The Vital Body

That body of ours which is composed of ether is called the "vital body"

in Western Mystery Schools, for, as we have already seen, ether is the

avenue of ingress for vital force from the sun and the field of agencies

in nature which promote such vital activities as assimilation, growth and

propagation.



This vehicle is an exact counterpart of our visible body, molecule for

molecule, and organ for organ, wit one exception, which we shall note

later. But it is slightly larger, extending about one and one-half inches

beyond the periphery of our dense vehicle.



The spleen is the entrance gate of forces which vitalize the body. In the

etheric counterpart of that organ solar energy is transmuted to vital

fluid of a pale rose color. From thence it spreads all over the nervous

system, and after having been used in the body it radiates in streams,

much as bristles protrude from a porcupine.



The rays of the sun are transmitted either directly, or reflected by way

of the planets and the moon. The rays directly from the sun give spiritual

illumination, the rays received by way of the planets produce

intelligence, morality, and soul growth, but the rays reflected by way of

the moon make for physical growth, as seen in the case of plants which

grow differently when planted in the light of the moon from what is the

case when they are planted when the moon is dark. There is also a

difference in plants sown when the moon is in barren and fruitful signs of

the Zodiac.



The solar ray is absorbed by the human spirit which has its seat in the

center of the forehead, the stellar ray is absorbed by the brain and

spinal cord, and the lunar ray enters our system through the spleen.



The solar, stellar and lunar rays are three-colored, and in the lunar ray

which supplies our vital force, the blue beam is the life of The Father,

which causes germination, the yellow beam is the life of The Son, which is

the active principle in nutrition and growth, and the red beam is the life

of the Holy Spirit, which stimulates to action, dissipating the energy

stored by the yellow force. This principle is particularly active in

generation.



The various kingdoms absorb this life-force differently, according to

their constitution. Animals have only 28 pairs of spinal nerves. They are

keyed to the lunar month of 28 days and therefore dependent upon a

Groupspirit for an infusion of stellar rays necessary to produce

consciousness. They are altogether incapable of absorbing the direct ray

of the sun.



Man is in a transition stage, he has 31 pairs of spinal nerves which keys

him to the solar month, but the nerves in the so-called

cauda-equina--literally horse-tail--, at the end of our spinal cord, are

still too undeveloped to act as avenues for the spiritual ray of the sun.

In proportion as we draw our creative force upward by spiritual thought we

develop these nerves and awaken dormant faculties of the spirit. But it is

dangerous to attempt that development except under guidance of a qualified

teacher, and the reader is earnestly warned not to use any method

published in books, or sold, for their practice usually leads to dementia.

The safe method is never sold for money or any earthly consideration

however large or small; it is always freely given as a reward of merit.

"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be

opened", said the Christ. If our life is a prayer for illumination, the

search will not be uncertain, nor the knock without response.



When solar energy has been transmuted in the spleen it traverses the whole

nervous system of the body glowing with a most beautiful color of a

delicate rosy hue. It answers the same purpose as electricity in a

telegraph system. We may string wires between cities, erect telegraph

stations, install receivers and transmitters. We may even have operators

ready at the keys, but until electric fluid is turned into our wires, the

telegraph keys will refuse to click. So also in the body, the human spirit

is operator, and from the central station of the brain, nerves ramify, go

through the whole body to all the different muscles. When this vitalizing

fluid of which we are speaking traverses the nervous system, the Ego may

send his commands to the muscles and cause them to move but if the vital

fluid for any reason does not flow into a certain part of the body such as

an arm or a limb, then the spirit is powerless to move that part of the

body and we say that it is paralyzed.



When we are in health, we specialize solar energy in such great quantities

that we cannot use it all in the body and therefore it radiates through

the pores of our skin in straight streams and serves a similar purpose as

an exhaust fan. That machine drives the foul air out of a room or building

and keeps the atmosphere within pure and sweet. The excessive vital force

which radiates from the body drives out poisonous gases, deleterious

microbes and effete matter thus tending to preserve a healthy condition.

It also prevents armies of disease germs, which swarm about in the

atmosphere, from entering; upon the same principle that a fly cannot wing

its way into a building through the exhaust fan. Thus it serves a most

beneficent purpose even after it has been utilized in our body and is

returning to the free state.



It is a curious and most astounding sight when one first observes how,

from exposed parts of the body such as hands and face, there suddenly

commences to flow a stream of stars, cubes, pyramids and a variety of

other geometrical forms. The writer has more than once rubbed his eyes

when he first perceived the phenomenon, for it seemed that he must be

suffering from hallucinations. The forms observed are chemical atoms

however, which have served their purpose in the body and are expelled

through the pores.



When one has eaten a meal, vital fluid is consumed by the body in great

quantities, for it is the cement whereby nature's forces build our food

into the body. Therefore the radiations are weakest during the period of

digestion. If the meal has been heavy, the outflow is very perceptibly

diminished, and does not then cleanse our body as thoroughly as when the

food has been digested, nor is it as potent in keeping out inimical germs.

Therefore one is most liable to catch cold or other disease by overeating,

a fault which should be avoided by all who wish to keep in good health.



During ill health the vital body specializes but little solar energy.

Then, for a time, the visible body seems to feed upon the vital body as it

were, so that the vehicle becomes more transparent and attenuated at the

same rate as the visible body exhibits a state of emaciation. The

cleansing odic radiations are almost entirely absent during sickness,

therefore complications set in so easily.



Though science has not directly observed this vital body of man, it has

upon several occasions postulated the existence of such a vehicle as

necessary to account for facts in life and the radiations have been

observed by a number of scientists at different times and under varying

conditions. Blondlot and Charpentier have called them N-rays after the

city of Nantes where the radiations were observed by these scientists,

others have named them "The Odic fluid". Scientific investigators who have

conducted researches into psychic phenomena have even photographed it when

it has been extracted through the spleen by materializing spirits. Dr.

Hotz for instance obtained two photographs of a materialization through

the German medium, Minna-Demmler. On one a cloud of ether is seen oozing

out through the left side of the medium, shapeless and without form. The

second picture, taken a few moments later, shows the materialized spirit

standing at the medium's side. Other photographs obtained by scientists

from the Italian medium Eusapio Palladino show a luminous cloud

over-hanging her left side.



We said in the beginning of this description that the vital body is an

exact counterpart of the dense body with one exception: it is of the

opposite sex or perhaps we should rather say polarity. As the vital body

nourishes the dense vehicle, we may readily understand that blood is its

highest visible expression, and also that a positively polarized vital

body would generate more blood than a negative one. Woman who is

physically negative has a positive vital body, hence she generates a

surplus of blood which is relieved by the periodical flow. She is also

more prone to tears, which are white bleeding, than man, whose negative

vital body does not generate more blood than he can comfortably take care

of. Therefore it is not necessary for him to have the outlets which

relieve excess of blood in woman.