(L). Literally means “Soul of the World.” It is used in both the larger sense of being the soul of the cosmos, and the more limited sense of the soul of a globe.

In its larger sense it is equivalent to the Alaya of Buddhism. In its lower aspect it is the astral light or the lower levels of AKASA.

The ancients, such as Apuleius, consider that the soul is born into the world when it leaves the soul of the world or anima mundi.

Helena P. BLAVATSKY distinguishes between the masculine anima mundi, which is equivalent to Alaya, and is divine and spiritual, and the feminine anima mundi, as taught by the Nazarenes and Gnostics, which is when the Spirit steps into creation, and thus is already tainted with matter.

H. P. Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, states that, “The astral light stands in the same relation to Akasa and Anima Mundi, as Satan stands to the Deity. They are one and the same thing seen from two aspects: the spiritual and the psychic — the super ethereal or connecting link between matter and pure spirit, and the physical” (SDI:197 fn).

In various contexts Anima Mundi may serve to mean the essence of the seven planes of consciousness. Yet again, the term may mean, in its highest purpose, nirvāṇa and in its lowest, the ASTRAL LIGHT.

V.H.C.

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