That is what the planes really are: states of consciousness. (Kubis and Macy 18)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

[A plane] is a climate conducive to the development of unique and particular capabilities and achievements. . . .

The analogy of a plane with an emotional state is much more valid than the analogy between a plane and a geographical state, particularly since emotional states take up no room or space. (Roberts 103-104)SD&Pchanneled • modern • Seth

The light [of NDEs] . . . is, in its way an apport from that other inner universe. . . .

In your terms there is light within darkness. Light has more manifestations than its physical version, so that even when it may not be physically manifested there is light everywhere, and that light is the source of your physical version and its physical laws. In a manner of speaking, light itself forms darkness. Each unit of consciousness, whatever its degree, is, again, composed of energy—and that energy manifests itself with a kind of light that is not physically perceived: a light that is basically, now, far more intense than any physical variety, and a light from which all colors emerge.

The colors of which you are aware represent a very small portion of light’s entire spectrum. . . .

All of space is filled with the units of consciousness, alive with a light from which the very fires of life are lit. . . .

That light, however, is literally everywhere at once, and it is a “knowing light,” as Ruburt’s [William] James perceived.

Now: On certain occasions, sometimes near the point of death, but often simply in conscious states outside of the body, man is able to perceive that kind of light. In some out-of-body experiences Ruburt, for example, saw colors more dazzling than any physical ones, and you saw the same kind of colors in your dream. They are a part of your inner senses’ larger spectrum of perception, and in the dream state you were not relying upon your physical sense at all. (Roberts 230-231)DEVF1channeled • modern • Seth

Think of the Supreme Person as one who knows everything . . . who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond any material conception. (Vyasa 144)BGwisdom • Hindusim • ancient

Qutbuddin Shirazi: The pilgrim rising from one degree to the next discovers on each higher level a subtler state, a more entrancing beauty, a more intense spirituality, a more overflowing delight. (Corbin 131)SBCEwisdom • Sufism • Corbin

If we want to cite a preliminary difference between the physical and soul worlds, we can say that the latter is much finer, more mobile and more malleable than the former. (Steiner 100)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

Ever as we ascend the material becomes finer, the harmonies fuller, the light more living and transparent. There are more overtones in the sound, more delicate intershades in the colours as we rise, more and more new colours appear—hues entirely unknown to the physical sight; and it has been poetically yet truly said that the light of the lower plane is darkness on the one above it. (Leadbeater 35)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Heyoan: As we reach into broader dimensions of reality, the color become more distinct and more dimensional, as in multi-dimensional colors within each other. (Brennan 181)HoLclairvoyant • modern • Brennan

Programs had taken participants through Focus 3 (mindbrain synchrony), Focus 10 (mind awake and alert, body asleep), Focus 12 (state of expanded awareness), Focus 15 (state of no time), to Focus 21 (the edge of time-space where it is possible to contact other energy systems). . . .

Focus 22. Where humans still in physical existence have only partial consciousness. In this state would be those suffering from delirium, from chemical dependency or alcoholism, or from dementia. It would also include patients who were anesthetized or comatose. Experiences here might be remembered as dreams or hallucinations.

Focus 23. A level inhabited by those who have recently left physical existence but who either have not been able to recognize and accept this or are unable to free themselves from the ties of the Earth Life System. NOTE: this focus is the near realm

Focus 24-26. This covers the Belief System Territories, occupied by nonphysical humans from all periods and areas who have accepted and subscribed to various premises and concepts. These would include religious and philosophical beliefs that postulate some form of post-physical existence. NOTE: these and focus 27 correspond to the astral

Focus 27. Here is the site of what we may call the Reception Center or the Park, which is the hub of it. This is an artificial synthesis created by human minds, a way station designed to ease the trauma and shock of the transition out of physical reality. It takes on the form of various earth environments in order to be acceptable to the enormously wide variety of newcomers. (Monroe 248-249)UJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The number of planes is seven. . . . Each of them in turn is divided into seven subplanes. (Leadbeater 19)MV&Iclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Our universe is based in part on the law of seven. . . . Seven consists of two sets of three connected by one. . . .

Other universes are based on different mathematical ideas. . . .

Michael: Our system of seven is only one way a perfect whole can be differentiated. (Hoodwin 336)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

Seth . . . talks about a spectrum of consciousness, but in terms of frameworks. . . . All these frameworks exist one within the other, and each impinges upon the other. . . . All realities are immersed in all others. . . .

Watching a program, we are not aware of the activities in the television studio that make the production possible. The realm of the studio, which is the creative background for the program we watch, is like Framework 2. (Friedman 145-146)

Framework 2 is a huge creative atmosphere where all events are known everywhere. The communication network is instant, and each mental act makes its imprint on the nearly infinite multidimensional screen of Framework 2. . . . It provides us instantly with any knowledge we deem necessary. . . . It has loving intent. . . . Seth says that All That Is—the Absolute, the holomovement—is a constant presence that surrounds and engulfs us. It is a well-intentioned, gentle, powerful, and all-knowing atmosphere, and each individual is a manifestation of this presence. . . .

The inner reality can be correlated with Framework 2 (and beyond) and the outer reality with Framework 1. (Friedman 148)

Framework 2, then, is an everchanging interior world housing the “dreams, hopes, aspirations, and fears as well as the emotional reality of all consciousness.” (Friedman 150)

It is in Framework 3 that Jane Roberts and Seth actually came together. Seth says:

The encounters themselves occur in a Framework 3 environment. . . . The frameworks represent spheres of action. . . .

Some portion of each identity also resides in Framework 4, and in all other frameworks. (Friedman 186)

Framework 3 programs Framework 2 to create Framework 1. (Friedman 236)BS&Sresearcher • modern • Friedman

Explorers traveling into inner reality, however, do not have the same kind of landmarks. . . . Many have been so excited with their discoveries that they wrote guidebooks long before they even began to explore the inner landscape. They did not understand that they found what they wanted to find, or that the seemingly objective phenomena originated in the reflections of the psyche.

You may, for example, have read books numbering the “inner realms,” and telling you what you can expect to encounter in each. . . .

That kind of structuring also does a disservice, however, for it prevents you from coming in contact with your own original concepts. (Roberts 326-327)UR2channeled • modern • Seth

When you project into the physical world in real time as in an OOBE, it is really into the boundary area of the buffer zone, between the physical and astral dimensions. If the astral body contains enough etheric matter it can exist only slightly out of phase from reality. This means the projection is in real time and so close to the physical dimension as to be indistinguishable from it. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

Every physical particle has its etheric counterpart (hence the term “etheric double”) which is a perfect replica of the physical form. . . . In one sense, certainly, the etheric is physical, in that it is never separated from the body during life and disintegrates with it at death. (Karagulla and Kunz 29)C&HEFclairvoyant • modern • Karagulla & Kunz

Any new object in the real world is assimilated into the astral dimension over a period of time. A thought form representation of it first grows in the lowest part of the astral, close to the physical dimension, becoming more and more permanent as time goes on. As with all thought forms, the more attention paid to it the quicker it grows. . . .

A famous painting; loved, viewed and highly thought of by millions, will have a much stronger thought form than that of a common painting that hangs in someone’s bedroom and is only viewed by a few. . . .

The higher up in the astral dimension, or the further away from the physical, the less thought forms, of the physical world, as we know it, are found. Physical things have to soak in to it for a very long time before they take shape, and are found, in the higher astral. . . .

The generation of thought forms in the astral also works in the reverse. If a physical object has been around for a very long time, it will have grown a lasting thought form impression in the astral. After the object is destroyed or removed, its thought form still endures. You may, for example, in the astral, find furniture in your house you don’t have, jumbled up with your own. This is caused by the decaying thought forms of old stuff, belonging to previous tenants etc, still being there, years after the originals have gone.

Old thought forms do not follow their physical counterpart around when they are moved. New ones begin to grow in the astral wherever it is while the old ones slowly decay. The longer a thing is in one place, the stronger the thought form will become in that place. This also applies to buildings, structures and geological features. You may project into a park and find a house, bridge, stream, hill etc that you know is definitely not there. These may have existed in times past. . . .

The number of thought forms you find in the astral also depends on how close you are to the physical dimension. If you are very close, as in a real time projection or OOBE, very few thought forms, if any, will be found. In a real time OOBE you are not quite in the astral dimension but are existing as an astral form in the buffer zone between the astral and the physical dimensions. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

Astral travelers have always reported differences between the physical world and the OBE world. For instance, a door that is closed physically might appear open while out of the body. Why are there differences? The most common explanation is that we aren’t really seeing the physical world: We are seeing the astral counterpart of the physical world. OBEHWOBEr • modern • Peterson

The title of the lost library book I stumbled across during my own OBE looked bright green while I was in a disembodied state. But after I was back in my physical body and returned to retrieve the book, I saw that the lettering was actually black. (Talbot 236)HUscientific, researcher • modern • Talbot

The room, which is dark to your physical eyes, is no longer dark—for you are using your astral eyes, and there is a “foggish” light everywhere . . . a diffused light we might call it, a light which seems none too bright, and yet is not too dim, apparently sifting right through the objects of the material world. (Muldoon 204)PotABOBEr • Spiritualism • Muldoon

As we slip out of the physical wrapper . . . we see the familiar furniture of our room just as before. The only difference we notice is a light phosphorescent glow. (Yram 44)PAPOBEr • Yram

Will that your vibrations increase in rate. . . .

You will find yourself with me in a strange atmosphere, although you have not moved an inch in space. Behind you, so to speak, you perceive dimly the room in which we were just living; and ahead of you, so to speak, you perceive strange flashes and streaks of phosphorescent light of different hues and tints. These are the vibrations and waves of force, for you are now passing through the Plane of Forces. That vivid, bluish streak is the passage of some electric current—probably a wireless message flashing through space. Back of you, on my table, you see the magnetic ore, or lodestone, paper-weight, which always lies there. But now you see the peculiar phosphorescence around its poles, which is not visible on the material plane.

You also notice a peculiar faint vibratory glow around every physical object—this is the force of atomic and molecular attraction, etc. Still fainter, you find a peculiar radiance permeating the entire atmosphere—this is the outward sign of the force of gravitation. (Panchadasi 29-30)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

Liquids and gases, as well as solids have etheric counterparts. . . . Some observers have even postulated that the electron is an aspect of the etheric. . . .

[DVK] immediately picked out the radioactive tube as having more etheric luminosity than the normal iodine solution. . . .

Two cups of water, one cold and one warm, were placed two feet away from DVK in a dark room, and she was asked to describe them etherically. She said that one of the cups showed a slight increase of etheric energy on its surface, and she therefore assumed that it was the one containing warm water. This was correct.

DVK observed that manmade materials, such as nylon and dacron, partially inhibit the freedom of the etheric flow, which may be why some people find them uncomfortable to wear. She perceived the reverse to be true with respect to cotton, wool and silk. (Karagulla and Kunz 141-142)C&HEFclairvoyant • modern • Karagulla & Kunz

I am taking a different look at the earth. I can see the pulsating energy around the earth that I saw before. It seems imbalanced in some areas. There is a very dull energy coming out of areas that are built up in large cities. . . . The bright and intense areas of energy are where the earth is in its natural state—forests, mountains, and lakes. . . .

In the areas where the energies are dull, we have not cooperated with the elements of nature. . . . Where there is a lack of energy, it almost looks like a disease—dark and blotched. (McKnight 87)

The darker, diseased areas of the earth’s energies can be revitalized as humans clean up their personal states of consciousness—change the way they think, creating flow instead of stagnation. . . .

Where there are polluted thoughts, there are polluted areas upon the earth’s surface. (McKnight 94)

We have to clean up all levels of pollution on planet Earth, including our thoughts. Actually, it begins there. (McKnight 109)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

I knew the next ring inward. It wasn’t nice. Beyond that was physical life. The two were tightly interwoven, the thick ring just slightly out of phase with physical matter. It was the interface between one reality system and another. . . . It was difficult for a novice to distinguish instantly the differences in the two. But I could.

That was the problem. The inhabitants of this ring couldn’t. They didn’t or couldn’t or wouldn’t realize they were no longer physical. . . . Thus they kept trying to be physical, to do and be what they had been, to continue physical one way or another. Bewildered, some spent all of their activity in attempting to communicate with friends and loved ones still in bodies or with anyone else who might come along, all to no avail. Others were held attracted to physical sites in which they had instilled great meaning or importance during their previous human lifetime. . . .

Still others interpreted their change in status as simply a bad dream or nightmare, and were waiting and hoping to wake up soon. . . .

The M Band noise was thunderous, a cacophony of fear, anger, and about every other human emotion, every desire, every need connected with human physical existence. All open, naked, uncovered, up front. . . . Those still physical seemed less distinct, not quite but almost transparent. (Monroe 153-154)

All seemed to be completely focused on the activities of the in-human physical condition. Any attempts to communicate or divert their attention were met with total unawareness at the least and, at the most, bewilderment, fear, or outright hostility. All were attempting to participate in physical life in one way or another with no success whatsoever. All seemed to have one common characteristic. They were completely unaware of any existence other than physical. (Monroe 238-239)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The areas of Locale II NOTE: the astral realm “nearest” the physical world are peopled for the most part with insane or near-insane, emotionally driven beings. . . . They include those alive but asleep or drugged and out in their Second Bodies NOTE: astral bodies. . . .

This near area, quite understandably, is not a pleasant place to be. . . . The moment you disassociate from the physical via the Second Body, you are on the fringes of this close-by section of Locale II. . . .

The principal motivation of these near inhabitants is sexual release in all forms. . . . It was difficult to avoid participation at times, as response was automatic. . . .

Only when you have passed the “raw emotion” stage do you move into the innumerable various but evidently organized activity clusters of Locale II. (78-80)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

The Dreamers: This group has a distinctive vibration or radiation that indicates they are attached to a physical body somewhere in the current earth time-space. This infers but does not verify that they may be in an out-of-body state during sleep. They apparently are attempting to continue the activity they have been performing during their physical waking hours, or those they desire or fantasize. Some are simply going through the motions; others are trying to talk with those they know who are physically awake. (Monroe 239)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The next ring outward NOTE: beyond the near realm is fairly straightforward. It is composed of those who do realize they are no longer in physical human life, but have no awareness or memory of any other possibility. Often they are stunned by the loss, and do no more than remain in a motionless, nonperceiving passive state, as if waiting for something to take place. They are usually easy to contact, instruct, and lead to a suitable outer ring. The population here is small, relatively, and remains more or less static due to the assistance supplied by the outer rings. (Monroe 241)

We passed through the density of still gray forms who were neither here nor there, barely conscious and waiting for something to happen—and it would, all positive. Very little M Band noise there. (Monroe 193-194)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The denizens of Focus 23 vary as much as humanity itself. . . . A few have been “waiting” for two or three centuries or more, but most have left physical existence quite recently, during the last twenty or thirty years. . . . For the most part they are ready and willing to leave. (Monroe 254)UJOBEr • modern • Monroe

Raymond Moody writes. . . .

ROMC: “Such souls are often locked into emotional levels of their own being. They are usually not aware of anything outside themselves. . . .

“There is no barrier. . . . It is a soul locked into its own narrow perceptions” (McKnight 246, 248)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

Case 16:

Dr. N: Where do the souls go who don’t want to wander the Earth as ghosts but won’t go home?

S: It’s any space they want to create for themselves. They design their own reality with memories of a physical life. Some souls live in nice places like a garden setting. Others—those who have harmed people, for instance—design terrible spaces for themselves like a prison, a room with no windows. In these spaces they box themselves in so they can’t experience much light or make contact with anyone. It is self-imposed punishment. . . .

Consider what they do in solitude without help. They relive their acts over and over again, playing back . . . what they have done to others and what has been done to them in their last life. They may have harmed others or been harmed by them. Quite often I hear they feel victimized by events over which they had little control. They are sad and mad at the same time. (Newton 66, 68)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

[This interior landscape] is a dimension native to consciousness. . . . We have our primary existence in it after death and spend a good deal of physical time wandering through it, unknowingly, in sleep. (Roberts 384)SD&Pchanneled • modern • Seth

In the next world man’s outward dimension will be like his inward dimension in this world. (Arabi 338)SPoKwisdom • Sufism • Arabi

Around the planet were rings of haze, gigantic thick rings, of indeterminate number. Demarcation between them was vague as wisps and tendrils reached from one to the other. . . .(Monroe 130)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The next ring NOTE: the astral as a whole is the largest of all, and contains an apparently limitless number of sub-rings. . . . All residents here know they have passed through physical death. There may be vagueness and differing beliefs as to what and where they are at this point; hence the often sharply delineated sub-rings. (Monroe 241)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

Locale II NOTE: the astral realm is a non-material environment with laws of motion and matter only remotely related to the physical world. It is an immensity whose bounds are unknown, and has depth and dimension incomprehensible to the finite, conscious mind. (Monroe 73)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

You could spend thousands of years in the rings and never explore all aspects of them. Some parts are great, some not so great. . . . Whatever man can think of is somewhere in these rings. . . . More is being added constantly as man thinks more. (Monroe 149)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The objects and inhabitants of the astral plane are real in exactly the same way as our own bodies, our furniture, our houses or monuments are real. (Leadbeater 2)APclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Nor is the dream world a shadow image of your own. . . .

It is because you remember only vague glimmerings and disconnected episodes that dreams appear often chaotic and meaningless. . . .

Some dream events are more vivid than waking ones. It is only when the personality passes out of the dream experience that it may seem unreal in retrospect. . . . Reality, then, is a result of focus of energy and attention. (Roberts 219)

The locations that you visit while dreaming are as real to you then as physical locations are to you in the waking state. . . . In the waking state, the whole self is focused toward physical reality, but in the dreaming state, it is focused in a different dimension. It is every bit as conscious and aware. (Roberts 10)

The interior universe is at least as rich, varied and complicated as the exterior one. Dream reality is only one aspect of this inner universe, in the same way that our planet is only one of many others in a physical sky. (Roberts 194)SD&Pchanneled • modern • Seth

The lucid world is so rich, incredibly detailed, and alive, that the normal, everyday appearance of the waking realm can seem almost a flat monotone by its side. (Godwin 6)LDerresearcher • modern • Godwin

The Astral is just as real . . . as is the material world. . . .

To the traveller on the Astral the scenery, and everything connected therewith, seems as solid as the most solid material does to the physical eye. It really is just as solid as is the astral body in which you visit it. . . .

The Astral has its scenery, geography, and “things,” just as has the material world. (Panchadasi 20-21, 23)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

Individuals who are privileged enough to visit [these subtle realms] universally, report seeing many vast and celestially beautiful cities there. . . . The twelfth-century Sufis were so familiar with them that they even gave several of them names. (Talbot 272)HUscientific, researcher • modern • Talbot

It’s not a wishy-washy affair over here. It’s not some sort of vague something. It’s a real existence, and we are in our own way as physical as you are. Yet it’s not a physical body as you have it. To all outward appearance it may look the same, but it isn’t, the construction is different. I mean we are living on a vibration that is so far removed from earth, and everything is rarified in consequence and everything that we do has a meaning and purpose. GOCchanneled • modern • Flint

This building was composed of astral matter and therefore a door here was an obstacle to one’s progress, as I also was in astral matter. (Richelieu 115)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

I heard a merry laugh behind me, which oddly enough did not startle me at all. I turned round, and there was Charles looking exactly the same as when I had seen him last. . . . Automatically I clasped him by the hand, at once I felt that his handclasp was as firm and as real as it used to be. My Indian friend whom I had not noticed before but who was also in the room, said: “. . . Because you are using at the moment the same type of body as he is using, he naturally is as real to you as you are to him.” (Richelieu 43)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

The [astral planet Marduk] with its Riverine communities was created by human minds, yet is as much a reality to its spiritual residents as our Earth is to us.

Inhabitants of the mid-Astral planes are assisted by higher beings in creating landscapes they are familiar with. While this reality may seem a bit “fabricated” to us, Swejen Salter is quick to point out that everything in the astral planes can be seen and touched by people in astral bodies, just as physical things are fully experienced in our material world. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

Locale II NOTE: the astral realm is a state of being where that which we label thought is the wellspring of existence. It is the vital creative force that produces energy, assembles “matter” into form, and provides channels of perception and communication. . . .

One does perceive what seems to be solid matter as well as artifacts common to the physical world. These are brought into “existence,” evidently, by three sources. First, they are the product of thought of those who once lived in the physical world, the patterns of which still remain. This is accomplished quite automatically, without deliberate intent. The second source is those who liked certain material things in the physical world, which they have re-created apparently to enhance their surroundings in Locale II. The third source I assume to be a higher order of intelligent beings more aware of the Locale II environment than most inhabitants. Their purpose seems to be that of simulation of the physical environment—temporarily, at least—for the benefit of those just emerging from the physical world, after “death.” This is done to reduce trauma and shock for the “newcomers” by introducing familiar shapes and settings in the early conversion stages. (Monroe 74-75)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

[The paving] is without the usual dull drabness of color. It closely resembles the alabaster-like material of which so many of the buildings are constructed. The colors vary, but they are all of delicate pastel shades. . . .

Often the pavements reveal a network of delightful designs formed by the use of different colored materials, and blending harmoniously with their immediate surroundings.

As one approaches the boundaries to the higher realms, the pavements become noticeably more translucent in character, and they seem to lose some of their appearance of solidity, though, indeed, they are solid enough!

When one draws near the boundaries of the lower realms, the pavements become heavy in appearance, they begin to lose their color until they look leaden and opaque, and they have the semblance of extreme solidity. (Borgia 108)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

As we approach the dark regions the soil, such as I have described to you, loses its granular quality and its color. It becomes thick, heavy, and moist, until it finally gives place entirely to stones, and then rock. Whatever grass there is looks yellow and seared.

As we draw closer to the higher realms the particles of the soil becomes finer, the colors more delicate, with a hint of translucency. A greater degree of resilience is at once observable underfoot when walking upon the thresholds of these higher realms. (Borgia 111)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The whole edifice was exclusively composed of sapphire, diamond, and topaz, or at least, their celestial equivalent. . . . The blue, white and gold of the jewelled palace, touched by the pure rays of the great central sun, were intensified and magnified a thousandfold, and flashed forth in every direction their beams of the purest light. . . .

In our own NOTE: mid-astral realm the buildings are opaque, albeit they have a certain translucence of surface. But they are ponderous and heavy by comparison with the upper realms. We had journeyed through many other spheres to reach this present one, but had we paused to observe the lands through which we had passed, we should have seen a gradual transformation taking place until the relatively heavy-looking materials of our own realm became transmuted into the crystalline substance upon which our gaze was now fastened. (Borgia 196)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The buildings were constructed of a substance that had all the appearance of alabaster, and they were all tinged with the most delicate colors, such as one is accustomed to seeing in the subtle blending of an earthly rainbow. (Borgia 158)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

While in this field, Brad became aware of beautiful music, like nothing he had ever heard on earth. Walking toward the sound, he came to and climbed a hill, eventually encountering a glittering stone structure so brilliant that he thought it might be burning hot. (Ring and Cooper 113)JoNDE-KRresearcher • modern • Ring

The laws of sympathetic attraction, or like attracts like, causes this ocean of mind stuff to strata and settle into layers or pools. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

These subplanes form a spectrum that loosely corresponds to the spectrum of human emotions and states of mind. As human thought and feeling can range from the most lowly and debased to the most noble and inspirational, so too is it with the subplanes. APCOBEr, LDer • modern • DeGracia

The astral plane has seven subdivisions. . . . They naturally fall into three classes, NOTE: counting from the highest down divisions 1, 2 and 3 forming one such class, and 4, 5 and 6 another, while the seventh and lowest of all stands alone. . . . Divisions 4, 5 and 6 of the astral plane have for their background the physical world we live in and all its familiar accessories. Life on the sixth division is simply our ordinary life on this earth, minus the physical body and its necessities. (Leadbeater 8)APclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

There are regions, points of space, places, kingdoms, countries, etc., on the Astral, just as on the material plane. Sometimes these Astral regions have no connection with any on the material plane, while in other cases they have a very direct connection with and relation to, material places and the inhabitants thereof.

One may travel from one region of the Astral to another, by simply an act of will which raises the vibration of the astral body, without it moving a point in space. Again, one may travel in space from one point to another on the Astral, in cases where these points have some relation to points on the material plane. . . . Time and space have their manifestation on the Astral. But, nevertheless, certain Astral manifestations, on its seven-times-seven sub-planes, may be, and likely are, present THERE in, at, and on, the exact point of space which you are occupying at this moment on the material plane—and this very moment of time, NOW!

If you have the knowledge and power, you, without leaving your seat, may traverse all of these sub-planes, one after the other, witnessing their scenery and inhabitants, their phenomena and activity, and then return to the material plane—all in a moment of time, and without changing a single point in space.

Or, if you prefer, you may travel to any of these sub-planes of the Astral, at your point of space, and then travel in space on the Astral to some other place on that sub-plane; and then have the choice of returning either the same way by which you came, or else descending to the material plane and travelling on it, in your astral body, back to where your physical body is resting. (Panchadasi 24-26)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

The spheres are subdivided laterally to correspond broadly with the various nations of the earth, each subdivision being situated immediately over its kindred nation. When you consider the enormous variety of national temperament and characteristics distributed throughout the earth-plane, it is not surprising that the people of each nation should wish to gravitate to those of their own kind in the spirit world, just as much as they wish to do when upon the earth-plane. Individual choice of course, is free and open to every soul; he may live in whatsoever part . . . that he pleases. There are no fixed territorial frontiers here to separate the nations. They make their own invisible frontiers of temperament and customs, but the members of all the nations of the earth are at liberty to intermingle in the spirit world, and to enjoy unrestricted and happy social intercourse. The language question presents no difficulty. . . . We can transmit our thoughts to each other with the full assurance that they will be received by the person whom we are mentally addressing. . . .

Each of the national subdivisions of the spirit world bears the characteristics of its earthly counterpart. That is but natural. . . . My spirit home is located in the type of countryside with which I and my friends are very familiar.

