Out of the temporary subtle bodies that we have been given for our current incarnation, the astral body is perhaps the one who has caused the most controversy current incarnation, the astral body. It is a body that needs our daily care in addition to attention, as it is forever changing and unfortunately for most people, not for the superior.

It is the body during which we will spend a large part of our post- mortem life, yet not many everyone is particularly interested in caring for it properly, mainly because they are unaware of its presence but also because they can't know how interpret this signs that this wonderful body gives us on a daily basis.

Astral body is the seat of our emotional life and desire impulses, and for this motive is also called "emotional body". We have developed this particular body during our evolution in the animal kingdom, as part of the evolutionary goal of our own animal brothers is to help strive towards individualization from their Group Soul, through the awareness of their individual needs and inner thoughts.

In humans, where this individualization has already been achieved and is prominently noticeable, the evolutionary goal is always to refine these primal requires and impulses to unselfishness in addition to ultimately to nonexistence. This takes several lifetimes of spiritual work upon the Path of Initiation to achieve, but we only have to know a few key points so that you can perfect our astral body and make a huge difference to the quality of our lives. In truth, the astral plane as it is now (which is where the astral body operates) is man's own creation.

As Alice Bailey wrote in her book "Esoteric Healing ": The astral plane doesn't have factual existence, but is an illusory creation with the human family. From now on, however (through the defeat in the forces of evil and the disastrous setback suffered with the Black Lodge), the astral plane will slowly become a dying creation, and in the final period of human history (in the seventh root-race), it will become non-existent".

This is good news, for we can mould and shape our astral body in any way we want to; the bad news can be that the complete disappearance of this plane is a long way off.

So what is it that is stopping us from moving forward in our Evolution as Beings of Light and what can we do to refine the astral body?

Wouldn't it be much better to spend time directly inside our mental body upon death and connect to Causal Plane entities rather then slowly shedding our astral counterpart on the illusion and coarseness we have accumulated during our earthly lives?

There are a few things to note that will greatly speed up our evolution and makes transition process so easier.

The quality and intensity of our emotions colour the nature of our astral body and determine its rate of vibration. Most people in reality, by letting their emotions run riot inside their lives, do great damage for the astral body they have been given upon start, and since it is the vehicle that they may find themselves in after physical death, they will end up inhabiting a weak and crippled Astral Body. Consequently, their transition from the Astral to the Causal Plane will be long as well as toilsome.

This matter is much more serious than most people imagine. Emotions of a low vibratory rate like anger, envy, fear, guilt and greed for example, coarsen our astral body towards extent that, if we do not fight to overcome these tendencies even though in incarnation, we will end up inhabiting budget friendly regions of the astral plane because we will never be able to sustain the high vibratory rates connected with light of the Higher Astral, or otherwise called "The Summerland". (for more info on the astral body see The Master Plan by MB Cooke)

The emotional body on most people is usually inside dire need of therapeutic, whether we are happy to admit it or definitely not. There are certain afflictions which are directly connected with a imbalance in the Astral Body and that are given to us as daily pointers or signs that our Astral Body is weak and that it requires more care and interest from us.

These common complaints are kinds of indigestion, nervousness, liver and stomach complaints, frequent nightmares (which tell us a good deal about the lower parts of the astral plane that any of us visit during our sleep therefore about the vibratory fee and attractor fields individuals own astral vehicle). In short, anything related to the actual solar plexus chakra, the chakra of emotions, as it is the purpose of connection of the emotional body to the physical and it serves as being a transmitter of its energies. The healing path to the Astral Body is through the 3rd chakra (the Solar Plexus), and an emphasis must be placed in governing and healing this chakra in the course of our lives.

The other main factor that contributes to the deterioration of your astral body whilst in incarnation may be the barbaric practice of the consumption of dead flesh. This was thoroughly explained by Hilarion through Maurice B. Cooke (Threshold: a letter for Michelle, Hilarion, M.B.Cooke):

"The body of your slaughtered animal is fraught with a large number of fear and desperation, which results in your contamination of its astral version, both of the animal and of the person who ingests its flesh. After years of ingesting this astral poison, the astral body of the person starts to worsen, due to the toxins ingested from the consumption of astral corpses. Soon the physical body will start to

mirror its astral vehicle plus the person becomes unwell, as the astral infirmities are filtered right down to the physical.

This causes death at a young age than was foreseen for your soul. The rampant rise regarding colon cancer is directly proportional on the fouling of the colon by eating decayed skin; the stomach, as said earlier, being the first portal on the Astral Body. If man is what he eats, then eating death by means of meat brings death itself closer.

The Karma that can be generated from slaughtering and inflicting pain upon the helpless Animal Kingdom (which was entrusted to your care to further it is evolution through love) is also considerable and must not be disregarded. The day that animals will not find a grave in the human stomach might be a day of great enlightenment and also evolution for mankind".

The consumption of alcohol and nicotine is also detrimental for the sake of the astral body. As Theosophical literature states, if a man was a heavy smoker, at death he will find himself literally paralysed as a result of toxic accumulation of this nicotine in his astral body and it will take some time before he is able to move his astral braches.

Needless to say, the dangers derived from your ingestion of alcohol are amply enumerated by Annie Besant in her pamphlet "The Influence of Alcohol".

Hilarion has added that this substance is able to lodge its toxins inside the etheric and astral body, causing them to become frayed and weakened over the years. The over indulgence regarding alcohol causes a tear behind the Anja or finally eye chakra, which can induce the inhabitants with the lower astral planes to prey upon the force centers of the person who has thus abused it.

The astral body on the other hand, has great regenerative powers as long as it is not constantly weakened with the ingestion of astral poison caused by the intake of fear generated by youngster before it is wiped out, or by the toxins of nicotine and liquor. If the person abstains on the ingestion of these substances to get a period of nine a few months, Hilarion says that the astral body will be able to restore itself to any near perfect state. These changes gradually will filter down to the physical and come to be manifest and visible on our third dimensional level.

One can clearly see that the degree of health your astral (and ultimately physical) body is given by the quality of our thoughts and emotions and in what we ingest. Just by paying attention to the caliber of our life we can easily experience a great improvement next.