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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). +

Ash +

Fire, whether physical or symbolical fire; also found written in English as ''As'', ''Aish ''and ''Esch'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adi‐nidana +

First and Supreme Causality, from ''Âdi'', the first, and ''Nidâna ''the principal cause (or the concatenation of cause and effect). [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gazette +

Fleury Mesplet founded a French-language weekly newspaper called La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal on June 3, 1778.[4] It was the first entirely French-language newspaper in Canada.[4] The paper did not accept advertising aside for the various books that Mesplet also published. The articles were meant to promote discussion, and it focused on literature and philosophy, as well as various anecdotal articles, poems and letters. Mesplet began a second weekly, The Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal, on August 25, 1785, which had a dual French-English bilingual format similar to that used by the Quebec Gazette. In 1822, it was sold to businessman Thomas Andrew Turner who converted into an English-only paper in 1822.[3][6] Under Turner, The Gazette identified with the interests of anglophone business leaders in their fight with the Patriote movement. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP) +

S

Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti +

Following along the lines of the 17th-century handwritten Kuranty, Peter's newspaper contained little other than reports of military victories and diplomatic relations, either composed by the tsar himself or translated from Dutch newspapers according to his choice. With Peter's death in 1725, the newspaper lost its most precious contributor. As Russia offered no choice of journalists who could carry on his project, ownership of the paper was transferred to the Russian Academy of Sciences, which renamed it Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (that is, Saint Petersburg News) in 1727. In the course of the 18th century, the academics issued the newspaper twice a week, supplementing it with extensive scholarly "commentaries", whose editors included Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov, Gerhardt Friedrich Müller, Mikhail Lomonosov, and Ippolit Bogdanovich. Since 1800, the Saint Petersburg Vedomosti was published daily. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP) +

J

Jesod +

Foundation; the ninth of the Ten Sephiroth, a masculine active potency, completing the six which form the Microprosopus. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avikara +

Free from degeneration; changeless—used of Deity [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Baissac, Jules +

French theologist, who viewed Satan as a 'Centrifugal Energy of the Universe’ in a cosmic sense [[Category: Secret Doctrine (CTD terms)]] (SD, 2:245). +

A

Alchemists +

From '''''Al '''''and '''''Chemi, '''''fire, or the god and patriarch, ''Kham, ''also, the name of Egypt. The Rosicrucians of the middle ages, such as Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), Paracelsus, Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Van Helmont, and others, were all alchemists, who sought for the ''hidden spirit ''in every inorganic matter. Some people— nay, the great majority—have accused alchemists of charlatanry and false pretending. Surely such men as Roger Bacon, Agrippa, Henry Khunrath, and the Arabian Geber (the first to introduce into Europe some of the secrets of chemistry), can hardly he treated as impostors— least of all as fools. Scientists who are reforming the science of physics upon the basis of the atomic theory of Democritus, as restated by John Dalton, conveniently forget that Democritus, of Abdera, was an alchemist, and that the mind that was capable of penetrating so far into the secret operations of nature in one direction must have had good reasons to study and become a Hermetic philosopher. Olaus Borrichius says that the cradle of alchemy is to be sought in the most distant times. (''Isis Unveiled)''. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Heranasikha +

From ''Herana ''“novice” and ''Sikha ''“rule” or precept: manual of Precepts. A work written in ''Elu ''or the ancient Singhalese, for the use of young priests [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mage +

From ''Mag ''or ''Maha''. The word is the root of the word magician. The Maha‐âtma (the great Soul or Spirit) in India had its priests in the pre‐Vedic times. The Magians were priests of the fire‐god; we find them among the Assyrians and Babylonians, as well as among the Persian fire‐worshippers. The three Magi, also denominated kings, that are said to have made gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to the infant Jesus, were fire‐ worshippers like the rest, and astrologers ; for they saw his star. The high priest of the Parsis, at Surat, is called Mobed. Others derived the name from Megh; Meh‐ab signifying some thing grand and noble. Zoroaster’s disciples were called ''Meghestom'', according to Kleuker [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Muluk‐Taoos +

From ''Maluk'', “Ruler”, a later form of Moloch, Melek, Malayak and ''Malachim'', “messengers”, angels. It is the Deity worshipped by the ''Yezidis'', a sect in Persia, kindly called by Christian theology “devil worshippers”, under the form of a peacock. The Lord “Peacock” is not Satan, nor is it the devil; for it is simply the symbol of the ''hundred eyed ''Wisdom ; the bird of Saraswati, goddess of Wisdom; of ''Karttikeya ''the ''Kumâra'', the Virgin celibate of the Mysteries of Juno, and all the gods and goddesses connected with the secret learning [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dactyli +

From ''daktulos, ''“a finger”. The name given to the Phrygian Hierophants of Kybele, who were regarded as the greatest magicians and exorcists. They were five or ten in number because of the five fingers on one hand that blessed, and the ten on both hands which evoke the gods. They also healed by manipulation or mesmerism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Od +

From ''odos'', “passage”, or passing of that force which is developed by various minor forces or agencies such as magnets, chemical or vital action, heat, light, &c. It is also called “odic” and “odylic force”, and was regarded by Reichenbach and his followers as an independent entitative force—which it certainly is— stored in man as it is in Nature [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mazdeans +

From (Ahura) Mazda. (See Spiegel’s ''Yasna'', xl.) They were the ancient Persian nobles who worshipped Ormazd, and, rejecting images, inspired the Jews with the same horror for every concrete representation of the Deity. They seem in Herodotus’ time to have been superseded by the Magian religionists. The Parsis and Gebers, (''geberim'', mighty men, of ''Genesis'' vi. and x. 8) appear to be Magian religionists [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kabalist +

From Q B L H, KABALA, an unwritten or oral tradition. The kabalist is a student of “secret science”, one who interprets the hidden meaning of the Scriptures with the help of the symbolical Kabala, and explains the real one by these means. The Tanaim were the first kabalists among the Jews; they appeared at Jerusalem about the beginning of the third century before the Christian era. The books of ''Ezekiel, Daniel, Henoch, ''and the ''Revelation ''of St. John, are purely kabalistical. This secret doctrine is identical with that of Chaldeans, and includes at the same time much of the Persian wisdom, or “magic”. History catches glimpses of famous kabalists ever since the eleventh century. The Mediæval ages, and even our own times, have had an enormous number of the most learned and intellectual men who were students of the Kabala (or Qabbalah, as some spell it). The most famous among the former were Paracelsus, Henry Khunrath, Jacob Böhmen, Robert Fludd, the two Van Helmonts, the Abbot John Trithemius, Cornelius Agrippa, Cardinal Nicolao Cusani, Jerome Carden, Pope Sixtus IV., and such Christian scholars as Raymond Lully, Giovanni Pico de la Mirandola, Guillaume Postel, the great John Reuchlin, Dr. Henry More, Eugenius Philalethes (Thomas Vaughan), the erudite Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, Christian Knorr(Baron) von Rosenroth; then Sir Isaac Newton., Leibniz, Lord Bacon, Spinosa, etc., etc., the list being almost inexhaustible. As remarked by Mr. Isaac Myer, in his Qabbalah, the ideas of the Kabalists have largely influenced European literature. “Upon the practical Qabbalah, the Abbé ,de Villars (nephew of de Montfaucon) in 1670, published his celebrated satirical novel, ‘The Count de Gabalis’, upon which Pope based his ‘Rape of the Lock’. Qabbalism ran through the Mediæval poems, the ‘Romance of the Rose’, and permeates the writings of Dante.” No two of them, however, agreed upon the origin of the Kabala, the ''Zohar, Sepher Yetzirah, ''etc. Some show it as coming from the Biblical Patriarchs, Abraham, and even Seth; others from Egypt, others again from Chaldea. The system is certainly very old; but like all the rest of systems, whether religious or philosophical, the Kabala is derived directly from the primeval Secret Doctrine of the East; through the Vedas, the Upanishads, Orpheus and Thales, Pythagoras and the Egyptians. Whatever its source, its substratum is at any rate identical with that of all the other systems from the ''Book of the Dead ''down to the later Gnostics. The best exponents of the ''Kabala ''in the Theosophical Society were among the earliest, Dr. S. Pancoast, of Philadelphia, and Mr. G. Felt; and among the latest, Dr. W. Wynn Westcott, Mr. S. L. Mac Gregor Mathers (both of the Rosicrucian College) and a few others. (See “ Qabbalah “.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

A

Altruism +

From alter = other. A quality opposed to egoism. Actions tending to do good to others, regardless of self. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cycle +

From the Greek ''Kuklos''. The ancients divided time into end less cycles, wheels within wheels, all such periods being of various durations, and each marking the beginning or the end of some event either cosmic, mundane, physical or metaphysical. There were cycles of only a few years, and cycles of immense duration, the great Orphic cycle, referring to the ethnological change of races, lasting 120,000 years, and the cycle of Cassandrus of 136,000, which brought about a complete change in planetary influences and their correlations between men and gods—a fact entirely lost sight of by modern astrologers [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Homogeneity +

From the Greek words ''homos ''“the same” and ''genos ''“kind”. That which is of the same nature throughout, undifferentiated, non‐compound, as gold is ''supposed ''to be [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Hierophant +

From the Greek “Hierophantes”; literally, “One who explains sacred things ”. The discloser of sacred learning and the Chief of the Initiates. A title belonging to the highest Adepts in the temples of antiquity, who were the teachers and expounders of the Mysteries and the Initiators into the final great Mysteries. The Hierophant represented the Demiurge, and explained to the postulants for Initiation the various phenomena of Creation that were produced for their tuition. “ He was the sole expounder of the esoteric secrets and doctrines. It was forbidden even to pronounce his name before an uninitiated person. He sat in the East, and wore as a symbol of authority a golden globe suspended from the neck. He was also called ''Mystagogus''” (Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, ix., F.T.S., in ''The Royal Masonic cyclopædia''). In Hebrew and Chaldaic the term was ''Peter'', the opener, discloser; hence the Pope as the successor of the hierophant of the ancient Mysteries, sits in the Pagan chair of St. Peter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Initiate +

From the Latin ''Initiatus''. The designation of anyone who was received into and had revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of either Masonry or Occultism. In times of antiquity, those who had been initiated into the arcane knowledge taught by the Hierophants of the Mysteries; and in our modern days those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real votaries on earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Laya +

From the root ''Li ''“to dissolve, to disintegrate” a point of equilibrium (''zero‐point'') in physics and chemistry. In occultism, that point where substance becomes homogeneous and is unable to act or differentiate [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jupiter +

From the same root as the Greek Zeus, the greatest god of the ancient Greeks and Romans, adopted also by other nations. His names are among others: (1) Jupiter‐Aërios; (2) Jupiter‐Ammon of Egypt ; (3) Jupiter Bel‐Moloch, the Chaldean; (4) Jupiter‐Mundus, Deus Mundus, “God of the World”; (5) Jupiter‐Fulgur, “the Fulgurant”, etc.,etc. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Initiation +

From the same root as the Latin ''initia, ''which means the basic or first principles of any Science. The practice of initiation or admission into the sacred Mysteries, taught by the Hierophants and learned priests of the Temples, is one of the most ancient customs. This was practised in every old national religion. In Europe it was abolished with the fall of the last pagan temple. There exists at present but one kind of initiation known to the public, namely that into the Masonic rites. Masonry, however, has no more secrets to give out or conceal. In the palmy days of old, the Mysteries, according to the greatest Greek and Roman philosophers, were the most sacred of all solemnities as well as the most beneficent, and greatly promoted virtue. The Mysteries represented the passage from mortal life into finite death, and the experiences of the disembodied Spirit and Soul in the world of subjectivity. In our own day, as the secret is lost, the candidate passes through sundry meaningless ceremonies and is initiated into the solar allegory of Hiram Abiff, the “Widow’s Son” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Anthropomorphism +

