Does Ether/Aether still exist?

[Tahseen]

I heard a lot of time, even in my friend circle some of my friends believe... that Ether the 6th element do exist and they said, it was intentionally being removed from the text books and other things due its connection to occultism or self reflection ... some says Ether helps us in astral projection ... etc etc

So, dear wizards of intellectuality ... does anybody knows the actual mystery behind it ???

I m very curious to know and learn about it....

 

[Firetree]

We have already known about ' it ' for some time . What is 'it' ? basically it is a force or substance outside of the material solid world of the four elements . That concept has gone under different names at different times and been seen or 'understood' in different ways . Each time we come up with a concept for it we attach certain meanings and principles and speculations about how the Universe works , and after more research , we find things wrong or tweak or add other info about it and as the old becomes the new it gets given a different name .

Plato talked about a '5th element ' - to keep it simple, many refer to that (in the elemental context ) as 'spirit' . The alchemists called it 'Quintessence ' ( I have some writings about tthe old and new forms of this in my number theory paper ) .

But the baby never got thrown out with the bath water because even modern science recognizes that 'space' is not an empty medium - it is full of ..... 'potentials' . Modern concepts include ; 'quantum foam' , the 'Higgs Field' concept ( which is close to the old ether concept ) , Einstein's 'cosmological constant' which is a 'mathematical ether' , an updated form of 'Quintessence'

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

(note the 4 principle with an extension to 5 )

 

[artemisarcane]

Never heard of 6th element. But geometrically, i think you could extend from 5th.

Current physics does not support saying that aether exists in the classical sense, but some modern theories keep aether-like concepts alive as hypotheses. You can look for "Aether Physics" articles on this site:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

 

[Lu_CiD]

I heard a lot of time, even in my friend circle some of my friends believe... that Ether the 6th element do exist and they said, it was intentionally being removed from the text books and other things due its connection to occultism or self reflection ... some says Ether helps us in astral projection ... etc etc

So, dear wizards of intellectuality ... does anybody knows the actual mystery behind it ???

I m very curious to know and learn about it....

I can tell you hor to make the chemical ether with a cpl buckets some ice bleach and acetone. heh not sure about an element though thats a new one for me

 

[ahathoor]

Uuuh well no it doesn't, not in the way "they" mean at least, though I'm not entirely sure who "they" are.

Let me just give you a quick rundown on what this whole "aether" business is and how it's related to magic. In ancient Greek cosmology, aether was a word for the "stuff" of the upper sky. Later, in the 19th century, after having understood the mechanism of sound as waves in air, physicists were working out what light is, and posited it (light) to be waves in a more "subtle" medium than air, which they called aether.

It used to be the "state of science" for a while, until physics figured out about electromagnetism and photons, and so the idea of a material medium that resonates carrying light ("aether") was abandoned as obsolete. It was removed from textbooks because science found a better explanation for how light "works". (Better as in more in line with how light actually behaves.)

Here's where the confusion comes in. We have an ancient word connected with the upper sky ("outer spheres" in geocentric astrology), and an obsolete concept from 19th century physics... Western magic has an ancient and deep connection with both ancient Greek cultural heritage and with astrology, and the magical practicioners of the 19th and early 20th century were very much into adopting scientific terms... so of course they used the term "aether" to mean a number of things, typically related to some kind of "subtle" or "astral matter" , or energy, or something. What was exactly meant by it depends entirely on the person and tradition using it.

So no, there is no one unambiguous thing called "aether", and there was no conspiracy to hide it from physics textbooks.

 

[artemisarcane]

For Greek Cosmology,
The concept of aether (or ether) is the indispensable bridge between the divine, eternal heavens and the changing, physical life of humans on Earth.

Aristotle's Definition: The Unchanging Fifth Element (De Caelo)

In his fundamental cosmological treatise, On the Heavens (De Caelo), Aristotle formally introduced aether (which later alchemists and medieval scholars termed the quinta essentia or "quintessence") as a physical element completely distinct from the four earthly elements of earth, water, air, and fire.

While the four sublunary elements only move in straight lines (radially, either falling downward due to weight or rising upward due to lightness) and are subject to constant decay, generation, and death, the aether of the upper heavens is completely incorruptible.

How the Aether Affects Human Life: The Principle of Continuity

How does this perfect sky-substance affect us down here on Earth? Aristotle bridges the gap between the eternal aether and mortal human life in the opening of his Meteorology (Book I, Chapter 2, 339a).

This is the central quote that grounds the entire astrological and cosmological doctrine of celestial influence:

Because the sublunary world (the realm of humans, weather, and the four elements) is physically and energetically contiguous to the heavenly spheres, the circular revolutions of the aether act as the ultimate "efficient cause" of all terrestrial change.

Aristotle argued that the complex, overlapping circular motions of the planets in the sky "step down" their eternal, formatting power through the atmosphere. This celestial movement stirs up the sublunary elements, causing the seasons to turn, the weather to fluctuate, and biological organisms to undergo birth, growth, and decay

 

[Ignotus]

A lot of people who get into astral projection or deep meditation run straight into it. That buzzing, electric feeling, the luminous space you float in, that's the Ether. Once you tune into it, it gets way clearer. It's not gone, just hidden in plain sight. Most people just forgot how to perceive it.