A Modern Topology of the thirty Æthyrs - Part Two

    Beyond the invincible barrier after NIA you enter the lower mental-plane that is assigned to the element air. Like all the other planes this one is divided into some subplanes, too. Your mental-body is "thinner" then your etheral- or astral-body and is also called the mayavirupa or manas.

    This mental-body is divided into the lower and the higher mental-body - whereas the lower mental-plane and the lower mental-body are of the same density, which is the location of the ego and desires. The higher mental-body is the home of pure thought. The mental-plane includes the psychic-field of the Earth that reaches to the orbit of Mercury. In this mental-body of the Earth all thoughts everyone have thought and is going to think, also psychical phenomenons and forces, are located.

    In the mental-plane thoughts are living beings with which you can interact. The weak nuclear-force is assigned to the element air, too. Weinberg and Salam invented the idea that the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear-force are expressions of one force only. This force is called today the electroweak force. The weak nuclear-force is assigned to the lower mental-plane and thus the ability of manifesting your thoughts is a dominant power here. The magical principle of "Power follows your thoughts" has its origins in the lower mental-planes.

    TOR - The Æthyr that sustains the universe: This Æthyr has a relation to VTI. Within the physical plane this Æthyr keeps the chain of cause-and-effect required for the natural laws and is the source of its power. This is the first Æthyr you can reach only with your mental-body. In TOR is the cause which effect is the physical universe itself. The change between potential and kinetic energy, between matter and spirit and vice versa you experience here as the Great Work. It is an ongoing process of work, a self-expression and self-development that is encountered here. The amount of energy to keep up the lower Æthyrs is impressive. The source of this big amount of energy is without borders, therefore the creative potential of TOR is likewise endless. This can lure you to think that the continual process of creation is so important that you forget the joy and ecstasy itself.

    LIN - The Æthyr of the void: The first mystical Æthyr where you can already feel the non-duality, however rather weak. The change of view towards the non-duality and mystic is fundamental. Thus in LIN the change and the new begin are the most prominent ideas and powers. Here your consciousness already has reached the fist level of samadhi. The beginning of form and the extension of space are directly interlinked with each other in the way that the spatial extension of space is the deeper meaning of the beginning of the gestalt. The endless void of LIN is only an impression and is just similar to the real void. You cannot see with your normal eyes anymore here, so you can only comprehend the formless essence of gestalt with your intuitive insight. There is the danger around that you are overwhelmed by the void of LIN and that you are no more able to change your point of view which leads inevitably into madness in this Æthyr.

    ASP - The Æthyr of causation: ASP is the sequel of LIN and the place where you are confronted with a reflection of the atma of man below the Great Abyss. A distorted vision of the spiritual nature of man is visible here. The total of existence is felt as annihilation, thus ASP is experienced full of terrors, ecstasy can barely be felt here. You are encountering your incarnating ego because in ASP the part of it exists that is incarnating in the lower planes and the physical plane. Due to an erroneous identification with the incarnated singular ego ASP can be a lonely, deserted place and all Æthyrs above ASP are seen as black and ominous. You can encounter your own lives - past and future selves - all at once here in ASP because you already are far beyond the human-time-space-illusion of the physical plane. Robert Monroe named this region "Focus 34 and 35". An alternative identification is required to avoid madness: the change from an individual personality to a meta-personality that incarnates again and again. However this change of perspective is difficult.

    KHR - The Æthyr of the wheel: In KHR you see the whole world as a huge rotating wheel, from that wheel the Æthyr has its name. Here in this Æthyr it becomes evident that the world's wheel of fate does not have any deeper meaning then to distract the being that keeps the wheel moving. A closer look into this wheel shows that it is on one side dangerously fascinating but on the other side nothing more then an illusion. Both sides of the multiverse can be seen here at once: the expression of love and beauty in form and colour and the fallacy of continual bonds and false identifications. The formlessness of ASP is replaced with a higher kind of form. Because you see this form with your third eye you see it from the outside as well as from the inside at once. Within KHR you can reach any possible parallel-universe.

    POP - The Æthyr of division: POP has several relations to other Æthyrs: LOE, but also to PAZ and LEA. Located just above the Sephira Tiphareth in the cabbalistic "Tree of Life" it is the place where the goddess Isis lives. POP is a place of initiation, just like all the other Æthyrs, this time more emphasized. By reaching POP you are initiated in the necessity of death. Often daggers are a part of visions here, that are symbolic for the rays of the sun and the sharpness of thoughts, as well. The forces in POP that are oriented against each other make it difficult to reach it. Vital force is surrounded by cruelty and death, in POP a permanent fight for survival takes place that symbolizes that the existence itself consists of a plenty amount of such conflicts. Isis embodies the spiritual impulse of man and offers this power to anyone who enters this Æthyr. POP and ZEN are both Æthyrs that you should enter only after carefully preparing yourself to avoid mental and psychic damage.

