Body of light

[3] The concept derives from the philosophy of Plato: the word 'astral' means 'of the stars'; thus the astral plane consists of the Seven Heavens of the classical planets.

[6][verify] Such doctrines were commonplace in mystery-schools, Gnostic and Hermetic sects throughout the Roman Empire, and influenced the early Christian church.

[20] John Dee (1527–1608/9), a student of Ficino,[citation needed] based his natural philosophy on Ficino and the Medieval optical theories of Roger Bacon, William of Ockham, John Peckham, and Vitello; according to Szulakowska "specifically for his ideas concerning the radiation of light rays and the effects of the planetary and stellar influences on the earth.

[22] In Dee's system of Enochian magic,[23] there were three main techniques: invocation (prayer), scrying (crystal-gazing), and traveling in the body of light.

He also built on the work of Richard Mead (1673–1754), who hypothesized that due to the astral nature of the human body, it is subject to an "all-pervading gravitation emanating from the stars.

"[26] Mesmer expanded this concept, hypothesizing that bodies were subject to a form of magnetism emanating from all other bodies, not just the stars, which he called 'animal magnetism,' describing it as a "fluid which is universally widespread and pervasive in a manner which allows for no void, subtly permits no comparison, and is of a nature which is susceptible to receive, propagate, and communicate all impressions of movement.

[27] In the mid-nineteenth century the French occultist Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875) introduced the term 'astral light' in his Dogme et rituel de la haute magie (1856),[28] and wrote of it as a factor he considered of key importance to magic, alongside the power of will and the doctrine of correspondences.

Lévi developed a full theory of the 'sidereal body' which for the most part agrees with the Neoplatonic tradition of Proclus, Iamblichus, Plotinus, and Porphyry, though he credited Paracelsus as his source.

"[30] Florence Farr (1860–1917) developed the Golden Dawn education system, succeeded William Wynn Westcott as "Chief Adept in Anglia," and wrote several of the Order's secret instruction papers, called the "Flying Rolls.

[32][33] Farr's writings, signed with the initials of her motto 'SSDD', studied the ten parts of a human being which she said were described in ancient Egyptian writings, including the Sahu, the elemental or astral body; the Tet or Zet, the spiritual body or soul; and the Khaibt, the sphere or aura, radiating from the Sahu, and symbolised by a fan.

Farr wrote that the ancient Egyptian adepts "looked upon each body, or manifested being, as the material basis of a long vista of immaterial entities functioning as a spirit, soul and mind in the formative, creative and archetypal worlds."

"[30][non-primary source needed] The occultist Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), the founder of the new religious movement Thelema, translated augoeides literally as 'egg message' and connected it with 'the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel' or 'higher & original (egg) genius' associated with each human being.

The subtle body model can be cross-referenced onto modern maps of the central nervous system, and applied in research on meditation.