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A

Ah‐hi +

'''Ahi '''(''Sk''.), or Serpents. Dhyân Chohans. “Wise Serpents” or Dragons of Wisdom. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Aja +

'''Aja '''(''Sk''.). “Unborn”, uncreated; an epithet belonging to many of the primordial gods, but especially to the first ''Logos''—a radiation of the Absolute on the plane of illusion. Performance, and it had its own appointed Hotri (priest) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ama +

'''Amia''', (''Chald.''). Mother. A title of Sephira Binah, whose “divine name is Jehovah” and who is called “Supernal Mother”. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Anyamsam Aniyasam +

''A no‐ranîyânsam ''(in ''Bhagavad'' ''gîtâ''). Lit., “the most atomic of the atomic; smallest of the small ”. Applied to the universal deity, whose essence is everywhere [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ad +

''Ad, ''“the Father”. In Aramean ''ad ''means one, and ''ad‐ad ''“the only one”. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adept +

''Adeptus'', “He who has obtained.” In Occultism one who has reached the stage of Initiation, and become a Master in the science of Esoteric philosophy. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Anagamin +

''Anagam. ''One who is no longer to be reborn into the world of desire. One stage before becoming Arhat and ready for Nirvâna. The ''third ''of the four grades of holiness on the way to final Initiation [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhuts +

''Bhûta.'': Ghosts, phantoms. To call them “demons”, as do the Orientalists, is incorrect. For, if on the one hand, a Bhûta is “a malignant spirit which haunts cemeteries, lurks in trees, animates dead bodies, and deludes and devours human beings”, in popular fancy, in India in Tibet and China, by Bhûtas are also meant “heretics” who besmear their bodies with ashes, or Shaiva ascetics (Siva being held in India for the King of Bhûtas) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chichhakti +

''Chih‐Sakti''; the power which generates thought [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Chitanuth our +

''Chitons'', a priestly garb; the coats of skin given by ''Java Aleim ''to Adam and Eve after their fall [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aparoksha +

''Direct perception.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ilda Baoth +

''Lit''., “the child from the Egg”, a Gnostic term. He is the creator of our physical globe (the earth) according to the Gnostic teaching in the ''Codex Nazaræus ''(the Evangel of the Nazarenes and the Ebionites). The latter identifies him with Jehovah the God of the Jews. Ildabaoth is “the Son of Darkness” in a bad sense and the father of the six terrestrial “ Stellar”, dark spirits, the antithesis of the bright Stellar spirits. Their respective abodes are the seven spheres, the upper of which begins in the “middle space”, the region of their mother Sophia Achamôth, and the lower ending on this earth—the seventh region (See ''Isis Unveiled, ''Vol. II., 183.) Ilda‐Baoth is the genius of Saturn, the planet; or rather the evil spirit of its ruler [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abba Amona +

''Lit.'', “Father‐Mother”; the occult names of the two higher Sephiroth, ''Chokmah ''and ''Binah'', of the upper triad, the apex of which is Sephira or Kether. From this triad issues the lower septenary of the Sephirothal Tree. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahoraga +

''Mahâ uraga'', “great serpent”——Sesha or any others [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Neith +

''Neithes''. The Queen of Heaven; the moon‐ goddess in Egypt. She is variously called ''Nout'', ''Nepte, Nur''. (For symbolism, see “Nout”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chnouphis +

''Nouf ''in Egyptian. Another aspect of Ammon, and the personification of his generative power ''in actu'', as Kneph is of the same in ''potentia''. He is also ram‐ headed. If in his aspect as Kneph he is the Holy Spirit with the creative ideation brooding in him, as Chnouphis, he is the angel who “comes in” into the Virgin soil and flesh. A prayer on a papyrus, translated by the French Egyptologist Chabas, says; ‘ O Sepui, Cause of being, who hast formed thine own body! O only Lord, proceeding from Noum ! O divine substance, created from itself! O God, who hast made the substance which is in him! O God, who has made his own father and impregnated his own mother.” This shows the origin of the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and immaculate conception. He is seen on a monument seated near a potter’s wheel, and forming men out of clay. The fig‐leaf is sacred to him, which is alone sufficient to prove him a phallic god—an idea which is carried out by the inscription: “he who made that which is, the creator of beings, the first existing, he who made to exist all that exists.” Some see in him the incarnation of Ammon‐Ra, but he is the latter himself in his phallic aspect, for, like Ammon, he is “ his mother’s husband”, i.e., the male or impregnating side of Nature. His names vary, as Cnouphis, Noum, Khem, and Khnum or Chnoumis. As he represents the Demiurgos (or Logos) from the material, lower aspect of the Soul of the World, he is the Agathodæmon, symbolized sometimes by a Serpent ; and his wife Athor or Maut (Môt mother), or Sate, “the daughter of the Sun”, carrying an arrow on a sunbeam (the ray of conception), stretches “mistress over the lower portions of the atmosphere”. below the constellations, as Neїth expands over the starry heavens. (See “Chaos”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

Crescent +

''Sin ''was the Assyrian name for the moon, and ''Sin‐ai ''the Mount, the birth‐place of Osiris, of Dionysos, Bacchus and several other gods. According to Rawlinson, the moon was held in higher esteem than the sun at Babylon, ''because darkness preceded light. ''The crescent was, therefore, a sacred symbol with almost every nation, before it became the ‘standard of the Turks. Says the author of ''Egyptian Belief, ''“ The crescent is not essentially a Mahometan ensign. On the contrary, it was a Christian one, derived through Asia from the Babylonian Astarte, Queen of Heaven, or from the Egyptian Isis . . . . whose emblem was the crescent. The Greek Christian Empire of Constantinople held it as their palladium. Upon the conquest of the Turks, the Mahometan Sultan adopted it for the symbol of his power. Since that time the ''crescent ''has been made to oppose the idea of the cross.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ibn Gebirol +

''Solomon Ben Yehudah'': a great philosopher and scholar, a Jew by birth, who lived in the eleventh century in Spain. The same as Avicenna (''q.v''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Davkina +

''The wife of Hea, “the goddess of the lower regions, the consort of the Deep”, the mother of Merodach, the Bel of later times, and mother to many river‐gods, Hea being the god of the lower regions, the “lord of the Sea or abyss”, and also the lord of Wisdom [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Madhava +

(1) A name of Vishnu or Krishna; (2) The month of April ; (3) A title of Lakshmi when written ''Madhavi.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nishada +

(1) One of the seven qualities of sound— the one and sole attribute of Akâsa; (2) the ''seventh ''note of the Hindu musical scale; (3) an outcast offspring of a Brahman and a Sudra mother; (4) a range of mountains south of Meru—north of the Himalayas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Magic, Black +

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

N

Nimitta +

1. An interior illumination developed by the practice of meditation. 2. The efficient spiritual cause, as contrasted with Upadana, the material cause, in Vedânta philosophy. See also ''Pradhâna ''in Sankhya philosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ayuta +

100 Kôti, or a sum equal to 1,000,000,000 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lakh +

100,000 of units, either in specie or anything else [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chhandoga +

A ''Samhitâ ''collection of Sama Veda; also a priest, a chanter of the Sama Veda [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Maha Rajikas +

A ''gana ''or class of gods 236 in number. Certain ''Forces ''in esoteric teachings [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brahmachari +

A Brahman ascetic; one vowed to celibacy, a monk, virtually, or a religious student [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahavanso +

A Buddhist historical work written by Bhikshu Mohânâma, the uncle of King Dhatusma. An authority on the history of Buddhism and its spread in the island of Ceylon [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhadrasena +

A Buddhist king of Magadha [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dammapadan +

A Buddhist work containing moral precepts [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Campanella Tomaso +

A Calabrese, born in 1568, who, from his childhood exhibited strange powers, and gave himself up during his whole life to the Occult Arts. The story which shows him initiated in his boyhood into the secrets of alchemy and thoroughly instructed in the secret science by a Rabbi‐Kabbalist in a ''fortnight ''by means of ''notavicon, ''is a cock and bull invention. Occult knowledge, even when a heirloom from the preceding birth, does not come back into a new personality within fifteen days. He became an opponent of the Aristotelian materialistic philosophy when at Naples and was obliged to fly for his life. Later, the Inquisition sought to try and condemn him for the practice of magic arts, but its efforts were defeated. During his lifetime he wrote an enormous quantity of magical, astrological and alchemical works, most of which are no longer extant. He is reported to have died in the convent of the Jacobins at Paris on May the 21st, 1639 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Chiffilet +

A Canon‐Kabbalist of the XVIIth century, reputed to have learned a key to the Gnostic works from Coptic Initiates; he wrote a work on Abraxas in two portions, the esoteric portion of which was burnt by the Church [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fahian +

A Chinese traveller and writer in the early centuries of Christianity, who wrote on Buddhism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Fa‐Hwa‐King +

A Chinese work on Cosmogony [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jacobites +

A Christian sect in Syria of the VIth cent. (550) which held that Christ had only one nature and that confession was not of divine origin. They had secret signs, passwords and a solemn initiation with mysteries [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Clemens Alexandrinus +

A Church Father and a voluminous writer, who had been a Neo‐Platonist and a disciple of Ammonius Saccas. He lived between the second and the third centuries of our era, at Alexandria [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lactantius +

A Church Father, who declared the heliocentric system a heretical doctrine, and that of the antipodes as a “fallacy invented by the devil” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ichthus +

A Fish: the symbol of the Fish has been frequently referred to Jesus, the Christ of the New Testament, partly because the five letters forming the word are the initials of the Greek phrase, ''Iesous ''Christos ''Theou Uios Soter, ''Jesus Christ the Saviour, Son of God. Hence his followers in the early Christian centuries were often called ''fishes, ''and drawings of fish are found in the Catacombs. Compare also the narrative that some of his early disciples were fishermen, and the assertion of Jesus― “I will make you fishers of men”. Note also the Vesica Piscis, a conventional shape for fish in general, is frequently found enclosing a picture of a Christ, holy virgin, or saint; it is a long oval with pointed ends, the space marked out by the intersection of two equal circles, when less than half the area of one. Compare the Christian female recluse, a Nun—this word is the Chaldee name for fish, and fish is connected with the worship of Venus, a goddess, and the Roman Catholics still eat fish on the Dies Veneris or Friday. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

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: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chastanier +

A French mason who established in London in 1767 a Lodge called “The Illuminated Theosophists” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Demrusch +

A Giant in the mythology of ancient Iran [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Ophites +

A Gnostic Fraternity in Egypt, and one of the earliest sects of Gnosticism, or ''Gnosis ''(Wisdom, Knowledge), known as the “Brotherhood of the Serpent”. It flourished early in the second century, and while holding some of the principles of Valentinus had its own occult rites and symbology. A living serpent, representing the Christos‐principle (i.e., the divine reincarnating Monad, not Jesus the man), was displayed in their mysteries and reverenced as a symbol of wisdom, Sophia, the type of the all‐good and all‐wise. The Gnostics were not a Christian sect, in the common acceptation of this term, as the ''Christos ''of pre‐Christian thought and the Gnosis was ''not ''the “god‐man” Christ, but the divine EGO, made one with Buddhi. Their Christos was the “Eternal Initiate”, the Pilgrim, typified by hundreds of Ophidian symbols for several thousands of years before the “ Christian” era, so‐ called. One can see it on the “Belzoni tomb” from Egypt, ''as a winged serpent with three heads ''(Atma‐Buddhi‐Manas), and ''four ''human legs, typifying its androgynous character; on the walls of the descent to the sepulchral chambers of Rameses V., it is found as a snake with vulture’s wings—the vulture and hawk being solar symbols. “The heavens are scribbled over with interminable snakes ‘ writes Herschel of the Egyptian chart of stars. “The ''Meissi ''(Messiah?) meaning the ''Sacred Word, ''was a good serpent”, writes Bonwick in his ''Egyptian Belief. ''“This serpent of goodness, with its head crowned, was mounted upon a cross and formed a sacred standard of Egypt.” The Jews ''borrowed ''it in their “brazen serpent of Moses”. It is to this “Healer” and “Saviour”, therefore, that the Ophites referred, and not to Jesus or his words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it behoves the Son of Man to be lifted up”— when explaining the meaning of their ''ophis. ''Tertullian, whether wittingly or unwittingly, mixed up the two. The four‐winged serpent is the god Chnuphis. The good serpent bore the cross of life around its neck, or suspended from its mouth. The winged serpents become the Seraphim (Seraph, ''Saraph) ''of the Jews. In the 87th chapter of the ''Ritual ''(the Book of the Dead) the human soul transformed into ''Bata'', the omniscient serpents says:—“ I am the serpent '''Ba‐ta, '''of long years, Soul of the Soul, laid out and born daily; I am the Soul that descends on the earth”, i.e., the Ego [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

B

Bythos +

A Gnostic term meaning “Depth” or the “great Deep”, Chaos. It is equivalent to space, before anything had formed itself in it from the primordial atoms that exist eternally in its spatial depths, according to the teachings of Occultism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Iurbo Adunai +

A Gnostic term, or the compound name for Iao Jehovah, whom the Ophites regarded as an emanation of their Ilda‐Baoth, the Son of Sophia Achamoth—the proud, ambitious and jealous god, and impure Spirit, whom many of the Gnostic sects regarded as the god of Moses. “Iurbo is called by the Abortions (the Jews) Adunai” says the ''Codex Nazaræus ''(vol. iii., p.13 The “Abortions” and ''Abortives ''was the nickname given to the Jews by their opponents the Gnostics [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Burham‐i‐Kati +

A Hermetic Eastern work [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Busardier +

A Hermetic philosopher born in Bohemia who is credited with having made a genuine powder of projection. He left the bulk of his ''red ''powder to a friend named Richthausen, an adept and alchemist of Vienna. Some years after Busardier’s death, in 1637, Richthausen introduced himself to the Emperor Ferdinand III, who is known to have been ardently devoted to alchemy, and together they are said to have converted three pounds of mercury into the finest gold with one single grain of Busardier’s powder. In 1658 the Elector of Mayence also was permitted to test the powder, and the gold produced with it was declared by the Master of the Mint to be such, that he had never seen finer. Such are the claims vouchsafed by the city records and chronicles [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Macroprosopus +

A Kabalistic term, made of a compound Greek word: meaning the Vast or Great Countenance (See “Kabalistic Faces”); a title of Kether, the Crown, the highest Sephira. It is the name of the Universe, called ''Arikh‐Anpin'', the totality of that of which Microprosopus or ''Zauir‐Anpin ''“the lesser countenance”, is the part and antithesis. In its high or abstract metaphysical sense, Microprosopus is Adam Kadmon, the ''vehicle of Ain‐Suph'', and the crown of the Sephirothal Tree, though since Sephira and Adam Kadmon are in fact one under two aspects, it comes to the same thing. Interpretations are many, and they differ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Falk +

A Kabbalistic Jew, reputed to have worked “miracles”. Kenneth Mackenzie quotes in regard to him from the German annalist Archenoiz’ work on England (1788) :—“ There exists in London an extraordinary man who for thirty years has been celebrated in Kabbalistic records. He is named Caїn Chenul Falk. A certain Count de Rautzow, lately dead in the service of France, with the rank of Field‐Marshal, certifies that he has seen this Falk in Brunswick, and that evocations of spirits took place in the presence of credible witnesses.” These “spirits” were Elementals, whom Falk brought into view by the conjurations used by every Kabbalist. His son, Johann Friedrich Falk, likewise a Jew, was also a Kabbalist of repute, and was once the head of a Kabbalistic college in London. His occupation was that of a jeweller and appraiser of diamonds, and he was a wealthy man. To this day the mystic writings and rare Kabbalistic works bequeathed by him to a trustee may be perused in a certain half‐public library in London, by every genuine student of Occultism. Falk’s own writings are all still in MS., and some in cypher [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Demon est Deus inversus +

A Kabbalistic axiom; lit., “the devil is god reversed”; which means that there is neither evil nor good, but that the forces which create the one create the other, according to the nature of the materials they find to work upon [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Geburah +

A Kabbalistic term ; the fifth Sephira, a female and passive potency, meaning severity and power; from it is named the Pillar of Severity. [ w. w w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Black Fire +

A Kabbalistic term for Absolute Light and Wisdom; “black” because it is incomprehensible to our finite intellects [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Beth Elohim +

A Kabbalistic treatise treating of the angels, souls of men, and demons. The name means “House of the Godsʺ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hiranyakasipu +

A King of the Daityas, whom Vishnu—in his ''avatar ''of the “man.lion”—puts to death [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kanishka +

A King of the Tochari, who flourished when the third Buddhist Synod met in Kashmir, i.e., about the middle of the last century B.C., a great patron of Buddhism, he built the finest ''stûpas ''or dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nath +

A Lord: used of gods and men; a title added to the first name of men and things as ''Badrinath ''(lord of mountains), a famous place of pilgrimage; ''Gopinath ''(lord of the shepherdesses), used of Krishna [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Marabut +

A Mahometan pilgrim who has been to Mekka, a saint. After his death his body is placed in an open sepulchre built above ground, like other buildings, but in the middle of the streets and public places of populated cities. Placed inside the small and only room of the tomb (and several such public sarcophagi of brick and mortar may be seen to this day in the streets and squares of Cairo), the devotion of the way farers keeps a lamp ever burning at his head. The tombs of some of these marabuts are very famous for the miracles they are alleged to perform [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cabletow +

