Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky
1831
- 1891
THE
THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY
BY
H.
P. BLAVATSKY
First
Published 1892
PREFACE.
The
Theosophical Glossary labours under the disadvantage of being an almost
entirely posthumous work, of which the author only saw the first thirty-two
pages in proof. This is all the more regrettable, for H.P.B., as was her wont,
was adding considerably to her original copy, and would no doubt have increased
the volume far beyond its present limits, and so have thrown light on many obscure
terms that are not included in the present Glossary, and more important still,
have furnished us with a sketch of the lives and teachings of the most famous
Adepts of the East and West.
The
Theosophical Glossary purposes to give information on the principal Sanskrit,
Pahlavi, Tibetan, Pâli, Chaldean, Persian, Scandinavian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Kabalistic and Gnostic words, and Occult terms generally used in Theosophical
literature, and principally to be found in Isis Unveiled, Esoteric Buddhism,
The Secret Doctrine, The Key to Theosophy,
etc.; and in the monthly magazines, The Theosophist, Lucifer and The Path,
etc., and other publications of the Theosophical Society. The articles marked
[w.w.w.] which explain words found in the Kabalah, or which illustrate
Rosicrucian or Hermetic doctrines, were contributed at the special request of H.P.B.
by Bro. W. W. Westcott, M.B., P.M. and P.Z., who is the Secretary General of
the Rosicrucian Society, and Prćmonstrator of the Kabalah to the Hermetic Order
of the G.D.
H.P.B.
desired also to express her special indebtedness, as far as the tabulation of
facts is concerned, to the Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary of Eitel, The Hindu
Classical Dictionary of Dowson, The Vishnu Purâna of Wilson, and the Royal
Masonic Cyclopćdia of Kenneth Mackenzie.
As
the undersigned can make no pretension to the elaborate and extraordinary
scholarship requisite for the editing of the multifarious and polyglot contents
of H.P.B.’s last contribution to Theosophical literature, there must
necessarily be mistakes of transliteration, etc., which specialists in
scholarship will at once detect. Meanwhile, however, as nearly every
Orientalist has his own system, varying
transliterations may be excused in the present work, and not be set down
entirely to the “Karma” of the editor.
G.
R. S. MEAD.
THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY
A
A
—The first letter in all the world-alphabets save a few, such for instance as
the Mongolian, the Japanese, the Tibetan, the Ethiopian, etc. It is a letter of
great mystic power and “magic virtue” with those who have adopted it, and with
whom its numerical value is one. It is the Aleph of the Hebrews, symbolized by
the Ox or Bull; the Alpha of the Greeks, the one and the first the Az of the
Slavonians, signifying the pronoun “I” (referring to the “I am that I am”).
Even in Astrology, Taurus (the Ox or Bull or the Aleph) is the first of the
Zodiacal signs, its colour being white and yellow. The sacred Aleph acquires a
still more marked sanctity with the Christian Kabalists when they learn that
this letter typifies the Trinity in Unity, as it is composed of two Yods, one
upright, the other reversed with a slanting bar or nexus, thus— a. Kenneth R.
H. Mackenzie states that “the St. Andrew cross is occultly connected
therewith”. The divine name, the first in the series corresponding with Aleph,
is AęHęIęH or Ahih when vowelless, and this is a Sanskrit root.
Aahla
(Eg.). One of the divisions of the Kerneter or infernal regions, or Amenti ;
the word means the “Field of Peace”.
Aanroo
(Eg.). The second division of Amenti. The celestial field of Aanroo is
encircled by an iron wall. The field is covered with wheat, and the “Defunct”
are represented gleaning it, for the “Master of Eternity”; some stalks being
three, others five, and the highest seven cubits high. Those who reached the
last two numbers entered the state of bliss (which is called in Theosophy
Devachan) ; the disembodied spirits whose harvest was
but three cubits high went into lower regions (Kâmaloka). Wheat was with the
Egyptians the symbol of the Law of retribution or Karma. The cubits had
reference to the seven, five and three human “principles
Aaron
(Heb.). The elder brother of Moses and the first Initiate of the
Hebrew
Lawgiver. The name means the Illuminated, or the Enlightened. Aaron thus heads
the line, or Hierarchy, of the initiated Nabim, or Seers.
Ab
(Heb.). The eleventh month of the Hebrew civil year; the fifth of the sacred
year beginning in July.
[w.w.w.]
Abaddon
(Heb.). An angel of Hell, corresponding to the Greek Apollyon.
Abatur
(Gn.). 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 Nazarćus)
Abba
Amona (Heb.). Lit., “Father-Mother”; the occult names of the two higher
Sephiroth, Chokmah and Binah, of the upper triad, the apex of which is Sephira
or Kether. From this triad issues the lower septenary of the Sephirothal Tree.
Abhâmsi
(Sk.). A mystic name of the “four orders of beings” which are, Gods, Demons,
Pitris and Men. Orientalists somehow connect the name with “waters”, but
esoteric philosophy connects its symbolism with Akâsa—the ethereal “waters of
space”, since it is on the bosom and on the seven planes of “space” that the
“four orders of (lower) beings” and the three higher Orders of Spiritual Beings
are born. (See Secret Doctrine I. p. 458, and “Ambhâmsi”.)
Abhâsvaras
(Sk.). The Devas or “Gods” of Light and Sound, the highest of the upper three
celestial regions (planes) of the second Dhyâna (q.v.) A class of gods
sixty-four in number, representing a certain cycle and an occult number.
Abhâva
(Sk.). Negation, or non-being of individual objects; the noumenal substance, or
abstract objectivity.
Abhaya
(Sk.). “Fearlessness”—a son of Dharma; and also a religious life of duty. As an
adjective, “Fearless,” Abhaya is an epithet given to every Buddha,
Abhayagiri
(Sk.). 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 “Sthâvirâh" 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
Abhidharma
(
Abhijńâ
(
Abhimânim
(
Abhimanyu
(
Abhűtarajasas
(
Abib
(Heb.) The first Jewish sacred month, begins in March; is also called
Nisan.
Abiegnus
Mons (Lat.). A mystic name, from whence as from a certain mountain, Rosicrucian
documents are often found to be issued— “Monte Abiegno”. There is a connection
with
Ab-i-hayat
(Pers.). Water of immortality. Supposed to give eternal youth and sempiternal
life to him who drinks of it.
Abiri
(Gr.). See Kabiri, also written Kabeiri, the Mighty Ones, celestials, sons of
Zedec the just one, a group of deities worshipped in Phśnicia: they seem to be
identical with the Titans, Corybantes, Curetes, Telchines and Dii Magni of
Virgil. [w.w.w.]
Ablanathanalba
(Gn.). 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
(See
“Abracadabra”.)
Abracadabra
(Gn.). This symbolic word first occurs in a medical treatise in verse by
Samonicus, who flourished in the reign of the Emperor Septimus Seveus. Godfrey
Higgins says it is from Abra or Abar
“God”,
in Celtic, and cad ‘‘holy” ; it was used as a charm, and engraved on
Kameas as an amulet. [w.w.w.]
Godfrey
Higgins was nearly right, as the word “Abracadabra” is a later corruption of
the sacred Gnostic term “Abrasax”, the latter itself being a still earlier
corruption of a sacred and ancient Coptic or Egyptian word: a magic formula
which meant in its symbolism ‘‘Hurt me not”, and addressed the deity in its
hieroglyphics as “Father”. It was generally attached to an amulet or charm and
worn as a Tat (q.v.), on the breast under the garments.
Abraxas
or Abrasax (Gn.). Mystic words which have been traced as far
back as Basilides, the Pythagorean, of
[ 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.
Absoluteness.
When predicated of the UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE, it denotes an abstract noun, which
is more correct and logical than to apply the adjective “absolute ” to that
which has neither attributes nor limitations, nor can IT have any.
Ab-Soo
(Chald.). The mystic name for Space, meaning the dwelling of Ab the “Father”,
or the head of the source of the Waters of Knowledge. The lore of the latter is
concealed in the invisible space or akasic regions.
Acacia
(Gr.). 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.]
Achamôth
(Gn.). The name of the second, the inferior Sophia. Esoterically and with the
Gnostics, the elder Sophia was the Holy Spirit (female Holy Ghost) or the Sakti
of the Unknown, and the Divine Spirit; while Sophia Achamôth is but the
personification of the female aspect of the creative male Force in nature; also
the Astral Light.
Achar
(Heb.). The Gods over whom (according to the Jews) Jehovah is the God.
Âchâra
(
Âchârya
(
Achath
(Heb.). The one, the first, feminine; achad being masculine. A Talmudic word
applied to Jehovah. It is worthy of note that the Sanskrit term ak means one,
ekata being “unity”, Brahmâ being called ák, or eka, the one, the first, whence
the Hebrew word and application.
Acher
(Heb.). The Talmudic name of the Apostle Paul. The Talmud narrates the story of
the four Tanaim, who entered the Garden of Delight, i.e., came to he initiated;
Ben Asai, who looked and lost his sight; Ben Zoma, who looked and lost his
reason; Acher, who made depredations in the garden and failed; and Rabbi Akiba,
who alone succeeded. The Kabalists say that Acher is Paul.
Acheron
(Gr.). One of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology.
Achit
(
Achyuta
(
Acosmism
(Gr.). The precreative period, when there was no Kosmos but Chaos alone.
Ad
(Assyr.). Ad, “the Father”. In Aramean ad means one, and ad-ad “the only one”.
Adah
(Assyr.). 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.)
Adam
(Heb.). 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.”
