| 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 |
| 1 | 46 | 93 | 139 | 185 |
|
which the stars are made'. Nevertheless, it is at least possible that both these Platonic and Aristotelian
concepts were ultimately derived from Hellenistic folk-memories of the primitive beliefs of the Aryan-
speaking peoples who gave their culture to both Greeks and Hindus.
Be this as it may, there is no doubt that a belief in the existence of the astral body has been held by at
least some people throughout the history of the western world. Thus Dante described the soul after
death as being surrounded by 'its own creative power, like to its living form in shape and size' and
went on to assert that it was capable of adopting any shape it wished; this belief in the plasticity of the
astral body - the idea that it can be moulded at will into, for example, the appearance of an animal - is
today a commonplace of western occultism.
Two centuries after Dante, astral projection was referred to by Cornelius Agrippa, the metallurgist,
occultist and philosopher. He wrote of 'vacation of the body, when the spirit is enabled to transcend its
bounds, and, as a light escaped from a lantern, to spread over space'. (1)
-
[
-
---
1] Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia. Antwerp, 1531.
---
There was an ambivalence in the attitude of the Church towards astral projection. When indulged in by
the orthodox it was called bilocation and regarded as evidence of possible sanctity. When, on the other
hand, it was practised by those who might reasonably be suspected of heresy or witchcraft it was
looked upon as proof of co-operation with Satan, or of deliberate attendance at the Witches' Sabbath,
or even of dangerous (and possibly diabolical) delusion. Thus Sprenger, the co-author of that
notorious inquisitors' manual The Hammer of the Witches (1484), reported the case of a woman who
voluntarily approached some Dominican friars and related that she attended the Witches' Sabbath
every night.
She added that even being placed in a locked room would not suffice to prevent her from attending the
gathering. At nightfall the Dominicans, who seem to have combined a healthy scepticism with a taste
for experiment, placed the woman in a locked room, leaving her alone but all the while observing her
through a concealed spyhole. She threw herself onto the bed, becoming totally rigid - clearly she had
entered some sort of cataleptic trance. The friars entered the room and attempted to awake the self-
confessed witch, but all their efforts - some of which were extremely rough and included burning her
naked feet with a candle - were ineffectual.
On her eventual spontaneous recovery from the trance she gave a lurid description of her visit to the
Sabbath, of those she had met there and of the rites in which she believed she had taken pan. The
woman was lucky; the friars simply told her that she was indulging in fantasies, gave her a penance
and sent her home. Other witches experienced less humane inquisitors. Some were burnt on no better
evidence.
In the 18th century belief in the existence of the astral body and the possibility of astral projection
Page
Quick Jump
|