"Every mage is said to walk one Path that leads through a Supernal Realm to a Watch-tower. This is not a literal or physical route but a metaphorical road or direction for the soul. Each realm has its own metaphysical laws that favor some principles over others.These laws are represented by the Arcana and their degree of power within a realmdescribed as Ruling (the principles represented by the Arcana are manifested in theirmost pure forms), Common (the Arcana are more powerful than in the Fallen World,but not as pure as the Rulers) and Inferior (the Arcana are still more powerful thanin the Fallen World, but they exert little influence over the realm). A mage’s begin-ning Arcana, the magical lore he knows from his Awakening and immediate studiesafterward, tend to be the Ruling Arcana for his realm.

An Acanthus mage walks the Path of Thistle that winds through the realm of Arcadia to the Watchtower of the Luna rgent Thorn (the “moonsilver thorn”). Sleepers know Arcadia dimly through the legends of faeries, nymphs and dryads of the plant kingdom. In Arcadia, everything is enchanted and wears a magical glamour of intense beauty or ugliness. Things tend toward extremes; there is very little compromise in the abode of the Fae. Change is common and encouraged. Those who walk this Path tend to be fickle and ever eager to try new things.

The Ruling Arcana for Arcadia are Fate and Time. Fairy stories from around the world reflect the timelessness of the realm as people who enter places under its influence and spend an evening often emerge many years later since that is how time is measured in the Fallen World. Likewise, a promise or oath is binding, and none can betray it without terrible consequences.

Acanthus, also called Enchanters, are often thought of as the archetypal “divine fools,” for they seem to achieve their goals by not trying or by waiting for things to come to them. But this over-reliance on luck (and the Fate Arcanum) can be to their detriment as they spurn patience and plunge into situations that are best tackled with some degree of foresight and strategy. The Acanthus are the wildcards of the Awakened world, and both loved and hated by others for it.

A Mastigos mage walks the Path of Scourging through the nightmarish labyrinth of the realm of Pandemonium, at the center of which is the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet. Pandemonium is also called the Realm of Nightmares, for its echoes appear to Sleepers most often in their most terrible and dreaded dreams, where Sleepers fall from endless heights never to hit the ground or run for what seems like hours but never make any progress. Their worst fears or repressed emotions are brought forth in places touched by Pandemonium to be examined and judged by strangers who mock and condemn them. Through such a gauntlet of humiliation and submission, a soul is scourged of its sins and is thus purified to reunite, cleansed and free, with the divine.

The Ruling Arcana of Pandemonium are Mind and Space. The darkest corners of the unconscious mind are readily apparent here and worn like badges while all roads twist in upon themselves and leading a traveler to confrontations with his own failings.

While Mastigos Warlocks are often considered diabolists and demon-summoners (those who make deals with the Devil), Mastigos are more properly the masters of such infernal urges, and those who by strength of will command that within them which is most unsavory. While all humans sin, the Mastigos learn from the follies of the material world and use them to attain higher power.

A Moros mage walks the Path of Doom, treading the barren wastes and black rivers of the realm of Stygia to attain the Watchtower of the Lead Coin. There is a price to be paid for entering places influenced by Stygia since there are many tollgates on the road, and the soul must travel through death to attain new life. This price isn’t in mundane lucre but in the treasure reaped by the soul dur ing life. If the soul’s weight is light, like that of precious metals, the soul can rise above its death. But if the soul is heavy, like lead, the soul must remain in the abode of shades until the soul can relinquish its hold on life.

The Ruling Arcana of Stygia are Death and Matter, for it is the place of shells, whether it’s the hollow shells of egos worn in life or the heavy shells of material greed. Whatever is heaviest falls to the influence of this realm, such as ghosts that are anchored to the world they have already left, material treasures that distract the soul from its true work and even metaphorical darkness, which weighs down the light.

Moros Necromancers are often stereotyped as dour and quiet, and there are certainly those mages who fit that description, but this image is based more on others’ misunderstanding of what mages who work so close to death must be like. If a Moros is gloomy, it is because he is all too aware of the doom that others face while he rises above it all and is alchemically transformed by his sojourn in the dark land to which all eventually travel.

An Obrimos mage walks the Path of the Mighty while gliding on celestial winds through the realm of the Aether and the firmament of the stars to reach the Watchtower of the Golden Key. Only the elect can enter here since it is guarded by the Hosts with their swords of fire. Lightning strikes any who fly with false wings as Icarus was downed by his hubris. Those who would wield the Supernal flame must not flinch in the face of adversity but cleave to one of the many visions of the divine.

The Ruling Arcana of the Aether are Forces and Prime. The very realm bristles with energy — sometimes too much energy that threatens to burn those not shielded by divine purpose. The raw power of the prima material, the fire of Creation that fuels magic, is born here and meted out to the Tapestry by Providence.

