84 PARACELSUS 



roundings, and likewise the sidereal body may be decom- 

 posed slow or quick, according to the coherence of its 

 particles, and according to the quality and strength of 

 the astral influences acting upon it. 



The elementary body is corporeal, but the sidereal 

 body is ethereal. The elementary body is visible and 

 tangible ; the sidereal body is invisible and intangible for 

 us, but visible and tangible for those beings that are 

 of a nature similar to its own. The elementary body 

 cannot move on its own account from the place where it 

 has been deposited after death ; but the sidereal body 

 (Kama rupa) goes to that place to which it is mostly 

 attracted by its own desires. If there are no particular 

 places to attract it, it will remain near the elementary 

 body ; ^ but if it is attracted to other places it will visit 

 them, and it is therefore especially liable to haunt the 

 residence which the person occupied during his life, 

 being attracted there by its acquired habits and instincts. 

 Being devoid of reason and judgment, it has no choice 

 in such matters, but follows blindly its attractions. The 

 sidereal body will under certain (mediumistic) condi- 

 tions become visible, and it therefore can be seen at 

 places to which the reflex of its former passions, such 

 as envy, avarice, repentance, revenge, selfishness, lust, 

 &c., will attract it, and it may remain in such places 

 until it is dissolved and decomposed. If a sensitive 

 person asserts to have seen the spirit of a deceased 

 person, we may believe that he has seen the sidereal 

 body of such a person, but it is wrong to believe that 

 such a ghost or apparition is the real man, because it 

 is nothing else but the sidereal corpse that appears on 

 such occasions. Such astral corpses may be seen like 

 the reflection of a man in a mirror until they dis- 

 appear, and the form of one may last longer than that 

 of another.^ 



^ Thus there seems to be a scientific reason for offering sacrifices upon 

 the graves of the dead, as is the custom in China. 



* The last thoughts and desires of a dying person, and their intensity, 