This dividing of nations extends only to a certain number of realms. Beyond that, nationality, as such, ceases to be. There we retain only our outward and visible distinctions, such as the color of our skin. . . . Our homes will no longer have a definite national appearance, and will partake more of pure spirit. (Borgia 129-130)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The two worlds, yours and ours, are in constant and direct communication, and we are fully aware of what is occurring upon the earth-plane at all times . . . those of us who are in active communion with you are conversant with your personal affairs and with the affairs of your world in general. While the rest of us here, who have no further active interest in the earth-plane since we left it, may be unaware of many things in connection with it, those wise beings in the higher realms are in possession of all knowledge of what is transpiring upon earth. (Borgia 184)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The dead, in the measure in which they shared this or that interest with others, underwent common destinies with others, remain connected with all these earthly interests; are still interested in earthly events. And, being no longer hindered by the physical body, they judge earthly events much more lucidly and sagaciously than people who are still alive. (Steiner 51)LBDclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

Acharya: In [the densest] sphere there is a counterpart of everything that exists in the physical world. . . . Imagine the astral counterpart of Piccadilly Circus, London, which you visited a few nights ago, as representing the noisy lowest sphere. Then imagine a similar world, say one mile above the lowest world, to which one can transport oneself in a second’s time by an effort of will; this corresponds to the second sphere. . . . If you were existing one mile above London, you might still hear something of the roar of London’s traffic and the noise that is always part of the life of a great city, but that would be only a murmur compared with the noise you hear standing on the ground floor. . . .

Now imagine a third sphere of consciousness yet another mile above the second sphere. . . . You would be so far removed from the noise and bustle of London town, that you would not only be unaffected by its existence, but would be more or less unconscious of it. (Richelieu 73-74)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

While I was in the nonphysical dimension, the physical one was unclear and hazy. Now that I was back in the physical realm, the nonphysical universe was indistinct. (McKnight 39)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

We have the whole of eternity before us! . . . It takes time to shake off finally that feeling of impermanence, of transience, that is so closely associated with the earth life. And in consequence we feel that we must see everything as quickly as we can, in spite of the fact that time, as a factor in our lives, has ceased to function. (Borgia 50)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Case 23:

S: Living here . . . there is a . . . changelessness. (Newton 195)

Souls do experience feelings of the passage of time in a chronological fashion in the spirit world. . . . My research indicates to me that the illusion of time progression is created and sustained for those souls coming to and from the physical dimensions, so they may more easily gauge their advancement. (Newton 195)JoShypnosis • modern • Newton

You are withdrawing your perceptive abilities from the physical body. . . . Your thoughts instantly attain a form that you can then perceive. If you think of a dog, for example, quite unconsciously you form the image of a dog, which you then perceive.

Now, there are ‘objective’ realities that exist within the astral system. There are more than your own thought forms, in other words. (Roberts 363)SD&Pchanneled • modern • Seth

No objective reality exists but that which is created by consciousness. . . . My environment is a reality of existence created by myself and others like me, and it represents the manifestation of our development.

We do not use permanent structures. There is not a city or a town, for example, in which I dwell. . . . We form whatever particular images we want to surround us.

They are created by our mental patterns. . . .

I can have it night or day, in your terms, as I prefer—or any period, say, of your history. These changing forms would in no way bother my associates, for they would take them as immediate clues as to my mood, feelings, and ideas. (Roberts 17)

Environment is not a separate thing in itself, but the result of perceptive patterns. (Roberts 27)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

Interior traveling is no more subjective, then, than a journey from New York to San Francisco. . . .

Descriptions would vary because of their private beliefs, and would be colored by the individual focus from which each of them viewed the city. (Roberts 325-326)UR2channeled • modern • Seth

Each sees the other through the medium of his own vehicles, and so is somewhat in the position of one looking at a landscape through the colored glass. Until he has learnt to make allowance for this influence, he will be likely to consider as most prominent in the man at whom he is looking just those characteristics to which he finds himself most ready to respond. (Leadbeater 64)MV&Iclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

When a group of individuals maintains the same image or beliefs, the group creates, molds, and maintains a consensus reality. In effect, group thought-energy forms, stabilizes, and actually solidifies nonphysical energy. The larger the group, the more stable the . . . energy environment becomes. (Buhlman 67)ABtBOBEr • modern • Buhlman

Acharya: When the egos NOTE: reincarnating selves who have been existing in the Golden City pass to the mental world they still have only one cardinal thought in their minds and that is their idea of Heaven. . . . They expect to remain permanently in a heaven world and, because of this dominating belief, the illusion of heaven, as they have always imagined it, is created by them, in it they live, exchanging their thoughts with the thoughts of others, sent out by people who are controlled by the same illusions. Thus the whole of their mental life is lived within a gigantic thought-form. (Richelieu 174)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

The higher thoughts and aspirations which he has poured forth during earth-life then cluster round him, and make a sort of shell about him—a kind of subjective world of his own; and in that he lives his heaven-life, perceiving but very faintly or not at all the real glories of the plane which lie outside, and, indeed, usually supposing that what he sees is all there is to see.

Yet we should be wrong in thinking of that thought-cloud as a limitation. Its function is to enable the man to respond to certain vibrations—not to shut him off from the others. . . .

In the higher heaven-world . . . even there many egos NOTE: reincarnating selves are only slightly and dreamily conscious of their surroundings, but in so far as they see, they see truly. (Leadbeater 25-26)

On the [rupa levels] NOTE: formed levels the man lives entirely in the world of his own thoughts, still fully identifying himself with his personality in the life which he has recently quitted. (Leadbeater 46)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

[One case] was that of a person of pure mind and considerable though untrained psychic capacity; the effect of the presentation of the thought-picture to her mind was of a somewhat startling character. So intense was the feeling of reverent joy, so lofty and so spiritual were the thoughts evoked by the contemplation of this glorious scene, that the consciousness of the sleeper passed entirely into the mind-body—or, to put the same idea into other words, rose on to the mental plane. It must not, however, be supposed from this that she became cognizant of her surroundings upon that plane or of its real condition. She was simply in the state of the ordinary person who has reached that level after death, floating in the sea of light and colour indeed, but nevertheless entirely absorbed in her own thought, and conscious of nothing beyond it—resting in ecstatic contemplation of the landscape and of all that it had suggested to her. (Leadbeater 44)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

In this higher world anyone who wishes to devote himself for a time to quiet thought, and to abstract himself from his surroundings, may actually live in a world of his own without possibility of interruption, and with the additional advantage of seeing all his ideas (and their consequences, fully worked out) passing in a sort of panorama before his eyes.(Leadbeater 20)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

If, however, he wished instead to observe the plane upon which he finds himself, it will be necessary for him very carefully to suspend his thought for the time, so that its creations may not influence the readily impressible matter around him, and thus alter the entire condition. . . .

He finds that although he is no longer himself a centre of radiation of all that marvellous wealth of light and colour, form and sound. . . . It has not therefore ceased to exist; on the contrary, its harmonies and its coruscations are but grander and fuller than ever. . . . What he is watching with such ecstasy of delight is simply the glorious colour-language of the devas—the expression of the thought or the conversation of beings far higher than himself in the scale of evolution. (Leadbeater 20-21)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

If the visitor wishes to carry his analysis of the plane still further, and discover what it would be when entirely undisturbed by the thought or conversation of any of its inhabitants, he can do so by forming round himself a huge shell through which none of these influences can penetrate, and then (of course holding his own mind perfectly still as before) examining the conditions which exist inside his shell. . . .

He will find that the sea of light has become—not still, for its particles continue their intense and rapid vibrations, but—as it were, homogenous; that those wonderful coruscations of colour and constant changes of form are no longer taking place. (Leadbeater 22-23)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

. . . Those wonderful coruscations of colour and constant changes of form are no longer taking place. . . . He is now able to perceive another and entirely different series of regular pulsations. . . . These are evidently universal, and no shell which human power can make will check them or turn them aside. They cause no change of colour, no assumption of form, but flow with resistless regularity through all the matter of the plane, outwards and in again, like the exhalation and inhalation of some great breath beyond our ken.

There are several sets of these, clearly distinguishable from one another by volume, by period of vibration, and by the tone of the harmony which they bring, and grander than them all sweeps one great wave which seems the very heart-beat of the system—a wave which, welling up from unknown centres on far higher planes, pours out its life through all our world, and then draws back in its tremendous tide to that from which it came. In one long undulating curve it comes, and the sound of it is like the murmur of the sea; and yet in it and through it all the while there echoes a mighty ringing chant of triumph—the very music of the spheres. (Leadbeater 23)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Qutbuddin Shirazi: Pythagoras related that his soul rose as far as the higher world. . . . He heard the melodies of the Spheres and the sonorities produced by the movements of the heavenly bodies; at the same time he became aware of the discreet resonance of the voices of their angels. (Corbin 134)SBCEwisdom • Sufism • Corbin

I had observed that there did not appear to be what we should commonly call shade beneath the trees, and yet there did not appear to be any glaring sun. It seemed to be that there was a radiance of light that penetrated into every corner, and yet there was no hint of flatness. My friend told me that all light proceeded directly from the Giver of all light, and that this light was Divine life itself, and that it bathed and illumined the whole of the spirit world. . . .

I noticed, too, that a comfortable warmth pervaded every inch of space, a warmth perfectly even and as perfectly sustained. (Borgia 15)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Everything Shines! More correctly, everything is illuminated by its own light. There is no sense of dark once your astral eyes being to function. There is ambient light even in an absolute vacuum. ASOBEr • modern • Goodin

The substance . . . has the appearance of an atmosphere which varies from the deepest darkness, passing through all the intermediary shades of grey, to radiant clarity. . . .

In descending towards matter, the negative aspect of energy, the grey atmosphere becomes duller and darker. One experiences the sensation of a substance which becomes steadily thicker. . . . We experience the illusion of being oppressed, of breathing with difficulty. A general malaise invades us, the consciousness becomes worried and soon the impression becomes definitely painful. In these dark states one sees phosphorescent points which move about in all directions.

When we go towards the positive side of energy, i.e. the negative side of matter, the opacity diminishes. We come into a sort of grey mist, like a cloudy sky. As we rise, the mist becomes thinner, and soon its place is taken by a luminous clarity. A blaze of light, like that of the sun at midday, lights up the atmosphere. Watching carefully, we notice on all sides an equal intensity, showing that this light is produced by the progressive activity in the atoms. (Yram 34-35)PAPOBEr • Yram

The temperature in heaven was just right, neither hot nor cold. But that stranger who said he’d been in hell three weeks described it as a dark, dank, chilly, frightening place. ISHNDEr • modern • Yensen

It is important to realize that the residence outside the physical body is far more prolonged than the residence in it. (Besant 20)Kclairvoyant • Theosophy • Besant

Helen Keller had a childhood illness at nineteen months that left her deaf and blind. She reported that, before she was taught by her remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan, to read, write, and talk, she “lived in a sort of perpetual dream.” . . . She seemed to relish what took place after passing through “the portals of sleep.” She explained: “Once across the border, we feel at home, as if we had always lived there and had never made any excursions into this rational daylight world.” (Van de Castle 5)ODMresearcher • modern • Van de Castle

Usually, my consciousness is completely normal in all respects. At times my consciousness is very strong, and I feel more awake and aware than in normal life. But sometimes my consciousness feels very weak. I’ve often used the analogy between consciousness and a light bulb that is on a dimmer switch. OBEHWOBEr • modern • Peterson

Once you become conscious in the astral body, you will realize at what a snail’s pace the conscious mind moves in comparison with the superintelligence which is subconscious. (Muldoon 130)PotABOBEr • Spiritualism • Muldoon

Instead of going, as usual, straight back into my body, I stopped in my room in order to notice the difference between a fairly condensed projection and a far more rarefied substance such as the one I had just been using. The surrounding atmosphere of the room was far more luminous than usual. . . . This double followed the impulse of my thoughts with amazing facility. I hardly formed the idea that I wanted to return to my body when, immediately, I clearly felt the bed on which I was lying. (Yram 74)PAPOBEr • Yram

This feeling of homecoming is proportionate to the quality of “energy” of the matter into which we project ourselves. (Yram 68)PAPOBEr • Yram

The consciousness of [the mental] plane is so immensely wider than anything we can imagine down here, and its very conditions so entirely different, that when called upon to translate it all into mere ordinary words the explorer feels himself utterly at a loss. (Leadbeater 7)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

We are now vibrating on a very low subdivision of the lowest sub-plane of the Astral. You are conscious of a very unpleasant feeling, and an almost physical repulsion to the atmosphere around you. Some very sensitive natures experience a feeling of being surrounded by a dense, sticky, foul, foggy atmosphere, through which they must almost force their way. . . .

Looking around you, in the dim, ghastly light of this region, you perceive countless human forms, of the most repulsive appearance. Some of them are so low in the scale as to seem almost beast-like, rather than human. (Panchadasi 52-53)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

For the seventh or lowest subdivision of the astral plane also this physical world of ours may be said to be the background, though what is seen is only a distorted and partial view of it, since all that is light and good and beautiful seems invisible. It was thus described four thousand years ago in the Egyptian papyrus of the Scribe Ani: “What manner of place is this unto which I have come? It hath no water, it hath no air; it is deep, unfathomable; it is black as the blackest night, and men wander helplessly about therein; in it a man may not live in quietness of heart.” For the unfortunate entity on that level it is indeed true that “all the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitations,” but it is darkness which radiates from within himself and causes his existence to be passed in a perpetual night of evil and horror—a very real hell, though, like all other hells, entirely of man’s own creation. . . .

There appears to be a sense of density and gross materiality about it which is indescribably loathsome to the liberated astral body, causing it the sense of pushing its way through some black, viscous fluid, while the inhabitants and influences encountered there are also usually exceedingly undesirable. (Leadbeater 16-17)APclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The lower realms of the subplanes are easily identified. They are often dark as if it is nighttime outside. There is also an eerie feel to the lower subplanes. They just feel creepy. Often, it is hard to move on the lower subplanes, similar to being on the Etheric plane, where your movement seems to be retarded and in slow motion. And of course, you will encounter ghoulish creatures on these subplanes.

You don’t need to fear anything you encounter on these subplanes. First, it is unlikely you will spend any amount of time on these subplanes. I always have a bad lockmold NOTE: focus on these planes, and thus, often “fade-out” of these lower subplanes within minutes. APCOBEr, LDer • modern • DeGracia

Souls who have lived freely in the flow of their own existence are not hindered by emotional or mental thought-forms that can confine or hold them down in the more dense earth-level vibrations. The heavy earth vibrations are often experienced as great darkness and isolation, mixed with various negative emotions. (McKnight 167)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

The reduction in the speed of its atoms makes it seem darker, and we experience a definite impression of stifling. (Yram 119)PAPOBEr • Yram

The “Hades” belt NOTE: the lower astral, in both cases, was “misty,” “foggy,” and even “watery” (hence the idea of “the ‘river’ of death”). . . . Consciousness was more or less dim and dreamy. . . . The “Paradise” belt NOTE: the middle to higher astral, in both cases, was bright, and consciousness was alert and intense. (Crookall 112)CBAPresearcher • modern • Crookall

Angels (channeled): [Hell] is a space of great chaos and pain and terror and madness created by the beings who have chosen—whether consciously or unconsciously—to inhabit it. . . . Those who are drawn to this space are pulled there by their self-hatred. This self-hatred is the result of the surrender of the soul to fear, greed, lust, gluttony, cruelty, hate—to any emotion that is generated by a chosen action devoid of love. . . . As long as their hearts are closed . . . this dense barrier of despair and depravity and darkness remains impenetrable.

When a soul dies filled with self-loathing and judgment and a belief that God could not possibly love them or forgive them—that they must suffer for what they have done—these thoughts can eventually carry them into the Underworld NOTE: the lower astral. Those who die in the depths of addiction can also be drawn to this space, where those emotions and sensations to which they were addicted run rampant. (Fairchilde 138-139)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

The soul world’s lowest region is the region of burning desire, where the soul’s crudest self-serving desires, those relating to the lowest aspect of bodily life, are eliminated after death. . . . The sympathy in such a soul extends only to what will nourish its own self-seeking being, and is far outweighed by the antipathy in it, which pours out over anything else. (Steiner 115-116)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

Acharya: This purgatory . . . is in the lower planes of the astral world—that part into which man passes almost immediately after death. It is the region where a man is purged of the blinding lower desires which would keep him indefinitely bound to his desire body. (Richelieu 27)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

(speaking for the helpers). . . . Hell is a state in which souls are locked into levels of stagnation. (McKnight 62)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

In Confessions of an English Opium Eater, De Quincy described changes in his dream life as he became addicted to opium. His dreams became progressively more painful. At the beginning of his serious addiction he found an increase in hypnagogic visions as he drifted off to sleep. Whatever he voluntarily pictured in the darkness prior to sleep was likely to transfer to his dreams, so he feared to imagine anything. His dreams became accompanied by a “deep-seated anxiety and gloomy melancholy” inexpressible in words. He felt himself “descend, into chasms and sunless abysses, depths below depths, from which it seemed hopeless that I would ever reascend. Nor did I, by waking, feel that I had reascended.” De Quincey found that his sense of space and, later, his sense of time, became distorted: “I sometimes seemed to have lived for 70 to 100 years in one night. . . . ” The content of his dreams shifted from palaces and cities to water and then to human faces, “imploring, wrathful, despairing,” by the thousands. (Garfield 63-64)CDLDer • modern • Garfield

I have also been permitted to look into the hells. . . . Some of the hells appeared to the view like caverns and dens in rocks extending inward and then downward into an abyss. . . . Some of the hells appeared to the view like the dens and caves of wild beasts in forests. . . .

Some hells present an appearance like the ruins of houses and cities after conflagrations, in which infernal spirits dwell and hide themselves. In the milder hells there is an appearance of rude huts . . . and within the houses are infernal spirits engaged in unceasing quarrels, enmities, fightings, and brutalities; while in the streets and lanes robberies and depredations are committed. . . . There are dark forest, in which infernal spirits roam like wild beasts. . . .

There are also deserts, where all is barren and sandy, and where in some places there are ragged rocks in which there are caverns, and in some places huts. (Swedenborg 478-479)H&HOBEr • Christianity • Swedenborg

Those who have negative experiences tend to feel . . . that they are traveling downward instead of upward:

Usually I was accustomed to silence in OBE-prestage. . . .

When overtired I experienced another state. . . . At these occasions I very often heard unpolite words and curses of entities, which seemed to surround me. Once when the voices became too molesting, I pushed them away like a foggy cloud, and this kind of disturbance was gone for ever. EEABOBEr • modern • Ballabene

Pat Kubis: “On another occasion I saw the sex plane. The locale was very dark and dim. It seemed to be a huge brothel with many, many cubicles where men and women engaged in sex on beds. Yet only a few feet away, I saw the rescuers waiting for those spirits who finally were freed from their preoccupation.” (Kubis and Macy 96)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

I regret to be compelled to call your attention to the regions of some lower forms of religion, in which there is a background picture of a burning hell, at which the devotees gaze with satisfaction, feeling the joy of heaven intensified by the sight of the suffering souls in hell. It is a satisfaction to tell you that the suffering souls, and their hell, are but fictitious things created by the imagination from the astral substance. . . .

Gaze upon this most horrible scene before us. A large severely furnished edifice is shown, with seated congregation wearing stern, hard, cruel faces. They gaze toward the top of a smoking bottomless pit, from which rises a sort of great, endless chain, each link having a huge sharp hook upon which is impaled a doomed soul. This soul is supposed to rise to the top of the pit once in a thousand years, and as each appears it is heard to cry in mournful accents: “How long—how long?” To this agonized questions, a deep stern voice is heard replying: “Forever! Forever!” I am glad to tell you that this congregation is dwindling, many evolving to higher conceptions, and practically no new recruits arriving from the earth-plane to fill the depleting ranks. In time, this congregation will disappear entirely, and the ghastly stage scenery and properties will gradually dissolve into astral dust and fade from sight forever. (Panchadasi 70-71)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

I arrive at the gates of a town, where I hope to find safe refuge. I have troubles with strange customs-officers. They shoot just above my head, because they want to investigate my thoughts and not my luggage. An inner revelation comes over me. I have been transported to a world where the ideal replaces the real, where intellectuality is a contraband, where you are provided thoughts. . . .

They compel me to leave my body behind at the gate. I notice they put it in a box with a label carrying my name. I wander around town as a shadow, hearing voices of invisible people like myself. . . .

Soon I see myself carried away to an amphi-theatre where a terrible surgical operation will take place. It will be performed on a prisoner, who had tried to filch his body from customs. I am moved by the victim. Afterward, when the surgeon pricks his scalpel into the patient’s flesh, I feel a deep grief. I recognize that it is me who must endure all the suffering from those cruelties. I want to flee, but they have tied me up. The condemned joke terribly of the transition of sensibilities. (Saint Denys)DAITHLDer • Saint Denys

Also in the hells there are governments. . . . They are governments of the love of self. Everyone there wishes to dictate to others and to be over others. They hate those that do not favor them, and make them objects of their vengeance and fury, for such is the nature of the love of self. Therefore the more malignant are set over them as governors, and these they obey from fear. (Swedenborg 153)H&HOBEr • Christianity • Swedenborg

The helpers immediately informed me that the purpose of this trip was to retrieve a sick female extraphysical NOTE: nonphysical consciousness.

After traveling rapidly for a few minutes, we arrived at a deserted coastline of the continent being battered by a mighty storm of lightning flashes, thunder clashes and heavy showers. . . .

The helpers informed me that, as well as there being a physical tempest, there was a torrential rain of magnetic energy falling that emanated from the higher spheres in that region. This energetic storm was aimed at the periodic cleansing of dense morphothosenes NOTE: thought forms in the subterranean caverns. . . .

The icy environment in the fume-filled caverns, disclosed a magnificent and horrid beauty surpassing any nightmare. Between the colors of the jagged rock walls and the static majesty of the stalactites and stalagmites, numerous bands of suffering extraphysical consciousnesses—mentally alienated, without human bodies, but still extremely dense and feeling the magnetic effects of the tempestuous convulsions of the elements—ran, horrified, through the natural labyrinths in a depressing and terrifying “save yourself” state. . . .

Sections of the suspended geological elements shook loose and plummeted into the swirling waters of the spacious grottos. . . . The extraphysical consciousnesses were now floating in the mixed rain and sea waters, having emerged from hidden dungeons and prison-cell-like mud holes that were tucked away in concealed places, in one of the worst atmospheres imaginable.

NOTE: this writing is sooo bad. Consider summarizing

Upon finding the small, sick female they were looking for, they took her . . . from one of the indescribable refuges. . . .

The deformed, squalid creature gave the impression of mental deficiency, immersed in a dark night of idiocy behind glassy eyes. She was totally oblivious to the storm’s occurrence, as if living in her own world of endless nightmare. . . .

When I was leaving the locale together with the two helpers and the extraphysical child, loud complaints and protests could be heard from the horrid extraphysical consciousnesses who remained and were beginning to celebrate the end of the storm in a bizarre orgy, loudly reciting pornographic verses by Bocage. (Vieira 77-79)PotCOBEr • modern • Vieira

The light steadily diminishes until we are in a grey land, and then comes the darkness—deep, black, impenetrable darkness; impenetrable, that is, to those who are spiritually blind. Visitors from a higher realm can see in this darkness without themselves being seen by the inhabitants, unless it becomes vitally necessary so to indicate their presence

Our visits have carried us to what we verily believe to be the lowest plane of human existence. . . .

Great tracts of granite-like rocks stretched out before us, cold and forbidding, and the “road” we followed was rough and precipitous. By now, darkness had enshrouded us, but we could still see all our surroundings perfectly clearly. . . .

As we climbed down through one of the numerous fissures in the rocks, I could see and feel the loathsome slime that covered the whole surface of them, a dirty green in color and evil smelling. There was, of course, no danger of our falling. . . .

After we had journeyed downwards for what seemed to be a great distance—I should imagine it to have been of one mile of earthly measurement, at least—we found ourselves in a gigantic crater, many miles in circumference, whose sides, treacherous and menacing, towered above us.

The whole of this area was interspersed with huge masses of rock, as though some enormous landslide or cataclysm had disrupted them from the upper rim of the crater and sent them hurtling down into the depths below, there to scatter themselves in every direction, forming natural caverns and tunnels.

In our present position we were well above this sea of rocks, and we observed a dull cloud of poisonous vapor rising from it, as though a volcano were below and upon the point of erupting. . . . Dimly, we could see through this miasma what might have been human beings, crawling like some foul beasts over the surface of the upper rocks. . . . They lived a life of spiritual foulness. And in their death of the physical body they had gone to their true abode and their true estate in the spirit world. . . .

We walked closer to one of the sub-human forms that lay sprawled upon the rocks. What remnant of clothing it wore might easily have been dispensed with, since it consisted of nothing but the filthiest rags, which hung together in some inconceivable way, leaving visible great gaps of lifeless-looking flesh. The limbs were so thinly covered with skin that one fully expected to see bones showing forth. The hands were shaped like the talons of some bird of prey, with the finger nails so grown as to have become veritable claws. The face upon this monster was barely human, so distorted was it, and malformed. The eyes were small and penetrating, but the mouth was huge and repulsive, with thick protruding lips set upon a prognathic NOTE: with an underbite jaw, and scarcely concealing the veriest fangs of teeth. . . .

Edwin, who was experienced in these sights, told us that in time we should gain certain knowledge in our work, which would enable us to read from the faces and forms of these creatures what it was that had reduced them to their present state. . . . Their very appearance, too, would be a safe guide as to whether they needed help, or whether they were still content to abide in their sunken state.

The object that was now before us, said Edwin, would warrant little sympathy as he was, because he was still steeped in his iniquity, and was obviously showing not the least sign of regret for his loathsome earthly life. He was dazed at his loss of physical energy, and puzzled in his mind to know what had befallen him. His face showed that, given the opportunity, he would continue his base practices with every ounce of power that remained to him.

That he had been several hundred years in the spirit world could be seen by the few tattered remnants of his garb, which bespoke a former age, and he has spent the greater part of his earth life inflicting mental and physical tortures upon those who had the misfortune to come into his evil clutches. . . .

When he was upon earth, he had acted under a false pretense of administering justice. In very truth, his justice had been nothing but a travesty, and now he was seeing exactly what true justice really meant. Not only was his own life of wickedness continually before him, but the features of his many victims were ever passing before his mind, created out of that same memory which is registered unfailingly and ineradicably upon the subconscious mind. He cannot ever forget; he must always remember. . . .

Had we been able to detect one tiny glimmer of that light—it is a real light that we see—which is an unmistakable sign of spiritual stirring within, we might have done something for this soul. As it was, we could do nothing but hope that one day this dreadful being would call for help in true earnestness and sincerity. His call would be answered—unfailingly.

We turned away, and Edwin led us down through an opening in the rocks on to more or less level ground. We could see at once that this part of the crater was more thickly peopled—if one can use the term “people” of such as we saw there.

The inhabitants were variously occupied: some were seated upon small boulders, and gave every appearance of conspiring together, but upon what devilish schemes it was impossible to say. Others were in small groups perpetrating unspeakable tortures upon the weaker of their kind who must, in some fashion, have fallen foul of their tormentors. Their shrieks were unbearable to listen to, and so we closed our ears to them, firmly and effectively. Their limbs were indescribably distorted and malformed, and in some cases their faces and heads had retrograded to the merest mockery of a human countenance. Others again we observed to be lying prone upon the ground as though exhausted from undergoing torture, or because of expending their last remaining energy upon inflicting it, before they could gather renewed strength to recommence their barbarities.

