"Here is presented to us a system of worlds within worlds. First there is the world, or expanse, of
No-Thingness; then the Awir, or ether; next the Aur, or light; then ten Sephirotic rings of light, one
grosser than the other, until the last is composed of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit, or ∞od, Heh,
Vau, Heh, and Shin, in which the form is visible because of the existence of the spirit. By the cry
“Yehe Aur” (Let there be Light) was the world created, and Yehe is a combination of ∞od and Heh
(hy) - the Great Father and the Great Mother - the eternal complements."
- Secret Wisdom of the Qabalah

Adic:

THE SEVENTH PLANE -- THE DIVINE GODHEAD

Writers of esoteric philosophy have chosen various titles to describe this realm of the Godhead;

1. Divine Plane
2. Mahapara-Nirvanic
3. Adi
4. THAT — The Unknown
5. The Logos

We prefer to call this region THE DIVINE GODHEAD. This Godhead embodies seven cosmic planes and little can be said of these planes because the human mind cannot conceive of knowledge concerning them.

The Godhead represents the highest conceivable spiritual attainment, and passes beyond the human level and above human comprehension. The glory of the plane is, indeed, so transcendent that some have mistakenly supposed that attainment unto it was equivalent to annihilation of the man -- that to merge with this plane of the Godhead was to obliterate completely every vestige of individuality and individual consciousness. The exact opposite is true. To acquire this exalted consciousness is to slip into such complete at-one-ment with God that one literally becomes God. Beyond this it is useless to speculate. Man at his present level of evolution is not capable of this supreme attainment.

Perhaps many different names have been given to this plane because those who write or speak of it are mute in the face of its ineffable glory. The ancients called it the plane of "Mahapara-Nirvana,” "Maha" means great and "para" signifies "beyond. "Nirvana” is a Sanskrit term which attempts to convey the idea of complete spiritual perfection and attainment- To refer to the divine Godhead as the plane of Mahapara-Nirvana was to indicate that it was "a plane beyond the greatest” that man could comprehend.


Monadic:

THE SIXTH PLANE -- THE MONADIC PLANE

The sixth plane, the second from the topmost, has also been ascribed various names:

1. Anupadaka
2 .Monadic
3. The World of Virgin Spirits
4. Para-Nirvanic

We prefer to call it the Monadic Plane. The term Monad signifies the divine Spark which is projected from the Godhead. Again It projects a further projection of Itself, which is the reflected Spark of God manifesting in each individual human. Since this sixth plane is the permanent home of this divine Spark, known among all occultists as the "Monad," we have chosen to call this plane the "Monadic Plane." It is on this Monadic Plane that the Monad is formed -a spark of divine consciousness whose process of involution and evolution leads to the development of the human soul and the heights of spiritual grandeur that lies beyond it. This spark of spiritual consciousness, this Monad: — radiates from itself a projection, a part of Itself, to the planes below it, which is called a soul. This soul builds a form about itself — a body built of the atoms of the plane of physical manifestation.

On the mental planes, .the body of the soul is a force field of mental substance. In the lower part of this mental force field, the soul forms the physical body as a lower aspect of itself. The physical form, then, is built around the lower aspect of the soul, and the ensouling life determines the configuration (or form) of the body

Atmic:

THE FIFTH— THE NIRVANIC PLANE

This plane has also been known by various names:

1. Atma
2. World of Divine Spirit
3. Celestial
4. The Plane of Spirit

We prefer to call this the Nirvanic Plane. However, since it is also popularly recognized as the plane of ATMA, it is well to explain that "atma" designates pure spiritual, divine will. Atma is a Sanskrit word which also means "Self." The disciple will be better able to understand the Atmic or Nirvanic Plane by recalling the Eastern term "Nirvana." This is a word, as we said, which attempts to convey the idea of complete spiritual perfection and attainment...a mental state of supreme spiritual bliss, so hoped for and so despaired of attaining. It is the estate to which ALL saints and avatars, yogis and initiates aspire. It is_the_plane of Self-realization through divine will. It is the plane of the Nirvanic consciousness, that level of consciousness which is the daily expression of those we call Masters,

Again, some believe that the Nirvanic consciousness is equivalent to annihilation of the individual. But is the Master in his own individual life annihilated? Annihilated, yes, from all that is base and carnal. but expanded in consciousness into near God-hood. The Nirvanic Plane is the plane where the true Self becomes known. It is, indeed, the opposite of annihilation. If there be any annihilation, it could be only that of the not-Self, which is the material, transient part of us. The Nirvanic Plane, then, is that plane of pure spirit where the highest aspect of man can be known and realized, the plane of the REAL spirit-Self.

