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P

Poole, Reginald Edward +

British archaeologist and numismatist (1832-1895), educated in Egypt and associated with the British Museum's coin collections and catalogues. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.10)#426|10:426]][[SMW::on]]) '''Editorial note.''' The middle name Edward in the BCW entry may be incorrect. The British Museum identifies its Keeper of Coins and Medals in 1870-1893 as Reginald Stuart Poole. McGill University's archival authority record also gives Reginald Stuart Poole (1832-1895), with a matching institutional career. The identification and middle name require clarification; Edward is retained here as the name printed in BCW, not as a verified alternative name. ([https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af-1759 British Museum: acquisition notes for lantern Af,+.1759]; [https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/poole-reginald-stuart McGill University Archival Collections: Poole, Reginald Stuart]) +

Poona Observer +

Periodical published at Poona, India, listed among the sources quoted or referred to in BCW volume 5. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.5)#386|5:386]][[SMW::on]]). +

Poona Theosophical Society +

Founded during the four-day visit of [[Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna|H. P. Blavatsky]] and [[Olcott, Henry Steel|H. S. Olcott]] to Poona beginning on 21 January 1882. ([[Zirkoff, Boris|B. de Zirkoff]], [[Zirkoff B. - Chronological Survey & Key to Abbreviations (BCW vol.3)|BCW 3:xxviii]]) +

Poore, Ben Perley +

Secretary of the United States Agricultural Society. A testimonial concerning Henry Steel Olcott was reproduced in the January 1881 Supplement to ''The Theosophist''. +

Pope A. - Moral Essays +

The lines chosen by [[Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna|H. P. Blavatsky]] for an epigraph come from the first epistle, addressed to R. Temple, Viscount Cobham. ([[Zirkoff, Boris|B. de Zirkoff]], [[Blavatsky H.P. - Force of Prejudice#330|BCW 11:330]]) +

Pope, Alexander +

His ''Essay on Man'' is cited with the original publication date of 1733. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.7)#388|7:388]][[SMW::on]]). The bibliography identifies the first of his Moral Essays as the epistle addressed to Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham; other quoted passages remained unidentified (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.11)#586|11:586]][[SMW::on]]). +

Popes‐Magicians +

There are several such in history; ''e.g.'', Pope Sylvester II., the artist who made an “oracular head”, like the one fabricated by Albertus Magnus, the learned Bishop of Ratisbon. Pope Sylvester was considered a great “enchanter and sorcerer” by Cardinal Benno, and the “head” was smashed to pieces by Thomas Aquinas, because it talked too much. Then there were Popes Benedict IX., John XX., and the VIth and VIIth Gregory, all regarded by their contemporaries as magicians. The latter Gregory was the famous Hildebrand. As to Bishops and lesser Priests who studied Occultism and became expert in magic arts, they are numberless. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Popol Vuh +

The Sacred Books of the Guatemalians. Quiché MSS., discovered by Brasseur de Bourbourg. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). Sacred traditions of the Quiché of Guatemala; the appendix lists Brasseur de Bourbourg's edition (1861), Adrián Recinos's Spanish version (1947) and the English translation by Delia Goetz and Sylvanus Morley (1957). (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.4)#662|4:662]][[SMW::on]]). Zirkoff cites Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Quiché text and French translation (Paris, 1861). About a quarter of the work was translated from that French version as ''The Book of the Azure Veil'', signed Aretas, in ''Lucifer'' in 1894-95. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.5)#366|5:366]][[SMW::on]]). +

Popular Science Monthly +

An American popular-science magazine, published bimonthly from May 1872 until April 27, 2021 in print, and until 2023 in electronic form. +