Other mages often fear Obrimos Theurgists for their temperaments as much as for their judgmental attitudes. Nonetheless, all admire their strength and call upon them first when the need is dire.

A Thyrsus mage walks the Path of Ecstasy while forging his own trail through the realm of the Primal Wild to discover the Watchtower of the Stone Book. Most of the hallmarks of civilization are not yet dreamt in this realm, where the world into which mortals were first born thrives in all its grandeur and horror. This place speaks to the primordial in all beings by causing them to lose themselves to ecstasies of the flesh or spirit and exalting in being alive. Some claim that all wine is blessed w with the taste of the Primal Wild and that those who get madly drunk dance in its humid embrace.

The Ruling Arcana of the Primal Wild are Life and Spirit. The pounding drums of the heart and lungs, the surging blood in every vein, the tingling nerves and salty sweat are things that are an alphabet of desire written in this realm. Not just flesh, but ephemera, too, is included as the instincts of beast and spirit alike are wrought in the Primal Wild’s jungles.

Thyrsus Shamans celebrate the moment and the sheer thrill of existence. Surrounded by spirits, these mages are never alone, because there is always a partner ready to take up the dance anew. While some Shamans are looked upon by other mages as uncivilized louts, Thyrsus mages are no “hippies.” The Path of Ecstasy is also about pain, for life is there, too. Only the dead feel no pain. Thyrsus are often the first mages sought when the Realms Invisible intrude.

The modern scientific worldview tends to treat ideas as secondary realities, less real than matter. The magical worldview knows that ideas are more real than matter. What is merely a metaphorical idea in the Fallen World might well be a literal reality in the Supernal World. In other words, the things of the higher world can sometimes be known in the lower world through symbols.

Symbols are images or ideas with meanings that can’t be exhausted through study or reduced to a single, simple concept through logic. Examples are mystical signs like the pentagram and the cross. Likewise, myths are metaphors that can refer to Supernal things or events. An event recounted in mythology might not have occurred literally in the Fallen World — where it is a metaphor for a psychic truth — but it might very well have taken place in the Supernal World.

Mystical symbols speak to the soul, reminding it of its heritage, even if this remembering never rises to conscious awareness for most people. An Awakened soul can consciously engage with a symbol to understand its Supernal meaning — the thing that it mirrors. Using symbols in magic strengthens a mage’s sympathetic connection to the Realms Supernal. Indeed, it’s part of the modus operandi of the Art, the reason for the occult’s refulgence with mysterious and compelling symbols, signs and images. They speak to the truth of the higher world.

Even Sleepers pick up the importance of certain symbols, and the study of Sleeper mythologies and esoterica may yield real truths for those who can distinguish them. Mystical symbology serves as a background for learning the Mysteries. Mages are insatiably curious about occult knowledge, even ideas seemingly created by Sleepers, for in their misunderstood dreams Sleepers can touch upon higher truths. Excavating these truths from the silt of unknowing is a challenge, but one that is rewarding to mages.

The Supernal sometimes seeps into the dreams of Sleepers, fertilizing their imaginations with images and metaphors from various Supernal Realms. These icons are filtered into religion, philosophy and occult systems the world over. Mages can sometimes discern the Supernal truth behind Fallen World symbols, and they find that incorporating these Sleeper occult systems into their rituals actually aids their magic, strengthening sympathetic ties to Watchtowers. Note that the relationship between the Supernal Realms and mortal religions does not demand a causal link whereby one creates the other. Both phenomena — Supernal Realms and mortal spirituality — seem to influence the other reciprocally.

Below is a short list of some of these correspondences. It’s by no means exhaustive, and categories sometimes overlap. For example, Haitian voodoo resonates with both the realms of Pandemonium and Stygia. Mastigos and Moros might incorporate voodoo into their methods of casting, as a means of ensuring Supernal sympathy.

The Aether (Obrimos): Christian Gnostic and Cabalistic symbols, sky gods, Hermes/Thoth/ Mercury, Norse Aesir, Zoroastrianism

Arcadia (Acanthus): Faeries and elves, Celtic magical symbols, druids, European witchcraft, Norse Vanir, the Eleusinian Mysteries

Pandemonium (Mastigos): Goetia, Middle Eastern myths of demons, Zoroastrian devas, Iblis and the nafs, Haitian voodoo

The Primal Wild (Thyrsus): Shamanic customs, Australian aboriginal myth, Native American myth, Candomble, indigenous myth the world over, the Greek Orphic and Dionysian Mysteries

Stygia (Moros): Egyptian and Etruscan religion, Hades, Greek eidola, Haitian voodoo, certain forms of Chinese ancestor worship"

A Mage's Path is the source of her power - her tie to the higher truths of the world. But that raw power is dangerous when untempered, and most Awakened are initiated into an Order which provides them with training and structure.