Property:CTD term description

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Showing 50 pages using this property.

N

Nabatheans +

A sect almost identical in their beliefs with the Nazarenes and Sabeans, who had more reverence for John the Baptist than for Jesus. Maimonides identifies them with the astrolaters. “Respecting the beliefs of the Sabeans”, he says, “the most famous is the book, ''The agriculture of the Nabatheans''”. And we know that the Ebionites, the first of whom were the friends and relatives of Jesus, according to tradition, in other words, the earliest and first Christians, “were the direct followers and disciples of the Nazarene sect”, according to Epiphanius and Theodoret (See the ''Contra Ebionites ''of Epiphanius, and also “Galileans” and “Nazarenes”) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Madhyamikas +

A sect mentioned in the ''Vishnu Purâna''. Agreeably to the Orientalists, a “Buddhist sect, which is an anachronism. It was probably at first a sect of Hindu atheists. A later school of that name, teaching a system of sophistic nihilism, that reduces every proposition into a thesis and its antithesis, and then denies both, has been started in Tibet and China. It adopts a few principles of Nâgârjuna, who was one of the founders of the esoteric Mahayâna systems, not their ''exoteric ''travesties. The allegory that regarded Nâgârjuna’s “Paramartha” as a gift from the ''Nâgas ''(Serpents) shows that he received his teachings from the secret school of adepts, and that the real tenets are therefore kept secret [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Collyridians +

A sect of Gnostics who, in the ear]y centuries of Christianity, transferred their worship and reverence from Astoreth to Mary, as Queen of Heaven and Virgin. Regarding the two as identical, they offered to the latter as they had done to the former, buns and cakes on certain days, with sexual symbols represented on them [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manichaeans +

A sect of the third century which believed in ''two ''eternal principles of good and evil; the former furnishing mankind with souls, and the latter with bodies. This sect was founded by a certain half‐Christian mystic named Mani, who gave himself out as the expected “Comforter”, the Messiah and Christ. Many centuries later, after the sect was dead, a Brotherhood arose, calling itself the “Manichees”, of a masonic character with several degrees of initiation. Their ideas were Kabalistic, but were misunderstood [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Koinobi +

A sect which lived in Egypt in the early part of the first Christian century; usually confounded with the ''Therapeutæ''. They passed for magicians [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fargard +

A section or chapter of verses in the ''Vendidad ''of the Parsis [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anjana +

A serpent, a son of Kasyapa Rishi [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ahi +

A serpent. A name of Vritra, the Vedic demon of drought. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Linga +

A sign or a symbol of abstract creation. Force becomes the organ of procreation only on this earth. In India there are 12 great Lingams of Siva, some of which are on mountains and rocks, and also in temples. Such is the ''Kedâresa ''in the Himalaya, a huge and shapeless mass of rock. In its origin the Lingam had never the gross meaning connected with the phallus, an idea which is altogether of a later date. The symbol in India has the same meaning which it had in Egypt, which is simply that the creative or procreative Force is divine. It also denotes who was the dual Creator—male and female, Siva and his Sakti. The gross and immodest idea connected with the phallus is not Indian but Greek and pre‐eminently Jewish. The Biblical ''Bethels ''were real priapic stones, the “ Beth‐el” (phallus) wherein God dwells. The same symbol was concealed within the ark of the Covenant, the “Holy of Holies”. Therefore the “Lingam” even as a phallus is not “a symbol of Siva” only, but that of every “Creator” or creative god in every nation, including the Israelites and their “God of Abraham and Jacob” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abhimanyu +

A son of Arjuna. He killed Lakshmana,in the great battle of the Mahâbhârata on its second day, but was himself killed on the thirteenth. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Abhaya +

A son of Dharma; and also a religious life of duty. As an adjective, “Fearless,” Abhaya is an epithet given to every [[Buddha]]. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Ben +

