Well, I'm not going to knock different perspectives about Paul, certainly there are some things that Paul says that don't necessarily sound as enlightened as other things. But our tradition teaches that the forces of the Archons DO establish heirarchies in apparently "heavenly" places. Also, our tradition teaches that enlightenment is distinctly NOT heaven. But then, different traditions will use this term "Heaven" differently, so let me define the term as we teach it.

Consider Orthodoxy's idea of heaven. It is akin to a "Gated Community of the Sky." Its where all one's needs are met, all ones worldly desires are satisfied forever, but on a more subtle plane. You get there through mindless obedience to this "God". We would not deny that there are such realms or worlds, and we would even call them a "heaven", for it is distinctly not a hell realm, but are they the Pleuroma of light? You see, we make a distinction between the realms of Eternity and the realms of "Forever." Forever is "for all time" in our tradition. But within all time there is a beginning and an end. Eternity is eternal. Beyond time, yet within time, simultenously. Everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. We simply see these "heavens" as another very subtle trick of the Archons... but perhaps others would not call these "heavens"... and I agree that the seven planets can be attributed to them, just as there are seven "heavens", seven "earths" and so on according to Zohar... but where is the Pleuroma of Light becomes the question, and is there a distinction between these terms... in our tradition, we make a distinction... but I'm not about to knock a tradition or view that doesn't... terms are just that, terms :-).

Lynda,

There is a difference between the visible "heaven" of the astral domain and the invisible "heaven" of the spiritual domain. Many of the celestial names in the physical world are projections from the spiritual domain.

Traditionally, an actual physically existing entity on Earth had been projected onto the lights in the sky by subsequent generations. For example, Saturn was originally an earthly political player (a "king" of sorts) who conferred the benefits of orchard cultivation on humanity. For that, one of the visible celestial lights was associated with his memory.

Aside from the physical Sun, there is an invisible Sun that serves a role in the spiritual domain that the visible Sun serves in the physical domain. It is a source of spiritual life. It's shadows can be perceived by the "enlightened" observer. And so forth.