Ascent to the heavenly realm (Judaism)

A number of hard-to-interpret religious texts present verbal rituals for ascending to different levels of the heavenly realms and describe visions of the heavens traversed, of angels and heavenly choruses and flames and fiery chariots. Each level is described in numbers of myriads of fiery chariots and interspersing flames. It is the words, repeated in a state of purity and holiness, which are said to effect the ascent, and yet these very words are also hymns of praise sung by the heavenly creatures encountered. These words may be meaningful in the normal sense or they may be "magic" words, of no conventional meaning but which reflect or point to sounds of letters in God's name, although God's name itself may not be spoken. Because they reflect God's name, the name that created the universe, these magic words are also creative and thus form part of the ritual, with the quality of transforming or effecting specific processes. It has been argued that the rhythm of the flowing words is as important or more important than the meaning of the actual words, in some cases functioning in rather the same manner as a mantra and in others as in poetry.