A Masonic term for a certain object used in the Lodges. Its origin lies in the thread of the Brahman ascetics, a thread which is also used for magical purposes in Tibet [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Masben +

A Masonic term meaning “the Sun in putrefaction”. Has a direct reference—perhaps forgotten by the Masons—to their “Word at Low Breath” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fakir +

A Mussulman ascetic in India, a Mahometan “Yogi”. The name is often applied, though erroneously. to Hindu ascetics; for strictly speaking only [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dervish +

A Mussulman—Turkish or Persian—ascetic. A nomadic and wandering monk. Dervishes, however, sometimes live in communities. They are often called the “whirling charmers”. Apart from his austerities of life, prayer and contemplation, the Turkish, Egyptian, or Arabic devotee presents but little similarity with the Hindu fakir, who is also a Mussulman. The latter may become a saint and holy mendicant the former will never reach beyond his second class of occult manifestations. The dervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never voluntarily submit to the abominable and almost incredible self‐punishment which the fakir invents for himself with an ever‐increasing avidity, until nature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. The most dreadful operations, such as flaying the limbs alive; cutting off the toes, feet, and legs ; tearing out the eyes and causing one’s self to be buried alive up to the chin in the earth, and passing whole months in this posture, seem child’s play to them. The Dervish must not be confused with the Hindu ''sanyâsi or yogi. ''(See “Fakir”) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Athenagoras +

A Platonic philosopher of Athens, who wrote a Greek Apology for the Christians in A.D. 177, addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, to prove that the accusations brought against them, namely that they were incestuous and ate murdered children, were untrue [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nous +

A Platonic term for the Higher Mind or Soul. It means Spirit as distinct from animal Soul—''psyche''; divine consciousness or mind in man: ''Nous ''was the designation given to the Supreme deity (third ''logos'') by Anaxagoras. Taken from Egypt where it was called ''Nout'', it was adopted by the Gnostics for their first conscious Æon which, with the Occultists, is the third ''logos'', cosmically, and the third “principle” (from above) or ''manas, ''in man. (See “Nout”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Okhema +

A Platonic term meaning “vehicle” or body [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Al‐Chazari +

A Prince‐Philosopher and Occultist. (See Book ''Al‐Chazari.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ansumat +

A Purânic personage, the “nephew of 60,000 uncles” King Sagara’s sons, who were reduced to ashes by a single glance from Kapila Rishi’s “Eye” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bona‐Oma +

A Roman goddess, the patroness of female Initiates and Occultists. Called also Fauna after her father Faunus. She was worshipped as a prophetic and chaste divinity, and her cult was confined solely to women, men not being allowed to even pronounce her name. She revealed her oracles only to women, and the ceremonies of her Sanctuary (a grotto in the Aventine) were conducted by the Vestals, every 1st of May. Her aversion to men was so great that no male person was permitted to approach the house of the consuls where her festival was sometimes held, and even the portraits and the busts of men were carried out for the time from the building. Clodius, who once profaned such a sacred festival by entering the house of Caesar where it was held, in a female disguise, brought grief upon himself. Flowers and foliage decorated her temple and women made libations from a vessel (mellarium) full of milk. It is not true that the mellarium contained wine, as asserted by some writers, who being men thus tried to revenge themselves [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Labro +

A Roman saint, solemnly beatified a few years ago. His great holiness consisted in sitting at one of the gates of Rome night and day for forty years, and remaining unwashed through the whole of that time. He was eaten by vermin to his bones [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Narjol +

A Saint; a glorified Adept [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Devapi +

A Sanskrit Sage of the race of Kuru, who, together with another Sage (Moru), is supposed to live throughout the four ages and until the coming of ''Maitreya Buddha, ''or ''Kalki ''(the last Avatar of Vishnu) ; who, like all the Saviours of the World in their last appearance, like Sosiosh of the Zoroastrians and the ''Rider ''of St. Johns ''Revelation, ''will appear seated on a ''White Horse''. The two, Devapi and Moru, are supposed to live in a Himalayan retreat called ''Kalapa ''or ''Katapa''. This is a Purânic allegory [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kiratarjuniya +

A Sanskrit epic, celebrating the strife and prowess of Arjuna with the god Siva disguised as a forester [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Ganinnanse +

A Singhalese priest who has not yet been ordained—from ''gana'', an assemblage or brotherhood. The higher ordained priests “are called ''terunnânse ''from the Pali ''théro'', an elder”(Hardy) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Martinists +

A Society in France, founded by a great mystic called the Marquis de St. Martin, a disciple of Martinez Pasqualis. It was first established at Lyons as a kind of occult Masonic Society, its members believing in the possibility of communicating with Planetary Spirits and minor Gods and genii of the ultramundane Spheres. Louis Claude de St. Martin, born in 1743, had commenced life as a brilliant officer in the army, but left it to devote himself to study and the ''belles lettres'', ending his career by becoming an ardent Theosophist and a disciple of Jacob Boehmen. He tried to bring back Masonry to its primeval character of Occultism and Theurgy, but failed. He first made his “Rectified Rite” to consist of ten degrees, but these were brought down owing to the study of the original Masonic orders—to seven. Masons complain that he introduced certain ideas and adopted rites “at variance with the archæological history of Masonry”; but so did Cagliostro and St Germain before him, as all those who knew well the origin of Free masonry [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jadoogar +

A Sorcerer, or Wizard [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bardesanes +

A Syrian Gnostic, erroneously regarded as a Christian theologian, born at Edessa (''Edessene Chronicle'') in 155 of our era (Assemani ''Bibl.. Orient. ''i. 389). He was a great astrologer following the Eastern Occult System. According to Porphyry (who calls him the Babylonian, probably on account of his ''Chaldeeism ''or astrology), “Bardesanes . . . . held intercourse with the Indians that had been sent to the Cæsar with Damadamis at their head” (''De Abst. ''iv. 17), and had his information from the Indian gymnosophists. The fact is that most of his teachings, however much they may have been altered by his numerous Gnostic followers, can be traced to Indian philosophy, and still more to the Occult teachings of the Secret System. Thus in his Hymns he speaks of the creative Deity as “Father‐ Mother”, and elsewhere of “Astral Destiny” (Karma) of “Minds of Fire” (the ''Agni‐Devas'') &c. He connected the Soul (the personal Manas) with the Seven Stars, ''deriving its origin ''from the Higher Beings (the divine Ego); and therefore “admitted spiritual resurrection but denied the resurrection of the body”, as charged with by the Church Fathers. Ephraim shows him preaching the signs of the Zodiac, the importance of the birth‐hours and “proclaiming the seven”. Calling the Sun the “Father of Life” and the Moon the “Mother of Life”, he shows the latter “laying aside her garment of light (principles) for the renewal of the Earth”. Photius cannot understand how, while accepting “the Soul free from the power of genesis (destiny of birth)” and possessing free will, he still placed the body under the rule of birth (genesis). For “they (the Bardesanists) say, that wealth and poverty and sickness and health and death and all things not within our control are works of destiny” (''Bibl. Cod. ''223, p.221— f). This is Karma, most evidently, which does not preclude at all free‐will. Hippolytus makes him a representative of the Eastern School. Speaking of Baptism, Bardesanes is made to say (''loc. cit''. pp. 985‐ff “It is not however the Bath alone which makes us free, but the Knowledge of who we are, what we are become, where we were before, whither we are hastening, whence we are redeemed; what is generation (birth), what is re‐ generation (re.birth)”. This points plainly to the doctrine of re‐incarnation. His conversation (''Dialogue'') with Awida and Barjamina on Destiny and Free Will shows it. “What is called Destiny, is an order of outflow given to the Rulers (Gods) and the Elements, according to which order the Intelligences (Spirit‐Egos) are changed by their descent into the Soul, and the Soul by its descent into the body”. (See Treatise, found in its Syriac original, and published with English translation in 1855 by Dr. Cureton, ''Spicileg. Syriac''. in British Museum.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

Bagavadam +

A Tamil Scripture on Astronomy and other matters [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manomaya Kosha +

A Vedantic term, meaning the ''Sheath ''(''Kosha'') of the ''Manomaya'', an equivalent for fourth and fifth “principles” in man. In esoteric philosophy this “Kosha” corresponds to the dual ''Manas.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Annamaya Kosha +

A Vedantic term. The same as ''Sthûla Sharîra ''or the physical body. It is the first “sheath” of the ''five ''sheaths accepted by the Vedantins, a sheath being the same as that which is called “principle” in Theosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kasyapa +

A Vedic Sage; in the words of ''Atharva Veda'', “The self‐born who sprang from Time”. Besides being the father of the Adityas headed by Indra, Kasyapa is also the progenitor of serpents, reptiles, birds and other walking, flying and creeping beings [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dayus +

A Vedic term. The unrevealed Deity, or that which reveals Itself only as light and the bright day—metaphorically [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adwaita +

A Vedânta sect. The non‐dualistic (A‐ dwaita) school of Vedântic philosophy founded by Sankarâchârya, the greatest of the historical Brahmin sages. The two other schools are the Dwaita (dualistic) and the Visishtadwaita; all the three call themselves Vedântic. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hebrew Leader⁩⁩, The +

A Weekly Journal in English published in New York in the 19th Century, "devoted to Jewish & General Lierature, Masonic and other Fraternities, Art, Politics, Commerce, News, all topics of current interest". +

Hiram Abiff +

A biblical personage; a skilful builder and a “Widow’s Son”, whom King Solomon procured from Tyre, for the purpose of super‐intending the works of the Temple, and who became later a masonic character, the hero on whom hangs all the drama, or rather play, of the Masonic Third Initiation. The Kabbala makes a great deal of Hiram Abiff [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bifrost +

A bridge built by the gods to protect Asgard. On it “the third Sword‐god, known as Heimdal or Riger”, stands night and day girded with his sword, for he is the watchman selected to protect Asgard, the abode of gods. Heimdal is the Scandinavian Cherubim with the flaming sword, “which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gandapada +

A celebrated Brahman teacher, the author of the Commentaries on the ''Sankhya Karika, Mandukya Upanishad'', and other works [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asoka +

A celebrated Indian king of the Môrya dynasty which reigned at Magadha. There were two Asokas in reality, according to the chronicles of Northern Buddhism, though the first Asoka—the grand father of the second, named by Prof. Max Muller the “Constantine of India”, was better known by his name of Chandragupta. It is the former who was called, ''Piadasi ''(Pali) “the beautiful”, and ''Devânam‐piya ''“the beloved of the gods”, and also ''Kâlâsoka; ''while the name of his grandson was ''Dharmâsôká''—the Asoka of the good law‐— on account of his devotion to Buddhism. Moreover, according to the same source, the second Asoka had never followed the Brahmanical faith, but was a Buddhist born. It was his grandsire who had been first converted to the new faith, after which he had a number of edicts inscribed on pillars and rocks, a custom followed also by his grandson. But it was the second Asoka who was the most zealous supporter of Buddhism; he, who maintained in his palace from 60 to 70,000 monks and priests, who erected 84,000 ''totes ''and ''stupas ''throughout India, reigned 36 years, and sent missions to Ceylon, and throughout the world. The inscriptions of various edicts published by him display most noble ethical sentiments, especially the edict at Allahahad, on the so‐called “Asoka’s column ”, in the Fort. The sentiments are lofty and poetical, breathing tenderness for animals as well as men, and a lofty view of a king’s mission with regard to his people, that might be followed with great success in the present age of cruel wars and barbarous vivisection [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lalita Vistara +

A celebrated biography of Sakya Muni, the Lord Buddha, by Dharmarakcha, A.D. 308 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Noom +

A celestial sculptor, in the Egyptian legends, who creates a beautiful girl whom he sends like another Pandora to ''Batoo ''(or “man”), whose happiness is thereafter destroyed. The “sculptor” or artist is the same as Jehovah, the architect of the world, and the girl is “Eve” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhao +

A ceremony of divination among the Kolarian tribes of Central India [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Luxor, Brotherhood of +

A certain Brotherhood of mystics. Its name had far better never have been divulged, as it led a great number of well‐meaning people into being deceived, and relieved of their money by a certain bogus Mystic Society speculators, born in Europe, only to be exposed and fly to America. The name is derived from the ancient ''Lookshur ''in Beloochistan, lying between Bela and Kedjee. The order is very ancient and the most secret of all. It is useless to repeat that its members disclaim all connection with the “H.B. of L.”, and the ''tutti quanti ''of commercial mystics, whether from Glasgow or Boston [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Ganadevas +

A certain class of celestial Beings who are said to inhabit ''Maharloka. ''They are the rulers of our Kalpa (Cycle) and therefore termed Kalpâdhikârins, or Lord of the Kalpas. They last only “One Day” of Brahmâ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asakrit Samadhi +

A certain degree of ecstatic contemplation. A stage in ''Samâdhi.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mercavah +

A chariot: the Kabalists say that the Supreme after he had established the Ten Sephiroth used them as a chariot or throne of glory on which to descend upon the souls of men [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Ogir +

A chief of the giants in the ''Edda ''and the ally of the gods. The highest of the Water‐gods, and the same as the Greek Okeanos [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mandala +

A circle; also the ten divisions of the Vedas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Assur +

A city in Assyria ; the ancient seat of a library from which George Smith excavated the earliest known tablets, to which he assigns a date about 1500 B.C., called ''Assur Kileh Shergat.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bubaste +

A city in Egypt which was sacred to the cats, and where was their principal shrine. Many hundreds of thousands of cats were embalmed and buried in the grottoes of Beni‐Hassan‐el Amar. The cat being a symbol of the moon was sacred to Isis, her goddess. It sees in the dark and its eyes have a phosphorescent lustre which frightens the night‐birds of evil omen. The cat was also sacred to Bast, and thence called “the destroyer of the Sun’s (Osiris’) enemies” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agnishwattas +

A class of Pitris, the creators of the first ethereal race of men. Our solar ancestors as contrasted with the ''Barhishads, ''the “lunar” Pitris or ancestors, though otherwise explained in the ''Purânas.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Atri +

A class of Pitris, the “ancestors of man”, or the so‐called Prâjapâti, “progenitors”; one of the seven Rishis who form the constellation of the Great Bear [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Melhas +

A class of fire‐gods or Salamanders [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abhutarajasas +

A class of gods or ''Devas'', during the period of the fifth Manvantara. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kanishthas +

A class of gods which will manifest in the fourteenth or last manvantara of our world— according to the Hindus [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Barhishad +

A class of the “lunar” Pitris or “Ancestors”, Fathers, who are believed in popular superstition to have kept up in their past incarnations the household sacred flame and made fire‐offerings. Esoterically the Pitris who evolved their shadows or ''chhayas ''to make there‐with the first man. (See ''Secret Doctrine, ''Vol. II.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

College of Rabbis +

A college at Babylon; most famous during the early centuries of Christianity. Its glory, however, was greatly darkened by the appearance in Alexandria of Hellenic teachers, such as Philo Judæus, Josephus, Aristobulus and others. The former avenged themselves on their successful rivals by speaking of the Alexandrians as theurgists and unclean prophets. But the Alexandrian believers in thaumaturgy were not regarded as sinners or impostors when orthodox Jews were at the head of such schools of ''“hazim”''. These were colleges for teaching prophecy and occult sciences. Samuel was the chief of such a college at Ramah; Elisha at Jericho. Hillel had a regular academy for prophets and seers; and it is Hillel, a pupil of the Babylonian College, who was the founder of the Sect of the Pharisees and the great orthodox Rabbis [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhashya +

A commentary [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kalluka Bhatta +

A commentator of the Hindu ''Manu Smriti ''Scriptures; a well‐known writer and historian [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aditi‐Gaea +

A compound term, Sanskrit and Latin, meaning dual, nature in theosophical writings—spiritual and physical, as Gæa is the goddess of the earth and of objective nature. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Luxor +

A compound word from ''lux ''(light) and ''aur'' (fire), thus meaning the “Light of (divine) Fire.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhutan +

A country of heretical Buddhists and Lamaists beyond Sikkhim, where rules the Dharma Raja, a nominal vassal of the Dalaї Lama [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Honir +

A creative god who furnished the first man with intellect and understanding after man had been created by him jointly with Odin and Lodur from an ash tree [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Diktamnon +

A curious plant possessing very occult and mystical properties and well‐ known from ancient times. It was sacred to the Moon‐ Goddesses. Luna, Astarte, Diana. The Cretan name of Diana was ''Diktynna'', and as such the goddess wore a wreath made of this magic plant. The ''Dihtamnon ''is an evergreen shrub whose contact, as claimed in Occultism, develops and at the same time cures somnambulism. Mixed with Verbena it will produce clairvoyance and ecstasy. Pharmacy attributes to the ''Dihtamnon ''strongly sedative and quieting properties. It grows in abundance on Mount Dicte, in Crete, and enters into many ''magical ''performances resorted to by the ''Cretans ''even to this day [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Naros +

A cycle, which the Orientalists describe as consisting of 600 years. But what years? There were three kinds of Neros : the greater, the middle and the less. It is the latter cycle only which was of 600 years. (See “Neros”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Harshana +

A deity presiding over offerings to the dead, or ''Srâddha'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anaitia +

A derivation from Anâ ''(q.v.)'', a goddess identical with the Hindu ''Annapurna, ''one of the names of Kâlî—the female aspect of Siva—at her best [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chavigny +

A disciple of the world‐famous Nostradamus, an astrologer and an alchemist of the sixteenth century. He died in the year 1604. His life was a very quiet one and he was almost unknown to his contemporaries; but he left a precious manuscript on the pre‐natal and post‐natal influence of the stars on certain marked individuals, a secret revealed to him by Nostradamus. This treatise was last in the possession of the Emperor Alexander of Russia [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Chela +

A disciple, the pupil of a Guru or Sage, the follower of some adept of a school of philosophy ''(lit.'', child) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lanoo +

A disciple, the same as “chela” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gematria +

A division of the practical Kabbalah. It shows the numerical value of Hebrew words by summing up the values of the letters composing them and further, it shows by this means, analogies between words and phrases. [w.w.w.] One of the methods (arithmetical) for extracting the hidden meaning from letters, words and sentences [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Notaricon +

A division of the practical Kabbalah; treats of the formation of words from the initials or finals of the words in every sentence; or conversely it forms a sentence of words whose initials or finals are those of some word [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hakim +

A doctor, in all the Eastern countries, from Asia Minor to India [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cagliostro +

A famous Adept, whose real name is claimed (by his enemies) to have been Joseph Balsamo. He was a native of Palermo, and studied under some mysterious foreigner of whom little has been ascertained. His accepted history is too well known to need repetition, and his real history has never been told. His fate was that of every human being who proves that he knows more than do his fellow‐ creatures; he was “stoned to death” by persecutions, lies, and infamous accusations, and yet he was the friend and adviser of the highest and mightiest of every land he visited. He was finally tried and sentenced in Rome as a heretic, and was said to have died during his confinement in a State prison. (See “ Mesmer”.) Yet his end was not utterly undeserved, as he had been untrue to his vows in some respects, had fallen from his state of chastity and yielded to ambition and selfishness [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anaxagoras +

A famous Ionian philosopher who lived 500 B.C., studied philosophy under Anaximenes of Miletus, and settled in the days of Pericles at Athens. Socrates, Euripides, Archelaus and other distinguished men and philosophers were among his disciples and pupils. He was a most learned astronomer and was one of the first to explain openly that which was taught by Pythagoras secretly, namely, the movements of the planets, the eclipses of the sun and moon, etc. It was he who taught the theory of Chaos, on the principle that “nothing comes from nothing”; and of atoms, as the underlying essence and substance of all bodies, “of the same nature as the bodies which they formed”. These atoms, he taught, were primarily put in motion by Nous (Universal Intelligence, the Mahat of the Hindus), which Nous is an immaterial, eternal, spiritual entity; by this combination the world was formed, the material gross bodies sinking down, and the ethereal atoms (or fiery ether) rising and spreading in the upper celestial regions. Antedating modern science by over 2000 years, he taught that the stars were of the same material as our earth, and the sun a glowing mass; that the moon was a dark, uninhabitable body, receiving its light from the sun; the comets, wandering stars or bodies ; and over and above the said science, he confessed himself thoroughly convinced that the real existence of things, perceived by our senses, could not be demonstrably proved. He died in exile at Lampsacus at the age of seventy‐two [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Khunrath, Henry +

A famous Kabalist, chemist and physician born in 1502, initiated into Theosophy (Rosicrucian) in 1544. He left some excellent Kabalistic works, the best of which is the “Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom” (1598) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Coeur, Jacques +

A famous Treasurer of France, born in 1408, who obtained the office by black magic. He was reputed as a great alchemist and his wealth became fabulous; but he was soon banished from the country, and retiring to the Island of Cyprus, died there in 1460, leaving behind enormous wealth, endless legends and a bad reputation [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Heabani +

A famous astrologer at the Court of Izdubar, frequently mentioned in the fragments of the Assyrian tablets in reference to a dream of Izdubar, the great Babylonian King, or Nimrod, the “mighty hunter before the Lord ”. After his death, his soul being unable to rest underground, the ghost of Heabani was raised by Merodach, the god, his body restored to life and then transferred alive, like Elijah, to the regions of the Blessed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Ecbatana +

A famous city in Media worthy of a place among the seven wonders of the world. It is thus described by Draper in his ''Conflict between Religion and Science'', chap. i, . . “ The cool summer retreat of the Persian Kings, was defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different colours, in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace was roofed with silver tiles; its beams were plated with gold. At midnight in its halls, the sun was rivalled by many a row of naphta cressets. A paradise, that luxury of the monarchs of the East, was planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire was truly the garden of the world.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Briareus +

A famous giant in the Theogony of Hesiod. The son of Cœlus and Terra, a monster with 50 heads and 100 arms. He is conspicuous in the wars and battles between the gods [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hippocrates +

A famous physician of Cos, one of the Cyclades, who flourished at Athens during the invasion of Artaxerxes, and delivered that town from a dreadful pestilence. He was called “the father of Medicine “. Having studied his art from the votive tablets offered by the cured patients at the temples of Æsculapius, he became an Initiate and the most proficient healer of his day, so much so that he was almost deified. His learning and knowledge were enormous. Galen says of his writings that they are truly the voice of an oracle. He died in his 100th year, 361 B.c. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Atalanta Fugiens +

A famous treatise by the eminent Rosicrucian Michael Maier; it has many beautiful engravings of Alchemic symbolism: here is to be found the original of the picture of a man and woman within a circle, a triangle around it, then a square: the inscription is, “From the first '''''ens '''''proceed two contraries, thence come the three principles, and from them the four elementary states ; if you separate the pure from the impure you will have the stone of the Philosophers”. [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Caesar +

A far‐famed astrologer and “professor of magic,” i.e., an Occultist, during the reign of Henry IV of France. “He was reputed to have been strangled by the devil in 1611,” as Brother Kenneth Mackenzie tells us [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fire +

A figure of speech to denote deity, the “One” life. A theurgic term, used later by the Rosicrucians. The symbol of the ''living fire ''is the sun, ''certain of whose rays develope the fire of life in a diseased body,'' ''impart the knowledge of the future ''to the sluggish mind, and stimulate to active function a certain psychic and generally dormant faculty in man. The meaning is very occult [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kravyad +

A flesh‐eater; a carnivorous man or animal [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arian +

A follower of Arius, a presbyter of the Church in Alexandria in the fourth century. One who holds that Christ is a created and human being, inferior to God the Father, though a grand and noble man, a true adept versed in all the divine mysteries [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adwaitin +

A follower of the said school. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Daksha +

A form of Brahmâ and his son in the Purânas But the ''Rig Veda ''states that “Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha”, which proves him to be a personified correlating Creative Force acting on ''all the planes. ''The Orientalists seem very much perplexed what to make of him; but Roth is nearer the truth than any, when saying that Daksha is the spiritual power, and at the same time the male energy that generates the gods in eternity, which is represented by Aditi. The Purânas as a matter of course, anthropomorphize the idea, and show Daksha instituting “sexual intercourse on this earth”, after trying every other means of procreation. The generative Force, spiritual at the commencement, becomes of course at the most material end of its evolution a procreative Force on the physical plane ; and so far the Purânic allegory is correct, as the Secret Science teaches that our present mode of procreation began towards the end of the third Root‐Race [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anouki +

A form of Isis; the goddess of life, from which name the Hebrew ''Ank'', life. (See “Anuki.”) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Murti +

A form, or a sign, or again a face, e.g., “Trimûrti”, the “three Faces” or Images [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Artufas +

A generic name in South America and the islands for temples of ''nagalism ''or serpent worship [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Empusa +

A ghoul, a vampire, an evil demon taking various forms [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Muspel +

A giant in the ''Edda'', the Fire‐god, and the father of the Flames. It was these evil sons of the good Muspel Who after threatening evil in Glowheim (Muspelheim) finally gathered into a formidable army, and fought the “Last Battle” on the field of Wigred. Muspel is rendered as “World (or Mundane) Fire”. The conception Dark Surtur (black smoke) out of which flash tongues of flame, connects Muspel with the Hindu Agni [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Farbauti +

A giant in the ''Edda''; lit., “the oarsman”; the father of Loki, whose mother was the giantess Laufey (leafy isle); a genealogy which makes W. S. W. Anson remark in ''Asgard and the Gods ''that probably the oarsman or Farbauti “was the giant who saved himself from the flood in a boat, and the latter (Laufey) the island to which he rowed”—which is an additional variation of the Deluge [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Garuda +

A gigantic bird in the ''Ramâyana'', the steed of Vishnu. Esoterically—the symbol of the great Cycle [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Deva +

A god, a “resplendent” deity. Deva‐Deus, from the root ''div ''“to shine”. A Deva is a celestial being— whether good, bad, or indifferent. Devas inhabit “the three worlds”, which are the ''three planes ''above us. There are 33 groups or 330 millions of them [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nirriti +

A goddess of Death and Decay [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hillel +

A great Babylonian Rabbi of the century preceding the Christian era. He was the founder of the sect of the Pharisees, a learned and a sainted man [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chhanmuka +

A great Bodhisattva with the Northern Buddhists, famous for his ardent love of Humanity; regarded in the esoteric schools as a ''Nirmanakâya.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Chuang +

A great Chinese philosopher [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hiouen Thsang +

A great Chinese writer and philosopher who travelled in India in the sixth century, in order to learn more about Buddhism, to which he was devoted [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Artephius +

A great Hermetic philosopher, whose true name was never known and whose works are without dates, though it is known that he wrote his ''Secret Book ''in the XIIth century. Legend has it that he was one thousand years old at that time. There is a book on dreams by him in the possession of an Alchemist, now in Bagdad, in which he gives out the secret of seeing the past, the present, and the future, in sleep, and of remembering the things seen. There are but two copies of this manuscript extant. The book on ''Dreams ''by the Jew Solomon Almulus, published in Hebrew at Amsterdam in 1642, has a few reminiscences from the former work of Artephius [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Iamblichus +

A great Theurgist, mystic, and writer of the third and fourth centuries, a Neo‐Platonist and philosopher, born at Chalcis in Cœle‐Syria. Correct biographies of him have never existed because of the hatred of the Christians; but that which has been gathered of his life in isolated fragments from works by impartial pagan and independent writers shows how excellent and holy was his moral character, and how great his learning. He may be called the founder of theurgic magic among the Neo‐Platonists and the reviver of the practical mysteries outside of temple or fane. His school was at first distinct from that of Plotinus and Porphyry, who were strongly against ceremonial magic and practical theurgy as dangerous, though later he convinced Porphyry of its. advisability on some occasions, and both master and pupil firmly believed in theurgy and magic, of which the former is principally the highest and most efficient mode of communication with one’s Higher Ego, through the medium of one’s astral body. Theurgic is benevolent magic, and it becomes goetic, or dark and evil, only when it is used for necromancy or selfish purposes; but such dark magic has never been practised by any theurgist or philosopher, whose name has descended to us unspotted by any evil deed. So much was Porphyry (who became the teacher of Iamblichus in Neo‐Platonic philosophy) convinced of this, that though he himself never practised theurgy, yet he gave instructions for the acquirement of this sacred science. Thus he says in one of his writings, “Whosoever is acquainted with the nature of ''divinely luminous appearances '''''''fasmata '''''( knows also on what account it is requisite to abstain from all birds (and animal food) and especially for him who hastens to be liberated from terrestrial concerns and to be established with the celestial gods”. (''See Select Works ''by T. Taylor, p. 159.) Moreover, the same Porphyry mentions in his Life of Plotinus a priest of Egypt, who, “at the request of a certain friend of Plotinus, exhibited to him, in the temple of Isis at Rome, the familiar ''daimon ''of that philosopher “. In other words, he produced the theurgic invocation (see “Theurgist”) by which Egyptian Hierophant or Indian Mahâtma, of old, could clothe their own or any other person’s astral ''double ''with the appearance of its Higher EGO, or what Bulwer Lytton terms the “ Luminous Self”, the ''Augoeides, ''and confabulate with It. This it is which Iamblichus and many others, including the mediæval Rosicrucans, meant by ''union with Deity''. Iamblichus wrote many books but only a few of his works are extant, such as his “Egyptian Mysteries” and a treatise “On Dæmons”, in which he speaks very severely against any intercourse with them. He was a biographer of Pythagoras and deeply versed in the system of the latter, and was also learned in the Chaldean Mysteries. He taught that the One, or universal MONAD, was the principle of all unity as well as diversity, or of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity; that the Duad, or two (“ Principles”), was the intellect, or that which we call Buddhi‐Manas; three, was the Soul (the lower Manas), etc. etc. There is much of the theosophical in his teachings, and his works on the various kinds of dæmons (Elementals) are a well of esoteric knowledge for the student. His austerities, purity of life and earnestness were great. Iamblichus is credited with having been once levitated ten cubits high from the ground, as are some of the modern Yogis, and even great mediums [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

C

Charnook Thomas +

A great alchemist of the sixteenth century; a surgeon who lived and practiced near Salisbury, studying the art in some neighbouring cloisters with a priest. It is said that he was initiated into the final secret of transmutation by the famous mystic William Bird, who “had been a prior of Bath and defrayed the expense of repairing the Abbey Church from the gold which he made by the red and white elixirs” (''Royal Mas. Cyc.''). Charnock wrote his ''Breviary of Philosophy ''in the year 1557 and the ''Enigma of Alchemy'', in 1574 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ammonius Saccas +

A great and good philosopher who lived in Alexandria between the second and third centuries of our era, and who was the founder of the Neo‐ Platonic School of Philaletheians or “lovers of truth”. He was of poor birth and born of Christian parents, but endowed with such prominent, almost divine, goodness as to he called ''Theodidaktos, ''the “god‐taught”. He honoured that which was good in Christianity, but broke with it and the churches very early, being unable to find in it any superiority over the older religions [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Karam +

A great festival in honour of the Sun‐Spirit with the Kolarian tribes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Boehme +

A great mystic philosopher, one of the most prominent Theosophists of the mediæval ages. He was born about 1575 at Old Seidenburg, some two miles from Görlitz (Silesia), and died in 1624, at nearly fifty years of age. In his boyhood he was a common shepherd, and, after learning to read and write in a village school, became an apprentice to a poor shoemaker at Görlitz. He was a natural clairvoyant of most wonderful powers. With no education or acquaintance with science he wrote works which are now proved to be full of scientific truths; but then, as he says himself, what he wrote upon, he “saw it as in a great Deep in the Eternal”. He had “a thorough view of the universe, as in a chaos”, which yet “opened itself in him, from time to time, as in a young plant”. He was a thorough born Mystic, and evidently of a constitution which is most rare one of those fine natures whose material envelope impedes in no way the direct, even if only occasional, intercommunion between the intellectual and the spiritual Ego. It is this Ego which Jacob Boehme, like so many other untrained mystics, mistook for God; “Man must acknowledge,” he writes, “that his knowledge is not his own, but from God, who manifests the Ideas of Wisdom to the Soul of Man, in what measure he pleases.” Had this great Theosophist mastered Eastern Occultism he might have expressed it otherwise. He would have known then that the “god” who spoke through his poor uncultured and untrained brain, was his own divine Ego, the omniscient Deity within himself, and that what that Deity gave out was not in “what measure pleased,” but in the measure of the capacities of the mortal and temporary dwelling IT informed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jaimini +

A great sage, a disciple of Vyâsa the transmitter and teacher of the Sama Veda which as claimed he received from his Guru. He is also the famous founder and writer of the Pûrva Mimânsâ philosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kapila Rishi +

A great sage, a great adept of antiquity; the author of the Sankhya philosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lao‐tze +

A great sage, saint and philosopher who preceded Confucius [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dravidians +

A group of tribes inhabiting Southern India; the aborigines [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Essenes +

A hellenized word, from the Hebrew ''Asa, ''a “healer”. A mysterious sect of Jews said by Pliny to have lived near the Dead Sea '''''per millia sæculorum'''''—for thousands of ages. “ Some have supposed them to be extreme Pharisees, and others—which may be the true theory—the descendants of the ''Benim‐nabim ''of the ''Bible, ''and think that they were ‘Kenites and ''Nazarites''. They had many Buddhistic ideas and practices; and it is noteworthy that the priests of the ''Great Mother ''at Ephesus, Diana‐ Bhavani with many breasts, were also so denominated. Eusebius, and after him De Quincey, declared them to be the same as the early Christians, which is more than probable. The title ‘ brother’, used in the early Church, was Essenean ; they were a fraternity, or a koinobion or community like the early converts.” (''Isis Unveiled''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kandu +

A holy sage of the second root‐race, a yogi, whom Pramlôcha, a “nymph” sent by Indra for that purpose, beguiled, and lived with for several centuries. Finally, the Sage returning to his senses, repudiated and chased her away. Whereupon she gave birth to a daughter, Mârishâ. The story is in an allegorical fable from the ''Purânas'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

P

Paean +

A hymn of rejoicing and praise in honour of the sun‐god Apollo or Helios [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hypocephalus +

A kind of a pillow for the head of the mummy. They are of various kinds, ''e.g.'', of stone, wood, etc., and very often of circular disks of linen covered with cement, and inscribed with magic figures and letters. They are called “rest for the dead” in the ''Ritual'', and every mummy‐coffin has one [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agni Dhatu Samadhi +

A kind of contemplation in Yoga practice, when Kundalini is raised to the extreme and the infinitude appears as one sheet of fire. An ecstatic condition. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bihar Gyalpo +

