Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00696)

Dr. A.M.Bain wrote:
> Dear Merlin
>
> Three Worlds - have you other descriptions for these?

Dear Apsotate:
Thank you for identifiying my freudian slip of the fingers.  The three
"worlds" are Under, Middle, and Upper, in total, Otherworlds.
I probably have a subconscious problem with the term Underworld
resulting from childhood education in Greek mythology and from
experiencing childhood "trips" to such and being "disciplined" for doing
so.  (From a parent....."Where the hell have you been again, do you
realize what the time is?")

Perhaps you know of the hundreds of Otherworlds.  I stated them in the
three main realms, and I am borrowing my terminology from Celtic
Shamanism.  However, one could use the more recent and more complex
Theosophical terminology to express:

Underworld:  A state/plane/place in which beings connected with the
Earth Mother exist.  Power animals, Fairies, dragons and such
"mythological creatures", who represent and provide knowledge concerning
birth, rebirth, awakening, life-understanding.  May be entered through a
door in the tree of life (if you're a Kelti) or counterclockwise
movement (if you're a whirling dervish-type) or simply connecting with
the axis mundi.  Often path trod with a feeling of descending into the
bowels of the earth.  Place to go to bring back a lost soul or to
identify a dis-ease or to fight a possession, or simply to travel and
receive undestanding on physical life in the scheme of things.

Middleworld:  The plane(s) closest to physical life in which spirits of
those passed over and the spirit of our current selves may be met.  The
"training ground" for humans.  Normally entered by what most call
"meditation" and expressed in earth terms as "time travel".  Place to go
to gain direct knowledge of earth events in other times, experience
consciousness raising, get messages from Guides, and dead humans not
passed on to the higher levels.

Upperworld:  Reached by taking the climb up the tree of life or the
sacred mountain (Mount Meru for instance) or the silver spiral, to the
infiniteness of the cosmos. Place to meet immortal beings, deities,
Masters.  Normally envisioned by clockwise rotation upwards, or leaving
the body, or transforming into pure energy.  Usually have to be
"invited" in/out further here and could be invited to "drink of the
sacred chalice of life".  The "end of the line" either temporarily
before reincarnation (rebirth) or forever.  The crossroads of all
worlds, the place where creation waits to create.

Important for travelling: the straight, strong, true staff symbolizing
the axis mundi.  I find this staff thing interesting as when Merlin
whirls, my staff can be different lengths depending on my state of
mind/emotions, but never taller than myself and is knarled half way down
in clockwise turns!  Shows my self-imposed limitations :)

I haven't explained it well, but your recent description of your astral
travel in the cosmos is practically identical to my experience.  In the
Underworld, I usually find myself walking the path back surrounded by
many animals and glimpsing lots of fairie-like beings hiding in the
flora, with my hand resting on the back of a powerful lion/panther
being, chatting about stuff and feeling slightly sad.  In the Upperworld
which I have to reach by breathing very little, I am either crystal or
plasma, and I simply don't want to come back at all.  In the
Middleworld, which I used to be only able to reach by physically being
at a strong energy centre (like Stonehenge), I have never gone forward,
always back, which was my reason for that comment to you about having
coffee some tens of thousands of years ago.

> No competition! I voluntary opted for celibacy when I was ordained to
> the priesthood (which I have long ceased to exercise, except in a
> "pastoral" manner).  I just got used to it, and got to prefer it!  No big deal.

Interesting posting by Ramadoss on celibacy.  I suppose when one "gives
it up" voluntarily there is a struggle with desire.  The experience of
"having it taken away" is different.  The questions are more like "why
me, do I let this other person control my experience, is this a
punishment/lesson/opportunity/test?  Evolving eventually to, "what was
that all about anyway, who needs it".  Except, one is left with two
burning questions:
1.  Procreation is necessary and the equipment is defined/fixed?
2.  Physical joining is a planned/necessary precursor for spiritual
joining?

Thinking back, I remember the time span from adolescence to motherhood,
in which the sex-drive practically took over the psyche.  This was a
perfectly natural instinct in my mind (and it was a good thing humans
had developed rules, or I would have procreated all over the place).  If
I had "gone with the natural", I would have stopped at motherhood for
myself, but continued to give as an expression of love to others, some
sort of misguided nurturing thing.  Analyzing the expression of the
female is easy.  The male is more complex.  It's all tied up with power
and the extension of the self.  The rod of life sort of thing.  A
release from tension in the burst of life.

The staff of Merlin.
Mind over matter
Walk with me again sometime
Regards
merlin