The Magical Universe

Chief among the components of a magical paradigm is the consideration of universal nature and how magic exists and functions therein. This nature could be as confined as the sphere of day-to-day experience or as broad as what scientists and philosophers call the universe.

The Multiverse

This phrase could of course mean a few different things, but in the current context it refers to a paradigm shared by many magicians today, wherein our universe consists of multiple planes or realms that exist concurrently with our physical reality. Sometimes this is expressed as seven planes, or nine, or eleven. Other versions teach of three, four, or five “worlds”. Numerous versions of the paradigm enumerate the distinct worlds or realities a bit differently and utilize various terminologies to explain the whole affair.

Purpose and Core Proposition

The multiverse idea, or the magical universe paradigm, is as old as our species. In one form or another we have always entertained the idea that beyond our direct and conscious experience there are other realms that influence or dictate events and shape our destinies.

Such notions are part of us. They may exist as archetypes in the psyche or part of our genetic memories. Wherever they originate, these ideas are powerful, holding tremendous potential for influencing our unconscious minds and directing subtle forces.

This is the essence of magical potency, for the unconscious mind interacts with the so-called spirit world and oversees the movement of unseen or subtle energies once a magical operation has set things into motion. After the spell has been cast or the ritual is completed, once your conscious mind has moved onto other affairs, it is the unconscious and the beings and currents of the unseen, mystical worlds that carry on, finishing the work you set into motion.

In numbered item format, the core proposition of the Magical Universe idea is:

1. There is more to reality than our material world and physical phenomenon.
2. These mysterious or unknown aspects of reality play a crucial role in our life experience and are certainly of central importance to the working of magic.

As a thesis statement, this might be expressed as:

What we call reality is actually a multi-faceted and many-tiered energetic hierarchy composed of different frequencies that correspond to ascending realms. Each realm serves a specific purpose in the collaboration of reality, is home to unique beings, and relates to the human consciousness and magic in a particular way. This overall schema is responsible for all creation, preservation, and destruction and understanding these workings results in greater magical capability and power.

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It doesn’t matter whether the perceived magical universe or multiverse is objectively real or exists exclusively in your imagination. The important thing is that you have, through this paradigm, a strong conceptual foundation from which to draw power and through which to focus empowered intention.

The vividly imagined, well understood concept of the magical universe is both a battery providing unlimited energy, or fuel for magical work and a lens that can direct intense desire and specific intent.

Again, it matters not whether you espouse a system of grand scale or take up a model concerned only with the human or anthropocentric scale. The important point is the multi-faceted or multi-dimensional handling of the function of magic, for this both addresses common impediments of rational concern for accuracy and mitigates the danger and damage resulting from overthinking and obsessing.

The Five Planes or Five Worlds Paradigm

I adopted a version of the story involving five planes, (or realms, worlds etc.) in total, which include our material universe and all its alternate timelines (per the Many Worlds Interpretation of physics) and undiscovered dimensions (ala String Theory, et al).

LET ME STOP RIGHT HERE AND CLARIFY: I used those two terms or phrases from high school textbooks to make a connection you might easily relate to. Most folks are at least casually aware of Many Worlds and String Theory, and recognize in them the effort contemporary academia is making to explain or reconcile ages-old ideas about other realities just beyond our five senses. I am not a scientist, nor do I pretend to understand the premises, mathematics, applications, or extrapolations of these advanced interpretations and theories.

Like all versions of magical universe model, the five worlds of my understanding exist in a hierarchy, arranged according to frequency from highest to lowest or vice versa. the dense material universe represents the lowest frequency or slowest rate of vibration, with each higher realm representing an elevation in frequency, or vibrational rate.

From the perspective of vibration, or how short/fast or long/slow energetic wavelengths are relative to one-another, consider the ranges of visual light and audible sound. Light exists well below and above the frequencies or wavelengths our eyes can process. Infrared and ultraviolet represent the ends of visual access to light at the high and low ends of the spectrum. Sound is similar, occurring beyond the frequencies detectable by our ears, with infrasound and ultrasound again representing the boundaries of our sense perception. Objects and beings existing at higher or lower frequencies than the phenomena of our material world might similarly be unavailable to our senses.

The higher realms in fact share space and time with us on the material plane. They are simply undetectable by our material senses, which operate on the frequency of our physical bodies and universe.

Multidimensional Reality

People sometimes refer to these planes or worlds as other dimensions. This is fine, although I don’t know how they fit into the scheme of dimensions according to the theoretical physicist.

Just as we have a physical body as the vehicle for navigating this world, we also have an energetic body that corresponds to each of the other planes of existence.

We therefore have our being not only in the physical realm, but also in the ether, on the astral, and so on. These energy bodies are part of your overall Personal Energy Matrix, which you can learn more about by clicking here.

As our physical body interacts with the physical world and our mind and mental body interact with the mental plane, so too do our other energetic bodies function and move upon the plane with which they are associated. This is of particular interest in magic, for the higher energy bodies are responsible for much of the magical workload, guided by the unconscious mind, beings from the higher worlds, and the magical forces unleashed by magical acts and operations.

Conceiving the Hierarchy of Planes

As mentioned, the five worlds all exist here and now, interconnected and simultaneous, all to the extent that time is applicable, for some energies are not beholden to the construct of linear time. This can all be (obviously) difficult to mentally contend with, and so the idea of the various worlds or planes of reality existing in a layered matrix has become a popular way to teach, learn, and discuss the topic.