Porphyry +

A Neo‐Platonist and a most distinguished writer, only second to Plotinus as a teacher and philosopher. He was born before the middle of the third century A.D., at Tyre, since he called himself a Tyrian and is supposed to have belonged to a Jewish family. Though himself thoroughly Hellenized and a Pagan, his name ''Melek'' (a king) does seem to indicate that he had Semitic blood in his veins. Modern critics very justly consider him the most practically philosophical, and the soberest, of all the Neo‐Platonists. A distinguished writer, he was specially famous for his controversy with Iamblichus regarding the evils attendant upon the practice of Theurgy. He was, however, finally converted to the views of his opponent. A natural‐born mystic, he followed, as did his master Plotinus, the pure Indian Râj‐Yoga training, which leads to the union of the Soul with the Over‐Soul or Higher Self (Buddhi‐Manas). He complains, however, that, all his efforts notwithstanding, he did not reach this state of ecstacy before he was sixty, while Plotinus was a proficient in it. This was so, probably because while his teacher held physical life and body in the greatest contempt, limiting philosophical research to those regions where life and thought become eternal and divine, Porphyry devoted his whole time to considerations of the hearing of philosophy on practical life. “The end of philosophy is with him morality”, says a biographer, “we might almost say, holiness — the healing of man’s infirmities, the imparting to him a purer and more vigorous life. Mere knowledge, however true, is not of itself sufficient ; knowledge has for its object ''life'' in accordance with ''Nous''” — “reason”, translates the biographer. As we interpret ''Nous'', however, not as Reason, but mind (Manas) or the divine eternal ''Ego'' in man, we would translate the idea esoterically, and make it read “the occult or secret ''knowledge'' has for its object terrestrial ''life'' in accordance with ''Nous'', or our everlasting reincarnating ''Ego''”, which would be more consonant with Porphyry’s idea, as it is with esoteric philosophy. (''See'' Porphyry’s ''De Abstinentia'' ., 29.) Of all the Neo‐Platonists, Porphyry approached the nearest to real Theosophy as now taught by the Eastern secret school. This is shown by all our modern critics and writers on the Alexandrian school, for “he held that the Soul should be as far as possible freed from the bonds of matter, . . . be ready . . . to cut off the whole body”. (''Ad Marcellam'', 34.) He recommends the practice of abstinence, saying that “we should be like the gods if we could abstain from vegetable as well as animal food”. He accepts with reluctance theurgy and mystic incantation as those are “powerless to purify the ''noëtic'' (manasic) principle of the soul”: theurgy can “but cleanse the lower or psychic portion, and make it capable of perceiving lower beings, such as spirits, angels and gods” (Aug. ''De Civ. Dei''. X., 9), just as Theosophy teaches. “Do not defile the divinity”, he adds, with the vain imaginings of men you will not injure that which is for ever blessed (Buddhi‐Manas) but you will blind yourself to the perception of the greatest and most vital truths”. (''Ad Marcellam'',18.) “If we would he free from the assaults of evil spirits, we must keep ourselves clear of those things over which evil spirits have power, for they attack not the pure soul which has no affinity with them”. ''(De Abstin''. ii., 43.) This is again our teaching. The Church Fathers held Porphyry as the bitterest enemy, the most irreconcilable to Christianity. Finally, and once more as in modern Theosophy, Porphyry — as all the Neo‐ Platonists, according to St. Augustine — “praised Christ while they disparaged Christianity”; Jesus, they contended, as we contend, “said nothing himself against the pagan deities, but wrought wonders by their help”. “They could not call him as his disciples did, God, but they honoured him as one of the best and wisest of men”. (''De Civ. Dei.'', X1X., 23.) Yet, “even in the storm of controversy, scarcely a word seems to have been uttered against the private life of Porphyry. His system prescribed purity and . . . he practised it”. (See'' A Dict. of '' ''Christian Biography'', Vol. IV., “Porphyry”.) [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). De Zirkoff lists Greek-Latin editions of his ''Life of Pythagoras'', Amsterdam, 1707, and Kiessling's edition, Leipzig, 1816. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.3)#518|3:518]][[SMW::on]]). The bibliography cites ''On Abstinence from Animal Food'' through Thomas Taylor’s ''Select Works of Porphyry'' (1823), and discusses references concerning sacrifice and magic. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.7)#388|7:388-389]][[SMW::on]]).

Porta, Giovanni Battista della +

Bibliographical references include: Magiae naturalis, sive de miraculis rerum naturalium. Neapoli: M. Cancer, 1558, fol. Also later editions. - Natural Magic .. in twenty books. Tr. from Latin. London: T. Young & S. Speed, 1658, 4to (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.11)#586|11:586]][[SMW::on]]). +

Poseidonis +

The last remnant of the great Atlantean Continent. Plato’s island Atlantis is referred to as an equivalent term in Esoteric Philosophy. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Postel, Guillaume +

A French adept, born in Normandy in 1510. His learning brought him to the notice of Francis I., who sent him to the Levant in search of occult MSS., where he was received into and initiated by an Eastern Fraternity. On his return to France he became famous. He was persecuted by the clergy and finally imprisoned by the Inquisition, but was released by his Eastern brothers from his dungeon. His ''Clavis Absconditorum,'' a key to things hidden and forgotten, is very celebrated. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Posthumous Humanity +

[[Olcott, Henry Steel|H. S. Olcott]] translated and annotated A. d’Assier’s work in 1886; the English edition appeared in London from George Redway in 1887. An appendix deals with Indian beliefs about post-mortem human existence. ([[Zirkoff, Boris|B. de Zirkoff]], [[Blavatsky H.P. - Editors Note to A Story of Thirty Years Ago#284|BCW 5:284]]) +

Pot‐Amun +

Said to be a Coptic term. The name of an Egyptian priest and hierophant who lived under the earlier Ptolemies. Diogenes Laertius tells us that it signifies one consecrated to the “Amun”, the god of wisdom and secret learning, such as were Hermes, Thoth, and Nebo of the Chaldees. This must be so, since in Chaldea the priests consecrated to Nebo also bore his name, being called the Neboїm, or in some old Hebrew Kabbalistic works, “Abba Nebu”. The priests generally took the names of their gods. Pot‐Amun is credited with having been the first to teach Theosophy, or the outlines of the Secret Wisdom‐Religion, to the uninitiated. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Powell, Charles Francis +

American Theosophist and Buddhist who worked in India and Ceylon. Appointed temporary General Secretary of the Ceylon Section in November 1889. Died at Ambasamudram. +

Powell, John Wesley +

American geologist and ethnologist (1834-1902), explorer of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon. He directed the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology from 1879 and the United States Geological Survey from 1881 to 1894. (BCW [[SMW::off]][[Zirkoff B. - Appendix (BCW vol.2)#539|2:539-540]][[SMW::on]]). +

Prabhavapyaya +

That whence all originates and into which all things resolve at the end of the life‐cycle. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Prachetas +

A name of Varuna, the god of water, or esoterically — its principle. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +

Prachetasas +

See ''Secret Doctrine'', II., 176 ''et seq''. Daksha is the son of the Prâchetasas, the ten sons of Prachinavahis. Men endowed with magic powers in the ''Purânas'' who, while practising religious austerities, remained immersed at the bottom of the sea for 10,000 years. The name also of Daksha, called ''Prâchetasa''. [[Category: CTD info from Theosophical Glossary]] (TG). +