Occultism and Spiritualism

...ly polarized, and which unites the inferior, physical [principle], to the superior, spiritual [principle]; 3rd, the immortal Spirit. Of these diverse elements, only one is specific to occultists: it is the second, or astral body, the other two being carefully studied—the first by anatomists and physiologists, the third by psychologists and philosophers. This constitution of man in three principles is so characteristic of traditional occultism that it suffices to identify its representatives in every era, and allows one to distinguish, within occultism itself, the truly traditional schools from the plagiarisms or clumsy compilations made at various times under the guise of the occult. Concerning the human being, the teaching may be summarized in these propositions:

I. Man is constituted of three Principles, synthesized into a Unity, or the doctrine of Tri-Unity.

II. Man is analogous (but not identical) to the Universe, or the doctrine of the Microcosm or Little World (Man) and the Macrocosm or Great World (the Universe).

III. There is a strict correspondence between each element of Man and its analogue in the Universe. This is the doctrine of correspondences upon which Magic is based, and of which we shall speak again regarding practice.

In all of this, what interests us for the moment is the Astral Body, that plastic Mediator which classical philosophers have condemned, often without taking the trouble to study it attentively, and which reappears in every era, sometimes under different names but with identical characteristics, in the works of occultists. To know the astral body well is to possess the most important of the keys to the doctrine that occupies us: let us therefore pause for a moment on the reasons given by the occultists in support of their assertions. The use of analogy allows