From “anthropos” meaning man. The act of endowing god or gods with a human form and human attributes or qualities [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

GARF +

GARF is a large Russian state archive, which houses documents from the highest bodies of Russian authority. +

F

Fludd +

Generally known as Robertus de Fluctibus, the chief of the “Philosophers by Fire”. A celebrated English Hermetist of the sixteenth century, and a voluminous writer. He wrote on the essence of gold and other mystic and occult subjects.[[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Daityas +

Giants, Titans, and exoterically demons, but in truth identical with certain Asuras, the intellectual gods, the opponents of the useless gods of ritualism and the enemies of ''puja ''sacrifices [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nephilim +

Giants, Titans, the Fallen Ones [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Merodach +

God of Babylon, the Bel of later times. He is the son of Davkina, goddess of the lower regions, or the earth, and of Hea, God of the Seas and Hades with the Orientalists; but esoterically and with the Akkadians, the Great God of Wisdom, “he who resurrects the dead”. Hea, Ea, Dagon or Oannes and Merodach are one [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kuvera +

God of the Hades, and of wealth like Pluto. The king of the evil demons in the Hindu Pantheon [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mysteries +

Greek ''teletai'', or finishings, celebrations of initiation or the Mysteries. They were observances, generally kept secret from the profane and uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation and other methods, the origin of things, the nature of the human spirit, its relation to the body, and the method of its purification and restoration to higher life. Physical science, medicine, the laws of music, divination, were all taught in the same manner. The Hippocratic oath was but a mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest of Asklepios, some of whose writings chanced to become public. But the Asklepiades were initiates of the Æsculapian serpent‐worship, as the Bacchantes were of the Dionysia; and both rites were eventually incorporated with the Eleusinia. The Sacred Mysteries were enacted in the ancient Temples by the initiated Hierophants for the benefit and instruction of the candidates. The most solemn and occult Mysteries were certainly those which were performed in Egypt by “the band of secret‐keepers”, as Mr. Bonwick calls the Hierophants. Maurice describes their nature very graphically in a few lines. Speaking of the Mysteries performed in Philæ (the Nile‐island), he says that “it was in these gloomy caverns that the grand and mystic arcana of the goddess (Isis) were unfolded to the adoring aspirant, while the solemn hymn of initiation resounded through the long extent of these stony recesses”. The word “mysteries” is derived from the Greek ''muô, ''“to close the mouth”, and every symbol connected with them had, a hidden meaning. As Plato and many other sages of antiquity affirm, the Mysteries were highly religious, moral and beneficent as a school of ethics. The Grecian mysteries, those of Ceres and Bacchus, were only imitations of the Egyptian; and the author of ''Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought'', informs us that our own “word ''chapel ''or ''capella ''is said to be the ''Caph‐El ''or college of ''El, ''the Solar divinity”. The well‐known ''Kabiri ''are associated with the Mysteries. In short, the Mysteries were in every country a series of dramatic performances, in which the mysteries of cosmogony and nature, in general, were personified by the priests and neophytes, who enacted the part of various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed scenes (allegories) from their respective lives. These were explained in their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation, and incorporated into philosophical doctrines [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

Mahabhutas +

Gross elementary principles of matter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bonati +

Guido. A Franciscan monk, born at Florence in the XIIIth century and died in 1306. He became an astrologer and alchemist, but failed as a Rosicrucian adept. He returned after this to his monastery [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Harper's New Monthly Magazine +

Harper's Magazine began as Harper's New Monthly Magazine in New York City in June 1850, by publisher Harper & Brothers. The early issues reprinted material pirated from English authors such as Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, and the Brontë sisters. The magazine soon was publishing the work of American artists and writers, and in time commentary by the likes of Winston Churchill and Woodrow Wilson. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP) +

N

New, John Chalfant +

He was a United States banker and lawyer who held a variety of government positions. He was Treasurer of the United States from 1875 to 1876 and served as U.S. consul general in London from 1889 to 1893. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP). +

M

Mathadhipatis +

Heads of various religious Brotherhoods in India, High Priests in Monasteries [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Eros +

Hesiod makes of the god Eros the third personage of the Hellenic primordial Trinity composed of Ouranos, Gæa and Eros. It is the personified procreative Force in nature in its abstract sense, the propeller to “creation” and procreation. Exoterically, mythology makes of Eros the god of lustful, animal desire, whence the term ''erotic ''esoterically, it is different. (See “ Kâma”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Esoteric +

Hidden, secret. From the Greek ''esotericos'', “inner” concealed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Archangel +

Highest supreme angel. From the Greek ''arch'', “chief” or “primordial”, and ''angelos, ''“messenger ” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brahmanas +

Hindu Sacred Books. Works composed by, and for Brahmans. Commentaries on those portions of the Vedas which were intended for the ritualistic use and guidance of the “twice‐born (Dwija) or Brahmans [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Assyrian +

Holy Scriptures''. Orientalists show seven such books: the Books of Mamit, of Worship, of Interpretations, of Going to Hades; two Prayer Books ''(Kanmagarri and Kanmikri: ''Talbot) and the Kantolite, the lost Assyrian Psalter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Aranyaka +

Holy hermits, sages who dwelt in ancient India in forests. Also a portion of the Vedas containing Upanishads, etc. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Karnaim +

Horned, an attribute of Ashtoreth and Astarte; those horns typify the male element, and convert the deity into an androgyne. Isis also is at times horned. Compare also the idea of the Crescent Moon—‐symbol of Isis—as horned. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Harviri +

Horns, the elder: the ancient name of a solar god: the rising sun represented as a god reclining on a full‐blown lotus, the symbol of the Universe [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Beth +

House, dwelling [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manushi +

Human Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or incarnated Dhyan Chohans [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Matronethah +

Identical with ''Malcuth'', the tenth Sephira. ''Lit''., Matrona is the “inferior mother” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Maya +

Illusion ; the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible. In Hindu philosophy that alone which is changeless and eternal is called ''reality ''; all that which is subject to change through decay and differentiation and which has therefore a begining and an end is regarded as ''mâyâ''—illusion [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nagkon Wat +

Imposing ruins in the province of Siamrap (Eastern Siam), if ruins they may be called. An abandoned edifice of most gigantic dimensions, which, together with the great temple of Angkorthâm, are the best preserved relics of the past in all Asia. After the Pyramids this is the most occult edifice in the whole world. Of an oblong form, it is 796 feet in length and 588 in width, entirely built of stone, the roof included, but ''without cement ''like the pyramids of Ghizeh, the stones fitting so closely that the joints are even now hardly discernible. It has a central pagoda 250 feet in height from the first floor, and four smaller pagodas at the four corners, about 175 feet each. In the words of a traveller, (''The Land of the White Elephant'', Frank Vincent, p. 209) “in style and beauty of architecture, solidity of construction, and magnificent and elaborate carving and sculpture, the great Nagkon Wat has no superior, certainly no rival, standing at the present day.” (See ''Isis Unv.'', Vol. I. pp. 561‐566.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Magnum Opus +

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

A

Alchemy +

In Arabic ''Ul‐Khemi, ''is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature. ''Ui‐Khemi ''or ''Al‐Kimia'', however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek chemeia, (''chemeia'') from cumoz — “juice”, sap extracted from a plant. Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: “The earliest use of the actual term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest‐extant alchemic treatise known in Europe; it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Æneas Gazeus, 480 A.D.” It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the ''mysterium magnum ''as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous substance from which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure gold, or ''summa materia''. This solvent, also called ''menstvuum universale, ''possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the ''lapis philosophorum ''(philosopher’s stone). Alchemy first penetrated into Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the eighth century of our era; but it was known and practised long ages ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. (See “Tabula Smaragdina”). Alchemy is studied under three distinct aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz.: the Cosmic, Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the three alchemical properties—sulphur, mercury, and salt. Different writers have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes respectively; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic and spiritual. While the Kabbalist‐Alchemist seeks for the realization of the former, the Occultist‐Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of the baser ''quaternary ''into the divine upper ''trinity ''of man, which when finally blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, air, water and earth, and are each capable of a threefold constitution, i.e., fixed, mutable and volatile. Little or nothing is known by the word concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy; but it is certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of the mythologies of the world; nor is there any doubt that the true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so‐ called historical period. Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but one element in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is only now beginning to find out its gross mistake. Even sonic Encyclopædists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmutations are fraud or delusion, “yet some of them are accompanied by testimony ''which renders them probable.'' . . By means of the galvanic battery even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base. The possibility of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients composing it, and ''of changing one metal into another ''. . . must therefore be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recommended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of their labours.” (''Pop. Encyclop''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

D

Dhyana +

In Buddhism one of the six Paramitas of perfection, a state of abstraction which carries the ascetic practising it far above this plane of sensuous perception and out of the world of matter. Lit., “contemplation”. The six stages of Dhyan differ only in the degrees of abstraction of the personal Ego from sensuous life [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Dhyani Bodhisattyas +

In Buddhism, the five sons of the Dhyani‐Buddhas. They have a mystic meaning in Esoteric Philosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Dharani +

In Buddhism—both Southern and Northern—and also in Hinduism, it means simply a ''mantra ''or ''mantras''—sacred verses from the ''Rig Veda. ''In days of old these mantras or Dhâranî were all considered mystical and practically efficacious in their use. At present, however, it is the Yogâchârya school alone which proves the claim in practice. When chanted according to given instructions a '''Dhâranî '''produces wonderful effects. Its occult power, however, does not reside in the ''words ''but in the inflexion or accent given and the resulting sound originated thereby. (See “Mantra” and “Akasa”) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Isis +

In Egyptian ''Issa'', the goddess Virgin‐Mother; personified nature. In Egyptian or Koptic ''Uasari, ''the female reflection of ''Uasar ''or Osiris. She is the “woman clothed with the sun” of the land of Chemi. Isis Latona is the Roman Isis [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hippopotamus +

In Egyptian symbolism Typhon was called “the hippopotamus who slew his father and violated his mother,” Rhea (mother of the gods). His father was Chronos. As applied therefore to Time and Nature (Chronos and Rhea), the accusation becomes comprehensible. The type of Cosmic Disharmony, Typhon, who is also Python, the monster formed of the slime of the Deluge of Deucalion, “violates” his mother, Primordial Harmony, whose beneficence was so great that she was called “The Mother of the Golden Age”. It was Typhon, who put an end to the latter, i.e., produced the first war of elements [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

S

Sons of Adi +

In Esoteric philosophy the “Sons of Adi” are called the “Sons of the Fire‐mist”. A term used of certain adepts. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chitkala +

In Esoteric philosophy, identical with the Kumâras those who first incarnated into the men of the Third Root‐Race. (See ''Sec.Doct''.; Vol. 1. p. 288 n.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Cain +

In Esoteric symbology he is said to be identical with Jehovah or the “Lord God” of the fourth chapter of ''Genesis''. It is held, moreover, that Abel is not his brother, but his female aspect. (See ''Sec.Doct''., ''sub voce''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dangma +

In Esotericism a purified Soul. A Seer and an Initiate; one who has attained full wisdom [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Ceres +

In Greek ''Demeter''. As the female aspect of Pater Æther, Jupiter, she is esoterically the productive principle in the all‐pervading Spirit that quickens every germ in the material universe [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Amen +