A son; a common prefix in proper names to denote the son of so‐and‐so, e.g., Ben Solomon, Ben Ishmael, etc. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Brahmarandhra +

A spot on the crown of the head connected by ''Sushumna, ''a cord in the spinal column, with the heart. A mystic term having its significance only in mysticism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hallucination +

A state produced sometimes by the Astral Light; but while the drunkard, the madman, and the untrained medium, or one suffering from brain‐ fever, see, because they cannot help it, and evoke the jumbled visions unconsciously to themselves, the Adept and the trained Seer have the choice and the control of such visions. They know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they want to observe, and how to see beyond the upper outward layers of the Astral Light. With the former such glimpses into the waves are hallucinations: with the latter they become the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is, or will be, taking place. The glimpses at random caught by the medium, and his flickering visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding will of the Adept and Seer into steady pictures, the truthful representations of that which he wills to come within the focus of his perception [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avitchi +

A state: not necessarily after death only or between two births, for it can take place on earth as well. '''Lit.''', “uninterrupted hell”. The last of the eight hells, we are told, “where the culprits ''die and are reborn without interruption''—yet not without hope of final redemption. This is because Avitchi is another name for Myalba (our earth) and also a state to which some soulless men are condemned on this physical plane [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Idol +

A statue or a picture of a heathen god; or a statue or picture of a Romish Saint, or a fetish of uncivilized tribes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Odem +

A stone (the cornelian) on the breast‐plate of the Jewish High Priest. It is of red colour and possesses a great medicinal power [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aura +

A subtle invisible essence or fluid that emanates from human and animal bodies and even things. It is a psychic effluvium, partaking of both the mind and the body, as it is the electro‐vital, and at the same time an electro‐mental aura; called in Theosophy the âkâsic or magnetic aura [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Guardian Wall +

A suggestive name given to the host of translated adepts (Narjols) or the Saints collectively, who are supposed to watch over, help and protect Humanity. This is the so‐called “Nirmanâkâya” doctrine in Northern mystic Buddhism. (See ''Voice of the Silence'', Part III.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Key +

A symbol of universal importance, the emblem of silence among the ancient nations. Represented on the threshold of the Adytum, a key had a double meaning: it reminded the candidates of the obligations of silence, and promised the unlocking of many a hitherto impenetrable mystery to the profane. In the “Œdipus Coloneus” of Sophocles, the chorus speaks of “the golden key which had come upon the tongue of the ministering Hierophant in the mysteries of Eleusis”, (1051). “The priestess of Ceres, according to Callimachus, bore a key as her ensign of office, and the key was, in the Mysteries of Isis, symbolical of the opening or disclosing of the heart and conscience before the forty‐two assessors of the dead”. (''R.''''M. Cyc1opædia'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hotris +

A symbolical name for the ''seven ''senses called, in the ''Anugita ''“the Seven Priests”. “The senses supply the fire of mind (i.e., desire) with the oblations of external pleasures.” An occult term used metaphysically [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Iacchos +

A synonym of Bacchus. Mythology mentions three persons so named: they were Greek ideals adopted later by the Romans. The word Iacchos is stated to be of Phœnician origin, and to mean “an infant at the breast ”. Many ancient monuments represent Ceres or Demeter with Bacchus in her arms. One Iacchos was called Theban and Conqueror, son of Jupiter and Semele; his mother died before his birth and he was preserved for some time in the thigh of his father; he was killed by the Titans. Another was son of Jupiter, as a Dragon, and Persephone ; this one was named Zagræmus. A third was Iacchos of Eleusis, son of Ceres: he is of importance because he appeared on the sixth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Some see an analogy between Bacchus and Noah, both cultivators of the Vine, and patrons of alcoholic excess. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Doppelganger +

A synonym of the “Double” and of the “Astral body” in occult parlance [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gonpa +

A temple or monastery; a ''Lamasery.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lhakang +

