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M

Magee, H. M. +

President of the Dublin Lodge of the Theosophical Society, who reported on its work in July 1890. +

Magi +

The name of the ancient hereditary priests and learned adepts in Persia and Media, a word derived from ''Mâha ''great, which became later ''mog ''or ''mag, ''a priest in Pehlevi. Porphyry describes them (''Abst. ''iv. 16) as “The learned men who are engaged among the Persians in the service of the Deity are called Magi”, and Suidas informs us that “among the Persians the lovers of wisdom (''philalethai'') are called Magi” The ''Zendavesta ''(ii. 171, 261) divides them into three degrees : (1) The ''Herbeds ''or “ Noviciates” ; (2) ''Mobeds ''or “ Masters” ; (3) ''Destur Mobeds, ''or Perfect Masters”. The Chaldees had similar colleges, as also the Egyptians, ''Destur Mobeds ''being identical with the Hierophants of the mysteries, as practised in Greece and Egypt [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magia Adamica +

The quoted passage is on the eleventh unnumbered page of To the Reader, not p. 11 of the main text. [[Zirkoff, Boris|B. de Zirkoff]] checked the 1650 London edition and restored its original italic emphasis. ([[Zirkoff, Boris|B. de Zirkoff]], [[Zirkoff B. - Compilers Notes (1)#267|BCW 5:267]]) +

Magic +

The great “Science”. According to Deveria and other Orientalists, “magic was considered as a sacred science inseparable from religion” by the oldest and most civilized and learned nations. The Egyptians, for instance, were one of the most sincerely religious nations, as were and still are the Hindus. “Magic consists of, and is acquired by the worship of the gods”, said Plato. Could then a nation, which, owing to the irrefragable evidence of inscriptions and papyri, is proved to have firmly believed in magic for thousands of years, have been deceived for so long a time. And is it likely that generations upon generations of a learned and pious hierarchy, many among whom led lives of self‐ martyrdom, holiness and asceticism, would have gone on deceiving themselves and the people (or even only the latter) for the pleasure of perpetuating belief in “ miracles” ? Fanatics, we are told, will do anything to enforce belief in their god or idols. To this we reply: in such case, Brahmans and Egyptian ''Rekhget‐amens ''(''q.v''.) or Hierophants would not have popularized belief ''in the power of man by magic practices to command the services of the gods: which gods, ''are in truth, but the occult powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned priests themselves, in which they reverenced only the attributes of the one unknown and nameless Principle. As Proclus the Platonist ably puts it : “Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain alliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all, ''fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy and similarity......''and applied for occult purposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which, through a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues into this inferior abode”. Magic is the science of communicating with and directing supernal, supramundane Potencies, as well as of commanding those of the lower spheres; a practical knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature known to only the few, because they are so difficult to acquire, without falling into sins against nature. Ancient and mediæval mystics divided magic into three classes — ''Theurgia, Goëtia ''and natural ''Magic. ''“Theurgia has long since been appropriated as the peculiar sphere of the theosophists and metaphysicians”, says Kenneth Mackenzie. Goëtia is ''black ''magic, and “natural (or white) magic has risen with healing in its wings to the proud position of an exact and progressive study”. The comments added by our late learned Brother are remarkable. “The realistic desires of modern times have contributed to bring magic into disrepute and ridicule. . . . Faith (in one’s own self) is an essential element in magic, and existed long before other ideas which presume its pre‐existence. It is said that it takes a wise man to make a fool; and a man’s ideas must be exalted almost to madness, i.e., his brain susceptibilities must be increased far beyond the low, miserable status of modern civilization, before he can become a true magician; (for) a pursuit of this science implies a certain amount of isolation and ''an abnegation of Self ”. ''A very great isolation, certainly, the achievement of which constitutes a wonderful phenomenon, a miracle in itself. Withal magic is not something ''supernatural''. As explained by Jamblichus, “they through the sacerdotal theurgy announce that they are able to ascend ''to more elevated and universal Essences, ''and to those that are established above fate, viz., to god and the demiurgus: neither employing matter, nor assuming any other things besides, except the observation of a sensible time”. Already some are beginning to recognise the existence of subtle powers and influences in nature of which they have hitherto known nought. But as Dr. Carter Blake truly remarks, “the nineteenth century is not that which has observed the genesis of new, nor the completion of old, methods of thought”; to which Mr. Bonwick adds that “if the ancients knew but little of our mode of investigations into the secrets of nature, we know still less of their mode of research” [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG).