In Hebrew is formed of the letters A M N = 1,40,50 =91,and is thus a simile of “Jehovah Adonai”=10, 5, 6, 5 and 1,4, 50, 10 =91 together; it is one form of the Hebrew word for “truth”. In common parlance Amen is said to mean “so be it”. [ w.w.w.] But, in ''esoteric ''parlance ''Amen ''means “the concealed”. Manetho Sebennites says the word signifies ''that which is hidden ''and we know through Hecatæus and others that the Egyptians used the word to call upon their great God of Mystery, Ammon (or “Ammas, the hidden god ”) to make himself conspicuous and manifest to them. Bonomi, the famous hieroglyphist, calls his worshippers very pertinently the “Amenoph”, and Mr. Bonwick quotes a writer who says: “Ammon, the hidden god, will remain for ever hidden till anthropomorphically revealed; gods who are afar off are useless”. Amen is styled “Lord of the new‐moon festival”. Jehovah‐Adonai is a new form of the ram‐headed god Amoun or Ammon (q.v.) who was invoked by the Egyptian priests under the name of Amen. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jerusalem +

In Hebrew it is written Yrshlim or “city of peace”,but the ancient Greeks called it pertinently ''Hierosalem ''or “Secret Salem”, since Jerusalem is a rebirth from Salem of which Melchizedek was the King‐Hierophant, a declared Astrolator and worshipper of the Sun,’“the Most High” by‐the‐bye. There also Adoni‐Zedek reigned in his turn, and was the last of its Amorite Sovereigns. He allied himself with four others, and these five kings went to conquer back Gideon, but (according to ''Joshua ''X) came out of the affray second best. And no wonder, since these five kings were opposed, not only by Joshua but by the “Lord God”, and by the Sun and the Moon also. On that day, we read, at the command of the successor of Moses, “the sun stood still and the moon stayed” (v. 13) for the whole day. No mortal man, king or yeoman, could withstand, of course, such a shower “of great stones from heaven” as was cast upon them by the Lord himself . . . . “from Beth‐horon unto Azekah” “and they died” (v. ii). After having died they “fled and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah” (v. i6). It appears, however, that such undignified behaviour in a God received its Karmic punishment afterwards. At different epochs of history, the Temple of the Jewish Lord was sacked, ruined and burnt (See“Mount Moriah”)—holy ark of the covenant, cherubs, Shekinah and all, but that deity seemed as powerless to protect his property from desecration as though they were no more stones left in heaven. After Pompey had taken the Second Temple in 63, B.c., and the third one, built by Herod the Great, had been razed to the ground by the Romans, in 70 A.D., no new temple was allowed to be built in the capital of the “chosen people” of the Lord. In spite of the Crusades, since the XIIIth century Jerusalem has belonged to the Mahommedans, and almost every site holy and dear to the memory of the old Israelites, and also of the Christians, is now covered by minarets and mosques, Turkish barracks and other monuments of Islam [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

D

Dynasties +

In India there are two, the Lunar and the Solar, or the ''Somavansa ''and the ''Suryavansa''. In Chaldea and Egypt there were also two distinct kinds of dynasties, the ''divine ''and the ''human. ''In both countries people were ruled in the beginning of time by Dynasties of Gods. In Chaldea they reigned one hundred and twenty Sari, or in all 432,000 years; which amounts to the same figures as a Hindu Mahayuga 4,320,000 years. The chronology prefacing the ''Book of Genesis ''(English translation) is given “Before Christ, 4004”. But the figures are a rendering by solar years. In the original Hebrew, which preserved a lunar calculation, the figures are 4,320 years. This “coincidence” is well explained in Occultism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jörd +

In Northern Germany the goddess of the Earth, the same as Nerthus and the Scandinavian Freya or Frigg [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Demerit +

In Occult and Buddhistic parlance, a constituent of Karma. It is through ''avidya ''or ignorance of ''vidya, ''divine illumination, that merit and demerit are produced. Once an Arhat obtains full illumination and perfect control over his personality and lower nature, he ceases to create merit and demerit [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Illusion +

In Occultism everything finite (like the universe and all in it) is called illusion or ''maya'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Imagination +

In Occultism this is not to be confused with fancy, as it is one of the plastic powers of the higher Soul, and is the memory of the preceding incarnations, which, however disfigured by the lower Manas, yet rests always on a ground of truth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Namah +

In Pali ''Namo''. The first word of a daily invocation among Buddhists, meaning “I humbly trust, or adore, or acknowledge” the Lord; as: “Namo tasso Bhagavato Arahato” etc., addressed to Lord Buddha. The priests are called “Masters of Namah”—both Buddhist and Taoist, because this word is used in liturgy and prayers, in the invocation of the ''Triratna ''(''q.v''.), and with a slight change in the occult incantations to the ''Bodhisvattvas ''and ''Nirmânakâyas.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Ideos +

In Paracelsus the same as Chaos, or ''Mysterium Magnum ''as that philosopher calls it [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Iliados +

In Paracelsus the same as “Ideos” (q.v.). Primordial matter in the subjective state [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhikshu +

In Pâli ''Bihkhu''. The name given to the first followers of Sâkyamuni Buddha. Lit., “mendicant scholar”. The ''Sanskrit Chinese Dictionary ''explains the term correctly by dividing Bhikshus into two classes of ''Sramanas ''(Buddhist monks and priests), viz., “esoteric mendicants who control their nature by the (religious) law, and exoteric mendicants who control their nature by ''diet'';” and it adds, less correctly: “every true Bhikshu is supposed to work miracles” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gems, Three precious +

In Southern Buddhism these are the sacred books, the Buddhas and the priesthood. In Northern Buddhism and its secret schools, the Buddha, his sacred teachings, and the Narjols (Buddhas of Compassion) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Materializations +

In Spiritualism the word signifies the objective appearance of the so‐called “Spirits” of the dead, who reclothe themselves occasionally in matter; ''i.e.'', they form for themselves out of the materials at hand, which are found in the atmosphere and the emanations of those present, a temporary body hearing the human likeness of the defunct as he appeared, when alive. Theosophists accept the phenomenon of “materialization”; but they reject the theory that it is produced by “ Spirits”, ''i.e.'', the immortal principles of the disembodied persons. Theosophists hold that when the phenomenon is genuine—and it is a fact of rarer occurrence than is generally believed—it is produced by the ''larvæ'', the ''eidola ''or Kamalokic “ghosts” of dead personalities. (See “Kâmadhâtu”, “Kâmaloka” and “Kâmarupa”.) As Kâmaloka is on the earth plane and differs from its degree of materiality only in the degree of its plane of consciousness, for which reason it is concealed from our normal sight, the occasional apparition of such shells is as natural as that of electric balls and other atmospheric phenomena. Electricity as a fluid, or atomic matter (for Theosophists hold with Maxwell that it ''is ''atomic), though invisible, is ever present in the air, and manifests under various shapes, but only when certain conditions are there to “materialize” the fluid, when it passes from its own on to our plane and makes itself objective. Similarly with the ''eidola ''of the dead. They are present, around us, but being on another plane do not see us any more than we see them. But whenever the strong desires of living men and the conditions furnished by the abnormal constitutions of mediums are combined together, these ''eidola ''are drawn— nay, ''pulled ''down from their plane on to ours and made objective. This is ''Necromancy ''; it does no good to the dead, and great harm to the living, in addition to the fact that it interferes with a law of nature. The occasional materialization of the “astral bodies” or ''doubles ''of living persons is quite another matter. These “astrals” are often mistaken for the apparitions of the dead, since, chameleon‐like, our own “Elementaries”, along with those of the disembodied and cosmic Elementals, will often assume the appearance of those images which are strongest in our thoughts. In short, at the so‐called “materialization” seances it is those present and the medium, who ''create ''the peculiar likeness of the ''apparitions''. Independent “apparitions” belong to another kind of psychic phenomena. Materializations are also called “form‐manifestations” and “portrait statues”. To call them materialized spirits is inadmissible, for they are not spirits but animated portrait‐statues, indeed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

K

Khubilkhan +

In Tibet the names given to the supposed incarnations of Buddha. Elect Saints [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avebury +

In Wiltshire are the remains of an ancient megalithic Serpent temple: according to the eminent antiquarian Stukeley, 1740, there are traces of two circles of stones and two avenues; the whole has formed the representation of a serpent. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mystes +

In antiquity, the name of the new Initiates; now that of Roman Cardinals, who having borrowed all their other rites and dogmas from Aryan, Egyptian and Hellenic “heathen”, have helped themselves also to the '''musiz '''of the neophytes. They have ''to keep their eyes and mouth shut on their ''consecration and are, therefore, called ''Mystæ'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Leviathan +

In biblical esotericism, Deity in its double manifestation of good and evil. The meaning may be found in the ''Zohar ''(II. 34''b''.) “Rabbi Shimeon said: The work of the beginning (of ‘creation’) the companions (candidates) study and understand it; but the ''little ones ''(the full or perfect Initiates) are those who understand the allusion to the work of the beginning ''by the Mystery of the Serpent of the Great Sea ''(to wit) ''Thanneen, Leviathan''.” (See also ''Qabbalah, ''by I. Myer.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Geber +

In heaven, they are regarded as powerful angels, on earth as the giants mentioned in chapter vi. of ''Genesis'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Emanation +

In its metaphysical meaning, it is opposed to Evolution, yet one with it. Science teaches that evolution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that develops the foetus pre‐exists already in the parent, the development and final form and characteristics of that germ being accomplished in nature; and that in cosmology the process takes place blindly through the correlation of the elements, and their various compounds. Occultism answers that this is only the '''''apparent '''''mode, the real process being Emanation, guided by intelligent Forces under an immutable LAW. Therefore, while the Occultists and Theosophists believe thoroughly in the doctrine of Evolution as given out by Kapila and Manu, they are ''Emanationists ''rather than ''Evolutionists. ''The doctrine of Emanation was at one time universal. It was taught by the Alexandrian as well as by the Indian philosophers, by the Egyptian, the Chaldean and Hellenic Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (in their Kabbala, and even in ''Genesis)''. For it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew word asdt has been translated “angels” from the Septuagint, when it means ''Emanations, Æons'', precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word ''asdt ''or ''ashdt ''is translated as” fiery law”, whilst the correct rendering of the passage should be “from his right hand went [ not a fiery law, but a fire according to law “; viz., that the fire of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail of inflammable substance. This is precisely emanation. As shown in Isis Unveiled : “In Evolution, as it is now beginning to he understood, there is supposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher form—a supposition clearly expressed by Manu and other Hindu philosophers of the highest antiquity. The philosopher’s tree illustrates it in the case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the followers of this school and the Emanationists may he briefly stated thus The Evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of ‘ the Unknowable “; the Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved—or, as the word means, unwombed or born—except it has first been involved, thus indicating that life is from a spiritual potency above the whole.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

K

Kailasa +

In metaphysics “heaven”, the abode of gods; geographically a mountain range in the Himalayas, north of the Mansaravâra lake, called also lake ''Manasa.' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Makaram +

In occult symbology a pentagon, the five‐pointed star, the five limbs, or extremities, of man. Very mystical [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Mehen +

In popular myths, the great serpent which represents the lower atmosphere. In Occultism, the world of the ''Astral light'', called symbolically the Cosmic Dragon and the Serpent. (See the works of Eliphaz Lévi, who called this light ''le Serpent du Mal'', and by other names, attributing to it all the evil influences on the earth.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Archons +

In profane and biblical language “rulers” and princes; in Occultism, primordial planetary spirits [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dwarf of Death +