Buddhic:

THE FOURTH PLANE -- THE INTUITIONAL OR BUDDHIC PLANE

The descriptive names used most frequently are:

1. Intuitional
2. Buddhic
3. World of Life Spirit

"Buddhic" is a Sanskrit word denoting wisdom. The Buddhic Plane is the plane of divine wisdom and divine "love.” This we term INTUITION. It far surpasses our usual interpretation of intuition — which we popularly call hunches. It could be called the plane of super-conscious perception or immediate cognition; it could be called the plane of innate discernment. This is, indeed, divine wisdom in manifestation. We sometimes speak of this higher perception as "clairsentience."

The Intuitional or Buddhic Plane is the plane of the genius, that rare soul who works in the round of his everyday life through flashes of intuitive illumination from a higher Source than that which the ordinary man perceives. The genius is that one who finds his normal consciousness level expressing that which seems superior to the average.

By glancing at the chart, you will see that there are three planes above the Intuitional, and three below. Above are the divine Godhead, the Monadic and the Nirvanic Planes. Beneath are the mental, the astral and the physical. The Intuitional Plane thus becomes the "midway" plane between the human man and the god-man...the midway point between the higher planes of life and the lower planes of life,..the Three Worlds of God and the three worlds of man.

It is a plane of divine LOVE...a love not yet com-prehended by man, of which earthly love is only a reflection. A love that realizes not only the Self, but expresses a love which can encompass all humanity.
We turn our attention now to the three lower planes -- the mental, the astral and the physical --for they are the ones which must hold our interest. These three planes are called the three worlds of man.

Mental/Causal:

THE THIRD PLANE — THE MENTAL PLANE

This plane has been given several names:

1. Mental Plane
2. Manas
3. World of Thought
4. Manasic Plane

Our chart shows the mental plane separated into two levels: the lower mental plane and the higher mental plane. The latter we call the causal plane. Remember in each of the major planes there are seven sub-planes. The intuitional Plane has three planes above it and three planes below it. The intuitional Plane is a "midway" plane between the human and the god-man. Note that there are three lower sub-planes and three higher sub-planes, with the middle plane acting as an intermediary between them. This midway zone is a "battleground" for the mind of man, where a perpetual struggle ensues between his higher and lower mind. The lower three sub-planes are called the "region of concrete thought" and the upper three are called the "region of abstract thought."

The abstract mind is that which creates the patterns or the blueprints of ideas and thoughts. The concrete mind is the mind which creates the forms upon which the thought patterns and the blueprints of ideas are woven. The abstract mind builds a dream-house... the concrete mind brings it into physical manifestation.

When we refer to the mental plane we not only encompass the plane of the mind as we comprehend it at our present level of understanding, but considerably more. We encompass also the highest levels of consciousness, the force of which permeates ALL things and all planes. The Sanskrit term which Eastern philosophers have used for centuries to describe this plane, is manas which means consciousness, but which also has come to mean mind.
The term "mind" here encompass its various levels: the waking conscious mind, as it works through our everyday awareness, clothed in the matter of the physical planes, the subconscious mind as it operates through the sympathetic nervous system; the superconscious mind as it operates through our faculties of intuition; and the Wisdom Hind as it operates through our as yet undeveloped qualities of divinity.

Just as the human ear can perceive sounds which vibrate only within certain vibratory limits, so can the human mind, at its present level, receive only the thoughts ranging within a certain vibratory scale. The brain of man is not yet receptive beyond a certain point, though the "mind” substance of the mental world extends the full scope of both the highest and the low-est planes of life.