Adam
Kadmon (Heb). Archetypal Man; Humanity. The “Heavenly Man” not fallen into sin;
Kabalists refer it to the Ten Sephiroth on the plane of human perception.
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.
Adamic
Earth (Alch.). Called the “true oil of gold” or the “primal element” in
Alchemy. It is but one remove from the pure homogeneous element.
Adbhuta
Brâhmana (Sk.). The Brâhmana of miracles; treats of marvels, auguries, and
various phenomena.
Adbhuta
Dharma (Sk.). The “law” of things never heard before. A class of Buddhist works
on miraculous or phenomenal events.
Adept
(Lat.). Adeptus, “He who has obtained.” In Occultism one who has reached the
stage of Initiation, and become a Master in the science of Esoteric philosophy.
Adharma
(Sk.). Unrighteousness, vice, the opposite of Dharma.
Adhi
(Sk.). Supreme, paramount.
Adhi-bhautika
duhkha (Sk.). The second of the three kinds of pain; lit., “Evil proceeding
from external things or beings”.
Adhi-daivika
duhkha (Sk.). The third of the three kinds of pain. “Evil proceeding from
divine causes, or a just Karmic punishment”.
Adhishtânam
(Sk.). Basis; a principle in which some other principle inheres.
Adhyâtmika
duhkha (Sk.). The first of the three kinds of pain; lit., “Evil proceeding from
Self ”, an induced or a generated evil by Self, or man himself.
Adhyâtma
Vidyâ (Sk.). Lit., “the esoteric luminary”. One of the Pancha Vidyâ Sastras, or
the Scriptures of the Five Sciences.
Âdi
(Sk.) The First, the primeval.
Âdi
(the Sons of). In Esoteric philosophy the “Sons of Adi” are called the “Sons of
the Fire-mist”. A term used of certain adepts.
Âdi-bhűta
(Sk.). The first Being; also primordial element. Adbhuta is a title of Vishnu,
the “first Element” containing all elements, “the unfathomable deity”.
Âdi-Buddha
(Sk.). The First and Supreme Buddha—not recognised in the Southern Church. The
Eternal Light.
Âdi-budhi
(Sk.). Primeval Intelligence or Wisdom; the eternal Budhi or Universal Mind.
Used of Divine Ideation, “Mahâbuddhi” being synonymous with MAHAT.
Âdikrit
(Sk.). 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.).
Âdi-nâtha
(Sk.). The “first” Lord”—Âdi “first” (masc.), nâtha “Lord”.
Âdi-nidâna
(Sk.). First and Supreme Causality, from Âdi, the first, and Nidâna the
principal cause (or the concatenation of cause and effect).
Âdi-Sakti
(Sk.). Primeval, divine Force; the female creative power, and aspect in and of
every male god. The Sakti in the Hindu Pantheon is always the spouse of some
god.
Âdi-Sanat
(Sk.). 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.
Âditi
(Sk.). The Vedic name for the Műlaprakriti of the Vedantists; the abstract
aspect of Parabrahman, though both unmanifested and unknowable. In the Vedas
Âditi is the “Mother-Goddess”, her terrestrial symbol being infinite and
shoreless space.
Âditi-Gća.
A compound term, Sanskrit and Latin, meaning dual, nature in theosophical
writings—spiritual and physical, as Gća is the goddess of the earth and of
objective nature.
Âditya
(Sk.). A name of the Sun; as Mârttânda he is the Son of Aditi.
Âdityas
(Sk.). The seven sons of Âditi; the seven planetary gods.
Âdi
Varsha (Sk.). The first land; the primordial country in which dwelt the first
races.
Adonai
(Heb.). The same as Adonis. Commonly translated “Lord”. Astronomically—the Sun.
When a Hebrew in reading came to the name IHVH, which is called Jehovah, he
paused and substituted the word “Adonai”, (Adni); but when written with the
points of Alhim, he called it “Elohim”. [w.w.w.]
Adonim-Adonai,
Adon. The ancient Chaldeo-Hebrew names for the Elohim or creative terrestrial
forces, synthesized by Jehovah.
Adwaita
(Sk.). A Vedânta sect. The non-dualistic (A-dwaita) school of Vedântic
philosophy founded by Sankarâchârya, the greatest of the historical Brahmin sages.
The two other schools are the Dwaita (dualistic) and the Visishtadwaita; all
the three call themselves Vedântic.
Adwaitin
(Sk.). A follower of the said school.
Adytum
(Gr.). The Holy of Holies in the pagan temples. A name for the secret and sacred
precincts or the inner chamber, into which no profane could enter; it
corresponds to the sanctuary of the altars of Christian Churches.
Ćbe1-Zivo
(Gn.). The Metatron or anointed spirit with the Nazarene Gnostics; the same as
the angel Gabriel.
Ćolus
(Gr.). The god who, according to Hesiod, binds and looses the winds; the king
of storms and winds. A king of Ćolia, the inventor of sails and a great
astronomer, and therefore deified by posterity.
Ćon
or Ćons (Gr.). Periods of time; emanations proceeding from the divine essence,
and celestial beings; genii and angels with the Gnostics.
Ćsir
(Scand.). The same as Ases, the creative Forces personified. The gods who
created the black dwarfs or the Elves of Darkness in Asgard. The divine Ćsir,
the Ases are the Elves of Light. An allegory bringing together darkness which
comes from light, and matter born of spirit.
Ćther
(Gr.). With the ancients the divine luminiferous substance which pervades the
whole universe, the “garment” of the Supreme Deity, Zeus, or Jupiter. With the
moderns, Ether, for the meaning of which in physics and chemistry see Webster’s
Dictionary or any other. In esotericism Ćther is the third principle of
the Kosmic Septenary; the Earth being the lowest, then the Astral light, Ether
and Âkâsa (phonetically Âkâsha) the highest.
Ćthrobacy
(Gr.). 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.)
Afrits
(Arab.). A name for native spirits regarded as devils by Mussulmen. Elementals
much dreaded in
Agapć
(Gr.). 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.].
Agastya
(
Agathodćmon
(Gr.). The beneficent, good Spirit as contrasted with the bad one, Kakodćmon.
The
“Brazen
Serpent” of the Bible is the former; the flying serpents of fire are an aspect
of Kakodćmon. The Ophites called Agathodćmon the Logos and Divine Wisdom, which
in the Bacchanalian Mysteries was represented by a serpent erect on a pole.
Agathon
(Gr.). Plato’s Supreme Deity. Lit., “The Good”, our ALAYA, or “Universal Soul”.
Aged
(Kab.). One of the Kabbalistic names for Sephira, called also the Crown, or Kether.
Agla
(Heb.). This Kabbalistic word is a talisman composed of the initals of the four
words “Ateh Gibor Leolam Adonai”, meaning “Thou art mighty for ever 0 Lord”.
MacGregor Mathers explains it thus “A, the first; A, the last; G, the trinity
in unity; L, the completion of the great work”. [w.w.w.]
Agneyastra
(
Agni
(
Agni
Bâhu (
Agni
Bhuvah (
Agni
Dhätu Samâdhi (
Agni
Hotri (
Agni-ratha
(
Agnishwattas
(
Agnoia
(Gr.). “Divested of reason”, lit., “irrationality”, when speaking of the animal
Soul. According to Plutarch, Pythagoras and Plato divided the human soul into
two parts (the higher and lower manas)—the rational or noëtic and the
irrational, or agnoia, sometimes written “annoia”.
Agnostic
(Gr.). 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.
Agra-Sandhânî
(
Agruerus
; A very ancient Phśnician god. The same as Saturn.
Aham
(
Ahan
(
Ahankâra
(
Aheie
(Heb.). Existence. He who exists; corresponds to Kether and Macroprosopus.
Ah-hi
(Sensar), Ahi (Sk.), or Serpents. Dhyân Chohans. “Wise Serpents” or Dragons of
Wisdom.
Ahi
(
Ahti
(Scand.). The “Dragon” in the Eddas.
Ahu
(Scand.). “One” and the First.
Ahum
(Zend). The first three principles of septenary man in the Avesta ; the gross
living man and his vital and astral principles.
Ahura
(Zend.). The same as Asura, the holy, the Breath-like. Ahura Mazda, the Ormuzd
of the Zoroastrians or Parsis, is the Lord who bestows light and intelligence,
whose symbol is the Sun (See “Ahura Mazda”), and of whom Ahriman, a European
form of “Angra Mainyu” (q.v.), is the dark aspect.
Ahura
Mazda (Zend). The personified deity, the Principle of Universal Divine Light of
the Parsis. From Ahura or Asura, breath, “spiritual, divine” in the oldest Rig
Veda, degraded by the orthodox Brahmans into A -sura, “no gods”, just as the
Mazdeans have degraded the Hindu Devas (Gods) into Dćva (Devils).
Aidoneus
(Gr.). The God and King of the Nether World; Pluto or Dionysos Chthonios
(subterranean).
Aij
Talon. The supreme deity of the Yakoot, a tribe in
Ain-Aior
(Chald.). The only “Self-existent” a mystic name for divine substance. [w.w.w.]
Ain
(Heb.). The negatively existent; deity in repose, and absolutely passive.
[w.w.w.]
