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The Llewellyn Encyclopedia

Term: consensus reality

DEFINITIONS

Consensus Reality: The philosophical theory that concepts of what are and are not real must be agreed upon (not by a test or statement, but by “consensus,” a general agreement) by a group or culture. That is, if enough people believe some concept is “real,” whether it is or not, the cultural view is that it is real. An example of this is the concept that at one time it was believed by most Western Europeans that the Earth was flat. Maps and expeditions were made based on this belief. In reality, the Earth is not flat. In fact, the belief that most people during the Middle Ages and before believed that the Earth was flat may, in itself, be a form of consensus reality. There is now a belief that educated and influential people knew the Earth was spherical, and the wide spread popularity of the flat Earth myth actually developed only in the 19th century due to the popularity of Washington Irving’s book, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, a novel that claimed most thought the world was flat until Columbus.

Consensus Reality:

The concept that the physical world, as we perceive it, is an illusion—an illusion so powerful that it we accept it as “real” and in our endeavors to understand this reality we have given it still greater “hardness” through our accumulation of  history, myth, fable, and statements of physical laws. All of this has been limited to the perceptions of physical senses and rejection of the non-physical.


source: Astral Projection for Psychic Empowerment, by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke & Joe H. Slate, Ph.D. - Carl Llewellyn Weschcke


ARTICLES

Reincarnation
Reincarnation (rebirth) is caused by a desire for life. It is the creative urge for self-expression that maintains the cycle of reincarnation for us on the Cosmic Planes of Manifestation. Above the highest Aethyr, LIL, there is no time or space as ...
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Magic Provides an Alternative Viewpoint
Where in the world is magic? It is not in science, which denies the reality and value of anything not amenable to the scientific method. It is not in religion. The Church has historically looked upon magic as devilish, and in modern times regards it ...
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Magic
Magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will, in a way that is not currently understood by modern science. Many people are fond of dividing magic up into specific categories such as "white magic" (beneficial, ...
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Reincarnation
The belief that souls of the dead are reborn in other bodies, human or animal; also called transmigration. Far and away the most common teaching on the afterlife in Western occult traditions… The rise of Christianity, with its insistence on eternal ...
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Review of Gothic Tarot of Vampires
Summary: Although this deck will obviously appeal to those who are interested in vampire culture, Interview with the Vampire, the Twilight series of books and the TV show True Blood, people uninterested in that mythos shouldn’t dismiss this deck ...
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Astrology
Astrology is a science that examines the action of celestial bodies upon all living beings, non-living objects, and earthly conditions, as well as their reactions to such influences. The study of the stars is one of the oldest sciences known to ...
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Precession of the Equinoxes
A slow shift in the positions of the Earth’s axis relative to the sun and the fixed stars, precession is the source of a great deal of myth, speculation, and esoteric theory. The Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of just over twenty-three degrees ...
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Next Step
Advancement, growth, development, expansion all come about when we are willing to take the “next step” out of self-imposed and societal limitations. Whether we are concerned with astral projection, aura reading, psychic development, or ...
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Precognitive Visualizing
Sometimes there is an element of precognition (the ability to foresee the future) in visualization. The image the visualizer conjures up may not be from his imagination, as he thinks; it may be a glimpse of an actual physical environment or ...
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Review of The Pictorial Key Tarot
Summary: More than just another RWS copy, The Pictorial Key Tarot takes the original RWS concepts and brings them into the 21st century. It uses the same basic symbolism as the RWS, but enhances it in places to make Waite’s original ideas clearer ...
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Astral Outsourcing Procedure
Introduction. The purpose of astral outsourcing is to acquire new growth resources through astral plane interactions, often with the aid of discarnates and astral intelligences and guides.  Here is the procedure: Step 1. Outsourcing ...
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"The soul comes from without into the human body, as into a temporary abode, and it goes out of it anew…it passes into other habitations, for the soul is immortal." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Have you lived before? The answer to that question is yes. As a human soul you have lived before; many of us have even experienced many lifetimes... read this article
Seven Flower Magic Rituals
A Quick Guide to Literary Character Creation with Mercury
Using Apatite in Your Crystal Spells
Exploring the Dark Side: Identifying 3 Types of Negative Paranormal Phenomena
Evolutionary Astrology: How Our Nodal Axis Defines the Soul's Path

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