In this segment, we’re examining the mystical concepts of thoughtforms. This overview of non-physical energies should give you a better understanding of how to get relief from negative thoughts and emotions. We hope you will find this article of use for esoteric healing and mystical ministries. A thought form is a non-physical entity that lives on the mental or astral plane. When we think, we generate energy that can create a thought form. According to Annie Besant, a thought form results in coloured auras that others can see. It is a psychic entity born from our thoughts and emotions. Often they are vague and nebulous. For example, if you experience love and affection for someone, those emotions may give rise to a warm-coloured, star-like radiation pattern in your psyche. In other cases, a thought form can be a specific entity.
Thought Forms Annie Besant
The most well-known work on thought forms remains Besant and Leadbeater’s Thought Forms. They described the work of thought forms in this book. For the first time, they also provided drawings showing the actual forms that thoughts manifest. An artist created the illustrations from descriptions given by those having seen the thoughtforms.
Besant’s work also inspired modern art and later works in the Theosophic tradition. Later, writers built and expanded on the concepts of thought forms set forth by Besant. Besant held that all thoughts produce thoughtforms. She did not focus on the active creation of thought forms for a purpose. She was more concerned with the forms’ existence and how they may interact with humans once they were created.
Thought Forms Theosophy
As discussed above, Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater set forth the original theory of thought forms for Theosophists. Theosophists believe that every thought creates a thought form, with the level of intention determining the strength of the form.
Thought forms, in Theosophic teachings, can grow strong enough to block reality from the host. The creation becomes more powerful than the creation, and the creature’s ideas move it forward. This may have the impact of blunting the will of the host.
Theosophists believe that a thoughtform not absorbed by the intended target can return to the person generating it with force equal to that with which it was sent. The effect of the returning creation may not benefit the creator. As thought forms can endure for indeterminate periods, the adverse effects could remain for an extended period.
The teaching that thoughts create thought forms allows us to mind our thinking to do the least harm possible. However, the teachings do not support the further premise that creating thought forms intentionally benefits ourselves and others. Given the complexities of consciously creating a form and the unintended consequences that could result, refraining from making powerful new thought forms remains the best path.
Kandinsky’s Thought Forms
Art historians generally credit Wassily Kandinsky with his first abstract artwork, a watercolour he completed in 1911. While little controversy exists over whether Kandinsky’s created the first abstract art, the sources of his inspiration generate more discussion. Kandinsky exhibited a keen interest in the occult. However, Theosophy ranked as one of his top interests. He owned a 1908 German translation of Thought Forms Annie Besant, among other Theosophic works.
Kandinsky believed that art should flow from the “divine force.” He claimed that” art is a force and a work of art springs from the artist’s soul in a mysterious and secret way.” Like other artists of his day, he believed that the occult and magic could inspire an artist and move the field forward.
His cues from Besant appear to include more than merely the theoretical or the inspiration of religion. Some of Kandinsky’s paintings build on drawings from Besant and Leadbeater’s book, interpreting them with the additional force of his talent. Side-by-side comparisons are different, but the influence of Besant on Kandinsky appears without serious effort.
The lessons of Besant and Leadbeater may have set the modern abstract art movement in motion. Their explanation of thought forms and the presence of bodies on the astral plane inspired Kandinsky and the conceptual artists who followed him. Whether those artists continued the severe study of the Theosophy of Kandinsky, they owe their work’s form, force, and style to Besant and other Theosophic thinkers.
Thought Forms and Elementals
Elementals can inhabit and invigorate thought forms, allowing them to move to the astral plane. Besant explained that both malicious and beneficial thought forms could move to the astral plane with the assistance of the elemental.
Elementals see colour. Their language revolves around the colour of thought and emotions. An impure or angry thought will produce a red colour and summon elementals to the thought that see the colour vibrating.
Besant claimed that elementals swarm around humans, waiting for the next creation they can join. Clairvoyants can see the colours, understanding the aura that surrounds each person. Advanced clairvoyants view the thought forms and the colours produced by the swarming elementals surrounding a person.
Trying to see elementals without sufficient training or attempting to diagnose and cure ill effects caused by elementals of the wrong type can produce unwanted, ill effects and make the situation worse. When dealing with these creatures, you should consult a trained healer.
What is the Nature of Thought Forms?
Most people believe thoughts remain private. For example, some refer to their inner and outer voices and think that thoughts without action are harmless. However, in reality, a mere thinking process produces real-world impacts whether or not action follows the thought. Each thought creates energy vibrations. These vibrations encompass the general tone of the thought but not its specific contents. This energy can impact anyone nearby or far away. A trained thinker can intentionally send the vibrations to a target. We call this energy a thoughtform.
Furthermore, our feelings and emotions also create thought forms. Since emotions produce high energy levels, stimulating rapid thoughts and physiological reactions. This intense energy could easily make a powerful thought form. This process can occur both accidentally and intentionally.
