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[Main Blog Post] A (Beginner's) Manual of the Planes
This week, I've put together a very basic primer on the model of the planes of being taught in the occult philosophy I currently study. This is as much to gather my thoughts and make them clearer to myself as anything, and I'm still pretty new at this, so even more so than usual, I welcome corrections and thoughts.
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To ask: One of the ideas I have been trying to figure out is the different levels of consciousness and how they relate to the planes/bodies. Do you have any insights to share about that?
PS: Great article!!!
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1) That's an interesting metaphor, and certainly in keeping with Eliphas Levi's approach of thinking of the "astral light," so I'll have to give it some thought, though I'm not sure I have the science grounding to get as much out of it as I might.
2) Hmmm, what exactly do you mean by "levels of consciousness," since different folks have different models there. After, all, one way of looking at the planes and their bodies is as different modes or levels of consciousness - when I notice I'm cold, that's material consciousness, when I notice that makes me feel lethargic, that's etheric consciousness, when I realize that lethargy is making me feel hopeless, that's astral consciousness, and so forth. So, what did you have in mind?
Cheers,
Jeff
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I was wondering about unconscious, subconscious, conscious, and super (or sometimes supra) conscious. And, yes, it is probably that everybody seems to have different models that confuses me. I think I understand it, and then I read something that uses a different model and my understanding doesn't work anymore...
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2) Ah, okay, got it. Hmm, I suppose on the one hand, you might say that most of our experience of all of the planes is, almost by definition, conscious, but on the other hand, it does seem that activity on each plane would map more to one of those categories than the others. Off the top of my head, and at a guess, I'd say that most of what happens on the physical happens in the unconscious, with occasional peeps up into subconscious and conscious, most etheric action is subconscious, again, with peeks up into conscious, the astral is likely split pretty evenly between subconscious and conscious, while maybe enabling some of our brushing against super-conscious, and the mental plane (and above) would mostly be happening at a super-conscious level, with occasional dips down (or occasional glimpses up from our consciousness). Of course, going back to that first point, much of occult practice seems to be about how to bring activity of more of the planes into regular conscious awareness, with a goal toward giving better access to the super-conscious.
But as I said, I haven't thought very deeply or long on it yet, so that's another interesting angle!
Jeff
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Thanks for the short descriptions of the planes!
Experienced astrologists seem to use the planets or planes to describe things that are otherwise taboo. For example, a Dutch astrologist talked about the Ukraine war using Mars and Saturn, and she seemed to say Russia was not the aggressor.
You put twentieth century physics as an example of our knowledge of the material plane. In my opinion twentieth century physics belongs exclusively in the Astral plane.
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1) That's interesting, I hadn't noticed that, likely since the only mundane astrologer I follow is JMG, and he doesn't much shy away from taboo subjects :)
2) Interesting. In my understanding, the mental activity in the form of models and equations of physicists and those who learn from them would certainly be happening on the astral plane, but ostensibly, the things that their models and equations describe are material plane phenomena. One example off the top of my head is radioactive decay. Something material is happening in the release of energy from certain substances, and the model of half-lives, emitted protons/neutrons, and so forth is our astral way of trying to grasp that something in more detail.
So, are you asserting that the strides in 20th century physics were advances in our perception of/constructs within the astral plane (totally agree), that what 20th century physics describes, like relativity, are actually astral phenomena rather than material (an intriguing suggestion I hadn't considered and so don't know if I agree), or something else?
Cheers,
Jeff
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Thanks for your reply! I read in another of JMG's books that opinions usually converge on the material plane. This is true for radioactive decay, where if you ask the same question to different experts, you get the same answer. For twentieth century physics like quantum mechanics, my experience is that different experts come with different answers, and do not seem to converge. Someone who attended a conference on quantum mechanics described it as like a conference of Buddhist gurus.
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