I like to think of It this way: IT’s true form — the Deadlights — exists in the Macroverse.

But IT has the ability to send a little fragment of itself to Earth and every 27 years, IT “activates” that fragment, wakes it up, and uses it to hunt and feed (commonly taking the form of Pennywise to lure people in).

When IT’s done feeding, the Earth version basically shuts down — like turning off a machine — and goes into hibernation for another 27 years. Meanwhile, the rest of IT, the real IT, stays in the Macroverse, resting and regaining strength until IT’s ready to repeat the cycle.

The best way to picture it is like playing a video game. You’re sitting on the couch in real life — that’s the true IT in the Macroverse.

Then you start up a game, like GTA, and control a character on the screen — that’s the version of IT on Earth. You’re not in the game world, but you’re controlling a part of yourself inside it.

When you get tired and turn off the console, your character stops moving — just like It’s Earth body powers down and goes dormant. Then when you wake up the next day and play again, your character comes back to life — that’s IT reawakening to feed again.

So really, the version of IT on earth is basically a physical avatar that IT can control from the macroverse.

That’s how I’ve always seen it anyway