Aindrî
(
Aindriya
(
Ain
Soph (Heb.). The “Boundless” or Limitless; Deity emanating and extending. Ain Soph
is also written En Soph and Ain Suph, no one, not even Rabbis, being sure of
their vowels. In the religious metaphysics of the old Hebrew philosophers, the
ONE Principle was an abstraction, like Parabrahmam, though modern Kabbalists
have succeeded now, by dint of mere sophistry and paradoxes, in making a
“Supreme God” of it and nothing higher. But with the early Chaldean Kabbalists
Ain Soph is “without form or being”, having “no likeness with anything else”
(Franck, Die Kabbala, p. 126). That Ain Soph has never been considered as the
“Creator” is proved by even such an orthodox Jew as Philo calling the “Creator”
the Logos, who stands next the “Limitless One”, and the “Second God”. “The
Second God is its (Ain Soph’s) wisdom”, says Philo (Quaest. et Solut.). Deity
is NO-THING; it is nameless, and therefore called Ain Soph; the word Ain
meaning NOTHING. (See Franck’s Kabbala, p. 153 ff.)
Ain
Soph Aur (Heb.). The Boundless Light which concentrates into the First and
highest Sephira or Kether, the Crown. [w. w. w.]
Airyamen
Yaęgo (Zend). Or Airyana Vaęgo; the primeval land of bliss referred to in the
Vendîdâd, where Ahura Mazda delivered his laws to Zoroaster (Spitama
Zarathustra).
Airyana-ishejô
(Zend). The name of a prayer to the “holy Airyamen”, the divine aspect of
Ahriman before the latter became a dark opposing power, a Satan. For Ahriman is
of the same essence with Ahura Mazda, just as Typhon-Seth is of the same
essence with Osiris (q.v.).
Aish
(Heb.). The word for “Man".
Aisvarikas
(
Aitareya
(
Aith-ur
(Chald.). Solar fire, divine Ćther.
Aja
(
Ajitas
(
Ajnâna
(Sk.) or Agyana (Bengali). Non-knowledge; absence of knowledge rather than
“ignorance” as generally translated. An Ajnâni means a “profane”.
Akar
(Eg.). The proper name of that division of the Ker-neter infernal regions,
which may be called Hell. [w. w. w.].
Akâsa
(
Akbar.
The great Mogul Emperor of
Akiba
(Heb.). The only one of the four Tanaim (initiated prophets)
who entering the
Akshara
(
Akta
(
Rig -Veda. He is called the “Father of the Gods”
and “Father of the sacred Fire” (See note page 101, Vol. II., Sec.Doct.).
Akűpâra
(
Al
or El (Heb.). This deity-name is commonly translated “God’, meaning mighty,
supreme. The plural is Elohim, also translated in the Bible by the word God, in
the singular. [w.w.w.]
Al-ait
(Phśn.). The God of Fire, an ancient and very mystic name in Koptic Occultism.
Alaparus
(Chald.). The second divine king of
Alaya
(
Alba
Al-Chazari
(Arab.). A Prince-Philosopher and Occultist. (See Book Al-Chazari.)
Alchemists; From Al and Chemi, fire, or the god and patriarch,
Kham, also, the name of
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
it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite
about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Ćneas 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 Encyclopćdists 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.)
Alcyone
(Gr.), or Halcyone, daughter of Ćolus, and wife of Ceyx, who was drowned as he
was journeying to consult the oracle, upon which she threw herself into the
sea. Accordingly both were changed, through the mercy of the gods, into
king-fishers. The female is said to lay her eggs on the sea and keep it calm
during the seven days before and seven days after the winter solstice. It has a
very occult significance in ornithomancy.
Alectromancy
(Gr.). 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.
Alethć
(Phśn) “Fire worshippers” from Al-alt, the God of Fire. The same as the Kabiri
or divine Titans. As the seven emanations of Agruerus (Saturn) they are
connected with all the fire, solar and” storm gods (Maruts).
Aletheia
(Gr.). Truth; also Alethia, one of Apollo’s nurses.
Alhim
(Heb.). See “Elohim”.
Alkahest
(Arab.). The universal solvent in Alchemy (see "Alchemy "); but in
mysticism, the Higher Self, the union with which makes of matter (lead), gold,
and restores all compound things such as the human body and its attributes to
their primćval essence.
Almadel;
the Book. A treatise on Theurgia or White Magic by an unknown medićval European
author; it is not infrequently found in volumes of MSS. called Keys of Solomon.
[ w.w.w.]
Almeh
(Arab.). Dancing girls; the same as the Indian nautchies, the temple and public
dancers.
Alpha
Polaris (Lat.). The same as Dhruva, the pole-star of 31,105 years ago.
Alswider
(Scand.). ‘‘ All-swift’’, the name of the horse of the moon, in the Eddas.
Altruism
(Lat.). From alter = other. A quality opposed to egoism. Actions tending to do
good to others, regardless of self.
Aize,
Liber; 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.]
Ama
(Heb.)., Amia, (Chald.). Mother. A title of Sephira Binah, whose “divine name is
Jehovah” and who is called “Supernal Mother”.
Amânasa
(Sk.). The “ Mindless”, the early races of this planet; also certain Hindu
gods.
Amara-Kosha
(Sk.). The “immortal vocabulary”. The oldest dictionary known in the world and
the most perfect vocabulary of classical Sanskrit ; by Amara Sinha, a sage of
the second century.
Ambâ
(Sk.). The name of the eldest of the seven Pleiades, the heavenly sisters
married each to a Rishi belonging to the Saptariksha or the seven Rishis of the
constellation known as the Great Bear.
Ambhâmsi
(Sk.). A name of the chief of the Kumâras Sanat-Sujâta, signifying the
“waters”. This epithet will become more comprehensible when we remember that
the later type of Sanat-Sujâta was Michael, the
(See Secret Doctrine-, Vol. I., p. 460.)
Amdo
(Tib.). A sacred locality, the birthplace of Tson-kha-pa, the great Tibetan
reformer and the founder of the Gelukpa (yellow caps), who is regarded as an
Avatar of Amita-buddha.
Amęn.
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 Hecatćus 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.
Amenti
(Eg.). Esoterically and literally, the dwelling of the God Amen, or Amoun, or
the “hidden”, secret god. Exoterically the
Amesha
Spentas (Zend). 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.).
Amitâbha.
The Chinese perversion of the Sanskrit Amrita Buddha, or the “Immortal
Enlightened”, a name of Gautama Buddha. The name has such variations as Amita,
Abida, Amitâya, etc., and. is explained as meaning both “Boundless Age” and
“Boundless Light”. The original conception of the ideal of an impersonal divine
light has been anthrdpomorphized with time.
Ammon
(Eg.). One of the great gods of Egypt. Ammon or Amoun is far older than
Amoun-Ra, and is identified with Baal. Hammon, the Lord of Heaven. Amoun-Ra was
Ra the Spiritual Sun, the “Sun of Righteousness”, etc., for—“the Lord God is a
Sun”. He is the God of Mystery and the hieroglyphics of his name are often
reversed. He is Pan, All-Nature esoterically, and therefore the universe, and
the “Lord of Eternity”. Ra, as declared by an old inscription, was “begotten by
Neith but not engendered”. He is called the “self- begotten” Ra,, and created
goodness from a glance of his fiery eye, as Set-Typhon created evil from his.
As Ammon (also Amoun and Amen), Ra, he is “Lord of the worlds enthroned on the
Sun’s disk and appears in the abyss of heaven”. A very ancient hymn spells the
name “Amen-ra”, and hails the “Lord of the thrones of the earth...Lord of
Truth, father of the gods, maker of man, creator of the beasts, Lord of Existence,
Enlightener of the Earth, sailing in heaven in tranquillity. . . All hearts are
softened at beholding thee, sovereign of life, health and strength We worship
thy spirit who alone made us”, etc., etc. (See Bonwick’s Egyptian Belief.)
Ammon Ra is called “his mother’s husband” and her son. (See “Chnourmis” and
“Chnouphis” and also Secret Doctrine I, pp. 91 and It was to the “ram-headed”
god that the Jews sacrificed lambs, and the lamb of Christian theology is a
disguised reminiscence of the ram.
Ammonius
Saccas. A great and good philosopher who lived in Alexandria between the second
and third centuries of our era, and who was the founder of the Neo-Platonic
School of Philaletheians or “lovers of truth”. He was of poor birth and born of
Christian parents, but endowed with such prominent, almost divine, goodness as
to he called Theodidaktos, the “god-taught”. He honoured that which was good in
Christianity, but broke with it and the churches very early, being unable to
find in it any superiority over the older religions.
Amrita
(Sk.). The ambrosial drink or food of the gods; the food giving immortality.
The elixir of life churned out of the ocean of milk in the Purânic allegory. An
old Vedic term applied to the sacred Soma juice in the Temple Mysteries.
Aműlam
Műlam (Sk.). Lit., the “rootless root” ; Mulâprakriti of the Vedantins the
spiritual “root of nature”.
Amun
(Copt.). The Egyptian god of wisdom, who had only Initiates or Hierophants to
serve him as priests.
Anâ
(Chald.). The “invisible heaven”or Astral Light ; the heavenly mother of the
terrestrial sea, Mar, whence probably the origin of Anna, the mother of Mary.
Anacalypsis
(Gr.)., or an “Attempt to withdraw the veil of the Saitic Isis”, by Godfrey
Higgins. This is a very valuable work, now only obtainable at extravagant
prices; it treats of the origin of all myths, religions and mysteries, and
displays an immense fund of classical erudition. [ w.w.w.]
Anâgâmin
(Sk.). Anagam. One who is no longer to be reborn into the world of desire. One
stage before becoming Arhat and ready for Nirvâna. The third of the four grades
of holiness on the way to final Initiation.
Anâhata
Chakram (Sk.). The seat or “wheel” of life; the heart, according to some
commentators.
