Etain
The second wife of Midir the Proud, of Irish fame.
Fuamnach, Midir's first wife, became jealous of her beauty and turned her into a butterfly, and she was blown out of the palace by a magic storm. For seven years she was tossed hither and thither through Ireland, but then was blown into the fairy palace of Angus on the Boyne. He could not release her from the spell, but during the day she fed on honey-laden flowers, and by night in her natural form gave Angus her love. Fuamnach discovered her hiding-place, and sent a dreadful tempest which blew Etain into the drinking-cup of Etar, wife of an Ulster chief. Etar swallowed her, but she was born her daughter, and as such married Eochy, High King of Ireland.
Ether sometimes spoken of as koilon is in theosophic as in scientific teaching, all pervading, filling all space and interpenetrating all matter. Despite this, it is of very great density, 10,000 times more dense than water and with a pressure of 750 tons per square inch. It is capable of being known only by clairvoyants of the most highly developed powers. This ether is filled with an infinitude of small bubbles pretty much like the air-bubbles in treacle or some such viscid substance, and these were formed at some vastly remote period by the infusion of the breath of the Logos into the ether, or, as Madame Blavatsky phrased it, they are the holes which Fohat, the Logos, dug in space. Of these bubbles-not of the ether-matter is built up in its degree of density varying with the number of bubbles combined together to form each degree. (See Solar System, Theosophy.) Etheric Double is, in Theosophy, the invisible part of the ordinary, visible, physical body which it interpenetrates and beyond which it extends for a little, forming with other finer bodies the "aura" (q.v.) The term etheric is used because it is composed of that tenuous matter by the vibrations of which the sensation of light is conveyed to the eye. This matter, it must however be noted is not the omnipresent ether of space, but is composed of physical matter known as etheric, super-etheric, sub-atomic, and atomic. The term double is used because it is an exact replica of the denser physical body. The sense organs of the etheric double are the chaksams (q.v.) and it is through these chaksams (q.v.) that the physical body is supplied with the vitality necessary for its existence and its wellbeing during life. The etheric double thus plays the part of a conductor, and it also plays the part of a bridge between the physical and astral bodies, for without it man could have no communication with the astral world and hence neither thoughts nor feelings. Anæsthetics for instance drive out the greater part of the double, and the subject is then impervious to pain. During sleep it does not leave the physical body, and, indeed, in dreams the etheric part of the brain is extremely active, especially when, as is often the case, the dreams are caused by attendant physical circumstances, such as noise. Shortly after death, the etheric double finally quits the physical body though it does not move far away from that body, but is composed of the four subdivisions of physical matter above alluded to. With the decay of the latter, the double also decays and thus to a clairvoyant, a burying ground presents a most unpleasant sight. (See also Vitality, Etheric Vision, Theosophy, Shell.) Etheric Vision is in Theosophy, the power of sight peculiar to the Etheric Double (q.v.). It is of considerably greater power than physical vision, and by its aid many of the phenomena of the physical world may be examined as may also many creatures of a non-human nature which are ordinarily just outside the range of physical vision.
It responds readily to stimuli of various kinds and becomes active under their influence.