. And were a mortal to try to touch such objects with his physical hand it would pass through them quite readily. On the other hand, physical objects when seen from the Astral World are quite as shadowy or transparent.
Those who lose limbs or other parts of the body through war, accident or surgical operations find them fully restored in the astral, although for a time their old habits of thought may make them seem still lacking if it has been some time since their loss. Long continued thought of the loss of a limb gradually atrophies the astral double, but after passing on, when the thought pressure is removed, the life-force rapidly flows in and the limb soon fills out. When they first pass into the astral the missing limb seems to be but a mist or vapor, hence is not recognized. But this atrophied vapory limb gradually solidifies until the limb is as perfect as the rest of the body. If the limb or organ has only recently been lost its astral double will be quickly recognized.
The things created in the astral are thus not mere figments of the imagination or mere thought-forms, but are thought-forms which have descended into the Astral World from the Mental World and have attracted to themselves the emanations of corresponding things on earth. Thus the astral and finer physical substances released and thrown off from their forms by the ever-changing process of life and also by the greater disintegrating process of decay ascend into the astral and are embodied either into corresponding astral forms or are used in giving astral substantiality to other astral creations.
Everything is created by thought and desire. For instance, on first passing over the Soul appears in the clothing he last remembered having put on; for the thought-forms of his whole wardrobe are at hand, ready to take on astral substantiality by the creative power of his thought. There are also shops and factories where anything the person thinks he must have can be obtained.
In this Realm also wander the “earth-bound spirits” or those who are bound close to earth by some great and overwhelming desire such as revenge for having been murdered; the miser’s love for his gold; the youth’s desire for physical life, etc. Only when the desire has been satisfied or the person is willing to trust his desire to the Great Law for fulfillment can he be released, for he is bound by his thought and desire and often follows it for hundreds of years, its very force making a wall around him which shuts him away from the higher forces which would otherwise help him to progress out of his condition, as the average person would naturally do. In fact, the Soul remains in each Realm until it learns the lessons of that Realm, realizes wherein it made the mistakes which retarded its growth and unfoldment, and evolves to the point where it is ready to pass on to higher Realms. The earth-bound entities are usually so dense and have so much of earthly conditions attached to them that under certain atmospheric conditions they can appear to the objective sight of mortals and especially to animals, horses shying at these so-called ghosts in the road, dogs bristling or cringing and whining at them, etc. – as a more or less dense, cold, clammy cloud or ghost. It is well known that the proximity of a wraith or ghost brings to mortals a chill and perhaps a shiver of horror. The reason for this is that the dense astral body is so laden with water vapor that it is like a cold dense fog which abstracts heat from the living body it approaches, and this sudden loss of heat, like a cold damp wind, causes the chill. The sense of horror is due to the fact that most of such ghosts passed under horrible conditions, which horror is communicated to the mortal contacted, although fear of the dead is also a contributing factor.
The love of parents which makes them remain close to the children left behind or the love of husband, wife or son for the one left on earth, while it keeps them in close touch with the dear ones, does not hold them in the sense in which the term is generally used, for in such cases they usually progress into the higher realms and in time learn to overshadow the loved ones mentally rather than in their astral bodies, and learn to communicate with them through telepathy.
The Ethereal Realm
The Ethereal Realm is the Realm into which the astral body rises after it has gotten rid of the densest earth magnetism and the strongest of the earth attractions; in other words, after the person has given up the idea that it is necessary to stay near the earth in order to exist or remain in touch with loved ones, or that he must still try to influence and control the administration of the affairs he left behind in the Physical World. This Realm is the abode of the majority of intelligent persons who have been away from the Physical World long enough to learn the lessons of the lower Realm of Reflection and who are gaining greater freedom from earthly ties and reaching up for a still higher and more spiritual life or who, as often happens, learned many of the lessons of the Realm of Reflection while still on earth, hence passed rapidly through the lower Realms after leaving the physical. This Realm is what was formerly called the “summer land” by the spiritualists of last century. Here there are branches of the great schools of learning which are situated in the higher Realms, established there for the training of those in this Realm who desire to progress and wish to understand the laws and conditions by which their new life is governed.
In this Realm there are many of the old philosophers and men of Science who have made for themselves what might be called a little heaven of their own, in which they surround themselves with the thought forces they themselves created when on earth, and these are continually strengthened by the thought forces of all similarly minded persons on earth.
Again there are those Philanthropists who have built up some Utopian ideal for the betterment of humanity, perhaps sought to have found a colony which has failed on earth. Here they do found the colony and live in it, until the defects which made it fail on earth become so apparent to the founder that he learns his lesson from them. Then the colony likewise is dissolved, all that is good being withdrawn. The mistake lives only as a soul memory, and will be avoided in the next earth life.
There are those in this Realm who are laboriously following modes of life which they had built up while on earth as representing their ideal of attainment. Here we find churches of all denominations filled with devout worshipers listening to sermons on their favorite subjects. Here we find monasteries in which devout priests live lives of extreme simplicity and abstemiousness, spending long hours in prayer and fasting and following most conscientiously the highest ideals of the monastic life, as they had always longed to but had never been able to fully express on earth. Here also are societies of devout nuns, sisters of charity, etc., as well as splendid centers for almost every religion, in which all those things the devotees longed for on earth yet never attained are experienced.
Here also are model homes, model farms, settlements, tenements, cities, and every dream of the philanthropist apparently fulfilled. For this Realm is where dreams seem to come true, or put it more truthfully, this is the Realm in which all the religious and Utopian dreams attempted on earth must be experienced to the fullest degree conceived on earth, until the force which put them forth has been exhausted and it is realized that they are still imperfect. This will be only when the Soul has found that it still longs for something greater; that all these perfected material things so longed for on earth still fall far short of perfect bliss. They are enjoyed here for a time just as a child will continue to amuse itself with certain toys until it will outgrow them. Ultimately the Soul also outgrows these earthly toys, sooner or later according to how much true unselfishness, true humanitarianism and love is contained in them. But gradually the Soul learns through experience just where all these things fall short, hence is ready to see something higher, at which time it dies to this Realm and passes on to the higher Realms.
Excerpt from Realms Of The Living Dead