Magic, Black +

(Vide ''Supra''.) [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magic, White +

So‐called, is ''divine ''magic, devoid of selfishness, love of power, of ambition, or lucre, and bent only on doing good to the world in general, and one’s neighbour in particular. The smallest attempt to use one’s abnormal powers for the gratification of self, makes of these powers sorcery or black magic [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magician +

This term, once a title of renown and distinction, has come to he wholly perverted from its true meaning. Once the synonym of all that was honourable and reverent, of a possessor of learning and wisdom, it has become degraded into an epithet to designate‐ one who is a pretender and a juggler; a charlatan, in short, or one who has “sold his soul to the Evil One”, who misuses his knowledge, and employs it for low and dangerous uses, according to the teachings of the clergy, and a mass of superstitious fools who believe the magician a sorcerer and an “Enchanter”. The word is derived from ''Magh, Mah ''in Sanskrit Mâha — great; a man well versed in esoteric knowledge. (''Isis Unveiled.'') [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magna Mater +

“Great Mother”. A title given in days of old, to all the chief goddesses of the nations, such as Diana of Ephesus, Isis, Mauth, and many others [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magnes +

An expression used by Paracelsus and the mediæval Theosophists. It is the spirit of light, or ''Akâsa''. A word much used by the mediæval Alchemists [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magnetic Masonry +

Also called “Iatric” masonry. It is described as a Brotherhood of Healers (from ''iatrikê ''a Greek word meaning “the art of healing”), and is greatly used by the “Brothers of Light ”as Kenneth Mackenzie states in the ''Royal Masonic Cyclopedia''. There appears to be a tradition in some secret Masonic works — so says Ragon at any rate, the great Masonic authority — to the effect that there was a Masonic degree called the Oracle of Cos, “instituted in the eighteenth century B.c., from the fact that Cos was the birthplace of Hippocrates”. The ''iatrikê ''was a distinct characteristic of the priests who took charge of the patients in the ancient ''Asclepia'', the temples where the god Asclepios (Æsculapius) was said to heal the sick and the lame [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magnetism +

A Force in nature and in man. When it is the former, it is an agent which gives rise to the various phenomena of attraction, of polarity, etc. When the latter, it becomes “animal” magnetism, in contradistinction to cosmic, and terrestrial magnetism [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magnetism, Animal +

While official science calls it a “supposed” agent, and utterly rejects its actuality, the teeming millions of antiquity and of the now living Asiatic nations, Occultists, Theosophists, Spiritualists, and Mystics of every kind and description proclaim it as a well established fact. Animal magnetism is a ''fluid'', an emanation. Some people can emit it for curative purposes through their eyes and the tips of their fingers, while the rest of all creatures, mankind, animals and even every inanimate object, emanate it either as an ''aura'', or a varying light, and that whether consciously or not. When acted upon by Contact: with a patient or by the will of a human operator it is called “Mesmerism” (''q.v''.) [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magnitudes of Ether Waves +

A work mentioned in the appendix whose bibliographical identity Zirkoff was unable to establish. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.4)#656|4:656]][[SMW::on]]). +

Magnum Opus +

In Alchemy the final completion, the “Great Labour” or Grand ''Œuvre''; the production of the “Philosopher’s Stone” and “Elixir of Life” which, though not by far the myth some sceptics would have it, has yet to be accepted symbolically, and is full of mystic meaning [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Magus +

In the New Testament it means a Sage, a wise man of the Chaldeans; it is in English often used for a Magician, any wonder‐worker; in the Rosicrucian Society it is the title of the highest members, the IXth grade; the Supreme Magus is the Head of the Order in the “Outer”; the Magi of the “Inner” are unknown except to those of the VIIIth grade. [w.w.w.] [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Maha Buddhi +

The Intelligent Soul of the World. The seven ''Prakritis ''or seven “natures” or planes, are counted from Mahâbuddhi downwards [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Maha Chohan +

The chief of a spiritual Hierarchy, or of a school of Occultism; the head of the trans‐Himalayan mystics [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Maha Deva +

Lit., “great god”; a title of Siva [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Maha Guru +

Lit., “great teacher”. The Initiator [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Maha Kala +

“Great Time”. A name of Siva as the “Destroyer”, and of Vishnu as the “Preserver” [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +