Outer Astral Realms

The OUTER REALMS

THE HEAVENS

1st HEAVEN (Shamayim) -- the lowest heaven, borders our own world, said to hold the Garden of Eden. ruled by Gabriel. Also Called "Wilon", the Curtain. Contains the clouds and the winds, the Upper Waters or Endless Ocean ("a massive sea of snow and ice and clouds and dew, into which discharges a river of fire in the west"), and 200 astronomer-angels who watch over the stars; also legions of snow, ice, and dew-angels. Stretched across the earth during the day, but rolled back during the night to reveal the moon and stars, which lie in the second Heaven, Raquia. Linked with Caelum, the Aetherian Reaches, Niflheim?, the Elysian Fields
2nd HEAVEN (Raquia) -- "the firmament," where the fallen angels are imprisoned, ruled by Raphael; a nighted valley where the stars and moon shine brightly Linked with Arcadia, SR Luna, the Aetherial Realm,
3rd HEAVEN (Shehaqim) -- ruled by Anahel, northern area is also the domain of Azrael, the Islamic Angel of Death; Gehenna is said to lie in the northern reaches, linked to the Nine Pits of Sheol which also link to the Third Earth, Arqa (Gehenna is also said to lie north of Eden). In the northern reaches, volcanic fires burn continuously, polluting the air with sulfurous flames, and a river of flame flows through a desolate land of cold and ice; here the wicked are punished and tortured by the angels. But the southern lands are a paradise known as the Summerlands, divine bees store the manna-honey, vast millstones grind for the delight of the righteous (thus the Heaven's name, meaning "grindstone"...or "cloud"...). This is possibly where Eden lies; there is a vast orchard here, including the Tree of Life...two rivers issue from Eden, one flowing with milk (Euphrates)and honey (Phison), the other with wine (Tigris) and oil (Geon), and these descend and surround the earth. 300 angels of light guard this garden. Linked to Sheol, Arqa, Gehenna, Eden/Avalon, Tartarus, and (molten silver Umbral Realm?)

"Four entered the orchard: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma,

Aher, and Rabbi Akiva. Ben Azzai glimpsed and died.

Ben Zoma glimpsed and went mad. Aher cut the plants.

Rabbi Akiva emerged in peace."

-- from the Talmud

4th HEAVEN (Zebhul) -- ruled by Michael, site of the Heavenly City of Jerusalem, surrounded by the orchards of Shehaqim. Four Rivers, Euphrates, Phison, Geon, and Tigris, flow through the fabulous city and become two as they enter the orchards. Inhabited by serpentine Seraphs and lion-like Phoenixes,
5th HEAVEN (Ma'on) -- northern area set aside as a penal settlement for the Grigori, ruled by Sandalphon (Metatron's twin)...though some insist that Sammael is the Dark Angelic Ruler. Home of the Avenging Angels. "And I saw a deep rift in the earth with columns of flame and smoke; the fires rose to a great height and fell again into the depths. Beyond the rift, I saw a place where no sky could be seen above, and no ground was below. There was no water on it, and there were no birds...it was a terrible, desolate place. This is where the angels who lived with women with be imprisoned--those who in many ways are corrupting mankind. They shall remain here until taken to trial." Southern area more hospitable and beautiful, where hosts of angels ceaselessly chant the Trisagion through the night, but fall silent at dawn to allow God to hear the praises of Israel far below. Linked to Tartarus,
6th HEAVEN (Makhon) -- "residence," domain of duality, ruled by Zebul at night and Sabath by day. Here live seven Phoenixes and seven Cherubim, and a vast host of the Shining Ones, who study astronomy. Other angels study time, ecology, the seasons, and humankind in a vast Building of Knowledge. Lots of snow, hailstorms, and rain, chambers of storms and caverns of fog.
7th HEAVEN (Araboth) -- ruled by Cassiel; holds God on His divine throne surrounded by Seraphim, Cherubim, and Ophanim. "Two angels conducted me to a place where those who were there were as bright as fire, but when they wished could appear as ordinary men. They had brought me to a place of darkness from a mountain whose summit reached to the heavens. There I saw lighted places, and heard thunderous noises; and in the deepest part, there were lights which looked like a fiery bow and arrows with their quiver, and moving lights like a fiery sword."

