Astral Maps, And other Metaphysical Maps Options

Recently I have been thinking about the lay out of the astral and how one might "map" it. I have heard that the Tree of Life is one such map, and the tarot can function as another; mandalas and maps of the consciousness like the "cube of life" are related but sepreate in my mind. I have read a lot about them but have no idea on how that might work for astral traval. I have always had a hard time knowing where I am in the astral so maybe a map could help out. If anyone knows how to use the tree of life or tarot for this, or another such map I would like to know how to use them and how they work. I know "they map out whats there". Both a topographic map and a road map will "map out whats there" but in very different ways and focus on different things.

From personal experience, I'm not sure that the astral can be mapped out. I'm not knowledgeable about the tree of life so I can't help there, but I do know the tarot can be used as "keys" to help someone get to parts of the astral, but thats because of mental associations and sometimes the depiction of the card as an actual place (I'm not sure if that made sense, sometimes I don't) but for instance, there is a place in the middle world that I've gone to and heard of as called "The Fools Bluffs" and it has a series of cliffs similar to those seen on the fool tarot card, during a kind of McGuivered spirit quest a friend and I had, he started off there. Since there are so many different decks, there are tons of mental doors that a card meditation could open up. The planes are reallllly big and can hold lots of pockets and "trap doors" that kind of drop into other sectors, or maybe I slip from planes a lot, both are equally likely. Does that help at all?

This post has been edited by Laguz: Apr 25 2011, 06:46 PM

Recently I have been thinking about the lay out of the astral and how one might "map" it. I have heard that the Tree of Life is one such map, and the tarot can function as another; mandalas and maps of the consciousness like the "cube of life" are related but sepreate in my mind. I have read a lot about them but have no idea on how that might work for astral traval. I have always had a hard time knowing where I am in the astral so maybe a map could help out. If anyone knows how to use the tree of life or tarot for this, or another such map I would like to know how to use them and how they work. I know "they map out whats there". Both a topographic map and a road map will "map out whats there" but in very different ways and focus on different things.

I equate the properties of the astrial to the world of quantum mechanics, to map it out would be difficult because the world is fluid. The best way to describe it would be this: Imagine all the people in the world doing their usual things without standing on anything, now try and picture these people going throughout day to day activity and we're looking at them through a different lense, a lense into a world they're not aware of. Through this lense you don't see these people interacting with anything, it seems as if they're moving rather quickly from place to place (at times) and other times they're mulling around and whatnot, now picture these people as parts of the astrial plane instead of people, and that's sort of how it is; and I can't imagine mapping it.

From personal experience, I'm not sure that the astral can be mapped out.

How do you know you where in the middle world if it can't be mapped?
The mental associations, are of course the key to entry to and the way of moving in the astral. It would not make sense to literally walk in the astral. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I equate the properties of the astrial to the world of quantum mechanics, to map it out would be difficult because the world is fluid.

They're fluid, yet linked. We know this because we can get to one from the other, and enter the astral at a particular point by visualizing the location, contemplating its energetic nature and so on. It is how we find our astral temples. The relationship between them is what is mapped. The cabala tree of life represents relationships between Sephiroth and the paths that link them. Using a map like the tree of life to get to a Sephiroth (something like a general location on a map) is a mater aligning enough of the aspects of that Sephiroth to form a door so to speak. Once you get to the Sephiroth things get more unpredictable. From experience I know that the navigation within the Sephiroth has something to do with the functioning of the mind. When I find myself somewhere I control where I go simply by looking for it. My question is more to "how I find" the place for which I'm looking. How are the particular locations linked? Maps are made of the general locations (I grant they are more abstract expressions than literal locations, but the principle holds) , so it would make sense that the particular ones are also mappable.

