ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

I've noticed that, although the Mage book mentions that each sphere is associated with a particular planet, it doesn't list which sphere is associated with which planet. Here's my theory, based on the clues in the book.

Several hundred years ago, history tells us, it was believed that the Earth was the center of all things. Around the Earth was a huge crystal sphere from which was suspended the Moon. This sphere surrounded the entire rotating Earth like a bubble, the sphere turning at its own lazy pace. Outside this sphere were others, one in turn for each slower moving planet that could be seen, until the final sphere which held the fixed stars. Each crystal sphere turned with its own characteristic musical note. The sound of them all together was "the harmony of the spheres." Beyond all the spheres was Heaven.

If there were nine crystal spheres, the one furthest out would be the one closest to God. The ninth sphere would be the sphere of Neptune. As it happens, Mage's symbol for Prime is a stylized version of the astrological symbol for Neptune. I'll come back to this.

Pages 169 to 170 of the Mage book (1st Edition rule book) describe the structure of reality. They explain that any physical manifestation begins first as Quintessence, which is then filtered through a Pattern, which creates a form in the spirit world, which in turn creates physicality. This structure of four "levels" — Prime, Pattern, Spirit, Earth — is identical to the four levels or "worlds" of modern, real world, Qabalistic magick. Here's a brief description of those worlds, excerpted from The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages (Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing, 1947), by Paul Foster Case, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn:

The Archetypal World — This is the world of pure ideas. In the archetypal plane are the root-notions inherent in the innermost nature of the universal Conscious Energy. From these ideas are derived all actual forms of manifestation. For example, the pure idea of a chair is the idea of sitting. In that idea, as in all others, is embodied a volition: the will-to-sit. This will-to-sit is the single root-notion behind all possible chair-forms that ever have been, are now, or ever shall be. Thus the archetypal world is seen to be the plane of will-ideas...

The Creative [or Causal] World — Here the ideas of the archetypal world are specialized as particular patterns. "Sitting" becomes the mental pattern for some special kind of chair. The Cosmic Energy acting on this plane contains the patterns of all chairs that have been made or thought of in the past, of all existing in the present — but not those as yet unthought of. So [it is] with all other patterns of particular forms...

The Formative [or Astral] World — Here the archetypal ideas, specialized in creative patterns, are brought forth into actual expression. It is the plane of processes, the world of forces behind the veil of physical things. The formative world is... also the astral plane of occultism. Here take place the various kinds of action whereby the Cosmic Energy actualizes its patterns...

The Material World — This is the plane of the actual forms which affect our physical senses. Here the process of bringing down the idea of sitting, through an operation based on the pattern of a particular chair, is finally completed as the chair itself.

These description match those of Mage.

Now, in Qabalistic magick, ten spheres of influence (or "sephiroth") are divided among these four worlds. They are numbered down from the top (the top being where the energy starts), such that spheres 1 through 3 are in the archetypal world, spheres 4 through 6 are in the causal (creative) world, 7 through 9 are in the astral (formative) world, and sphere 10 is the physical world. The upper nine spheres together comprise the whole of what humanity can know of the magickal and spiritual realms and forces. To the Qabalist, everything that is not of the mundane, material world can and must fit into one or more of the upper nine spheres.

Is this starting to sound familiar? (If not, check out the last sentence on pg. 167 of the Mage book.) The nine spheres of the three higher worlds are the nine Spheres of magick in Mage.

Mage pg. 168 shows the positioning of some of the Spheres in relation to the four worlds. Prime is in the archetypal. Forces, Life and Matter are in the causal. Spirit is in the astral. And, of course, Earth (not a sphere of magick) is in the physical.

This leaves Time, Correspondence, Entropy, and Mind unaccounted for. The description of mind (pg. 170) indicates that it exists without Pattern. Therefore, it must precede Pattern and be a part of the archetypal world. Entropy destroys Pattern, so it too must precede it. Correspondence is dependent on Pattern (as in the description of the inability to teleport away a piece of a Pattern, like a person's nose), so it's in the astral. Which leaves Time which, by process of elimination, must also be astral. This gives us:

Archetypal

Prime, Entropy, Mind

Causal

Forces, Life, Matter

Astral

Correspondence, Time, Spirit

Okay. Now, the Tree of Life is the glyph used by Qabalists to show the structure of the four worlds. Its ten spheres are arranged like this:

Archetypal	1 3 2
Causal	5 4 6
Astral	8 7 9
Physical	10

with certain interconnecting lines usually drawn showing the paths that are possible when travelling between spheres (all spheres do not interconnect, and it is necessary to follow certain specific paths to get from one sphere to another).

I promised I'd get back to the crystal spheres. Each of the numbers on the Tree of Life relates to many, many things, including the crystal spheres. Counting backwards from the bottom, Earth is 10, the Moon is 9, Mercury 8, Venus 7, the Sun 6, Mars 5, Jupiter 4, Saturn 3, Uranus 2, and Neptune 1. There's Neptune again, right at the top of the Tree, right where one would expect to find Prime. So Neptune is surely the planet of Prime.

Climbing up the Tree, the closest sphere to the physical is #9, the Moon. It is the nearest portion of the astral plane. It almost certainly equates to the Umbra of Mage, while spheres #8 and #7 are probably the "astral plane" that is only accessible with Mind 5. As #9 is the Moon is the Umbra, so the related sphere of magick is Spirit.

7 and 8 are Time and space (Correspondence). Modern shamans and others report that, in journeys away from physicality, time collapses well before space. Therefore, #8 would be Time and #7 Correspondence (space). This then makes Time relate to Mercury and Correspondence to Venus (astrologically, this is also better than reversing those two planets in relation to those two spheres).

The Mage book tells us that the most complex of Pattern magicks is that of Life. The most complex (furthest from the Source) of causal spheres on the Tree is #6, the Sun. So the Sun relates to life, which is a nice match.

Then we have #5 Mars and #4 Jupiter, to relate to Forces and Matter. Forces match perfectly with the energies of Mars, so that gives us #5 Mars Forces and #4 Jupiter Matter. The Jupiter-Matter match isn't bad either.

Almost done. Sphere #1 is Prime without a doubt, leaving Mind and Entropy to match with spheres #2 Uranus and #3 Saturn. I believe #3 Saturn goes with Entropy and #2 Uranus with Mind for two reasons: astrologically, those are good matches (Saturn usually points out weaknesses and Uranus is usually related to creative thinking); and they match with the "pillars" of the Tree (the left side spheres should all be similar to each other (Time, Forces, Entropy), as should the right side spheres (Correspondence (space), Matter, Mind), with the Middle Pillar as the path of balance (Prime, Life, Spirit)).

So, based on the information given in Mage and in the Qabala here's how I think it looks:

1	Neptune	Prime
2	Uranus	Mind
3	Saturn	Entropy
4	Jupiter	Matter
5	Mars	Forces
6	Sun	Life
7	Venus	Correspondence
8	Mercury	Time
9	Moon	Spirit
10	Earth	physical manifestation

Above the top are the "Three Veils of Negative Existence" about which less is known or described. Some also say there's another Tree there, with our #1 as its #10.

Each of our spheres is also associated with certain musical notes (as were the crystal spheres), certain colors, and many other things. I can post a partial list if anyone would like it. Otherwise, the interested reader can check any one of the excellent books on the Qabala. I highly recommend Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1992) as a point of departure.