A king deified by the Dugpas. A patron over all their religious buildings [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manava +

A land of ancient India; a Kalpa or Cycle. The name of a weapon used by Râma; meaning of “Manu” as,― [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jainas +

A large religious body in India closely resembling Buddhism, but who preceded it by long centuries. They claim that Gautama, the Buddha, was a disciple of one of their Tirtankaras, or Saints. They deny the authority of the Vedas and the existence of any ''personal ''supreme god, but believe in the eternity of matter, the periodicity of the universe and the immortality of men’s minds (''Manas'') as also of that of the animals. An extremely mystic sect [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Druzes +

A large sect, numbering about 100,000 adherents, living on Mount Lebanon in Syria. Their rites are very mysterious, and no traveller, who has written anything about them, knows for a certainty the whole truth. They are the ''Sufis ''of Syria. They resent being called Druzes as an insult, but call themselves the “disciples of Hamsa”, their Messiah, who came to them in the ninth century from the “Land of the Word of God”, which land and word they kept religiously secret. The Messiah to come will be the same Hamsa, but called ''Hakem''—the “All‐ Healer”. (See ''Isis Unveiled, ''II 308, ''et seq.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

KasiKhanda +

A long poem, which forms a part of the ''Skanda Purâna ''and contains another version of the legend of Daksha’s head. Having lost it in an affray, the gods replaced it with the head of a ram ''Mekha Shivas'', whereas the other versions describe it as the head of a goat, a substitution which changes the allegory considerably [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cheru +

A magic sword, a weapon of the “sword god” Heru. In the ''Edda'', the Saga describes it as destroying its possessor, should he be unworthy of wielding it. It brings victory and fame only in the hand of a virtuous hero [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Ha +

A magic syllable used in sacred formulæ it represents the power of ''Akâsa Sakti''. Its efficacy lies in the expirational accent and the sound produced [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Assassins +

A masonic and mystic order founded by Hassan Sabah in Persia, in the eleventh century. The word is a European perversion of “Hassan”, which forms the chief part of the name. They were simply ''Sufis ''and addicted, according to the tradition, to ''hascheesl‐eating, ''in order to bring about celestial visions. As shown by our late brother, Kenneth Mackenzie, “they were teachers of the secret doctrines of Islamism; they encouraged mathematics and philosophy, and produced many valuable works. The chief of the Order was called Sheik‐ el‐Jebel, translated the ‘''Old Man of the Mountains’'', and, as their Grand Master, he possessed power of life and death.’ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kala +

A measure of time; four hours, a period of thirty Kashthas. Time, fate; a cycle and a proper name, or title given to Yama, King of the nether world and Judge of the Dead [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lemuria +

A modern term first used by some naturalists, and now adopted by Theosophists, to indicate a continent that, according to the ''Secret Doctrine ''of the East, preceded Atlantis. Its Eastern name would not reveal much to European ears [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Lotus +

A most occult plant, sacred in Egypt, India and else where; called “the child of the Universe bearing the likeness of its mother in its bosom”. There was a time “when the world was a golden lotus” (''padma'') says the allegory. A great variety of these plants, from the majestic Indian lotus, down to the marsh‐lotus (bird’s foot trefoil) and the Grecian “Dioscoridis”, is eaten at Crete and other islands. It is a species of nymphala, first introduced from India to Egypt to which it was‐not indigenous. See the text of ''Archaic Symbolism ''in the Appendix Viii. “The Lotus, as a Universal Symbol” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gayatri +

A most sacred verse, addressed to the Sun, in the Rig ‐Veda, which the Brahmans have to repeat mentally every morn and eve during their devotions [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Olympus +

A mount in Greece, the abode of the gods according to Homer and Hesiod [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ossa +

A mount, the tomb of the giants (allegorical) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gandhara +

A musical note of great occult power in the Hindu gamut—the third of the diatonic scale [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Apam Napat +

A mysterious being, corresponding to the Fohat of the Occultists. It is both a Vedic and an Avestian name. Literally, the name means the “Son of the Waters” (of space, i.e., Ether), for in the ''Avesta ''Apâm Napât stands between the ''fire‐yazatas ''and the ''water‐ yazatas ''.(See ''Secret Doctrine, ''Vol. II., p. 400, note) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Ogham +

A mystery language belonging to the early Celtic races, and used by the Druids. One form of this language consisted in the association of the leaves of certain trees with the letters, this was called ''Beth‐luis‐nion Ogham'', and to form words and sentences the leaves were strung on a cord in the proper order. Godfrey Higgins suggests that to complete the mystification certain other leaves which meant nothing were interspersed. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kasina +

A mystic Yoga rite used to free the mind from all agitation and bring the ''Kamic ''element to a dead stand‐still [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhur‐Bhuva +

A mystic incantation, as ''Om, Bhur, Bhuva, Swar'', meaning “Om, earth, sky, heaven, This is the exoteric explanation [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abhamsi +

A mystic name of the “four orders of beings” which are, Gods, Demons, Pitris and Men. Orientalists somehow connect the name with “waters”, but esoteric philosophy connects its symbolism with ''Akâsa''—the ethereal “waters of space”, since it is on the bosom and on the seven planes of “space” that the “four orders of (lower) beings” and the three higher Orders of Spiritual Beings are born. (See ''Secret Doctrine ''I. p. 458, and “Ambhâmsi”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Abiegnus Mons +

A mystic name, from whence as from a certain mountain, Rosicrucian documents are often found to be issued— “Monte Abiegno”. There is a connection with Mount Meru, and other sacred hills. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hangsa +

A mystic syllable standing for evolution, and meaning in its literal sense “I am he”, or ''Ahamsa'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Om +

A mystic syllable, the most solemn of all words in India. It is “an invocation, a benediction, an affirmation and a promise and it is so sacred, as to be indeed ''the word at low breath ''of occult, ''primitive ''masonry. No one must be near when the syllable is pronounced for a purpose. This word is usually placed at the beginning of sacred Scriptures, and is prefixed to prayers. It is a compound of three letters a,u,m, which, in the popular belief, are typical of the three Vedas, also of three gods— '''A '''(Agni) '''V '''(Varuna) and '''M '''(Maruts) or Fire, Water and Air. In esoteric philosophy these are the three sacred fires, or the “triple fire”in the Universe and Man, besides many other things. Occultly, this “triple fire” represents the highest ''Tetraktys ''also, as it is typified by the Agni named Abhimânin and his transformation into his three sons, Pâvana, Pavamâna and Suchi, “who drinks up water”, i.e., destroys material desires. This monosyllable is called Udgîtta, and is sacred with both Brahmins and Buddhists [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kalahansa +

A mystic title given to Brahma (or Parabrahman); means “the swan '''''in '''''and '''''out '''''of time”. Brahmâ (male) is called Hansa‐Vahan, the vehicle of the “Swan” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Japa +

A mystical practice of certain Yogis. It consists in the repetition of various magical formulæ and mantras [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Digambara +

A naked mendicant. Lit., “clothed with Space”. A name of Siva in his character of Rudra, the Yogi [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Afrits +

A name for native spirits regarded as devils by Mussulmen. Elementals much dreaded in Egypt. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Genii +

A name for Æons, or angels, with the Gnostics. The names of their hierarchies and classes are simply legion [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hypnotism +

A name given by Dr. Braid to various processes by which one person of strong will‐power plunges another of weaker mind into a kind of trance; once in such a state the latter will do anything ''suggested ''to him by the hypnotiser. Unless produced for beneficial purposes, Occultists would call it ''black magic ''or Sorcery. It is the most dangerous of practices, morally and physically, as it interferes with the nerve fluid and the nerves controlling the circulation in the capillary blood‐ vessels [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Flagae +

A name given by Paracelsus to a particular kind of guardian angels or genii [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Khamism +

A name given by the Egyptologists to the ancient language of Egypt. '''''Khami''''', also [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brothers of the Shadow +

A name given by the Occultists to Sorcerers, and especially to the Tibetan ''Dugpas, ''of whom there are many in the Bhon sect of the ''Red Caps (Dugpa''). The word is applied to all practitioners of black or ''left hand ''magic [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hagadah +

A name given to parts of the Talmud which are legendary. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Halachah +

A name given to parts of the Talmud, which are arguments on points of doctrine; the word means “rule” [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Briseus +

A name given to the god Bacchus from his nurse, Briso. He had also a temple at Brisa, a promontory of the isle of Lesbos [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jahnavi +

A name of ''Ganga, ''or the river Ganges [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Jigten Gonpo +

A name of Avalokitêswara, or ''Chenres‐Padma‐pani, ''the “Protector against Evil” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Makara Ketu +

A name of Kâma, the Hindu god of love and desire [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhuvana +

A name of Rudra or Siva, one of the Indian ''Trimurti ''(Trinity) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nilakantha +

A name of Siva meaning “ blue throated”. This is said to have been the result of some poison administered to the god [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Izdubar +

A name of a hero in the fragments of Chaldean History and Theogony on the so‐called Assyrian tiles, as read by the late George Smith and others. Smith seeks to identify Izdubar with Nimrod. Such may or may not be the case; but as the name of that Babylonian King itself only “appears” as Izduhar, his identification with the son of Cush may also turn out more apparent than real. Scholars are but too apt to check their archæological discoveries by the far later statements found in the Mosaic books, instead of acting ''vice versa''. “The chosen people” have been fond at all periods of history of helping themselves to other people’s property. From the appropriation of the early history of Sargon, King of Akkad, and its wholesale application to Moses born (if at all) some thousands of years later, down to their “spoiling” the Egyptians under the direction and divine advice of their Lord God, the whole Pentateuch seems to be made up of unacknowledged ''mosaical ''fragments from other people’s Scriptures. This ought to have made Assyriologists more cautious; but as many of these belong to the clerical caste, such coincidences as that of Sargon affect them very little. One thing is certain Izdubar, or whatever may be his name, is shown in all the tablets as a mighty giant who towered in size above all other men as a cedar towers over brushwood—a hunter, according to cuneiform legends, who contended with, and destroyed the lion, tiger, wild bull, and buffalo, the most formidable animals [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mulil +

A name of the Chaldean Bel [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

El‐Elion +

A name of the Deity ''borrowed ''by the Jews from the ''Phœnician Elon'', a name of the Sun [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aditya +

A name of the Sun; as Mârttânda he is the Son of Aditi. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ambhamsi +

A name of the chief of the Kumâras Sanat‐Sujâta, signifying the “waters”. This epithet will become more comprehensible when we remember that the later type of Sanat‐Sujâta was Michael, the Archangel, who is called in the Talmud “the Prince of ''Waters''”, and in the Roman Catholic Church is regarded as the patron of gulfs and promontories. Sanat‐Sujâta is the immaculate son of the immaculate mother (Ambâ or Aditi, chaos and space) or the “waters” of limitless space. (See ''Secret Doctrine''‐, Vol. I., p. 460.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nannak +

A name of the moon; said to be the son of ''Mulil'', the older Bel and the Sun, in the later mythology. In the earliest, the Moon is far older than the Sun [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Indwellers +

A name or the substitute for the right Sanskrit esoteric name, given to our “inner enemies”, which are seven in the esoteric philosophy. The early Christian Church called them the “seven capital Sins ‘: the Nazarene Gnostics named them, the “seven badly disposed Stellars”, and so on. Hindu exoteric teachings speak only of the “''six ''enemies” and under the term ''Arishadwarga ''enumerate them as follows: (1) Personal desire, lust or any passion (''Kâma''); (2) Hatred or malice (''Krodha''); ( Avarice or cupidity (''Lobha''); ( Ignorance (''Moha''); ( Pride or arrogance (''Mada''); (6) Jealousy, envy (''Matcharya''); forgetting the seventh, which is the “unpardonable sin”, and the worst of all in Occultism. (See ''[[Theosophist]]'', May, 1890, p. 431.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

En +

A negative particle, like a in Greek and Sanskrit. The first syllable of “En‐Soph” ''(q.v.)'', or nothing that begins or ends, the “Endless” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Christian Scientist +

A newly‐coined term for denoting the practitioners of an art of healing by will. The name is a misnomer, since Buddhist or Jew, Hindu or Materialist, can practise this new form of Western Yoga, with like success, if he can only guide and control his will with sufficient firmness. The “Mental Scientists” are another rival school. These work by a universal denial of every disease and evil imaginable, and claim syllogistically that since Universal Spirit cannot be subject to the failings of flesh, and since every atom is Spirit and in Spirit, and since finally, they—the healers and the healed—are all absorbed in this Spirit or Deity, there is not, nor can there he, such a thing as disease. This prevents in no wise both Christian and Mental Scientists from succumbing to disease, and nursing chronic diseases in their own bodies just like ordinary mortals [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Innocents +

A nick‐name given to the Initiates and Kabbalists before the Christian era. The “Innocents” of Bethlehem and of Lud (or Lydda) who were put to death by Alexander Janneus, to the number of several thousands (B.C. 100, or so), gave rise to the legend of the 40,000 innocent babes murdered by Herod while searching for the infant Jesus. The first is a little known historical fact, the second a fable, as sufficiently shown by Renan in his ''Vie de Jésus'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Neophyte +

A novice; a postulant or candidate for the Mysteries. The methods of initiation varied. Neophytes had to pass in their trials through all the four elements, emerging in the fifth as glorified Initiates. Thus having passed through Fire (Deity), Water (Divine Spirit), Air (the Breath of God), and the Earth (Matter), they received a sacred mark, a ''tat ''and a ''tau'', or a + and a . The latter was the monogram of the Cycle called the Naros, or Neros. As shown by Dr. E. V. Kenealy, in his Apocalypse, the cross in symbolical language (one of the seven meanings)“+ exhibits at the same time three primitive letters, of which the word LVX or Light is compounded. . . . The Initiates were marked with this sign, when they were admitted into the perfect mysteries. We constantly see the Tau and the Resh united thus . Those two letters in the old Samaritan, as found on coins, stand, the first for 400, the second for 200 = 600. This is the staff of Osiris.” Just so, but this does not prove that the Naros was a cycle of 600 years; but simply that one more pagan symbol had been appropriated by the Church. (See “Naros” and “Neros” and also “I. H. S.”) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brahma’s Day +

A period of 2,160,000,000 years during which Brahmâ having emerged out of his golden egg ''(Hiranyagarbha''), creates and fashions the material world (being simply the fertilizing and creative force in Nature). After this period, the worlds being destroyed in turn, by fire and water, he vanishes with objective nature, and then comes Brahmâʹs Night [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Brahma’s Night +

A period of equal duration, during which Brahmâ. is said to be asleep. Upon awakening he recommences the process, and this goes on for an AGE of Brahmâ composed of alternate “Days”, and “Nights”, and lasting 100 years (of 2,160,000,000 years each). It requires fifteen figures to express the duration of such an age; after the expiration of which the ''Mahapralaya ''or the Great Dissolution sets in, and lasts in its turn for the same space of fifteen figures [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manvantara +

A period of manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya (dissolution, or rest), applied to various cycles, especially to a Day of Brahmâ, 4,320,000,000 Solar years— and to the reign of one Manu— 308,448,000. (See Vol. II. of the ''Secret Doctrine'', p. 68 ''et. seq''.) Lit., ''Manuantara''— between Manus [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ayana +

A period of time; two Ayanas complete a year, one being the period of the Sun’s progress northward, and the other south ward in the ecliptic [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Atarpi +

A personage who was “pious to the gods”; and who prayed the god Hea to remove the evil of drought and other things before the Deluge is sent. The story is found on one of the most ancient Babylonian tablets, and relates to the sin of the world. In the words of G. Smith “the god Elu or Bel calls together an assembly of the gods, his sons, and relates to them that he is angry at the sin of the world”; and in the fragmentary phrases of the tablet: “ . . . . I made them . . . . Their wickedness I am angry at, their punishment shall not be small . . . . let food be exhausted, above let Vul drink up his rain”, etc., etc. In answer to Atarpi’s prayer the god Hea announces his resolve to destroy the people he created, which he does finally by a deluge [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bes +

A phallic god, the god of concupiscence and pleasure. He is represented standing on a lotus ready to devour his own progeny (Abydos). A rather modern deity of foreign origin [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asat +

A philosophical term meaning “non‐being”, or rather ''non‐be‐ness. ''The “incomprehensible nothingness”. ''Sat'', the immutable, eternal, ever‐present, and the one real “Be‐ness” (not Being) is spoken of as being “ Born of Asat, and Asat begotten by Sat”. The unreal, or Prakriti, objective nature regarded as an illusion. Nature, or the illusive shadow of its one true essence [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Denis, Angoras +

A physician of Paris, astrologer and alchemist in the XIVth century” (R.M.C.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Azareksh +

A place celebrated for a fire‐temple of the Zoroastrians and Magi during the time of Alexander the Great [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Baresma +

A plant used by Mobeds (''Parsi priests'') in the fire‐ temples, wherein consecrated bundles of it are kept [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mandragora +

A plant whose root has the human form. In Occultism it is used by ''black ''magicians for various illicit objects, and some of the “left‐hand” Occultists make ''homunculi ''with it. It is commonly called ''mandrake'', and is supposed to cry out when pulled out of the ground [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chiim +

