For the magus knowledge and experience of and in the astral plane is of the prime importance. No magickal formula can work without the ability to understand and manipulate the astral laws of physics. For this reason very little usable information has ever been published by true adepts concerning the mysteries of the astral, likewise it is quite difficult for the aspiring mage to find a tutor who can give practical instruction in the full and proper use of the medium of the unseen.

The medieval mages called the astral plane the sidereal universe. The names sidereal and astral both describe a astronomical phenomena. The former name was used by astrologers and astronomers for this reason and the latter name, astral, means 'star'. The reason why the unseen universe is termed the 'starry universe' has to do with the concept of light. The primary source of natural light in the physical universe comes from stars. The source of a star’s light is to be found in the astral, which is also called the astral or sidereal Light. This invisible light is the matter or physical substance of the astral plane. In the higher levels of the astral this light is very subtle and flexible. In the lower regions, near the physical universe, this light is congealed, or 'fixed' as the alchemists would say, until it forms the basis of physical matter.

Here we have the first fact about the substance of the sidereal that is the beginning of the mages motive for investigating and controlling the astral Light.

The substance of the astral universe forms the basis (infra-structure)

of the substance of the physical universe

Therefore if one can manipulate the substance of the astral one can change its physical counterpart. For example, your body has a counterpart in the astral - your so-called astral body. Therefore if you were to go into the astral and change your astral body in some way then you would, in time, see a co-responding change in your physical body.

This is one of the reasons why mages call the astral plane the magickal universe.

One of the other reasons why this level of reality is called magickal is because there are beings which live there, which can be communicated with, who have super-normal knowledge about the physical realm and the ability, in some cases, to manipulate the laws of physics in ways which appear miraculous to the untrained observer. Mages, therefore, desire to communicate with and befriend these creatures in order to more easily effect or learn about the physical universe. This is, in one case, the motive behind magickal evocation and invocation of astral beings into physical appearance for the purposes of communication and the establishment of agreements or magickal contracts.

This aspect of astral interaction is probably the best known of magickal acts in the popular mind so it deserves some comment. The sidereal universe is populated with creatures of many and various kinds which range from the absolutely sublime and holy to the absolutely evil. In between we have every manner or degree of mixture of good and evil. In the case of magickal evocation, that is the summoning up of creatures below the level of humanity from the astral into physical appearance and communication, it is known that the more evil these beings are the more easily they are coxed into physical appearance. This is true for a number of reasons, the least of which is not the fact that they desire to get into the physical realm and inhabit an organic vehicle there by any means possible. Taking all this into consideration we find that it is the least skilled Mage that will most often resort to evoking demonic entities in order to attempt to bend them to his will. He does this not because he desires evil but because it is easy to do . . . in one way. The problem is that his lack of skill will be his undoing in the end for he will not be able to control this evoked force because it is, naturally, stronger than he. Demonic forces are compelled, by the laws of the level they exist in, to pervert, reverse and corrupt the truth and evolutionary forces. It is their nature, they cannot avoid it. They will use every means to accomplish their ends and it often does not require much work on their part to fool an untrained Mage into poisoning his soul in order that they obtain their desire.

Apart from calling astral entities into physical manifestation through the use of complex ritual the mage has recourse to astral travel. This subject is much confused in the mind of the average occultist let alone the layperson. This is because their are at least two ways of being in the astral both of which by the uninformed are referred to as 'travelling' in the astral. The astral is at its most basic level divided into two regions - the upper and lower. The upper regions the Egyptians called 'Day' and the lower they called 'Night'. The day region is (to a degree) similar to the Christian heaven. It is for this reason that the Egyptian Book of the Dead’s real name in Egyptian was 'The Book of Coming Forth into The Day' (Pert Em Heru), in modern lingo 'the instruction manual of how to get to heaven'.

