Though it might have been thought fairly obvious even to the most
casual glance that many of the terrestrial arrangements of nature
which affect us most nearly have not been designed exclusively with a
view to our comfort or even our ultimate advantage, it was yet
probably unavoidable that the human race, at least in its childhood,
should imagine that this world and everything it contains existed
solely for its own use and benefit. Undoubtedly we ought by this time
to have grown out of that infantile delusion and realized our proper
position and the duties that attach to it; that most of us have not
yet done so is shown in a dozen ways in our daily life notably by the
atrocious cruelty habitually displayed towards the animal kingdom
under the name of sport by many who probably consider themselves
highly civilized people. Of course the veriest tyro in the holy
science of occultism knows that all life is sacred, and that without
universal compassion there is no true progress; but it is only as he
advances in his studies that he discovers how manifold evolution is,
and how comparatively small a place humanity really fills in the
economy of nature. It becomes clear to him that just as earth, air and
water support myriads of forms of life which, though invisible to the
ordinary eye, are revealed to us by the microscope, so the higher
planes connected with our earth have an equally dense population of
whose existence we are ordinarily completely unconscious. As his
knowledge increases he becomes more and more certain that in one way
or another the utmost use is being made of every possibility of
evolution, and that wherever it seems to us that in nature force or
opportunity is being wasted or neglected, it is not the scheme of the
universe that is in fault, but our ignorance of its method and
intention.
For the purposes of our present consideration of the non-human
inhabitants of the astral plane it will be best to leave out of
consideration those very early forms of the universal life which are
evolving, in a manner of which we can have little comprehension,
through the successive encasement of atoms, molecules and cells: for
if we commence at the lowest of what are usually called the elemental
kingdoms, we shall even then have to group together under this general
heading an enormous number of inhabitants of the astral plane upon
whom it will be possible to touch only very slightly, as anything like
a detailed account of them would swell this manual to the dimensions
of an encyclopædia.
The most convenient method of arranging the non-human entities will
perhaps be in four classes it being understood that in this case the
class is not, as previously, a comparatively small subdivision, but
usually a great kingdom of nature at least as large and varied as,
say, the animal or vegetable kingdom. Some of these rank considerably
below humanity, some are our equals, and others again rise far above
us in goodness and power. Some belong to our scheme of evolution--that
is to say, they either have been or will be men like ourselves; others
are evolving on entirely distinct lines of their own. Before
proceeding to consider them it is necessary, in order to avoid the
charge of incompleteness, to mention that in this branch of the
subject two reservations have been made. First, no reference is made
to the occasional appearances of very high Adepts from other planets
of the solar system and of even more august Visitors from a still
greater distance, since such matters cannot fitly be described in an
essay for general reading; and besides it is practically
inconceivable, though of course theoretically possible, that such
glorified Beings should ever need to manifest Themselves on a plane
so low as the astral. If for any reason They should wish to do so, the
body appropriate to the plane would be temporarily created out of
astral matter belonging to this planet, just as in the case of the
Nirmânakâya. Secondly, quite outside of and entirely unconnected with
the four classes into which we are dividing this section, there are
two other great evolutions which at present share the use of this
planet with humanity; but about them it is forbidden to give any
particulars at this stage of the proceedings, as it is not apparently
intended under ordinary circumstances either that they should be
conscious of man's existence or man of theirs. If we ever do come into
contact with them it will most probably be on the purely physical
plane, for in any case their connection with our astral plane is of
the slightest, since the only possibility of their appearance there
depends upon an extremely improbable accident in an act of ceremonial
magic, which fortunately only a few of the most advanced sorcerers
know how to perform. Nevertheless, that improbable accident has
happened at least once, and may happen again, so that but for the
prohibition above mentioned it would have been necessary to include
them in our list.