The above represents the sights common to the advanced occultist who explores the astral plane either in his astral body, or else by means of clairvoyant vision.  To such a one, these sights are just as natural as those of the physical plane to the person functioning by ordinary physical senses.  One is as natural as is the other—­there is nothing supernatural about either.

But there are other, and even more wonderful attributes of astral visioning than that which we have just related.  Let us take a general survey of these, so that you may be familiar with what you hope to see on the astral plane, and which you will see when you have sufficiently developed your clairvoyant powers.

What would you think if you could “see through a brick wall?” Well, the clairvoyant is able to do this.  For that matter, the physical X Rays are able to penetrate through solid substances, and the astral vibrations are even more subtle than these.  It seems strange to hear of this kind of visioning as purely natural, doesn’t it?  It smacks strongly of the old supernatural tales—­but it is as simply natural as is the X Ray.  The advanced clairvoyant is able to see through the most solid objects, and inside of anything, for that matter.  The astral senses register the subtle vibrations of the astral plane, just as the physical eye registers the ordinary rays of light-energy.  You are able to see through solid glass, with the physical eye, are you not?  Well, in the same way the clairvoyant sees through solid steel or granite.  It is all a matter of registering vibrations of energy—­nothing more, and nothing less.

It is in this way that the trained clairvoyant is able to read from closed books, sealed letters, etc.  In the same way, he is able to pierce the dense soil, and to see far down into the depths of the earth, subject to certain limitations.  Veins of coal, oil, and other substances have been discovered clairvoyantly in this way.  Not every clairvoyant is able to do this, but the advanced ones have done it.  In the same way, the trained clairvoyant is able to see inside the bodies of sick persons, and to diagnose their ailments, providing, of course, he is familiar with the appearance of the organs in health and in disease, and has a sufficient knowledge of physiology and pathology to interpret what he sees.

An authority on the phenomena of the astral plane has written entertainingly and correctly regarding this phase of simple clairvoyance, as follows:  “The possession of this extraordinary and scarcely expressible power, then, must always be borne in mind through all that follows.  It lays every point in the interior of every solid body absolutely open to the gaze of the seer, just as every point in the interior of a circle lies open to the gaze of a man looking down upon it.  But even this is by no means all that it gives to its possessor.  He sees not only the inside as well as the outside of every object, but also its astral counterpart.  Every atom and molecule of physical matter has its corresponding astral atoms and molecules, and the mass which is built up out of these is clearly visible to the clairvoyant.  Usually the astral form of any object projects somewhat beyond the physical part of it, and thus metals, stones and other things are seen surrounded by an astral aura.