Anâhata
Shabda (Sk.). The mystic voices and sounds heard by the Yogi at the incipient
stage of his meditation, The third of the four states of sound, otherwise
called Madhyamâ—the fourth state being when it is perceptible by the physical
sense of hearing. The sound in its previous stages is not heard except by those
who have developed their internal, highest spiritual senses. The four stages
are called respectively, Parâ, Pashyantî, Madhyamâ and Vaikharî.
Anaitia
(Chald.). A derivation from Anâ (q.v.), a goddess identical with the Hindu Annapurna,
one of the names of Kâlî—the female aspect of Siva—at her best.
Analogeticists.
The disciples of Ammonius Saccas (q.v.), so called because of their practice of
interpreting all sacred legends, myths and mysteries by a principle of analogy
and correspondence, which is now found in the Kabbalistic system, and
pre-eminently so in the Schools of Esoteric Philosophy, in the East. (See “ The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,” by T. Subba Row in Five
Years of Theosophy.)
Ânanda
(
Ânanda-Lahari
(
Ânandamaya-Kosha
(
Ananga
(
Ananta-Sesha
(
(lit.,
endless remain).
Anastasis
(Gr.). The continued existence of the soul.
Anatu
(Chald.). The female aspect of Anu (q.v.). She represents the Earth and Depth,
while her consort represents the Heaven and Height. She is the mother of the god
Hea, and produces heaven and earth. Astronomically she is Ishtar, Venus, the
Ashtoreth of the Jews.
Anaxagoras
(Gr.) A famous Ionian philosopher who lived 500 B.C., studied philosophy under
Anaximenes of Miletus, and settled in the days of Pericles at
Ancients,
The. A name given by Occultists to the seven creative Rays, born of Chaos, or
the “Deep”.
Anda-Katâha
(
Androgyne
Goat (of Mendes). See “Baphomet”.
Androgyne
Ray (Esot.). The first differentiated ray; the Second Logos; Adam Kadmon in the
Kabalah; the “male and female created he them”, of the first chapter of
Genesis.
Audumla
(Scand.). The symbol of nature in the Norse mythology; the cow who licks the
salt rock, whence the divine Buri is born, before man’s creation.
Angâraka
(Sk.). Fire Star; the planet Mars; in Tibetan, Mig-mar.
Augiras.
One of the Prajâpatis. A son of Daksha ; a lawyer, etc., etc.
Angirasas
(Sk.). The generic name of several Purânic individuals and things; a class of
Pitris, the ancestors of man ; a river in Plaksha, one of the Sapta dwîpas
(q.v).
Angra
Mainyus (Zend.). The Zoroastrian name for Ahriman; the evil spirit of
destruction and opposition who (in the Vendidâd, Fargard I.) is said by Ahura
Mazda to “counter-create by his witchcraft” every beautiful land the God
creates; for “Angra Mainyu is all death”.
AnimaMundi
(Lat.). The“Soul of the World”, the same as the Alaya of the Northern
Buddhists; the divine essence which permeates, animates and informs all, from
the smallest atom of matter to man and god. It is in a sense the “seven-skinned
mother” of the stanzas in the Secret Doctrine, the essence of seven planes of
sentience, consciousness and differentiation, moral and physical. In its
highest aspect it is Nirvâna, in its lowest Astral Light. It was feminine with
the Gnostics, the early Christians and the Nazarenes; bisexual with other
sects, who considered it only in its four lower planes. Of igneous, ethereal
nature in the objective world of form (and then ether), and divine and
spiritual in its three higher planes. When it is said that every human soul was
born by detaching itself from the Anima Mundi, it means, esoterically, that our
higher Egos are of an essence identical with It, which is a radiation of the
ever unknown Universal ABSOLUTE.
Anjala
(Sk.). One of the personified powers which spring from Brahmâ’s body—the
Prajâpatis.
Anjana
(Sk.). A serpent, a son of Kasyapa Rishi.
Annamaya
Kosha (Sk.). A Vedantic term. The same as Sthűla Sharîra or the physical body.
It is the first “sheath” of the five sheaths accepted by the Vedantins, a sheath
being the same as that which is called “principle” in Theosophy.
Annapura
(Sk.). See “Anâ”.
Annedotus
(Gr.). The generic name for the Dragons or Men-Fishes, of which there were
five. The historian Berosus narrates that there rose out of the Erythrćan Sea
on several occasions a semi-dćmon named Oannes or Annedotus, who although part
animal yet taught the Chaldeans useful arts and everything that could humanise
them. (See Lenormant Chaldean Magic, p. 203, and also “Oannes”.) [w.w.w.]
Anoia
(Gr.). “Want of understanding”, “folly”. Anoia is the name given by Plato and
others to the lower Manas when too closely allied with Kâma, which is
irrational (agnoia). The Greek word agnoia is evidently a derivation from and
cognate to the Sanskrit word ajnâna (phonetically, agnyana) or ignorance,
irrationality, absence of knowledge. (See “Agnoia” and “Agnostic”.)
Anouki
(Eg.). A form of Isis; the goddess of life, from which name the Hebrew Ank,
life. (See “Anuki.”)
Ansumat
(Sk.). A Purânic personage, the “nephew of 60,000 uncles” King Sagara’s sons,
who were reduced to ashes by a single glance from Kapila Rishi’s “Eye”.
Antahkarana
(Sk.)., or Antaskarana. The term has various meanings, which differ with every
school of philosophy and sect. Thus Sankârachârya renders the word as
“understanding”; others, as “the internal instrument, the Soul, formed by the
thinking principle and egoism”; whereas the Occultists explain it as the path
or bridge between the Higher and the Lower Manas, the divine Ego, and the
personal Soul of man. It serves as a medium of communication between the two,
and conveys from the Lower to the Higher Ego all those personal impressions and
thoughts of men which can, by their nature, be assimilated and stored by the
undying Entity, and be thus made immortal with it, these being the only
elements of the evanescent Personality that survive death and time. It thus
stands to reason that only that which is noble, spiritual and divine in man can
testify in Eternity to his having lived.
Anthesteria
(Gr.). The feast of Flowers (Floralia): during this festival the rite of
Baptism or purification was performed in the Eleusinian Mysteries in the temple
lakes, the Limnae, when the Mystć were made to pass through the “narrow gate”
of Dionysus, to emerge therefrom as full Initiates.
Anthropology.
The Science of man; it embraces among other things :—Physiology, or that branch
of natural science which discloses the mysteries of the organs and their functions
in men, animals and plants; and also, and especially,—Psychology or the great,
and in our days, too much neglected science of the soul, both as an entity
distinct from the spirit, and in its relation to the spirit and body. In modern
science, psychology deals only or principally with conditions of the nervous
system, and almost absolutely ignores the psychical essence and nature.
Physicians denominate the science of insanity psychology, and name the lunacy
chair in medical colleges by that designation. (Isis Unveiled.)
Anthropomorphism
(Gr.). From “anthropos” meaning man. The act of endowing god or gods with a
human form and human attributes or qualities.
Anu
(Sk.). An “atom”, a title of Brahmâ, who is said to be an atom just as is the
infinite universe. A hint at the pantheistic nature of the god.
Anu
(Chald.). One of the highest of Babylonian deities, “King of Angels and
Spirits, Lord of the city of Erech”. He is the Ruler and God of Heaven and
Earth. His symbol is a star and a kind of Maltese cross—emblems of divinity and
sovereignty. He is an abstract divinity supposed to inform the whole expense of
ethereal space or heaven, while his “wife” informs the more material planes.
Both are the types of the Ouranos and Gaia of Hesiod. They sprang from the
original Chaos. All his titles and attributes are grapfiic and indicate health,
purity physical and moral, antiquity and holiness. Anu was the earliest god of
the city of Erech. One of his sons was Bil orVil-Kan, the god of fire, of
various metals, and of weapons. George Smith very pertinently sees in this
deity a close connection with a kind of cross breed between “the biblical Tubal
Cain and the classical Vulcan” . .who is considered to be moreover “the most
potent deity in relation to witchcraft and spells generally”.
Anubis
(Gr.) The dog -headed god, identical, in a certain aspect, with Horus. He is
pre-eminently the god who deals with the disembodied, or the resurrected in
post mortem life. Anepou is his Egyptian name. He is a psychopompic deity, “the
Lord of the Silent Land of the West, the land of the Dead, the preparer of the
way to the other world ”, to whom the dead were entrusted, to be led by him to
Osiris, the Judge. In short, he is the “embalmer” and the “guardian of the
dead”. One of the oldest deities in
Anugîtâ
(
Anugraha
(
Anuki
(Eg.). “See Anouki” supra. “The word Ank in Hebrew, means ‘my life’, my being,
which is the personal pronoun Anocki, from the name of the Egyptian goddess
Anouki ”, says the author of the
Hebrew
Mystery, or the Source of Measures.
Anumati
(
Anumitis
(
Anunnaki
(Chald.). Angels or Spirits of the Earth; terrestrial Elementals also.
Anunit
(Chald.) The goddess of
was Ishtar of Erech.
Anupâdaka
(
Anuttara
(
Anyâmsam
Aniyasâm (
Aour
(Chald.). The synthesis of the two aspects of astro-etheric light; and the
od—the life-giving, and the ob—the death-giving light.
Apâm
Napât (Zend). A mysterious being, corresponding to the Fohat of the Occultists.
It is both a Vedic and an Avestian name. Literally, the name means the “Son of
the Waters” (of space, i.e., Ether),
for
in the Avesta Apâm Napât stands between the fire-yazatas and the water-yazatas
.