A temple; a crypt, especially a subterranean temple for mystic ceremonies [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Lower Face +

A term applied to Microprosopus, as that of ”Higher Face” is to Macroprosopus. The two are identical with ''Long Face ''and ''Short Face'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Be‐ness +

A term coined by Theosophists to render more accurately the essential meaning of the untranslatable word Sat. The latter word does not mean “Being” for it presupposes a sentient feeling or some consciousness of existence. But, as the term Sat is applied solely to the absolute Principle, the universal, unknown, and ever unknowable Presence, which philosophical Pantheism postulates in Kosmos, calling it the basic root of Kosmos. and Kosmos itself— “Being” was no fit word to express it. Indeed, the latter is not even, as translated by some Orientalists, “the incomprehensible Entity”; for it is no more an Entity than a non‐Entity, but both. It is, as said, absolute ''Be‐ness'', not ''Being, ''the one secondless, undivided, and indivisible All—the root of all Nature visible and invisible, objective and subjective, to be sensed by the highest spiritual intuition, but’ never to be fully comprehended [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dwellers +

A term invented by Bulwer Lytton in ''Zanoni''; but in Occultism the word “Dweller” is an occult term used by students for long ages past, and refers to certain maleficent astral Doubles of defunct persons [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ablanathanalba +

A term similar to “Abracadabra”. It is said by C. W. King to have meant “thou art a father to us”; it reads the same from either end and was used as a charm in Egypt. (See “[[Abracadabra]]”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Limbus Major +

A term used by Paracelsus to denote primordial (alchemical) matter; “Adam’s earth” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fohat +

A term used to represent the active (male) potency of the Sakti (female reproductive power) in nature. The essence of cosmic electricity. An occult Tibetan term for ''Daiviprakriti ''primordial light: and in the universe of manifestation the ever‐present electrical energy and ceaseless destructive and formative power. Esoterically, it is the same, Fohat being the universal propelling Vital Force, at once the propeller and the resultant [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hell +

A term with the Anglo‐Saxons, evidently derived from the name of the goddess '''''Hela '''''(''q.v''.), and by the Sclavonians from the Greek Hades: hell being in Russian and other Sclavonian tongues—''ad, ''the only difference between the Scandinavian cold hell and the hot hell of the Christians, being found in their respective temperatures. But even the idea of those overheated regions is not original with the Europeans, many peoples having entertained the conception of an underworld climate; as well may we if we localise our Hell in the centre of the earth. All exoteric religions—the creeds of the Brahmans, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Mahommedans, Jews, and the rest, make their hells hot and dark, though many are more attractive than frightful. The idea of a hot hell is an afterthought, the distortion of an astronomical allegory. With the Egyptians, Hell became a place of punishment by fire not earlier than the seventeenth or eighteenth dynasty, when Typhon was transformed from a god into a devil. But at whatever time this dread superstition was implanted in the minds of the poor ignorant masses, the scheme of a burning hell and souls tormented therein is purely Egyptian. Ra (the Sun) became the Lord of the Furnace in Karr, the hell of the Pharaohs, and the sinner was threatened with misery “in the heat of infernal fires”. “A lion was there” says Dr. Birch “and was called the roaring monster”. Another describes the place as “the bottomless pit and lake of fire, into which the victims are thrown” (compare ''Revelation''). The Hebrew word ''gaї‐ hinnom ''(Gehenna) never really had the significance given to it in Christian orthodoxy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aisvarikas +

A theistic school of Nepaul, which sets up Âdi Buddha as a supreme god ( Îsvara ), instead of seeing in the name that of a principle, an abstract philosophical symbol. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lotus, Lord of the +

A title applied to the various creative gods, as also to the Lords of the Universe of which this plant is the symbol. (“See Lotus”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

P

Padma Yoni +

A title of Brahmâ (also called ''Abjayoni''), or the “lotus‐born” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dorjeshang +

