Theosophical astral cosmology
Etheric Double
The etheric double is described as nearly coextensive with the physical body and composed of finer physical matter. The book distinguishes it from the astral body even though both are invisible to ordinary sight. Leadbeater calls it the mould on which the physical body forms and connects its arrangement with karma. He also uses it to explain séance phenomena, extending a bodily theory into a theory of manifestations.
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedThe etheric double is described as nearly coextensive with the physical body and composed of finer physical matter. The book distinguishes it from the astral body even though both are invisible to ordinary sight.
Further detail
ReportedLeadbeater calls it the mould on which the physical body forms and connects its arrangement with karma. He also uses it to explain séance phenomena, extending a bodily theory into a theory of manifestations.
Context & interpretation
Leadbeater presents a Theosophical classification based on claimed occult investigation. Its planes, beings, and mechanisms belong to that historical esoteric system; the book’s assurance of reality is an authorial claim rather than independent scientific verification.
Original passages
Source 1
The Astral Plane
co extensive with that physical body he clearly distinguishes the etheric double : while the universal life-fluid as it is absorbed and specialized, as it circulatesOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Theosophical astral cosmology; active reader leaf 21
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0005-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0005-E001-P0021
- Original scan leaf
- 24
- Recorded leaf number
- 24
- Current Reader position
- 17
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader
Source 2
The Astral Plane
the mould upon which the physical body is built upOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Theosophical astral cosmology; active reader leaf 23
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0005-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0005-E001-P0023
- Original scan leaf
- 26
- Recorded leaf number
- 26
- Current Reader position
- 19
- Reader verification
- Matches the reviewed Reader