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Thoughtform may be understood as a 'psychospiritual' complex of energy or consciousness manifested either consciously or unconsciously, by an individual or a group.^{[citation needed]} Thoughtform may be benevolent, malevolent or of complex alignment and may be understood as a spontaneous or intentional manifestation from a combination of willpower, bioenergy, discipline, chi, prana and/or astral or ætherial substance.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 1.1 Tulpa 1.2 Spiritual lineage 1.3 Scientific lineage 1.4 Phenomenal world as thoughtform 1.5 Working definitions 2 Thoughtforms and Annie Besant 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

Tulpa is Tibetan for what has been rendered as "thoughtform" in English.^{[citation needed]} The concept of "tulpa" is vindicated in the Consciousness-only Doctrine first propounded within the Yogacara School. The doctrine is entwined with the doctrine and lineage of the Mindstream and may even have ancient roots and antecedents in Bonpo traditions, Himalayan and Asian shamanism evident in Tibet, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Tuva, Mongolia, Russian and China.

A tulpa is, in Tibetan mysticism, a being or object which is created through willpower, visualisation, attention and focus, concerted intentionality and ritual. In other words, it is a materialized thought that has taken physical form.^[1]

There are... apparitions that make public appearances. Some of these are said to be the perceptible double—the etheric counterpart—of a living person who is undergoing an out-of-body experience. Even more mysterious are the externalized perceptible manifestations of something whose existence originated in the mind of its creator by virtue of that person's incredible powers of concentration, visualization, and other, more occult, efforts of the mind. In Tibet, where such things are practiced, a ghost of this kind is called a tulpa. A tulpa is usually produced by a skilled magician or yogi, although in some cases it is said to arise from the collective imagination of superstitious villagers, say, or of travelers passing through some sinister tract of country.

— Mysteries of the Unexplained, 1990, Reader's Digest Association Inc. page 176

The tulpa meme or concept was brought to the West in the 19th century by Alexandra David-Néel, who claimed to have created a tulpa in the image of a jolly, Friar Tuck-like monk which later developed a life of its own and had to be destroyed.^[2]

Thoughtform are evident in Vajrayana Buddhism, Bönpo traditions, indigenous cultural traditions throughout the world such as Cherokee of North America and Indigenous Australians (who understand the waking, created world to be a thoughtform subset of The Dreaming), shamanic traditions, echoes are evident in ghosts or supernatural agency, folk religion, esoteric philosophies such as Theosophy and what is construed as the New Age.

Thoughtforms – in the sense of being homunculi of awareness with the attribute of self-will – also figure in various cognitive and psychological theories. Marvin Minsky's Agents are among the best known of these. Carl Jung's technique of Active imagination involves interacting with thoughtforms of the subconscious mind. Jung identified certain universal thoughtform archetypes such as Anima and Animus which are characteristic of all humans.

The chief difference between these scientific formulations and magickal / spiritual definitions of thoughtforms is that the former are created unconsciously whereas the latter are created deliberately.

Thoughtform phenomena, by any other name, are worked with variously in Imaginal Psychology and Process Oriented Psychology and is evident in the work of Gregory Bateson. Jean Houston, a disciple of Campbell and Mead (and in the direct lineage of Jung), was a modern pioneer of engaging thoughtform in what she termed the 'imaginal realm', and in the associated discipline of aspecting or 'carrying' deity, dæmon or other somesuch (Houston, 1996).

Towards the end of his life, the visionary biologist Gregory Bateson intuited the manifested realm to be a thoughtform of the unmanifested. Lawlor (1991: p.43) cites Bateson from Lovelock (1995: p.218):

The individual mind is imminent but not only in the body. It is imminent also in pathways and messages outside the body, and there is a larger mind of which the individual mind is only a sub-system. This larger mind is comparable to God and is perhaps what some people mean by God, but it is still imminent in the total interconnected social systems and planetary ecology.

The Gaia hypothesis, Gaia philosophy and Deep Ecology hold that Gaia is a congeries of entities. Forerunners and permutations of Gaian theory hold that the Earth (and by extension all phenomena) is the actualization of thoughtform phenomena.

A principal tenet in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? is that the Universe is envisioned as constructed from thought (or ideas) rather than from substance. The movie is a vehicle exploring the views of JZ Knight/Ramtha. This idea is also explored by Fred Alan Wolf (1994) and Amit Goswami. Goswami, a proponent of lucid dreaming, has affirmed that "during a dream that felt like an admonition...[that he heard]...so clearly: 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead ^[3] is correct. It's your job to prove it!' Dzogchen, a confluence and complex of practices, philosophies and worldviews of the mystical shamanic Bönpo and tantric Vajrayana Buddhism that yields the view that phenomena is a thoughtform or a dreamform. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche (2002), a Dzogchen Master, expounds this view (refer Dzogchen#Reality vs dreams).