Thought forms creation occurs both intentionally and unintentionally. Unfortunately, most people create them without trying and even realizing that they send energy into the space around them. Other people may direct these entities at you. Consequently, this dark energy may latch on to you if you vibrate on a similar frequency. Additionally, indiscriminate thought forms, created with intensity but without purpose, may attach to people with similar sensory vibrations.
Thought Forms Annie Besant – Seeing Thoughtforms
Besant and Leadbetter taught that we could perceive thoughts as colours in a person’s aura. Additionally, they could appear as material objects, such as the image of the thinker. Their teachings provide insight into how to see thought forms.
Some thought forms may appear visible to almost anyone, even if they are not clairvoyant. This energy may appear visible to people if the thinker manifests their emotions and thoughts with sufficient power. They also may last for a long time, even after the thinker’s death.
However, not all of these entities are visible to everyone. Some thought forms require clairvoyant abilities for viewing. Besant mentioned in “Thought Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation” that she and Leadbetter viewed them from the astral plane. While in a trance, she could see auras, etheric matter, and energy forms.
The illustrations in Thought Forms: A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation
This book represents an artist’s rendition of the forms described by Besant and Leadbetter. It is a great starting point when considering learning how to see thought forms.
Besant’s description of the human aura provides a guide for understanding the people you encounter. And also talks about the types of thought forms. Besant and Leadbetter’s explanation in the book gives precise meaning to each thoughtform. It also describes different aura colours and their meaning. For example, negative thoughts and emotions give rise to darker, dull colours. In contrast, positive or pure thoughts and emotions appeared brighter, more vibrant colours.
We can horn our natural extrasensory abilities to learn the skills Annie Besant described in her books. However, learning or improving clairvoyance is a never-ending process. While you may reach a level of mastery that allows clear sight, you should always remember that any skill can improve with discipline and effort.
Thought Forms Annie Besant – History of Thoughtforms
The term, ‘thoughtforms’ was coined by Theosophists Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater in 1901 with their publication, “Thoughtforms.” They believed every thought creates correlated vibrations in our bodies, accompanied by colours. The colours form different shapes as they gather the vibrations from the essence of our thoughts. This shape is a living thoughtform animated by our energy. Since humans have such complex thoughts, the shapes created by our vibrations are also difficult, showing a mix of several colours.
Besant and Leadbeater described three different types of thoughtforms. These forms represent the other effects that thoughts can produce.
Different Types of Thought Forms Annie Besant
The first form is the form of the thinker. This floating form will appear as the person who creates it. For example, if a person thinks intently about a location, their form may appear there.
The second form is of a material object. This could be a rock, a tree, or anything else upon which the thinker focused. These types of thoughtform, detailed in Annie Besant’s book, were created by the power of the mind. They became enlivened with elemental nature spirits or the spirits of the dead. These types of entities, if negative, can become attracted to people who vibrate close to their own vibration. Thus, you can attract negative thoughtforms into your space if you’re feeling sick or upset. This situation can compound the problem, intensifying your feelings of disease or pain.
Lastly, there are thoughtforms like symbols of emotional or mental constructs that people create daily via just living. Like any thoughtform, its existence is strengthened by the more someone pays attention to that thought or feeling. For example, if a person is happy and content, they can put out a lot of wonderful thoughtforms. But the opposite happens when people are in pain, unhappy, or angry. These energies can accumulate in the auric field of the person. Negative thought forms can create a dampening effect, like walking around in a cloud of negativity of your own making. Therefore, we must learn to handle negative emotions and thoughts to clear space and bodies from their influence.
Thoughtforms Definition
Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater defined a thoughtform as the radiating vibration from thought and the floating form resulting from a more intense thought.
The vibration only conveys the sense of the thought. For example, a sense of love would vibrate if the thought concerned love for a specific person. Someone receiving the vibration will not know the identity of the person to whom the original thought was directed. But they will understand and feel the quality of the love.
Besant and Leadbeater claimed that all thoughts led to thoughtforms of varying strength and duration. Thou, the floating forms result only from intense thoughts. Therefore, these entities can become conscious and independent of their creator. Additionally, it was noticed that the floating form’s power exceeds its vibration. These entities can operate on both the mental and astral planes.
Thought Forms Meaning
Thought forms on the astral plane represent thoughts by people on the earthly plane. This means that our thoughts may produce effects in times and places separate from us based on the intensity of the thought. Therefore, people subject to intense emotional outbursts, positive or negative energy, can produce strong entities that may help or hurt others at different times and places.
Given the potential for these impacts, learning to govern our thoughts and emotions to produce the least harm becomes an important goal. By learning to meditate to keep calm, we can reduce the number of negative energy produced. Fewer negative thought forms mean fewer people suffering from a lack of positive energy flow.