A plural noun—“lives”; found in compound names Elohim Chum, the gods of lives, Parkhurst translates “the living God” and Ruach Chiim, Spirit of lives or of life. [ w.w. w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Harivansa +

A portion of the ''Mahâbhârata'', a poem on the genealogy of Vishnu, or Hari [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

P

Padma Asana +

A posture prescribed to and practised by some Yogis for developing concentration [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Berosus +

A priest of the Temple of Belus who wrote for Alexander the Great the history of the Cosmogony, as taught in the Temples, from the astronomical and chronological records preserved in that temple. The fragments we have in the ''soi‐disant ''translations of Eusebius are certainly as untrustworthy as the biographer of the Emperor Constantine—of whom he made a saint (!!)—could make them. The only guide to this Cosmogony may now be found in the fragments of the Assyrian tablets, evidently copied almost bodily from the earlier Babylonian records; which, say what the Orientalists may, are undeniably the originals of the Mosaic Genesis, of the Flood, the tower of Babel, of baby Moses set afloat on the waters, and of other events. For, if the fragments from the Cosmogony of Berosus, so carefully re‐edited and probably mutilated and added to by Eusebius, are no great proof of the antiquity of these records in Babylonia—seeing that this priest of Belus lived three hundred years after the Jews were carried captive to Babylon, and they may have been borrowed by the Assyrians from them—later discoveries have made such a consoling hypothesis impossible. It is now fully ascertained by Oriental scholars that not only “Assyria borrowed its civilization and written characters from Babylonia,” but the Assyrians copied their literature from Babylonian sources. Moreover, in his first Hibbert lecture, Professor Sayce shows the culture both of Babylonia itself and of the city of Eridu to have been of ''foreign importation''; and, according to this scholar, the city of Eridu stood already “6,000 years ago on the shores of the Persian gulf,” i.e., about the very time when Genesis shows the Elohim creating the world, sun, and stars out of nothing [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

H

Hotri +

A priest who recites the hymns from the ''Rig Veda'', and makes oblations to the fire [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asita +

A proper name; a son of Bharata; a Rishi and a Sage [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Ecstasis +

A psycho‐spiritual state; a physical trance which induces clairvoyance and a beatific state bringing on visions [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lebanon +

A range of mountains in Syria, with a few remnants of the gigantic cedar trees, a forest of which once crowned its summit. Tradition says that it is here, that the timber for King Solomon’s temple was obtained. (See “Druzes”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ilavriti +

A region in the centre of which is placed Mount Meru, the habitat of the gods [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Loka +

A region or circumscribed place. In metaphysics, a world or sphere or plane. The Purânas in India speak incessantly of seven and fourteen Lokas, above, and below our earth; of heavens and hells [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahar Loka +

A region wherein dwell the ''Munis ''or “Saints” during Pralaya; according to the Purânic accounts. It is the usual abode of Bhrigâ, a Prajâpati (Progenitor) and a Rishi, one of the seven who are said to be co‐existent with Brahmâ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gangi +

A renowned Sorcerer in the time of Kâsyapa Buddha (a predecessor of Gautama). Gangi was regarded as an incarnation of Apalâla, the Nâga (Serpent), the guardian Spirit of the Sources of Subhavastu, a river in Udyâna. Apalâla is said to have been converted by Gautama Buddha, to the good Law, and become an Arhat. The allegory of the name is comprehensible : all the Adepts and Initiates were called ''nâgas, ''“ Serpents of Wisdom” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hwergelmir +

A roaring cauldron wherein the souls of the evil doers perish [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Laena +

A robe worn by the Roman Augurs with which they covered their heads while sitting in contemplation on the flight of birds [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Druids +

A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul. They were Initiates who admitted females into their sacred order, and initiated them into the mysteries of their religion. They never entrusted their sacred verses and scriptures to writing, but, like the Brahmans of old, committed them to memory; a feat which, according to the statement of Cæsar took twenty years to accomplish. Like the Parsis they had no images or statues of their gods. The Celtic religion considered it blasphemy to represent any god, even of a minor character, under a human figure. It would have been well if the Greek and Roman Christians had learnt this lesson from the “pagan” Druids. The three chief commandments of their religion were:—“Obedience to divine laws; concern for the welfare of mankind; suffering with fortitude all the evils of life” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asrama +

A sacred building, a monastery or hermitage for ascetic purposes. Every sect in India has its ''Ashrams'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kusa +

A sacred grass used by the ascetics of India, called the grass of lucky augury. It is very occult [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Amdo +

A sacred locality, the birthplace of Tson‐kha‐ pa, the great Tibetan reformer and the founder of the Gelukpa (yellow caps), who is regarded as an Avatar of Amita‐buddha. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lamrin +

A sacred volume of precepts and rules, written by Tson‐kha‐pa, “for the advancement of knowledge” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bumapa +

A school of men, usually a college of mystic students [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mimansa +

A school of philosophy; one of the six in India. There are two Mîmânsâ the older and the younger. The first, the “Pârva‐Mîmânsâ”, was founded by Jamini, and the later or “Uttara Mîmânsâ”, by a Vyasa—and is now called the Vedânta school. Sankarâchârya was the most prominent apostle of the latter. The Vedânta school is the oldest of all the six ''Darshana ''(lit., “demonstrations”), but even to the Pûrva‐Mîmânsâ no higher antiquity is allowed than 500 B.C. Orientalists in favour of the absurd idea that all these schools are “due to Greek influence”, in order to have them fit their theory would make them of still later date. The ''Shad‐darshana ''(or Six Demonstrations) have all a starting point in common, and maintain that ''ex nihilo nihil fit'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Mahayâna +

A school; lit., “the great vehicle”. A mystical system founded by Nâgârjuna. Its books were written in the second century B.C [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Linga Purana +

A scripture of the Saivas or worshippers of Siva. Therein ''Maheswara'', “the great Lord”, concealed in the Agni Linga explains the ethics of life—duty, virtue, self‐sacrifice and finally liberation by and through ascetic life at the end of the ''Agni Kalpa ''(the Seventh Round). As Professor Wilson justly observed “the Spirit of the worship (phallic) is as little influenced by the character of the type as can well be imagined. ''There is nothing like the phallic orgies of antiquity; it is all mystical and spiritual.''” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kchana +

A second incalculably short: the 90th part or fraction of a thought, the 4,500th part of a minute, during which from 90 to 100 births and as many deaths occur on this earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Crypt +

A secret subterranean vault, some for the purpose of initiation, others for burial purposes. There were crypts under every temple in antiquity. There was one on the Mount of Olives, lined with red stucco, and built before the advent of the Jews [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

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). +

D

Dalada +

A very precious relic of Gautama the Buddha; viz., his supposed left canine tooth preserved at the great temple at Kandy, Ceylon. Unfortunately, the relic shown is not genuine. The latter has been securely secreted for several hundred years, ever since the shameful and bigoted attempt by the Portuguese (the then ruling power in Ceylon) to steal and make away with the real relic. That which is shown in the place of the real thing is the monstrous tooth of some animal [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Eye of Horus +

A very sacred symbol in ancient Egypt. It was called the ''outa ''the right eye represented the sun, the left, the moon. Says Macrobius : “ The ''outo ''(or ''uta'') is it not the emblem of the sun, king of the world, who from his elevated throne sees all the Universe below him”? [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kumara +

A virgin boy, or young celibate. The first Kumâras are the seven sons of Brahmâ born out of the limbs of the god, in the so‐called ninth creation. It is stated that the name was given to them owing to their formal refusal to “procreate their species”, and so they “remained Yogis”, as the legend says [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Kanya +

A virgin or maiden. ''Kanya Kumârî ''“the virgin‐ maiden” is a title of Durga‐Kali, worshipped by the Thugs and Tantrikas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Kol +

A voice, in Hebrew letters QUL. The Voice of the divine. (See “Bath Kol” and “Vâch”.) [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fylfot +

A weapon of Thor, like the Swastika, or the Jaina, the four‐footed cross ; generally called “Thor’s Hammer” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

S

Spiritual Scientist +

A weekly journal devoted to the science, history, philosophy and teachings of spiritualism, edited by E. Gerry Brown. H.P. Blavatsky and H.S. Olcott for a time took the journal under their protection (lending E.G. Brown money, contributing as authors and looking for other authors) and used it to announce the revolution effected in spiritualism by occultism. The journal was the first devoted to occultism. (IAPSOP). +

C

Chakra +

A wheel, a disk, or the circle of Vishnu generally. Used also of a cycle of time, and with other meanings [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mimir +

A wise giant in the ''Eddas''. One of the Jotuns or Titans. He had a well which he watched over (Mimir’s well), which contained the waters of Primeval Wisdom, by drinking of which Odin acquired the knowledge of all past, present, and future events [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Apollonius of Tyana +

A wonderful philosopher born in Cappadocia about the beginning of the first century; an ardent Pythagorean, who studied the Phœnician sciences under Euthydemus; and Pythagorean philosophy and other studies under Euxenus of Heraclea. According to the tenets of this school he remained a vegetarian the whole of his long life, fed only on fruit and herbs, drank no wine, wore vestments made only of plant‐fibres, walked barefooted, and let his hair grow to its full length, as all the Initiates before and after him. He was initiated by the priests of the temple of Æsculapius (Asciepios) at Ægae, and learnt many of the “miracles” for healing the sick wrought by the god of medicine. Having prepared himself for a higher initiation by a silence of five years, and by travel, visiting Antioch, Ephesus, Pamphylia and other parts, he journeyed via Babylon to India, all his intimate disciples having abandoned him, as they feared to go to the “land of enchantments”. A casual disciple, Damis, however, whom he met on his way, accompanied him in his travels. At Babylon he was initiated by the Chaldees and Magi, according to Damis, whose narrative was copied by one named Philostratus a hundred years later. After his return from India, he showed himself a true Initiate, in that the pestilences and earthquakes, deaths of kings and other events, which he prophesied duly happened. At Lesbos, the priests of Orpheus, being jealous of him, refused to initiate him into their peculiar mysteries, though they did so several years later. He preached to the people of Athens and other cities the purest and noblest ethics, and the phenomena he produced were as wonderful as they were numerous and well attested. “How is it”, enquires Justin Martyr in dismay—” how is it that the talismans (''telesmata'') of Apollonius have power, for they prevent, as we see, the fury of the waves and the violence of the winds, and the attacks of the wild beasts; and ''whilst our Lord’s miracles are preserved by tradition alone, ''those of Apollonius ''are most numerous and actually manifested in present facts?''”. (Quaest, XXIV.). But an answer is easily found to this in the fact that after crossing the Hindu Kush, Apollonius had been directed by a king to the ''abode of the Sages'', whose abode it may be to this day, by whom he was taught unsurpassed knowledge. His dialogues with the Corinthian Menippus indeed give us the esoteric catechism and disclose (when understood) many an important mystery of nature. Apollonius was the friend, correspondent and guest of kings and queens, and no marvellous or “magic” powers are better attested than his. At the end of his long and wonderful life he opened an esoteric school at Ephesus, and died aged almost one hundred years [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

B

Benoo +

A word applied to two symbols, both taken The only English work on the Isiac Tablet is by Dr. W. Wynn Westcott, who gives a photogravure in addition to its history, description, and occult significance [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agnostic +

A word claimed by Mr. Huxley to have been coined by him to indicate one who believes nothing which can not be demonstrated by the senses. The later schools of Agnosticism give more philosophical definitions of the term. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mensambulism +

A word coined by some French Kabalists to denote the phenomenon of “table turning” from the Latin ''mensa, ''a table [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asherah +

A word, which occurs in the Old Testament, and is commonly translated “groves” referring to idolatrous worship, but it is probable that it really referred to ceremonies of sexual depravity; it is a feminine noun. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fons Yitae +

A work of Ibn Gehirol, the Arabian Jewish philosopher of the Xlth century, who called it ''Me‐ gôr Hayyûn ''or the “Fountain of Life” (''De Materia Universali and Fons Vitæ''). The Western Kabbalists have proclaimed it a really Kabbalistic work. Several MSS.,Latin and Hebrew, of this wonderful production have been discovered by scholars in public libraries; among others one by Munk, in 1802. The Latin name of Ibn Gebirol was Avicebron, a name well‐known to all Oriental scholars [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jhana Bhaskara +

A work on Asuramâya, the Atlantean astronomer and magician, and other prehistoric legends [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Ekasloka Shastra +

A work on the ''Shastras ''(Scriptures) by Nagarjuna; a mystic work translated into Chinese [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chaldean Book of Numbers +

A work which contains all that is found in the ''Zohar ''of Simeon Ben‐Jochai, and much more. It must be the older by many centuries, and in one sense its original, as it contains all the fundamental principles taught in the Jewish Kabbalistic works, but none of their blinds. It is very rare indeed, there being perhaps only two or three copies extant, and these in private hands [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Charaka +

A writer on Medicine who lived in Vedic times. He is believed to have been an incarnation (''Avatara) ''of the Serpent ''Sesha'', i.e., an embodiment of divine Wisdom, since Sesha‐Naga, the King of the “Serpent” race, is synonymous with Ananta, the seven‐ headed Serpent, on which Vishnu sleeps during the ''pralayas. Ananta ''is the “endless” and the symbol of eternity, and as such, one with Space, while Sesha is only periodical in his manifestations. Hence while Vishnu is identified with ''Ananta, ''Charaka is only the Avatar of Sesha. (See “Ananta” and “Sesha”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agni‐ratha +

A “Fiery Vehicle” literally. A kind of flying machine. Spoken of in ancient works of magic in India and in the epic poems. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ikhir Bonga +

A “Spirit of the Deep” of the Kolarian tribes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Achit +

Absolute non‐intelligence; as ''Chit ''is—in contrast— absolute intelligence. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Fravasham +

Absolute spirit [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chit +

Abstract Consciousness [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Horchia +

According to Berosus, the same as Vesta, goddess of the Hearth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Ka +

According to Max Muller, the interrogative pronoun “who?”—raised to the dignity of a deity without cause or reason. Still it has its esoteric significance and is a name of Brahmâ in his phallic character as generator or Prajâpati (''q.v.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dodecahedron +

According to Plato, the Universe is built by “the first begotten” on the geometrical figure of the Dodecahedron. (See ''Timaeus'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gabriel +

According to the Gnostics, the “Spirit” or Christos, the “messenger of life”, and Gabriel are one. The former “is called some‐times the Angel Gabriel Hebrew ‘the mighty one of God’,” and took with the Gnostics the place of the Logos, while the Holy Spirit was considered Every student of Occultism will understand this, and also that Gabriel—or “the mighty one of God”—is one with the Higher Ego. (See ''Isis Unveiled''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Habal de Garmin +

According to the Kabbalah this is the Resurrection Body: a ''tzelem ''image or ''demooth ''similitude to the deceased man; an inner fundamental spiritual type remaining after death. It is the “Spirit of the Bones ” mentioned in Daniel and Isaiah and the Psalms, and is referred to in the Vision of Ezekiel about the clothing of the dry bones with life: consult C, de Leiningen on the Kabbalah, T.P.S. Pamphlet, Vol. II., No. 18. [ w. w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Demons +

According to the Kabbalah, the demons dwell in the world of Assiah, the world of matter and of the “shells”’ of the dead. They are the Klippoth. There are Seven Hells, whose demon dwellers represent the vices personified. Their prince is Samael, his female companion is Isheth Zenunim—the woman of prostitution: united in aspect, they are named “The Beast”, Chiva. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Death, Kiss of +

According to the Kabbalah, the earnest follower does not die by the power of the Evil Spirit, Yetzer ha Rah, but by a kiss from the mouth of Jehovah Tetragrammaton, meeting him in the Haikal Ahabah or Palace of Love. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cherubim +

According to the Kabbalists, a group of angels, which they specially associated with the Sephira Jesod. in Christian teaching, an order of angels who are “watchers”. ''Genesi''s places Cherubim to guard the lost Eden, and the O.T. frequently refers to them as guardians of the divine glory. Two winged representations in gold were placed over the Ark of the Covenant; colossal figures of the same were also placed in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple of Solomon. Ezekiel describes them in poetic language. Each Cherub appears to have been a compound figure with four faces—of a man, eagle, lion, and ox, and was certainly winged. Parkhurst, ''in voc. Cherub, ''suggests that the derivation of the word is from '''K''', a particle of similitude, and RB or RUB, greatness, master, majesty, and so an image of godhead. Many other nations have displayed similar figures as symbols of deity; e.g., the Egyptians in their figures of Serapis. as Macrohius describes in his ''Saturnalia''; the Greeks had their triple‐headed Hecate, and the Latins had three‐faced images of Diana, as Ovid tells us, ''ecce procul ternis Hecate variata figuris''. Virgil also describes her in the fourth Book of the Æneid. Porphyry and Eusebius write the same of Proserpine. The Vandals had a many‐headed deity they called Triglaf. The ancient German races had an idol Rodigast with human body and heads of the ox, eagle, and man. The Persians have some figures of Mithras with a man’s body, lion’s head, and four wings. Add to these the Chimæra Sphinx of Egypt, Moloch, Astarte of the Syrians, and some figures of Isis with Bull’s horns and feathers of a bird on the head. [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nirvana +

According to the Orientalists, the entire “blowing out”, like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during life. (See “Nirvânî”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahabharatian period +

According to the best Hindu Commentators and Swami Dayanand Saraswati, 5,000 years B.C. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Batria +