THE INFERNAL REALMS

THE NINE CITIES OF THE PIT -- The Ruins of Avernus; The Sunken City Dis; The Palace Minauros; Abriymoch, the Mount of Leaping Fire; Castle Tantlin; The Copper Fortress Malbolge; The Vast Fortress Malagard; The Iron Citadel Mephistar

The Ruins of Avernus -- The great city once known as Avernus is now nothing more than rubble. it was decimated so long ago no one can remember when, or how, or why. Or at least none who know speak of it. Legends have sprung up about the past of Avernus; that it was once a glorious city of the Heavenly Realms, or that it was the Utopian first stronghold of the Fallen. But the truth of it is that no one knows, and it is unlikely that Avernus will ever be truly remembered. This is the easiest area of The Pit to reach, being on the outer edges; it is most easily reached from Acheron, by searching the iron plains for a deep, broad pit lit with red balefire and drenched in pale waters from the black sky. A great Wyrm lies here, acting as guardian, and many other terrible demonic creatures range across the ruined lands. It is difficult to even tell that there was a city here. There are swirling pale mists that move throughout Avernus, and these can be used as a link to Limbo, also known as Flux or Wyld. If one follows the icy river Styx for a hundred miles or so, one will eventually see a cave under the dark red, empty sky. This cave leads to the sunken city of Dis, which follows...
The Sunken City of Dis -- The sunken iron city called Dis, from which iron walls spring out to encircle the inner lands of Avernus, is populated with all manner of terrible zombies, harpies, and other demonics. The gates of Avernus are guarded by sleekly black-furred beast-women, called Furies or Gorgons. Black and poisonous offshoots of Phlegethon flow along the walls and through the broken hills, and the dull green sky flickers with lightning. There is a forest in Avernus that is full of dying trees, where wraiths and spectres wander in contagious despair. There is a great waste known as the Abominable Sands, with pits of quicksand and many terrors. At the center is the Great Pit, which takes many forms but it always a depression of some sort, and takes one into the swamps that surround the next great city of Hell:
Minauros, Mammon's Palace of Riches -- (BoW p.39), which is continually being rebuilt due to the rotting of wood and mortar. It is from here that Mammon rules a decaying and rotting swampland Hell, through which pass the terrible rivers Phlegethos and Styx.
Abriymoch -- Phlegethos, the river of Wyrm-infested nature is sometimes considered a Hell in itself. Populated by the Barbazu, or barbed devils. The Demon Prince Belial claims to rule the rivers Phlegethos from his city Abriymoch in one of Hell's hollowed-out volcanoes. This oily, filthy river is often on fire, and there are often "earthquakes" that shake the very Astral and Umbral firmaments.
Stygia-Tantlin -- Ruled by the arch-fiend Geryon
Malbolge & Maladomini -- Malbolge and Maladomini
Caina --
Nessus-Mephistar --

GEHENNA -- (The Fourfold Furnaces: Sheol, Perdition, The Bilge, and The Dead Furnaces) Land of War and the End-Times...surrounds the Nine Pits; also called Malfeas. Linked most directly to Acheron, though this Hell is the most commonly-reached through summonings and portals. Valley of Hinnom, outside Jerusalem, was once called Gehenna, a place where the ancient Hebrews sacrificed their firstborn, then later a place where filth was burned. Gehenna is located on a northern continent of Arqa, the 3rd Heaven.

Sheol (Shal-Mari)--
Charmada (Perdition) --
Mungoth (The Silence, The Bilge) --
Krangath (The Dead Furnaces) --

ACHERON -- (The Hell of War) The Battle-Planes, linked to the Umbral Battlegrounds, where great Astral armies strive for victory. Acheron has many layers, and they are

Avalas --
Thuldanin --
Tintibulus --
Ocanthus --

HADES -- (The Hell of Despair) The Lands of Gloom, Oinos, the Land of Disease; Pluton (Shard Entropy?) Land of Mourning; and Niflheim/Hel, Land of Downfall. Linked to the Lands of the Dead, S.R.Entropy

Oinos --
Pluton --
Niflheim/Hel --

TARTERUS -- A prison-Realm that holds Fallen Angels, Faerie Lords, and far more ancient and evil things -- Incarnae known as Titans -- as prisoners. Like a bead-necklace, the massive spheres hang in emptiness above the Great Abyss, and magicks of Correspondence enforce an ancient sentence.
THE GREAT ABYSS -- wraiths call it Oblivion. It is a vast, measureless emptiness, a great negative that touches everything in the Tellurian. is said to have 666 somehow infinite layers, the first of which is called Panzunia.

