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64 THE TREE OF LIFE
self-made cause of many of the ills of mankind, the latter being the
central fire and the Soul of the World. The Divine Astral is solar
and celestial in nature, whereas the gross Astral is lunar, reflective,
and purely automatic. Blavatsky confirms this hypothesis of the
dual nature of the Astral Light in these words : " The Astral Light
or Anima Mundi is dual or bi-sexual. The (ideal) male part of it is
purely divine and spiritual, it is the Wisdom, it is Spirit or Purusha ;
while the female portion is tainted in one sense, with matter, is
indeed matter, and therefore is evil already."l Needless to say, it
is entirely with the higher superior regions of the Astral Light, the
solar fires, that the Theurgist is concerned.
From the practical viewpoint, this plane is the magical agent to
which the accumulated trained vision of Theurgists has assigned
the power of transmitting vibrations and impressions not alone of
physical light, heat, and sound, but those more subtle and less
tangible vibrations, none the less real however because of their
imperceptibility, which pertain to projected currents of Will,
thought, and feeling. Levi terms this instrument the Imagination
of Nature, inasmuch as it is ever alive with rich forms and exotic
dreams, luxurious images, the immediate vehicle of the mental and
emotional faculties. The control of this plane constitutes from one
point of view the Great Work. Some Magicians, including the
distinguished Levi, were of the opinion that the central magical
secret is that of the willed direction of this arcanum. Being the
vehicle wherein are dynamically recorded the passions and thought
impressions of all mankind, the memory of lower nature, and being
present on the earth all the time, inasmuch as it is all-permeant
and but one plane removed from the physical, its contents must
influence enormously the minds of weak and sensitive men. Not
only the latter, but most of the children of earth are influenced in
some way by the currents rippling through its substance. Hence
to place oneself in isolation from its blind undulations, and to
transcend it utterly as to move in that higher stratum which is its
soul, is no mean accomplishment, but one worthy of all the energies
of men.
One modern magical authority, the pseudonymous Therion,
states that in the upper strata of the Astral Light " two or
more objects may occupy the same space at the same time
without interfering with each other or losing their outlines.
The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I.