According to esoteric teachings: spirits that dwell primarily on the etheric plane and have etheric bodies but not physical bodies.
"A counterpart of the physical body which lives on after death. Also known as the spirit body,double or perispirit ... Although made of material it is considerably lighter. It is purported to weigh 2 1/2 oz ... Normally invisible,it is occasionally seen by clairvoyants." 73 p. 75 [According to Steiner,the etheric body is the first of three "subtle" bodies that incarnate during Earthly life,incarnating at about age 7. It helps mold the physical body,to which it is bound (unlike the higher astral body and the still higher "I"). The link between the etheric and physical bodies is broken at the time of death,Steiner said. Other entities than humans also have etheric bodies,Steiner said.]
According to Steiner: Christ's etheric essence,which has been present in the Earth's etheric body since the Crucifixion. Steiner also taught that Christ's Second Coming has occurred in the etheric realm: the spirit found there now is often called the Etheric Christ.
An elastic term in esotericism: the etheric body,or the double or Doppelgänger,or sometimes the astral body.
According to esoteric teachings: supersensory powers mediated by or associated with ether; they are chiefly responsible for giving form to physical incarnations.
According to esoteric teachings: the portion of a human being that lives on the etheric plane (or within the etheric realm) in an etheric body.
In some esoteric teachings: the invisible substance of which etheric phenomena consist. When it is distinguished from astral matter,it is deemed grosser and more nearly physical than the latter. (Different esotericists differ on whether etheric matter is ether. Ether is usually said to exist on the physical plane,whereas etheric matter presumably exists on the etheric plane.)
In Anthroposophy: eurythmy motions that express the etheric.
The second subdivision of body nature,according to Steiner; in general,the part of ourselves that exists on the etheric plane.
”That part of the spirit world adjacent to the earth. The landing place of all,in passing through the gates of death ... This is the plane most often contacted...by mediums." 73 p. 76[The etheric plane,the astral plane,and the soul world may be differentiated,but in various esoteric teachings they are also often one and the same.]