(See
Secret Doctrine, Vol. II., p. 400, note).
Apâna
(
Apap
(Eg.), in Greek Apophis. The symbolical Serpent of Evil. The Solar Boat and the
Sun are the great Slayers of Apap in the Book of the Dead. It is Typhon, who
having killed Osiris, incarnates in Apap, seeking to kill Horus. Like Taoer (or
Ta-ap-oer)
the female aspect of Typhon, Apap is called “the devourer of the Souls”, and
truly, since Apap symbolizes the animal body, as matter left soulless and to
itself. Osiris, being, like all the other Solar gods, a type of the Higher Ego
(Christos), Horus (his son) is the lower Manas or the personal Ego. On many a
monument one can see Horus, helped by a number of dog-headed gods armed with
crosses and spears, killing Apap. Says an Orientalist : “The God Horus standing
as conqueror upon the Serpent of Evil, may be considered as the earliest form
of our well-known group of St. George (who is Michael) and the Dragon, or
holiness trampling down sin.” Draconianism did not die with the ancient
religions, but has passed bodily into the latest Christian form of the worship.
Aparinâmin
(Sk.). The Immutable and the Unchangeable, the reverse of Parinâmin, that which
is subject to modification, differentiation or decay.
Aparoksha
(Sk.) Direct perception.
Âpava
(Sk.) 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.
Apavarga
(Sk.). Emancipation from repeated births.
Apis
(Eg.), or Hapi-ankh. The “living deceased one” or Osiris incarnate in the
sacred white Bull. Apis was the bull-god that, on reaching the age of
twenty-eight, the age when Osiris was killed by Typhon—was put to death with
great ceremony. It was not the Bull that was worshipped but the Osiridian
symbol; just as Christians kneel now before the Lamb, the symbol of Jesus
Christ, in their churches.
Apocrypha
(Gr.). Very erroneously explained and adopted as doubtful, or spurious. The
word means simply secret, esoteric, hidden.
Apollo
Belvidere. Of all the ancient statues of Apollo, the son of Jupiter and Latona,
called Phśbus, Helios, the radiant and the Sun, the best and most perfect is
the one known by this name, which is in the Belvidere gallery of the Vatican at
Rome. It is called the Pythian Apollo, as the god is represented in the moment
of his victory over the serpent Python. The statue was found in the ruins of
Antium, in 1503.
Apollonius
of Tyana (Gr.). A wonderful philosopher born in Cappadocia about the beginning
of the first century; an ardent Pythagorean, who studied the Phśnician 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 Ćsculapius (Asciepios) at Ćgae, 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.
Aporrheta
(Gr.). Secret instructions upon esoteric subjects given during the Egyptian and
Grecian Mysteries.
Apsaras
(Sk.). 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.
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.
Arahat
(Sk.). 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.
Arani
(Sk.). The “female Arani” is a name of the Vedic Aditi (esoterically, the womb
of the world).
Arani
is a Swastika, a disc-like wooden vehicle, in which the Brahmins generated fire
by friction with pramantha, a stick, the symbol of the male generator. A mystic
ceremony with a world of secret meaning in it and very sacred, perverted into
phallic significance by the materialism of the age.
Âranyaka
(Sk.). Holy hermits, sages who dwelt in ancient India in forests. Also a
portion of the Vedas containing Upanishads, etc.
Araritha
(Heb.). 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.].
Arasa
Maram (Sk.). The Hindu sacred tree of knowledge. In occult philosophy a mystic
word.
Arba-il
(Chald.). The Four Great Gods. Arba is Aramaic for four, and il is the same as
Al or El. Three male deities, and a female who is virginal yet reproductive,
form a very common ideal of Godhead.
Archangel
(Gr.). Highest supreme angel. From the Greek arch, “chief” or “primordial”, and
angelos, “messenger ”.
Archćus
(Gr.). “The Ancient.” Used of the oldest manifested deity; a term employed in
the Kabalah ; “archaic ”, old, ancient.
Archobiosis
(Gr.). Primeval beginning of life.
Archetypal
Universe (Kab.). The ideal universe upon which the objective world was built.
[w.w.w.]
Archons
(Gr.). In profane and biblical language “rulers” and princes; in Occultism,
primordial planetary spirits.
Archontes
(Gr.). The archangels after becoming Ferouers (q.v.) or their own shadows,
having mission on earth; a mystic ubiquity; implying a double life; a kind of
hypostatic action, one of purity in a higher region, the other of terrestrial
activity exercised on our plane.
(See
Iamblichus, De Mysterüs II., Chap. 3.)
Ardath
(Heb.). This word occurs in the Second Book of Esdras, ix., 26. The name has
been given to one of the recent “occult novels” where much interest is excited
by the visit of the hero to a field in the Holy Land so named; magical
properties are attributed to it. In the Book of Esdras the prophet is sent to
this field called Ardath “where no house is builded” and bidden “eat there only
the flowers of the field, taste no flesh, drink no wine, and pray unto the
highest continually, and then will I come and talk with thee”. [w.w.w.]
Ardha-Nârî
(Sk.). 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.)
Ardhanârîswara
(Sk.). Lit., “the bi-sexual lord”. Esoterically, the unpolarized states of
cosmic energy symbolised by the Kabalistic Sephira, Adam Kadmon, &c.
Ares.
The Greek name for Mars, god of war; also a term used by Paracelsus, the
differentiated Force in Cosmos.
Argha
(Chald.). The ark, the womb of Nature; the crescent moon, and a life-saving
ship ; also a cup for offerings, a vessel used for religious ceremonies.
Arghyanâth
(Sk.). Lit., “lord of libations”.
Arian.
A follower of Arius, a presbyter of the Church in Alexandria in the fourth
century. One who holds that Christ is a created and human being, inferior to
God the Father, though a grand and noble man, a true adept versed in all the
divine mysteries.
Aristobulus
(Gr) An Alexandrian writer, and an obscure philosopher. A Jew who tried to
prove that Aristotle explained the esoteric thoughts of Moses.
Arithmomancy
(Gr.). The science of correspondences between gods, men, and numbers, as taught
by Pythagoras. [w.w.w.]
Arjuna
(Sk.) 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.)
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.”
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”, says S. Sharpe, the Egyptologist, carried by
priests with 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.)
Arka
(Sk.). The Sun.
Arkites.
The ancient priests who were attached to the Ark, whether of Isis, or the Hindu
Argua, and who were seven in number, like the priests of the Egyptian Tat or
any other cruciform symbol of the three and the four, the combination of which
gives a male-female number. The Avgha (or ark) was the four-fold female
principle, and the flame burning over it the triple lingham.
Aroueris
(Gr.). The god Harsiesi, who was the elder Horus. He had a temple at Ambos. if
we bear in mind the definition of the chief Egyptian gods by Plutarch, these
myths will become more comprehensible; as he well says: “Osiris represents the
beginning and principle; Isis, that which receives; and Horus, the compound of
both. Horus engendered between them, is not eternal nor incorruptible, but,
being always in generation, he endeavours by vicissitudes of imitations, and by
periodical passion (yearly re-awakening to life) to continue always young, as
if he should never die.” Thus, since Horus is the personified physical world,
Aroueris, or the “elder Horus”, is the ideal Universe; and this accounts for
the saying that “he was begotten by Osiris and Isis when these were still in
the bosom of their mother”—Space. There is indeed, a good deal of mystery about
this god, but the meaning of the symbol becomes clear once one has the key to
it.
Artephius.—A
great Hermetic philosopher, whose true name was never known and whose works are
without dates, though it is known that he wrote his Secret Book in the XIIth
century. Legend has it that he was one thousand years old at that time. There
is a book on dreams by him in the possession of an Alchemist, now in Bagdad, in
which he gives out the secret of seeing the past, the present, and the future,
in sleep, and of remembering the things seen. There are but two copies of this
manuscript extant. The book on Dreams by the Jew Solomon Almulus, published in
Hebrew at Amsterdam in 1642, has a few reminiscences from the former work of
Artephius.
Artes
(Eg.). The Earth; the Egyptian god Mars.
Artufas.
A generic name in South America and the islands for temples of nagalism or
serpent worship.
Arundhatî
(Sk.). The “Morning Star”; Lucifer-Venus.
Arűpa
(Sk.). “Bodiless”, formless, as opposed to rűpa, “body”, or form.
Arvâksrotas
(Sk.). The seventh creation, that of man, in the Vishnu Purâna.
Arwaker
(Scand.). Lit., “early waker”. The horse of the chariot of the Sun driven by
the maiden Sol, in the Eddas.
Ârya
(Sk.) 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.
Ârya-Bhata
(Sk.) The earliest Hindu algerbraist and astronomer, with the exception of
Asura Maya (q.v.); the author of a work called Ârya Siddhânta, a system of
Astronomy.
Ârya-Dâsa
(Sk.) Lit., “Holy Teacher”. A great sage and Arhat of the Mahâsamghika school.
Aryahata
(Sk.) The “Path of Arhatship”, or of holiness.