According to tradition, the wife of the Pharaoh and the teacher of Moses [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Illa‐ah, Adam +

Adam Illa‐ah is the celestial, superior Adam, in the ''Zohar'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Keherpas +

Aerial form [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Danavas +

Almost the same as ''Daityas''; giants and demons, the opponents of the ritualistic gods [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Dana +

Almsgiving to mendicants, lit., “charity”, the first of the six Paramitas in Buddhism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kneph +

Also ''Cneph ''and ''Nef'', endowed with the same attributes as Khem. One of the gods of creative Force, for he is connected with the Mundane Egg. He is called by Porphyry “the creator of the world”; by Plutarch the “unmade and eternal deity”; by Eusebius he is identified with the ''Logos; ''and Jamblichus goes so far as almost to identify him with Brahmâ since he says of him that “this god is intellect itself, intellectually perceiving itself, and consecrating intellections to itself; and ''is to be worshipped in silence''”. One form of him, adds Mr. Bonwick “was '''''Av '''''meaning ''flesh''. He was criocephalus, with a solar disk on his head, and standing on the serpent Mehen. In his left hand was a viper, and a cross was in his right. He was actively engaged in the underworld upon a mission of creation.” Deveria writes: “His journey to the lower hemisphere appears to symbolise the evolutions of substances which are born to die and to be reborn”. Thousands of years before Kardec, Swedenborg, and Darwin appeared, the old Egyptians entertained their several philosophies. (''Eg. Belief and Mod. Thought''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gan‐Eden +

Also ''Ganduniyas. ''(See “Eden”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Induvansa +

Also ''Somavansa ''or the lunar race (dynasty), from '''''Indu''''', the Moon. (“See “[[Suryavansa]]”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mendaeans +

Also called ''Sabians, ''and St. John Christians. The latter is absurd, since, according to all accounts, and even their own, they have nothing at all to do with Christianity, ''which they abominate''. The modern sect of the Mendæans is widely scattered over Asia Minor and elsewhere, and is rightly believed by several Orientalists to be a direct surviving relic of the Gnostics. For as explained in the ''Dictionnaire des Apocryphes ''by the Abbé Migrie (art. “Le Code Nazaréan” vulgaire‐ment appele “''Livre d’Adam''”), the Mendæans (written in French ''Mandaїtes'', which name they pronounce as ''Mandai'') “properly signifies science, knowledge or Gnosis. Thus it is the equivalent of Gnostics” (''loc. cit''. note p. 3). As the above cited work shows, although many travellers have spoken of a sect whose followers are variously named Sabians, St. John’s Christians and Mendæans, and who are scattered around ''Schat‐Etarab ''at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates (principally at Bassorah, Hoveїza, Korna, etc.), it was Norberg who was the first to point out a tribe belonging to the same sect established in Syria. And they are the most interesting of all. This tribe, some 14,000 or 15,000 in number, lives at a day’s march east of Mount Lebanon, principally at Elmerkah, (Lata‐Kieh). They call themselves indifferently Nazarenes and Galileans, as they originally come to Syria from Galilee. They claim that their religion is the same as that of St. John the Baptist, and that it has not changed one bit since his day. On festival days they clothe them selves in camel’s skins, sleep on camel’s skins, and eat locusts and honey as did their “Father, St. John the Baptist”. Yet they call Jesus Christ an ''impostor, a false Messiah, ''and Nebso (or the planet Mercury in its evil side), and show him as a production of the Spirit of the “seven badly‐ disposed stellars” (or planets). See ''Codex Nazaræus, ''which is their Scripture [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

B

Bhagats +

Also called ''Sokha ''and ''Sivnath ''by the Hindus; one who exorcises evil spirits [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

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: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arahat +

Also pronounced and written Arhat, Arhan, Rahat, &c., “the worthy one”, lit., “deserving divine honours”. This was the name first given to the Jain and subsequently to the Buddhist holy men initiated into the esoteric mysteries. The Arhat is one who has entered the best and highest path, and is thus emancipated from rebirth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kayanim +

Also written Cunim; the name of certain mystic cakes offered to ''Ishtar'', the Babylonian Venus. Jeremiah speaks of these Cunim offered to the “Queen of Heaven”, vii. 18. Nowadays we do not offer the buns, but eat them at Easter. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Church, Frederick Stuart +

American artist. +

A

Amesha Spentas +

Amshaspends. The six angels or divine Forces personified as gods who attend upon Ahura Mazda, of which he is the synthesis and the seventh. They are one of the prototypes of the Roman Catholic “Seven Spirits” or Angels with Michael as chief, or the “Celestial Host”; the “ Seven Angels of the Presence”. They are the Builders, Cosmocratores, of the Gnostics and identical with the Seven Prajâpatis, the Sephiroth, etc. (q.v.). [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nirukta +

An ''anga ''or limb, a division of the ''Vedas''; a glossarial comment [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gaffarillus +

An Alchemist and philosopher who lived in the middle of the seventeenth century. He is the first philosopher known to maintain that every natural object (e.g., plants, living creatures, etc.), when burned, retained its form in its ashes and that it could be raised again from them. This claim was justified by the eminent chemist Du Chesne, and after him Kircher, Digby and Vallemont have assured themselves of the fact, by demonstrating that the astral forms of burned plants could be raised from their ashes. A receipt for raising such astral phantoms of flowers is given in a work of Oetinger, ''Thoughts on the Birth and Generation of Things.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aristobulus +

An Alexandrian writer, and an obscure philosopher. A Jew who tried to prove that Aristotle explained the esoteric thoughts of Moses [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Collemann, Jean +

An Alsatian, born at Orleans, according to K. Mackenzie; other accounts say he was a Jew, who found favour owing to his astrological studies, with both Charles VII. and Louis XI., and that he had a bad influence on the latter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nagarjuna +

An Arhat, a hermit (a native of Western India) converted to Buddhism by Kapimala and the fourteenth Patriarch, and now regarded as a Bodhisattva‐ Nirmanakaya. He was famous for his dialectical subtlety in metaphysical arguments; and was the first teacher of the Amitâbha doctrine and a representative of the Mahayâna School. Viewed as the greatest philosopher of the Buddhists, he was referred to as “one of the four suns which illumine the world”. He was born 223 B.C, and going to China after his conversion converted in his turn the whole country to Buddhism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dhruva +

An Aryan Sage, now the Pole Star. A ''Kshatriya ''(one of the warrior caste) who became through religious austerities a ''Rishi, ''and was, for this reason, raised by Vishnu to this eminence in the skies. Also called ''Grah‐Âdhâr ''or “the pivot of the planets” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Khepra +

An Egyptian god presiding over rebirth and transmigration. He is represented with a scarabæus instead of a head [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Iachus +

An Egyptian physician, whose memory, according to Ælian, was venerated for long centuries on account of his wonderful occult knowledge. Iachus is credited with having stopped epidemics simply by ''certain fumigations'', and cured diseases by making his patients inhale herbs [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Number Nip +

An Elf, the mighty King of the Riesengebirge, the most powerful of the genii in Scandinavian and German folk‐lore [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Butler +

An English name assumed by an adept, a disciple of some Eastern Sages, of whom many fanciful stories are current. It is said for instance, that Butler was captured during his travels in 1629, and sold into captivity. He became the slave of an Arabian philosopher, a great alchemist, and finally escaped, robbing his Master of a large quantity of red powder. According to more trustworthy records, only the last portion of this story is true. Adepts who can be robbed without knowing it would be unworthy of the name. Butler or rather the person who assumed this name, ''robbed ''his “Master” (whose free disciple he was) ''of the secret of transmutation, ''and abused of his knowledge—i.e., sought to turn it to his personal profit, but was speedily punished for it. After performing many wonderful cures by means of his “stone (i.e., the occult knowledge of an initiated adept), and producing extraordinary phenomena, to some of which Val Helmont, the famous Occultist and Rosicrucian, was witness, not for the benefit of men but his own vain glory, Butler was imprisoned in the Castle of Viloord, in Flanders, and passed almost the whole of his life in confinement. He lost his powers and died miserable and unknown. Such is the fate of every Occultist who abuses his power or desecrates the sacred science [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Epoptes +

An Initiate. One who has passed his last degree of initiation [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chabrat Zereh Aur Bokher +

An Order of the Rosicrucian stock, whose members study the Kabbalah and Hermetic sciences; it admits both sexes, and has many grades of instruction. The members meet in private, and the very existence of the Order is generally unknown. [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Apsaras +

An Undine or Water‐Nymph, from the Paradise or Heaven of Indra. The Apsarases are in popular belief the “wives of the gods” and called ''Surânganâs'', and by a less honourable term, ''Sumad‐âtmajâs ''or the “daughters of pleasure”, for it is fabled of them that when they appeared at the churning of the Ocean neither Gods (Suras) nor Demons (Asuras) would take them for legitimate wives. Urvasi and several others of them are mentioned in the ''Vedas''. In Occultism they are certain “sleep‐producing” aquatic plants, and inferior forces of nature [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Eurasians +

An abbreviation of “European‐Asians”. The mixed coloured races: the children of the white fathers and the dark mothers of India, or ''vice versa.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jivanmukta +

An adept or yogi who has reached the ultimate state of holiness, and separated himself from matter; a Mahatma, or ''Nirvânee'', a “dweller in bliss” and emancipation. Virtually one who has reached Nirvâna during life [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lully, Raymond +

An alchemist, adept and philosopher, born in the 13th century, on the island of Majorca. It is claimed for him that, in a moment of need, he made for King Edward III. of England several millions of gold “rose nobles”, and thus helped him to carry on war victoriously. He founded several colleges for the study of Oriental languages, and Cardinal Ximenes was one of his patrons and held him in great esteem, as also Pope John XXI. He died in 1314, at a good old age. Literature has preserved many wild stories about Raymond Lully, which would form a most extraordinary romance. He was the elder son of the Seneshal of Majorca and inherited great wealth from his father [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Boodhasp +

An alleged Chaldean; but in esoteric teaching a Buddhist (a Bodhisattva), from the East, who was the founder of the esoteric school of Neo‐Sabeism, and whose secret rite of baptism passed bodily into the Christian rite of the same name. For almost three centuries before our era, Buddhist monks overran the whole country of Syria, made their way into the Mesopotamian valley and visited even Ireland. The name ''Ferho ''and ''Faho ''of the Codex Nazaraeus is but a corruption of Fho, Fo and Pho, the name which the Chinese, Tibetans and even Nepaulese often give to Buddha [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kamea +

An amulet, generally a magic square [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Book of the Dead +

An ancient Egyptian ritualistic and occult work attributed to Thot‐Hermes. Found in the coffins of ancient mummies [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Marcionites +

An ancient Gnostic Sect founded by Marcion who was a devout Christian as long as no dogma of human creation came to mar the purely transcendental, and metaphysical concepts, and the ''original ''beliefs of the early Christians. Such primitive beliefs were those of Marcion. He denied the ''historical ''facts (as now found in the Gospels) of Christ’s birth, incarnation and passion, and also the resurrection of the body of Jesus, maintaining that such statements were simply the ''carnalization ''of metaphysical allegories and symbolism, and a degradation of the true spiritual idea. Along with all the other Gnostics, Marcion accused the “Church Fathers”, as Irenæus himself complains, of “framing their (Christian) doctrine according to the capacity of their hearers, fabling blind things for the blind, according to their blindness; for the dull, according to their dulness: for those in error, according to their errors.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hermas +

An ancient Greek writer of whose works only a few fragments are now extant [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mitra +

An ancient Iranian deity, a sun‐ god, as evidenced by his being lion‐headed. The name exists also in India and means a form of the sun. The Persian Mithra, he who drove out of heaven Ahriman, is a kind of Messiah who is expected to return as the judge of men, and is a sin‐bearing god who atones for the iniquities of mankind. As such, however, he is directly connected with the highest Occultism, the tenets of which were expounded during the Mithraic Mysteries which thus bore his name [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Book of the Keys +

An ancient Kabbalistic work [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aurnavabha +

An ancient Sanskrit commentator [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cutha +

An ancient city in Babylonia after which a tablet giving an account of “creation” is named. The “Cutha tablet” speaks of a temple of Sittam”, in the sanctuary of Nergal, the “giant king of war, lord of the city of Cutha”, and is purely esoteric, it has to be read symbolically, if at all [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dodona +

An ancient city in Thessaly, famous for its Temple of Jupiter and its oracles. According to ancient legends, the town was founded by a '''''dove''''' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Magadha +

An ancient country in India, under Buddhist Kings [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Elu +

An ancient dialect used in Ceylon [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avastan +

An ancient name for Arabia [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhargavas +

An ancient race in India; from the name of Bhrigu, the Rishi [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Ogygia +

An ancient submerged island known as the isle of Calypso, and identified by some with Atlantis. This is in a certain sense correct. But then what portion of Atlantis, since the latter was a continent rather than an “enormous” island! [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abaddon +

An angel of Hell, corresponding to the Greek Apollyon. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lararium +

An apartment in the house of ancient Romans where the ''Lares ''or household gods were preserved, with other family relics [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Koorgan +

An artificial mound, generally an old tomb. Traditions of a supernatural or magical character are often attached to such mounds [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agni Bahu +

An ascetic son of Manu Swâyambhuva, the “Self‐born”. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cardan Jerome +

An astrologer, alchemist, kabbalist and mystic, well known in literature. He was born at Pavia in 1501, and died at Rome in 1576 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kioo‐tche +

An astronomical work [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cremer, John +

An eminent scholar who for over thirty years studied Hermetic philosophy in pursuance of its practical secrets, while he was at the same time Abbot of Westminster While on a voyage to Italy, he met the famous Raymond Lully whom he induced to return with him to England. Lully divulged to Cremer the secrets of the stone, for which service the monastery offered daily prayers for him. Cremer, says the ''Royal Masonic Cyclopedia'', “having obtained a profound knowledge of the secrets of Alchemy, became a most celebrated and learned adept in occult philosophy . . . lived to a good old age, and died in the reign of King Edward III.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kumarabudhi +

An epithet given to the human “Ego” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Murari +

An epithet of Krishna or Vishnu; lit., the enemy of ''Mura''—an Asura [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avaivartika +

An epithet of every Buddha: lit., one who turns no more back; who goes straight to Nirvâna [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

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: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Maya Moha +

An illusive form assumed by Vishnu in order to deceive ascetic Daityas who were becoming too holy through austerities and hence too dangerous in power, as says the ''Vishnu Purâna.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chutuktu +

An incarnation of Buddha or of some Bodhisattva, as believed in Tibet, where there are generally five manifesting and two ''secret ''Chutuktus among the high Lamas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Idaeic Finger +

An iron finger strongly magnetized and used in the temples for healing purposes. It produced wonders in that direction, and therefore was said to possess magical powers [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dwipa +

An island or a continent. The Hindus have seven ''(Sapta dwipa )''; the Buddhists only four. This is owing to a misunderstood reference of the Lord Buddha who, using the term metaphorically, applied the word ''dwipa ''to the races of men. The four Root‐races which preceded our fifth, were compared by Siddhârtha to four continents or isles which studded the ocean of birth and death''—Samsâra.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Inner Man +

An occult term, used to designate the true and immortal Entity in us, not the outward and mortal form of clay that we call our body. The term applies, strictly speaking, only to the Higher Ego, the “astral man” being the appellation of the Double and of Kâma Rupa (''q.v.'') or the surviving ''eidolon'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bunda‐hish +

An old Eastern work in which among other things anthropology is treated in an allegorical fashion [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Matari Svan +

An ærial being shown in ''Rig‐Veda ''bringing down ''agni ''or fire to the ''Bhrigus''; who are called “The Consumers”, and are described by the Orientalists as “a class of mythical beings who belonged to the middle or ærial class of gods”. In Occultism the Bhrigus are simply the “Salamanders” of the Rosicrucians and Kabalists [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gaya +

Ancient city of Magadha, a little north‐west of the modern Gayah. It is at the former that Sakyamuni reached his Buddha‐ ship, under the famous Bodhi‐tree, ''Bodhidruma'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Androgyne Goat +

Androgyne Goat of Mendes. See "[[Baphomet]]" [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Anunnaki +

Angels or Spirits of the Earth; terrestrial Elementals also [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dwesa +

Anger. One of the three principal states of mind (of which 63 are enumerated), which are ''Râga''— pride or evil desire, ''Dwesa''—anger, of which hatred is a part, and Moha—the ignorance of truth. These three are to be steadily avoided [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nephesh Chia +

Animal or living Soul [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Akta +

Anointed: a title of Twashtri or Visvakarman, the highest “Creator” and Logos in the ''Rig ‐Veda. ''He is called the “Father of the Gods” and “Father of the sacred Fire” (''See note page 101, Vol. II., Sec.Doct.).'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kasi +

Another and more ancient name of the holy city of Benares [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gedulah +

Another name for the Sephira ''Chesed'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anupadaka +

Anupapâdaka, also Aupapâduka; means parentless”, “self‐existing”, born without any parents or progenitors. A term applied to certain self‐ created gods, and the Dhyâni Buddhas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adam Kadmon +