Interspersed throughout the great area of this dreadful region were pools of some sort of liquid. It looked thick and viscid, and inexpressibly filthy, as, indeed, it was. Edwin told us that the stench that came from these pools was in keeping with all else that we had seen here. . . .

We were horrified to see signs of movement in some of the pools, and we guessed, without Edwin having to tell us, that frequently the inhabitants slip and fall into them, They cannot drown because they are as indestructible as we are ourselves.

We witnessed all manner of bestialities and grossness, and such barbarities and cruelties as the mind can scarcely contemplate. . . .

Every soul who lives in those awful places once lived upon the earth-plane. . . . The whole of these revolting regions exist by virtue of the same laws that govern the states of beauty and happiness. . . .

These dark realms have been built up by the people of the earth-plane, even as they have built up the realms of beauty. . . .

Every soul who dwells in these dreadful dark realms has the power within himself to rise up out of the foulness into the light. (Borgia 133-139)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

I cannot forget the painful vision of the abnormal faces of the sick consciousnesses who were assisted. Especially one case which the circumstances allowed me to better observe. The extraphysical consciousness had been a woman about four-and-one-half feet tall, deformed and demented, with a massive abdomen, slender crooked legs and, in the middle of her grimy forehead, above the nose, an enormous, striking, singular, endlessly tearing eye. She was totally disturbed by the mental suffering caused by the sick environment’s hypnotic effect. Putrid, fetid odors emanated from the sick woman, agitated by overlapping convulsions, instilling pity and repugnance. (Vieira 83)PotCOBEr • modern • Vieira

In this division of the universe, the Kamaloka NOTE: the lower astral plane, dwell all the human entities that have shaken off the dense NOTE: physical body and its ethereal double, but have not yet disentangled themselves from the passional and emotional nature. (Besant 27)DAclairvoyant • Theosophy • Besant

The Wild Ones: Much lesser in number than the [Locked-Ins] NOTE: those locked within their closed sphere of thought but with the same motivating drives expressed in an entirely different manner. The reason is a slight shift in awareness. The Wild Ones do not realize they have lost the use of their physical bodies, and they do not perceive anything other than physical matter reality. However, they are very much aware that they are somehow different. They don’t understand the whys or hows of it and have no desire to learn. All they realize is that such difference releases them from all of the restraints, obligations, and commitments that were a part of their physical lives. They construe this as absolute freedom and attempt to express themselves accordingly in the only way they know of—through replicas of physical activity. Thus their efforts to participate in physical human life—which they perceive as taking place all around them—take on many bizarre forms. The previously reported visit to the human sexual pile is an example. (Monroe 240)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

Now in the demon-dreams--which are always very near, before or after, the lucid dreams--I undergo similar attacks; but I see the forms, the figures, the personalities of strange non-human beings, who are doing it. One night, for instance, I saw such a being, going before me and soiling everything he touched, such as door-handles and chairs. These beings are always obscene and lascivious, and try to draw me into their acts and doings. . . . Their aspect is . . . variable, changing every moment, taking all the fantastic forms that the old painters of the Middle Ages tried to reproduce, but with a certain weird plasticity and variability that no painting can express.

I will describe one instance of these dreams following immediately after a lucid dream. The lucidity had not been very intense. . . . Then all at once I was in the middle of demons. Never before had I seen them so distinct, so impertinent, so aggressive. One was slippery, shining, limp and cold, like a living corpse. Another changed its face repeatedly and made the most incredible grimaces. One flew underneath me shouting an obscenity with a curious slang-word. . . .

The circle of demons was close to me and grinning like a mob of brutal street boys. I was not afraid, however, and said: “Even if you conquer me, if God wills it I do not fear.” Then they all cried together like a rabble, and one said: “Let God then speak first!” And then I thundered with all my might: “He HAS spoken long since!” And then I pointed at one of them saying: “You I know for a long time!” and then pointing to another: “And you!”

Then I awoke at once. . . .

And then--this will astonish you most--after this dispute, I felt thoroughly refreshed, cheered up and entirely serene and calm.

This is the principal difference from the symbolic dreams that in the demon-dreams when I see the demons and fight them, the effect is thoroughly pleasing, refreshing and uplifting. . . .

To see them and to fight them takes away all their terror, all the uncanniness, the weirdness, of their tricks and pranks.

I seemed to wake up and heard a big luggage-box being blown along the landing, with tremendous bumping. Then I realized that I had awakened in the demon-sphere. The second time I saw that my sleeping-room had three windows, though I knew there were only two. aSoDLDer, OBEr • Van Eeden

That first two months of OBE practice, however, yielded some very interesting and valuable results. All kinds of weird “psychic” things happened to me during my practice time. . . .

During practice I would feel pokes and prods. Sometimes it felt as if a warm hand was being placed on my body. I even felt a few pinches on my butt! . . .

I’ve only had two OBEs in which I didn’t feel “safe.” Two out of hundreds isn’t bad statistics. The first one I felt unsafe because I was surrounded by a bunch of dirty-looking people who looked like they were going to ambush me. I still felt peaceful, and not frightened. I just let myself gently float backward and into my body again, and I came to just fine. The second “unsafe” experience was also not frightening at all. I just heard a voice commanding me to say words in a language I didn’t understand. Naturally, I DIDN’T say those words, because I didn’t trust the voice I heard. FOBELOBEr • modern • Peterson

One night I followed Monroe’s procedure to the letter and was making good progress toward leaving my body. Suddenly I became very aware and alert. My eyes were closed and I was moving deeper into the blackness that I saw ahead of me, into a deeper state of consciousness. Suddenly, I heard an authoritative voice say, “STOP!” How could I argue? I never expected to be hearing voices during these experiments. I panicked and did everything I could to force myself back to a normal state. . . .

One night I got to the point where my mind wouldn’t wander. I heard some banging sounds in my room that I couldn’t explain. Suddenly I heard a louder, more defined bang that seemed to come from the ground, about five feet from the bed. I directed my senses in that direction and “felt” a big presence there, as if a spirit or ghost of some sort were there. I was afraid, but I tried to control my emotions, and asked in my mind who it was and what its purpose was. There was no answer. I forced myself back to full consciousness and looked in that direction. I saw a filmy, undefined movement in that direction. By then, I was so afraid that I purposely started moving parts of my body, to make sure I wouldn’t leave my body. . . .

Trying to ignore these sensations is like trying to ignore a slap in the face. I discovered that the best thing to do was to acknowledge them, but remain passive and not let them startle me and ruin the OBE attempt. When I finally learned to get through these sensations calmly, they started leading me to conscious astral projection! OBEHWOBEr • modern • Peterson

John: I just saw someone get shot. And there’s a whole group of spirits watching that and shouting “Oh, isn’t that great! Look at those blood and guts!” . . .

They’re watching two people. A black man and another black man had a shoot-out with each other over a drug deal. And there’s like . . . oh! About a thousand spirits watching this. It’s almost like, “Oh, there goes another one! Where are we going to go next? Oh, look at this girl! She’s getting raped! Let’s watch that!” They’re witnessing all this brutality. And the guardian tells me, “They have to watch this to see how they’ve lived their own lives. They’ve lived like this, in a very degenerate way.” And he says these spirits have to learn from this. . . .

Their vibrational rate, spiritually, is very low. They’re a dense vibration and they can’t go any higher up, so they have to watch the physical world. They interact with this world. . . .

He says some of them are almost beastly. (Cannon 78-79)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

The dense energies of the soma NOTE: physical body make it easier to contact extraphysical NOTE: nonphysical consciousnesses of a low and still very material vibratory composition. . . . The maintenance of inner tranquility, without the emission of negative thoughts, as always, constitute the best conduct while in the middle of a torrent of energetic emissions. . . .

My mother Aristana, an extraphysical consciousness who was seen only by myself and not by the sick consciousnesses, advised me to temporarily return to the soma in order for the atmosphere to clear up a little. . . .

My dense soma seemed like a fortress or trench, allowing a truce in the struggle. (Vieira 61)

When the psychosoma NOTE: astral body is within the extraphysical NOTE: nonphysical sphere of energy (an area of dense energy extending approximately 13 feet in all directions from the head of the individual), it increases the energetic resources available during the takeoff of the psychosoma, offering a better defense against extraphysical attacks. (Vieira 62)PotCOBEr • modern • Vieira

Don: Is there a place on the spirit side that would roughly correspond to man’s concept of hell?

Dr. Peebles: Yes, roughly speaking, yes. This is where those of like mind gather together to reinforce their anger. It’s always an illusion of separation. The greater the illusion, the greater the anger. The anger is always predicated upon some form of vengeance, of feeling rejected, not understood, not cared for, and so forth—so they gather together to justify and reinforce each other’s anger.

And seeing others with their angers that just go roundabout, full circle, and are not released only creates more anger and more hurt, more pain. All understand eventually that this is not a technique for fulfillment. For they don’t feel better, and they really do want to feel better. . . . So they turn around one hundred eighty degrees finally and look in another direction, and there is the spirit of love who welcomes them and helps them to forgive themselves and forgive life around them. . . . They are sucked into a new vibration, a happier place of love. . . .

It is wise to understand that these beings you speak of in—roughly, hell—are no different from all of you on the planet Earth that have your moments of anger and rage in your lives, you see. It’s no different; it’s not worse; it’s the same thing. . . .

If you are experiencing tremendous amounts of discord and anger inside you and around you all the time on Earth, you may attract that same energy when you are contacting the spirit. . . .

When you see others who are angry; listen; receive them, and their anger will be dispelled. (Pendleton 105-106)TDAchanneled • modern • Pendleton

John: He says, “Then there are the mid-level souls. They like to manifest themselves in happy situations with their families that have crossed over. There are houses and lake resorts and boats for them.” . . .

This is where people live if they choose to, especially people that have a hard time adjusting to the astral world. They’ll spend much time here. . . .

Whatever style they want, they can have it. . . . They’re just there waiting for their next lifetime. It seems as if only the highly advanced souls are in the libraries and the other different areas of the complex. These other souls are still Earth associated. . . .

The guardian of the library is saying, “As the old saying goes, ‘Birds of a feather will flock together.’” . . . There are nice houses and people are basically talking with their friends and their relatives and they’re having good old memories. Sometimes spirit guides come into a house and talk to them and tell them they should start preparing for their next lifetimes. And they say, “Well, we just want to enjoy our families a little bit longer. Do we have time? Is it really necessary for us in our spiritual growth?” And he says, “Well, yes, you do need to go up to the temple.” And they’re kind of fearful. It’s the attitude of “I don’t know about that.” . . .

The mid-astral, it’s important. That’s where a majority of the souls come to. They’re neither good nor bad, they’re not degenerate, they just want to see their family and their friends. (Cannon 80-82)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

The middle astral planes are a pleasant realm where most of us wake up to be rehabilitated after our Earthly education. . . .

The Timestream sending station and other spirit groups of ITC NOTE: instrumental transcommunication colleagues all convey their messages and images to Earth from the mid-astral planes. They describe concert halls, museums, hospitals, schools and homes much like those on Earth and set in landscapes of trees, flowers, mountains, meadows and rivers that, again, are like landscapes here on Earth, only much more breathtaking.

The third plane is an interim plane where we make a decision to move on to a higher plane or return to Earth for more experiential living. (Kubis and Macy 70)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

There is a borderland zone that is above the purgatory and hell regions. . . . Here are good people who have found what they consider to be contentment in areas close to the Earth. This particular area is like an astral counterpart that duplicates life on Earth, except it is still in the astral plane. Life is so much like that of Earth it is often hard to realize that one has even left. At some point these soul extensions begin to yearn for something better.

It must be understood now that life after death looks not much different from life on Earth. The astral and mental and higher planes have whole thriving life (sic) with cities, beaches, mountains, homes, streets, concerts, libraries, social halls, clubs, churches, and temples just like we have on Earth.

Many soul extensions, when they pass over, do not even realize they are dead. They are in their astral bodies which look just like their previous physical bodies. CAMwisdom • modern (Theosophy) • Stone

Jane: “I began to speak for a personality called Malba Bronson, who told Rob that she had died in South Dakota in 1946 at the age of forty-six.” . . .

The midplane is indeed an excellent description of the semi-plane which she now inhabits. It is a waiting plane for personalities at certain stages of development.

The midplane contains a conglomeration of fragments . . . who have not attained sufficient knowledge or manipulability to progress further at this point. . . . Usually, they have attained only a fair level of achievement. (Roberts 105-107)SD&Pchanneled • modern • Seth

The middle planes are very much like our physical world.

Here you will find houses, schools, cities and buildings, forests and rivers and pretty much all the things you find on the physical plane. APCOBEr, LDer • modern • DeGracia

The first, second, and third subdivisions NOTE: the three highest planes of the lower astral seem much further removed from this physical world, and correspondingly less material. Entities inhabiting these levels lose sight of the earth and its belongings; they are usually deeply self-absorbed, and to a large extent create their own surroundings, though these are not purely subjective, as in Devachan NOTE: the upper astral plane, but on the contrary sufficiently objective to be perceptible to other entities and also to clairvoyant vision. This region is beyond doubt the “summerland”. . . . It is on these planes that “spirits” call into temporary existence their houses, schools, and cities. . . . Many of the imaginations that take form there are of real though temporary beauty, and a visitor who knew of nothing higher might wander contentedly enough there among forests and mountains, lovely lakes and pleasant flower-gardens, or might even construct such surroundings to suit his own fancies. (Leadbeater 17)APclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

These middle regions are where so-called “dead” people dwell, at least for a certain amount of time after their passing away. Thus, what you can find on these regions are places specifically designed for the recently dead. Such places take the form of hospitals or dormitories. . . . If I was ever skeptical of the idea of these “Rehab Centers”, this skepticism was laid to rest when I actually MET a deceased friend of mine in one of my projections. . . .

You may sometimes encounter dreaming people in the middle regions. APOBEOBEr, LDer • modern • DeGracia

Acharya: This is the second sphere. . . . Here you would find many families happily carrying on their existence, with social intercourse and the usual things which go with the idea of the perfect country life. . . .

These are not spheres in which a developed person . . . would be particularly happy were he forced to remain under these conditions for long. (Richelieu 76-77)

Acharya: There are others to whom [art or study] have no appeal. They are usually the old married couples, who have developed a taste for domestic life. All they have ever aspired to was to have a home, a garden and to live a quiet life amongst their friends. . . . Their happiness is dependent upon being together. They can carry on this type of life at the astral level, without any difficulty whatever. If the man dies first, he wanders round looking miserable and lonely at the hours when his wife is awake, and is there to meet her as soon as she gets out of her body NOTE: in sleep. . . . Frequently they link up with pets they have had on earth, or adopt others.

The blissful state of the elderly couple just described is not as general as might be supposed. Men and women marry for various reasons. (Richelieu 67-68)

We came to the village which I had seen in the distance. It was very much like an ordinary village, for there were shops, two cinemas, a magnificent hotel which looked much too large for the size of the village and on the outskirts there were at least three buildings which were obviously churches. All around the village, stretching far and wide into the distance, I saw the most beautiful houses. Some were small, others larger, but every one was surrounded by a colourful garden. . . . I saw both women and men working in those gardens, but obviously working because it was a pleasure and not because they had to. Dogs of different kinds frisked about the lawns and the voices of children could be heard as we passed by. One difference between these and similar houses in the world was the absence of garages; and I noticed that there were no cars. . . .

I asked why there were shops when money was not needed. I was told that the people who find their happiness at this level like to live a life as near as possible to that they had always imagined as ideal when alive. . . . “These shops,” he replied, “have their origin in the minds of the inhabitants and none of them exists in the world, nor do the people who serve in them. . . . So long as the people want to have shops near to them, they have them, for they imagine them. . . . It is the same with the churches. People like to continue their religious practices, even though after death they may have found that many of the statements made by their priests and pastors had not been entirely correct.” . . .

“Surely all this becomes boring after a time?” . . .

“Many people are perfectly happy with this arcadian existence, particularly those who have had rather a hard time during their earth life—such people often spend ninety per cent of their astral existence under these conditions where they have the friends, pets, beautiful houses and gardens which satisfy them, and only pass on to the mental world when they are more or less forced to do so by the urge of the egos NOTE: reincarnating selves, who wish to progress along the Path of Evolution.” (Richelieu 88-90)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Acharya: On the third sphere . . . he meets the type of individual who is a creator—musicians, artists, scientists etc. (Richelieu 77)

Acharya: This [third] sphere is not limited to artists or musicians and it would have been quite easy for me to show you great engineers, craftsmen, devoted to some particular trade, in fact every type of individual whose consuming interest in life is not bound up with purely material amusements or pursuits. (Richelieu 122)

She told me something of the people who lived in the valley. Many of them were friends of hers. . . . She explained that people at this level linked up together, where their interests were similar, but that there was no marriage in the ordinary sense of the word. People there were known by names . . . or nicknames, never surnames. She gave me instances of some of them, mentioning that one girl who was always smiling and happy was known as Sunbeam. Another who always dressed in blue was called Bluebell, whilst a man who made his life there one long effort at helping other people was known as the Doctor. . . . “At this level you only see the nice side of people.” (Richelieu 118)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

It is not common for living people to visit the third sphere of the astral world. (Richelieu 99)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

If you can imagine a gigantic park with trees everywhere, with glades and dells intermingled with the clumps of trees, it will help you to visualize the scenery. . . .

In many of these open spaces groups were congregated. We approached one of these groups and found that there were perhaps a hundred people watching an artist painting a picture, on a canvas that measured about fifty by thirty feet. (Richelieu 91)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

One of the main tasks on the third plane NOTE: mid-astral plane is to locate those lost souls who are entitled to live on this plane but who for some reason or other have not yet found their way here. Some people do not even realize they have died, and some have rejected the idea of life after death or have not even considered it. After death, these people remain in a confused state wandering around in their homes and among their friends, and it is hard to reach them. People who have died violent deaths also remain in a confused state for awhile, around the scene of their murder or accident, and are still reliving their battles in their mind. (Kubis and Macy 54)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

Acharya: On the fourth sphere . . . he can discuss world problems with men who have greater intellects than himself. (Richelieu 77)

Acharya: When a man passes to the fourth sphere he would at first be impressed by the entire absence of what might be described as activity. He would meet people there of course and, if he had not already met them in his past physical life, be introduced to them in exactly the same way as people are introduced in the physical world. . . . Instead of physical activity he would find much mental activity, for the main interest of the inhabitants there is discussing international and evolutionary problems—discussions relating to the development of science. . . . Although not yet living in the mental world—where everything is governed by thoughts—it is found that in the higher levels of the astral world conversations can be carried on without the actual use of words. (Richelieu 79)

Acharya: On the fourth sphere we find many musicians and artists, who work alone and do not wish to teach or perhaps have finished teaching for the time being. We find doctors doing research work. . . . Many groups of research students get together and exchange ideas. . . . Their theories are in due time perfected and impregnated upon the minds and brain cells of doctors doing similar work in the physical world. (Richelieu 128)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

The colors are stunning. Everything is so much more vivid and brilliant than it is on earth. Each part of the spirit world seems totally alive. (Browne 80)

“At this level the realms of the spirit become purer, the colors fuller, the sounds more finely tuned.” — Sir William (Browne 104)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

Sandy (channeled): When I reached the end of the tunnel, I was propelled forward with great force into a space of ineffable beauty and light. All of the colors here are incredible. There are hues that do not exist in your reality because they are a vibrational frequency above those that the human eye is able to perceive. These colors are not reflected off of the surface of things. They emanate as light from within each creation, so that everything appears translucent and glowing, rather than solid. (Fairchilde 9)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

It is impossible to convey, even in a small measure, this exquisite feeling of supreme vitality and well-being. When we are living upon the earth-plane we are constantly being reminded of our physical bodies in a variety of ways—by cold or heat, by discomfort, by fatigue, by minor illnesses, and by countless other means. Here we labor under no such disabilities. . . . Our perceptions are of the mind, and . . . the spirit body is impervious to anything that is destructive. . . . If we should feel coldness in some particular and definite circumstances, we undergo that sensation with our minds, and our spirit bodies in no way suffer. . . . In the realm of which I am now speaking, all is exactly attuned to its inhabitants—its temperature, its landscape, its many dwellings, the waters of the rivers and streams, and, most important of all, the inhabitants one with another. (Borgia 23)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

I became more and more absorbed in my surroundings. As I did I began to vibrate at a speed equal to everything around me. I became one with everything around me and could experience everything. At the same time, everything was experiencing me.

As I delved into this heavenly world, it also delved into me. There was an equality to the experience. Not only was I given a heavenly experience, I was giving one. . . . I was an equal to all things there. I realized that true love and understanding make us all equals. (Brinkley 195-196)SBtLNDEr • modern • Brinkley

All the region of devachan NOTE: higher astral is radiant with changing colors of which we on earth know nothing, musical with tones that physical ears cannot hear. . . . Every sense would be stimulated and delighted at once, for all senses there are but one. (Besant 160-161)SLwisdom • Theosophy • Besant

I feel an inner exuberance as my awareness expands and stretches, breaking free from its long, restrictive confinement. Silence is so powerful that it becomes a shout, startling me as I feel a surge and rush of inner hearing. Now, I can hear the Song of grass, a sound of surprising power, yet exquisitely delicate. Each drop of dew is a vibration echo, adding to the harmonic of the grass. I know, without knowing how I know, that dewdrops are a harmonic amplifier of energy for each plant on which they collect. . . .

I listen to the dawn chorus of the birds. . . . To inner-hear is joy magnified beyond measure. My body of light thrills and resonates to the quality of sound. (Roads 6)IaTROBEr, LDer • modern • Roads

The music is there, but we please ourselves entirely whether we wish to hear it or listen to it. We can completely isolate ourselves from the sound, or we can throw ourselves open to all sound, or just hear that which pleases us most. . . .

I have told you how, the instant the soil left our hands, we could hear the delightful sounds issuing from it. Another person performing the same action, but who possessed no particular musical susceptibilities, would scarcely be conscious of any sound at all. . . .

Without that attunement it would be impossible to be conscious of the musical strains that issue forth from the whole of spirit nature. (Borgia 113)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Color and sound—that is, musical sound—are interchangeable terms in the spirit world. To perform some act that will produce color is also to produce a musical sound. To play upon a musical instrument, or to sing, is to create color. . . . The musical thought-form produces no sound itself. It is the result of sound, and is, as it were, a self-contained unit. (Borgia 112)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

One woman told Moody that . . . you could ‘hear’ colors [in the next world]. (Viney 203)SDresearcher • modern • Viney

It is very similar to earth life and environment, only much more beautiful and enduring. For instance, the flowers are glowing and exquisite and never fade or die; their perfume vitalises the air, and as with all colour there is gentle, harmonic music, soft and soothing. Even the water of the streams, etc. and the soil have exquisite music inherent in them. (Beaumont 7-8)VS-FBNDEr • modern • Beaumont

Stage four, an indescribably lovely existence, is called “the realm of color”. Here one must leave behind all rigid intellectual structures and dogmas, be they scientific, religious, or philosophical. An infinite variety of new sounds, colors and feelings are experienced here and souls find a much wider freedom to function with more highly energized intellect and spirit. CCchanneled • Society for Psychical Research • Myers

A concert was due to start very shortly. . . .

The whole vast hall was packed with people. . . .

As soon as the music began I could hear a remarkable difference from what I had been accustomed to hear on the earth-plane. The actual sounds made by the various instruments were easily recognizable as of old, but the quality of tone was immeasurably purer, and the balance and blend were perfect. The work to be played was of some length, I was informed, and would be continued without any break.

The opening movement was of a subdued nature as regards its volume of sound, and we noticed that the instant the music commenced a bright light seemed to rise up from the direction of the orchestra until it floated, in a flat surface, level with the topmost seats, where it remained as an iridescent cover to the whole amphitheater. As the music proceeded this broad sheet of light grew in strength and density. . . . Presently, at equal spaces round the circumference of the theater, four towers of light shot up into the sky in long tapering pinnacles of luminosity. They remained poised for a moment, and then slowly descended, becoming broader in girth as they did so, until they assumed the outward appearance of four circular towers, each surmounted with a dome, perfectly proportioned. In the meanwhile, the central area of light had thickened still more, and was beginning to rise slowly in the shape of an immense dome covering the whole theater. This continued to ascend steadily until it seemed to reach a very much greater height than the four towers while the most delicate colors were diffused throughout the whole of the etheric structure. . . . The musical sounds sent up by the orchestra were creating, up above their heads, this immense musical thought-form, and the shape and perfection of this form rested entirely upon the purity of the musical sounds, the purity of the harmonies..

It must be assumed that every description of discord was absent. To lack discord would be to produce monotony, but the discords were legitimately used and properly dissolved.

By now the great musical thought-form had assumed what appeared to be its limit of height, and it remained stationary and steady. The music was still being played, and in response to it the whole coloring of the dome changed, first to one shade, then to another, and many times to a delicate blend of a number of shades according to the variation in theme or movement of the music. . . .

The audience within were basking in its splendor and enjoying still greater benefit from the effulgence of its elevating rays. . . .

The music at last came to a grand finale, and so ended. The rainbow colors continued to interweave themselves. We wondered how long this musical structure would survive, and we were told that it would fade away in . . . a few minutes. We had listened to a major work, but if a series of shorter pieces were played, the effect and lasting power would be the same, but the shapes would vary in form and size. (Borgia 66-69)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

What we had witnessed had been produced upon a scale of some magnitude, the individual instrumentalist or singer can evolve on a greatly reduced scale his own musical thought-forms. In fact, it would be impossible to emit any form of musical sound deliberately without the formation of such a form. It may not take a definite shape such as we saw; that comes from more experience, but it would induce the interplay of numerous colors and blending of colors. In the spirit world all music is color, and all color is music. The one is never existent without the other. That is why the flowers give forth such pleasant tones when they are approached. . . . The water that sparkles and flashes colors is also creating musical sounds of purity and beauty. . . .