In the ''Edda ''of the Norsemen, Iwaldi, the Dwarf of Death, hides Life in the depths of the great ocean, and then sends her up into the world at the right time. This Life is Iduna, the beauti‐ ful maiden, the daughter of the “Dwarf”. She is the Eve of the Scandinavian Lays, for she gives of the apples of ever‐ renewed youth to the gods of Asgard to eat ; but these, instead of being cursed for so doing and doomed to die, give thereby renewed youth yearly to the earth and to men, after every short and sweet sleep in the arms of the Dwarf. Iduna is raised from the Ocean when Bragi ''(q.v.)'', the Dreamer of Life, without spot or blemish, crosses asleep the silent waste of waters. Bragi is the divine ideation of Life, and Iduna living Nature—Prakriti, Eve [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Freya +

In the ''Edda'', Frigga is the mother of the gods like Aditi in the ''Vedas''. She is identical with the Northern Frea of the Germans, and in her lowest aspect was worshipped as the all‐ nourishing Mother Earth. She was seated on her golden throne, formed of webs of golden light, with three divine virgins as her handmaidens and messengers, and was occupied with spinning golden threads with which to reward good men. She is Isis and Diana at the same time, for she is also Holda, the mighty huntress, and she is Ceres‐Demeter, who protects agriculture—the moon and nature [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adam +

In the ''Kabalah ''Adam is the “only‐begotten”, and means also “red earth”. (See “Adam‐Adami” in the ''S.D. ''II p. 452.) It is almost identical with ''Athamas ''or ''Thomas'', and is rendered into Greek by ''Didumos'', the “twin”—Adam, “the first”, in chap. 1 of ''Genesis, ''being shown, “male‐female.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Continents +

In the Buddhist cosmogony, according to Gautama Buddha’s exoteric doctrine, there are numberless systems of worlds (or ''Sakwala'') all of which are born, mature, decay, and are destroyed periodically. Orientalists translate the teaching about “the four great continents which do not communicate with each other”, as meaning that “upon the earth there are four great continents” (see Hardy’s ''Eastern Monachism'', p. 4), while the doctrine means simply that around or ''above ''the earth there are on either side four worlds, i.e., the earth appearing as the fourth on each side of the arc [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hatchet +

In the Egyptian Hieroglyphics a symbol of power, and also of death. The hatchet is called the “Severer of the Knot ” i.e., of marriage or any other tie [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Myalba +

In the Esoteric philosophy of Northern Buddhism, the name of our Earth, called '''Hell '''for those who reincarnate in it for punishment. Exoterically, Myalba is translated a Hell [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Memrab +

In the Kabala, “the voice of the will” i.e., the collective forces of nature in activity, called the “Word”, or Logos, by the Jewish Kabalists [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Deona Mati +

In the Kolarian dialect, one who exorcises evil spirits [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abatur +

In the Nazarene system the “Ancient of Days”, ''Antiquus Altus'', the Father of the Demiurgus of the Universe, is called the ''Third Life ''or “Abatur”. He corresponds to the ''Third ''“Logos” in the ''Secret Doctrine''. (See ''Codex Nazaræus'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Magus +

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

D

Donar +

In the North the God of Thunder. He was the Jupiter Tonans of Scandinavia. Like as the oak was devoted to Jupiter so was it sacred to Thor, and his altars were over shadowed with oak trees. Thor, or Donar, was the offspring of Odin, “the omnipotent God of Heaven”, and of Mother Earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nout +

In the Pantheon of the Egyptians it meant the “One‐ only‐One”, because they did not proceed in their popular or exoteric religion higher than the third manifestation which radiates from the ''Unknown ''and the ''Unknowable'', the first unmanifested and the second ''logoi ''in the esoteric philosophy of every nation. The Nous of Anaxagoras was the ''Mahat ''of the Hindu Brahmâ, ''the first manifested ''Deity—“the Mind or Spirit self‐potent”; this creative Principle being of course the ''primum mobile ''of everything in the Universe—its Soul and Ideation. (See “Seven Principles” in man.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chhassidi +

In the Septuagint ''Assidai'', and in English ''Assideans''. They are also mentioned in ''Maccabees ''I., vii., 13, as being put to death with many others. They were the followers of Mattathias, the father of the Maccabeans, and were all initiated mystics, or Jewish adepts. The word means ‘‘ skilled learned in all wisdom, human and divine”. Mackenzie (R.M.C.) regards them as the guardians of the Temple for the preservation of its purity ; but as Solomon and his Temple are both allegorical and had no real existence, the Temple means in this case the “ body of Israel ” and its morality.“ Scaliger connects this Society of the ''Assideans ''with that of the Essenes, deeming it the predecessor of the latter.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dis +

In the Theogony of Damascius, the same as ''Protogonos, ''the “first born light”, called by that author “the disposer of all things [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asura Mazda +

In the Zend, ''Ahura Mazda''. The same as Ormuzd or Mazdeô; the god of Zoroaster and the Parsis [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Daemon +

In the original Hermetic works and ancient classics it has a meaning identical with that of “god”, “angel” or “genius”. The Dæmon of Socrates is the incorruptible part of the man, or rather the real inner man which we call Nous or the rational divine Ego. At all events the Dæmon (or Daimon of the great Sage was surely not the demon of the Christian Hell or of Christian orthodox theology. The name was given by ancient peoples, and especially the philosophers of the Alexandrian school, to all kinds of spirits, whether good or bad, human or otherwise. The appellation is often synonymous with that of gods or angels. But some philosophers tried, with good reason, to make a just distinction between the many classes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Naraka +

In the popular conception, a hell, a “prison under earth”. The hot and cold hells, each eight in number, are simply emblems of the globes of our septenary chain, with the addition of the “eighth sphere” supposed to be located in the moon. This is a transparent ''blind'', as these “hells” are called ''vivifying hells ''because, as explained, any being dying in one is immediately born in the second, then in the third, and so on; life lasting in each 500 years (a blind on the number of cycles and reincarnations). As these hells constitute one of the six ''gâti ''(conditions of sentient existence), and as people are said to be reborn in one or the other according to their Karmic merits or demerits, the blind becomes self‐ evident. Moreover, these Nârakas are rather purgatories than hells, since release from each is possible through ''the prayers and intercessions of priests for a consideration'', just as in the Roman Catholic Church, which seems to have copied the Chinese‐ritualism in this pretty closely. As said before, esoteric philosophy traces every hell to life on earth, in one or another form of sentient existence [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kamadeva +

In the popular notions the god of love, a Visva‐deva, in the Hindu Pantheon. As the ''Eros ''of Hesiod, degraded into Cupid by exoteric law, and still more degraded by a later popular sense attributed to the term, so is Kama a most mysterious and metaphysical subject. The earlier Vedic description of Kama alone gives the key‐note to what he emblematizes. Kama is the first conscious, ''all embracing desire ''for universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs help and kindness, the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy that arose in the consciousness of the creative ONE Force, as soon as it came into life and being as a ray from the ABSOLUTE. Says the ''Rig Veda'', “Desire first arose in IT, which was the primal germ of mind, and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have discovered in their heart to be the bond which connects Entity with non‐ Entity”, or ''Manas ''with pur''e Atma‐Buddhi''. There is no idea of sexual love in the conception. Kama is pre‐eminently the divine desire of creating happiness and love; and it is only ages later, as mankind began to materialize by anthropomorphization its grandest ideals into cut and dried dogmas, that Kama became the power that gratifies desire on the animal plane. This is shown by what every ''Veda ''and some ''Brahmanas ''say. In the ''Atharva Veda, ''Kama is represented as the Supreme Deity and Creator. In the Taitarîya Brahmana, he is the child of Dharma, the god of Law and Justice, of Sraddha and faith. In another account he springs from the heart of Brahmâ. Others show him born from water, i.e., from primordial chaos, or the “Deep”. Hence one of his many names, ''Irâ‐ja, ''“the water‐ born”; and ''Aja, ''“unborn” ; and ''Atmabhu ''or “Self‐ existent”. Because of the sign of ''Makara ''(Capricornus) on his banner, he is also called “ Makara Ketu”. The allegory about Siva, the “Great Yogin ”, reducing Kama to ashes by the fire from his ''central ''(or third) ''Eye'', for inspiring the Mahadeva with thoughts of his wife, while he was at his devotions—is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama to his primeval spiritual form [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

B

Blavatsky, Yuri +

Infant-ward of H. P. Blavatsky and N. V. Blavatsky. +

A

Anumitis +

Inference, deduction in philosophy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cosmic Gods +

Inferior gods, those connected with the formation of matter [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Athenaeum, The +

Initiated in 1828 by James Silk Buckingham, it was sold within a few weeks to Frederick Maurice and John Sterling, who failed to make it profitable. In 1829, Charles Wentworth Dilke became part proprietor and editor; he greatly extended the influence of the magazine. In 1846, he resigned the editorship and assumed that of the Daily News of London, but contributed a series of notable articles to the Athenaeum. The poet and critic Thomas Kibble Hervey succeeded Dilke as editor and served from 1846 until his resignation due to ill health in 1853. Historian and traveller William Hepworth Dixon succeeded Hervey in 1853, and remained editor until 1869. Editor from 1871 to 1900 was Norman MacColl. From 1849 to 1880 Geraldine Jewsbury contributed more than 2300 reviews. She was one of very few women who reviewed for the Athenaeum and started submitting her reviews regularly by 1854. She rated highly novels that showed character morality and were also entertaining. She criticized the "fallen woman" theme, which was common in Victorian literature. During the second half of the 1850s, Jewsbury was entrusted with editing the "New Novels" section. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP) +

D

Diksha +

Initiation. ''Dikshit, ''an Initiate [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Evapto +

Initiation; the same as ''Epopteia'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Acacia +

Innocence; and also a plant used in Freemasonry as a symbol of initiation, immortality, and purity; the tree furnished the sacred Shittim wood of the Hebrews. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adbhuta +

Is a title of Vishnu, the “first Element” containing all elements, “the ''unfathomable ''deity”. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nesku +

Is described in the Assyrian tablets as the “holder of the golden sceptre, the lofty god” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Atef +

It consisted of a tall white cap with ram’s horns, and the ''urœus ''in front. Its two feathers represent the two truths—''life and death.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lost Word +

It ought to stand as “lost words” and lost secrets, in general, for that which is termed the lost “Word” is no word at all, as in the case of the Ineffable Name (''q.v''.) The Royal Arch Degree in Masonry, has been “in search of it” since it was founded. But the “dead”—‐especially those ''murdered''—do not speak; and were even “the Widow’s Son” to come back to life “materialized”, he could hardly reveal that which never existed in the form in which it is ''now ''taught. The SHEMHAMPHORASH (the separated name, through the power of which according to his detractors, Jeshu Ben Pandira is said to have wrought his miracles, after stealing it from the Temple)—whether derived from the “self existent substance” of Tetragrammaton, or not, can never be a substitute, for the lost LOGOS of divine magic [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

New York Evening Post +

It was established in 1801 by Federalist and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, and became a respected broadsheet in the 19th century, under the name New York Evening Post. Its most famous 19th-century editor was William Cullen Bryant. [[Category: Wikipedia (CTD terms)]] (WP) +

A

Aymar +

Jacques. A famous Frenchman who had great success in the use of the Divining Rod about the end of the 17th century; he was often employed in detecting criminals; two M.D’s of the University of Paris, Chauvin and Garnier reported on the reality of his powers. See Colquhoun on ''Magic. ''[ w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bassantin +