Archetypal Man; Humanity. The “Heavenly Man” not fallen into sin; Kabalists refer it to the Ten Sephiroth on the plane of human perception. [w.w.w.] In the ''Kabalah ''Adam Kadmon is the manifested Logos corresponding to our ''Third ''Logos; the Unmanifested being the first paradigmic ideal Man, and symbolizing the Universe in ''abscondito'', or in its “privation” in the Aristotelean sense. The First Logos is the “Light of the World”, the Second and the Third—its gradually deepening shadows. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kadmon +

Archetypal man. See.“Adam Kadmon” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Eridanus +

Ardan, ''the Greek name for the river Jordan [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aswins +

Are the most mysterious and occult deities of all; who have “puzzled the oldest commentators”. Literally, they are the “Horsemen”, the “divine charioteers”, as they ride in a ''golden car ''drawn by horses or birds or animals, and “''are possessed of many forms”''. They are two Vedic deities, the twin sons of the sun and the sky, which becomes the nymph Aswini. In mythological symbolism they are “the bright harbingers of Ushas, the dawn”, who are “ever young and handsome, bright, agile, swift as falcons”, who “prepare the way for the brilliant dawn to those who have patiently awaited through the night”. They are also called time “physicians of Swarga” (or Devachan), inasmuch as they heal every pain and suffering, and cure all diseases. Astronomically, they are asterisms. They were enthusiastically worshipped, as their epithets show. They are the “Ocean‐born” (i.e., '''''space '''''born) or ''Abdhijau, ''“crowned with lotuses” or '''''Pushhara‐srajam, '''''etc., etc. Yâska, the commentator in the ''Nirukta, ''thinks that “the Aswins represent the transition from darkness to light ”— cosmically, and we may add, metaphysically, also. But Muir and Goldstücker are inclined to see in them ancient “horsemen of great renown”, because, forsooth, of the legend “that the gods refused the Aswins admittance to a sacrifice on the ground that ''they had been on too familiar terms with men”''. Just so, because as explained by the same Yâska “they are identified with heaven and earth”, only for quite a different reason. Truly they are like the ''Ribhus, ''“originally renowned mortals (but also non‐renowned occasionally) who in the course of time are translated into the companionship of gods”; and they show a negative character, “the result of the‐ alliance of light with darkness”, simply because these ''twins ''are, in the esoteric philosophy, the '''''Kumâra‐Egos, '''''the reincarnating “Principles” in this Manvantara [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

N

Neros +

As shown by the late E. V. Kenealy this “Naronic Cycle” was a ''mystery'', a true “secret of god”, to disclose which during the prevalence of the religious mysteries and the authority of the priests, meant death. The learned author seemed to take it for granted that the Neros was of 600 years duration, but he was mistaken. (See “Natos”.) Nor were the establishment of the Mysteries and the rites of Initiation due merely the necessity of perpetuating the knowledge of the true meaning of the Naros and keeping this cycle secret from the profane; for the Mysteries are as old as the present human race, and there were far more important secrets to veil than the figures of any cycle. (See “Neophyte” and “I. H. S.”, also “Naros”.) The mystery of 666, “the number of the great heart” so called, is far better represented by the ''Tau ''and the ''Resh ''than 600 [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aster’t +

Astarte, the Syrian goddess the consort of Adon, or Adonai [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dido +

Astarte; the Virgin of the Sea—who crushes the Dragon under her foot; The patroness of the Phoænician mariners. A Queen of Carthage who fell in love with Æneas according to Virgil [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jyotisha +

Astronomy and Astrology; one of the Vedângas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chaldeans +

At first a tribe, then a caste of learned Kabbalists. They were the ''savants, ''the magians of Babylonia, astrologers and diviners. The famous Hillel, the precursor of Jesus in philosophy and in ethics, was a Chaldean. Franck in his ''Kabbala ''points to the close resemblance of the “secret doctrine” found in the ''Avesta ''and the religious metaphysics of the Chaldees [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ark of Isis +

At the great Egyptian annual ceremony, which took place in the month of Athyr, the boat of Isis was borne in procession by the priests, and ''Collyrian ''cakes or buns, marked with the sign of the cross (Tat), were eaten. This was in commemoration of the weeping of Isis for the loss of Osiris, the Athyr festival being very impressive. “Plato refers to the melodies on the occasion as being very ancient,” writes Mr. Bonwick (''Eg. Belief and Mod. Thought''). “ The ''Miserere ''in Rome has been said to be similar to its melancholy cadence, and to be derived from it Weeping, veiled virgins followed the ark. The ''Nornes'', or veiled virgins, wept also for the loss of our Saxon forefathers’ god, the ill‐fated but good Baldur.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nastika +

Atheist, or rather he who does not worship or recognize the gods and idols [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Nirupadhi +

Attributeless; the negation of attributes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Baal +

Baal or Adon (Adonai) was a phallic god. “Who shall ascend unto the hill (the high place) of the Lord; who shall stand in the place of his ''Kadushu ''(q.v.) ? ” (''Psalms ''XX1V. 3.) The “circle dance” performed by King David round the ark, was the dance prescribed by the Amazons in the Mysteries, the dance of the daughters of Shiloh (''Judges ''xxi., ''et seq.'') and the same as the leaping of the prophets of Baal (I. ''Kings ''xviii). He was named ''Baal‐Tzephon, ''or god of the crypt (Exodus) and ''Seth'', or the ''pillar ''(''phallus''), because he was the same as Ammon (or Baal‐Hammon) of Egypt, called “the hidden god”. Typhon, called Set, who was a great god in Egypt during the early dynasties, is an aspect of Baal and Ammon as also of Siva, Jehovah and other gods. Baal is the all devouring Sun, in one sense, the fiery Moloch [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Bread and Wine +

Baptism and the Eucharist have their direct origin in pagan Egypt. There the “waters of purification” were used (the Mithraic font for baptism being borrowed by the Persians from the Egyptians) and so were bread and wine. “Wine in the Dionysiak cult, a in the Christian religion, represents that blood which in different senses is the life of the world” (Brown, in the ''Dionysiak Myth''). Justin Martyr says, “In imitation of which the devil did the like in the Mysteries of Mithras, for you either know or may ''know that they also take bread and a cup of water ''in the sacrifices of those that are initiated and ''pronounce certain words over it”''. (See “Holy Water”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adhishtanam +

Basis; a principle in which some other principle inheres. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhava +

Being, or state of being; the world, a birth, and also a name of Siva [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Birs Nimrud +

Believed by the Orientalists to be the site of the Tower of Babel. The great pile of Birs Nimrud is near Babylon. Sir H. Rawlinson and several Assyriologists examined the excavated ruins and found that the tower consisted of seven stages of brick‐work, each stage of a different colour, which shows that the temple was devoted to the seven planets. Even with its three higher stages or floors in ruins, it still rises now 154 feet above the level of the plain. (”See Borsippa”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahabhautic +

Belonging to the Macrocosmic principles [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Manes +

Benevolent “gods”, i.e., “spooks” of the lower world ''(Kâmaloka)''; the deified shades of the dead—of the ancient profane, and the “materialized”''ghosts ''of the modern Spiritualists, believed to be the souls of the departed, whereas, in truth, they are only their empty ''shells'', or images [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ananda +

Bliss, joy, felicity, happiness. A name of the favourite disciple of Gautama, the Lord Buddha [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Guff +

Body; physical form; also written Gof [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bandha +

Bondage; life on this earth; from the same root as Baddha [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Collanges, Gabriel de +

Born in 1524. The best astrologer in the XVlth century and a still better Kabbalist. He spent a fortune in the unravelling of its mysteries. It was rumoured that he died through poison administered to him by a Jewish Rabbin‐Kabbalist [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adah +

Borrowed by the Hebrews for the name of their Adah, father of Jubal, etc. But Adah meaning the first, the one, is universal property. There are reasons to think that ''Ak‐ad'', means the ''first''‐born or Son of ''Ad''. ''Adon ''was the first “Lord” of Syria. (See ''Isis Unv. ''II., pp. 452, 453.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

D +

Both in the English and Hebrew alphabets the fourth letter, whose numerical value is four. The symbolical signification in the ''Kabbala ''of the ''Daleth ''is “door”. It is the Greek ''delta ''D, through which the world (whose symbol is the ''tetrad ''or number four,) issued, producing the divine seven. The name of the Tetrad was Harmony with the Pythagoreans, “because it is a diatessaron in sesquitertia”. With the Kabbalists, the divine name associated with Daleth was Daghoul [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Baddha +

Bound, conditioned; as is every mortal who has not made himself free through Nirvâna [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mantra Shastra +

Brahmanical writings on the occult science of incantations [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nephesh +

Breath of life. ''Anima, Mens, Vita, ''Appetites. This term is used very loosely in the Bible. It generally means ''prana ''“life”; in the Kabbalah it is the animal passions and the animal Soul. [w.w.w.] Therefore, as maintained in theosophical teachings, ''Nephesh ''is the synonym of the Prâna‐Kâmic Principle, or the vital animal Soul in man. [H. P. B.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Buddhism +

Buddhism is now split into two distinct Churches : the Southern and the Northern Church. The former is said to be the purer form, as having preserved more religiously the original teachings of the Lord Buddha. It is the religion of Ceylon, Siam, Burmah and other places, while Northern Buddhism is confined to Tibet, China and Nepaul. Such a distinction, however, is incorrect. If the Southern Church is nearer, in that it has not departed, except perhaps in some trifling dogmas due to the many councils held after the death of the Master, from the public or ''exoteric ''teachings of Sâkyamuni—the Northern Church is the outcome of Siddhârta Buddha’s esoteric teachings which he confined to his elect Bhikshus and Arhats. In fact, Buddhism in the present age, cannot he justly judged either by one or the other of its exoteric popular forms. Real Buddhism can be appreciated only by blending the philosophy of the Southern Church and the metaphysics of the Northern Schools. If one seems too iconoclastic and stero:, and the other too metaphysical and transcendental, even to being overgrown with the weeds of Indian exotericism—many of the gods of its Pantheon having been transplanted under new names to Tibetan soil—it is entirely due to the popular expression of Buddhism in both Churches. Correspondentially they stand in their relation to each other as Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Both err by an excess of zeal and erroneous interpretations, though neither the Southern nor the Northern Buddhist clergy have ever departed from truth consciously, still less have they acted under the dictates of ''priestocracy'', ambition, or with an eye to personal gain and power, as the two Christian Churches have [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Augoeides +

Bulwer Lytton calls it the “Luminous Self ”, or our Higher Ego. But Occultism makes of it something distinct from this. It is a mystery. The ''Augocides ''is the luminous divine radiation of the EGO which, when incarnated, is but its shadow—pure as it is yet. This is explained in the ''Amshaspends ''and their ''Ferouers.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lilith +

By Jewish tradition a demon who was the first wife of Adam, before Eve was created: she is supposed to have a fatal influence on mothers and newly‐ born infants. LIL is night, and LILITH is also the owl: and in mediæval works is a synonym of Lamia or female demon. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mash‐Mak +

By tradition an Atlantean word of the fourth Race, to denote a mysterious Cosmic fire, or rather Force, which was said to be able to pulverize in a second whole cities and disintegrate the world [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kukkuta Padagiri +

Called also ''Gurupadagiri'', the “teacher’s mountain”. It is situated about seven miles from Gaya, and is famous owing to a persistent report that Arhat Mahâkâsyapa even to this day dwells in its caves [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Kamadhatu +

Called also Kamâvatchara, a region including Kâmalôka. In exoteric ideas it is the first of the Trailâkya—or three regions (applied also to celestial beings) or seven planes or degrees, each broadly represented by one of the three chief characteristics; namely, ''Kama, Rupa ''and ''Arupa, ''or those of desire, form and formlessness. The first of the Trailokyas, '''''Kamadhâtu, '''''is thus composed of the earth and the six inferior Devalokas, the earth being followed by ''Kamaloka ''(q.v.). These taken together constitute the seven degrees of the material world of form and sensuous gratification. The second of the Trailôkya (or Trilôkya) is called Rupadhâtu or “material form” and is also composed of seven Lokas (or localities). The third is Arupadhâtu or “immaterial lokas”. “Locality”, however, is an incorrect word to use in translating the term dhâtu, which does not mean in some of its special applications a “place” at all. For instance, ''Arupadhâtu ''is a purely subjective world, a “state” rather than a place. But as the European tongues have no adequate metaphysical terms to express certain ideas, we can only point out the difficulty [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Diakka +

Called by Occultists and Theosophists “spooks” and “shells”, i.e., phantoms from ''Kâma Loka''. A word invented by the great American Seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, to denote what he considers untrustworthy “Spirits”. In his own words: “A ''Diakka ''(from the Summerland) is one who takes insane delight in ''playing parts, ''in juggling tricks, in ''personating ''opposite characters; to whom prayer and profane utterances are of equi‐value; surcharged with a passion for lyrical narrations; . . . morally deficient, he is without the active feelings of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection. He knows nothing of what men call the sentiment of gratitude; the ends of hate and love are the same to him; his motto is often fearful and terrible to others—SELF is the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation ''the end of all private life. ''Only yesterday, one said to a lady medium, signing himself ''Swedenborg'', this: ‘Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be, that I AM.; and private life is but the aggregative phantasms of thinking throb‐ lets, rushing in their rising onward to the central heart of eternal death’ (''The Diakka and their Victims''; “an explanation of the False and Repulsive in Spiritualism.”) These “Diakka” are then simply the communicating and materializing so‐called “Spirits” of Mediums and Spiritualists [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

P

P and Cross +

Called generally the Labarum of Constantine. It was, however, one of the oldest emblems in Etruria before the Roman Empire. It was also the sign of Osiris. Both the long Latin and the Greek pectoral crosses are Egyptian, the former being very often seen in the hand of Horus. “The cross and Calvary so common in Europe, occurs on the breasts of mummies” (Bonwick) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lunar Gods +

Called in India the Fathers, “Pitris” or the lunar ancestors. They are subdivided, like the rest, into seven classes or Hierarchies, In Egypt although the moon received less worship than in Chaldea or India, still Isis stands as the representative of Luna‐Lunus, “the celestial Hermaphrodite”. Strange enough while the modern connect the moon only with lunacy and generation, the ancient nations, who knew better, have, individually and collectively, connected their “wisdom gods” with it. Thus in Egypt the lunar gods are Thoth‐Hermes and Chons; in India it is Budha, the Son of ''Soma, ''the moon; in Chaldea Nebo is the lunar god of Secret Wisdom, etc., etc. The wife of Thoth, ''Sifix, ''the lunar goddess, holds a pole with five rays or the five‐pointed star, symbol of man, the Microcosm, in distinction from the Septenary Macrocosm. As in all theogonies a goddess precedes a god, on the principle most likely that the chick can hardly precede its egg, in Chaldea the moon was held as older and more venerable than the Sun, because, as they said, darkness precedes light at every periodical rebirth (or “creation”) of the universe. Osiris although connected with the Sun and a Solar god is, nevertheless, born on Mount ''Sinai'', because ''Sin ''is the Chaldeo‐Assyrian word for the moon; so was Dio‐Nysos, god of Nyssi or ''Nisi, ''which latter appelation was that of Sinai in Egypt, where it was called Mount Nissa. The ''crescent ''is not—as proven by many writers—an ensign of the Turks, but was adopted by Christians for their symbol before the Mahommedans. For ages the crescent was the emblem of the Chaldean Astarte, the Egyptian Isis, and the Greek Diana, all of them Queens of Heaven, and finally became the emblem of Mary the Virgin. “The Greek Christian Empire of Constantinople held it as their palladium. Upon the conquest by the Turks, the Sultan adopted it . . . and since that, the crescent has been made to oppose the idea of the ''cross''”. (''Eg. Belief.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

A

Ar‐Abu Nasr‐al‐Farabi +

Called in Latin Alpharabius, a Persian, and the greatest Aristotelian philosopher of the age. He was born in 950 A.D., and is reported to have been murdered in 1047. He was an Hermetic philosopher and possessed the power of hypnotizing through music, making those who heard him play the lute laugh, weep, dance and do what he liked. Some of his works on Hermetic philosophy may be found in the Library of Leyden [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gebirol, Solomon Ben Jehudah +

Called in literature Avicebron. An Israelite by birth, a philosopher, poet and Kabbalist, a voluminous writer and a mystic. He was born in the eleventh Century at Malaga (1021), educated at Saragossa, and died at Valencia in 1070, murdered by a Mahommedan. His fellow‐religionists called him Salomon the Sephardi, or the Spaniard, and the Arabs, Abu Ayyub Suleiman ben ya’hya Ibn Dgebirol; whilst the scholastics named him Avicebron. (See Myer’s ''Qabbalah.'') Ibn Gebirol was certainly one of the greatest philosophers and scholars of his age. He wrote much in Arabic and most of his MSS. have been preserved. His greatest work appears to be the ''Megôr Hayyîm'', i.e., the ''Fountain of Life'', “one of the earliest exposures of the secrets of the Speculative Kabbalah”, as his biographer informs us. (See “Fons Vitæ”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mudra +

Called the mystic seal. A system of occult signs made with the fingers. These signs imitate ancient Sanskrit characters of magic efficacy. First used in the Northern Buddhist Yogâcharya School, they were adopted later by the Hindu Tantrikas, but often misused by them for black magic purposes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adamic Earth +

Called the “true oil of gold” or the “primal element” in Alchemy. It is but one remove from the pure homogeneous element. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lanigan, George Thomas +

