One of the oldest recorded mappings of the Body of Light comes down to us from the Upanishads of ancient India, outlining the five ethereal "sheathes" (or koshas) surrounding the incomprehensible light of the Atman (or True Self) at center. Looking at these straight-on in the Abrahadabra Grid, they appear as a 6-tiered ladder (or Hexagram) neatly corresponding to the 6 "sephera" points along the "middle pillar" in the Hermetic Tree of Life. If we were to look straight down the Grid from the uppermost point downwards, they would appear as a central point surrounded by 5 concentric rings.To demonstrate this more clearly, I am employing the services of Hexagram #23, called "Po", or "Splitting Apart" from the Wilhelm / Baynes edition of the I Ching. Any of the binary or ternary hexagrams will follow this same essential alignment but it just happens that Hexagram #23 is well suited to this particular demonstration.

Historically, the lines of the Hexagram do have social "station" assignments ascribed to them depicting a hierarchy of social refinery from the basest (at the bottom) to the loftiest (at the top), but these come to us from the time of Confucius who was a social philosopher and reformer more than a tantric Sage or Mystic of any kind. We are not able to derive an especially macrocosmic perspective from any of his own reflections. Mutational Alchemy is interested in the hexagrams as they pertain to the elemental properties of Man and Universe, more than the structure of society per se, so that the Five Koshas and their 6th apex point are of much more interest to us here.

Building from the base of the triangle to apex, we get the following assignments:

• 6th Line: Annamaya Kosha (Physical): "Anna" means "food", "Maya" means "appearance" or sometimes "illusion" and corresponds to the physical plane on the most fundamental levels. "Food" may be taken in its most generic context here, including everything we might take in or expel as a part of the physical rhythm of existence. This can include things like television or energy stimulus of all kinds as an example. On the Tree it corresponds to the realm of "Malkuth" (Kingdom) and it can perhaps be said that the most important aspect of the Annamaya Kosha is that it forms the base of the triangle itself, which, if it is sufficiently neglected or corrupted, will disallow any higher advancement until this has been rectified.

• 5th Line: Pranamaya Kosha (Energetic): "Prana" means "energy" but is also defined as "breath", not to be mistaken for the element of air, however. Prana is sometimes defined as the vital life-force energy that distinguishes the living from the dead. It is nearly identical in all respects to the Chinese notion of Chi, and is to be regarded as an underscoring energy supporting all life functions on a universal scale. Prana circulates through the body through an intricate system of pathways called Nadi which root in 3 most central channels (the ida, the pingala, and the sushumna) at the base of the spine and fan out to 72,000 extended pathways throughout the body. The ida and pingala channels are said to correlate with left and right nostrils, so that controlled breathing is considered the most direct way of manipulating Prana. On the Tree it corresponds to the Yesod (Foundation), which rests upon the base of an internal triangle linking directly to Kether (Crown) via the circle between Kether and Malkuth.

• 4th Line: Manamaya Kosha (Mental): "Mana" means "mind" or "intellect" corresponding to the uppermost line of the bottom (or Earth) trigram in all hexagrammal structures. It also incorporates emotions and is generally perceived as a potent objectifying agency, rather than the sum of mind in total. It is a means of processing pleasure and pain and is ever-changing by nature. It is the internal instrument for acquiring experience and knowledge but is neither of these in itself. It assimilates and coordinates information from the sense organs to create a coherent representation of reality, and organizes unconscious actions in response to the information received. On the Tree of Life it corresponds to Tiphareth (Beauty), whose planetary attribution is Sol (the Sun) and is sometimes referred to as the "Seat of Will", not to be confused with Will itself, however.

• 3rd Line: Vijnanamaya Kosha (Wisdom): "Vijnana" means "knowing". It is the sheath of wisdom that underscores the processing, thinking aspect of mind. It knows, decides, judges, and discriminates between this and that, between useful and not useful. It is the cognitive-intuitive sheath, also called the "actinodic" (spiritual-magnetic) sheath. It is the Vijnanamaya Kosha that is able to make confident value judgments where the analytical faculty hits the wall. It occupies the bottom rung of the upper (Heaven) trigram in all hexagrammal structures. It is this in a prime position to balance above and below relativities pertinent to decision-making on all levels. On the Tree of Life it corresponds to Daath (Knowledge) which marks a major point of contention between the Hermetic and Judaic Tree systems.

