![astral planes astral planes](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/MC6H4D/theosophy-thought-forms-astral-plane-thought-forms-seen-by-trained-clairvoyants-on-the-astral-plane-these-two-forms-are-rarely-seen-for-they-are-a-consequence-of-trained-meditation-the-roseate-glow-of-the-upper-form-shows-a-developed-and-conscious-love-towards-all-mankind-delineated-by-the-green-luminosity-of-sympathy-the-lower-form-which-has-the-appearance-of-being-a-six-rayed-star-within-a-green-sheathing-marks-out-a-conscious-meditation-designed-to-extend-love-affection-and-sympathy-in-all-directions-in-this-form-the-six-directions-exhibited-by-the-thoughtform-was-a-MC6H4D.jpg)
Scholars took up the Greek Neoplatonist accounts as well as similar material in Hindu and Zoroastrian texts. Among Muslims the “astral” world-view was soon rendered orthodox by Quranic references to the Prophet’s ascent through the seven heavens. Such doctrines were commonplace in mystery-schools and Hermetic & gnostic sects throughout the Roman Empire and influenced the early Christian church. It is for this reason, you know, that some are accustomed to say that his consciousness corresponds with the nature of the fixed stars, his reason in its contemplative aspect with Saturn and in its social aspect with Jupiter, (and) as to his irrational part, the passionate nature with Mars, the eloquent with Mercury, the appetitive with Venus, the sensitive with the Sun and the vegetative with the Moon.” He is also divided up according to the universe. For, just like the Whole, he possesses both mind and reason, both a divine and a mortal body. In his commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus, Proclus wrote In the “astral mysticism” of the classical world the human psyche was composed of the same material, thus accounting for the influence of the stars upon human affairs. Plato and Aristotle taught that the stars were composed of a type of matter different from the four earthly elements – a fifth, ethereal element or quintessence. “The place where earth and heaven meet”, from Flammarion’s Popular Meteorology, 1888. The Barzakh, olam mithal or intermediate world in Islam and the “World of Yetzirah” in Lurianic Qabala are related concepts. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy and neo- Rosicrucianism. It is the world of the planetary spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and generally said to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings. The astral plane, also called the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical (particularly neo-Platonic), medieval, oriental and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. The astral spheres were thought to be planes of angelic existence intermediate between earth and heaven