Editing Astral projection (section)

===Western esotericism===
{{main|Body of light}}
According to the classical, medieval, renaissance [[Hermeticism]], [[Neoplatonism]], and later [[Theosophy (Boehmian)|Theosophist]] and [[Rosicrucianism|Rosicrucian]] thought, the 'astral body' is an intermediate [[body of light]] linking the rational soul to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world of light between Heaven and Earth, composed of the spheres of the planets and stars. These astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons, and spirits.<ref>[[E. R. Dodds|Dodds]] in {{harvnb|Proclus|1963|loc=Appendix}}.</ref>{{sfn|Pagel|1967|pp=147–148}}

In the Neoplatonism of [[Plotinus]], for example, the individual is a [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]] ("small world") of the universe (the macrocosm or "great world"). "The rational soul...is akin to the great Soul of the World" while "the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible".{{sfn|Gregory|1991|p=12}} Each succeeding plane of manifestation is causal to the next, a world-view known as [[emanationism]]; "from the One proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and from Soul—in its lower phase, or that of Nature—the material universe".{{sfn|Gregory|1991|pp=15–16}} The idea of the astral figured prominently in the work of the nineteenth-century French occultist [[Eliphas Levi]], whence it was adopted and developed further by Theosophy, and used afterwards by other esoteric movements.

The [[Subtle body|subtle bodies]], and their associated planes of existence, form an essential part of some esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. Often these bodies and their [[planes of existence]] are depicted as a series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate body traversing each realm.{{sfn|Besant|1897|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}}