ANTHROPOLOGY 9I 



Evestrum is dispersed. The latter is not the firmament 

 containing our visible stars, but the sphere in which the 

 Nymphae, Undines, Salamanders, Flagae, &c., live. These 

 beings are not dependent on our sphere of existence, but 

 they have a firmament of their own ; they have their 

 own peculiar conditions, places of dwelling, localities, 

 stars and planets. As there is in our world water and 

 fire, harmonies and contrasts, visible bodies and invisible 

 essences, likewise these beings are varied in their con- 

 stitution and have their own peculiarities, for which 

 human beings have no comprehension. But the two 

 words intermingle and throw their shadows upon each 

 other, and this circumstance causes delusive visions, 

 apparitions, omens, and signs, mixing strangely with the 

 two impressions coming from the Evestra prophetica, 

 and only an intelligence illuminated by wisdom can dis- 

 tinguish the true from the false.^ 



" The first thing, however, which we ought to do is, 

 as Christ says, to seek for the Kingdom of God and His 

 justice. If we do this we will require no prophecies, 

 because all that we need will be given to us " ^ {De 

 Arte Praesaga). 



Thus, the astral life is most active in man when his 

 physical body is asleep. The sidereal man is then 

 awake, and acts through the Evestrum, causing occa- 

 sionally prophetic dreams, which the person after awaken- 

 ing to physical consciousness will remember, and to 

 which he may pay attention. Such dreams may also 

 be caused by other influences, and be delusive ; and 

 man ought therefore neither to reject nor to accept all 



1 The writings of Paracelsus, such as have been preserved, in regard to 

 the description of the Astral world, are exceedingly mixed up, and written 

 in a style which renders their meaning almost incomprehensible. 



* This means that it is not advisable to try to develop astral sight or 

 to deal with the inhabitants of the astral plane as long as we have not 

 the power to rise above that plane. When our true spiiitual powers 

 become active in us, we shall also be able to see all that is below that 

 state of existence, and incur no danger from it. 