Canadian journalist and poet. +

K

Karana +

Cause (metaphysically) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Igaga +

Celestial angels, the same as Archangels [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cerberus +

Cerberus, the three‐headed canine monster, which was supposed to watch at the threshold of Hades, came to the Greeks and Romans from Egypt. It was the monster, half‐dog and half‐hippopotamus, that guarded the gates of Amenti. The mother of Cerberus was Echidna—a being, half‐woman, half‐serpent, much honoured in Etruria. Both the Egyptian and the Greek Cerberus are symbols of Kâmaloka and its uncouth monsters, the cast‐off shells of mortals [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Darasta +

Ceremonial magic practised by the central Indian tribes, especially among the Kolarians [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ashen and Langhan +

Certain ceremonies for casting out evil spirits, akin to those of exorcism with the Christians, in use with the Kolarian tribes in India [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mystica Vannus Iacchi +

Commonly translated the mystic Fan: but in an ancient terra‐cotta in the British Museum the fan is a Basket such as the Ancients’ Mysteries displayed with mystic contents: Inman says with emblematic ''testes. ''[w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bal +

Commonly translated “Lord”, but also Bel, the Chaldean god, and Baal, an ʺidolʺ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Guhya +

Concealed, secret [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kadosh +

Consecrated, holy; also written '''''Kodesh'''''. Something set apart for temple worship. But between the etymological meaning of the word, and its subsequent significance in application to the ''Kadeshim ''(the “priests” set apart for certain temple rites)—there is an abyss. The words ''Kadosh ''and ''Kadeshim ''are used in II. Kings as rather an opprobrious name, for the ''Kadeshuth ''of the Bible were identical in their office and duties with the Nautch girls of some Hindu temples. They were Galli, the mutilated priests of the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived “by the house of the Lord”. Curiously enough the terms ''Kadosh, ''etc., were appropriated and used‐ by several degrees of Masonic knighthood [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

S

Sinclair, Marie +

Countess of Caithness and Duchess de Pomar. She was communicating with V. P. Zhelikhovsky, sister of H. P. Blavatsky. +

L

Lobha +

Covetousness: cupidity, a son sprung from Brahmâ in an evil hour [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Deva Sarga +

Creation: the origin of the principles, said to be Intelligence born of the qualities or the attributes of nature [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Dabar +

D (a) B (a) R (im), meaning the “Word”, and the “Words” in the Chaldean Kabbala, ''Dabar ''and ''Logoi. ''(See ''Sec.Doct. ''I. p. 350, and “Logos”, or “Word”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Almeh +

Dancing girls; the same as the Indian ''nautchies, ''the temple and public dancers. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bath +

Daughter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ila +

Daughter of Vaivaswata Manu; wife of Buddha, the son of Soma; one month a woman and the other a man by the decree of Saraswati; an allusion to the androgynous second race. Ila is also Vâch in another aspect [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bath Kol +

Daughter of the Voice: the Divine afflatus, or inspiration, by which the prophets of Israel were inspired as by a voice from Heaven and the Mercy‐ Seat. In Latin ''Filia Vocis''. An analogous ideal is found in Hindu exoteric theology named Vâch, the voice, the female essence, an aspect of Aditi, the mother of the gods and primæval Light; a mystery. [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jyotsna +

Dawn; one of the bodies assumed by Brahmâ the morning twilight [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aize +

De Lapide Philosophico. An alchemic treatise by an unknown German author; dated 1677. It is to be found reprinted in the Hermetic Museum; in it is the well known design of a man with legs extended and his body hidden by a seven pointed star. Eliphaz Lévi has copied it. [ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kabiri +

Deities and very mysterious gods with the ancient nations, including the Israelites, some of whom—as Terah, Abram’s father— worshipped them under the name of ''Teraphim''. With the Christians, however, they are now devils, although the modern Archangels are the direct transformation of these same Kabiri. In Hebrew the latter name means “the mighty ones”, Gibborim. At one time all the deities connected with fire—whether they were divine, infernal or volcanic—were called Kabirian [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cabeiri +

Deities, held in the highest veneration at Thebes, in Lemnos, Phrygia, Macedonia, and especially at Samothrace. They were mystery gods, no profane having the right to name or speak of them. Herodotus makes of them Fire‐gods and points to Vulcan as their father. The Kabiri presided over the Mysteries, and their real number has never been revealed, their occult meaning being very sacred [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mumukshatwa +

Desire for liberation (from reincarnation and thraldom of matter) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Alectromancy +

Divination by means of a cock, or other bird; a circle was drawn and divided into spaces, each one allotted to a letter; corn was spread over these places and note was taken of the successive lettered divisions from which the bird took grains of corn. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Avatara +

Divine incarnation. The descent of a god or some exalted Being, who has progressed beyond the necessity of Rebirths, into the body of a simple mortal. Krishna was an avatar of Vishnu. The Dalai Lama is regarded as an avatar of Avalokiteswara, and the Teschu Lama as one of Tson‐kha‐pa, or Amitâbha. There are two kinds of avatars: those born from woman, and the parentless, the ''anupapâdaka.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hermaphrodite +

Dual‐sexed; a male and female Being, whether man or animal [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manticism +

During this state was developed the gift of prophecy. The two words are nearly synonymous. One was as honoured as the other. Pythagoras and Plato held it in high esteem, and Socrates advised his disciples to study Manticism. The Church Fathers, who condemned so severely the ''mantic frenzy ''in Pagan priests and Pythiæ, were not above applying it to their own uses. The Montanists, who took their name from Montanus, a bishop of Phrygia, who was considered divinely inspired, contended with the '''mavnteiz '''(manteis) or prophets. “Tertullian, Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, were of the number”, says the author of ''Prophecy, Ancient and Modern. ''“The Montanists seem to have resembled the ''Bacchantes ''in the wild enthusiasm that characterized their orgies,” he adds. There is a diversity of opinion as to the origin of the word ''Manticism''. There was the famous Mantis the Seer, in the days of Melampus and Prœtus King of Argos; and there was Manto, the daughter of the prophet of Thebes, herself a prophetess. Cicero describes prophecy and mantic frenzy, by saying, that “in the inner recesses of the mind is divine prophecy hidden and confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns more vividly is called furor”, frenzy. (''Isis Unveiled''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Edom +

Edomite Kings. A deeply concealed mystery is to he found in the allegory of the seven Kings of Edorn, who “reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel”. ''(Gen. xxxvi''. 31.) The Kabbala teaches that this Kingdom was one of “unbalanced forces’ and necessarily of unstable character. The world of Israel is a type of the condition of the worlds which came into existence subsequently to the later period when the equilibrium had become established. [w.w. w.] On the other hand the Eastern Esoteric philosophy teaches that the seven Kings of Edom are not the type of perished worlds or unbalanced forces, but the symbol of the seven human Root‐races, four of which have passed away, the fifth is passing, and two are still to come. Though in the language of esoteric ''blinds, ''the hint in St. John’s ''Revelation ''is clear enough when it states in chapter xvii , 10: “And there are seven Kings; five are fallen, and one (the fifth, still) is, and the other (the sixth Root‐ race) is not yet come Had all the seven Kings of Edom perished as worlds of “unbalanced forces”, how could the fifth still be, and the other or others “not yet come” ? In The ''Kabbalah Unveiled, ''we read on page 48, “ The seven Kings had died and their possessions had been broken up”, and a footnote emphasizes the statement by saying, “these seven Kings are the Edomite Kings” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Eggs +

Eggs were symbolical from an early time. There was the “Mundane Egg”, in which Brahmâ gestated, with the Hindus the ''Hiranya‐Gharba'', and the Mundane Egg of the Egyptians, which proceeds from the mouth of the “unmade and eternal deity”, Kneph, and which is the emblem of generative power. Then the Egg of Babylon, which hatched Ishtar, and was said to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates. Therefore coloured eggs were used yearly during spring in almost every country, and in Egypt were exchanged as sacred symbols in the spring‐time, which was, is, and ever will be, the emblem of birth or rebirth, cosmic and human, celestial and terrestrial. They were hung up in Egyptian temples and are so suspended to this day in Mahometan mosques [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Labyrinth +

Egypt had the “celestial labyrinth” whereinto the souls of the departed plunged, and also its type on earth, the famous Labyrinth, a subterranean series of halls and passages with the most extraordinary windings. Herodotus describes it as consisting of 3,000 chambers, half below and half above ground. Even in his day strangers were not allowed into the subterranean portions of it as they contained the sepulchres of the kings who built it and other mysteries. The “Father of History” found the Labyrinth already almost in ruins, yet regarded it even in its state of dilapidation as far more marvellous than the pyramids [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhuta‐sarga +

Elemental or incipient Creation, i.e., when matter was several degrees less material than it is now [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lhamayin +

Elemental sprites of the lower terrestrial plane. Popular fancy makes of them demons and devils [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Djin +

Elementals ; Nature Sprites; Genii. The ''Djins'' or ''Jins ''are much dreaded in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asiras +

Elementals without heads; lit., “headless” ; used also of the first two human races [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhutadi +

Elementary substances, the origin and the germinal essence of the elements [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Egregores +

Eliphas Lévi calls them “the chiefs of the souls who are the spirits of energy and action” ; whatever that may or may not mean. The Oriental Occultists describe the ''Egregores ''as Beings whose bodies and essence is a tissue of the so‐called ''astral light''. They are the shadows of the higher Planetary Spirits whose bodies are of the essence of the higher divine light [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Apavarga +

Emancipation from repeated births [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kshetrajna +

Embodied spirit, the Conscious Ego in its highest manifestations; the reincarnating Principle; the “Lord” in us [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Amenti +

Esoterically and literally, the dwelling of the God Amen, or Amoun, or the “hidden”, secret god. Exoterically the kingdom of Osiris divided into fourteen parts, each of which was set aside for some purpose connected with the after state of the defunct. Among other things, in one of these was the Hall of Judgment. It was the “Land of the West”, the “Secret Dwelling”, the ''dark ''land, and the “doorless house”. But it was also ''Ker‐ noter'', the “abode of the gods”, and the “land of ghosts” like the “ Hades” of the Greeks (q.v.). It was also the “Good Father’s House” (in which there are “many mansions”). The fourteen divisions comprised, among many others, ''Aanroo ''(q.v.), the hall of the Two Truths, the Land of Bliss, ''Neter‐xev ''“the funeral (or burial) place” ''Otamer‐xev'', the “Silence‐loving Fields”, and also many other mystical halls and dwellings, one like the Sheol of the Hebrews, another like the Devachan of the Occultists, etc., etc. Out of the fifteen gates of the abode of Osiris, there were two chief ones, the “gate of entrance” or ''Rustu'', and the “gate of exit” (reincarnation) ''Amh''. But there was no room in Amenti to represent the orthodox Christian Hell. The worst of all was the Hall of the eternal Sleep and Darkness. As Lepsius has it, the defunct “sleep (therein) in ''incorruptible ''forms, they wake not to see their brethren, they recognize no longer father and mother, their hearts feel nought toward their wife and children. This is the dwelling of the god All‐Dead. . . . Each trembles to pray to him, for he hears not. Nobody can praise him, for he regards not those who adore him. Neither does he notice any offering brought to him.” This god is ''Karmic ''Decree; the land of Silence—the abode of those who die absolute disbelievers, those dead from accident before their allotted time, and finally the dead on the threshold of ''Avitchi'', which is never in Amenti or any other subjective state, save in one case, but on this land of forced re‐birth. These tarried not very long even in their state of heavy sleep, of oblivion and darkness, but, were carried more or less speedily toward ''Amh ''the “exit gate”. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

K

Kings of Edom +

Esoterically, the early, tentative, malformed races of men. Some Kabalists interpret them as “sparks”, worlds in formation disappearing as soon as formed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cosmic ideation +

Eternal thought, impressed on substance or spirit‐matter, in the eternity ; thought which becomes active at the beginning of every new life‐cycle [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ark of the Covenant +

Every ark‐shrine, whether with the Egyptians, Hindus, Chaldeans or Mexicans, was a phallic shrine, the symbol of the ''yoni ''or womb of nature. The ''seket ''of the Egyptians, the ark, or sacred chest, stood on the ''ara''—its pedestal. The ark of Osiris, with the sacred relics of the god, was “of the same size as the Jewish ark”, staves passed through its rings in sacred procession, as the ark round which danced David, the King of Israel. Mexican gods also had their arks. Diana, Ceres, and other goddesses as well as gods had theirs. The ark was a boat—a vehicle in every case. “Thebes had a sacred ark 300 cubits long,” and “the word ''Thebes ''is said to mean ark in Hebrew,” which is but a natural recognition of the place to which the chosen people are indebted for their ark. Moreover, as Bauer writes, “the Cherub was not first used by Moses.” The winged Isis was the cherub or ''Arieh ''in Egypt, centuries before the arrival there of even Abram or Sarai. “The external likeness of some of the Egyptian arks, surmounted by their two winged human figures, to the ark of the covenant, has often been noticed.” (''Bible Educator''.) And not only the “external” but the ''internal ''“likeness” and sameness are now known to all. The arks, whether of the covenant, or of honest, straightforward, Pagan symbolism, had originally and now have one and the same meaning. The chosen people appropriated the idea and forgot to acknowledge its source. It is the same as in the case of the “Urim” and “Thummin” (q.v.). In Egypt, as shown by many Egyptologists, the two objects were the emblems of the ''Two Truths. ''“Two figures of Re and Thmei were worn on the breast‐plate of the Egyptian High Priest. ''Thmé'', plural ''thmin, ''meant truth in Hebrew. Wilkinson says the figure of Truth had closed eyes. Rosellini speaks of the ''Thmei ''being worn as a necklace. Diodorus gives such a necklace of gold and stones to the High Priest when delivering judgment. The Septuagint translates Thummin as ''Truth”''. (Bonwick’s ''Egyp. Belief.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

K

Kama +

Evil desire, lust, volition; the cleaving to existence. Kama is generally identified with ''Mara ''the tempter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Khado +

Evil female demons in popular folk‐lore. In the Esoteric Philosophy occult and evil Forces of nature. Elementals known in Sanskrit as '''''Dakini''''' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aheie +

Existence. He who exists; corresponds to Kether and Macroprosopus. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bacchus +

Exoterically and superficially the god of wine and the vintage, and of licentiousness and joy; but the esoteric meaning of this personification is more abstruse and philosophical. He is the Osiris of Egypt, and his life and significance belong to the same group as the other solar deities, all “sin‐bearing,” killed and resurrected; e.g., as Dionysos or Atys of Phrygia (Adonis, or the Syrian Tammuz), as Ausonius, Baldur (q.v.), &c., &c. All these were put to death, mourned for, and restored to life. The rejoicings for Atys took place at the ''Hilaria ''on the “pagan” Easter, March 15. Ausonius, a form of Bacchus, was slain “at the vernal equinox, March 21st, and rose in three days”. Tammuz, the double of Adonis and Atys, was mourned by the women at the “grove” of his name “over Bethlehem, where the infant Jesus cried”, says St. Jerome. Bacchus is murdered and his mother collects the fragments of his lacerated body as Isis does those of Osiris, and so on. Dionysos Iacchus, torn to shreds by the Titans, Osiris, Krishna, all descended into Hades and returned again. Astronomically, they all represent the Sun ; psychically they are all emblems of the ever‐resurrecting “ Soul” (the Ego in its re‐incarnation) ; spiritually, all the innocent scape‐goats, atoning for the sins of mortals, their own earthly envelopes, and in truth, the poeticized image of DIVINE MAN, the form of clay informed by its God [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asuras +

Exoterically, elementals and evil, gods— considered maleficent; demons, and '''''no '''''gods. But esoterically—the reverse. For in the most ancient portions of the ''Rig Veda, ''the term is used for the Supreme Spirit, and therefore the Asuras are spiritual and divine It is only in the last book of the ''Rig Veda'', its latest part, and in the ''Atharva Veda, ''and the ''Brâhmanas, ''that the epithet, which had been given to Agni, the greatest Vedic Deity, to Indra and Varuna, has come to signify the reverse of gods. ''Asu ''means breath, and it is with his breath that Prajâpati (Brahmâ) creates the Asuras. When ritualism and dogma got the better of the Wisdom religion, the initial letter '''a '''was adopted as a negative prefix, and the term ended by signifying “not a god”, and Sura only a deity. But in the Vedas the Suras have ever been connected with ''Surya, ''the sun, and regarded as ''inferior ''deities, devas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Ephesus +

Famous for its great metaphysical College where Occultism (Gnosis) and Platonic philosophy were taught in the days of the Apostle Paul. A city regarded as the focus of secret sciences, and that Gnôsis. or Wisdom, which is the antagonist of the perversion of Christo‐ Esotericism to this day. It was at Ephesus where was the great College of the Essenes and all the lore the Tanaim had brought from the ''Chaldees'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Orlog +

Fate, destiny, whose agents were the three Norns, the Norse ''Parcæ'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dakini +

Female demons, vampires and blood‐ drinkers ''(asra‐pas''). In the ''Purânas ''they attend upon the goddess Kâli and feed on human flesh. A species of evil “Elementals” (''q.v.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Khanda Kala +

Finite or conditioned time in contradistinction to infinite time, or eternity—''Kala.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Angaraka +

Fire Star; the planet Mars; in Tibetan, ''Mig‐mar'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Property:CTD term description

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