Magical Axiom of the Five Worlds

Most contemporary lore holds a multiverse-oriented view wherein the magical universe is discussed as having four or five worlds, realms, planes, etc. Simplified philosophies may address three realms, i.e. the Underworld, our material plane, and the Heavens. Such thinking, while not as rigorous, is not entirely unlike the scientific models used to study alternate realities and multiple dimensions of space.

In my own philosophy I loosely address the magical reality via the Five Planes Paradigm.

The axiom of the five planes tells us our material world exists simultaneously with four other spaces. These are:

1. The etheric plane, a more subtle and pliable mirror of our own universe.
2. The astral realm, that causal and potential space from which everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen doth emerge and come manifest. This plane is also home to all the could occur or might happen.
3. The mental plane, or the interface with the great All Mind, the plane where thought and thinking originate and have their being.
4. The spirit world or divine plane, where forever dwells the source of all else, or the Divine Spark, Great Spirit, Tao, ONE, et al. On the border of this and the mental realm are formed the God and Goddess, Yin-Yang, RA MA, the duality that governs the manifest and unmanifest phenomena throughout the other planes.

These planes can be diagramed as one atop the other, with the material world at the bottom and the spirit world at the top. Such illustrations are useful for practical work, but it should be remembered that all five of these realities, modalities, call them what you like, exist here and now with us and at every point in time and space, together.

It’s also worth noting the model could be wrong and the five planes may not, as such, exist at all. However so long as the universe, via ritual and other magic, behaves as if the model is correct, I shall continue with its use.

I Say Tomato…

There are of course many ways to view our reality through a magical lens. My ideology is far from exclusive.

Students of the Tree of Life will have a varied perspective with three to five worlds and multiple planes of ascent or descent for magical and mystical work. Reality as we know it emanates from a divine source as creative Light, the finest of subtle energies, and cascades down multiple levels , growing coarser and denser as it descends.

Shamanistic traditions involving the Other World and travel to and from such mystical spaces is another working example of the magical principle of multiple planes or realms of existence. I’ve always found it fascinating, how the realm of the dead often serves a dual duty as the plane from which matter and life in our world emerges.

At any rate it matters little to me whether or not you hold a belief in two or ten worlds, but I do urge folks who are new to magic to begin exploring the notions of “other” spaces, as doing so will assist in the construction of the proper paradigm for successful magical endeavor. After all, that is why we are here (on this blog), is it not?

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