Experiencing, Experience and the Spheres of Influence

Edited 12.26.2022

This is what is intended to be an open source program for receiving wisdom in a perennial fashion. What this means in more basic terms is that it is an architecture that is meant to be modified and configured over time the more we know about the cosmos and it serves as a basic blueprint for how to configure such a praxis of attuned focus to anything you wish. So in some sense what you will get here is meant to be a creative pipeline in the end which can be configured to any make or model. More of a toolset in the making at this point, these are the foundations of a system of planning, creating, processing, experiencing and learning which is based on the solar system as much as it is in the foundations of mathematics, philosophical thought and the widest possible spectrum of cultural traditions.

Anything you chose to focus on or compare (to anything else) will then be made into a contained, cosmic looking-glass which reflects and resonates with all things in a particular fashion. The process starts with an idea, a breakdown of that idea and an application or realization of that idea. The ideas I start with are planets. This is more because they are the biggest masses in our local region of space. It is a strategy of being realistic about the local region we live in so that we have some actually ground to help gauge our moves and the shape of what we do.

If we are developing a cosmic consciousness then it is pretty important we put the realities of the local cosmos as the framework we start from. Ideas of Gods can spring up pretty quickly the less you have adequate ideas to work with to understand something so large and mysterious as the galaxy.

THOHT TREES are maps of ideas that are used also as philosophical eco-systems of known and acknowledged powers that factor in as the major players in shaping our experience. Traditionally they were also spiritual, magical and philosophical systems of knowledge and training. Freemasons and Rosicrucians all are deeply intertwined in the Tree of Life Diagram and even Judaic, Christian and Wiccan Organizations use it as a key to all they do. 

These diagrams are made to organize conscious thought and help us to process our experience as well as provide a broad ground upon which to explore, store, retrieve and re-experience our primal connection to all things. A THOHT TREE is a memory palace and a board on which all things may play to a degree in its cosmic space. In other ways each tree may serve a different or specific purpose. Some might function as a memory palace, others might be a map of our current social order.

Even in their simplest form, THOHT TREES can be confusing to look at. They often come in startling shapes that are not easily applied to the world around us at a precursory first look, unless you are familiar with hermetic tree of life diagrams or their ilk. But that still should not deter you because they really are much like your common business model in the form of a concept diagram. 

This part of the site is under active construction. With that said, there are a few short sections which follow which help explain some essential aspects of the format and style. Then there is a glossary at the end so that any term that is used a lot, or is an invention of my own will be added here to help explain things a little more clearly. 

A WIDE SPECTRUM

For the purposes of being an inclusive model about human experience I have elected to use a basic pentagram or pentagon for describing experience. It is a very old model derived from the “5 planes of Experience” inspired by Theosophical, Yogic and Folk Magic and it is one I elected to start with for filling in the sphere definitions in a semi adequate way which will help to "start the machine."

1. Physical 

2. Energetic

3. Socio-Cultural ( and what we desire most or most honor among competing desires)

4. Conceptual

5. All types of awareness combined into the full experience but this also includes stuff that you can't describe easily in customary cultural modes of expression. 

In some ways experience is always beyond our understanding and awareness. We have found cultural modes of behavior and engagement that afford us comfort and adventure yet we might know enough by the history of science how difficult it can be to change long held beliefs.

Since the categories are here to widen the spectrum of conscious awareness they too should be regarded as relatively open to integrate competing ideas and modes of experience. In some ways even Harmony as it is evidenced in the planets can be complex, strange and contradictory at first glance. But all shades, tones and flavours come into the mix to create a fuller reality which accords better with an approach that would integrate experience through time and across cultural borders.

Physical

Here I will include everything that is a description of the physical makeup or mass of the body in question, which will be a star or other heavenly body. Science is used as the primary data set here, though that makes sense if we are going to be using a little bit of factual data to guide our THOHT WORKS.

Energetic

Most of what I will include as a description of the energy of the body in question will come from science because the Socio-Cultural and Conceptual aspects of the bodies in question are plenty wide as categories to take on our more metaphorical and poetic ideas of the Spheres.

Socio-Cultural

Anything from the Perennial Wisdom of Hermeticism and Kabballah to any material in any literary tradition is equally valid here. Though the main idea is to be able match the cultural tradition to the relevant physical and energetic properties of the body in question so that we can examine their nature in as pure a nature as possible (primary Harmony).

