Why Does the Veil between Worlds Thin?

It is easy to see that any closed object — whether an individual Psychocosm, the Macrocosm, or any one of the worlds — has borders. The nature and strength of these borders are widely debated, although obstacles to understanding the matter are also noted.

In our conversations we have already mentioned that the borders’ strength is not constant: sometimes it hardens and sometimes it weakens.

At the same time, we have discussed that, in essence, this border is a perceptual barrier that arises in consciousness and is overcome in consciousness. Nevertheless, to maintain this barrier there is a great cosmic power called the Keeper of the Threshold.

What, then, is meant by its “thinning”?

The magical tradition holds that worlds are the product of a shared narrative. That means the greater the number of conscious beings who share a particular description of a world, the firmer that world is, and the more stable the Threshold that separates it from other worlds and from the Interworld.

And the task of the Keeper of the Threshold is to maintain interactions among these minds, to reinforce the solidity and immutability of their worldview, and thus the strength of the world itself.

It follows that the thinning of the Threshold between worlds can occur when the collective belief in its firmness weakens. There may be several reasons for this.

First, the Threshold between worlds thins during wars, epidemics, cataclysms, and other events that shake the foundations of the existing worldview. It is thus that such periods yield so many reports of otherworldly visitors; one can recall, for example, the storms at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Second, a periodic thinning of the Threshold occurs throughout the year when elemental beings gradually enter our world. Their minds, mixing with the minds of the living, weaken confidence in the world’s immutability, thus thinning the Threshold. It is thus that each year ends with the Wild Hunt of the Lord of the Threshold, which restores the Threshold’s strength.

For the Magus who strives to expand his awareness, the Threshold between worlds may seem a hostile barrier, and the Keeper a hindrance. Yet it is no accident that this Keeper, in all mythologies, was regarded as one of the patrons of magic. In fact, the Magus’s task is not to weaken the Threshold, but to cross it. When worlds mix, they lose power, for power is born only where there is a Threshold, a difference in potentials. The disappearance of the Threshold leads to an even distribution of power, stopping its flow and leading to death and stagnation of consciousness. It is precisely the Crossing the Threshold increases the Magus’s power, overcoming it as an obstacle, leading to an increase in the Magus’s power; therefore for him the Threshold is necessary for power on the Way to power.