eṣa dainan-dinaḥ sargo
brāhmas trailokya-vartanaḥ
tiryań-nṛ-pitṛ-devānāḿ
sambhavo yatra karmabhiḥ

In the creation, during Brahmā's day, the three planetary systems — Svarga, Martya and Pātāla — revolve, and the inhabitants, including the lower animals, human beings, demigods and Pitās, appear and disappear in terms of their fruitive activities.

etāḿ vidyām adhigato
viśvarūpāc chatakratuḥ
trailokya-lakṣmīḿ bubhuje
vinirjitya mṛdhe 'surān

King Indra, who performed one hundred sacrifices, received this prayer of protection from Viśvarūpa. After conquering the demons, he enjoyed all the opulences of the three worlds.

Buddhist cosmology

In Buddhism, the three worlds refer the following karmic rebirth destinations:
Kāmaloka:
world of desire, typified by sexual and other desires, populated by hell beings, animals, ghosts, humans and lower demi-gods.
Rūpaloka:
world of form, predominately free of baser desires, populated by jhana-dwelling gods, possible rebirth destination for those well practiced in jhanic absorption.
Arūpaloka:
world of formlessness, noncorporal realm populated with four heavens, possible rebirth destination for practitioners of the four formlessness stages

Hanan Pacha was the upper world and the home of the Inca gods (such as Viracocha, Pachacamac, Mamacocha and the Inca gods of the sun and moon). The Incas believed that those who led a good life would ultimately ascend to Hanan Pacha in the afterlife.

Kay Pacha, literally “this world,” was the middle world of Inca mythology (variously written as Cay or Kai Pacha). This was the physical realm of living beings and the world of birth and decay, equivalent to our own inhabited world.

Uku Pacha can be seen as the Inca underworld, although inner world or below world may be more appropriate. Uku Pacha lies beneath the human realm of Kay Pacha, and is, as one may expect, a place where those unfit for Hanan Pacha will go upon their deaths.

The Hermetic philosophers visualised the universe as having four distinct realms, in accordance with the four elements: Fire, Air, Water and Earth respectively. Their cosmology is based upon the Three World View, whereby existence consists primarily of a Realm of Light (Fire) or God, from which the Three Worlds are created. Out of the Light the Intellectual World (Air) is generated. Next the Celestial World (Water) descends From the Intellectual World. Finally the Elemental World (Earth) precipitates from the Celestial World.

Each world has its own rulers; The Intellectual World - or heaven - is ruled by angels and archangels, the Celestial World is ruled by the planets, and the Elemental World - or Mother Earth - is ruled by the elements.

The process of creation as perceived within Hermetic philosophy is shown by Robert Fludd's illustration of The Three World View in figure 1 above. The spiral pattern describes the descent of Light from God (Deus) into matter. In this descent, three distinct Worlds are formed. Commencing with Mens, the universal mind, the spiral leads down through the Intellectual World indicated by the various angels and archangels: Seraphin, Cherubin, Dominationes, Throni, Potestates, Principatus, Virtutes, Archangeli, Angeli. Below the Caelum Stellatum - 'the stars in the heavens' - the spiral leads down through the Celestial World indicated by the planets: Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercuri and Luna. Finally the spiral leads down through the Elemental World indicated by the elements: Ignis, Aer, Aqua and Terra. In the spiral, Fludd also connects the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet with each of the rulers of the Three Worlds as the spiral of Light descends to Earth. The rulers of the worlds are used as symbolic tools for understanding matters corresponding to that particular World.

This is reflected in cheiromancy as the three aspects of hand reading. The palm embodies the Elemental World, the lines encapsulate the Celestial World and the fingers reflect the intellectual World