10. Occult Signs and Symbols of the Astral World

When I speak today of the occult signs of the astral and spiritual world, “spiritual world” is meant and used in the sense of the Devachan. Our physical plan is irradiated by the astral world and even higher worlds. What the occultist comes to know of these higher worlds is often expressed by all kinds of symbols. We need not think of particularly artificial images, but we must take them symbolically, as we speak, for example, of the “light of knowledge”, the “light of wisdom”. Anyone who follows poetic language, who examines religious documents, will find symbols. The occultist, however, never needs such images in a speculative sense, because occult signs are not speculative. So you cannot penetrate the meaning of the images by mere reflection. The only way is through the secret science itself, and the same way must be applied to the legends and fairy tales of the peoples. You must hold that a true occult symbol is something really to be seen in a higher world.