Âryasangha
(Sk.) The Founder of the first Yogâchârya School. This Arhat, a direct disciple
of Gautama, the Buddha, is most unaccountably mixed up and confounded with a
personage of the same name, who is said to have lived in Ayôdhya (Oude) about
the fifth or sixth century of our era, and taught Tântrika worship in addition
to the Yogâchârya system. Those who sought to make it popular, claimed that he
was the same Âryasangha, that had been a follower of Sâkyamuni, and that he was
1,000 years old. Internal evidence alone is sufficient to show that the works
written by him and translated about the year 600 of our era, works full of
Tantra worship, ritualism, and tenets followed now considerably by the
“red-cap” sects in Sikhim, Bhutan, and Little Tibet, cannot be the same as the
lofty system of the early Yogâcharya school of pure Buddhism, which is neither
northern nor southern, but absolutely esoteric. Though none of the genunine
Yogâchârya books (the Narjol chodpa) have ever been made public or marketable,
yet one finds in the Yogâchârya Bhűmi Shâstra of the pseudo-Âryasangha a great
deal from the older system, into the tenets of which he may have been
initiated. It is, however, so mixed up with Sivaism and Tantrika magic and
superstitions, that the work defeats its own end, notwithstanding its
remarkable dialectical subtilty. How unreliable are the conclusions at which
our Orientalists arrive, and how contradictory the dates assigned by them, may
be seen in the case in hand. While Csoma de Körös (who, by-the-bye, never
became acquainted with the Gelukpa (yellow-caps), but got all his information
from “red-cap” lamas of the Borderland), places the pseudo-Âryasangha in the
seventh century of our era; Wassiljew, who passed most of his life in China,
proves him to have lived much earlier; and Wilson (see Roy. As. Soc., Vol. VI.,
p. 240), speaking of the period when Âryasangha’s works, which are still extant
in Sanskrit, were written, believes it now “established, that they have been
written at the latest, from a century and a half before, to as much after, the
era of Christianity”. At all events since it is beyond dispute that the
Mahâyana religious works were all written far before Âryasangha’s time—whether
he lived in the “second century B.C.”, or the “seventh .A.D.”—and that these
contain all and far more of the fundamental tenets of the Yogâchârya system, so
disfigured by the Ayôdhyan imitator—the inference is that there must exist
somewhere a genuine rendering free from popular Sivaism and left-hand magic.
Aryasatyâni
(Sk.). The four truths or the four dogmas, which are (1) Dukha, or that misery
and pain are the unavoidable concomitants of sentient (esoterically, physical)
existence; (2) Samudaya, the truism that suffering is intensified by human
passions; (3) Nirôdha, that the crushing out and extinction of all such
feelings are possible for a man “on the path”; (4) Mârga, the narrow way, or
that path which leads to such a blessed result.
Aryavarta
(Sk.). The “land of the Aryas”, or India. The ancient name for Northern India.
The Brahmanical invaders (“ from the Oxus” say the Orientalists) first settled.
It is erroneous to give this name to the whole,of India, since Manu gives the
name of “the land of the Aryas” only to “the tract between the Himalaya and the
Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the western sea”.
Asakrit
Samâdhi (Sk.). A certain degree of ecstatic contemplation. A stage in Samâdhi.
Âsana
(Sk.). The third stage of Hatha Yoga, one of the prescribed postures of
meditation.
Asat
(Sk.). A philosophical term meaning “non-being”, or rather non-be-ness. The
“incomprehensible nothingness”. Sat, the immutable, eternal, ever-present, and
the one real “Be-ness” (not Being) is spoken of as being “ Born of Asat, and Asat
begotten by Sat”. The unreal, or Prakriti, objective nature regarded as an
illusion. Nature, or the illusive shadow of its one true essence.
Asathor
(Scand.). The same as Thor. The god of storms and thunder, a hero who receives Miölnir,
the “storm-hammer”, from its fabricators, the dwarfs. With it he conquer Alwin
in a “battle of words” breaks the head of the giant Hrungir, chastises Loki for
his magic; destroys the whole race of giants in Thrymheim; and, as a good and
benevolent god, sets up therewith land-marks, sanctifies marriage bonds,
blesses law and order, and produces every good and terrific feat with its help.
A god in the Eddas, who is almost as great as Odin. (See “Miölnir” and “Thor’s
Hammer”.)
Asava
Samkhaya (Pali). The “finality of the stream”, one of the six “Abhijnâs”
(q.v.). A phenomenal knowledge of the finality of the stream of life and the
series of re-births.
Asburj.
One of the legendary peaks in the Teneriffe range. A great mountain in the
traditions of Iran which corresponds in its allegorical meaning to the
World-mountain, Meru. Asburj is that mount “at the foot of which the sun sets”.
Asch
Metzareph (Heb.). The Cleansing Fire, a Kabbalistic treatise, treating of
Alchemy and the relation between the metals and the planets. [w.w.w]
Ases
(Scand.). The creators of the Dwarfs and Elves, the Elementals below men, in
the Norse lays. They are the progeny of Odin; the same as the Ćsir.
Asgard
(Scand.). The kingdom and the habitat of the Norse gods, the Scandinavian
Olympus ; situated “higher than the Home of the Light-Elves”, but on the same
plane as Jotunheim, the home of the Jotuns, the wicked giants versed in magic,
with whom the gods are at eternal war. It is evident that the gods of Asgard
are the same as the Indian Suras (gods) and the Jotuns as the Asuras, both
representing the conflicting powers of nature—beneficent and maleficent. They
are the prototypes also of the Greek gods and the Titans.
Ash
(Heb.). Fire, whether physical or symbolical fire; also found written in
English as As, Aish and Esch.
Ashen
and Langhan (Kolarian). Certain ceremonies for casting out evil spirits, akin
to those of exorcism with the Christians, in use with the Kolarian tribes in
India.
Asherah
(Heb.). 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.]
Ashmog
(Zend). The Dragon or Serpent, a monster with a camel’s neck in the Avesta; a
kind of allegorical Satan, who after the Fall, “lost its nature and its name”.
Called in the old Hebrew (Kabbalistic) texts the “flying camel”; evidently a
reminiscence or tradition in both cases of the prehistoric or antediluvian
monsters, half bird, half reptile,
Ashtadisa
(Sk.). The eight-faced space. An imaginary division of space represented as an
octagon and at other times as a dodecahedron.
Ashta
Siddhis (Sk.). The eight consummations in the practice of Hatha Yoga.
Ashtar
Vidyâ (Sk.). The most ancient of the Hindu works on Magic. Though there is a
claim that the entire work is in the hands of some Occultists, yet the
Orientalists deem it lost. A very few fragments of it are now extant, and even
these are very much disfigured.
Ash
Yggdrasil (Scand.). The “Mundane Tree”, the Symbol of the World with the old
Norsemen, the “tree of the universe, of time and of life”. It is ever green,
for the Norns of Fate sprinkle It daily with the water of life from the
fountain of Urd, which flows in Midgard. The dragon Nidhogg gnaws its roots
incessantly, the dragon of Evil and Sin; but the Ash Yggdrasil cannot wither,
until the Last Battle (the Seventh Race in the Seventh Round) is fought, when
life, time, and the world will all vanish and disappear.
Asiras
(Sk.). Elementals without heads; lit., “headless” ; used also of the first two
human races.
Asita
(Sk.). A proper name; a son of Bharata; a Rishi and a Sage.
Ask
(Scand.) or Ash tree. The “tree of Knowledge”. Together with the Embla (alder)
the Ask was the tree from which the gods of Asgard created the first man.
Aski-kataski-haix-tetrax-damnameneus-aision.
These mystic words, which Athanasius Kircher tells us meant “ Darkness, Light,
Earth, Sun, and Truth”, were, says Hesychius, engraved upon the zone or belt of
the Diana of Ephesus. Plutarch says that the priests used to recite these words
over persons who were possessed by devils. [w.w.w.]
Asmodeus.
The Persian Aęshma-dev, the Esham-dev of the Parsis, “the evil Spirit of
Concupiscence”, according to Bréal, whom the Jews appropriated under the name
of Ashmedai, “the Destroyer ”, the Talmud identifying the creature with
Beelzebub and Azrael (Angel of Death), and calling him the “ King of the Devils
”.
Asmoneans.
Priest-kings of Israel whose dynasty reigned over the Jews for 126 years. They
promulgated the Canon of the Mosaic Testament in contradistinction to the
“Apocrypha” (q.v.) or Secret Books of the Alexandrian Jews, the Kabbalists, and
maintained the dead-letter meaning of the former. Till the time of John
Hyrcanus, they were Ascedeans (Chasidim) and Pharisees; but later they became
Sadducees or Zadokites, asserters of Sacerdotal rule as contradistinguished
from Rabbinical.
Asoka
(Sk.). A celebrated Indian king of the Môrya dynasty which reigned at Magadha.
There were two Asokas in reality, according to the chronicles of Northern
Buddhism, though the first Asoka—the grand father of the second, named by Prof.
Max Muller the “Constantine of India”, was better known by his name of
Chandragupta. It is the former who was called, Piadasi (Pali) “the beautiful”,
and Devânam-piya “the beloved of the gods”, and also Kâlâsoka; while the name
of his grandson was Dharmâsôká—the Asoka of the good law-—on account of his
devotion to Buddhism. Moreover, according to the same source, the second Asoka
had never followed the Brahmanical faith, but was a Buddhist born. It was his
grandsire who had been first converted to the new faith, after which he had a
number of edicts inscribed on pillars and rocks, a custom followed also by his
grandson. But it was the second Asoka who was the most zealous supporter of
Buddhism; he, who maintained in his palace from 60 to 70,000 monks and priests,
who erected 84,000 totes and stupas throughout India, reigned 36 years, and
sent missions to Ceylon, and throughout the world. The inscriptions of various
edicts published by him display most noble ethical sentiments, especially the
edict at Allahahad, on the so-called “Asoka’s column ”, in the Fort. The
sentiments are lofty and poetical, breathing tenderness for animals as well as
men, and a lofty view of a king’s mission with regard to his people, that might
be followed with great success in the present age of cruel wars and barbarous
vivisection.
