[Main Blog Post] A (Beginner's) Manual of the Planes

[jprussell]

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.

Comments

[randomactsofkarmasc]

To share: One of the metaphors I meditated on when studying the Five Rites was envisioning the Astral as light, an electromagnetic wave. Light, as an electromagnetic wave, is actually composed of two waves that are perpendicular to each other. One of the waves is magnetic (Etheric); the other is electric (Material… nerve impulses).

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!!!

[jprussell]

To start with the last, thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

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

[randomactsofkarmasc]

This image might help you visualize the waves: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.OgkWk67-IQarvIFb3zJAIQAAAA%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=1a3197e30c4d2a862dc11932ee088299deb2c29152e1e4e8e14c26c530e86df9&ipo=images (which is linked from https://www.visionlearning.com/en/library/Fiacutesica/62/Luz-y-Electromagnetismo/138/reading).

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...

[jprussell]

1) Thank you, that does help!

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