Music is looked upon by many on the earth-plane as merely a pleasant diversion, a pleasant adjunct to the earthly life, but by no means a necessity. Here it is part of our life, not because we make it so, but because it is part of natural existence, as are flowers and trees, grass and water, and hills and dales. It is an element of spiritual nature. (Borgia 70)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The expert musician can plan his compositions by his knowledge of what forms the various harmonic and melodic sounds will produce. He can, in effect, build magnificent edifices upon his manuscript of music, knowing full well exactly what the result will be when the music is played or sung. By careful adjustment of his themes and his harmonies, the length of the work, and its various marks of expression, he can build a majestic form as grand as a Gothic cathedral. This is, in itself, a delightful part of the musical art in spirit, and it is regarded as musical architecture. The student will not only study music acoustically, but he will learn to build it architecturally, and the latter is one of the most absorbing and fascinating studies. (Borgia 69-70)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

“The horizons are endless, the realms infinite.” — Sir William (Browne 104)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

We don’t have seasons here, so it is always fresh, green and bountiful. (Starnes 54)LFSchanneled • modern • James

The environment glistens. . . . The temperature is very mild. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

Case No. 690—Mrs. G. “Land”

“I have had several ‘astral’ journeys. . . . One was very beautiful. I was in a large area where there were masses of beautiful colored flowers. . . . It was sunny (but no sun, only golden rays).” (Crookall 72)CBAPresearcher • modern • Crookall

Climate is always spring like with occasional prezipitation (sic) in the form of glowing snowflakes or multicolored, shiny raindrops. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

Sri Yukteswar: “The astral planets maintain the even temperature of an eternal spring, with occasional luminous white snow and rain of many-colored lights.” (Yogananda 402)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

“In ‘the beyond,’” says a Guarani Indian respondent from Brazil, “there is only clarity. It is always day and the sun always shines. . . . It rains, there is rain, but the sun never goes away.” (Miller 123)ADresearcher • modern • Miller

You see, this is a real world, but it’s not a material world. Therefore we don’t have the material aspects like you do on earth. You don’t get vast factories for instance. You don’t get railways and stations, and thank God, you don’t get all the noise, the filth and the dirt. GOCchanneled • modern • Flint

Sri Yukteswar: “The astral world is infinitely beautiful, clean, pure, and orderly. There are no dead planets or barren lands. The terrestrial blemishes . . . are absent. . . . Astral planets abound in opal lakes and bright seas and rainbow rivers.” (Yogananda 402)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

Astral worlds are typically clean, pure and well organized. . . . There are no pests or predators. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

Vegetation ranges from microscopic algae to giant trees. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

A woman in Chicago: “I went to a garden that was filled with green grass and was lush with flowers and fruit trees. If someone picked an apple, for instance, the apple would grow right back.” (Brinkley 122)SBtLNDEr • modern • Brinkley

Our host led us into the orchard where I beheld many trees in a high state of cultivation, and in full fruit. . . .

The various fruits that were growing were not only for those who needed some form of treatment after their physical death, but all enjoyed eating thereof for its stimulating effect. He hoped that, if I had no fruit trees of my own—or even if I had!—I should come as often as I liked and help myself. “The fruit is always in season,” he added, in great amusement, “and you will never find any of the trees without plenty of fruit upon them.” . . . I saw every kind of fruit-known (sic) to man, and many that were known only in spirit. (Borgia 26-27)

There were no wild growths or masses of tangled foliage and weeds, but the most glorious profusion of beautiful flowers so arranged as to show themselves to absolute perfection. . . . I never saw either their like or their counterpart, upon the earth, of many that were there in full bloom. Numbers were to be found, of course, of the old familiar blossoms, but by far the greater number seemed to be something entirely new to my rather small knowledge of flowers. It was not merely the flowers themselves and their unbelievable range of superb colorings that caught my attention, but the vital atmosphere of eternal life that they threw out, as it were, in every direction. And as one approached any particular group of flowers, or even a single bloom, there seemed to pour out great streams of energizing power which uplifted the soul spiritually and gave it strength, while the heavenly perfumes they exhaled were such as no soul clothed in its mantle of flesh has ever experienced. . . .

There was another astonishing feature I noticed when I drew near to them, and that was the sound of music that enveloped them, making such soft harmonies as corresponded exactly and perfectly with the gorgeous colors of the flowers themselves. . . .

I walked the garden paths, trod upon the exquisite grass, whose resilience and softness were almost comparable to “walking on air.” . . .

There were many splendid trees to be seen, none of which was malformed, such as one is accustomed to see on earth, yet there was no suggestion of strict uniformity of pattern. . . . They live forever incorruptible, clothed always in their full array of leaves of every possible shade of green. (Borgia 14-15)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Sri Yukteswar: “Luminous raylike vegetables abound in the astral soils. . . . The astral beings consume vegetables, and drink a nectar flowing from glorious fountains of light and from astral brooks and rivers. . . . The God-created, unseen astral blueprints of vegetables and plants floating in the ether are precipitated on an astral planet by the will of its inhabitants. . . . From the wildest fancy of these beings, whole gardens of fragrant flowers are materialized, returning later to the etheric invisibility.” (Yogananda 406)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

Provided my wish remained constant for the garden to continue unaltered, and provided that I had affection for the flowers and grass and trees, the garden would respond to my thoughts and flourish under them. . . .

The united thoughts of the inhabitants of the whole realm will sustain all that grows within it, the flowers, and the trees and the grass, and the water, too, whether of lake, river, or sea—for water is fully alive in the spirit world. (Borgia 177)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

There was not the incessant toil that is necessary for upkeep, as with large gardens upon the earth. It is the constant decay, the stresses of storm and wind, and the several other causes that demand the labor on earth. Here there is no decay. . . . I was told that the garden would need practically no attention. (Borgia 18)

There are blooms, and plenty of them, that are expressly there to be picked, and many of us do so, taking them into our houses just as we used to do on earth, and for the same reason.

These severed flowers will survive their removal for just so long as we wish to retain them. When our interest in them begins to wane they will quickly disintegrate. There will be no unsightly withered remnants, for there can be no death in a land of eternal life. We simply perceive that our flowers have gone, and we can then replace them if we so wish. (Borgia 107)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The rivers in spirit are of the purest water; each drop shines like a diamond. . . . The higher the realm, the clearer the water. (Browne 81)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

My slow and gentle swimming has brought me to the shore of the lagoon of liquid light. Although this liquid light is water, so also it is far more. This is the light body of water—the metaphysical essence as opposed to its physical form. I emerge not even wet, and walk up a beach of fine gold sand. (Roads 49-50)IaTROBEr, LDer • modern • Roads

We bathe frequently, not so much to cleanse ourselves, but because the waters are electro-magnetically charged, and they stimulate our vibrancy and awareness. A bath here is to increase perceptions and light. (Starnes 74)LFSchanneled • modern • James

We followed a path that led for part of the way beside a brook, whose clear water sparkled in the light of the heavenly sun. As the water pursued its course it gave forth many musical notes that constantly changed and weaved themselves into a medley of the most dulcet sounds. . . . It seemed to be almost like liquid crystal, and as the light caught it, it scintillated with all the colors of the rainbow. I let some of the water run over my hand, expecting it, by its very look, to be icy cold. What was my astonishment to find that it was delightfully warm. (Borgia 25)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

I noticed that the brook began to broaden out until it expanded into the dimensions of a fair-sized lake. We could see many groups of happy people gathered at the side of the water, some of whom were bathing. . . .

All we needed for the purpose of enjoying a bathe was the necessary water in which to bathe! Nothing could be simpler. We were just to go into the water precisely as we were. Whether we could swim or not, was of no consequence. . . .

I discovered that the water felt more like a warm cloak thrown round me than the penetration of liquid. The magnetic effect of the water was of like nature to the brook into which I had thrust my hand, but here the revivifying force enveloped the whole body, pouring new life into it. It was delightfully warm and completely buoyant. It was possible to stand upright in it, to float upon it, and of course, to sink completely beneath the surface of it without the least discomfort or danger. . . . That the water was living one could have no doubt. . . .

As I emerged the water merely ran away, leaving my clothes just as they were before. It had penetrated the material just as air or atmosphere on earth will do, but it had left no visible or palpable effect whatever. We and our clothes were perfectly dry! . . .

[The water] was as clear as crystal, and the light was reflected back in every ripple and tiny wave in almost dazzlingly bright colors. It was unbelievably soft to the touch. (Borgia 27, 29-30)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The most glorious panorama of ocean spread out before us.

The view was simply magnificent. Never had I expected to behold such sea. Its coloring was the most perfect reflection of the blue of the sky above, but in addition it reflected a myriad rainbow tints in every little wavelet. The surface of the water was calm. . . . From where we were, I could see islands of some considerable size in the distance—islands that looked most attractive and must certainly be visited! Beneath us was a fine stretch of beach upon which we could see people seated at the water’s edge, but there was no suggestion of over-crowding. And floating upon this superb sea, some close at hand—others standing a little way out, were the most beautiful boats. . . . Many of the owners lived upon them, having no other home but their boat. . . .

A short walk down a pleasant winding path brought us to a sandy seashore. Edwin informed us that it was a tideless ocean, and that at no place was it very deep by comparison with terrestrial seas. . . .

In general appearance the whole effect was totally unlike the earthly ocean, due, among other things, to the fact that there was no sun to give its light from one quarter only and to cause that change of aspect when the direction of the sunlight changes. . . . There are changes going on the whole time; changes of color such as man never dreamt of. (Borgia 90-92)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The soil varies in color and density in different localities in just the same way as upon the earth-plane. . . .

It is perfectly dry. . . . I found that it ran off the hand in much the same way that dry sand will do. Its colors carry in a wide range of tones. . . .

One of the unexpected properties of this soil is the fact that, while it can be taken into the hand and allowed to run from it smoothly and freely, yet when it is undisturbed it remains fully cohesive.

On close examination the fine soil reveals almost jewel-like qualities both of color and form. The particles are never misshapen, but conform to a definite geometric plan.

Ruth and I plunged our hands into some of the soil and allowed it to trickle through our fingers in a gentle stream. As it descended there issued from it the sweetest musical tones, as though it were falling upon some tiny musical instrument and causing the keys to produce a ripple of sound. (Borgia 109-111)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

There are perfect crystal formations everywhere, as common as gravel is on earth. The sun strikes them and rainbow colors flash in all directions. Beautiful, breathtaking colors! (Starnes 54)LFSchanneled • modern • James

There are schools, colleges, or whatever the dead choose, but these arise in response to the wishes and beliefs of those involved. They exist quite validly in certain areas of focus and consciousness, but they are “invisible” in other areas. They are constructed by the combined focuses and intents of those so involved, and they attain a permanency over long periods because so many are inclined in those directions. (Roberts 161)AJoaAPchanneled • modern • James

Well, as far as I’m concerned the place in which I found myself was, the nearest one can say is like some country place, it could be anywhere in a sense. I mean there were trees and the birds, and just as if one was waking up in a country village, I realised that very soon afterwards - thousands and thousands of people. Many, many live in what you’d call apartment houses - vast buildings housing thousands of people. GOCchanneled • modern • Flint

I saw what looked like a miniature “Garden City” nestling in a valley about half a mile in the rear of the huge building. The houses, though small, were spread out, so that each little cottage had at least an acre of ground. It was quite apparent that each occupant had designed not only his cottage but his garden in accordance with his own particular type of temperament and taste, and the result was exceedingly beautiful. There were cottages which might have been transplanted from any of the beautiful rural districts of England; others reminiscent of small villas in the South of France; others purely Italian in type whilst I noticed at least two built to resemble Eastern temples. . . .

I was surprised that a bedroom should be necessary in the astral world, where sleep is not part of the ordinary routine of life. Daphne explained that, however, by asking me whether there were not occasions when I felt a desire to relax in a reclining position, merely to think or to read, I had to admit this was so. . . .

The kitchen was furnished with all modern appliances and although I had imagined a kitchen would be unnecessary here, Daphne said she still enjoyed making snacks for parties. Acharya again remarked that habits die very slowly in human beings and usually many years of existence in the astral world passed before these habits were entirely eradicated and forgotten. (Richelieu 109-111)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

[The city] consisted of a large number of stately buildings each of which was surrounded with magnificent gardens and trees, with here and there pools of glittering water, clear as crystal, yet reflecting every shade of color known to earth, with many other tints to be seen nowhere but in the realms of spirit. . . .

Here were fine broad thoroughfares of emerald green lawns in perfect cultivation, radiating, like the spokes of a wheel, from a central building which, as we could see, was the hub of the whole city. There was a great shaft of pure light descending upon the dome of this building. . . .

The buildings were not of any great height as we should measure and compare with earthly structures, but they were for the most part extremely broad. It is impossible to tell of what materials they were composed because they were essentially spirit fabrics. The surface of each smooth as of marble, yet it had the delicate texture and translucence of alabaster, while each building sent forth, as it were into the adjacent air, a stream of light of the palest shade of coloring. Some of the buildings were carved with designs of foliage and flowers, and others were left almost unadorned. . . . And over all was the light of heaven shining evenly and uninterruptedly, so that nowhere were there dark places.

This city was devoted to the pursuit of learning, to the study and practice of the arts, and to the pleasures of all in this realm. It was exclusive to none, but free for all to enjoy with equal right. Here it was possible to carry on so many of those pleasant and fruitful occupations that had been commenced on the earth-plane. (Borgia 44-45)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Don: Is the spirit world structured on lines that are similar to ours here on earth?—that is, with social institutions, governments, defined communities, families, this sort of thing?

Dr. Peebles: Yes, it is. And as it is throughout the universe. . . .

[Heaven] is very active. There are businesses, there are communities, there are projects. . . . Over here also there is much more emphasis and gladness about collective work. . . . Over here we love disagreement because we want to hear different points of view. . . .

Like mind gathers with like mind for the purposes of loving reinforcement, encouragement, and for the purposes of loving reflection and magnification for purposes of growth.

As you fulfill yourself within one locality, you move to another. . . . There are many, many towns and villages, states and countries—not by your definition of same, but by collective expectation, collective desire and want, over here. (Pendleton 35-37)TDAchanneled • modern • Pendleton

Some residents have been living for over a century. Some live in castles, fortresses or beautiful mansions, others in tents or teepees - whatever makes them comfortable. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

In the dwelling-places. . . . I observed the most curious facts. By examining them I was able to follow the nature of the thoughts and feelings of their occupants. Some were simple, sober and in good taste, others large and luxurious. Many were furnished oddly, all the shapes corresponding with the mentalities of their creators. (Yram 140-141)PAPOBEr • Yram

Each one finds their own quiet, secluded place of beauty, and creates the home of their dreams. (Starnes 74)LFSchanneled • modern • James

Since it is possible to create any reality in the spirit world, it is not unusual that some souls wish to spend their off periods in the houses where they lived on Earth. . . .

These souls may want to mentally construct an exact duplication of familiar settings around where they used to live, such as the surrounding countryside, parks and streets, and any structures which remind them of their old hometowns. (Newton 295)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

After a short while our progress seemed to slacken somewhat, and I could feel that there was something very solid under my feet. I was told to open my eyes. I did so. What I saw was my old home that I had lived in on the earth-plane; my old home—but with a difference. It was improved in a way that I had not been able to do to its earthly counterpart. The house itself was rejuvenated. . . . It was the gardens round it that attracted my attention more fully. . . .

They were beautifully kept and tended. (Borgia 13-14)

As I entered the doorway I saw at once the several changes that had been brought about. These changes were mostly of a structural nature and were exactly of the description of those that I had always wished I could have carried out to my earthly house. . . .

While standing within its walls, I was fully aware of its permanence as compared with what I had left behind me. But it was a permanence that I knew I could end; permanent only so long as I wished it to be so. . . .

The furniture that it contained consisted largely of that which I had provided for its earthly original, not because it was particularly beautiful, but because I had found it useful and comfortable, and adequately suited my few requirements. Most of the small articles of adornment were to be seen displayed in their customary places, and altogether the whole house presented the unmistakable appearance of occupancy. (Borgia 19-20)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

“All the angels have their own dwellings in the places where they are, and they are magnificent. . . . The architecture is such that the art itself is derived from it, with a variety that knows no limit. They have said that if all the palaces in the whole world should be given them, they would not receive them in exchange for their own. What is made of stone, clay, and wood is to them dead; but what is from the Lord, and from life itself and light itself, is living.” -Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia (Rhodes 100-101)TtEresearcher • modern • Rhodes

We have also within us the constant desire to maintain and improve upon [our spirit home’s] beauty. And that is not very difficult to accomplish, since beauty responds to, and thrives upon, the appreciation of it. The greater attention and recognition we give to it, so much the greater will be its response, and it assumes to itself still greater beauty. Spirit beauty is no abstract thing, but a real living force. . . .

Every inch that presents itself to the eye is cared for, so that the whole landscape is a riot of color, from the brilliant emerald green of the grass to the multi-colored flowers in the gardens, coronated by the blue of the heavenly sky above. (Borgia 109)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

There were no signs of walls or hedges or fences. . . . I was wholeheartedly welcome to go wherever I wished without fear of intruding upon another’s privacy. (Borgia 15)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

We have, then, but to walk out of our houses, leaving all doors and windows open—our houses have no locks upon them and we can return when we wish—to find that everything is as we left it. We might find some difference, some improvement. We might discover, for instance, that some friend had called while we were away, and had left some gift for us, some beautiful flowers, perhaps, or some other token of kindness. (Borgia 89)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

We have no roads as they are known on earth. We have broad, extensive thoroughfares in our cities and elsewhere, but they are not paved. . . . Our roads are covered with the thickest and greenest of grass, as soft to the feet as a bed of fresh moss. It is on these that we walk. . . .

In such places where smaller paths are desirable, and where grass would seem unsuitable, we have such pavements as are customary in the earth world. (Borgia 107-108)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

[The streets] are more like beautiful garden paths. (Starnes 74)LFSchanneled • modern • James

The stonework of the terrace and the steps was pure white, but we were much surprised by its apparent softness under foot, for it was like walking upon the velvet softness of a well-tended lawn. Our footsteps made no sound, but our garments rustled as we walked along, otherwise our progress would have been a silent one except for our conversation. (Borgia 197)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

There are always ex-producers of films, or amateur producers, who create new films in their imagination, and their thought-forms are produced on the screen for all to see. These shows are, in many ways, better than those we see in the world and those which astral inhabitants see on the first sphere for, under astral conditions, producers can allow their imagination to run riot. . . . Theatres are also popular on this level. (Richelieu 90)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Acharya: Most of the true musicians, artists, philosophers and those who were teachers or professors in the physical world, obtain great joy from passing on some of their knowledge and experience to those who are lacking in it but who are sufficiently interested to want to learn. . . .

Not only do these schools play a tremendous part in the life of the astral world, but they undoubtedly influence the future lives of their pupils. If, at the astral level, a man has developed a love of any of the arts or sciences, in his next life at the physical level he is born with the desire to continue that study and so we find children showing at an early age an enthusiastic aptitude for one thing or another. . . . Both in this world and the next we are all the time progressing and making our future lives happier and fuller. (Richelieu 65-66)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

It was difficult to determine where one ring began and the other ended. A part of it was familiar to me. I had attended class here for a while. (Monroe 148)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

When we follow a course of study in any subject whatsoever, we shall find that we learn easily and quickly . . . if we are acquiring knowledge we shall retain that knowledge without fail. If we are following some pursuit where dexterity of the hands is required, we shall find that our spirit bodies respond to the impulses of our minds immediately and exactly. . . . We are not all endowed with keen intellects the moment we shake off the physical body. . . . But our intelligence can be increased. (Borgia 152)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Our ability to comprehend truths is quite acute. Learning is quicker, and far easier than when we were contained in a physical form. (Starnes 98)LFSchanneled • modern • James

To acquire knowledge here is not tedious, because the memory works perfectly—that is, unfailingly—and the powers of mental perception are no longer hampered and confined by a physical brain. (Borgia 53)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The permanent inhabitants find out these schools in different ways and always at a stage when they are of most use. When they first realize that they are living in the astral world, it is quite useless to mention such things to them, for they will at once assure you that they have no desire to go to school again. They want to enjoy themselves. For the first few months the opportunity of travelling round the world and seeing all the countries they had not had the chance of visiting whilst they were in this world usually satisfies them. (Richelieu 66)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Each student followed his own course of study independently of anyone else. . . . He began when he wanted, and he finished when he wanted, and the more he dipped into his studies the more interested and fascinated he became. (Borgia 54)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

We have great halls of learning, and of music. One can study any particular thing that appeals to one. GOCchanneled • modern • Flint

This was the hall of literature, and it contained every work worthy of the name. Its interior was divided into smaller rooms than in the hall of painting. Edwin led us into one spacious apartment which contained the histories of all the nations upon the earth-plane. . . . The reader would be able to gain, for the first time, the truth about the history of his country. Every word contained in these books was the literal truth. Concealment is impossible, because nothing but the truth can enter these realms. . . .

I found that side by side with the statements of pure fact of every act by persons of historical note, by statesmen in whose hands was the government of their countries, by kings who were at the head of those same countries, side by side with such statements was the blunt naked truth of each and every motive governing or underlying their numerous acts. . . . Many of such motives were elevated, many, many of them were utterly base; many were misconstrued, many distorted. . . .

I also delved into church history, and the revelations I received in that direction were no better than those in the political sphere. They were, in fact, worse, considering in whose Name so many diabolical deeds were committed by men who, outwardly professing to serve God, were but instruments of men as base as themselves. . . .

We passed through many other rooms where volumes upon every subject imaginable were at the disposal of all who wished to study them. And perhaps one of the most important subjects is that which has been called by some truly enlightened soul “psychic science.” . . .

Who, then, writes the book of truth in spirit? The author of the earthly volume writes it—when he comes into the spirit world. And he is glad to do it. It becomes his work, and by such work, he can gain the progress of his soul. He will have no difficulty with the facts, for they are here for him to record, and he records them—but the truth this time! . . .

The book, once taken in the hand by the reader, instantly responds. (Borgia 47-50)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

All original manuscripts reside here, as well as the real history of everything that has ever happened. . . .

This is bliss to the historian who has spent his life trying to reconstruct the past. (Browne 84)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

John: It’s a very hushed feeling. Ahead of me is the Library. . . . I’m in a huge study. There are books and scrolls on everything, and all types of manuscripts on the shelves. There is a beautiful light streaming in illuminating the whole place. . . .

It’s a big area; almost cathedral size. . . . [Scholars] are studying. Everybody has a sense of purpose, and there’s a sense of serenity. There’s music that seems to fill the whole place. It’s just barely audible but it tinkles. It’s pretty music. . . .

It’s really nice. Everything glimmers and everybody is in beautiful robes. The clothing looks as if it’s transparent but electric colors shine through them. They’re the people’s auras. . . .

There is a spirit guide who is the guardian of the library. . . .

He says, “It’s not good to delve too much into your personal futures. That is a ‘no-no’ ruling. That’s not good, it causes disharmony.” . . .

He says that’s the main restriction. (Cannon 74-75)

John: We have branch libraries down among the lower astral world. And it takes a really great spiritual entity to man these stations. But they hardly ever get used. These lower entities are still seeking out experiences in the physical form. (Cannon 77)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

John: There’s the library with the huge rotunda where people are gathered in groups and studying and discussing issues. They are able to go into viewing rooms around the perimeter of this room to view things if they wish. All knowledge is stored in these. . . . Information is just relayed by intelligent thought. And he says we could go into the scriptorium. This is where things are read. This is where people that can relate to writing and reading like to go. It’s part of the library complex. . . .

It’s for people that are not very advanced souls. They’re medium advanced souls that still need the written word to make sense to their consciousness. (Cannon 76)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

[A child] can be shown the answer to his question by making an image to float before his eyes. A living model (for it is living so long as our thought is concentrated upon it) is a great improvement on a wordy discourse. (Richelieu 35)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Millie: I saw another beautiful angel instructing the souls of children. . . .

Their lessons were given in what might be called “spiritual moving pictures.” (Steiger 267)OwtLNDErs • modern • Steiger

John: We’re walking into the viewing room and he’s showing me. He says, “Just call attention to whatever you wish to see and all kinds of images will come in.” . . .

It surrounds you. I’m in the middle of it watching it. (Cannon 78)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Subject: The energy field is a beautiful deep violet color and it surrounds all of us. There are not really any definite walls or ceilings; everything is just this deep violet and gold. And suspended in the center of this energy field is a council chamber. . . . There are fluted golden columns all around the sides. . . . There are golden draperies behind these. . . .

It’s tiers—smooth stairs going around like an amphitheater. And they surround this empty space in the center. If someone wants to come forward and speak or present something, they can do it there where all can see. . . . From the podium could be projected what you could call “holograms”. . . .

The things presented there in the clear space are things demonstrating the overall pattern in this particular universe. And how our karmas have interacted with this pattern and what path we need to continue to follow in order to eventually attain enlightenment. (Cannon 190-191)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

It was Hal’s friend Alfred who took him into a building called the “archives.” Hal describes what happened:

When we went into the building we went first into a big room and there was a corridor in front of us. It only seemed to be about twenty feet long, but as we walked along there still seemed to be twenty feet to go. NOTE: A hyperspace corridor We kept going and going. This corridor was alive—it was a living room. It had walls that went up about ten feet and then there were upper wall panels that leaned in toward us. These panels seemed to be beaming knowledge down onto me. As I went through, all this knowledge was coming to me. Everything that was known to mankind was in these archives and it was coming down into my mind. By the time I got to the end I felt I knew everything. But now I can’t remember it!!

When we finally were ready to leave, Alfred said, “Now I’m going to take all this knowledge away from you. You’re not allowed to take that back.” . . .

I knew all languages, everything. . . .

One of the NDErs in Kenneth Ring’s study described a similar experience. . . .

I could hear languages. All languages. Languages that I had never heard before and I could understand them. (Sutherland 170)WtLresearcher • modern • Sutherland

I was taken to another large room similar to a library. As I looked around it seemed to be a repository of knowledge, but I couldn’t see any books. Then I noticed ideas coming into my mind, knowledge filling me on subjects that I had not thought about for some time—or in some cases not at all. . . . By simply reflecting on a topic . . . all knowledge on that topic came to me. . . .

There was absolutely no misunderstanding here. . . . I understood not only what people did but why they did it and how it affected other people’s perceptions of reality. I understood reality pertaining to that subject from every angle, from every possible perception; and all of this brought a wholeness to an event or person or principle that was not possible to comprehend on earth. . . .

But this was more than a mental process. I was able to feel what the people felt when they performed these actions. I understood their pains or joys or excitement because I was able to live them. (Eadie 76-77)EbtLNDEr • modern • Eadie

Many a spirit doctor has guided the hand of an earthly surgeon. . . . The doctor in spirit is contented to serve without acknowledgement from him whom he serves. It is the successful issue that he is concerned about, not who shall have the credit. . . .

The scientist, too, continues his researches when he comes here. In whatever branch of science he may be concerned, he will find enough, and more than enough, to engage his attention for a long time to come. . . .

Science and engineering being closely allied in the spirit world, far-reaching discoveries are constantly being made, and inventions are ever being perfected. (Borgia 168, 170)

A short walk brought us to a large rectangular building which, our friend informed us, was the hall of science. . . . The earth world has the spirit world to thank for all the major scientific discoveries that have been made throughout the centuries.

