ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

By Frater IAM, Magister Templi of Ordo Rosae Crucis

Everything in the universe is connected by unseen forces and correspondences. When a leaf falls from a tree, it is ordained by the cosmic forces which bind everything together in a cosmic unity. The leaf can no more resist these forces than a planet can change its orbit. Our goal as mages is to understand and balance these forces into a perfect harmony.

The four elements are the primal forces on the material plane. They balance each other perfectly, creating everything together. The higher, more etheric elements Fire and Water balance the lower and material elements Air and Earth. The heavy, stable elements Water and Earth balance the changeability of Fire and Air. When the fifth element animates them, they become alive and real. In nature, no element is pure and all existing objects are mixtures of the elements in different compositions. For example, to achieve a physical nature, Earth is required, while for transformations Fire is required. The same is true of the spheres:

Correspondence

Space is created out of the interplay of the stability and spatial nature of Earth and the clear mobility of Air. Without the stability of Earth, distances would change and the ordering of places would be random, without the mobility and affinity for light which fills Air, movement and vision would be impossible.

Entropy

Entropy is the chaotic and destructive union of Fire and Water, destruction and changeability. On one hand Fire destroys the old and damages the new, on the other hand it gives place for the creation of new possibilities. Water flows turbulently, washing the ashes away and nourishing the new. However, their interplay is often violent and unpredictable. Purify with Water, consecrate with Fire.

Forces

When the power of Fire mixes with Air, the forces of nature are formed. Both elements are mercurial, powerful but lacking stability. The lightening bolt radiates the light of Air and the heat of Fire, transforming and disrupting anything it touches.

Matter

Matter is the domain of Earth in all its manifestations. It is heavy, sluggish and stable, forming the base on which to build the temple of creation.

Mind

Mind is almost pure Air, animated by the Fifth element. It is quick, changeable, filled with the light of reason but also capricious and the sphere of illusion. It is through this element the other elements are made visible when the clear light of reason illuminates them, giving them form and meaning.

Life

Life is the physical manifestation of Water animated by the Fifth element. Water nurtures and grows forms and life, whose essence is that of change and the ability to take on manifold shapes. Most living beings have a physical manifestation made out of matter used to interact with the world but that is just a shell hiding the true patterns underneath.

Prime

Prime is the sphere of the Fifth Element, that essence which animates the other elements and gives them life and physical existence. The term quintessence describes its nature quite aptly but its real nature cannot be comprehended by any uninitiated into the highest mysteries.

Spirit

Spirit is the manifestation of Fire, the most etheric element. The spiritual world is the purest and least material of all aspects of physical reality. However, Fire is a flickering and changing element and the beings and general nature of this plane are no less capricious. It is also the element of transformation, the purifying flame which burns away the impure shells and leaves the perfected nature purified.

Time

Time is the union of the changeable Air and Water. The gradual flow of Water, mixed with the whirling light of Air create the flow of causality. Like in Water, a disturbance will create waves which travel into infinity but like Air, the flow of history will simply flow around any obstracle to its course. However, to try to change the flow is hard and dangerous, as the whirpools of paradox are strong and treacherous.

Another interesting way of seeing the nine spheres is as the interplay of the three alchemical elements, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. Each element mixes with another, creating the sphere:

	Mercury	Sulphur	Salt
Mercury	Prime	Spirit	Correspondence
Sulphur	Mind	Forces	Life
Salt	Time	Entropy	Matter

Note the duality around the central diagonal: Time and Space, Life and Entropy, Mind and Spirit. Along the main diagonal we see the progression from pure Prime, through the Forces of the Universe to the manifestation of Matter. Note also that there are nine spheres, the number of Yesod, the Foundation and that the square is 3×3, 3 being the number of Binah, Understanding.

Konx om pax
Khabs am pehkt
Light in extension