The Astral Body
Inspired and adapted from La Magie et l'Hypnose by Dr. Gerard Encausse (Papus).
The Human Organization
Man is composed of three parts:
1. The Spirit or Mind. This is the divine and immortal part of man. It perceives truth directly, is intuitive, and expresses itself through consciousness and will. This is the seat of higher reasoning.
2. The Soul or Astral Body (Vital Body). This is the life force by which the spirit or mind animates the physical body. It carries emotions and personal identity.
3. The Physical Body. This includes instincts, bodily drives, appetites, and sensations.
The Relation of the Mind, Astral Body, and Physical Body
The mind does not act directly on the physical body. It sets the astral body into motion, and this vital force mediates between the mind and the physical body.
The astral body also acts independently. For example, it sustains life and the autonomic functions of the body (e.g.: heartbeat, digestion). The astral body heals the physical body, without the involvement of the mind.
Independent Actions of the Astral Body and the “Unconscious”
Remarkably, the mind does not always have to intervene in the realization of an idea. Sometimes, as in the case of reflexes, the astral body is trained by habit and has the power to act mechanically to accomplish the action without the involvement of the mind – even complex actions. For example, a musician can play his instrument while the mind is occupied in other thoughts; and a weaver can weave complex patterns while the mind is absorbed in a conversation.
I can even think of an object I wish to retrieve from a cabinet in another room. If I become distracted from the thought and forget my conscious motivation, the astral body, already set in motion, acts on the body, and I find myself standing before the cabinet, wondering what I'm doing there.
This is the basis of hypnotic suggestion and guided imagery causing behaviors to be carried out automatically. Once the intention has been set, the astral body or vital force, is set into motion and achieves the intended action, even when the conscious mind is no longer thinking about it.
Psychology and hypnosis call the astral body “the unconscious”. Medicine calls it “reflex”. Whatever you call it, it is neither the mind nor the body, and it has a personal intelligence that allows it to carry out its tasks.
Managing Habits and Compulsions
The interaction of the mind and astral body is important when managing habits and compulsions. We have appetites, impulses, and passions that originate within the physical body, and from signals we receive from the external world. As soon as we have a desire or a craving, the entire organism is compelled to satisfy it. The reasoning mind can prevent this drive and abruptly stop the impulse, or give in to it. We have freedom.
But to accomplish this, one may need to practice the habit of studying the impulses and resisting them. Many people have completely abandoned this habit and passively submit to their impulses, feeling as if they have a life of their own. They do - the impulses carry the vital force of the astral body. But the mind can stop this action abruptly.
The Four Functions of the Astral Body
In order from most conscious to least conscious, the astral body carries out these actions:
1. Willful actions, by which the conscious mind executes its ideas, mediated by the astral body and the nervous system.
2. Reflexes and muscle memory, in which the mind initiates the action but can release its involvement.
3. Appetites, passions and impulses, which can arise from the physical body or from an external stimulus. These can be carried out with or without the involvement of the conscious mind. The mind can stop these impulses if it becomes aware of them, and has the will to do so.
4. Autonomic functions, in which the mind has no involvement. In addition, the astral body builds and repairs the physical body, without the mind having to intervene.
The Astral Body and the Physical Body in the states of wakefulness and sleep (natural or induced), from La Magie et L’Hypnose by Encausse, 1897.
The Dual Aspect: Waking and Sleeping
The astral body presents itself to us under a dual aspect, when we are awake and when we are asleep.
When awake, the mind has only to fix the idea that must be realized, and immediately the astral body will obey its commands, as long as the reserves of the nervous force have been restored. Here the astral body becomes the servant of the mind.
When one is active all day and has depleted the nervous system of the vital force, the mind gradually ceases its contact with the body. One feels tired and falls asleep; that is to say, the mind gives way to the astral body.
When we are asleep the astral body sustains and heals the body, and quickly replenishes the depleted vital energy, while it also sustains and heals the body. Here the astral body is the master. It carries out its tasks without the involvement of the conscious mind. When the vital energy is sufficient, the mind once again comes into contact with the physical body and regains consciousness. One awakens, refreshed and ready for new expenditures of nervous energy.
The Astral Body in Pathological Conditions
In pathological conditions, the astral body is working overtime and using all available force for healing. In these cases, the ability of the mind to command the physical body may be lost or severely compromised. The mind is never weakened, but it loses its ability to command the physical body when the astral body is depleted of the nervous energy needed to transmit the commands.
Vitalism and Science
In truth, this view of vitalism does not contradict science — it completes it. What medicine calls electrical and metabolic activity, here we refer to as the astral body. The distinction is only one of perspective. While materialism sees countless separate chemical and electrical events, this view recognizes that those countless processes together form a single organized being — a living body of vital force, just as billions of cells form the physical body of matter. The astral body is simply the totality of those vital processes, but regarded as one unified organism.
Thus, the soul is not something mysterious and non-material, but the very essence of life itself — the invisible vital body of energy through which the spirit acts upon matter.