The laboratories of the world of spirit are many decades in advance of those of the earth-plane. . . .

In the hall of science every field of scientific and engineering investigation, study, and discovery was covered, and here were to be seen so many of those men whose names have become household words, and who, since passing into spirit, have continued their life’s work with their fellow scientists with the full and immense resources of the spirit world at their command. (Borgia 73)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

These inventions are not for us, but for you—when the time is ripe, and that is not yet. The earth world has given a poor exhibition of what has been sent through to it from the spirit world, by putting to base uses what has been given for its benefit. . . . Hence, much is held back . . . until man has reached a higher state of development. That day will assuredly arrive, and a torrent of new inventions will come pouring through from the spirit world to your world. (Borgia 170)

Every [discovery] that is sent from the spirit world is for the advantage and spiritual progression of man. If perverted minds use those same things for the destruction of man, then man has only himself to blame. . . .

Material progress must go hand in hand with spiritual progress..

It was never intended that when the results of our scientists’ researches are communicated to the earth they were to be seized upon by the few to the exclusion of all others. . . . The day will assuredly come when our two worlds will be closely interrelated, when communication between the two will be a commonplace of life, and then the great wealth of resources of the spirit world will be open to the earth world, to draw upon for the benefit of the whole human race. (Borgia 73-75)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Music being such a vital element in the world of spirit, it is not surprising that a grand building should be devoted to the practice, teaching, and the fostering of every description of music. . . .

I found that the greater the knowledge of music the more it helped one to understand so many things of the life here. . . .

The library contained books dealing with music as well as the scores of vast quantities of music that had been written on earth by composers who had now passed into spirit, or by those who were still upon the earth. . . . There was hardly a work that had not since been altered by the composer himself since coming into spirit. . . . The library provided a complete history of music from the very earliest times. . . .

Many apartments were set aside for students who can learn of music in every branch, from theory to practice, under teachers whose names are known the earth world over. . . . It must be remembered, as with the painters, composers have a different appraisement of the fruits of their brains after passing into spirit. In common with us all here, they see things exactly as they are—including their compositions. . . . In music, it can be said that the spirit world starts where the earth world leaves off. There are laws of music here which have no application to the earth whatever. . . . Earthly ears are not attuned to music that is essentially of the spirit realms. . . .

The many types of musical instrument so familiar on earth were to be seen in the college of music, where students could be taught to play upon them. And here again, where dexterity of the hands is so essential the task of gaining proficiency is never arduous or wearisome, and it is, moreover, so much more rapid than upon the earth. As students acquire a mastery over their instrument they can join one of the many orchestras that exist here, or they can limit their performance to their many friends. . . . We were extremely interested in the many instruments that have no counterpart upon the earth-plane. They are, for the most part, specially adapted to the forms of music that are exclusive to the spirit world, and they are for that reason very much more elaborate. Such instruments are only played with others of their kind for their distinctive music. . . .

It is natural that this building should be possessed of a concert hall. This was a very large hall capable of seating comfortably many thousands. . . .

At the rear of the hall was . . . a vast amphitheater like a great bowl sunk beneath the level of the ground. . . . The seats that were farthest away from the performers were exactly upon ground level. Immediately surrounding these seats were masses of the most beautiful flowers of every possible hue, with a grassy space beyond, while the whole area of this outdoor temple of music was encompassed by a magnificent plantation of tall and graceful trees. (Borgia 63-66)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

[Ruth] was an accomplished performer during her earth life, and she has since told us of the thrilling moment when she seated herself before her “spirit instrument”, as she called it. . . . The tone of her “spirit piano” was something that she could never have imagined possible, it was so perfectly balanced and of such ringing quality. . . . Her memory was as sound as though she had the very music before her. (Borgia 189-190)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Acharya: He may meet the artists of the past, and it must not be supposed that they lose interest in their work because they have died. Far from it, now they create beautiful thought-forms, for they have no longer to use brushes and canvas to express their art. . . . The thought-forms they create are just the same as pictures here, just as visible and much more beautiful. . . . They often say: “If only I could express on canvas exactly what my imagination pictures, but never does it come exactly right.” On the astral plane the pictures created are exactly what the artist perceives and so the creations of their imagination there are more beautiful than the finest pictures to be found in the world. (Richelieu 21-22)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

The original paintings for all the paintings ever done on earth are hanging in the astral galleries. In the physical world it’s not possible to create the “real” work of art because we, in the physical, do not possess the tools to translate the thought onto canvas. . . .

Outside the spirit galleries, many people are busy working on various forms of art. I saw teachers examining the artists’ works, and helping them. . . .

In spirit, we can work or observe with no interruption. (Browne 82-84)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

The first hall that Edwin took us into was concerned with the art of painting. This hall was of very great size and contained a long gallery, on the walls of which were hanging every great masterpiece known to man. They were arranged in such a way that every step of earthly progress could be followed in proper order, beginning with the earliest times and so continuing down to the present day. Every style of painting was represented, gathered from all points of the earth. . . .

We were now seeing the originals for the first time. What we had seen was an earthly counterpart, which was perishable from the usual causes—for example, from fire or the general disintegration through the passage of time. But here we were viewing the direct results of the thoughts of the painter, created in the etheric before he actually transferred those thoughts to his earthly canvas. It could be plainly observed, in many cases, where the earthly picture fell short of that which the painter had in his mind. . . . In some instances it had been the pigments that had been at fault when, in the early times, the artist had been unable to procure or evolve the particular shade of color he wanted. but though he lacked physically, his mind had known precisely what he wished to do. He had built it up in the spirit—the results of which we were now able to see—while he had failed to do so on the material canvas. . . .

Another great point of dissimilarity—and the most important—was the fact that here all these pictures were alive. . . . These pictures, then, whether landscape or portrait, were never flat; that is, they did not seem to have been painted upon flat canvas. They possessed, on the other hand, all the completeness of relief. . . . One felt that the shadows were real shadows cast by real objects. The colors glowed with life. . . .

What system is used for the selection of paintings to hang upon these walls? I was told that it was a question that is frequently asked by visitors to this gallery. The answer is that by the time an artist, whether he be good, bad, or just commonplace, has adjusted himself to his new life, he has no further illusions—if he ever harbored any—of his own work. Usually an extreme diffidence sets in, fostered by the immensity and the superlative beauty of this realm. So that in the end the problem becomes one of scarcity rather than superabundance!

When we gazed at the portraits of so many men and women whose names had worldwide fame, whether they lived in distant times or in the present day, it gave Ruth and me a strange feeling to think that we were now inhabitants of the same world as they, and that they, like ourselves, were very much alive, and not mere historic figures in the chronicles of the earth world.

In other parts of this same building were rooms wherein students of art could learn all that there is to be learned. . . . Here instruction is easy, and the acquisition and application of knowledge equally facile to those who wish to learn. . . . Progress towards proficiency is consequently smooth and rapid. (Borgia 45-47)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Sandy (channeled): If you have a desire to create something, say a painting or music, you can just visualize it or hear it and it springs into existence immediately. And as your vision changes, those changes are instantly reflected in the new creation before you. Everything flows effortlessly from one form into another with ease and grace. (Fairchilde 11)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

What of the souls who pass over as children; indeed, what of those, even, who pass into the spirit world at birth?

The answer is that they grow as they would have grown upon the earth-plane. But the children here—of all ages—are given such treatment and care as would never be possible in the earth world. . . .

What gave us the most enjoyable surprise was to see, interspersed throughout the woods, the quaintest little cottages such as one was always inclined to believe only belonged to the pages of children’s story-books. . . .

Great numbers of children live in these tiny dwellings, each being presided over by an older child, who is perfectly capable of attending to any situation that might arise with the other “residents”.

As we walked along we could see groups of happy children, some playing games with their fellows, others seated upon the grass while a teacher was reading to them. Others, again, were to be observed listening attentively and with marked interest to a teacher who was explaining the flowers to them, and giving them something of a lesson in botany. . . .

Edwin took us to one of the teachers. . . . We were instantly made welcome. . . . She had been in the spirit world a goodly number of years. She had had children of her own when upon the earth-plane, and she was still keenly interested in their welfare, and that had led her to take on her present work. . . .

She radiated that charm and confidence, kindliness and mirthfulness of nature that so appealed to the children. . . . I do not think we had as yet seen anyone so superlatively happy as this gracious soul.

In this sphere, our new friend told us, there were to be found children of all ages, from the infant, whose separate existence upon the earth-plane had amounted to only a few minutes, or who even had had no separate existence at all, but had been born “dead”, to the youth of sixteen or seventeen years of earth time.

It frequently happens that as the children grow up they remain in this same sphere, and themselves become teachers for a period, until other work takes them elsewhere. . . .

Whether the teachers were themselves parents upon the earth-plane or not, they all undergo an extensive course of training before they are adjudged fit to fill the post of teacher to the children, and to conform with, and uphold, the rigidly high standards of the work. . . .

The mental and physical growth of the child in the spirit world is much more rapid than in the earth world. (Borgia 156-161)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Acharya: When children reach the astral world they have a wonderfully happy life, because of the absence of restrictions. They never lack attention for there are always numbers of mothers that have passed over who are willing and eager to care for a child that has died when a baby. (Richelieu 34)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Researchers on the other side tell us that children who die on Earth arrive on the mid-astral plane or the third plane and are either cared for by relatives who have died before them or they are cared for by people who love children. (Kubis and Macy 16)

Salter: “There are many such homes here in which children are looked after. Little babies are here, too. Many women and men are constantly taking care of the children.” (Kubis and Macy 32-33)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

The babies were growing up quickly, getting prepared for future lives on earth. She took me to view the nursery. It was enchanting. Beautiful murals of Mother Goose nursery rhymes were painted on the walls. These murals seemed alive.

I heard no crying in this realm of the spirit. Children were singing songs and laughing. (Browne 21)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

The children’s studies have an extremely wide range. . . . Many . . . subjects of the earthly curricula are entirely omitted as being superfluous in the world of spirit. It would be more exact to say that the children are given knowledge of a particular subject rather than taught it.

As they grow they are able to choose for themselves the type of work that appeals to them, and so by specializing in their studies the children can become equipped with the necessary qualifications. Some of them, for instance, elect to return to the earth-plane temporarily to work with us in the exercise of communication, and they make highly efficient instruments, and thoroughly enjoy their visits. Such visits have the advantage of adding widely to their experience. It increases their depth of understanding of the trials and tribulations—and the pleasures—of being incarnate. . . .

The children’s realm is a township in itself, containing everything that great minds, inspired by the greatest Mind, could possibly provide for the welfare, comfort, and education, and the pleasure and happiness of its youthful inhabitants. The halls of learning are as fully equipped as are those larger establishments in our own sphere. Indeed, in many respects, they are more so, since they have all the equipment for the diffusion of knowledge and learning to those who are possessed of neither in the slightest degree, and who must therefore start at the very beginning. . . . This concerns those children who have passed into the spirit world in their extreme infancy. Children who leave the earth world in their early years will continue their studies from where they left off. (Borgia 161-162)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Acharya: Once a thing is imagined, it is there plain for him to see, for the matter of the astral world is moulded by thought. . . . Whatever he thinks of, he becomes and when he gets tired of that impersonation, he has only to think of someone else and the plastic astral body obeys his commands. (Richelieu 34-35)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

I first recalled entering an extraphysical NOTE: nonphysical organization. There was a vast hall with various split levels and a congregation of more than 500 extraphysical children between the ages of 2 and 13. The extraphysical consciousnesses had the appearance of real children with infantile mentalities. Many resembled angels. . . .

The whole extraphysical complex was similar to a covered playground with a very high ceiling. . . .

The little ones were generally well behaved. They all paid attention to the show that was going on above their heads. . . . There were fantastic kaleidoscopes or galaxies materializing dreams and wishes, breathing life into toys, machines and three-dimensional fantasies.

I understood that the creations were incredibly vivid and real morphothosenes NOTE: thought forms, the products of powerful consciousnesses. There were magic wands opening treasure chests, Santa Claus sacks, cornucopias of riches, surprise boxes, magic lamps, videos of endless stories and everlasting springs of wonders, satisfying the most exotic whims. The images were incredibly rich, beautiful and extravagant. . . .

The spectacle I was witnessing served as a kind of fortifying injection to the imagination of the children. It had the effect of enhancing their intelligence and promoting a greater maturity of the consciousness.

The toys rained down on the little ones with mirth, melodies, dances, mysteries, tenderness and love in their forms and movements, and would disappear just before touching the children’s heads. If a child was interested, the object of his or her desire would materialize in his or her hands. . . .

The institution contained amusement parks, a circus with ponies, fountains of toys, orchards of Christmas trees, imagination projectors, a thousand-and-one inventions and everything that the consciousness has ever conceived and created. All of it pulsing with life, light, animation, dimension and beauty, originating and spiraling in an incessant act of creation. . . .

I noticed that the majority of extraphyiscal consciousnesses at that stage of infantile human appearance did not fly. Outside of that sort of covered stadium, were incredibly beautiful, sprawling gardens. . . .

I perceived more sound there in the mental transmissions than I normally do when outside the body. (Vieira 199-201)PotCOBEr • modern • Vieira

Acharya: Everyone when asleep spends these hours in the same world as the child who is dead. . . . They are able to talk to the child and he to them, to play with him, to continue his education and so on. . . . Often when parents are mourning over the death of a child, the one who is dead is standing by their side, trying in every way possible to communicate with them. To the child, the parents seem to be very dull and stupid at such times, for the child cannot realize that although he can see them, they cannot see him. (Richelieu 35-36)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Shall we be able to recognize our children when we ourselves arrive in the spirit world? The answer is, most emphatically, Yes. . . .

You must know that when the physical body sleeps, the spirit body temporarily withdraws from it. . . . The spirit body will thus spend part of the lifetime of the earthly body in spirit lands. And it is upon these visits that one meets relatives and friends who have passed on before, and it is similarly upon these visits that parents can meet their children, and thus watch their growth. In the majority of cases the parents are not allowed within the children’s own sphere, but there are plenty of places where such meetings can take place. Remembering what I have said about the retentiveness of the subconscious mind you will see that, in such cases, the problem of recognizing a child does not arise, because the parent has seen the child and observed its growth throughout the whole of the intervening years. . . .

There must be, of course, a sufficient bond of attachment between the parent and child, or else this law will not come into operation. (Borgia 161-162)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Acharya: If [a child] dies young, it gains little experience and it will not take long to assimilate this after leaving the physical world, thus it is more likely that the child who has died young will be the sooner back to live another life. (Richelieu 34)

Acharya: The child, having little or no experience to consolidate after such a short physical existence, returns to the astral plane only, for a few years, and is then given a new physical body retaining the same astral and mental bodies which it had drawn round itself prior to the recent short life on the physical plane. (Richelieu 39)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Having studied the paranormal for many years, I now realise from an overwhelming amount of evidence that children who are aborted, miscarried, stillborn or who die during childhood, continue to mature on the Other Side of Life until they reach their prime of life. . . . The brother I saw was about seven and the sister about five, the ages they would have been had they lived. (Beaumont 14)VS-FBNDEr • modern • Beaumont

The children grow and develop until they have reached the average age of twenty-five to thirty years. (Kubis and Macy 16)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

Angels (channeled): As a child leaves its body, its soul still reflects the size and shape and immature form of a child. However, a transformation begins upon entry into the tunnel that is completed after the life review. And with the completion of this transformation, the soul then possesses a body that you would call “adult,” perfect and whole and made of light. (Fairchilde 84)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

In the spirit world we do not suffer fatigue either of body or mind, but to continue unremittingly in the pursuit of any one occupation, without any intermittent change, would soon produce feelings of mental dissatisfaction or unrest. . . . We will exchange our present task for another form of work, we can cease work altogether and spend our time reclining in our homes or elsewhere; we can occupy ourselves in study; or we can engage ourselves in the amusing recreations that abound in these realms. . . .

Intellectual recreation, which may take diverse forms, is amply provided for in the halls of learning, because learning can itself be a recreation. (Borgia 145-146)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Here it is a world of absolute beauty, and there’s the joy of progress in everything, the feeling of elation that comes with the realisation that all the time you’re stepping forward. There’s always something new, something more interesting, some new experience, some new place to go to, new people to visit, fresh arrivals coming over from the earth. People we have known and loved, helping them to settle, getting them interested in all sorts of things over here. GOCchanneled • modern • Flint

Boredom can find no place here as a general state of affairs. People have been known to become bored, but that very boredom begets their first step—or their next step—in spiritual progression through their engaging in some useful work. There are myriads of tasks to be performed—and myriads of souls to perform them. (Borgia 110)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Most people are able to tell me about having freedom of movement and going to open spaces where souls of many learning levels gather in a recreational atmosphere. . . .

In these communal areas, floating souls socially engage in many activities. Some are quite playful, as when I hear of older souls “teasing” the younger ones about what lies ahead for them. One subject put it this way, “We play tricks on each other like a bunch of kids. During hide-and-seek, some of the younger ones get lost and then we help them find themselves.” I am also told “guests” can appear in soul groups at times to entertain and tell stories, similar to the troubadours of the Middle Ages. Another subject mentioned that her group loved to see an odd-looking character known as “Humor” show up and make them all laugh with his antics. (Newton 96)JoShypnosis • modern • Newton

My subjects differentiate between the shorter breaks from soul study and those involving more recreation time. This is an example from a male client relating a typical intermission from class work:

Another subject had this to say about lesson breaks with members of her group who are inclined to choose female bodies:

Don: Do you have formal entertainments such as music and the arts? . . .

Dr. Peebles: Over here it’s all the time, it’s one big party but it’s not a party of withdrawal and suppression of the senses, it’s a party of heightening the senses—how are our senses heightened?—through contact, through intimacy, through party, through different points of view, a rapture of the differences. . . . And the sense of being God, the sense of being divine, or alive, is heightened accordingly. (Pendleton 41)TDAchanneled • modern • Pendleton

The departed ones . . . even play, but without competition, just for the sheer joy of it. (Starnes 86)LFSchanneled • modern • James

There was no such thing as competition, as you only had to make a thought-form of beating your opponent for it to happen. (Richelieu 51)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

One diversion I hear rather often is of souls forming a circle to more fully unify and project their thought energy. Always, a connection with a higher power is reported here. . . . “Thought rhythms are so harmonized they bring forth a form of singing.” Gracefully subtle dancing can also take place when souls whirl around each other in a mixture of energy, blending and separating in exotic patterns of light and color. Physical things such as shrines, boats, animals, trees, or ocean beaches can be conjured up at the center of these dances as well. These images have special meaning to soul groups as planetary symbols NOTE: physical forms which reinforce positive memories from former lives together. (Newton 96)JoShypnosis • modern • Newton

Some souls have described the scene above as “the tumbleweed game.” This indicates to me there is only a fine line between spiritual dancing and games. (Newton 305)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

The “rules” are loosely interpreted. There are elements of playful competitions. . . . Spiritual games are not played with the objective that somebody wins while others lose. Games are vigorous and carefree at the same time. . . .

Another high-velocity game is . . . where souls line up opposite each other in a square. . . . These souls rush at each other en masse. One subject said, “This is a game of collision, where we bounce off one another in a chain reaction of whirling energy.” The object seems to be the creation of a high volume of concentrated energy. Another client who plays this game told me:

I have noticed that these activities may be combined with comedy skits. Souls who engage in these forms of entertainment love to poke fun at each other. (Newton 305-306)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

One particular diversion that finds a very considerable measure of favor with us here is that of dramatic representation of different kinds.

We have beautiful theaters. . . .

Each theater of this realm is familiar to us by the type of play that is presented in it. The plays themselves are frequently vastly different from those that are customary upon the earth-plane. . . . We can see many problem plays where social questions of the earth-plane are dealt with, but unlike the earth-plane our plays will provide a solution to the particular problem. . . .

We can go see comedies where, I do assure you, the laughter is invariably much more hearty and voluminous than is ever to be heard in a theater of the earth-plane. In the spirit world we can afford to laugh at much that we once, when incarnate, treated with deadly seriousness and earnestness!

We have witnessed grand historical pageants showing the greater moments of a nation, and we have seen, too, history as it really was. . . . But surely the most impressive, and, at the same time, interesting experience is to be present at one of these pageants where the original participants themselves re-enact the events in which they were concerned, first as the events were popularly thought to have occurred, and then as they actually took place. These representations are among the most widely attended here, and never are there more attentive and rapt members of the audience than those players who, during their earthly lives, played the parts, in stage plays, of the famous characters whom they are now seeing “in the flesh”.

In such pageants the coarser, depraved and debased incidents are omitted entirely, because they would be distasteful to the audience, and, indeed, to all in this realm. Nor are we shown scenes which are, in the main incidents, nothing but battle and bloodshed and violence. (Borgia 146-148)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

There are souls who come to Earth as invisible beings between lives so they can re-experience former physical environments. The only problem with this is they must return to chronological time, which means these souls are caught up with change since they were last here. . . . There are souls who find this sort of nostalgic trip to be unrewarding and even frustrating out of a physical body. . . .

It is change that seems to have the biggest impact on the vacationing soul. Many won’t return to Earth for recreation between lives because of the day-to-day modernization of the communities they once occupied. In dimensions away from ground zero on Earth, images of places and the people who once lived here are frozen in a timeless vacuum that never vanishes from existence. (Newton 293)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

Other recreational activities, such as art and composition, are pursued quietly and individually. The practice of music and sculpture may be pursued alone or collectively. (Newton 306)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

Souls may wish to add their old pets to these scenes. (Newton 295)

Case 50:

Dr. N: Kimoye, what do you like to do for recreation?

S: Frankly, I am a rather quiet, unsocial soul and I enjoy doing two things. I garden and play with animals during the time I am away from my group.

Dr. N: Do you actually grow things in the spirit world?

S: Creating living things from energy is one of our important exercises here.

Dr. N: Tell me about playing with the animals.

S: I have a dog and cat as well as a horse. These are my pets from the last life.

Dr. N: Do they just appear when you want them?

S: No, I must call for them as they don’t normally live in our spaces here. I can’t go to their place. An Animal Caretaker brings them to me. We call them trackers. (Newton 298)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

Acharya: As an example of what happens to a man after death, take the sort of person who lives entirely for the physical plane life. . . .

After death a man of this type will probably be extremely bored and will have practically nothing to do. He will soon realize that making thought-forms of good dinners and intricate business deals becomes a very unsatisfactory method of killing time. . . . He does not get the physical satisfaction to which he is accustomed after a good dinner with choice wines, though he can imagine and even appreciate the taste of dishes and wines which he used to have on earth. It is impossible for him to feel the same result after drinking alcohol that he felt during his lifetime, however much he may drink, and the feeling of repletion which follows a good dinner on the physical plane is entirely absent from the “astral” meal. Neither does he obtain much satisfaction from a successful business deal produced in his imagination, when he is unable to use the money so made. (Richelieu 22)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Similar dissatisfaction is experienced from his accustomed sports. . . . He can still play golf if he wishes, in his new life, but he soon tires of this, for every shot he makes goes to the exact spot he has in mind at the moment of striking the ball. . . . You can easily imagine how boring such a game would soon become. . . . The uncertainty was the charm of the game, and this no longer exists at the astral level. (Richelieu 23)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

We have no need here to take bodily exercise, vigorous or otherwise, nor do we need to go out into the “fresh air”. Our spirit bodies are always in perfect condition. . . .

As most of the outdoor games of the earth world involve the use of a ball, it will be appreciated that here, where the law of gravity operates under different conditions from yours anything in the nature of propelling a ball by striking it, would lead to quite hopeless results. . . .

Many of our erstwhile earthly games seem rather tame and trivial beside our greatly increased powers in the spirit world. The fact that we can move ourselves through space instantaneously is enough to make the greatest earthly athletic skill recede into insignificance. . . . There is such a superabundant supply of vastly more entertaining things to be seen and done here, besides which a great deal of the earthly recreations appear sheer trivialities. (Borgia 148-149)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Acharya: Everything . . . is produced by thought. Life there can be one long holiday. We can devote ourselves to whatever we really desire to do and indulge in hobbies to our hearts’ content.. There is nothing in the astral body which can tire. (Richelieu 20)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Raising our vibrations rapidly, and passing over many degrees of scenes of this kind, we find ourselves on a considerably higher plane. Here we see men engaged in what would be called “useful work” in earth life. But they are performing it not as labor, but rather as a joyous recreation. Observing closely, you will see that the work is all of an inventive and constructive nature. The men and women are perfecting that in which their interest was engaged while on earth life. . . . On some of these subdivisions we see the artist busily at work, turning out wonderful masterpieces; also musicians creating great compositions. . . . The architect builds great structures—the inventor discovers great things. And all are filled with the joy of work, and the ecstasy of creative imagination. . . .

In this work on the Astral, there is an actual mental advance and progress. . . .

Here on these very planes of the Astral there is being built the mould from which will actually pour great inventive and creative achievements, on the material plane, in the future incarnations of these souls now doing work on this plane. . . . Many a work of art, musical composition, great piece of literature, or great invention, has been but a reproduction of an Astral pattern. This will help to explain the feeling common to all great performers of creative, imaginative or intellectual work—the strange feeling that their work is but a completion of something at which they had previously wrought—a re-discovery, as it were.

Again, in this work-play of the Astral, the soul is always at work using up old ideas, aspirations, etc., and discarding them finally. . . . Life on the Astral is very earnest and intense. (Panchadasi 64-66)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

My friend Kathy passed over in 1988. . . .

In the second dream, which came a year later, Kathy very excitedly reported her new assignment. She had been placed in charge of a large group of babies. . . .

Her greatest love was children. There was no better person to handle this job. (Browne 20-21)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

The life of the soul on the comparatively higher divisions of the Astral consists in a working out of the intellectual desires and ordinary tendencies, tastes, likes, and aspirations which they were unable to manifest fully in earth life. . . . But they are all concerned with physical manifestations, rather than with spiritual unfoldment and evolution. . . . The higher planes are those in which the spiritual forces bud and flower, and bear fruit—the Astral, even in its highest planes, is the scene of the living-out, and working-out, of earthly intellectual and similar ambitions and aspirations. (Panchadasi 62)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

Acharya: For the spiritually minded man, the man who has meditated deeply on higher things, there waits an infinity of bliss. During his lifetime he has had to rely on faith and his own reasoning powers, now he can prove the truth of many of the theories which he has studied in the world, and one can but faintly imagine the joy and peace that this knowledge will bring to such a man. . . .

