THEOSOPHY - THOUGHT-FORMS - ASTRAL PLANE [Top] Occult vision of what high ambition (usually directed towards the good of one's fellow Men) looks like on the astral plane. [Bottom] Occult vision of what selfish ambition looks like on the astral plane. Paintings of thought-forms were originated by a group of Theosophists, towards the end of the nineteenth century. The paintings were done, following the occult observations of such 'thoughts' or 'visions' on the astral plane, by Charles Leadbeater (Besant claimed such an astral vision, but it is unlikely that this was genuine), by John Varley (a descendant of the John Varley who taught William Blake astrology), Mr. Prince and Miss Macfarlane, all three of whom painted 'in earth's dull colours the forms clothed in the living light of other worlds'. The paintings were reproduced, and discussed, in Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, Thought-Forms, 1901 edn, from which these plates are photographed.