The five worlds or planes are considered by their relative frequency or vibrational state, with our material world being the most dense or lowest frequency and the realm of spirit being the finest, or highest frequency state. This theme is consistent through most mystical, New Age, or spiritual ideologies and constructs.

In ascent from this material universe upwards, or vice versa, these five planes are:

The ordering of these planes is subject to a whole range of considerations. A mystic seeking to ascend to the upper worlds would start at the material level, 1 and proceed from there. When discussing the creation of our reality, most teachings and lore suggest divinity as the source and so begin with the spirit plane, 1 and descend. Also note each of these worlds are known by various names.

Artist Interpretation of the Five Worlds

In the image above I have tried to illustrate the interconnected nature of the planes while providing an image that I hope is fit for contemplation.

The Material Plane

At the bottom is the material realm with our universe. This is only one part of multiverse where we have our being but also the plane we most readily identify as “reality”. This is because of the potency of the very dense substances of the physical plane and their ability to overwhelm our senses and dominate our experiential processes. Still, the other worlds are accessible from this material space when we quiet our minds and learn to sense the subtle flows.

The Etheric Plane

This state is the material that borders the physical and astral. It is, in many ways, the crossroads and the veil that separate this mundane world from the Other worlds and at the same time unites our physical form with the rest of our energetic being.

The realm earthbound spirits and ghosts travel or abide within and the place where the vital force or life force that animates living things originates. It is a mirror image of the physical plane yet it exists on a higher frequency and is made up of finer, or more subtle etheric substance and material.

The Elemental Ladder

As you will read in the section on the astral plane, magical operations create a multi-dimensional process of inspiration, creation, formation, densification, and manifestation that reflect the spirit, mental, astral, etheric, and material worlds. this process can be viewed through the lens of the five elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth with each element corresponding to a plane in the exact order each has been listed here.

So…

• ether represents the spirit plane
• air represents themental plane
• fire represents the astral plane
• water represents the ethericplane
• earth represents the material or physical plane.

In the context of the etheric plane, or more precisely the ether and the boundary connecting it to the physical, the same elemental sequence of descent can be visualized/synthesized and actualized through your magical work to imagine your desire becoming more and more dense as it descends from the ether towards manifestation, which occurs in the due time according to what you want, the magic being deployed, the available channels of manifestation etc.

This ether is the prana of Yoga and the fifth element of the Western Mysteries. It is related to the aether of nineteenth-century physics and an examination of any old, scientific papers on the latter could prove instructive to the studying magician and practicing mystic.

I have read literature that treats the etheric double of the human being, the energy body associated with this plane, as analogous to the person’s will. I quite like this reflection.

The key argument for such a position is simply that, without movement of the ether, there could be no animation or movement of the physical. The ether is caused to move by asserting the mind, or willpower. When one comprehends the foundational importance of the Will in magic, the inherent value in exercises that align the physical and etheric bodies becomes obvious.

The Astral Plane

Often called the dream world, dreamscape, realm of the soul, or causal plane, among other names, the astral is effectively the Other World of Celtic and other ancient mythos and philosophies. Some believe it is the “place” or state encompassing the afterlife, thus containing all the heavens, hells, limbos, et al to which souls travel hereafter.

I believe this is a simplification, and that perhaps the afterlife begins on the astral plane. I could say I think the experience ascends or progresses from there, but such language is moot and ineffectual on a topic of this nature, which is likely beyond cognitive understanding for us at this juncture.

Suffice it to say the astral is deemed by some as the realm of the soul. The portal or pathway between our material universe and the astral world, represented by path 32 on the Tree of Life and experienced as the long, dark tunnel near-death experiencers report is believed by Kabbalists and others to be not only the transit from this life to the next but also the conduit through which a soul enters this life.

All of this gets very complicated and confusing when trying to convey or absorb it through dialog or textual content. It is best grasped through conceptual work, myths, poetry, meditative states, and so on.

For our purposes the astral is the foundation, energy grid, blueprint of everything that has been, is, or will be on the material plane. It is the house of the Akashic Records that catalog the journey of all souls.

The fluid or substance of the astral is malleable via mental, emotional, and etheric or magical directive. It is here magical creations from the mental plane are given initial form before descending through the phases of ether to manifest in the physical domain.

In other words as you weave magic in spell or ritual, your astral body forms the object of your desire on that plane. this form is subsequently, through your magical process and the work of both the unconscious and spiritual energies after the magic is performed, densified through the ether to be made, in its due time, a physical thing or an experience on the physical plane.

The Magical Process of the Planes

In list form here is the process of a magical intention given life by magical work:

• Inspiration (in-spirit) or conception in the spiritual realm.
• Ideation, which is creation, on the mental plane.
• Formation on the astral plane.
• Densification through the ether.
• Manifestation in the physical world.

This process is provided to help you build a strong, working concept to focus your work through. This is a powerful device for visualizing as you operate your magic. You can also use this understanding to enhance or empower any individual area of your work.

For example, meditation and spiritual work will open you to more active inspiration.

Incense that sparks creativity will strengthen your connection to the mental plane.

A crystal that strengthens the link to the astral body will, by default, empower your ability to form the astral substance to your will.

An exercise to align the physical and etheric bodies will give you greater capability at bringing your astral formations (emotionalized visualizations, for instance) into manifestation.

The lower astral substance corresponds to the moon and may be the same material as the unconscious mind. Hence the astral is sometimes called concrete consciousness.

The upper astral corresponds to the sun and may be of like substance to the soul and higher consciousness.

Here you can see it is more apt to say the astral is the domain of both the shadow and the soul rather than simply the domain of the soul.

The Mental Plane

The Spirit Plane