The Moon
and the Implications of Its Satellite Position
22.11
page 11 of 24
Two faces of the Moon
Our overview so far gives us the chance to have another good look at all the Moon’s functions. Among her many tasks, we can actually distinguish two basic ways in which the Moon serves our interests (18.2). The first is related to our Self and includes our conditionings, images and emotions. The second is unrelated to the Self and actually completely beyond its comprehension or control, such as our physiological processes. It includes our digestion, our heartbeat and our health in general (22.9), as well as our dreams (7.1, 18.3, 22.8) .
So on the one hand, the Moon offers a landing point for the Self, which then takes control from there. On the other hand, the Moon completely does her own thing, beyond any control of the Self.
The Moon even acts as an opponent to the Self, by causing health problems and other forms of disturbance. Perhaps we will gain a better understanding of this two-sided functioning by taking another look at the body of Earth and of Man.
The Self and the subtler bodies
In our discussion of the planet shells around Earth, we encountered an analogy with the structure of Earth’s body itself with its various climate zones and another analogy with the subtler bodies around human beings (14.1). In particular, we mentioned the astral and the mental body. These are the bodies where our feelings and thoughts move about, according to Theosophical teachings. They envelop our physical body. In the planet orbits around Earth, similar layered spheres can be distinguished (18.4).
It is said that in Man, these bodies may greatly vary in appearance, not only from one person to the next, but also within the same person according to his or her changing moods. We also saw that the human Self has its own landing point in these realms: not only in that of concrete action, but also in the realms of feeling and thinking, enabling it to develop some directive power here. The Self is able to freely switch between these realms. This implies that the Self is able to get a grip on the forces in each of these domains. We can adjust our thinking by looking at things from another perspective. In turn, our perspective on things directly impacts the feelings that we have about them.
The etheric double
Besides the astral and mental body, there is a third subtle body that we have not mentioned before. This is known as the etheric double. This body is closest to the physical body, expanding less far than the other two subtler bodies.
Congruent
In fact, the etheric body is so closely knit to the physical body that, contrary to the other two subtle bodies, it does not have its own form but follows the contours of the physical body. It does not change its form in reaction to mood changes either. It contains the physical body, permeates it and is visible as a zone of light extending a few inches beyond it. Due to its congruence in form, it is sometimes called the (etheric) double.
This etheric double does not operate separately from the physical body, for its existence depends on it; when the physical body dies, the etheric body falls apart as well, within a couple of days (*) .
The etheric body is also known as the health body. The quality of our immune system (21.1, 22.3, 22.9) is considered to be dependent on the proper functioning of this body.
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