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Macrocosm and Microcosm
GA 119

Varying terminology employed (see Lecture Six and onwards) for the super-sensible worlds:

In Oriental Theosophy:

  • Physical Plane
  • Astral plane
  • Rupa-Devachan or Lower Mental plane
  • Arupa-Devachan or Higher Mental plane

In Rosicrucian Theosophy:

  • Physical World
  • Imaginative World
  • World of Inspiration or of the Harmony of the Spheres
  • World of true Intuition

In the Movement that has associated itself with that of the Rosicrucians:*This fivefold division is based on a different approach.

  • The Little World or the World of the Intellect
  • World of the Elements (Elementary World)
  • World of Spirit (or, occasionally, Heaven World)
  • World of Reason
  • World of Archetypal Images or World of Providence

The Astral World might also be called the Soul-World and the Devachanic World the Spirit-Land. (See the book, Theosophy) European languages, “if they are honest with themselves”, have as yet no designations suitable for application to the Nirvana plane.