https://projectavalon.net/forum4/imag...quote_icon.png War in Heaven and The Theocrats
Having introduced the major entities: souls, those who manipulate them, and the technology for doing so, we need to develop these concepts much further. This is as good a place as any to refer to the groundbreaking visionary work of Kyle Griffith, found in his book War in Heaven (1988).
As a physical framework, Griffith speaks of "astral matter" that has an atomic and subatomic particle structure resembling that of physical matter, but possessing much less mass than the physical counterpart. Although the mass ratios among the various astral subatomic particles is the same as that of the physical ones, all have much less absolute mass than physical electrons.
Astral subatomic particles have gravitational properties that resemble but do not interact with the gravitation of physical particles. Likewise there is astral energy that does not interact with physical systems.
There is however one very important exception to this general lack of interaction, and this actually is the basis of "the secret of life": Astral matter forms complex organic molecules just as physical matter does, and their respective chemical bonds have similar energy levels and photon frequencies associated with them. This allows for resonance and chemical bonding between physical and astral matter. It is the combined molecular system that exhibits the basic characteristics of "life", such as irritability and the ability to reproduce.
This is how astral matter and the soul, which is constructed of astral matter, become involved in the reduplication of DNA and many aspects of cell metabolism.
The bonding provides a pathway by which some of the cell's metabolic energy can be converted into astral energy that feeds the soul, powering its various functions, and providing for regeneration of its astral matter, which is then used to perform cellular growth and repairs.
Death is caused by breaking the bonds between physical and astral matter.
The soul spoken of here is a primitive analog of the physical body. It is alive, but it is not sentient. It has a nervous system but not a mind. Griffith calls this the somatic soul. The "true" soul is the astral soul.
The astral soul is a body of astral matter linked to the somatic soul's nervous system by the famous silver cord. This is structured like a segment of plant root with feeder roots at both ends, tapping into the two souls' nervous systems.
Energy flowing from the body into the somatic soul and through the silver cord to the astral soul is the astral soul's only truly efficient source of nourishment.
When the body dies, the somatic soul decomposes. The astral soul does not, but it loses its best source of energy.
A new somatic soul is created during the embryological development of every new human being.
Griffith provides a complicated discussion of various methods of reincarnation, involving ways in which the astral soul connects, and interactions with the mother's astral soul. Although quite interesting, this is beyond the scope of our page.
What is important for us here is this: the astral soul (or spirit) normally receives its energy from the living physical body and must reincarnate within ten to fifty years in order to revitalize itself. If it does not accomplish this, it faces illness, insanity, and death.
However there are many drawbacks to reincarnation also: the chance of encountering hidden body flaws, poor earthly environments, birth traumas, and so forth.
Some spirits are unwilling to take these chances. They take a different, evil, and immoral path to replenishing themselves: cannibalism. They are able to use telepathic powers to "hypnotize" spirits who then allow them to attach their own silver cord to them, just as though they were the somatic soul of an infant. By this means they can draw out enough energy to sustain themselves, but the process destroys the other spirit.
In War in Heaven, the spirits that do this are termed Theocrats, probably because for long millennia the vehicle they have used to capture and destroy weaker spirits has been religion. The Theocrats obtain victims by posing as gods and persuading religious believers to come to them voluntarily after death thinking they are entering "eternal bliss in Heaven".