When one finds himself in the night realm of the astral he is at its lower levels closer to the physical. In this realm we find traditional astral travel is possible. That is we feel as if we are in a body walking around much as if we were in the physical. The best example of this type of sidereal experience is found in dreams. If we find ourself in the upper astral we feel more disembodied, simply conscious of looking at the astral landscape, often from above. Sometimes we even experience looking at ourselves. It is not unheard of to have this kind of experience in dreaming but less common than the previous experience. This type of astral experience was referred to by medieval occultists as 'scrying' the astral. A modern equivalent would be scanning the astral. Some occultists call it 'mental travelling' in the astral. When a student of occultism is first beginning to learn to get into the astral he more often finds himself scrying rather than travelling bodily. This is especially true for men, for they more naturally tend towards scrying whereas woman tend more naturally towards travelling.

The most extreme (and very rare) form of astral travelling is to find oneself in the astral, bodily, in a situation that looks just like the physical. In some cases the traveller does not realize they are actually in the astral except that reality is a little more flexible there. For such traveller this astral experience is like a vivid or lucid dream where they cannot tell whether or not they're dreaming. Many medieval astral experiences are described as happening at this, very gross, level. A very vivid or extreme scrying experience is exactly the opposite. There is no physicality to the experience at all. All form is lost and the scryer finds himself immersed in a realm of pure force where the beings who live there are pure unadulterated intelligence of immense power.

Although we have talked about the astral as being most simply divided into two regions, night and day to the Egyptians, for magickal purposes the astral is spoken about as being composed of four great levels, called the 'four worlds' by qabalistic sages. Here we enter the doctrine of the four elements. Magickal philosophy revolves around the centre that we refer to as the doctrine of the four elements. Nearly everything the mage is concerned with has some relationship to one or more of these elements. The ancients called these elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire, but they, primarily, were not referring to the physical substances of these names. To the trained mage the elements of the most importance are those that make up the astral light. They understood that the first element in the universe was Fire or Light and that that Fire congealed into Water, then was separated by Air and the lower Water congealed into Earth, but again not the physical substances of these names. The mages Fire is the property of heat (expansion) and dryness in any thing, his Water is the property of coldness (contraction) and wetness in any thing, his Air is the property of wetness and heat (expansion) in any thing, and his Earth is the property of dryness and coldness (contraction) in any thing.

Every object in creation has varying degrees of each element in their composition. Therefore, for example, the mage would say that living wood was primarily ruled by the element of water because it is hard (contraction) and wet. Dead wood on the other hand has lost its wetness and dryness has overcome it, therefore it is ruled more by earth that is both dry and hard (contraction). In nature the elements are never static but always transmuting one into the other. One element dies, as in our example of living wood whose water element is killed, another takes over.

The basis for the physical elements solids (Earth), liquids (Water), gases (Air) and radiation (fire) are their astral counterparts that we call tattwas. These elements can therefore be found in all levels of creation: in the transcendental (fire), the thinking mind (air), in the emotions and instincts (water) and in the bodies of things (earth). No element is pure but always mixed with the others in various degrees. Thus we have, for example, Earth of Air (concrete mind), Water of air (fluid thought), Air of Air (invasive or analytical thought), and Fire of Air (abstract or spiritual thought).

In the astral we can enter into the 'streams' of the elements in a relatively pure state. When we do this we discover that there are different classes of spirits living in each of the four primary streams just like their are various cultures of people on the earth living in their own countries. In the Earth of Earth tattwa (astral stream of earth) we find Gnomes and demonic entities. The former are the constructive builders of the earth and the latter its disintegrating force. In the Water of Earth we find undines, in the Air of Earth sylphs, in Fire of Earth Salamanders. In the four subdivisions of Water we find the various angelic Choirs, in the sub-divisions of Air the archangelic Choirs and in the sub-divisions of the element of Fire the God Forms. During his training the Mage advancing in knowledge and experience will by degree gain the ability to climb through these various heights in the astral obtaining as he does the ability to converse with greater forces in nature on an ascending scale.