Thought-Forms

The phrase of Thought-Forms was developed by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater, although the concept was present in early Theosophical literature.

Thought-Forms in the Mahatma Letters

In one of his letters to A. P. Sinnett, Mahatma K. H. writes:

Thoughts are things — have tenacity, coherence, and life, — that they are real entities.

This concept is further developed by the Master in a letter to A. O. Hume:

Every thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner world and becomes an active entity by associating itself — coalescing, we might term it — with an elemental; that is to say with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the kingdoms. It survives as an active intelligence, a creature of the mind's begetting, for a longer or shorter period proportionate with the original intensity of the cerebral action which generated it. Thus, a good thought is perpetuated as an active beneficent power; an evil one as a maleficent demon. And so man is continually peopling his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the offsprings of his fancies, desires, impulses, and passions, a current which reacts upon any sensitive or and nervous organisation which comes in contact with it in proportion to its dynamic intensity.

Online resources

Articles

• Thought Forms at Theosopedia
• Thought-Forms (Their Limitations) by Hugh Shearman

Books

• Thought Forms by Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater
• Thought Power - Its Control and Culture by Annie Besant