A title of Buddha in his highest aspect; a name of the supreme Buddha; also ''Dorje'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gharma +

A title of Karttikeya, the Indian god of war and the Kumâra born of Siva’s drop of sweat that fell into the Ganges [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hari +

A title of Vishnu, but used also for other gods [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhagavat +

A title of the Buddha and of Krishna. “The Lord” literally [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lady of the Sycamore +

A title of the Egyptian goddess Neїth, who is often represented as appearing in a tree and handing therefrom the fruit of the Tree of Life, as also the Water of Life, to her worshippers [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hara +

A title of the god Siva [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nidhi +

A treasure. Nine treasures belonging to the god Kuvera—the Vedic Satan—each treasure being under the guardianship of a demon; these are personified, and are the objects of worship of the Tantrikas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Isiac table +

A true monument of Egyptian art. It represents the goddess Isis under many of her aspects. The Jesuit Kircher describes it as a table of copper overlaid with black enamel and silver incrustations. It was in the possession of Cardinal Bembo, and therefore called ''“Tabula Bembina sive Mensa Isiaca ''”. Under this title it is described by W. Wynn Westcott, M.B., who gives its “History and Occult Significance” in an extremely interesting and learned volume (with photographs and illustrations). The tablet was believed to have been a votive offering to Isis in one of her numerous temples. At the sack of Rome in 1525, it came into the possession of a soldier who sold it to Cardinal Bembo. Then it passed to the Duke of Mantua in 1630, when it was lost [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Desatir +

A very ancient Persian work called the ''Book of Shet''. It speaks of the ''thirteen ''Zoroasters, and is very mystical [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agruerus +

A very ancient Phœnician god. The same as Saturn. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Devasarman +

A very ancient author who died about a century after Gautama Buddha. He wrote two famous works, in which he denied the existence of both Ego and non‐Ego, the one as successfully as the other [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Carnac +

A very ancient site in Brittany (France) of a temple of cyclopean structure, sacred to the Sun and the Dragon; and of the same kind as Karnac, in ancient Egypt, and Stonehenge in England. (See the “Origin of the Satanic Myth” in ''Archaic Symbolism''.) It was built by the prehistoric hierophant‐priests of the Solar Dragon, or symbolized Wisdom (the Solar ''Kumâras ''who incarnated being the highest). Each of the stones was personally placed there by the successive priest‐adepts in power, and commemorated in symbolic language the degree of power, status, and knowledge of each. (See further ''Secret Doctrine ''II. 381, ''et seq''., and also “ Karnac”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Araritha +

A very famous seven‐lettered Kabbalistic wonder‐word ; its numeration is 813 ; its letters are collected by Notaricon from the sentence “one principle of his unity, one beginning of his individuality, his change is unity”. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dharmasmriti Upasthana +

A very long compound word containing a very mystical warning. “Remember, the constituents (of human nature) originate ''according to the Nidânas, and are‐not ''originally the Self”, which means—that, which the Esoteric Schools teach, and not the ecclesiastical interpretation [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cock +

A very occult bird, much appreciated in ancient augury and symbolism. According to the ''Zohar, ''the cock crows three times before the death of a person; and in Russia and all Slavonian countries whenever a person is ill on the premises where a cock is kept, its crowing is held to be a sign of inevitable death, unless the bird crows at the hour of midnight, or immediately afterwards, when its crowing is considered natural. As the cock was sacred to Æsculapius, and a the latter was called the ''Soter ''(Saviour) who raised the dead to life, the Socratic exclamation “We owe a cock to Æculapius”, just before the Sage’s death, is very suggestive. As the cock Was always connected in symbology with the Sun (or solar gods), Death and Resurrection, it has found its appropriate place in the four Gospels in the prophecy about Peter repudiating his Master before the cock crowed thrice. The cock is the most magnetic and sensitive of all birds, hence its Greek name ''alectruon'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Property:CTD term description

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