As early as 1901, Annie Besant (1847- 1933), pictured above, the second president of the Theosophical Society wrote in her book Thought Power of using a thought-form to protect and aid a friend by clearly visualising that friend and strongly wishing good to that person. This, she says, depending on the strength of that thought, will “guard that person against evil, act as a barrier to hostile thoughts, and even ward off physical dangers.”
Annie Besant was a pupil of the Master of Wisdom, Koot Hoomi, who wrote to A P Sinnett on 5 July 1881, “Thoughts are things – having tenacity coherence and life; they are real entities.” These entities are created at a subtle level whenever a human being thinks. Thus thought substance is moulded into what Theosophists call a thought-form.
Given the Theosophical axiom ‘energy follows thought’, the clearer and more energetic the thought, the more precise and powerful the thought- form. Such products of the mind have been known to sensitive humans as a source of influence for good and ill, since mankind began to think, countless thousands of years ago. Nowadays, thanks to instant telecommunications on the physical plane (internet, telephone), science can confirm that thought-forms are projected telepathically far more widely than our distant ancestors might have imagined.
Clairvoyants can observe thought-forms. Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater (1847-1934), who were both clairvoyant, wrote a book about them called Thought- Forms, containing many illustrations. First published in 1901, it is still available today, and has influenced artists for over a century. It shows the beautiful geometric forms created by higher thoughts and meditations, as well as the forms created by a variety of more mundane thoughts and feelings, including greed, affection, fright, sympathy, anger and love.
Thought-forms are produced when humans employ the energies or forces of the mental-plane. The force itself is morally neutral, but, as Koot Hoomi warned, “motive is everything”. Created with selfless, beneficent intention, thought-forms are the force behind prayer and white magic, but formed by selfish, malign intentions, they are the force behind black magic. The great occultist Dion Fortune (1891-1946) once accidentally created a vengeful ‘were-wolf’ entity by using thought and brooding emotion. This startled her, and she realised that she had reached a point where she had to choose the light or dark path; she chose the light path and in due course reabsorbed the entity.
Thought-forms are not short-lived. A Master of Wisdom observed in the 1920s that malign thought-forms produced by the brutal gladiatorial games in Ancient Rome still exist. The persistence of thought-forms and their subconscious effect on the human mind also provides a rationale for the power of advertising, political correctness, public opinion, even prices! In a free market, if enough people think that the price of a commodity is going to fall, they delay purchase - and the price of the product falls. And even though the Loch Ness Monster might not exist on the physical plane, it certainly exists as a highly energetic thought-form, created by humans and seen by sensitives from time-to-time!
One Master of Wisdom observed that what we think about our own illnesses and diseases can make our medical conditions worse or better. In recent years, NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), Clinical Hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy have all made use of positive thinking to benefit body, mind and behaviour, particularly to improve conditions like addiction, phobias, anxiety and depression. But, given the proven efficacy of thought power, how much of the NHS budget is directed to counter thought-aggravated medical conditions?
However, innovative and open-minded modern- day scientists and doctors like Rupert Sheldrake and Dr Peter Fenwick, who have both lectured at the Theosophical Society’s Headquarters in London, see mind as existing beyond the physical brain. They are rediscovering ancient truths about the subtle power of thought, intention, prayer and invocation. One day, perhaps long in the future, maybe all scientists and other human will once again restore thought power to its rightful place as the motivator and progenitor of our beings and our destinies.

Sources:
Thought Power by Annie Besant
Thought-Forms by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater
The Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett
Ponder On This by Alice Bailey/The Tibetan
The Initiate in the New World by Cyril Scott
The Old Testament of the Bible
Psychic Self-Defence by Dion Fortune
The Wheel Of Rebirth by H.K.Challoner

Register Now

Newsletter Archive

Related Topics

More About Us