Asomatous
(Gr.). Lit., without a material body, incorporeal; used of celestial Beings and
Angels.
Asrama
(Sk.). A sacred building, a monastery or hermitage for ascetic purposes. Every
sect in India has its Ashrams.
Assassins.
A masonic and mystic order founded by Hassan Sabah in Persia, in the eleventh
century. The word is a European perversion of “Hassan”, which forms the chief
part of the name. They were simply Sufis and addicted, according to the
tradition, to hascheesl-eating, in order to bring about celestial visions. As
shown by our late brother, Kenneth Mackenzie, “they were teachers of the secret
doctrines of Islamism; they encouraged mathematics and philosophy, and produced
many valuable works. The chief of the Order was called Sheik-el-Jebel,
translated the ‘Old Man of the Mountains’, and, as their Grand Master, he
possessed power of life and death.’
Assorus
(Chald.). The third group of progeny (Kissan and Assorus) from the Babylonian
Duad, Tauthe and Apason, according to the Theogonies of Damascius. From this
last emanated three others, of which series the last, Aus, begat Belus—“the
fabricator of the World, the Demiurgus”.
Assur
(Chald.). A city in Assyria ; the ancient seat of a library from which George
Smith excavated the earliest known tablets, to which he assigns a date about
1500 B.C., called Assur Kileh Shergat.
Assurbanipal
(Chald.). The Sardanapalus of the Greeks, “the greatest of the Assyrian
Sovereigns, far more memorable on account of his magnificent patronage of
learning than of the greatness of his empire”, writes the late G. Smith, and
adds: “Assurbanipal added more to the Assyrian royal library than all the kings
who had gone before him”. As the distinguished Assyriologist tells us in
another place of his “Babylonian and Assyrian Literature” (Chald. Account of
Genesis) that “the majority of the texts preserved belong to the earlier period
previous to B.C. 1600”, and yet asserts that “it is to tablets written in his
(Assurbanipal’s) reign (B.C. 673) that we owe almost all our knowledge of the
Babylonian early history”, one is well justified in asking, “How do you know?”
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.
Assyrian
Tree of Life. “Asherah” (q.v.). It is translated in the Bible by “grove ” and occurs
30 times. It is called an “idol”; and Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of
Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a
lingham. For centuries this was a religious rite in Judća. But the original
Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular
flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of
it, but a metaphysical symbol. “Merciful One, who dead to life raises! was the
prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. The “Merciful
One”, was neither the personal god of the Jews who brought the “grove” from
their captivity, nor any extra- cosmic god, but the higher triad in man
symbolized by the globular flower with its three rays.
Asta-dasha
(Sk.). Perfect, Supreme Wisdom; a title of Deity.
Aster’t
(Heb.). Astarte, the Syrian goddess the consort of Adon, or Adonai.
Astrća
(Gr.). The ancient goddess of justice, whom the wickedness of men drove away
from earth to heaven, wherein she now dwells as the constellation Virgo.
Astral
Body, or Astral “Double”. The ethereal counterpart or shadow of man or animal.
The Linga Sharira, the “Doppelgäinger”. The reader must not confuse it with the
ASTRAL SOUL, another name for the lower Manas, or Kama-Manas so-called, the
reflection of the HIGHER EGO.
Astral
Light (Occult) The invisible region that surrounds our globe, as it does every
other, and corresponding as the second Principle of Kosmos (the third being
Life, of which it is the vehicle) to the Linga Sharira or the Astral Double in
man. A subtle Essence visible only to a clairvoyant eye, and the lowest but one
(viz., the earth), of the Seven Akâsic or Kosmic Principles. Eliphas Levi calls
it the great Serpent and the Dragon from which radiates on Humanity every evil
influence. This is so; but why not add that the Astral Light gives out nothing
but what it has received; that it is the great terrestrial crucible, in which
the vile emanations of the earth (moral and physical) upon which the Astral Light
is fed, are all converted into their subtlest essence, and radiated back
intensified, thus becoming epidemics— moral, psychic and physical. Finally, the
Astral Light is the same as the Sidereal Light of Paracelsus and other Hermetic
philosophers. “Physically, it is the ether of modern science. Metaphysically,
and in its spiritual, or occult sense, ether is a great deal more than is often
imagined. In occult physics, and alchemy, it is well demonstrated to enclose
within its shoreless waves not only Mr. Tyndall’s ‘promise and potency of every
quality of life’, but also the realization of the potency of every quality of
spirit. Alchemists and Hermetists believe that their astral, or sidereal ether,
besides the above properties of sulphur, and white and red magnesia, or magnes,
is the anima mundi, the workshop of Nature and of all the Kosmos, spiritually,
as well as physically. The ‘grand magisterium’ asserts itself in the phenomenon
of mesmerism, in the ‘levitation’ of human and inert objects; and may be called
the ether from its spiritual aspect. The designation astral is ancient, and was
used by some of the Neo-platonists, although it is claimed by some that the
word was coined by the Martinists. Porphyry describes the celestial body which
is always joined with the soul as ‘immortal, luminous, and star-like’. The root
of this word may be found, perhaps, in the Scythic Aist-aer—which means star,
or the Assyrian Istar, which, according to Burnouf has the same sense.” (
Astrolatry
(Gr.). Worship of the Stars.
Astrology
(Gr.) The Science which defines the action of celestial bodies upon mundane
affairs, and claims to foretell future events from the position of the stars.
Its antiquity is such as to place it among the very earliest records of human
learning. It remained for long ages a secret science in the East, and its final
expression remains so to this day, its exoteric application having been brought
to any degree of perfection in the West only during the period of time since
Varaha Muhira wrote his book on Astrology some 1400 years ago. Claudius
Ptolemy, the famous geographer and mathematician, wrote his treatise
Tetrabiblos about 135 A.D., which is still the basis of modern astrology. The
science of Horoscopy is studied now chiefly under four heads: viz., (1)
Mundane, in its application to meteorology, seismology, husbandry, etc. (2)
State or civic, in regard to the fate of nations, kings and rulers. (3) Horary,
in reference to the solving of doubts arising in the mind upon any subject. (4)
Genethliacal, in its application to the fate of individuals from the moment of
their birth to their death. The Egyptians and the Chaldees were among the most
ancient votaries of Astrology, though their modes of reading the stars and the
modern practices differ considerably. The former claimed that Belus, the Bel or
Elu of the Chaldees, a scion of the divine Dynasty, or the Dynasty of the
king-gods, had belonged to the land of Chemi, and had left it, to found a
colony from Egypt on the banks of the Euphrates, where a temple ministered by
priests in the service of the “lords of the stars” was built, the said priests
adopting the name of Chaldees. Two things are known: (a) that Thebes (in Egypt)
claimed the honour of the invention of Astrology; and (b) that it was the
Chaldees who taught that science to the other nations. Now Thebes antedated
considerably not only “Ur of the Chaldees”, but also Nipur, where Bel was first
worshipped—Sin, his son (the moon), being the presiding deity of Ur, the land
of the nativity of Terah, the Sabean and Astrolatrer, and of Abram, his son,
the great Astrologer of biblical tradition. All tends, therefore, to
corroborate the Egyptian claim. If later on the name of Astrologer fell into
disrepute in Rome and elsewhere, it was owing to the fraud of those who wanted
to make money by means of that which was part and parcel of the sacred Science
of the Mysteries, and, ignorant of the latter, evolved a system based entirely
upon mathematics, instead of on transcendental metaphysics and having the
physical celestial bodies as its upadhi or material basis. Yet, all
persecutions notwithstanding, the number of the adherents of Astrology among
the most intellectual and scientific minds was always very great. If Cardan and
Kepler were among its ardent supporters, then its later votaries have nothing
to blush for, even in its now imperfect and distorted form. As said in Isis
Unveiled (1. 259): “Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact
physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the visible
world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit.” (See “
Astronomos.”)
Astronomos
(Gr.). The title given to the Initiate in the Seventh Degree of the reception
of the Mysteries. In days of old, Astronomy was synonymous with Astrology; and
the great Astrological Initiation took place in Egypt at Thebes, where the
priests perfected, if they did not wholly invent the science. Having passed
through the degrees of Pastophoros, Neocoros, Melanophoros, Kistophoros, and
Balahala (the degree of Chemistry of the Stars), the neophyte was taught the
mystic signs of the Zodiac, in a circle dance representing the course of the
planets (the dance of Krishna and the Gopis, celebrated to this day in
Rajputana); after which he received a cross, the Tau (or Tat), becoming an
Astronomos and a Healer. (See Isis Unveiled. Vol. II. 365). Astronomy and
Chemistry were inseparable in these studies. “Hippocrates had so lively a faith
in the influence of the stars on animated beings, and on their diseases, that
he expressly recommends not to trust to physicians who are ignorant of
astronomy.’ (Arago.) Unfortunately the key to the final door of Astrology or
Astronomy is lost by the modern Astrologer; and without it, how can he ever be
able to answer the pertinent remark made by the author of Mazzaroth, who
writes: “people are said to be born under one sign, while in reality they are
born under another, because the sun is now seen among different stars at the
equinox ”? Nevertheless, even the few truths he does know brought to his
science such eminent and scientific believers as Sir Isaac Newton, Bishops
Jeremy and Hall, Archbishop Usher, Dryden, Flamstead, Ashmole, John Milton,
Steele, and a host of noted Rosicrucians.
Asura
Mazda (Sk.). In the Zend, Ahura Mazda. The same as Ormuzd or Mazdeô; the god of
Zoroaster and the Parsis.