James. A Scotch astrologer. He lived in the 16th century and is said to have predicted to Sir Robert Melville, in 1562, the death and all the events connected therewith of Mary, the unfortunate Queen of Scots [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Borri +

Joseph Francis. A great Hermetic philosopher, born at Milan in the 17th century. He was an adept, an alchemist and a devoted occultist. He knew too much and was, therefore, condemned to death for heresy, in January, 1661, after the death of Pope Innocent X. He escaped and lived many years after, when finally he was recognised by a monk in a Turkish village, denounced, claimed by the Papal Nuncio, taken back to Rome and imprisoned, August 10th, 1675. But facts show that he escaped from his prison in a way no one could account for [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gyn +

Knowledge acquired under the tuition of an adept teacher or guru [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Gnâna +

Knowledge as applied to the esoteric sciences [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jhâna +

Knowledge; Occult Wisdom [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Daath +

Knowledge; “the conjunction of Chokmah and Binah, Wisdom and Understanding”: sometimes, in error, called a Sephira. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Asuramaya +

Known also as ''Mayâsura''. An Atlantean astronomer, considered as a great magician and sorcerer, well‐known in Sanskrit works [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Iu‐Kabar Zivo +

Known also as Nebat‐Iavar‐bar‐ Iufin‐Ifafin, “Lord of the Æons” in the Nazarene System. He is the procreator (Emanator) of the ''seven holy lives ''(the seven primal Dhyan Chohans, or Archangels, each representing one of the cardinal Virtues), and is himself called the third life (''third ''Logos). In the Codex he is addressed as “the Helm and ''Vine ''of the food of life”. Thus, he is identical with Christ (Christos) who says “I am the ''true Vine ''and my Father is the Husband‐ man “(John xv. i). It is well known that Christ is regarded in the Roman Catholic Church, as the “chief of the Æons”, and also as Michael “who is like god”. Such was also the belief of the Gnostics [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mukta +

Liberation from sentient life; one beatified or liberated; a candidate for ''Moksha'', freedom from flesh and matter, or life on this earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lif +

Lif and Lifthresir, the only two human beings who were allowed to be present at the “Renewal of the World”. Being “pure and innocent and free from sinful desires, they are permitted to enter the world where peace now reigns”. The ''Edda ''shows them hidden in Hoddmimir’s forest dreaming the dreams of childhood while the last conflict was taking place. These two creatures, and the allegory in which they take part, are allusions to the few nations of the Fourth Root Race, who, surviving the great submersion of their continent and the majority of their Race, passed into the Fifth and continued their ethnical evolution in our present Human Race [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jiva +

Life, as the Absolute; the Monad also or “Atma‐ Buddhi” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chiah +

Life; Vita, ''Revivificatio''. In the Kabbala, the second highest essence of the human soul, corresponding to Chokmah (Wisdom) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Apava +

Lit. “He who sports in the Water”. Another aspect of Nârâyana or Vishnu and of Brahmâ combined, for Âpava, like the latter, divides himself into two parts, male and female, and creates Vishnu, who creates Virâj, who creates Manu. The name is explained and interpreted in various ways in Brahmanical literature [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Djnana +

Lit., Knowledge; esoterically, “supernal or divine knowledge acquired by Yoga”. Written also ''Gnyana'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Niti +

Lit., Prudence, ethics [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dharmachakra +

Lit., The turning of the “wheel of the Law”. The emblem of Buddhism as a system of cycles and rebirths or reincarnations [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nitya Parivrita +

Lit., continuous extinction [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Enoichion +

Lit., the ''inner ''Eye” ; the “Seer”, a reference to the third ''inner'', or Spiritual Eye, the true name for Enoch disfigured from ''Chanoch.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gatra +

Lit., the ''limbs ''(of Brahmâ) from which the “mind‐born” sons, the seven Kumâras, were born [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avarasaila Sangharama +

Lit., the School of the Dwellers on the western mountain. A celebrated Vihâra (monastery) in Dhana‐kstchâka, according to Eitel, “built 600 B.C., and deserted A.D. 600” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Maha Manvantara +

Lit., the great interludes between the “Manus”. The period of universal activity. Manvantara implying here simply a period of activity, as opposed to Pralaya, or rest—without reference to the length of the cycle [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chhannagarikah +

Lit., the school of six cities. A famous philosophical school where Chelas are prepared before entering on the Path [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bodhyanga +

Lit., the seven branches of knowledge or understanding. One of the 37 categories of the ''Bodhi pakchika dharma, ''comprehending seven degrees of intelligence (esoterically, seven states of consciousness), and these are (1) ''Smriti “''memory”; (2) Dharma pravitchaya, “correct understanding” or discrimination of the Law ; (3) ''Virya, ''“energy” ; (4) ''Priti, ''“spiritual joy” ; (5)''Prasrabdhi, ''“tranquillity” or quietude; (6) ''Samâdhi'', “ecstatic contemplation”; and (7) ''Upeksha ''“absolute indifference” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chadayatana +

Lit., the six dwellings or ''gates ''in man for the reception of sensations; thus, on the physical plane, the eyes, nose, ear, tongue, body (or touch) and mind, as a product of the physical brain and on the mental plane (esoterically), ''spiritual ''sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch and perception, the whole synthesized by the ''Buddhi‐atmic ''element. Chadâyatana is one of the 12 Nidânas, which form the chain of incessant causation and effect [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hydranos +

Lit., the “Baptist”. A name of the ancient Hierophant of the Mysteries who made the candidate pass through the “trial by water”, wherein he was plunged thrice. This was his baptism by the Holy Spirit which moves on the waters of Space. Paul refers to St. John as ''Hydranos, ''the Baptist. The Christian Church took this rite from the ritualism of the Eleusinian and other Mysteries [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mundakya Upanishad +

Lit., the “Mundaka esoteric doctrine”, a work of high antiquity. It has been translated by Raja Rammohun Roy [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Manodhatu +

Lit., the “World of the mind”, meaning not only all our mental faculties, but also one of the divisions of the plane of mind. Each human being has his ''Manodhatu ''or plane of thought proportionate with the degree of his intellect and his mental faculties, beyond which he can go only by studying and developing his higher spiritual faculties in one of the higher spheres of thought [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adikrit +

Lit., the “first produced” or made. The creative Force eternal and uncreate, but manifesting periodically. Applied to Vishnu slumbering on the “waters of space” during “pralaya” (q.v.). [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahabharata +

Lit., the “great war”; the celebrated epic poem of India (probably the longest poem in the world) which includes both the ''Ramayana ''and the ''Bhagavad Gîtâ ''“the Song Celestial”. No two Orientalists agree as to its date. But it is undeniably extremely ancient [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Manas Taijasi +

Lit., the “radiant” Manas; a state of the Higher Ego, which only high metaphysicians are able to realize and comprehend [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Amulam Mulam +

Lit., the “rootless root” ; Mulâprakriti of the Vedantins the spiritual “root of nature” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Orpheus +

Lit., the “tawny one”. Mythology makes him the son of Æager and the muse Calliope. Esoteric tradition identifies him with Arjuna, the son of Indra and the disciple of Krishna. He went round the world teaching the nations wisdom and sciences, and establishing mysteries. The very story of his losing his Eurydice and finding her in the underworld or Hades, is another point of resemblance with the story of Arjuna, who goes to Pâtàla (''Hades ''or hell, but in reality the Antipodes or America) and finds there and marries Ulupi, the daughter of the Nâga king. This is as suggestive as the fact that he was considered ''dark ''in complexion even by the Greeks, who were never very fair‐skinned themselves [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arjuna +

Lit., the “white”. The third of the five Brothers Pandu or the reputed Sons of Indra (esoterically the same as Orpheus). A disciple of Krishna, who visited him and married Su‐bhadrâ, his sister, besides many other wives, according to the allegory. During the fratricidal war between the ''Kauravas ''and the ''Pândavas, ''Krishna instructed him in the highest philosophy, while serving as his charioteer. ''(See Bhaguvad Gîtâ''.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kailem +

Lit., vessels or vehicles; the vases for the source of the Waters of Life ; used of the Ten Sephiroth, considered as the primeval ''nuclei ''of all Kosmic Forces. Some Kabalists regard them as manifesting in the universe through twenty‐two canals, which are represented by the twenty‐two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, thus making with the Ten Sephiroth thirty‐two paths of wisdom. [w. w. w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Aethrobacy +

Lit., walking on, or being lifted into the air with no visible agent at work; “levitation”. It may be conscious or unconscious; in the one case it is magic, in the other either disease or a power which requires a few words of elucidation. We know that the earth is a magnetic body; in fact, as some scientists have found, and as Paracelsus affirmed some 300 years ago, it is one vast magnet. It is charged with one form of electricity—let us call it positive—which it evolves continuously by spontaneous action, in its interior or centre of motion. Human bodies, in common with all other forms of matter, are charged with the opposite form of electricity, the negative. That is to say, organic or inorganic bodies, if left to themselves will constantly and involuntarily charge themselves with and evolve the form of electricity opposite to that of the earth itself. Now, what is weight? Simply the attraction of the earth. “Without the attraction of the earth you would have no weight”, says Professor Stewart; “and if you had an earth twice as heavy as this, you would have double the attraction”. How then, can we get rid of this attraction? According to the electrical law above stated, there is an attraction between our planet and the organisms upon it, which keeps them upon the surface of the globe. But the law of gravitation has been counteracted in many instances, by levitation of persons and inanimate objects. How account for this? The condition of our physical systems, say theurgic philosophers, is largely dependent upon the action of our will. If well‐ regulated, it can produce “miracles”; among others a change of this electrical polarity from negative to positive; the man’s relations with the earth‐magnet would then become repellent, and “gravity”for him would have ceased to exist. It would then be as natural for him to rush into the air until the repellent force had exhausted itself, as, before, it had been for him to remain upon the ground. The altitude of his levitation would be measured by his ability, greater or less, to charge his body with positive electricity. This control over the physical forces once obtained, alteration of his levity or gravity would be as easy as breathing. (See ''Isis Unveiled'', Vol. I., page xxiii.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

Asomatous +

Lit., without a material body, incorporeal; used of celestial Beings and Angels [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Foh‐tchou +

Lit., “Buddha’s Lord”, meaning, however, simply the teacher of the doctrines of Buddha. Foh means a Guru who lives generally in a temple of Sakyamuni Buddha—the Foh‐Maeyu [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Adi‐Sanat +

Lit., “First Ancient”. The term corresponds to the Kabalistic “ancient of days”, since it is a title of Brahmâ—called in the ''Zohar ''the ''Atteekah d’Atteekeen, ''or “the Ancient of the Ancients”, ''etc.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Epimetheus +

Lit., “He who takes counsel ''after''” the event. A brother of Prometheus in Greek Mythology [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arya‐Dasa +

Lit., “Holy Teacher”. A great sage and Arhat of the Mahâsamghika school [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Daenam +

Lit., “Knowledge”, the principle of understanding in man, rational Soul, or ''Manas'', according to the ''Avesta.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jagan‐Natha +

Lit., “Lord of the World”, a title of Vishnu. The great image of Jagan‐natha on its car, commonly pronounced and spelt Jagernath. The idol is that of Vishnu Krishna. Puri, near the town of Cuttack in Orissa, is the great seat of its worship; and twice a year an immense number of pilgrims attend the festivals of the Snâna yâtra and Ratha‐âtra During the first, the image is bathed, and during the second it is placed on a car, between the images of ''Balarâma ''the brother, and ''Subhadr''â the sister of Krishna and the huge vehicle is drawn by the devotees, who deem it felicity to be crushed to death under it [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nara Sinha +