The philanthropist who during his lifetime has had one thought, one object in view—the helping of his fellow men—has perhaps the greatest opportunity of all, for now he is free to devote the whole of his time to helping and comforting those who require his services. (Richelieu 32)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

In many of these open spaces groups were congregated. We approached one of these groups and found that there were perhaps a hundred people watching an artist painting a picture, on a canvas that measured about fifty by thirty feet. They were obviously enthralled by what they were watching. . . . The artist was not using brushes, but he had in his hand a long stick resembling a fishing rod and as he pointed the stick at different parts of the canvas, a picture appeared, first in rough outline than later in detail. As he painted, the artist spoke from time to time, explaining what he was creating. . . .

Even in the picture galleries of this world, if one looks at a picture it often happens that one is able to feel something of what the artist has endeavored to express. Such feeling is emphasized a thousand times at the astral level, and looking at the great painting I knew without any shadow of doubt what this artist wished to express in colour and form. (Richelieu 91, 93)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Acharya: If he wishes, the lover of music can spend the whole of his time listening to the finest music the world can produce. . . . He can meet the great musicians of the past—unless they have already reincarnated; he can see the mighty thought-forms which music on the physical plane produces in the finer matter of the astral world. Even though during his lifetime he was unable to play, he can now produce music by imagination. (Richelieu 21)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

From my research, I have come to believe that more than any other medium, music uplifts the soul with ranges of notes far beyond what we know on Earth. . . .

Case 52:

Dr. N: Do you bring souls from groups other than your own to be in this heavenly choir?

S: Yes, but lots of groups like to sing opposite each other and see who can be the most innovative. (Newton 307-308)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

The sight of so much activity on the part of my fellow inhabitants of this realm had set my mind to thinking about my own future work and what form it could take. . . . It was a sensation common to all, sooner or later—the urge to be doing something useful for the good of others. . . . Edwin assured us that we could continue to go upon our explorations indefinitely if we so wished, and that none would criticize or comment upon our actions. (Borgia 75)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The moment we feel the need for a change of work or other diversion, we cease our work for the time being, and turn to whatever else we wish. The staffs of all the halls of learning are no different from others in this respect. They most certainly need change and recreation, and so we find that the staffs alternate in their personnel as occasion demands. As some retire others take their places. . . .

Many of the people attached to the halls of learning have been there a great number of years as you reckon time. So devoted are they to their work that although they have progressed and virtually belong to a higher sphere, they prefer to remain where they are for some considerable period yet. They will retire, from time to time, to their own realm, and then return to take up their labors anew. The moment will eventually arrive when they will relinquish their position altogether to reside permanently in their own sphere, and then others, equally capable, will take their place. . . . The pressure of work may fluctuate, as it does with you upon earth. When we have our great celebrations and festivals, during which we are honored by the presence of visitants from the higher realms, it follows that large numbers of people will be present in the temple or elsewhere, and during that time there will be an appreciable diminution of some activities. . . .

In the halls of rest, however, the doctors and nurses are always in attendance whatever else may be taking place in other parts of the sphere. Their devotion to duty is always instantly rewarded, for during the general celebrations of the realm, the illustrious visitors from the upper realms make a special journey to the rest homes where they personally greet every one of the staff. (Borgia 178-179)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Although it is not necessary to eat here, people enjoy eating with their friends and create the food they like. (Kubis and Macy 56)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

In describing the hereafter, one child said that food appeared whenever she wished for it, but there was no need to eat. (Talbot 255)HUscientific, researcher • modern • Talbot

We do eat, but not as often or the heavy foods of the earth plane. My love of fruit has allowed me to partake of many varieties I’ve never known before. Honey-sweet and juicy, I find the fruits filling and comforting. I don’t seem to have any need here for protein or starches. But, I still love my sweets! They are available whenever the urge hits me. You know how I loved chocolate! (Starnes 74)LFSchanneled • modern • James

You don’t breathe here the way we breathe on earth. (McKnight 113)CJOBEr • modern • McKnight

Sri Yukteswar: “Astral beings walk and work as intelligently guided and coordinated images of light, without the necessity of drawing power from oxygen. . . . Astral beings sustain themselves principally by cosmic light.” (Yogananda 405)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

One thing is clear to me—the clothing of the phantom NOTE: astral body is created, and is not a counterpart of the physical clothing. . . .

If my physical body were clad in a certain garb, my astral counterpart would be clothed in an identical garb. . . . But again, there have been many exceptions to that. . . . Sometimes . . . the astral body will be clothed in a different manner, e.g. a sort of flimsy, gauzy white. This is not at all unusual, and is perhaps the reason why “ghosts” have invariably become identified with white garments.

Sometimes this astral garment is mistaken by observers for an “aura”, and sometimes the aura is mistaken for the garment of white. . . . It is my belief that the clothing is formed from the aura. . . .

No sooner does one begin to think about his clothing than he will discover that his thoughts have already formed or materialized clothing for him. Thought creates in the astral. . . .

On another occasion I awakened and found myself moving along at the intermediate speed. A very dense aura surrounded me—so dense, in fact, that I could scarcely see my own body. It remained so until the phantom came to a stop, when I was dressed in the typical ghost-like garb! . . .

The conscious mind does not necessarily create the phantom’s attire—as many seem to think. . . .

The clothing seems to form out of the colored aura which surrounds the astral body; that is, when one sees the clothing form (and it does so quickly—instantaneously) it seems to form by the aura growing very dense, close to the body. (Muldoon 283-285)

“At first, right after death, the moulding in most cases is an unconscious act. . . . But as the mind gains control of itself, the act of dressing becomes a conscious act. . . .

“All darker colors denote a low state of development. As the spirit progresses upward the colors of the aura become continually brighter. . . . The character, quality, and development of the spirit are denoted by the colour of the garment.” — Melody D. Larsen, My Travels in the Spirit World (Muldoon 286)PotABOBEr • Spiritualism • Muldoon

The great majority . . . wake up in these realms dressed in the counterpart of the clothes they wore when upon the earth-plane at the time of their transition. . . . They may remain so attired for just as long as they please. . . . Then they can change to their spirit clothing if they so wish. Most people are only too glad to make the change, since their old earthly style of clothing looks very drab in these colorful realms. . . .

Spirit robes vary in themselves almost as much as the realms vary. There always seems to be some subtle difference between one person’s spirit robe and another’s, both in color and form, so that there is an endless variety in the two particulars of color and form alone.

All spirit robes are of full length; that is, they reach down to the feet. They are sufficiently full to hang in graceful folds, and it is these very folds that present the most beautiful shades and tones of color. . . .

Many people will be found wearing a girdle or sash around the waist. . . .

We may wear what we like upon our feet, and most of us prefer to wear a covering of some sort. It usually takes the form of a light shoe or sandal. I have seen numbers of people here who have a predilection for going barefooted, and they do so. . . .

Our clothing possesses the same vibrational rate as the wearer. The higher one progresses the higher this rate becomes, and consequently dwellers in those elevated spheres will take on an unimaginable tenuousness both of spirit body and clothing. . . .

We seldom wear any covering upon our heads. I do not remember seeing anything of the sort anywhere in this realm. (Borgia 154-155)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

All outward appearances are produced, not by the texture of the material, but by the kind and degree of light that is the essence of a spirit robe. . . .

Edwin suggested that, for our present purposes, we might change to our natural element in the matter of clothes. . . .

Immediately I had expressed the wish to follow Edwin’s suggestion of discarding my earthly style of clothes, those very clothes faded away—dissolved—and I was attired in my own particular spirit robe. (Borgia 35-36)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Everything glimmers and everybody is in beautiful robes. The clothing looks as if it’s transparent but electric colors shine through them. They’re the people’s auras. (Cannon 75)

Here they wear robes, but not always. . . . Sometimes you will see someone with the shape of a body and they’ll appear to have clothing on, but they’ll be rather white and transparent looking. Or sometimes if they wish to look more solid, they do. (Cannon 38)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

I’ve even added a couple of new garments to my wardrobe. In addition to favorite pants and shirts, I now have several long, flowing, robe-like garments of a silky-soft material, mostly whites and silvery blue. Clothing never soils here, so we don’t need much, just a few for variety. (Starnes 74)LFSchanneled • modern • James

While I rest, I no longer sleep in the old terms, though I may, for the experience. Immediately following my death I slept out of habit, but gradually did so less and less. (Roberts 119)AJoaAPchanneled • modern • James

Astral beings sleep and dream even as you and I; the astral body is the dream body; we must not forget that. (Muldoon 262)PotABOBEr • Spiritualism • Muldoon

I never experience tiredness, but I do have daily “sleep” periods that are very refreshing. (James)LFSchanneled • modern • James

Many, who were great upon earth, found themselves very small in spirit. And many, who were unknown upon earth, found themselves here so spiritually well known as to be almost overcome by it. (Borgia 104)

Fame in the spirit word is vastly different from fame in the earth world. Spiritual fame carries with it distinctions of a very different order from the earthly distinctions, and it is gained in one way only—in service to others. (Borgia 172)

The great, who have gained their greatness through the various expressions of their genius, consider themselves but the lowly units of a vast whole, the immense organization of the spirit world. They are all striving—as we are too—for the same purpose, and that is spiritual progression and development. (Borgia 176)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

After we have been here a little while, and become accustomed to our new environment and mode of living, we find that we never intrude since we can read at once the mind of a person who wishes for a period of seclusion. And when we see people out in the open—in garden or countryside—we are always welcome to approach and hold friendly converse with them. (Borgia 28)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Discretion is something we soon learn to exercise, and it is embodied in our never prying into the facts and circumstances of other people’s earthly lives. That does not mean to say that we are debarred from discussing our earthly lives, but the initiative always comes from the person concerned. If he wishes to tell anyone of his life on earth he will ever find a sympathetic and interested ear awaiting him. (Borgia 175)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Most of us on Earth have a large spiritual family in the spirit world and while we may not be aware of these family members, they often intercede for us and support us from the other side. (Kubis and Macy 57)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

When we meet people whom we have known on earth, the dominant links between us are dependent on the kind of affections which brought us together. . . .

If you want to be united truly, eternally, with those you love, you must vibrate in harmony with them on all the planes. . . . The more intimate the communion of thoughts and desires, the less will be the separation. . . . The feeble links of mere habit weaken rapidly and have no influence in the higher worlds. (Yram 198-200)PAPOBEr • Yram

There is no need for sex, of course, as there is no pregnancy in spirit. Still, sex . . . can be enjoyed in the astral planes by those who made it a major part of their lives while on Earth. Eventually there will be more important things to do. APOWSITC/EVP researcher • modern • Macy

Sex does indeed exist [on the astral planet Marduk]; but without pregnancy. (Kubis and Macy 7)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

After we were married, it often happened that we would travel together in space, with a sweetness of sensation impossible to describe. . . .

I project my astral body. . . .

Immediately freeing herself from her physical body she joined me. . . . When I kissed her, I pointed out the deluge of sensations which followed. Her love penetrated into my being under the guise of a general warmth, while a feeling of absolute confidence filled my spirit. On the other hand, my aura penetrated hers and I had the sensation as if melting into her. So intense were the vibrations that I experienced a kind of giddiness. I felt that if I pushed the experience to its furthest limit the abnormal speed of the vibrations would make me lose consciousness. . . .

During one of the experiments I noted the following facts:

I wished to unite my psychical body NOTE: astral body with that of my wife in order to note the physiological and psychological effects. In the atmosphere in which we had projected ourselves I could see our more material doubles united in the form of a cloud. Heavy at first, it began to clear in proportion to the greater and greater intimacy with which our subtle bodies interpenetrated one another. The transparency increased until soon we seemed no more than a vapour which was hardly visible. . . .

As the cloud became clearer I had the impression of taking off a series of clothes and becoming more and more intimately united with my wife. At the same time I could feel the vibrations of this state as if I were living in a psychological moment to which there was no end. . . .

In no other experience have I had so wideawake a consciousness, no love so powerful, nor a calm and serenity so profound.

It was if an ocean of love was taking possession of the bed. When the individuality of my wife united with mine, she brought a shade which was hardly perceptible, which then melted into my love, giving it a considerable expansion. The aura, the atmosphere thus generated became myself. . . . The radiation of consciousness, thus universalized, awakened in every atom of my being a kind of quivering which augmented the delicacy and sweetness of the spiritual harmony in which I found myself immersed. (Yram 206-208)PAPOBEr • Yram

There is no evidence of the male-female interpenetration. . . . Sensuality produced by the physical form of the sex counterpart is entirely absent. . . . There is an acute awareness of “difference,” which is like radiation (as it may well be) from the sun, or a fire as felt by one shivering with cold. . . .

The “act” itself is not an act at all, but an immobile, rigid state of shock where the two truly intermingle, not just at a surface level and at one or two specific body parts, but in full dimension, atom for atom, throughout the entire Second Body NOTE: astral body. There is a short, sustained electron (?) flow one to another. The moment reaches unbearable ecstasy, and then tranquility, equalization, and it is over. . . .

As in the physical state, the act is equally needed in the Second. In some part of Locale II NOTE: the astral realm, it is as ordinary as shaking hands. (Monroe 196-197)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

Don: Is there anything there that corresponds to physical sex?

Dr. Peebles: Yes. . . . It is walking into the center of another being. . . . You would just walk over here and uh, “Hi, Dr. Peebles” and you’d just step right into me. And I would not feel invaded, I’d feel expanded. Indeed, in this particular vibration no permission is requested, it’s a constant activity like breathing, people are walking in and out of each other all the time. When you become part of another being, inside them, your vibration feels different. Again, enjoying the differences rather than fearing them. . . . When you come to sexuality, you love the difference more than ever. . . . So there’s no orgasm, it doesn’t become delayed to a moment of time, you see. It’s a constant bliss. (Pendleton 42)TDAchanneled • modern • Pendleton

In case 47, I have chosen a man who had a rough start in his last life with an abusive, tyrannical father who was never satisfied with anything he did. . . .

Case 47:

Dr. N: How do the two of you bring all this to some sort of resolution in the spirit world?

S: When we are alone we agree to exchange the energy of our thoughts and all the memories of that life together. . . . Every particle of my identity as Carl’s son in that life is transferred to Carl while he projects all his memories as my father to me. It’s very subjective—and that’s good. . . .

Dr. N: And is each perspective totally honest?

S: There can be no deception here.

Dr. N: Does this exchange last long?

S: No, the transfer is brief but complete. Then we know all the trials and burdens, pain and anger—the drives—from the other’s perspective because it is like actually being inside their old body. We become the other person.

Dr. N: Does this mind exchange bring forgiveness?

S: It is so much more than that. It is an indescribable melding of two minds. We can both experience the circumstances which led the other to make certain choices. I feel Carl’s lack of fulfillment and he feels mine. Once the exchange is made, it cuts so deep forgiveness toward another isn’t necessary. You forgive yourself and then we heal each other. Understanding is absolute. We will try again in a different life until we get it right. (Newton 279, 284-285)DoShypnosis • modern • Newton

Acharya: There is a considerable difference between the life of an animal in the astral world and that of a human being. In the case of the former, it seldom inhabits spheres of that world higher than the third, for the life that a man lives on the higher spheres has little interest for an animal, and only in exceptional cases does a human being take a favourite animal with him when he passes to the higher spheres. An animal certainly has a short sojourn at the astral level after each physical life has been lived, but it does not usually last for more than ten to fifteen years at the most. . . .

Those few years that an animal spends in the astral world are always happy. . . . In the astral world you never see a dog ask for food. . . . Many humans continue to eat and drink after death, merely because they have formed the habit of so doing. A dog or a cat only eats when it is hungry and seldom from greed. . . . A dog of the hunting species has during its life been trained to hunt; after death it continues to do so. Its instinct is to look for its quarry and that very looking is in itself a thought, so a quarry immediately appears and the dog at once chases it. Whether it catches it or not is of little importance, for the quarry which is only a thought-form cannot be killed in the ordinary sense of the word. (Richelieu 137-138)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

I have two “pets” now. A little white dove often sits on my shoulder, softly cooing, when I’m sitting in my garden. She seems absolutely without fear. . . . We don’t seem to have any insects or bugs here. . . .

I found a black and white kitten on the path awhile ago. He reminds me of Blackjack, so that’s what I call him. He seems to love to hide under the bushes and jump out at me. He sleeps on the foot of my sleeping lounge, and is a lot of company. This morning I was almost sure he said, “Good morning, James”, but maybe it was just my imagination. (Starnes 74-75)

Speaking of pets, most everyone here seems to have a special companion, usually a beloved pet that had passed over while the individual was still on earth. . . .

Animals here are never noisy, rowdy, messy or pests. I’ve only seen cats and dogs and an occasional bird as personal companions. . . .

Not all teachers come to us as humans, or as angels. Animals are teachers, also. . . . As long as the love is experienced, the chord (sic) remains, connecting one with the other in spite of the animal having left the body. Often the pet will stay close to the human master, acting like a protector and spiritual guide. (Starnes 95-96)LFSchanneled • modern • James

On the astral plane, animals, too, are cared for by either their owners who have died or people who love animals. (Kubis and Macy 16)

Just as our spirit relatives wait for us, so often do our family pets—if a bond of love has been formed. Pets are often taken in by our spirit relatives and if the pet wishes to see us that wish is granted. (Kubis and Macy 58)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

Sandy (channeled): Time and Space are very different here. . . . You simply move your focus from one thing to another to experience anything you wish. . . .

The space you call Heaven is really everywhere, intermingled with your space, only at a different frequency. (Fairchilde 11-12)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

Time, by the standards of the physical world, is non-existent. There is a sequence of events, a past and a future, but no cyclical separation. . . . Measurements, from microseconds to millennia, are useless. (Monroe 74)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

The light of the astral world was just the same here as in the East, where it was night time. . . . There is neither night nor day at the astral level. (Richelieu 45)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

Here there is no night and day by the alternation of which time can be measured. It is perpetual day. . . . Neither do we have the many other indications of time that force themselves upon the earthly consciousness—such, for example, as hunger and fatigue. . . .

With the absence of earth-time in the spirit world, our lives are ordered by events . . . recurrent happenings. We have many such events here. (Borgia 31-32)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

Salter: “Although the New Year’s celebration has lost its meaning for us, many people here still celebrate it along with you in memory of their life on Earth.” Similarly, other messages from Timestream have indicated that like New Year’s people in spirit enjoy celebrating birthdays and other special occasions with their families on Earth. (Kubis and Macy 27)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

Sri Yukteswar: “Joyous astral festivities on the higher astral planets like Hiranyaloka take place when a being is liberated from the astral world through spiritual advancement, and is therefore ready to enter the heaven of the causal world.” (Yogananda 404)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

Within this ring NOTE: The largest, central ring - the mid-astral, approximately through the center, there exists what might be labeled a null point of a different variety yet quite perceivable from an external perspective. It is generated by the existence of two symbolized energy fields overlapping and exerting near-equal pressure/influence without interaction between the two. (Monroe 241)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

John: Then we go into the upper astral. . . . Mid-astral’s nice; it’s like going to a nice suburb. But the upper-astral’s just gorgeous with such beautiful scenery. There are gardens and the prototypes of all the beautiful mountains, oceans, streams, lakes and waterfalls. . . . There’s this beautiful jewel-like city where the Temple of Wisdom is located. There are mountains surrounding it where some of the people that are upper-astral entities live. . . .

[The spirit guide] says . . . “You have so much more choice when you’re in the upper-astral. Knowledge is freedom.” (Cannon 81-82)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

There are higher realms in the astral plane. I have not visited these as much as I have the lower and middle realms. . . . The higher realms appear much more ethereal than the middle realms. Colors are very delicate and “light” (i.e. the opposite of heavy). Colors and things can also appear very much like sparkling jewels. In general, the higher regions still have buildings and recognizable landscapes. The most important clue that you are in a higher region is how it feels. When in a higher region, everything feels really, really good. It is peaceful and satisfying and makes you feel light, relaxed and content.

It is my suspicion that here too, as with the middle realms, you will find regions where deceased people dwell. These are likely the regions people pass into after they have worn out their earthy desires which bind them to the middle regions. . . . You rarely encounter dreamers. APCOBEr, LDer • modern • DeGracia

[The mental plane] NOTE: higher astral plane is the plane upon which man, unless at an exceedingly early stage of his progress, spends by far the greater part of his time during the process of evolution. (Leadbeater 6)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Once a human spirit has passed through the world of souls NOTE: the lower astral plane on its journey between two incarnations, it enters the country of spirits NOTE: the higher astral plane, where it remains until it is ready for a new bodily existence. (Steiner 131)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

Beyond the mid-astral plane, there is little fear, “negativity,” or ego. These are mainly functions of the mortality and separateness of the physical body. Without bodies, there is not much to sustain fear. (Hoodwin 345)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

On this, the thought-plane, nothing but thought can be real. . . . Those thoughts of his are indeed realities.

The mental world has no scenery except such as each individual chooses to make for himself by his thought. . . . It would be a still better statement of the facts to say that all possible scenery exists—that there is nothing conceivable of loveliness in earth or sky or sea which is not there with a fullness and intensity beyond all power of imagination. (Leadbeater 22)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The beauty of these spheres surpasses the fondest imagination of the outer consciousness. When you enter them consciously and at will you will find all creation there just as tangible as your physical buildings are here. (King 91)IADchanneled • Theosophy • Germain

This lowest subdivision of the heaven-world NOTE: the upper astral plane . . . has for its principal characteristic that of affection for family and friends. (Leadbeater 54)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Glancing back at the three planes with which we have just been dealing, we may notice that they are in all cases concerned with the working out of devotion to personalities- either to one’s family and friends or to a personal deity- rather than the wider devotion to humanity for its own sake which finds its expression on the next sub-plane. (Leadbeater 79)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Acharya: On the fifth and sixth spheres, you will find still more research workers, such as psychoanalysts and brain, heart and other specialists. . . .

On these levels world economic problems are discussed and worked upon for months and years. . . . In periods of crisis great world leaders seem to stand on a pinnacle and shine. . . . Such men are chosen and they are helped by one or other of the great Beings. . . . Whilst the period of overshadowing lasts, they are indeed supermen; but when the crisis is over, this overshadowing has to be withdrawn for each man has free-will by right and may only be helped so far and no further.

On these levels there are men who are interested in the growing shortage of food for a humanity that is increasing by millions each year. . . . Great progress is often made at such conferences and suggestions are made to people living in the world, which enable humanity to advance in all its different ways. (Richelieu 128-130)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

So varied are the activities of this, the highest of the rupa NOTE: formed levels, that it is difficult to group them under a single characteristic. Perhaps they might best be arranged into four main divisions—unselfish pursuit of spiritual knowledge, high philosophic or scientific thought, literary or artistic ability exercised for unselfish purposes, and service for the sake of service. . . .

On the sixth NOTE: second sub-plane we found many Buddhists whose religion had chiefly taken the form of devotion to their great leader as a person; here, on the contrary, we have those more intelligent followers whose supreme aspiration was to sit at the feet and learn—who looked upon him in the light of a teacher rather than as a being to be adored.

Now in their heaven-life this highest wish is fulfilled; they find themselves in very truth learning from the Buddha, and the image which they have thus made of him is no empty form, but most assuredly through it shines out the wonderful wisdom, power, and love of that mightiest of earth’s teachers. . . .

Passing now to the next class, that of high philosophic and scientific thought, we find here many of those nobler and more unselfish thinkers who seek insight and knowledge only for the purpose of enlightening and helping their fellows. . . .

The third type of activity on this plane is that highest kind of artistic and literary effort which is chiefly inspired by a desire to elevate and spiritualize the race. (Leadbeater 79-80, 83, 85)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Another case was that of an astronomer. . . . He was still pursuing these studies with a mind full of reverence, and was undoubtedly gaining real knowledge from those great orders of the devas, through whom on this plane the majestic cyclic movement of the mighty stellar influences seems to express itself in ever-changing coruscations of all-penetrating living light. He was lost in contemplation of a vast panorama of whirling nebulae and gradually-forming systems and worlds, and he appeared to be groping after some dim idea as to the shape of the universe. . . . His thoughts surrounded him as elemental forms shaped as stars, and one especial source of joy to him consisted in listening to the stately rhythm of the music that pealed out in mighty chorales from the moving orbs. (Leadbeater 84)

Here we find all our greatest musicians; on this sub-plane Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Wagner and others are still flooding the heaven-world with harmony far more glorious even than the grandest which they were able to produce when on earth. It seems as if a great stream of divine music poured into them from higher regions, and was, as it were, specialized by them and made their own, to be then sent forth through all the plane in a great tide of melody which adds to the bliss of all around. . . . Even the disembodied entities of this level, each of whom is wrapped up in his own thought-cloud, are also deeply affected by the elevating and ennobling influence of its resonant melody. (Leadbeater 85)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The mental-causal planes are realms of divine inspiration free of Earthly desires and conflict. The beings here cause many of the artistic and technical breakthroughs on Earth by sending telepathic messages to artists and inventors. A number of Light Beings whose home frequencies are in the mental-causal planes assist the ITC projects by providing inspiration and guidance. (Kubis and Macy 71)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

I led us to the very outer fringes of the outermost ring, where the haze was quite thin. The rim had a glow to it as we approached, and as we entered, the glow broke down into soft individual light sources, those who resided here. These were the teachers, the helpers, the so-called guides of the inner rings—all on temporary but dedicated duty. (Monroe 201-202)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

(Now this, outer ring. . . . They are made of three types. One is the First-Timer, such as your friend. He just started to forget. Then there’s the Old-Timers, who mostly remember after . . . repeating being human a number of times. These hang around and do what they can to help. They don’t remember quite enough to go home. . . . Then there’s this third type, the Last-Timers. They make one more . . . physical life as a human, and then they’re gone. . . . There’s this other type we call Seekers. Don’t get many of them, slippery as eels. Unstable, flick in and out. . . . They come poking around here and they still got a physical human body over there, alive and kicking.) (Monroe 133-134)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

I was speaking to a woman who was in-between lives and attending school on the spirit planes. But this time it sounded like a different school than the school of knowledge I had been told of earlier. . . . She said it was located on the seventh level.

