Sub-plane

Beginning our consideration of the Astral Plane, we must not fail to take notice of one of the sub‑planes nearest the material—the sub‑plane in which the Thought Currents operate, and also in which the Astral Bodies of the embodied, and the Auric Colors are visible. On this sub‑plane the phenomena of

Mentalism manifest. This sub‑plane is the one nearest to the ordinary Material Plane, and is often penetrated, unwittingly,

by persons whose psychic faculties have become sharpened and who have developed the qualities of Clairvoyance, Astral

Sensing, etc.

On this lower sub‑plane of the Astral are also manifested the thought waves, thought currents, thought‑forms, etc., which are manifested in the phenomena of Mentalism.

Thoughts and mental states manifest in objective form. The person manifesting active thought or feeling, emanates waves

and currents of thought‑force which spread around him in constantly widening circles in every direction. In this way great

thought‑clouds are formed which hover over and around places to which they are attracted.

Thought‑clouds of the same

general character have a tendency to coalesce and mingle and blend with each other, and to move toward persons, places

and localities in which similar thoughts or feelings are being manifested. The Law of Attraction operates in this direction of

drawing thought influences toward those who are manifesting similar thought vibrations. Cities, towns and smaller places—even places of business, office‑buildings, houses, and rooms

have their own particular thought atmosphere, which may be felt by those sensitive to such influences, and seen by those possessing the faculty of Astral Sensing.

Akin to these thought‑clouds are what are known as thought‑forms,

which are thought‑clouds of great density and

power of cohesion, which are also charged with the strong Will or ardent Desire of the persons emanating them—and which

are often practically vitalized by the “Vril,” or vitality of the person, which has been infused into them. Such thought‑forms

often exert nearly as great a psychic power over those with whom they come in contact as would the sender himself, in person. They are akin to the desire‑elementals mentioned in the following lesson.

These thought‑clouds and thought‑forms abide on the lower sub‑planes of the Astral until they finally disintegrate. They tend to coalesce and gather around places in which the vibrations are harmonious to their own. Some places have their mental atmospheres of vice, others of greed, others of industry, others of the reverse. In short thought atmospheres exist everywhere on this lower Astral sub‑plane, just as does

the material atmosphere exist everywhere on the material plane. One is just as real as is the other. They have all the correspondences which one might expect. Those who are able to travel in the Astral Body find this thought atmospheric

phenomena a source of never failing interest, although at times one is glad to will himself away from some of the scenes, so

gross and base are the emotions and feelings manifesting in the dark, heavy suffocating clouds of thought force—so horrible some of the thought‑forms. But even these may be driven away by an exercise of the Will, and thought‑vibrations of a contrary

nature tend to repel them and scatter them away from one’s vicinity.