I discuss three of the primary realms used for Magical Purposes in my section “The Three Realms ::: Practical Magical Applications,” but here I will cover an introduction into a wider range of areas for spiritual study. I will work my way “down” from the Celestial, and include a brief introduction of each.
Each of the Realms or Planes encompasses all the Realms below it. Think of it like a sphere of consciousness, starting with the largest sphere (the most conscious) and as you go down through the Planes, ones consciousness becomes more focused only on specific aspects of creation. The first three realms I discuss can be understood best by the general state of consciousness that resides within them, while the latter three are better understood by the properties of experience that manifest through them.
The Celestial Realm
Often simply referred to as the “Heavens” or the “Angelic Realm.” This is to be distinguished from the “afterlife,” however, in that this is actually an area of the spirit world where each being has realized on some level that they are One with the Creator (Infinite Eternal Mother Father God Divine Essence), usually through an experience of receiving Divine Love into the Soul or awakening the Eternal Mind. Here you will almost always find beings who seek to serve your highest and best good, and are willing to assist anyone who asks for their help. The most brilliant beings in this realm are Avatars, Archangels, and Perfect Masters.
The Spiritual Realm
Also known as the “Spirit World” as more of a catch-all term for the “afterlife.” This is an encompassing plane for almost all the ways of experiencing creation WITHOUT realization that one is a literal “Child of God,” or part of the Creator Source. The layers of the Spirit World vary from places where beings are unconsciously creating great suffering and “hellish” torment to places of great beauty and “scientific” clarity. Many of the great thinkers of the Ages reside here, until they come to realize their own nature as co-creators.
The Causal Realm
Probably one of the most misunderstood of the Realms. Here the raw template of creation is playing itself out through the basic laws of the Creator. Those who are not conscious of their own nature as individual Beings, who simply believe that death means “deletion” tend to end up in this intermediary space before unconsciously manifesting their consciousness back into the lower Realms of experience. In some religious traditions, this is similar to “pergatory,” an area of unconscious “waiting,” experienced until the self begins to questions its existence and finds itself experiencing itself once again.
The Astral Realm
Where everything is constantly changing and shifting with thoughtforms, literally the “Dreamstate” of Creation. In fact, this is where many of your Dreams take place, whether you are exploring this realm from inside your body or are journeying outward to explore the “Templates” of the Physical and Etheric Realms in the Astral. This is the experiential Realm of the mind, where those beings who are engaged most deeply with their own reflection. Celestial beings have great fun playing with Creation in this realm, while unconscious beings are often lost in the myriad dreams of the mind here.
The Etheric Realm
Also known as the Subtle Realm, this plane is less structured, just as Emotions tend to be less formulated and solid than thoughts. It is like the Breath of Creation, a permeable Energy field that carries vibrations from one space or time to another. Each action you take or feeling you have is like a musical tone, which is carried through this layer of reality until it is “heard” or received by someone or something else. Sometimes old “songs” remain in spaces for very long periods of time, and you can feel this old music when you enter those places. Being the closest to the physical, thoughts that move great amounts of “energy” or “e-motion” tend to materialize in the physical shortly after “coagulating” in Etheric forms.
The Physical Realm
Also known roughly as the”Gross World,” this is where these field layers condense into the Material World. In Dreams, Thoughts and the Astral Realm, you may be in one part of the world at one moment, and in another location the next. In the Subtle Emotional Realm, resonance still travels through Space-Time very quickly and easily, and can be in multiple places at the same time. In the Physical, the fabric of Space-Time becomes thicker, and the apparent separation between different “places, things, or substances” is the most obvious way of experience Creation.