I saw we were standing on the highest point of a range of mountains which Acharya stated was called “World’s View”. . . . Although the countryside was reasonably well wooded with plenty of flowers in bloom, there were no buildings anywhere and the surroundings had a bleak appearance. I was told that a number of ascetics and holy men spend a large part of their lives under these conditions. (Richelieu 177)

Acharya: I must now tell you a little about life as it is lived on the seventh and last sphere of the astral world. The first thing that will strike you, when you visit that part, is the complete absence of buildings of any sort. There are no signs of human habitations at all, but you will find that there are permanent residents living at this level, although they do everything in their power to discourage contact when other humans approach. Such men are of the opinion that their progress in evolution can only be accomplished by resorting to complete seclusion and a life of silence. In the physical world there are holy men, who live apart from humanity. . . . These men have become so used to living within themselves, praying for long periods for the helping of mankind that after death they derive solace in continuation of the same existence that they lived for so many years on earth. . . . They usually live in the open, in woods and out-of-the-way places. (Richelieu 131-132)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

The single outermost ring is composed solely of those who are preparing for their final in-human experience—the Last-Timers. . . . They have lost their gray appearance and much of their humanoid form; they are nearly white in radiation with occasional sparkling patterns around them. They are tightly closed, and do not respond to any communication attempts except possibly among themselves. It is difficult to observe their final reentry into human experience. It is either too rapid or instantaneous. Their exit from the final cycle is represented by a sparkling glowing light which moves rapidly outward through the rings, with occasional pauses for some unknown reason. Upon passing this outermost ring, they suddenly disappear from perception, leaving no residual image or trace. (Monroe 242)

When you encounter and perceive a graduate, your only goal is to be one yourself once you realize it is possible. And it is. (Monroe 248)

We were drifting slowly out where the haze was thinner. . . . [The Last-Timers] gave off a radiation that was unforgettable—tremendous vital power that seemed totally under control. . . . They were completely open. . . . They got that way from being human. . . .

They don’t select history-making roles in that final run—they’ve probably performed such previously. They are inconspicuous, the mail clerk, the plain dirt farmer, the sailor, the bookkeeper, not gathered as a group, but quietly spotted here and there in both time and place.

If you ask their destination upon completion, most simply respond with a gentle warmth: Home. (Monroe 147-148)FJOBEr • modern • Monroe

[The mental dimension] is a spectacular dimension! Iridescent rivers of sound bounded by rainbow shores of pulsating light. Thoughts appear as kaleidoscopic patterns of light and sound. You walk across fields of ideas under a sparkling crystal sky of inspiration. . . .

Exist here in wondrous amazement. Let loose the child within you to play in this fairy wonderland. Everything feels real and solid. Time is even further distorted here than in the Astral and reality is kaleidascopic (sic).

This dimension is what, I believe, the ancient Vikings called the famed “Rainbow Bridge” into Asgard. It truly looks and feels as if you are walking up a rainbow into some wonderful world where the Gods must surely dwell. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

The closer we draw to the atmosphere of the higher planes the more sensitive becomes the human consciousness. The shades of understanding with which this consciousness has now become familiar increase in value and intensity. The atmosphere seems to be impregnated with the highest and most perfect qualities. Every atom takes on a special tone in agreement with the harmony of eternity. . . .

The observation of personal or collective thought-forms causes us to be definitely influenced by their radiations. The attention of the observer . . . is attracted in a proportionate manner to the high nature of the general character of these. The vibrations which emanate from this atmosphere make us admire, with varying intensity, the part of beauty, of exactitude of expression, the whole variety of shades which are expressed by the idea. At the same time we feel an attraction . . . to take part in their perfection. (Yram 195-196)PAPOBEr • Yram

The first impressions, then, of the pupil who enters this mental plane in full consciousness will probably be those of intense bliss, indescribably vitality, enormously increased power, and the perfect confidence which flows from these. . . . He finds himself in the midst of what seems to him a whole universe of ever-changing light and colour and sound. (Leadbeater 18)

[The mental plane] was once described to us in the beginning as a sort of prolongation of all the happiest hours in a man’s life magnified a hundredfold in bliss. (Leadbeater 65)

[The mental plane] is a world in which every being must, from the very fact of his presence there, be enjoying the highest spiritual bliss of which he is capable—a world whose power of response to his aspirations is limited only by his capacity to aspire. . . .

This radiant sense, not only of the welcome absence of all evil and discord, but of the insistent, overwhelming presence of universal joy, is the first and most striking sensation experienced by him who enters upon the heaven-world. . . .

One way in which this intense vitality manifests itself is the extreme rapidity of vibration of all particles and atoms of this mental matter. (Leadbeater 13-15)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

“As to ordinary mortal (sic) his bliss in Devachan NOTE: the upper astral plane is complete. It is an absolute oblivion of all that gave it pain or sorrow in the past incarnation, and even oblivion of the fact that such things as pain or sorrow exist at all. The Devachani lives its intermediate cycle between two incarnation surrounded by everything it had aspired to in vain, and in the companionship of everything it loved on earth.” Key to Theosophy, p. 100. (Blavatsky 75)DAclairvoyant • Theosophy • Besant

The joy, happiness and spiritual blessedness of these higher planes are beyond ordinary words. So wonderful are they, that even long after the soul has been born again on earth, there will arise within it memories of its experiences upon those higher planes. (Panchadasi 76)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

All the region of devachan NOTE: the higher astral is radiant. . . . There mere living is bliss ineffable, which nothing evil or inharmonious can disturb. No note of discord can pass into that world, for thought which cannot frame itself in harmony and beauty can find no expression. (Besant 161)SLwisdom • Theosophy • Besant

Let a man imagine himself . . . floating in a sea of living light, surrounded by every conceivable variety of loveliness in colour and form—the whole changing with every wave of thought that he sends out from his mind, and being indeed, as he presently discovers, only the expression of his thought in the matter of the plane and in its elemental essence. For that matter is of the very same order as that of which the mind-body is itself composed, and therefore when that vibration of the particles of the mind-body which we call a thought occurs, it immediately extends itself to this surrounding mental matter, and sets up corresponding vibrations in it. . . . Concrete thought naturally takes the shape of its objects, while abstract ideas usually represent themselves by all kinds of perfect and most beautiful geometrical forms. (Leadbeater 19)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

My favorite symphony . . . was Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, the Ninth. [Acharya] said: “Make a thought-form of the movement you like best and you will probably have a surprise.” Naturally I thought of the beautiful choral movement and even as I thought, I heard the music which I loved so well, seemingly coming from all around us. I listened, enthralled, until it finished with the final notes of that beautiful work. I do not think I shall ever forget this—the performance was finer in every way than anything that could be imagined under world conditions; the purity of the voices and the perfection of the playing were beyond anything I had ever conceived as possible. (Richelieu 181)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

There speech is in color and in music, in living forms of light resplendent. . . . Mind speaks directly to mind, and matter is so subtle that every thought at once takes form. (Besant 160)SLwisdom • Theosophy • Besant

As we were gazing spellbound upon the scene a sudden flash of light seemed to come from the palace directly to the Chaldean, and it was acknowledged by an answering flash which he sent back to the palace. Our presence in the realm was known, and as soon as we had feasted our eyes upon the view, we were asked to walk within the palace where our host would be waiting to receive us. Such was the message contained in the flash of light, as interpreted by the Chaldean. (Borgia 197)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson<

We all know well that our highest ideas are never realized, that our highest aspirations never bear full fruit down here. So that it would seem as though in this way some efforts were fruitless, some force was lost. But we know that cannot be, for the law of the conservation of energy holds good on the higher planes just as on the lower. . . . In the heaven-life . . . the accumulated energy immediately pours itself forth in the inevitable reaction which the law of eternal justice demands. . . .

We shall be much more likely to arrive at a correct understanding of the heaven-life if we look upon it as the necessary result of the earth-life, rather than as its reward. In the course of his physical existence a man sets in motion by his higher thoughts and aspirations what may be described as a certain amount of spiritual force, which will react upon him when he reaches the mental plane. If there be but little of this force, it will be comparatively soon exhausted, and the heaven-life will be a short one; if, on the contrary, a great deal has been generated, a corresponding space of time will be needed for its full working, and the heaven will be very greatly prolonged. . . .

For all but very highly advanced persons the heaven-life is absolutely necessary, as it is only under its conditions that their aspirations can be developed into faculty, their experiences into wisdom. (Leadbeater 91, 94)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The first things to be seen in this world are the spiritual archetypes of all the things and beings that exist in the physical and soul worlds NOTE: lower astral plane. If you imagine a painting as existing in the spiritual world before the artist paints it, you will have an image of what is meant by the term “archetype”. . . . Physical things and beings are copies or imitations of their archetypes. . . .

Archetypes in their true forms are very unlike their sense-perceptible copies. . . . In the spiritual world, everything is in constant activity, constant motion, constant creation . . . simply because the archetypes are creative beings, the master builders of everything that comes into existence in the physical and soul worlds. Their forms change quickly, and each archetype has the potential to assume countless specific forms. It is as if the specialized forms well up out of them—one form has hardly been created before its archetype is ready to let the next one pour out. . . . Often innumerable archetypes work together so that some particular being can come to life in the soul world or the physical world. . . .

The archetypes also . . . resound. . . . To an observer, it is like being in an ocean of sounds and tones in which the beings of the spiritual world are expressing themselves. Their interrelationships and the archetypal laws of their existence reveal themselves in the chords, harmonies, rhythms and melodies of this spiritual “music”. (Steiner 123-126)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

The divine mind beyond the visible cosmos was the seat of the Platonic forms, the pure Ideas of which sensible corporeal objects were merely imperfect copies. (Merchant 165)GHLcompilation • modern • many

The archetypes lie ready here like germinal points of life, waiting to assume the various forms of thought beings. When these germinal points are projected into the lower regions, they immediately well up and manifest in the most varied forms. The ideas through which the human spirit appears creatively in the physical world are reflections or shadows of these germinal thought beings of the higher spiritual world. (Steiner 130)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

Sandy (channeled): This place, which we call Heaven, contains the perfect pattern that God created for the planet, and all of the universes, and everything that ever was and is and shall be. From this archetype, the reality we know as Earth was formed. Every rose, every violet, every tree, every bird on Earth has its counterpart here in Heaven. If you can imagine the most beautiful, most perfect rose you have ever seen, then multiply that beauty and perfection ten thousands times; still it would fall far short of the spirit pattern from which that same rose was formed. (Fairchilde 9)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

John: There is a glowing spirit here and he says, “Let’s talk about the garden. It’s the prototype of all the flowers and trees and ponds and lakes and fountains that you have on Earth, so it’s much finer.” Everything is exquisite. The flowers are like hand-cut jewels. Their scents are just miraculous. . . . It feels like nature just reaches out to love you. . . . And this is a prototype of what gardens look like in the material world. This is the world, the real world. . . .

These are eternal. They never change. That’s why they have jewel-like perfection. . . .

Trees in your world, the material world, are just a reflection of these. . . .

All beautiful things that are created in your physical world have their counterparts here in this world. . . .

The intensity of the colors is breathtaking. (Cannon 85-86)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Man, being a part of that inner world by reason of the nature of his own psyche, automatically has a hand in the creation of those blueprints which at another level he uses as guides.

In your terms, the inner world does represent Idea Potential as yet unrealized—but those ideas and those potentials do not exist outside of consciousness. They are ideals set in the heart of man, yet in other terms he is the one who also put them there, out of the deeper knowledge of his being that straddles physical time. Existence is wise and compassionate, so in certain terms consciousness, knowing itself as man, sent future extensions of itself out into the time scheme that man would know, and lovingly planted signposts for itself to follow “later.” (Roberts 159-160)URchanneled • modern • Seth

Dr. Peebles: Enlightenment creates an ability to penetrate some levels of consciousness and of reality, and I am blessed to be part of that environment, and we who are gathered together in this community, having lifted ourselves through and beyond the karma of life, have another experience that is more unified, more objectified, more consistent and cooperative with each other. It’s one large community of light, and in that light there is a sense of freedom beyond even what words can describe, and that sense of freedom is the result of love, love of self in the light of the divine and all life everywhere, a love of learning, a love of differences, a love of intimacy. All these items tend to be the source of fear for those who have not yet achieved this state.

We are able then to move through these various villages, towns, and localities on the spirit side. (Pendleton 37-38)TDAchanneled • modern • Pendleton

We were in a dominion of unparalleled beauty. . . .

We stood upon an elevation some height above the city; our good friends had expressly taken us to this particular location to present us with this superb view. . . .

Stretching before us was the wide stream of a river, looking calm, peaceful, and overwhelmingly lovely as the heavenly sun touched every tiny wave with a myriad tints and tones. Occupying a central position in the view, and upon the right bank of the river, was a spacious terrace built to the water’s edge. It seemed to be composed of the most delicate alabaster. A broad flight of steps led up to the most magnificent building that the mind could ever contemplate.

It was several stories high, each of them being arranged in a series of orders, so that each occupied a gradually diminishing area until the topmost was reached. Its exterior appearance was, if anything, almost plain and unadorned, and it was obvious why this should be so. The whole edifice was exclusively composed of sapphire, diamond, and topaz, or at least, their celestial equivalent. These three precious stones constituted the crystalline embodiment of the three colors blue, white and gold, and they corresponded with the colors which we had seen before in the robe of our celestial visitor. . . . The blue, white and gold of the jewelled palace, touched by the pure rays of the great central sun, were intensified and magnified a thousandfold, and flashed forth in every direction their beams of the purest light. . . .

We could see, surrounding the palace, many acres of the most enchanting gardens laid out in such fashion that, from the distant and elevated viewpoint which we occupied, they presented a huge and intricate pattern as in some superbly-wrought eastern carpet. . . .

The range of our vision was increased in these rarified regions beyond all human conception, and so it seemed that literally an unending vista spread before us of more earthly miles than it is possible to contemplate. And all through this wide expanse we could see other magnificent buildings built of still more precious stones—of emerald and amethyst, to name but two, and, far away, what looked like pearl. Each of the different buildings was set amid the most entrancing gardens, where trees were growing of unimaginable richness and color and grandeur of form. Wherever we cast our eyes, there we could see the flashing of jewelled buildings, reflecting back the rays of the central sun, the myriad colors from the flowers, and the scintillations from the waters of the river that flowed before us far away into the distance. . . . NOTE: Notice the “central sun” when the realm has a sunless sky and is internally lit

The whole air was filled with the harmony sent forth from the volumes of color that abounded upon every hand.

The temperature seemed to us much higher than that of our own realm. The Chaldean told us that it was really much higher than we could feel, but that our minds had been attuned to the difference of temperature just as they had been attuned to the intensity of light. A gentle breeze was pleasantly perceptible as it touched our faces with its heavenly scented breath. (Borgia 195-198)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

The building itself was magnificent. It was stately; it was grand; it was an inspiration in itself. It appeared to be made of the finest crystal, but it was not transparent. Massive pillars were polished until they shone like the sun, while every carving flashed its brilliant colors until the whole edifice was a temple of light. Never did I think such scintillations possible, for not only did the surfaces reflect the light in the ordinary way, they gave out a light of their own that could be felt spiritually. (Borgia 100)

Everywhere that we cast our eyes we could see jewelled walls and jewelled floor. Upon the walls were pictures of pastoral scenes where the artist had utilized every gem known to mortal man—and many others unknown to him—as the medium for his work. These pictures were, in their execution, of a mosaic order, but the effect produced upon the beholder was one of liquid light. . . . The constituents of the pictures sent forth their rays of light in all the colors that the subject demanded, and the effect upon the eye was one of pure life. The colors themselves were exquisite, and contained many more tones and shades of tones than earthly pigments could provide. (Borgia 198)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

In the case of people of unselfish aims . . . the only difference that death had made was to eliminate disease and suffering, and to render easy the work which had heretofore been impossible. (Leadbeater 77)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

They will enjoy the presence of their beloved in the one personal aspect held by him or her in the one incarnation they are conscious of for as long as the desire for that presence remains. . . .

The Devachani NOTE: upper astral inhabitant is surrounded by all he loved on earth, with pure affection. (Besant 72-73)

Were the manasic NOTE: upper astral entity free from all illusion, it would see all Egos NOTE: reincarnating selves as its brother-Souls, and looking back over its past would recognize all the varied relationships it had borne to others in many lives, as the actor would remember the many parts he had played with other actors. . . . The deeper human relationship would prevent the brother actors from identifying each other with their parts. . . . But the Devachani NOTE: upper astral inhabitant, at least in the lower stages, is still within the personal boundaries of his past earth-life; he is shut into the relationships of the one incarnation; his paradise is peopled with those he “loved best with an undying love, that holy feeling that alone survives.” (Besant 69-70)DAclairvoyant • Theosophy • Besant

Our old friend returned bringing with him a very striking looking man who, I knew at once, had come from a higher sphere in answer to Edwin’s call. . . . He was an Egyptian. . . . He spoke our own tongue perfectly. . . .

Our visitor was possessed of a very strong personality, and he gave one the strong impression of calmness and placidity. He would, one imagined, always remain perfectly unruffled. (Borgia 77)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

I truly believe that the Chaldean is the merriest soul in the whole of the spirit realms. I mention this specifically because there would seem to be an idea in some minds that the higher one’s spiritual status becomes the more serious one has to be. Such a notion is entirely false. The reverse is the truth. . . .

The illustrious personage, towards whose home in the high realms we were making our way, was known by sight to every soul in the realms of light. His wish was always treated as a command, and his word was law. The blue, white and gold in his robe, evident in such enormous proportions, revealed the stupendous degree of his knowledge, spirituality, and wisdom. There were thousands who named Him as their “beloved master”. . . .

He is a real living person, as firm a reality as we are ourselves. . . . There are mistaken notions that the beings of the highest realms are so ethereal as to be practically invisible except to others of their kind. (Borgia 191-193)

Welcome, indeed, was the overmastering feeling that enveloped us as we first put foot within the palace. . . .

We entered. Our host was seated by a window. As soon as he saw us he rose and came forward to greet us. First he thanked the Chaldean and the Egyptian for bringing us to him. Then he took us each by the hand and bade us be welcome to his home. . . .

His hair, for example, seemed to be golden when he came to us. Here it seemed to be as of bright golden light, rather than of the color of gold. NOTE: Light streaming out of everything He looked to be young, to be of eternal youthfulness, but we could feel the countless eons of time, as it is known on earth, that lay behind him.

When he spoke his voice was sheer music, his laugh as a rippling of the waters, but never did I think it possible for one individual to breathe forth such affection, such kindliness, such thoughtfulness and consideration. . . . One felt that, under the Father of Heaven, he held the key to all knowledge and wisdom. . . . Here in his very presence we felt perfectly at home, perfectly at ease with him. He laughed with us, he joked with us, he asked us what we thought of his roses, and had the Chaldean managed to keep us merry upon our way thither. He spoke to each of us individually, displaying an exact acquaintance with all our concerns, collectively and personally. Then finally he came to the reason for his invitation to us to visit him. . . .

He had asked us to visit him in order to tell us himself that these realms, wherein we were now visiting, were within the reach of every soul that is born upon the earth-plane, that no one can deprive us of that right: and that although it may take countless years of time to reach those realms, yet there is all eternity in which to achieve that end, and that there are unlimited means to help us upon our way. That, he said, is the simple, great fact of spirit life. (Borgia 198-200)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

[The angels’] presence, though awe inspiring and overwhelming, is never threatening. Rather they feel like home, like peace, like safety. They feel like love. I always feel them before I see them . . . it is like being in a room with your very best friends. You know they know everything there is to know about you and they love you anyway. . . .

Their form is much like ours, only their light is not hidden or dense, but shines forth in a radiant halo. This halo surrounds them and consists of many colors that we cannot normally perceive with our physical eyes. There is always an abundance of gold and blue and pink and silvery white, in addition to the heavenly hues. This cloak of leaping, living light radiates outward. . . . If need be, angels can slow down this dance of light so that they appear more human, more like us, less shiny. At that point they can be seen by a greater number of people. . . .

Angels (channeled): There is no place where you are that we are not. We are simply focusing and expressing our consciousness, our souls, at a higher vibrational level. (Fairchilde 41-42)VftAchanneled • modern • Fairchilde

Subject: I see spiritual entities looking like white lights. It would be like miniature suns of various shapes and colors, kind of glowing out from the center.. As the light goes out from the center it has hints of other colors within the white. It is like an aurora or an opal. . . . With these entities, you see rays of other colors that seem to indicate how they feel, the mood they are in, what they are thinking and how developed they are. . . .

You don’t really see a definite outline because it is too bright. (Cannon 191)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Those [guides] who work on the astral level are concerned primarily with matters of the heart and loving. They are very comforting, loving and caring and speak poetically, teaching us to learn to love ourselves with all our faults, etc. The guides who do the ketheric and etheric template NOTE: Brennan’s 7th and 5th level work . . . do not appear to have a lot of feelings, but at the same time are very supportive and accepting. . . . The Eighth Level Shield guides give a sense of great acceptance and infinite patience with love. (Brennan 233)HoLclairvoyant • modern • Brennan

So far as the shapes of Higher Beings are concerned, they have none. . . . It is easy for them to show themselves in whatever shape they wish, but, in practice, one sees them rarely. We feel their presence only by a special atmosphere which is marked by a friendly energy, full of confidence and conveying a benevolent and protective magnetism. (Yram 152)PAPOBEr • Yram

Those human beings who, while still attached to a physical body, are found moving in full consciousness and activity upon this [mental] plane, are invariably either Adepts or their initiated pupils. . . .

Very magnificent objects are these Adepts and Initiates to the vision which has learnt to see them—splendid globes of light and colour . . . acting upon all who come near them as the sunshine acts upon the flowers, and shedding around them a feeling of restfulness and happiness of which even those who do not see them are often conscious. (Leadbeater 40-41)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

You have noticed certain glorious forms on these regions. . . . These were those highly evolved beings, once men like ourselves, who have voluntarily returned from higher spheres to teach and instruct. (Panchadasi 73-74)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

The teachers themselves do not cease their own studies because they are teaching. They are ever investigating and learning, and passing on to their pupils what they have thus gained. Some have progressed to a higher realm, but they still retain their interest in their former sphere, and continuously visit it—and their many friends—to pursue their teaching. (Borgia 72)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

A disciple, therefore, is always taught and directed in all his activities from the soul realm in the Kingdom. From there either his own Higher Self or other Teachers and Masters of Wisdom teach and guide him. (Benner 197)WttKchanneled • New Thought • Benner

Acharya: Such [intellectual] men pass more quickly through the lower to the higher levels of the astral world, where they are not only able to continue any experimental work in which they were interested, but can gather students with similar tastes round them. Such gatherings are to be seen frequently. . . . The artist has his group of pupils trying to imitate his skill, as also does the musician, and now the latter is happy indeed for he has the opportunity of listening not only to the world’s music but to the music of nature from that of the sea and the wind to the music of the spheres. . . . There is an ordered song as the planets move through their mighty curves in space. . . . A musician may meet the great angels of music, for there are angels who live for music, who express themselves in and by music, to whom music is what speech is to us. (Richelieu 31-32)ASJOBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Richelieu

I saw only lights and vivid colors of indefinite shapes. . . . My experience was that of simply existing as a consciousness. I did not feel the form of the psychosoma NOTE: astral body. It was invisible even to me.

Lighter than usual outside the dense body, I had an attitude of confidence . . . which made unequivocally sublime energies arise within me. . . .

I was suddenly sure of being a participant in a formless gathering. . . .

It was clear that a Higher Consciousness would manifest itself through everyone present. . . .

It was a free consciousness. A lucid vortex of vibrant energetic emanation; free from matter, form and space. . . .

The eloquence of the dissertation . . . spoken in the silent voice of the inner self, appeared fleeting, and yet everlasting. The influx emanated from an invisible, nonphysical superhuman consciousness with a serene knowledge, and no emotionalism. . . .

In 22 minutes of sleep, I had experienced a millennium of reality. . . .

It all happened with the naturality of a sunrise, family life, a running brook. . . .

My wish to remain there overrode all other desires and aspirations, but an irresistible command ordered me to return. . . .

One no longer believes, one knows. (Vieira 217-220, 221)PotCOBEr • modern • Vieira

[The Akashic records] are a record of every thought and event that has ever occurred, like a huge . . . picture book. The Akashic records also contain probabilities stemming from, and created by, past events, actions and thoughts. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

The more enterprising souls may have an opportunity to experience one of the great wonders of this realm of consciousness – a tour through some section of “The Great Memory.” Just as on Earth, one may go to a library and see newsreels of important Earth events of history. . . . One may witness any event that has occurred from the beginning of human experience. Everything that has ever happened has been recorded by the cosmic memory. CCchanneled • Society for Psychical Research • Myers

The history of his earlier evolution can be obtained by examination of those ineffaceable records of the past from which all that has happened since the solar system came into existence may be recovered, and caused to pass before the mind’s eye; so that the observer sees everything as though he had been present when it occurred, with the enormous additional advantage of being able to hold any single scene as long as may be required for careful examination, or to pass a whole century of events in review in a few moments if desired. (Leadbeater 20)MV&Iclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The akashic records are everywhere, part of the fabric of all things. Everything that occurs is recorded there. . . . The records are quite complex and require a great deal of practice to use skillfully. (Hoodwin 25)

[The akashic plane] is not directly part of the progression because we do not actually have a cycle of experience there—it is a resource for the universe as a whole, and provides the Tao NOTE: The Source with a distillation of all that has been accomplished in this universe. (Hoodwin 337)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

Memory and impressions are as old as time and will continue as long as the Universe exists. Memory is ingrained in the subtle matrix of the Universe. Anything that happens anywhere at any time is recorded in the subtle, in the akasa.

For anyone with sufficient clarity of consciousness, this beginningless and endless record can be tapped. But even without that clarity, the individual is intimately conjoined with this universal field of memory and impression. (MSI 288)Ewisdom • modern, Hindu • Isham

The Akashic Records . . . are impressions of every word, scene, and action which has ever occurred, in the Universal Ether or “Astral Light”. . . . We have an example of it in our own memory. . . . Is the Akashic Record so much more mysterious than your own memory?

Carrington: “If you could get far enough away in space, there would always be a time, theoretically, when you could see that action, being recorded in the ether. So that every stone put in place on the Great Pyramid is now being put there—at a certain distance in space. The “creation” of the world can now be seen in space—at a certain distance!”

We still see the record of stars which went out of existence hundreds of years ago.

Swami Panchadasi: “By travelling to a point in time, on the fourth dimension, you may begin at that point, and see a moving picture of the history of any part of the earth from that time to the present—or you may reverse the sequence by travelling backward.” (Muldoon 297-299)PotABOBEr • Spiritualism • Muldoon

This universe has seven planes, or dimensions. Three are ordinal (concrete), three are cardinal (abstract), and one is neutral, providing connection. . . . The higher planes are about pure energy, love, and thought; the lower planes are about manifesting them. The fulcrum of the balance is the neutral akashic plane. It connects all the others through the akashic or record-keeping aspect of each plane, which feed into it. (Hoodwin 336-337)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

On the fourth plane are the Akashic Records, the record of the lives of people who have lived on Earth and all the events that have ever occurred or will occur on Earth. The reflection of the Akashic Records can be seen on the third plane NOTE: mid-astral plane but it is not a true record as it is distorted due to the reflection. . . .