Lit., “Man‐lion”; an Avatar of Vishnu [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abhayagiri +

Lit., “Mount Fearless” in Ceylon. It has an ancient ''Vihâra ''or Monastery in which the well‐known Chinese traveller Fa‐hien found 5,000 Buddhist priests and ascetics in the year 400 of our era, and a School called ''Abhayagiri Vâsinah'',, “School of the Secret Forest”. This philosophical school was regarded as heretical, as the ascetics studied the doctrines of both the “greater” and the “smaller” vehicles— or the ''Mahâyâna ''and the ''Hinayâna ''systems and ''Triyâna ''or the three successive degrees of Yoga; just as a certain Brotherhood does now beyond the Himalayas. This proves that the “disciples of Kâtyâyana were and are as ''unsectarian ''as their humble admirers the Theosophists are now. (See “Sthâvirâhʺ School.) This was the most mystical of all the schools, and renowned for the number of Arhats it produced. The Brotherhood of ''Abhayagiri ''called themselves the disciples of Kâtyâyana, the favourite Chela of Gautama, the Buddha. Tradition says that owing to bigoted intolerance and persecution, they left Ceylon and passed beyond the Himalayas, where they have remained ever since. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Ayin +

Lit., “Nothing”, whence the name of Ain‐ Soph. (See“Ain”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dugpas +

Lit., “Red Caps,” a sect in Tibet. Before the advent of ''Tsong‐ka‐pa ''in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the tenets of the old ''Bhon ''religion,—were all Dugpas. From that century, however, and after the rigid laws imposed upon the ''Gelukpas ''(yellow caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism), the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery, immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word Dugpas has become a synonym of “sorcerer”, “adept of black magic” and everything vile. There are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan, Sikkim, and the borderlands generally. Europeans not being permitted to penetrate further than those borders, the Orientalists never having studied Buddho‐Lamaism in Tibet proper, but judging of it on hearsay and from what Cosmo di Köros, Schlagintweit, and a few others have learnt of it from Dugpas, confuse both religions and bring them under one head. They thus give out to the public pure Dugpaism instead of Buddho‐Lamaism. In short Northern Buddhism in its purified, metaphysical form is almost entirely unknown [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Atmabodha +

Lit., “Self‐knowledge”; the title of a Vedantic treatise by Sankârachârya [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Buddha +

Lit., “The Enlightened”. The highest degree of knowledge. To become a Buddha one has to break through the bondage of sense and personality; to acquire a complete perception of the REAL SELF and learn not to separate it from all otherselves; to learn by experience the utter unreality of all phenomena of the visible Kosmos foremost of all; to reach a complete detachment from all that is evanescent and finite, and live while yet on Earth in the immortal and the everlasting alone, in a supreme state of holiness [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Bhadrakalpa +

Lit., “The Kalpa of the Sages”. Our present period is a Bhadra Kalpa, and the exoteric teaching makes it last 236 million years. It is “so called because 1,000 Buddhas or sages appear in the course of it”. ''(Sanshrit Chinese Dict.) ''“Four Buddhas have already appeared” it adds; but as out of the 236 millions, over 151 million years have already elapsed, it does seem a rather uneven distribution of Buddhas. This is the way exoteric or popular religions confuse everything. Esoteric philosophy teaches us that every Root‐ race has its chief Buddha or Reformer, who appears also in the seven sub‐ races as a Bodhisattva (''q.v''.). Gautama Sakyamuni was the fourth, and also the fifth Buddha: the fifth, because we are the fifth root‐race; the fourth, as the chief Buddha in this ''fourth ''Round. The Bhadra Kalpa, or the “period of stability”, is the name of our present Round, esoterically—its duration applying, of course, only to our globe (D), the “1,000” Buddhas being thus in reality limited to but forty‐nine in all [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dhyan Chohans +

Lit., “The Lords of Light”. The highest gods, answering to the Roman Catholic Archangels. The divine Intelligences charged with the supervision of Kosmos [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kuklos Anagkes +

Lit., “The Unavoidable Cycle” or the “Circle of Necessity”‐. Of the numerous catacombs in Egypt and Chaldea the most renowned were the subterranean crypts of Thebes and Memphis. The former began on the Western side of the Nile extending toward the Libyan desert, and were known as the ''serpents''’ (Initiated Adepts) catacombs. It was there that the Sacred Mysteries of the ''Kuklos Anagkês ''were performed, and the candidates were acquainted with the inexorable laws traced for every disembodied soul from the beginning of time. These laws were that every reincarnating Entity, casting away its body should pass from this life on earth unto another life on a more subjective plane, a state of bliss, unless the sins of the personality brought on a complete separation of the higher from the lower “principles” ; that the “circle of necessity” or the ''unavoidable cycle ''should last a given period (from one thousand to even three thousand years in a few cases), and that when closed the Entity ''should return to its mummy'', i.e., to a new incarnation. The Egyptian and Chaldean teachings were those of the “Secret Doctrine” of the Theosophists. The Mexicans had the same. Their demi‐god, Votan, is made to describe in ''Popol Vu ''(see de Bourbourg’s work) the ''ahugero de colubra ''which is identical with the “Serpent’s Catacombs”, or passage, adding that it ran underground and “terminated at the root of heaven”, into which ''serpent’s hole, ''Votan was, admitted because he was himself “a son of the Serpents”, or a ''Dragon of Wisdom'', i.e., an Initiate. The world over, the priest‐adepts called themselves “Sons of the Dragon” and “Sons of the Serpent‐god” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Mahat +

Lit., “The great one”. The first principle of Universal Intelligence and Consciousness. In the Purânic philosophy the first product of root‐nature or ''Pradhâna ''(the same as Mulaprakriti); the producer of ''Manas ''the thinking principle, and of ''Ahankâra'', egotism or the feeling of “I am I” (in the lower Manas) [[Category: TG terms]] (TG). +

K

Kinnaras +

Lit., “What men?” Fabulous creatures of the same description as the ''Kim‐purushas'', One of the four classes of beings called “Maharajas” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Melekh +

Lit., “a King”. A title of the Sephira Tiphereth, the V, or ''vau ''in the tetragrammaton—the son or ''Microprosopus ''(the Lesser Face) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Grihastha +

Lit., “a householder”, “one who lives in a house with his family”. A Brahman “ family priest” in popular rendering, and the sarcerdotal hierarchy of the Hindus [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Agni Bhuvah +

Lit., “born of fire”, the term is applied to the four races of ''Kshatriyas ''(the second or warrior caste) whose ancestors are said to have sprung from fire. Agni Bhuvah is the son of Agni, the God of Fire; Agni Bhuvah being the same as Kartti‐keya, the God of War. (See ''Sec.Doct.'', Vol. II., p. 550.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Khi +

Lit., “breath”; meaning Buddhi. '''Khnoom '''(''Eg''.). The great Deep, or Primordial Space. '''Khoda '''(''Pers''.). The name for the Deity [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Divyasrotra +

Lit., “celestial Ear” Or divine hearing. The second “Abhijna”, or the faculty of understanding the language or sound produced by any living being on Earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Divyachakchus +

Lit., “celestial Eye” or divine seeing, perception. It is the first of the six “Abhijnas” (q.v.) ; the faculty developed by Yoga practice to perceive any object in the Universe, at whatever distance [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Guru Deva +

Lit., “divine Master” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arwaker +

Lit., “early waker”. The horse of the chariot of the Sun driven by the maiden Sol, in the ''Eddas'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhrantidarsanatah +

Lit., “false comprehension or apprehension”; something conceived of on false appearances as a ''mayavic, ''illusionary form [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Ma +

Lit., “five”. A name of Lakshmi [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Logi +

Lit., “flame”. This giant with his sons and kindred, made themselves finally known as the authors of every cataclysm and conflagration in heaven or on earth, by letting mortals perceive them in the midst of flames. These giant‐fiends were all enemies of man trying to destroy his work wherever they found it. A symbol of the cosmic elements [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Devarshis +

Lit., “gods rishis” ; the divine or god like saints, those sages who attain a fully divine nature on earth [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Maha Deva +

Lit., “great god”; a title of Siva. '''Mahâ Guru '''(''Sk''.). Lit., “great teacher”. The Initiator. '''Mahâjwala '''(''Sk.''). A certain hell [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Mahatma +

Lit., “great soul”. An adept of the highest order. Exalted beings who, having attained to the mastery over their lower principles are thus living unimpeded by the “man of flesh”, and are in possession of knowledge and power commensurate with the stage they have reached in their spiritual evolution. Called in Pali Rahats and Arhats [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Edda +

Lit., “great‐grandmother”of the Scandinavian Lays. It was Bishop Brynjϋld Sveinsson, who collected them and brought them to light in 1643. There are two collections of Sagas, translated by the Northern Skalds, and there are two ''Eddas. ''The earliest is of unknown authorship and date and its antiquity is very great. These Sagas were collected in the XIth century by an Icelandic priest; the second is a collection of the history (or myths) of the gods spoken of in the first, which became the Germanic deities, giants, dwarfs and heroes [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ardha‐Nari +

Lit., “half‐woman”. Siva represented as Androgynous, as half male and half female, a type of male and female energies combined. (See occult diagram in ''Isis Unveiled, ''Vol. II.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bodhisattva +

Lit., “he, whose essence (''sattva'') has become intelligence ''(bodhi'')”; those who need but one more incarnation to become perfect Buddhas, i.e., to be entitled to Nirvâna. This, as applied to ''Manushi ''(terrestrial) Buddhas. In the metaphysical sense, ''Bodhisattva ''is a title given to the sons of the celestial ''Dhyâni ''Buddhas [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Durga +

Lit., “inaccessible”. The female potency of a god; the name of Kali, the wife of Siva, the ''Mahesvara'', or “the great god” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gnosis +

Lit., “knowledge”. The technical term used by the schools of religious philosophy, both before and during the first centuries of so‐called Christianity, to denote the object of their enquiry. This Spiritual and Sacred Knowledge, the ''Gupta Vidya ''of the Hindus, could only be obtained by Initiation into Spiritual Mysteries of which the ceremonial “Mysteries” were a type [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arghyanath +

Lit., “lord of libations” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nitya Pralaya +

Lit., “perpetual” Pralaya or dissolution. It is the constant and imperceptible changes undergone by the atoms which last as long as a Mahâmanvantara, a whole age of Brahmâ, which takes fifteen figures to sum up. A stage of chronic change and dissolution, the stages of growth and decay. It is the duration of “Seven Eternities”. (See ''Secret Doctrine ''I. 371, II. 69, 310.) There are four kinds of Pralayas, or states of changelessness. The Naimittika, when Brahmâ slumbers; the Prakritika, a partial Pralaya of anything during Manvantara; Atyantika, when man has identified himself with the One Absolute synonym of Nirvâna; and Nitya, for physical things especially, as a state of profound and dreamless sleep [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hachoser +

Lit., “reflected Lights”; a name for the minor or inferior powers, in the Kabbalah [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Orgelmir +

Lit., “seething clay”. The same as Ymir, the giant, the unruly, turbulent, erratic being, the type of primordial matter, out of whose body, after killing him, the sons of Bör created a new earth. He is also the cause of the Deluge in the Scandinavian Lays, for he flung his body into Ginnungagap, the yawning abyss; the latter being filled with it, the blood flowed over and produced a great flood in which all the Hrimthurses, the frost giants, were drowned; one of them only the cunning Bergelmir saves himself and wife in a boat and became the father of a new race of giants. “ And there were giants on the earth in those days.” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dipamkara +