Traditionally this “plane” is given to Venus and Mars, because they are thought of as bodies of desire, motivation, discipline, values, culture, art and glamour. It is often termed the Astral Plane in more traditional approaches, though strictly speaking “astral” means “having to do with the stars”—so since THOHT WORKS are astral in nature that doesn’t really help as a category.

I will include everything from Angelology to Demonology here—the spirit catalog—and any major occult trends of thought too. For this first pass I will focus on Hermetic and Hebrew thought concerning the Tree of Life and Cosmic Philosophical and Magical Systems. Things categorized under “Magic” in this sense are an important aspect of having a wide spectrum. Many things once held to be a thing of magic are cornerstones of modern medicine though still quite mysterious (meditation, placebo effect, aspirin, aloe, and all manner of plants and animal parts and ways of processing them for specific purposes).

Also very muddy in this terminology is that the Moon is often linked to the Astral Planes even as it is traditionally equated with energy and what is called the etheric plane. The reason why I have chosen to elucidate the Spheres of Art in this fashion is that I don’t need the sociological metaphor nor the “direct experiences” of “masters” with these “Spheres” to act as the solid ground or the exclusive evidence of this strange little mystical palace. The reason is because if we use what we have learned about the actual Celestial Spheres (of the Stars, Planets, Moons, etc.) as a guide, there is a very good chance we can learn a way to open up such perennial and well tested wisdom to the scientific process in a way that holds no grudges or pulls any punches. The idea is that we are actually looking for contradictions and tensions between ideas and our understanding of our inner and outer experience.

Conceptual

This is more on the level of a definition though it is certainly included in the larger category of socio-cultural, and it is considered the Sphere of Mercury traditionally. But since definitions and concepts are a very important part of this practice, I would try to be inclusive but also more focused on concepts which are more central, in use, or resonate with properties found in science and the perennial traditions.

Summation

This is only here to provide an arena which expresses things left out in other modes and to state clearly that this is what is created by all the foregoing categories—a particular awareness or consciousness. It will likely take a while to fill these in because most things will be covered in the rather wide spectrum of categories above.

Constructing a General Idea of Consciousness in THOHT WORKS.

In a simple rendering of the idea of consciousness as regarded in THOHT WORKS, we can use a 1 - 5 scale. These will come in handy later when we start to apply these THOHT TREES to different ideas and consider the types of power involved in whatever the focus is. Here ‘1’ is less conscious or more sub-conscious, and 5 is very conscious. So this is literally a scale that equates consciousness with how widely shared (experienced and communicated) an experience is. Of course the type of consciousness is dependent on many factors but they are in all cases very widely acknowledged and expressible types of experience and consciousness. What it means is that culture is considered here as a focusing and shaping of consciousness and the goings on of a culture is also a competition or market for exposure, focus and primacy of consciousness. Of course this is only a partial idea of what culture is, and within limited terms. But this is also part of the battle of expression to be understood throughout time, instead of being locked to one’s particular locale.

One could understand Art on this scale as being between categories 3 - 5, as these cover experience that is shared or acknowledged in some fashion. This means that fundamentally Art changes consciousness, the only differences are the scales of exposure. Other ideas that occur in these terms are that science is the attempt to gain the power of a level 5 consciousness within a single lifespan—this is also not far off from the nature of the short path to enlightenment in Tantric Buddhism, and is simultaneously what established and tested traditions can do for human understanding and experience.

1- Unacknowledged Experience

2- Internally Acknowledged Experience - Experience you have acknowledged to yourself without speaking it aloud or recording it in anything other than memory.

3 - Partially Shared or Acknowledged Cultural Experience - This would be something you have verbally shared to friends or a small group of people, or things you’ve noted or recorded but not studied.

4 - Widely shared or Acknowledged Cultural Experience - This category is described by popular use and presence in art, media and the level of repetition or acknowledgement amongst a wide number and range of people.

5 - Very Widely Acknowledged or Shared Cultural Experience long present in the Literary Record - Here we are usually talking about old ideas, old social customs, traditions or classical stories and tales. These communicate a way of experience and processing experience and are the staples of consciousness. These form the basic core of consciousness and in some cases are very clear spheres of influence, though they often hide in plain sight.

IDEAS & DEFINITIONS

Definitions

Resonance is a ratio of one thing to another in the same unit of measure. So you could compare one weight to another easily as a ratio, but unless both are in the same unit of measure, like pounds, it may not be very useful to compare them. To find resonance between any 2 things you take a common quality and get their measurements. Then you simply divide one by the other. For the Day Length of Mars and Earth you would have 24.616 hrs divided by 24 hours— a ratio of 1.02775 to 1. This is pretty tiny musical measure, and it is very close to the same “note” musically (because it is close to 1 or the first note in every system).