Most psychics are only able to access the third plane and the reflected Akashic Records. Consequently, their predictions are full of half truths. The spiritual psychic who is able to access the fourth plane is more accurate. (Kubis and Macy 89)CBtLITC, OBEr • modern (Theosophy) • Kubis & Macy

In speaking of the general characteristics of the [mental] NOTE: higher astral plane we must not omit to mention the ever-present background formed by the records of the past—the memory of nature. . . . While what we have on this plane is not yet the absolute record itself, but merely the reflection of something higher still, it is at any rate clear, accurate, and continuous, differing therein from the disconnected and spasmodic manifestation which is all that represents it in the NOTE: lower astral world. (Leadbeater 36)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

This wonderful reflection of the divine memory cannot be consulted with perfect certainty below the mental NOTE: higher astral plane. (Leadbeater 20)MV&Iclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The Records of the Astral Light [are] the photographic representation of all that has ever happened. These records are really and permanently impressed upon that higher medium called the Akasha, and are only reflected in a more or less spasmodic manner in the NOTE: lower astral light, so that one whose power of vision does not rise above this plane will be likely to obtain only occasional and disconnected pictures of the past instead of a coherent narrative. But nevertheless pictures of all kinds of past events are constantly being reproduced on the astral plane, and form an important part of the surroundings of the investigator there. (Leadbeater 18)APclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

The real records of the past—the great Akashic Records—really exist on a much higher plane than the NOTE: lower Astral, and that which you have witnessed is but a reflection (practically perfect, however) of the original records. (Panchadasi 81-82)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

It is the reflection of these akashic images that may be thrown upon the screen of NOTE: lower astral matter by the action of the trained attention—as a picture may be thrown on a screen from a slide in a magic-lanternNOTE: a projector—so that a scene from the past may be reproduced in all its living reality, correct in every detail . . . and lived in by the trained Seer. (Besant 26-27)Kclairvoyant • Theosophy • Besant

Subject: The concept of Akashic records is perhaps not totally understood. We would wish to define this now. Perhaps you could use an analogy of the safe deposit boxes in your bank. The individual boxes themselves store your personal belongings. The concept of the bank itself is a storehouse; however, each individual box contains only that which is relevant to yourself. And so you can see that you yourself store or, in fact, are the safe deposit box of your own energy. It is simply that we may go to your particular vault or box and withdraw that information which you seek. You, yourself, however, are the receptacle for this information. . . .

Dolores: Do these safety deposit boxes contain all the records of our future as well as our past lives?

Subject: They contain only that which is appropriate for you at this time. . . .

All that you experience, every singular piece of experience that you relate to in your life, is automatically fed into this as you experience it. (Cannon 48)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Our minds are like a complete biography of our earthly life, wherein is set down every little detail concerning ourselves, arranged in an orderly fashion, and omitting nothing. The book is closed, normally, but it is ever there, ready to hand, for us to turn to, and we merely recall the incidents as we wish. . . .

Sometimes you cannot recall what is in your memory, but in the spirit world we can recall instantly, without any effort, and unfailingly. . . . The recordings upon the tablets of the realm mind cannot be erased. (Borgia 151-152)LWUchanneled • modern • Benson

People under hypnosis have been able to recall forgotten details of their childhood experiences. People who have been unconscious during operations have later been hypnotized and were able to describe verbatim conversations held between the doctors and nurses while the operation was performed. People who have performed the complex task of bricklaying years before they were hypnotized were able to report under hypnosis amazingly accurate, minute details about specific bricks, which could then be verified by checking the actual brick. Everything we are exposed to is recorded. (Garfield 38-39)PtELDer • modern • Garfield

Reading information directly from the individual usually requires less energy . . . than looking it up in the akashic records. . . .

Looking up information about an individual in the akashic records is going to its source. Reading it directly from the individual is seeing the expression of the source, the form it takes. (Hoodwin 29-30)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

The person’s individual akashic records . . . is, in turn, connected to larger “storehouses” such as the collective consciousness of humanity. Ultimately, it is connected to the whole, so when we clarify our [individual akashic records] through self-knowledge and healing, we are contributing to the clarification of the whole physical universe. As our essence NOTE: reincarnating self integrates the reincarnational self we are in this lifetime, our akashic records become more accessible to our whole essence. (Hoodwin 26)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

Our physical body has an akashic record of all that it has experienced; that record will ultimately be distilled and integrated into the akashic plane. . . . By “distilled,” I mean that the raw material of experience will be studied, organized, and understood. . . .

Michael: There is no distillation of the akashic records except through the evolution of those who had the experiences those records record. If you had a traumatic experience in the past and you dealt with it—if you evolved your experience of that trauma—that, too, goes into the records. What ultimately remains on the akashic plane is the distillation, what was learned, which is what is relevant for the universe to carry forward into the future. . . . This distillation is constantly occurring as you continue to grow. . . . When you pick up the unfinished pieces of the past and see them with more clarity and understanding, you evolve the experience. (Hoodwin 25-27)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

John: [The guide] says whatever is necessary for a soul’s growth is allowed. For some people it’s books. But for most advanced souls it’s just information. (Cannon 76)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

John: I’m walking down this beautiful corridor with walls that look like lapis lazuli and marble. At the end is this big doorway. I’m opening the door, and there is a dazzling bright light. . . .

It is a man, or a spirit form. He says he’s the guardian of the Tapestry Room and is allowing me to enter. This is a very honored place. . . . It’s very, very tall. . . . There are windows at the top of it and on either side of the walls. They’re up high and they light up the room. . . . And there is some heavy furniture at different intervals, like groups of chairs and tables opposite the tapestry. . . . The guardian says sometimes teachers bring their students here to explain the wonders and the intricacies of the tapestry to them. . . . I’m going now to look at the tapestry. It’s so beautiful. It’s metallic; made of metal threads and they’re just gorgeous. They glimmer and shine. And it looks like it breathes. It’s like . . . it is alive. I mean it just undulates and sparkles. Some of the strands glisten, and others are kind of dull. . . . And the guardian says that each thread represents a life. . . .

It makes a beautiful design. An eternal design. And. . . . I can see the world beyond that. By looking at this tapestry, I can see any event that has taken place. . . .

It’s like looking through the tapestry. . . . I can see people’s daily lives. . . . Every life that has ever been lived is represented as a thread in this tapestry. This is where all the threads of human life, the souls that incarnate are connected. It illustrates perfectly how each life is interwoven, crossing and touching all these other lives until eventually all of humanity is affected. . . .

The tapestry is huge. It seems to be about, oh, I would say at least 20 to 25 feet tall. And it seems to go on forever. It would take me hours just to walk the length of it. It must go on for a mile or more. . . . But there’s a point that I cannot go beyond. . . .

It’s made up of strands that range from a tiny piece of string all the way up to cable size, as thick as your wrist. . . .

There are greens, blues, reds, yellows, oranges and blacks. . . .

[These colors] represent the spiritual energy of all souls. . . .

[The teacher] has something like a shimmery pointer. . . . He points to a thread in the tapestry and that thread, cable, rope or whatever you want to call it, will seem to light up on its own. He points out different characteristics about lifetimes, about how people have evolved and where they have to grow. . . .

This is what the ancients call the “Akashic Records.” These are the Akashic records that advanced souls understand. He says some of the records are kept in book form, but those are for souls who are not as highly advanced. . . .

The tapestry has a purpose. It goes into the higher dimensions, even above here, and this is a very complex place. This tapestry eventually ends in Godhood where it’s all brightness. It all leads to this beautiful light. . . .

You’d be surprised at how many people have come to this room who are still in the body. Many come to view it as a work of art. He says this has sometimes been an inspiration for artists who are skilled in painting, sculpture and the textile arts. They sometimes come here because this is one of the most glorious works of art in all creation. It has many different designs, such as wild contemporary patterns, Oriental designs or Native American arrangements. . . .

John: [The guide] says, “You can see things, because behind the tapestry is your sense of time and you can find a cord and go through time.” (Cannon 67-72)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Looking through the Akashic records is like leafing through an infinite mental photo album. You are bombarded with an awesome array of the sights and sounds of past, present and probable futures. You have to select one of these thought records, tune into it and enter it. You will then live through the record as if you were really there, watching it as it happens.

Consulting with the Akashic records can be done alone if you have the skill, but is normally done with the assistance of an advanced being from a higher level of existence. This is done as a sort of telepathic guided tour. The enormous amount of information . . . is filtered out for you and the selected record . . . is presented to you clairvoyantly, via a telepathic link with the . . . librarian.

Some people claim to have entered the Akashic Records and found something like a library there, with real books. . . . They have read a record, then entered into it, and experience the record first hand.

All these claims are consistant (sic) with the Akashic Records. These are librarian assisted guided tours, where the Akashic Records have been presented as something familiar, easy to use and easy to accept. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

The akashic records hold the complete memory of all our incarnations. . . . To look into this astral record . . . takes a great deal of concentration. You feel as though you’re breaking through a wall to reach this information. . . .

NOTE: TO DO - who is saying this? “It’s like any art—one must practice in order to become proficient. You’re able to see as much as is needed at this time.” (Browne 65)RotOSclairvoyant • modern • Browne

It requires a high degree of occult development in order to perceive even this reflection in the Astral Light. . . . An ordinary clairvoyant, however, is often able to catch occasional glimpses of these astral pictures. (Panchadasi 82)AWunknown • New Thought (Theosophy) • Atkinson

Michael: We have access, to some extent, to all the energies of the universe, although much of that access is more subliminal than conscious for us. You have that access as well, but not to as great an extent. . . .

Any available information can be obtained, but one has to weigh the value of the information versus the amount of effort it would take to retrieve it. . . .

Not all information is available. To get information, there must be a source for it. If you ask us about something occurring on Earth where those involved are not allowing a connection to the higher planes, their guides may not be able to tell us anything about it. (Hoodwin 56, 58)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

If you tune into the Akashic records yourself you will normally see those events with the greatest . . . energy around them. Wars and disasters are the easiest to see because of this. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

Michael: What you end up attracting to your vision is what has some relevance to you, some reason for you to see. Your being on a particular piece of land, for instance, automatically biases your looking into the akashic records to the records of that land. . . . A particular story is attracted in your presence because of something in it that resonates with you. (Hoodwin 27)JoYSchanneled • modern • Hoodwin

I was escorted on a short visit to the fringes of INSPEC NOTE: reincarnating self space at my request. Although I was able to perceive very little other than the massive empathy and love that radiated through me, there was also the strong impression of many beings in happy residence. (Monroe 31-32)UJOBEr • modern • Monroe

The thought-images of the rupa NOTE: formed levels NOTE: higher astral levels are not carried into the higher heaven-world NOTE: the causal; all illusion now is past, and each soul knows his real kindred, sees them and is seen in his own royal nature, as the true immortal man that passes on from life to life, with all the ties intact that are knit to his real being. (Leadbeater 107)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

This, the lowest of the arupa NOTE: formless sub-planes, is also by far the most populous of all the regions with which we are acquainted, for here are present almost all the sixty thousand millions of souls who are said to be engaged in the present human evolution. . . .

The immense majority, whether in or out of the body, are but dreamily semi-conscious, though few are now in the condition of mere colourless films; those who are fully awake are marked and brilliant exceptions, standing out amid the less radiant crowds like stars of the first magnitude, and between these and the least-developed are ranged every variety of size and beauty of colour—each thus representing the exact stage of evolution at which he has arrived. . . .

The most advanced souls of this sub-plane develop to a point at which they are engaged in studying their past, tracing out the causes set going in it, and learning much from the retrospection, so that impulses sent downwards become clearer and more definite, and translate themselves in the lower consciousness as firm convictions and imperative intuitions. (Leadbeater 102-105, 107)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

From the densely-thronged region which we have been considering we pass into a more thinly-populated world, as out of a great city into a peaceful countryside; for at the present stage of human evolution only a small minority of individuals have risen to this loftier level where even the least advanced is definitely self-conscious, and also conscious of his surroundings. . . . The soul on this level is aware of the purpose and method of evolution. . . . The personality with which he is connected is seen by him as part of himself, and he endeavors to guide it, using his knowledge of the past as a store of experience from which he formulates principles of conduct, clear and immutable convictions of right and wrong. . . .

NOTE: This is key - souls with more experience provide stronger guidance to the incarnated personality

Into the inmost fibres of his being certain principles are wrought, and to act against them is an impossibility, no matter what may be the strain of circumstance. . . .

Only such souls as are deliberately aiming at spiritual growth live on this plane. . . . In the more highly evolved the vision is far-reaching: it ranges with clear insight over past, recognizing the causes set up, their working out, and what remains still unexhausted of their effects. . . .

No longer by thought-pictures, but by a flashing luminousness impossible to describe, the very essence of the idea flies like a star from one soul to the other. . . . A thought is like a light placed in a room; it shows all things round it, but requires no words to describe them. . . .

From their eyes the illusion-veil of personality has been lifted, and they know and realize they are not the lower nature, but only use it as a vehicle of experience. . . .

As soon as he got well into the second sub-plane his vision rapidly became clearer, and he recognized the thought-forms with pleasure as vehicles through which he was able to express more of himself in certain ways than he could through his personality. . . .

His consciousness is instantaneously and perfectly active at any point in the lower divisions to which he wills to direct it, and he, therefore, can intentionally project additional energy into such a thought-form when he wishes to use it for the purpose of teaching. (Leadbeater 107-112)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

In touching the seventh heaven we come into contact for the first time with a plane which is cosmic in its extent—on which, therefore, may be met many an entity which mere human language has no words to portray. (Leadbeater 113)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Sri Yukteswar: “The causal world is indescribably subtle. . . . The causal world [is] the borderline of fusion between mind and matter. There one perceives all created things . . . as forms of consciousness.

“Whatever a human being can do in fancy, a causal being can do in reality. . . . Beings in the causal world have a much greater freedom, and can effortlessly manifest their thoughts into instant objectivity. . . .

“Causal beings realize that the physical cosmos is not primarily constructed of electrons, nor is the astral cosmos basically composed of lifetrons NOTE: prana—both in reality are created from the minutest particles of God-thought NOTE: Seth’s Conscsiousness Units, chopped and divided by maya, the law of relativity which intervenes to apparently separate the Nounmenon NOTE: the thing in itself from His phenomena.

“Souls in the causal world recognize one another as individualized points of joyous Spirit; their thought-things NOTE: thought forms are the only objects which surround them. . . .

“Causal-bodied beings feast only on the ambrosia of eternally new knowledge.” (Yogananda 410-411)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

While my environment differs in rather important respects from that of my readers, I can assure you, with ironic understatement, that it is as vivid, varied, and vital as physical existence. It is more pleasurable—though my ideas of pleasure have changed some since I was a physical being—being more rewarding and offering far greater opportunities for creative achievement. (Roberts 16)

I share my field of existence with others who have more or less the same challenges to meet, the same overall pattern of development. . . .

We do not know death. . . . Our existence takes us into many other environments, and we blend into these. . . .

There are no real barriers to separate the systems of which I speak. The only separation is brought about by the varying abilities of entities to perceive and manipulate. You exist in the midst of many other systems of reality, for example, but you do not perceive them. (Roberts 19-20)

There is no end to our environment. In your terms there would be no lack of space or time in which to operate. . . . We are still alert to other quite alien systems of reality that flash on the outskirts of consciousness as we know it. . . .

In some systems for example, [consciousness] forms highly integrated mathematical and musical patterns that are themselves stimuli for other universal systems. (Roberts 23)

We are aware of what you would call our past selves. . . .

We realize our freedom to choose our thoughts, and we choose them with some discrimination and finesse. (Roberts 30)

We often translate each other’s thoughts into various shapes and forms out of pure enjoyment in the practice. (Roberts 42)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

We have strong emotional experience, although it differs in a large measure from your own. It is far less limited and far more expansive in that we are also aware and responsive to the emotional “climate” as a whole. We are much freer to feel and experience, because we are not so afraid of being swept away by feeling. (Roberts 19)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

On ascending from the lower regions of spirit country to these upper ones, observers possessing the “spiritual ear” become aware that sounds and tones are transformed into spiritual language; they begin to perceive the “spiritual world” through which objects and beings communicate their nature not only in music but also in words, speaking out what can be called in spiritual science their “eternal names.” (Steiner 130)Tclairvoyant • Theosophy • Steiner

We enjoy a sense of play that is highly spontaneous, and yet I suppose you would call it responsible play. Certainly it is creative play. We play, for example, with the mobility of our consciousness, seeing how “far” one can send it. We are constantly surprised by the products of our own consciousness, of the dimensions of reality through which we can hopscotch. . . . The pathways we make continue to exist and can be used by others. We leave messages to any who come by, mental signposts. (Roberts 32)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

For our “vacations” we visit amid simple life forms, and blend with them.

To this extent we indulge in relaxation and sleep, for we can spend a century as a tree or as an uncomplicated life form in another reality. . . . We may create, you see, the forest in which we grow. Usually however we are highly active, our full energies focused in our work and in new challenges. (Roberts 21)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

I perceive people in a room in a far different manner than they perceive themselves; their various past and future reincarnated personalities, but not their probable selves, are perceivable to me.

I “see” the reincarnated aspects. . . . In your terms it would be as if you saw a series of quickly moving pictures. . . .

I say for example that I am aware of their past and future actions and thoughts; and yet what I am aware of, actually, are ever-shifting and changing patterns, both in the future and in the past. (Roberts 297)

This room does not exist to me. (Roberts 422)SSchanneled • modern • Seth

Sri Yukteswar: “Many beings remain for thousands of years in the causal cosmos. By deeper ecstasies the freed soul then withdraws itself from the little causal body and puts on the vastness of the causal cosmos. All the separate eddies of ideas, particularized waves of power, love, will, joy . . . melt into the ever-joyous Sea of Bliss. No longer does the soul have to experience its joy as an individualized wave of consciousness, but is merged in the One Cosmic Ocean, with all its waves—eternal laughter, thrills. (Yogananda 411)

Sri Yukteswar: “Only when a being has no further desires for experiences in the pleasing-to-the-eye astral cosmos, and cannot be tempted to go back there, does he remain in the causal world.” (Yogananda 413)AoaYwisdom • Hinduism • Yogananda

To use the theosophical terminology I was in the mental world “Arupa,” NOTE: the formless but the peculiarity of my observations was that only this world “Arupa” really existed. All the rest was the creation of imagination. The real world was a “world without forms.” (Ouspensky 285)ANMUpsychedelic • Theosophy • Ouspensky

The sixth realm is called by Myers, the “realm of light.” Individuals on this realm are matured spirits, having lived through, with conscious comprehension, all the aspects of the created universe. They are capable of living now without form, of existing as white light in the pure thought of the Creator. CCchanneled • Society for Psychical Research • Myers

Swedenborg said that beyond the heaven he visited was another heaven, one so brilliant and formless to his perceptions that it appeared only as “a streaming of light.” (Talbot 301)HUscientific, researcher • modern • Talbot

Dolores: In the area known as heaven, would it just be all blank or would there be scenes, buildings or whatever?

Subject: No, not buildings. Your perception is different and you can see the energies. It would be like fantastic displays of aurora borealis. You would be energy yourself and you could manipulate the energies to achieve different things and cause different things to happen. . . . You can look into the lower planes very easily and see the physical planes and see what’s going on. (Cannon 37)BDLhypnosis • modern • Cannon

Beyond the glorious devachanic NOTE: higher astral world opens yet another more glorious, the region of Samadhi, where a few of our race can function, though it is utterly unknown to the vast majority. It is a region where thought entirely changes its character and no longer exists as what is called thought on the lower planes. Consciousness loses many of its limitations, and acquires a new and strange expansion. Consciousness still knows itself to be itself, and yet has widened out to know other selves as one with it. . . . It lives, breathes, feels with others, identifying itself with others, yet knowing its own center. . . .

This is the unity of those who are higher and, because they are higher, realize their oneness with all below, seeing humanity in the unity of its spiritual nature instead of in the diversity of its material manifestations. Then compassion flows out, that compassion that sees and knows itself in every human soul, that understands all and therefore is able to help all. . . . In the worst and most degraded it still realizes the possibilities that to it are actualities, as it sees in all people what they are in reality, not in appearance. . . .

At this level, incomprehensible problems find simple solution, and things that seem unknowable come within the limits of the knowable. (Besant 163-164)SLwisdom • Theosophy • Besant

Then before the awakening soul unfolds a yet mightier world which dwarfs all that went before. . . . Nirvana binds up all these glories of humanity. Its possibilities are seen and realized, and are no longer mere lovely dreams. They include life beyond all fancy of living, activity in wisdom and power and love beyond any wild imaginings, mighty hierarchies of spiritual Intelligences, each seeming vaster and more wonderful than the one before. . . .

Sweeping as it were from the very heart of it all . . . comes the knowledge that this is the goal of our pilgrimage, that this is our true home, that this is the world to which we really belong. All the gleams of light that have shown upon us in our weary journey have come from here. (Besant 164-165)SLwisdom • Theosophy • Besant

On the nirvanic plane he moves a step further, and realizes that his consciousness and theirs are one in a yet higher sense, because they are all in reality facets of the infinitely greater consciousness of the Logos NOTE: the divine, in whom they all live and move and have their being; so that when “the dewdrop slips into the shining sea” the effect produced is rather as though the process had been reversed and the ocean poured into the drop, which now for the first time realizes that it is the ocean—not a part of it, but the whole. (Leadbeater 132)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Their ‘self’ rejoins God like a drop of water returning to the ocean. Nothing more stands between their self and God. (Elahi 16)PoPwisdom • Iranian • Elahi

To be close to God means to live forever in a state of indescribable happiness that is continually renewed and forever grows more intense NOTE: This is a state of constant release, entirely in the now. (Elahi 4)PoPwisdom • Iranian • Elahi

Three times I have “gone” to a place that I cannot find words to describe accurately. . . .

It was a place or condition of pure peace, yet exquisite emotion. It was as if you were floating in warm soft clouds where there is no up or down, where nothing exists as a separate piece of matter. The warmth is not merely around you, it is of you and through you. Your perception is dazzled and overwhelmed by the Perfect Environment.

The cloud in which you float is swept by rays of light in shapes and hues that are constantly changing, and each is good as you bathe in them as they pass over you. Ruby-red rays of light, or something beyond what we know as light, because no light ever felt this meaningful. All the colors of the spectrum come and go constantly, never harshly, and each brings a different soothing or restful happiness. It is as if you are within and a part of the clouds surrounding an eternally glowing sunset, and with every changing pattern of living color, you also change. You respond and drink into you the eternity of the blues, yellows, greens, and reds, and the complexities of the intermediates. All are familiar to you. This is where you belong. This is Home.

As you move slowly and effortlessly through the cloud, there is music around you. It is not something of which you become aware. It is there all the time, and you vibrate in harmony with the Music. Again, this is more than the music you knew back there . . . it is only those that have evoked in you the deep, incoherent emotion back there. . . . Choirs of human-sounding voices echo in wordless song. Infinite patterns of strings in all shades of subtle harmony interweave in cyclical yet developing themes, and you resonate with them. There is no source from which the Music comes. It is there, all around you, in you, you are a part of it, and it is you.

It is the purity of a truth of which you have had only a glimpse. This is the feast, and the tiny tidbits you tasted before, back there, had made you hope for the existence of the Whole. The nameless emotion, longing, nostalgia, sense of destiny that you felt back there . . . these are now fulfilled. You are Home. You are where you belong. Where you always should have been.

Most important, you are not alone. With you, beside you, interlocked in you are others. They do not have names, nor are you aware of them as shapes, but you know them and you are bonded to them with a great single knowledge. They are exactly like you, they are you, and like you, they are Home. You feel with them, like gentle waves of electricity passing between you, a completeness of love, of which all the facets you have experienced are but segments and incomplete portions. (Monroe 123-125)JOotBOBEr • modern • Monroe

My search for a broad goal that drives every human brought out one that was all too obvious. The nostalgia, the yearning to go Home. (Monroe 22)

Monroe’s reincarnating self: Stretch your mind to there, what you know Home to be. Then release from here and you will be there.

The scene came into view. . . .

. . . many-hued cloud towers, just as I remember, only they are not clouds . . . flowing in shades of glowing color, every color I ever thought of and some I only remember but can’t express. . . .

. . . and there is music . . . a thousand instruments, thousands of voices . . . a thousand years is but an instant. . . .

What’s wrong with the clouds? . . . The large bright blue, followed by two smaller yellow ones. . . . It’s familiar! Others, and they are familiar too. . . . That’s exactly the same cloud frame . . . and the others, they are all the same! It keeps repeating, over and over again—the same patterns in a repeating loop! . . .

The music . . . it’s repeating . . . the same as I felt an hour or an eternity ago . . . exactly the same. Let me try another spot, another perspective. . . .

. . . it’s not different at all! I’ll move far away. . . .

. . . it’s still the same. . . . Let me go in deeper. . . .

There they are, a bunch of curls, curls of energy playing games. . . . That’s more like it! I was such a curl once . . . let me join in the game! Round and round . . . up and down . . . in and out. . . . The game is like an endless loop. . . .

How about playing a new game? How about. . . . ? Oh, happy with what you’ve got? . . .

This happened to me before. This is why I left . . . and I can’t come back! I don’t want to come back! . . .

It became much on the order of a childhood recollection; something to hold dear as it was, but not to relive. (Monroe 25-27, 29)UJOBEr • modern • Monroe

[The Buddhic dimension] is a warm, abstract world filled with utter peace and infinite love. It is a dimension of pure White. There is no sight or sound perception here other than the all pervading, brilliant White. In this dimension you very quickly relinquish conscious thought and individuality. You cannot think for long once you enter here and there is no need or desire to do so. There is an irresistible urge drawing you into a quiet stillness. It is like being immersed in warm, pure White cotton wool. In this world you cease to be an individual and you become, PART OF THE ONE. You also cease to be male or female. In a way this is like returning to the Mother’s womb. You are surrounded, absorbed and assimilated by infinite loving warmth, understanding, forgiveness. . . .

Time here ceases to have any meaning. If you enter this world you will never, ever want to leave it. . . . This is the healing, resting place of the soul. ToPOBEr • modern • Bruce

It is a law of Occult dynamics that “a given amount of energy expended on the spiritual or astral plane is productive of far greater results than the same amount expended on the physical objective plane of existence.” (Blavatsky 148)tSDclairvoyant • Theosophy • Blavatsky

The work of one day on levels such as [the nirvanic] may well surpass in efficiency the toil of a thousand years on the physical plane. (Leadbeater 122)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater

Ever as we rise higher in the scale of nature our possibilities become greater, our work for others ever grander and more far-reaching, and that infinite wisdom and infinite power means only infinite capacity for service, because they are directed by infinite love. (Leadbeater 132)DPclairvoyant • Theosophy • Leadbeater