The causal or higher mental plane is .the realm of the soul, the plane which the soul calls "home." It is the plane of the abstract mind, of the superconscious level. It is the plane upon which the soul experiences its heaven in the life beyond the physical; the world from which the soul descends again into incarnation

Astral:

THE SECOND PLANE — THE ASTRAL OR EMOTIONAL PLANE

This plane has been called:

1. Astral
2. Emotional
3. Plane of Desires

It is enough to described the astral plane as the EMOTIONAL plane, the plane of desires. The more refined ethers, atoms, molecules and structures of the astral world permeate our physical plane, just as our denser gases, molecules and atoms permeate the solids of our earth. The astral world lies all about us — intangible and imperceptible, but there, nonetheless. This astral world is not too different from or opposed to the physical plane with which we are so familiar, because it is largely composed of the as-tral and etheric duplicates of physical plane objects.
The astral world is also divided into seven sub-planes. However, unlike the physical plane, the astral is not divided into chemical and etheric regions. The atoms of the astral are one degree less dense than the atoms of the physical plane. The energy matter of the astral requires less force to cause a fluidic motion than do the atoms of the physical.

The astral plane atoms are not subject to the law of gravitation as we understand it. One must become educated and trained to the laws of the astral, which differ radically from those of the physical. It is extremely difficult for us of the earth plane to under-stand how one travels "by the speed of thought" on the astral. To understand it we would need to comprehend the law behind the activity which makes it so normal and natural on the astral.

The astral plane is dominated by the law of attraction. Astral matter is obviously not solid as we understand it, only relatively so. Astral liquid is not "liquid" as we understand it, only relatively so. The same is true of all the ethers of the astral. The light of our sun is reflected as light there, though not as we understand sunlight here. The reflection of the sun's rays on astral atoms causes a diffused luminosity which permeates the upper portion of the astral plane. That is why it is declared "there is no night there." The light of the astral is a soft glow -- not glaring as our sun, but far more luminous than our moonlight. This light, however, does not penetrate the lower planes of the astral, some of which extend into the shell of the earth planet.

Upon the astral plane there is neither distance nor time. There is no heat or cold, summer or winter, day or night. Many mystics have called it the world of maya, or illusion. Yet it is a great deal nearer to the state of ultimate reality than is this physical plane and these physical senses by which we discern actual reality so feebly. The astral plane is called, in the annals of occultism, the Hall of Learning, which is a most appropriate name for truly it is there that one learns the real from the unreal, and how to discrimi¬nate between them.
What we call our astral plane we also consider to be the astral body of our planet. It exists all around us and interpenetrates the solid earth beneath our feet It also extends far into the atmospheric and etheric realms above our heads. We might picture it as a huge globe of astral matter, with the physical earth float-ing in the center of it. The densest aggregation of astral atoms are those which penetrate the earth itself, and extend into its core.

As the astral extends on into and above the etheric realms of our physical plane, the atomic struc-ture becomes increasingly refined. Although the atoms of astral matter are not subject to the law of gravity as we know it on the earth plane, they are subject to a similar law operative on the astral.

At the present level of man’s evolution, man is polarized in the astral body, which is to say that he is governed principally by feeling, emotions and desires, and not by the will.

Etheric/ Physical:

THE FIRST PLANE — THE PHYSICAL PLANE

Despite what seems to be an unending accumulation of facts about the physical plane, there is much yet to be discovered. Conventional science keeps accepting more of the precepts of occult science. Yet it still will require decades of research before placing the stamp of acceptance upon much information which occult science already proclaims as basic fact. Many of these yet to be discovered facts are to be found on the following pages.

The law "as above, so below" applies to our earth planet also. The physical plane is divided into two major regions:

1. The dense chemical region of solids, liquids and gases.

2. The etheric regions consisting of the four higher physical ethers: (1) electric, (2) pranic, f3) light,
(4) mental reflecting*

The three lower sub-planes are the solids, liquids and gases with which we are all familiar for they compose the material world about us which we cognize through our five senses — seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.
The four higher ethers are nevertheless composed of matter of the physical plane even though we do not discern them by any of our physical means. They compose what we call the earth's atmosphere. This etheric realm interpenetrates the solids, liquids and gases of the dense physical planet, bringing "life" to the forms thereof. These four physical ethers are all about us and through us and without them we would not be living and breathing beings.

Like our planet, these two aspects:man's physical form consists of;

1. The dense physical body which is composed of the solids, liquids and gases.

2. The etheric double which is a replica of and interpenetrates the dense physical form.

The etheric double is composed of the four higher physical ethers and is called the "body of life or vitality" without which the physical form could not live. It is not an intelligent "personality" but only a shadow-part of and battery for the physical form.