Lit., “the Buddha of fixed light”; a predecessor of Gautama, the Buddha [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brahmapuri +

Lit., “the City of Brahmâ [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Avesta +

Lit., “the Law”. From the old Persian ''Âbastâ, ''“the law”. The sacred Scriptures of the Zoroastrians. ''Zend ''means in the “Zend‐Avesta”—a “commentary” or “interpretation”. It is an error to regard “ Zend” as a language, as “it was applied only to explanatory texts, to the translations of the Avesta”(Darmsteter) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bhagavad‐gita +

Lit., “the Lord’s Song”. A portion of the Mahabharata, the great epic poem of India. It contains a dialogue wherein Krishna—the “Charioteer”—and Arjuna, his Chela, have a discussion upon the highest spiritual philosophy. The work is pre‐eminently occult or esoteric [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Bhadra Vihara +

Lit., “the Monastery of the Sages or Bodhisattvas”. A certain ''Vihara ''or ''Matham ''in Kanyâkubdja [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ayur Veda +

Lit., “the Veda of Life” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

H

Hakem +

Lit., “the Wise One”, the Messiah to come, of the Druzes or the “Disciples of Hamsa” [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Janarddana +

Lit., “the adored of mankind”, a title of Krishna [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Ardhanariswara +

Lit., “the bi‐sexual lord”. Esoterically, the unpolarized states of cosmic energy symbolised by the Kabalistic Sephira, Adam Kadmon, &c [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Adhyatma Vidya +

Lit., “the esoteric luminary”. One of the Pancha Vidyâ Sastras, or the Scriptures of the Five Sciences. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chidagnikundum +

Lit., “the fire‐hearth in the heart”; the seat of the force which extinguishes all individual desires [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Buddhaphala +

Lit., “the fruit of Buddha”, the fruition of ''Arahattvaphalla''''''', '''''or Arhatship [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Dharmakaya +

Lit., “the glorified spiritual body” called the “Vesture of Bliss”. The third, or highest of the ''Trikâya ''(Three Bodies), the attribute developed by every “Buddha”, i.e., every initiate who has crossed or reached the end of what is called the “fourth Path” (in esotericism the sixth “portal” prior to his entry on the seventh). The highest of the ''Trikâya, ''it is the ''fourth ''of the ''Buddhakchêtra'', or Buddhic planes of consciousness, represented figuratively in Buddhist asceticism as a robe or vesture of luminous Spirituality. In popular Northern Buddhism these vestures or robes are: (1) Nirmanakâya (2) Sambhogakâya (3) and Dharmakâya the last being the highest and most sublimated of all, as it places the ascetic on the threshold of Nirvâna. (See, however, the ''Voice of the Silence, ''page 96, ''Glossary'', for the true ''esoteric ''meaning.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gnan Devas +

Lit., “the gods of knowledge”. The higher classes of gods or devas; the “mind‐born” sons of Brahmâ, and others including the Manasa‐putras (the Sons of Intellect). Esoterically, our reincarnating Egos [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Arya +

Lit., “the holy”; originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the “Âryasatyâni” (q.v.) and entered the Âryanimârga path to Nirvâna or Moksha, the great “four‐fold” path. But now the name has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans of their birth‐right, have made Aryans of all Europeans. In esotericism, as the four paths, or stages, can be entered only owing to great spiritual development and “growth in holiness ”, they are called the “four fruits”. The degrees of Arhatship, called respectively Srotâpatti, Sakridâgamin, Anâgâmin, and Arhat, or the four classes of Âryas, correspond to these four paths and truths [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nagadwipa +

Lit., “the island of the Dragons”; one of the ''Seven Divisions ''of Bhâratavarsha, or modern India, according to the Purânas. No proofs remain as to who were the Nâgas (a historical people however), the favourite theory being that they were a Scythic race. But there is no proof of this. When the Brahmans invaded India they “found a race of ''wise ''men, half‐gods, half‐ demons”, says the legend, men who were the teachers of other races and became likewise the instructors of the Hindus and the Brahmans themselves. Nagpur is justly believed to be the surviving relic of Nâgadwîpa. Now Nagpur is virtually in Râjputana near Oodeypore, Ajmere, etc. And is it not well known that there was a time when Brahmans went to learn Secret Wisdom from the Râjputs? Moreover a tradition states that Apollonius of Tyana was instructed in magic by the Nâgas of Kashmere [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

DevanagarI +

Lit., “the language or letters of the dêvas” or gods. The characters of the Sanskrit language. The alphabet and the art of writing were kept secret for ages, as the ''Dwijas ''(Twice‐born) and the ''Dikshitas ''(Initiates) alone were permitted to use this art. It was a crime for a. Sudra to recite a verse of the ''Vedas'', and for any of the two lower castes (Vaisya and Sudra) to know the letters was an offence punishable by death. Therefore is the word ''lipi, ''‘‘writing”, absent from the oldest MSS., a fact which gave the Orientalists the erroneous and rather incongruous idea that writing was not only unknown before the day of Pânini, but even to that sage himself That the greatest grammarian the world has ever produced should be ignorant of writing would indeed be the greatest and most incomprehensible phenomenon of all [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Manas, Kama +

Lit., “the mind of desire.” With the Buddhists it is the ''sixth ''of the Chadâyatana ''(q.v.)'', or the six organs of knowledge, hence the highest of these, synthesized by the seventh called ''Klichta'', the spiritual perception of that which defiles this (lower) Manas, or the “Human‐animal Soul”, as the Occultists term it. While the Higher Manas or the Ego is directly related to ''Vijnâna ''(the 10th of the 12 Nidânas)—which is the perfect knowledge of all forms of knowledge, whether relating to object or subject in the nidânic concatenation of causes and effects; the lower, the Kâma Manas is but one of the ''Indriya ''or organs (roots) of Sense. Very little can be said of the dual Manas here, as the doctrine that treats of it, is correctly stated only in esoteric works. Its mention can thus be only very superficial [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Manas +

Lit., “the mind”, the mental faculty which makes of man an intelligent and moral being, and distinguishes him from the mere animal; a synonym of ''Mahat''. ''Esoterically, ''however, it means, when unqualified, the Higher EGO, or the sentient reincarnating Principle in man. When qualified it is called by Theosophists ''Buddhi‐ Manas ''or the Spiritual Soul in contradistinction to its human reflection—''Kâma‐Manas.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Ghocha +

Lit., “the miraculous Voice”. The name of a great Arhat, the author of Abhidharmamrita Shastra, who restored sight to a blind man by anointing his eyes with the tears of the audience moved by his (Ghôcha’s) supernatural eloquence [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Devamatri +

Lit., “the mother of the gods”. A title of Aditi, Mystic Space [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kumara guha +

Lit., “the mysterious, virgin youth”. A title given to Karttikeya owing to his strange origin [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nava Nidhi +

Lit., “the nine Jewels”; a consummation of spiritual development, in mysticism [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

M

Monogenes +

Lit., “the only‐begotten”; a name of Proserpine and other gods and goddesses [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Oshadi Prastha +

Lit., “the place of medicinal herbs”. A mysterious city in the Himalayas mentioned even from the Vedic period. Tradition shows it as once inhabited by sages, great adepts in the healing art, who used only herbs and plants, as did the ancient Chaldees. The city is mentioned in the ''Kumâra Sambhava ''of Kalidasa [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Ebionites +

Lit., “the poor”; the earliest sect of Jewish Christians, the other being the Nazarenes. They existed when the term “Christian” was not yet heard of. Many of the relations of ''Iassou ''(Jesus), the adept ascetic around whom the legend of Christ was formed, were among the Ebionites. As the existence of these mendicant ascetics can be traced at least a century earlier than chronological Christianity, it is an additional proof that ''lassou ''or ''Jeshu ''lived during the reign of Alexander Jannæus at Lyd (or Lud), where he was put to death as stated in the ''Sepher Toldos Jeshu.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Buddhachhaya +

Lit., “the shadow of Buddha”. It is said to become visible at certain great events, and during some imposing ceremonies performed at Temples in commemoration of glorious acts of Buddhas life. Hiouen‐ tseng, the Chinese traveller, names a certain cave where it occasionally appears on the wall, but adds that only he whose mind is perfectly pure”, can see it [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

J

Jalarupa +

Lit., “water‐body, or form”. One of the names of Makâra (the sign ''capricornus''). It is one of the most occult and mysterious of the Zodiacal signs; it figures on the banner of Kama, god of love, and is connected with our immortal Egos. (See ''Secret Doctrine.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Neo‐platonism +

Lit.,“The ''new ''Platonism” or Platonic School. An eclectic pantheistic school of philosophy founded in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccas, of which his disciple Plotinus was the head (A.D. 189‐270). It sought to reconcile Platonic teachings and the Aristotelean system with oriental Theosophy. Its chief occupation was pure spiritual philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism. Theurgy was introduced towards its later years. It was the ultimate effort of high intelligences to check the ever‐ increasing ignorant superstition and ''blind ''faith of the times; the last product of Greek philosophy, which was finally crushed and put to death by brute force [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

D

Docetae +

Lit.,“The Illusionists”. The name given by orthodox Christians to those Gnostics who held that Christ did not, nor could he, suffer death actually, but that, if such a thing had happened, it was merely an illusion which they explained in various ways [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Dâgoba +

Lit: a sacred mound or tower for Buddhist holy relics. These are pyramidal‐looking mounds scattered all over India and Buddhist countries, such as Ceylon, Burmah, Central Asia, etc. They are of various sizes, and generally contain some small relics of Saints or those claimed to have belonged to Gautama, the Buddha. As the human body is supposed to consist of 84,000 '''''dhâtus '''''(organic cells with definite vital functions in them), Asoka is said for this reason to have built 84,000 ''dhâtu‐gopas ''or Dâgobas in honour of every cell of the Buddha’s body, each of which has now become a ''dhârmadhâtu ''or holy relic. There is in Ceylon a Dhâtu‐ gopa at Anurâdhapura said to date from160 years B.C. They are now built pyramid‐like, but the primitive Dâgobas were all shaped like towers with a cupola and several tchhatra (umbrellas) over them. Eitel states that the Chinese Dâgobas have all from 7 to 14 ''tchhatras ''over them, a number which is symbolical of the human body [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

Faizi +

Literally the “heart”. A writer on occult and mystic subjects. Mussulman ascetics are entitled to it. This loose way of calling things by general names was adopted in ''Isis Unveiled ''but is now altered [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nâga +

Literally “Serpent”. The name in the Indian Pantheon of the Serpent or Dragon Spirits, and of the inhabitants of Pâtâla, hell. But as Pâtâla means the ''antipodes'', and was the name given to America by the ancients, who knew and visited that continent before Europe had ever heard of it, the term is probably akin to the Mexican Nagals the (now) sorcerers and medicine men. The Nagas are the Burmese ''Nats'', serpent‐gods, or “dragon demons”. In Esotericism, however, and as already stated, this is a nick‐name for the “wise men” or adepts in China and Tibet, the “Dragons.” are regarded as the titulary deities of the world, and of various spots on the earth, and the word is explained as meaning adepts, yogis, and narjols. The term has simply reference to their great knowledge and wisdom. This is also proven in the ancient Sûtras and Buddha’s biographies. The Nâga is ever a wise man, endowed with extraordinary magic powers, in South and Central America as in India, in Chaldea as also in ancient Egypt. In China the “worship” of the Nâgas was widespread, and it has become still more pronounced since Nâgarjuna (the “great Nâga”, the “great adept” literally), the fourteenth Buddhist patriarch, visited China. The “Nâgasʺ are regarded by the Celestials as “the tutelary Spirits or gods of the five regions or the four points of the compass and the centre, as the guardians of the five lakes and four oceans” ('''Eitel'''). This, traced to its origin and translated esoterically, means that the five continents and their five root‐races had always been under the guardianship of “terrestrial deities”, i.e., Wise Adepts. The tradition that Nâgas washed Gautama Buddha at his birth, protected him and guarded the relics of his body when dead, points again to the Nâgas being only wise men, Arhats, and no monsters or Dragons. This is also corroborated by the innumerable stories of the conversion of Nâgas to Buddhism. The Nâga of a lake in a forest near Râjagriha and many other “Dragons” were thus converted by Buddha to the good Law [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

