the Jiva or
universal life is seen to be circulating through it and radiating from
it; fifthly, an aura will be seen surrounding it, though this is, of
course, much less extended and varied than in the case of the higher
kingdoms; sixthly, its appropriate elemental essence is seen
permeating it, ever active but ever fluctuating. In the case of the
vegetable, animal and human kingdoms, the complications are naturally
much more numerous.

It may be objected by some readers that no such complexities as these
are described by most of the psychics who occasionally get glimpses of
the astral world, nor are they reported at _seances_ by the entities
that manifest there; but this is readily accounted for. Few untrained
persons on that plane, whether living or dead, see things as they
really are until after very long experience; even those who do see
fully are often too dazed and confused to understand or remember: and
among the very small minority who both see and remember there are
hardly any who can translate the recollection into language on our
lower plane. Many untrained psychics never examine their visions
scientifically at all: they simply obtain an impression which may be
quite correct, but may also be half false, or even wholly misleading.

All the more probable does the latter hypothesis become when we take
into consideration the frequent tricks played by sportive denizens of
the other world, against which the untrained person is usually
absolutely defenceless. It must also be remembered that the regular
inhabitant of the astral plane, whether he be human or elemental, is
under ordinary circumstances conscious only of the objects of that
plane, physical matter being to him as entirely invisible as is astral
matter to the majority of mankind. Since, as before remarked, every
physical object has its astral counterpart, which _would_ be visible
to him, it may be thought that the distinction is a trivial one, yet
it is an essential part of the symmetrical conception of the subject.
If, however, an astral entity constantly works through a medium, these
finer astral senses may gradually be so coarsened as to become
insensible to the higher grades of matter on their own plane, and to
include in their purview the physical world as we see it instead; but
only the trained visitor from this life, who is fully conscious on
both planes, can depend upon seeing both clearly and simultaneously.
Be it understood, then, that the comp