Realms

A realm, in this category, is one of the otherworlds, heavens, underworlds or intermediate places described by a tradition's cosmology: the Norse nine worlds, the Hindu and Buddhist lokas, the Greek Hades, the Kabbalistic worlds, and many more. Each entry records the tradition the realm belongs to, its place in the wider cosmos, and who is said to dwell there or pass through it.

Realms are the geography of the mythic and metaphysical world, where the gods live, where the dead go, what lies above and below the ordinary world, and how the levels are joined by a world-tree, a mountain, a bridge or a river.

Traditions disagree about how many realms there are, how they are arranged, and what determines which a soul reaches. Some picture a simple upper and lower world with the living between; others build elaborate storeys of heavens and hells, or wheels of rebirth through many planes. The entries report each scheme on its own terms.

The realms group by kind (heavens, underworlds, planes and worlds), so a reader can compare, say, the underworlds of many traditions side by side. The largest of these structures connect outward to the section on Cosmology & Realms.