    ZEN - The Æthyr of sacrifice: In ZEN you encounter the initiation of crucifixation and the sacrifice as a kind of initiatory practice as it is performed symbolical nowadays as well as in ancient Egypt. The higher self is sacrificed on the altar of matter - symbolized by the tarot-trump "The Hanged Man". The lower self is sacrificed in the tomb of darkness to free consciousness itself. One sacrifice is a descent into matter the other one an ascend into spirituality. The initiatory character of the Æthyrs is quite obvious in this one because here you are initiated into the mystery of birth and death. The continuity of consciousness can be achieved in ZEN.

    TAN - The Æthyr of one's equilibrium: Its name describes pretty good what you have to expect in TAN. This Æthyr contents the karmic equilibrium and creates cyclic changes because of the multiversum that forever tries to reach this equilibrium. The angel who is guiding through TAN first reveals to you that reality is relative to the consciousness which experiences it. The equilibrium in this Æthyr would change or even destroy the universe we know, if it would manifest itself totally in it. Therefore the chain of cause and effect exist that is described with the indian term karma and having its origin in this Æthyr. Duality and karma are two principles depending on each other.

    Between the lower and the higher mental-plane is no invincible barrier like the other phase-borders. The higher mental-plane is also named the causal-plane. Another term for this plane is a bit misleading: spiritual-plane. In this plane already the influences of the spiritual-plane can be felt, therefore it is mental-spiritual. The causal-plane is assigned to the element fire and much thinner then the lower mental-plane. The energetic body which is required to travel in the causal-plane is the atma-buddhi-manas. To consciously enter this causal-body an extremely focussed state of consciousness is required, similar to samadhi, a high level of consciousness. The feeling of everything is connected with each other is already developed in the causal-body, but the ego is not dissolved completely. The causal-body of the Earth reaches as far as one astronomical unit, thus reaching the sun. It is a plane of change and transmutation, which is powered by the incredible forces of creation and rebirthing. The strong nuclear-force is assigned to this planes that is the fundamental force of condensing formless ideas into form and gestalt. Ideas are living beings in the causal-planes.

    LEA - The first Æthyr of the higher self: LEA is the lowest of the causal-planes and you begin to recognize yourself as a spiritual being here. In thelemitic terminology the ruling angel of this region is called "Babalon" - she appears either as the most beautiful woman or the most incredible beautiful man you can imagine. In enochian the term babalond means harlot. The thelemitic symbolic language describe her acitivity like this: as Babalon she rides as the objectivity of the world the subjectivity of the self. Your own consciousness is like a wild beast and in LEA this is demonstrated to you vividly. Anything here is seductive, erotic and charming. Another angel in LEA personifies the past and your individual fate. When you enter LEA from TAN this angel is heavily lamenting because he knows that he is about to die. A distorted vision of your spiritual self is shown by this angel, too. However it appears irrational and quite mad, just like a wild beast.

    OXO - The Æthyr of dance: In OXO life is a single great dance. Life itself has no meaning except life. You encounter a dancing goddess here who is a reflection of the sensual beauty of the world, symbolized by Babalon in the thelemitic iconography. The dancing goddess herself is also a certain aspect of the hinduistic brahma: Ananda. She dances the ecstatic joy of spiritual consciousness that appeared already in NIA and that can be traced in all Æthyrs from NIA on. She is representing the spheric music of the cosmos. Somewhere in OXO a rose as a really feminine symbol appears, too. OXO thus symbolizes the joyous play of the cosmic cycle that transforms spirituality into matter until a state of equilibrium is reached to transform matter back into spirituality again.

    VTA - The Æthyr of semblances: This region contains the "City of Pyramids" - countless pyramids of any size. Here live (?) the adepts that complete left the world of forms and exist now in a formless existence. They appear lifeless and black, like dead, because they have no more emotions. They symbolize the adepts that practiced yoga or magic only to fullfill their personal desires and wishes. They have lost all personal desires as well as the joy of life itself and they are deaf, mute and blind. They are the lowest level of the pratyeka buddha. Remaining in the buddhistic terminology: only boddhishattvas can pass through this Æthyr to LIL. The City of Pyramids is covered with thick black smoke of solemnity. Transiency is a strong current in VTA that can be perceived as a living presence: The "Great One of the Night of Time". Anyone who enters VTA is going to meet this being in one way or another.