Every thought gives rise to a set of correlated vibrations accompanied with a marvellous play of colour, like that in the spray of a waterfall as the sunlight strikes it, raised to the nth degree of colour and vivid delicacy. The body under this impulse throws off a vibrating portion of itself, shaped by the nature of the vibrations—as figures are made by sand on a disk vibrating to a musical note— and this gathers from the surrounding atmosphere matter like itself in fineness from the mental world. We have then a thought-form pure and simple, and it is a living entity of intense activity animated by the one idea that generated it.

Originally published in 1901, thought-forms has become a classic of Theosophic inquiry, and has influenced generations of spiritualists and artists, such as the painter Hilma af Klint. It stands today as both a fascinating exploration of the unseen world of thought-made-manifest, as well as a body of visual art; a singularly striking collection of turn-of-the-20th century esoteric painting, attributed only briefy and humbly to “threefriends—Mr. John Varley, Mr. Prince, and Miss Macfarlane.”

“We have often heard it said that thoughts are things, and there are many among us who are persuaded of the truth of this statement,” writes Besant, “Yet very few of us have any clear idea as to what kind of thing a thought is, and the object of this little book is to help us to conceive this.”

Perfect bound mass market sized paperback

This second printing corrects some errors and improved the quality of certain images in the first printing