THE EIGHT EARTHS
The Seven Worlds, the Hekeloth. Also called the Palaces of Briah. When counted with our world, which is called Assiah or Chesed, there are eight, all separated by spaces filled with whirlwinds; some of these worlds are said to be home to beings who did not have Adam as an ancestor.
Merkabah, "the Chariot". Also the name of a meditative tradition wherein a Hermetic magus ascends through the Seven Halls (the Hekeloth) by presenting the proper "holy seal" and Divine Name to each archangel who guards the entrance to each hekel.

HELED ("earth") -- Our world, also called Assiah. Inhabited by the descendants of Adam, and other human lineages.
TEBHEL ("the world") -- Very much like our earth, with hills, mountains, valleys, and flatlands. But it is inhabited by over three-hundred different types of bizarre creatures -- beings with two heads, or hybrid bodies, who are considered by other Umbrood to be splendid and righteous beings. These beings live on the aquatic life that teems in the waters of Tebhel, and have divided the planet into special zones for those who differ too greatly from each other in body and in mind to live together harmoniously. They are either long-lived or able to resurrect their dead. Their sun is very small and far away, which makes Tebhel a colder and darker place than our earth. (SR Spirit/Neptune?)
ARQA ("an earth") -- A strange world with seasons much longer than ours, with harvests and sowing at different intervals. Its inhabitants can cross the whirlwind spaces and visit all the other earths, and can speak all the known languages of the earths. Their faces are very different from ours. It is said that on one of Arqa's continents lies Gehenna, one of the largest Hells, which surrounds the greatest of Hells, the Nine Pits of Sheol; it is unknown whether this means that there is a Portal to Gehenna there, or that the Hell co-exists in two places at once (as seems to be the case, since Gehenna is given to be in so many different locations according to different stories). (SR Time/Saturn? Entropy/Pluto?)
YABBASHA ("dry land") -- A very dry land dominated by a huge red sun. Inhabited by a race of tiny beings who appear to be very forgetful, though they live off the land well enough that it doesn't matter much. They have never been able to think consecutively long enough to build any towns or sow any crops. So they eat shrubs and small plants. They also have two holes in their heads instead of noses, in order to breathe the thin, dry air. (SR Prime/Ouranus?)
SIYYA ("all dryness") -- A terribly dry world with two suns; its inhabitants are always digging for underground water-courses. Their cities, however, are rich and wondrous. Its people are very fair of feature, and have more spiritual faith than most other beings. (SR Correspondence/Mercury?)
GEH -- ("parched lands") -- A twilight planet of shadows, woods & forests, orchards. The inhabitants live on the abundant fruits of the trees, but know nothing of wheat or cereals. (SR Life/Venus?)
ADAMA ("red earth" fem.) -- Peopled by descendants of Adam, people who are cultivators and hunters but are afflicted with almost continual melancholy. When not sad, they make war upon one another. Visitors once traveled from Tebhel to Adama, but these superior beings were overcome by a strange malais that left them with no memory of who they were; the visits seem to have ceased. (SR Forces/Mars?)
ERES ("earth") -- Dull and cheerless, it's inhabitants supposedly descendants of Adam (SR Time/Saturn?)

THE SHARD REALMS
Go to my Shard Realms Page

Corresp. (Mercury) -- El.Tower Air, Virtual Reality, Tarterus, Caelum
Matter (Venus) -- Antrum, El.Tower Earth,
Life (Earth) -- Brocileande, El.Tower Earth/Water,
Forces (Mars) -- El.Tower Fire, Acheron, Gehenna/Malfeas
Prime (Jupiter) -- Briah,
Time (Saturn) --
Mind (Ouranus) -- Maya, Astra, Somniare,
Spirit (Neptune) -- El.Tower Water, Umbra, Atlantium,
Entropy (Pluto) -- Hades/Niflheim/Oinos, Oblivion/Abyss, Null Zone, Gehenna/Malfeas, Barathrum

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