rana, the ability to extend a
portion of the astral body to a considerable distance, and to there
produce an effect upon some physical object. Those with strong clairvoyant
vision may actually perceive this astral extension, under favorable
circumstances. They perceive the astral arm of the person stretching out,
diminishing in size as it extends (just as a piece of flexible rubber
shrinks in diameter as it expands in length) and finally coming in contact
with the physical object it wishes to move or strike. Then is seen a
strong flow of prana along its length, which (by a peculiar form of
concentration) is able to produce the physical effect. I cannot enter into
the subject of astral physics at this place, for the subject is far too
technical to be treated in lessons designed for general study. I may at
least partially explain the phenomenon, however, by saying that the
projected astral arm acts in a manner almost precisely like that of an
extended physical arm, were such a thing possible in nature.

This astral-body extension produces spirit raps on tables; table-tilting
and movement; levitation, or the lifting of solid objects in the air;
playing upon musical instruments such as the guitar, accordian, etc. In
some cases it is able to actually lift the person himself from the floor,
and carry him through the air, in the same way. It may also cause the
movement of a pencil in a closed slate, or bit of chalk upon a blackboard.
In fact, it may produce almost any form of movement possible to the
physical hand. In the case of the levitation of the person himself, the
astral arms, and sometimes the legs as well, extend to the floor and push
up the physical body into the air, and then propel it along. There are
many complex technical details to these manifestations, however, and in a
general statement these must be omitted.

Some who are firmly wedded to the spiritistic theory resent the statement
of occultists that this form of phenomena may be explained without the
necessity of the "spirits." But the best ground for the statement of the
occultists is that many advanced occultists are able to produce such
phenomena, consciously, by an act of pure will, accompanied by the power
of mental picturing. They first picture the astral extension, and then
will the projection of the astral and the passage of the prana (or vital
force) around the pattern of the mental image. In the case of some very
highly developed occultists the ast