A Culture in a biological sense is an environment where the conditions suitable for life to grow are maintained by someone. In other ways, Cultures are "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group." But then it comes to talk about the other aspect of culture as "the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations." (All quotes in this paragraph  refer to Merriam-Webster.com 10.24.2022)

In some ways this can be confusing. We can equate a sphere of influence with their social metaphors, as when Jupiter is equated traditionally in astrology with philosophy, kingship, education, luck and fortune. But in each case there are specific reasons for these concepts being associated with each planet. Sometimes it comes from myth, other times it comes from the resonance of historical circumstances occurring when certain configurations of the planets and stars are visible in the sky–and there is a long record of such circumstances, though some may question the way that this data set became widely accepted. 

The point I am laboring to make is that it is helpful to understand the limits of our traditions and how sturdy the ground is upon which some traditions are founded upon. 

Modern science is brought into the discussion because it is helpful and revealing to compare traditional ideas with the current scientific record. Some properties and qualities given to the planets and stars from our older perennial traditions are very close to modern science and others are very distant. In both cases science can bolster fresh thinking and slightly more finely attuned approaches to traditional subjects and practices alike—and I would hope any craftsman, artist, magician or scientist would know the power of slight changes, or attention to slight details attunements or phrasing. 

What I would most like to see here is for the methodology to be incorporated by others, and for THOHT TREES to be developed with different ends or approaches in mind and with different star systems and different numbers of bodies or spheres. So here is a way to keep a fairly universally minded approach to the cosmos–all star systems are evolving and developing THOHT TREES and all THOHT TREES are very literally open sourced maps of the music of the cosmos. Solar Systems seem to evolve into more and more harmonically attuned systems the longer they survive. But it is also perhaps the case that this very resonant quality becomes easier to see the more things become structured and coalesce over time. Gas clouds become stars. Heavier elements form planets and moons but also make up things like black holes.

To construct a THOHT TREE in musical cosmos fashion from the ground up means you should know some basic arithmetic and exponential math. From there you can construct a THOHT TREE according to an algorithmic structure which is based on long standing and highly refined sets of data from NASA or the relevant organization. Using the data from large organizations is important because they constitute organizations which have the necessary resources to calculate, collect and present the data—which takes many generations in some cases. This is one of the main ways we will make use of “perennial or timeless wisdom” to guide our lives. In this way we can look deeply into history and science and civilization and be affected less by the limits of our lifespans.

Culture

Resonance

Musical Cosmos Theory (Musica Universalis) - abbreviated MCT

Musical Cosmos Theory is an old theory of the Universe that began as far as we can tell with the origins of music theory (Babylonia, early Greek thought, the Egyptian Dynasties, and others). “The Harmony of the Spheres,” as it was called by Kepler and others, was based in large part on our ideas of the planets and stars and the cyclic regularity of their motions. These regular cycles of the Heavenly Bodies then constitute the music and harmony of the local Cosmic Order.

In a more specific way the Musical Cosmos Theory (MCT) is that the Harmonics of a star system determine the rhythms and nature of life and their cultures. And since every star system is Harmonic by virtue of their cycles, knowing the Harmonics of a star system might tell you much of life there and the quality of it. Harmonics can also help to describe the stages of development in star systems as well the lifespan of the system.

MCT uses basic arithmetic, and exponential math and used newly made mathematical approaches to understanding Harmony in a very wide sense that was not exactly easy to understand previously. The main concepts here that are new are musical number theory, chiral pairs (in harmonics), and harmonic mirrors (or musical dimensions).

Musical Number Theory

Musical Number Theory was invented to be able to easily reduce any number, or measured quality, to its most simplified form as a musical resonance ratio. The simplest form of any ratio is for it to be reduced as a ratio where one of the 2 numbers in the ratio is a 1. So instead of 3/2, you get 1.5/1, or simply 1.5.

And since all numbers can be easily reduced to a musical number in this fashion it serves as a very handy strategy to make any ratio a musical ratio—which is always between one and the octave length of the musical dimension in question.

One way to calculate the musical number of any ratio is to divide it or multiply it by the octave length until it is between 1 and the octave length. The Octave Length is particular number which defines musical equivalence amongst numbers. In the traditional octave length, 2, we have musical systems which say that any 2 frequencies which are exactly a factor of 2 away are the same musical note.