A

Agapae +

Love Feasts; the early Christians kept such festivals in token of sympathy, love and mutual benevolence. It became necessary to abolish them as an institution, because of great abuse ; Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians complains of misconduct at the feasts of the Christians. [w.w.w.]. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Klesha +

Love of life, but literally “pain and misery”. Cleaving to existence, and almost the same as ''Kama'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nakshatra +

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

M

Machagistia +

Magic, as once taught in Persia and Chaldea, and raised in its occult practices into a religio‐ magianism. Plato, speaking of Machagistia, or Magianism, remarks that it is the purest form of the worship of ''things divine.'' [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Betyles +

Magical stones. The ancient writers call them the “animated stones” ; oracular stones, believed in and used both by Gentiles and Christians. (See ''S.D''. II. p. 342) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lupercalia +

Magnificent popular festivals celebrated in ancient Rome on February 15th in honour of the God Pan, during which the ''Luperci, ''the most ancient and respectable among the sacerdotal functionaries, sacrificed two goats and a dog, and two of the most illustrious youths were compelled to run about the city naked (except the loins) whipping all those whom they met. Pope Gelasius abolished the Lupercalia in 496, but substituted for them on the same day the procession of lighted candles [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Brahma Vach +

Male and female Brahmâ. Vâch is also some‐times called the female logos; for Vâch means Speech, literally. (See ''Manu ''Book I., and ''Vishnu Purâna.'') [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Bragadini +

Marco Antonio. A Venetian Rosicrucian of great achievements, an Occultist and Kabbalist who was decapitated in 1595 in Bavaria, for making gold [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Cross +

Mariette Bey has shown its antiquity in Egypt by proving that in all the primitive sepulchres “the plan of the chamber has the form of a cross”. It is the symbol of the Brotherhood of races and men; and was laid on the breast of the corpses in Egypt, as it is now placed on the corpses of deceased Christians, and, in its ''Swastica ''form (''croix ''cramponnée) on the hearts of the Buddhist adepts and Buddhas. (See “Calvary Cross”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

E

Edris +

Meaning “the learned One”, an epithet applied by the Arabs to Enoch [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

C

Chyuta +

Means, “the fallen” into generation, as a Kabbalist would say; the opposite of ''achyuta'', something which is not subject to change or differentiation; said of deity [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

L

Lhagpa +

Mercury, the planet [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kusala +

Merit, one of the two chief constituents of Karma [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

F

First Point +

Metaphysically the first point of manifestation, the germ of primeval differentiation, or the point in the infinite Circle “whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere“. The Point is the Logos [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kamarupa +

Metaphysically, and in our esoteric philosophy, it is the subjective form created through the mental and physical desires and thoughts in connection with things of matter, by all sentient beings, a form which survives the death of their bodies. After that death three of the seven “principles”—or let us say planes of senses and consciousness on which the human instincts and ideation act in turn—viz., the body, its astral prototype and physical vitality,—being of no further use, remain on earth; the three higher principles, grouped into one, merge into the state of Devachan (''q.v''.), in which state the Higher Ego will remain until the hour for a new reincarnation arrives; and the ''eidolon ''of the ex‐Personality is left alone in its new abode. Here, the pale copy of the man that was, vegetates for a period of time, the duration of which is variable and according to the element of materiality which is left in it, and which is determined by the past life of the defunct. Bereft as it is of its higher mind, spirit and physical senses, if left alone to its own senseless devices, it will gradually fade out and disintegrate. But, if forcibly drawn back into the terrestrial sphere whether by the passionate desires and appeals of the surviving friends or by regular necromantic practices—one of the most pernicious of which is medium‐ ship—the “spook” may prevail for a period greatly exceeding the span of the natural life of its body. Once the Kamarupa has learnt the way back to living human bodies, it becomes a vampire, feeding on the vitality of those who are so anxious for its company. In India these ''eidolons ''are called ''Pisâchas, ''and are much dreaded, as already explained elsewhere [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

G

Gatha +

Metrical chants or hymns, consisting of moral aphorisms. A gâthâ of thirty‐two words is called Âryâgiti [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

K

Kimapurushas +

Monstrous Devas, half‐men, half‐ horses [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Ophanim +

More correctly written Auphanim. The “wheels” seen by Ezekiel and by John in the Revelation— world.spheres (''Secret Doctrine ''I., 92.) The symbol of the Cherubs or Karoubs (the Assyrian Sphinxes). As these beings are represented in the Zodiac by Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, or the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and Man, the occult meaning of these creatures being placed in company of the four Evangelists becomes evident. In the ''Kabbalah ''they are a group of beings allotted to the Sephira Chokmah, Wisdom [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Bamboo Books +

Most ancient and certainly pre‐historic works in Chinese containing the antediluvian records of the ''Annals of China''. They were found in the tomb of King Seang of Wai, who died 295 B.C., and claim to go back many centuries [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

I

Immah +

Mother, in contradistinction to ''Abba,'' father [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

O

Oannes +

Musarus Oannes, the Annedotus, known in the Chaldean “legends”, transmitted through Berosus and other ancient writers, as Dag or Dagon, the “man‐ fish”. Oannes came to the early Babylonians as a reformer and an instructor. Appearing from the Erythræan Sea, he brought to them civilisation, letters and sciences, law, astronomy and religion, teaching them agriculture, geometry and the arts in general. There were Annedoti who came after him, five in number (our race being ''the fifth '')—“all like Oannes inform and teaching the same”; but Musarus Oannes was the first to appear, and this he did during the reign of Ammenon, the third of the ten antediluvian Kings whose dynasty ended with Xisuthrus, the Chaldean Noah (See “Xisuthrus”). Oannes was “an ''animal ''endowed with reason whose body was that of a fish, but ''who had a human head under the fish’s with feet also below, similar to those of a man, ''subjoined to the fish’s tail, and ''whose voice and language too were articulate ''and human” (Polyhistor and Apollodorus). This gives the key to the allegory. It points out Oannes, as a ''man ''and a “priest”, an ''Initiate. ''Layard showed long ago (See ''Nineveh'') that the “fish’s head” was simply a head gear, the ''mitre ''worn by priests and gods, made in the form of a fish’s head, and which in a very little modified form is what we see even now on the heads of high Lamas and Romish Bishops. Osiris had such a mitre. The fish’s tail is simply the train of a long stiff mantle as depicted on some Assyrian tablets, the form being seen reproduced in the sacerdotal gold cloth garment worn during service by the modern Greek priests. This allegory of Oannes, the Annedotus, reminds us of the “Dragon” and “Snake‐ Kings “; the ''Nâgas ''who in Buddhist legends instruct people in wisdom on lakes and rivers, and end by becoming converts to the good Law and ''Arhats''. The meaning is evident. The “ fish” is an old and very suggestive symbol in the Mystery‐language, as is also “water”. Ea or Hea was the god of the sea and Wisdom, and the sea serpent was one of his emblems, his priests being “serpents “ or Initiates. Thus one sees why Occultism places Oannes and the other Annedoti in the group of those ancient “adepts” who were called “marine” or “water dragons”—Nâgas. Water typified their human origin (as it is a symbol of earth and matter and also of purification), in distinction to the “fire Nâgas” or the immaterial, Spiritual Beings, whether celestial Bodhisattvas or Planetary Dhyânis, also regarded as the instructors of mankind. The hidden meaning becomes clear to the Occultist, once he is told that “this being (Oannes) was accustomed to pass the day among men, teaching; and when the Sun had set, he retired again into the sea, passing the night in the deep, “''for he was amphibious''”, i.e., he belonged to two planes: the spiritual and the physical. For the Greek word ''amphibios ''means simply “life on two planes”, from ''amphi, ''“on both sides”, and ''bios, ''“life”. The word was often applied in antiquity to those men who, though still wearing a human form, had made themselves almost divine through knowledge, and lived as much in the spiritual supersensuous regions as on earth. Oannes is dimly reflected in Jonah, and even in John, the Precursor, both connected with Fish and Water [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG).

K

Konx‐Om‐Pax +

Mystic words used in the Eleusinian mysteries. It is believed that these words are the Greek imitation of ancient Egyptian words once used in the secret ceremonies of the Isiac cult. Several modern authors give fanciful translations, but they are all only guesses at the truth. [w.w.w.] [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abraxas +

Mystic words which have been traced as far back as Basilides, the Pythagorean, of Alexandria, AD. 90. He uses Abraxas as a title for Divinity, the supreme of Seven, and as having 365 virtues. In Greek numeration, a. 1, b. 2, r. 100, a. I, x 60, a. I, s. 200 = 365 days of the year, solar year, a cycle of divine action. C. W. King, author of The Gnostics, considers the word similar to the Hebrew ''Shemhamphorasch'', a holy word, the extended name of God. An Abraxas Gem usually shows a man’s body with the head of a cock, one arm with a shield, the other with a whip. [ w.w.w.] Abraxas is the counterpart of the Hindu Abhimânim (q.v.) and Brahmâ combined. It is these compound and mystic qualities which caused Oliver, the great Masonic authority, to connect the name of Abraxas with that of Abraham. This was unwarrantable ; the virtues and attributes of Abraxas, which are 365 in number, ought to have shown him that the deity was connected with the Sun and solar division of the year——nay, that Abraxas is the antitype, and the Sun, the type. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

B

Basilidean +

Named after Basilides; the Founder of one of the most philosophical gnostic sects. Clement the Alexandrian speaks of Basilides, the Gnostic, as “a philosopher devoted to the contemplation of divine things”. While he claimed that he had all his doctrines from the Apostle Matthew and from Peter through Glaucus, Irenaeus reviled him, Tertullian stormed at him, and the Church Fathers had not sufficient words of obloquy against the “heretic”. And yet on the authority of St. Jerome himself, who describes with indignation what he had found ''in the only genuine Hebrew copy ''of the Gospel of Matthew (See ''Isis Unv.'', ii., 181) which he got from the Nazarenes, the statement of Basilides becomes more than credible, and if accepted would solve a great and perplexing problem. His 24 vols. ''of Interpretation of the Gospels'', were, as Eusebius tells us, burnt. Useless to say that these gospels were not our ''present ''Gospels. Thus, truth was ever crushed [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

N

Nabu +

Nebu or Nebo, generally; the Chaldean god of Secret Wisdom, from which name the Biblical, Hebrew term '''Nabiim '''(prophets) was derived. This son of Anu and Ishtar was worshipped chiefly at Borsippa; but he had also his temple at Babylon, above that of Bel, devoted to the seven planets. (See “ Nazarenes” and “ Nebo”.) [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

A

Abhava +

Negation, or non‐being of individual objects; the ''noumenal ''substance, or abstract objectivity. [[Category: Theosophical Glossary (CTD terms)]] (TG). +

Property:CTD term description

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