• 2nd Line: Anandamaya Kosha (Bliss): "Ananada" means "bliss", or "ecstasy" and represents the first and subtlest of the Five Koshas, of which the pure light of the Atman (or True Self) is its core. It has been defined as "the intuitive superconscious sheath or "actinic-causal body" and represents the most stable and least changing of the Koshas through the ongoing process of birth-death-rebirth. This inmost soul form (svarupa) is the ultimate foundation of all life, intelligence and higher faculties. Its essence is Parashakti (Pure Consciousness) and Parasiva (the Absolute). On the Tree of Life it corresponds to Kether (Crown) which stands at helm to the tree itself. It denotes both manifestation and completion of the physical universe in total, since anything beyond this point could no longer be identified as a "thing".

• 1st Line: Atman (True Self): The Atman (True Self) stands at apex to the Five Koshas and is somewhat difficult to define. Indeed, the most accurate definition available is that it is that which cannot be defined. The Atman (True Self) is said to be indistinguishable in all respects to Brahman (Godhead) which exists apart from the worlds of form but is nevertheless connected to them and both gives rise to them as much as it completes them. The Atman is regarded as an underlying metaphysical self. It is hidden in every object, including humans and is interpreted by most schools as the “Main Essence” of Man, as his Highest Self. Nevertheless the term "Self" in this instance is difficult to apprehend completely since it is, by definition, synonymous with Universe, and thus includes all other "selves" inherently. It is a complex principle that has to be studied carefully and independently, oftentimes for very many years. On the Tree of Life it corresponds to the realm of the "Ain Soph Aur", or the "Boundless Light" and is actually not on the Tree itself but positioned just above it in fact. In the Abrahadabra Grid, this coordinate comes into view as being "on the grid" and it would be impossible to ignore the "hexagrammal" arrangement of sephira this presents us with. Nevertheless, the ramifications of this are staggering and it would, in many ways, be so much easier for us to relegate it to a background position in the scheme of things and leave it at that. Abrahadabra, it would seem, is not content to do this, so that we are forced to acknowledge its "tangible" presence and make every concerted effort possible to comprehend its physical attributions and nature.  "On the grid" means "on the map", just like an island at sea, and Abrahadabra issues a challenge along with a profound benefit for accepting this and coming to grips with it once and for all.

It doesn't take too much imagination to ascertain what a powerful definition of hexagrams we are faced with here. In a very real sense, this is way more than we might have bargained for in the binary system alone, but the ternary system closes the gap since the 729 ternary hexagrams are only possible via the inclusion of the "Jen" element which breaks down to "Spirit" pretty much any way we slice the deck. That being the case, we are forced, eventually, to conclude that the Abrahadabra formula is simply reporting the facts, such as they are, and is appeasing none and catering to none in the process. Most of you will not get any of this and I am well aware of that. My job at this moment in time is to reach out to the few that do and can "get it" and encourage them to take up this challenge and deal with it, since behind this mystery lies the future...the future of magickal science, if not the future of humankind itself.

I would be remiss, I think, not to point out that the language of the Koshas is flawed in certain respects. We have an excellent outline to work from here but there are internal contradictions and areas of profound discord to be aware of. It is simply not a perfected language by any stretch of mind. The theory of the Koshas has suffered a number of serious divisions over time and is not a wholly unified theory by any means. Beginning with the oldest model (the Taittiriya model) we have what amounts to a more affirmative view of the Atma(n) as it unfolds unto the worlds below, whereby the successive "layers" are seen as "real" and essentially positive in nature. The goal in such a case is simply to unify these layers and thus reunite their total, but the Advaita model comes along after a time to challenge this, suggesting that the layers are all "appearance" only and the only true reality resides with the Atma(n) alone. Further on we find still another major rift that ultimately gives rise to Buddhism in which it is suggested that the Atma(n) is not reality at all and that no such ultimate reality does in fact exist. All of this discord filters down to us in the form of a model and a language that is not entirely coherent within itself and so there is much that has to be taken into account when incorporating this system, since it cannot truly be considered to be a finished logic, nor one that has held ground unwaveringly since its inception. What we do have is a working model from antiquity that agrees for the most part on most of its underscoring assumptions. We may ultimately discover that some of the language itself is flawed however, and that our divisions have to be reworked to some extent in order to accomplish their intended goals.

In Abrahadabra we have ample precedent for returning to the oldest of these models and reasserting their original assertions over and above the hubbub of however many subsequent dissenting voices there may be. "Monkey see, monkey do" is the rule of thumb with our species, so that sheer numbers alone do not amount to a balanced point of view. Political and economic upheaval has almost always found expression in the rewriting of sacred doctrines to the ultimate detriment of all. Here in this unexpected model of Completion, we have a narrow window of opportunity to set the matter straight. In Abrahadabra, we can definitely assert that both the Atman and its successive gradations are quite "real" and our proof lies in the context of the hexagrams which yield an unparalleled body of principle as they unfold.

m1thr0s