How do you know you where in the middle world if it can't be mapped?
The mental associations, are of course the key to entry to and the way of moving in the astral. It would not make sense to literally walk in the astral. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
They're fluid, yet linked. We know this because we can get to one from the other, and enter the astral at a particular point by visualizing the location, contemplating its energetic nature and so on. It is how we find our astral temples. The relationship between them is what is mapped. The cabala tree of life represents relationships between Sephiroth and the paths that link them. Using a map like the tree of life to get to a Sephiroth (something like a general location on a map) is a mater aligning enough of the aspects of that Sephiroth to form a door so to speak. Once you get to the Sephiroth things get more unpredictable. From experience I know that the navigation within the Sephiroth has something to do with the functioning of the mind. When I find myself somewhere I control where I go simply by looking for it. My question is more to "how I find" the place for which I'm looking. How are the particular locations linked? Maps are made of the general locations (I grant they are more abstract expressions than literal locations, but the principle holds) , so it would make sense that the particular ones are also mappable.

Ok, good luck.

I think that the difficulty here is in describing what it is about the astral that is different enough from our physical existence. The problem with mapping it to any greater extent than the various cosmologies of spheres, strata, etc., is that there actually are no 'locations' in the astral per say.

Instead of locations, there are qualities. Because it is an entirely abstracted world which we interpret according to physical experience until we learn to experience abstraction, we only perceive locations relating to the qualities of the worlds we find ourselves in. In some subtle respect the physical world abides by the same principal, or at least our experience of it.

The tree of life, for instance, doesn't map locations in the astral, it maps qualities of the creation. Malkhut, for instance, is the physical world itself, and at the same time the 'yin' end of creation as a whole - the first astrally experienced 'quality' is then Yesod, and from the experience of this quality one can then move from there to hod, netzach, or tipareth. But any location that you perceive while within this sphere is a result of your own reflection on that quality, not an actual location.

An astral temple then, is established under the influence of a particular quality - or along a path between two qualities, or as hyper-temple existing qualitatively across several spheres - not as a location that one can travel to by some map, but as a kind of confluence which a person seeking must be aware of somehow, and then adjust themselves accordingly.

This is at the far limit of my experience currently, so I can't give a more succinct explanation, but what I am saying is to rethink the original idea of mapping the astral. Not because it can't be done exactly, but more so the function of a map in this context.

To illustrate a little, though, think of all the different versions of heaven, and hell. Many cultures have these ideas of a spiritual other-world, but the interpretations of how one gets there, what qualities are required of one, what happens there, heirarchies, rewards, etc., vary wildly in some cases. However, generally it is agreed that being of the 'good' or 'positive' quality will get you to heaven, and that being of the 'bad' or 'negative' quality will take you to hell. That's only two qualities in a spectrum, but looking into various myths and legends regarding the spiritual world will, I believe, give an insight into the connection between quality and 'place' in the astral.

Also consider the buddhist mandala as supposedly representing a spiritual temple. Each element is symbolic, or qualitative, describing a state of mind, a quality of action or thought, virtues, and in some cases demonstrations of posture, focus of contemplation, etc. They do, qualitatively, describe a location through symbolism and understanding gained in meditation; a kind of map to a spiritual world. In many cases one even sees depictions of gates leading into inner temples, and figures around indicating perhaps that one must be in meditation in order to reach that gate in order to make the journey to the inner temple.

So think qualities, not locations. Location is for the physical world, and although qualities are linked (think of the chinese cycle of elements, emotion-wise, how one creates, destroys, and controls another), finding a place is about understanding the qualities of that place, not any 'physical' description of it.

peace

I think that the difficulty here is in describing what it is about the astral that is different enough from our physical existence. The problem with mapping it to any greater extent than the various cosmologies of spheres, strata, etc., is that there actually are no 'locations' in the astral per say. Instead of locations, there are qualities. The tree of life, for instance, doesn't map locations in the astral, it maps qualities of the creation. But any location that you perceive while within this sphere is a result of your own reflection on that quality, not an actual location.

What I am saying is to rethink the original idea of mapping the astral. Not because it can't be done exactly, but more so the function of a map in this context. Although qualities are linked (think of the chinese cycle of elements, emotion-wise, how one creates, destroys, and controls another), finding a place is about understanding the qualities of that place, not any 'physical' description of it.

Ah. I see. I was thinking of the symbolism and strata as being too fixed. Any map that would depict abstract ideas in relationships would have to take in to account the the relationship of the map maker to the qualitative relationships displayed. I can see how any map that would be useful to more than the maker would have to be functionally vague to accommodate the differing perceptions on what that quality is. I can also see how that would get very complected very fast - mapping every aspect of creation and the relationships there in.