• An image or images held in the mind of a practitioner which aids in the manifestation of Intent. An agency of psychic effect which exists and takes form on the pre-physical realms of existence, which acts in accord with the Intent of its creator(s). ^[4]

• A living spiritual being created by humans. It could be a magical person's helper, or a being created by the belief in it from masses of people. ^[5]

• A homunculus of awareness: an instantaneous observer / observed duality. Homunculi appear in various theories of cognitive philosophy and psychology to account for different facets of conscious self. They are created by everyone every moment (in some formulations they are everyone every moment); and they possess wills of their own.

Thought Forms is a book, by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, which is a study on the nature and power of thoughts. (ISBN 0-8356-0008-4)

The authors state that thoughts have two effects: "a radiating vibration and a floating form".

Thought forms are divided into three classes:

• That which takes the image of the thinker.
• That which takes the image of some material object.
• That which takes a form entirely its own, expressing its inherent qualities in the matter which it draws round it.

The effect of music, emotions, and colors on thought forms is also studied in the book.

The effect of the music of Mendelssohn (No. 9 of his "Songs without words"), Gounod (Soldiers Chorus from "Faust") and Richard Wagner (Overture to "The Meistersingers") is studied. The music of Wagner produced a "marvellous mountain-range" on the thought forms.

• Poltergeist
• Egregore
• Golem
• Imaginary friend
• Active Imagination
• Manifestation
• Psychokinesis
• Yidam
• Refuge tree

• Bailey, Alice (1951). A Treatise on White Magic or The Way of the Disciple (Hardcover). Lucis Pub. ISBN 0853300232 & ISBN 978-0853300236 Source: http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/thougtforms.html (Accessed: Friday January 19, 2007)
• Beer, Robert (1999). The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs (Hardcover). Shambhala. ISBN 157062416X, ISBN 978-1570624162
• Eileen Campbell, J.H. Brennan and Fran Holt-Underwood, Body Mind & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places, and Terms, Tuttle Pub, ISBN 0-8048-3010-X
• Gold, Peter (1994). Navajo and Tibetan Sacred Wisdom: The Circle of the Spirit (Paperback). Inner Traditions. ISBN 089281411X, ISBN 978-0892814114
• Haselhoff, Eltjo H.(). The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends ISBN 0-285-63625-1. Full text version on Google Books [1]
• Houston, Jean (1982). The Possible Human: A Course in Extending Your Physical, Mental, and Creative Abilities.
• Houston, Jean (1987). The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Mythology and Sacred Psychology.
• Houston, Jean (1996). A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story.
• Houston, Jean (2000). Jump Time: Shaping Your Future in a World of Radical Change.
• Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5
• Lovelock, James (1995). The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth ISBN 0-393-31239-9
• Norbu, Namkhai (2002, revised). Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-007-7
• Padmasambhava & Kongtrül, Jamgön (transl. Erik Pema Kunsang) (1999). The Light of Wisdom (Vol. 1). Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications. (A translation of the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo)
• Perkins, John (1994). The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street. ISBN 0-89281-459-4 [4]
• Schmidt, Marcia Binder (Ed.) (2002). The Dzogchen Primer: Embracing The Spiritual Path According To The Great Perfection. London, Great Britain: Shambhala Publications, Inc. ISBN 1-57062-829-7 (alk. paper)
• Thomas, Andy (2001). Scientific Studies “Confirm Crop Circles Are Made By Balls Of Light” - 31/07/2001. Andy Thomas is a principal part of Swirled News
• Unknown Compiler (Undated). Quotes from the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul on Thought-forms (the title of website. Source: http://home.thirdage.com/Spirituality/rainbowbridge1/thougtforms.html (accessed: Friday January 19, 2007)
• Wolf, Fred Alan (1994). The Dreaming Universe: a mind-expanding journey into the realm where psyche and physics meet. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74946-3

• Annie Besant and Leadbeater: Thought forms
• Makransky, Bob (2000). Thought Forms. Dear Brutus. ISBN 0-9677315-3-4
• Smith, Russell James (2003). Tulpa. Writers Advantage. ISBN 0595274900 / ISBN 978-0595274901 (a work of fiction)

• Besant, Annie and C. W. Leadbeater. Thought Forms. Illinois, USA: The Theosophical Society
• The Teaching of Juan Matus
• Egregore Definition Compilation