Explain the divisions of the cosmos in ADF ritual, and why the cosmos is divided in this way. (300 words min.)
I have to be honest, I feel like I’m saying the same thing over and over for these essays, so a lot of this may be the same as previous essays.
The division of the cosmos is generally very similar across many of the Indo-European cultures. In the Norse they have a division of the nine worlds on the world tree. In ADF we at least acknowledge what I call the “sacred trine”, which is another “nine realms” across general Indo-European mythos. They aren’t necessarily realms, per se, but they are sacred centers that help make up the axle of life. These consist of the Land, Sea, and Sky, the Well, the Fire, the Tree, and the Underworld, Middleworld, and Upperworld.
The land, sea, and sky make up the horizontal plane of our world, the Middleworld or Midgard. They are all of the general aspects of Midgard that we live on and share space with the Nature Spirits and Land Wights.
The Underworld, the Middleworld, and the Upperworld are the realms of the Kindred. The Underworld is where our Ancestors reside, the Middleworld is where we along with the Nature Spirits of this realm, the other realm, and those that walk between realms reside, and the Upperworld is the realm of the Gods and Shining Ones.
The Well, Fire, and Tree are the gateways and sacred points in sacred space that act as gateways to the realms. The Well is our gateway to the underworld or Ancestors. The tree is the gateway between the worlds that lives in our world of Midgard. The Fire is the gateway to the Upperworld and Celestial realm where the Gods reside.
So we have three sets of three, all of which speak to me on a very spiritual level. It is because of this that a lot of my invocations also include sets of threes to relate and pattern with the sacred trine. Some samples of liturgy I have written that supports this:
Sacred Spirits of Nature,
Those of fur, feather, and skin
Those who walk the lands, those who swim the seas, those who soar the sky
Those nature spirits of this world, the other world, and those that walk between worlds
We honor your rightful place, and we walk in balance with you as partners
Nature Spirits, we honor you
In this particular invocation, there are 3 sets of 3, which caters to my anal nature.
(Word Count: 373)