Asuramaya
(Sk.) Known also as Mayâsura. An Atlantean astronomer, considered as a great
magician and sorcerer, well-known in Sanskrit works.
Asuras
(Sk.). 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.
Aswamedha
(Sk.) The Horse-sacrifice; an ancient Brahmanical ceremony.
Aswattha
(Sk.) The Bo-tree, the tree of knowledge, ficus religiosa.
Aswins
(Sk.), or Aswinau, dual ; or again, Aswinî-Kumârau, 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.
Atala
(Sk). One of the regions in the Hindu lokas, and one of the seven mountains;
but esoterically Atala is on an astral plane, and was, once on a time, a real
island upon this earth.
Atalanta
Fugiens (Lat.). A famous treatise by the eminent Rosicrucian Michael Maier; it
has many beautiful engravings of Alchemic symbolism: here is to be found the original
of the picture of a man and woman within a circle, a triangle around it, then a
square: the inscription is, “From the first ens proceed two contraries, thence
come the three principles, and from them the four elementary states ; if you
separate the pure from the impure you will have the stone of the Philosophers”.
[ w.w.w.]
Atarpi
(Chald.), or Atarpi-nisi, the “man”. A personage who was “pious to the gods”;
and who prayed the god Hea to remove the evil of drought and other things
before the Deluge is sent. The story is found on one of the most ancient
Babylonian tablets, and relates to the sin of the world. In the words of G.
Smith “the god Elu or Bel calls together an assembly of the gods, his sons, and
relates to them that he is angry at the sin of the world”; and in the
fragmentary phrases of the tablet: “ . . . . I made them . . . . Their
wickedness I am angry at, their punishment shall not be small . . . . let food
be exhausted, above let Vul drink up his rain”, etc., etc. In answer to Atarpi’s
prayer the god Hea announces his resolve to destroy the people he created,
which he does finally by a deluge.
Atash
Behram (Zend). The sacred fire of the Parsis, preserved perpetually in their
fire-temples.
Atef
(Eg.), or Crown of Horus. It consisted of a tall white cap with ram’s horns,
and the urśus in front. Its two feathers represent the two truths—life and
death.
Athamaz
(Heb.). The same as Adonis with the Greeks, the Jews having borrowed all their
gods.
Athanor
(Occult.) The “astral” fluid of the Alchemists, their Archimedean lever;
exoterically, the furnace of the Alchemist.
Atharva
Veda (Sk.) The fourth Veda; lit., magic incantation containing aphorisms,
incantations and magic formula One of the most ancient and revered Books of the
Brahmans.
Athenagoras
(Gr.) A Platonic philosopher of Athens, who wrote a Greek Apology for the
Christians in A.D. 177, addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, to prove that
the accusations brought against them, namely that they were incestuous and ate
murdered children, were untrue.
Athor
(Eg.) “Mother Night.” Primeval Chaos, in the Egyptian cosmogony. The goddess of
night.
Atîvahikâs
(Sk.) With the Visishtadwaitees, these are the Pitris, or Devas, who help the
disembodied soul or Jiva in its transit from its dead body to Paramapadha.
Atlantidć
(Gr.) The ancestors of the Pharaohs and the forefathers of the Egyptians,
according to some, and as the Esoteric Science teaches. (See S.D., Vol. II.,
and Esoteric Buddhism.) Plato heard of this highly civilized people, the last
remnant of which was submerged 9,000 years before his day, from Solon, who had
it from the High Priests of Egypt. Voltaire, the eternal scoffer, was right in
stating that “the Atlantidć (our fourth Root Race) made their appearance in
Egypt It was in Syria and in Phrygia, as well as Egypt, that they established
the worship of the Sun.” Occult philosophy teaches that the Egyptians were a
remnant of the last Aryan Atlantidć.
Atlantis
(Gr.) The continent that was submerged in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans
according to the secret teachings and Plato.
Atmâ
(or Atman) (Sk.). The Universal Spirit, the divine Monad, the 7th Principle,
so-called, in the septenary constitution of man. The Supreme Soul.
Atma-bhu
(Sk.). Soul-existence, or existing as soul. (See “Alaya”.)
Atmabodha
(Sk.). Lit., “Self-knowledge”; the title of a Vedantic treatise by
Sankârachârya.
Atma-jnâni
(Sk.) The Knower of the World-Soul, or Soul in general.
Atma-matrasu
(Sk.) To enter into the elements of the “One-Self”. (See S. D. I.,334 Atmamâtra
is the spiritual atom, as contrasted with, and opposed to, the elementary
differentiated atom or molecule.
Atma
Vidyâ (Sk.). The highest form of spiritual knowledge; lit., “Soul-knowledge”.
Atri,
Sons of (Sk.). A class of Pitris, the “ancestors of man”, or the so-called
Prâjapâti, “progenitors”; one of the seven Rishis who form the constellation of
the Great Bear.
Attavada
(Pali). The sin of personality.
Atyantika
(Sk.) One of the four kinds of pralaya or dissolution. The “absolute” pralaya.
Atziluth
(Heb.) The highest of the Four Worlds of the Kabbalah referred only to the pure
Spirit of God. [w. w. w.] See “Aziluth” for another interpretation.
Audlang
(Scand.). The second heaven made by Deity above the field of Ida, in the Norse
legends.
Audumla
(Scand.) The Cow of Creation, the “nourisher”, from which flowed four streams
of milk which fed the giant Ymir or Örgelmir (matter in ebullition) and his
sons, the Hrimthurses (Frost giants), before the appearance of gods or men.
Having nothing to graze upon she licked the salt of the ice-rocks and thus
produced Buri, “the Producer” in his turn, who had a son Bör (the born) who
married a daughter of the Frost Giants, and had three sons, Odin (Spirit), Wili
(Will), and We (Holy). The meaning of the allegory is evident. It is the
precosmic union of the elements, of Spirit, or the creative Force, with Matter,
cooled and still seething, which it forms in accordance with universal Will.
Then the Ases, “the pillars and supports of the World” (Cosmocratores), step in
and create as All-father wills them.
Augoeides
(Gr.). 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.
Aum
(Sk.). The sacred syllable; the triple-lettered unit; hence the trinity in One.
Aura
(Gr. and Lat.). 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.
Aurnavâbha
(Sk.) An ancient Sanskrit commentator.
Aurva
(Sk.). The Sage who is credited with the invention of the “fiery weapon” called
Agneyâstra.
Ava-bodha
(Sk.). “Mother of Knowledge.” A title of Aditi.
Avâivartika
(Sk.) An epithet of every Buddha: lit., one who turns no more back; who goes
straight to Nirvâna.
Avalokiteswara
(Sk.) “The on-looking Lord” In the exoteric interpretation, he is Padmapâni
(the lotus bearer and the lotus-born) in Tibet, the first divine ancestor of
the Tibetans, the complete incarnation or Avatar of Avalokiteswara; but in esoteric
philosophy Avaloki, the “on-looker”, is the Higher Self, while Padmapâni is the
Higher Ego or Manas. The mystic formula “Om mani padme hum” is specially used
to invoke their joint help. While popular fancy claims for Avalokiteswara many
incarnations on earth, and sees in him, not very wrongly, the spiritual guide
of every believer, the esoteric interpretation sees in him the Logos, both
celestial and human. Therefore, when the Yogâchârya School has declared
Avalokiteswara as Padmâpani “to be the Dhyâni Bodhisattva of Amitâbha Buddha”,
it is indeed, because the former is the spiritual reflex in the world of forms
of the latter, both being one—one in heaven, the other on earth.
Avarasâila
Sanghârama (Sk.). 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”.
Avastan
(Sk.) An ancient name for Arabia.
Avasthas
(Sk.) States, conditions, positions.
Avatâra
(Sk.) 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.
Avebury
or Abury. 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.]
Avesta
(Zend). 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).
Avicenna.
The latinized name of Abu-Ali al Hoséen ben Abdallah Ibn Sina; a Persian
philosopher, born 980 AD)., though generally referred to as an Arabian doctor.
On account of his surprising learning he was called “the Famous”, and was the
author of the best and the first alchemical works known in Europe. All the Spirits
of the Elements were subject to him, so says the legend, and it further tells
us that owing to his knowledge of the Elixir of Life, he still lives, as an
adept who will disclose himself to the profane at the end of a certain cycle.
Avidyâ
(Sk.). Opposed to Vidyâ, Knowledge. Ignorance which proceeds from, and is
produced by the illusion of the Senses or Viparyaya.
Avikâra
(Sk.). Free from degeneration; changeless—used of Deity.
Avitchi
(Sk.) 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.
Avyakta
(Sk.). The unrevealed cause; indiscrete or undifferentiated; the opposite of Vyakta,
the differentiated. The former is used of the unmanifested, and the latter of
the manifested Deity, or of Brahma and Brahmâ.
Axieros
(Gr.). One of the Kabiri.
Axiocersa
(Gr.).
" "
Axiocersus
(Gr.). "
"
Ayana
(Sk.) A period of time; two Ayanas complete a year, one being the period of the
Sun’s progress northward, and the other south ward in the ecliptic.
Ayin
(Heb.). Lit., “Nothing”, whence the name of Ain-Soph. (See“Ain”.)
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.]
Ayur
Veda (Sk.). Lit., “the Veda of Life”.
Ayuta
(Sk.). 100 Kôti, or a sum equal to 1,000,000,000.
Azareksh
(Zend) A place celebrated for a fire-temple of the Zoroastrians and Magi during
the time of Alexander the Great.
Azazel
(Heb.) “God of Victory”; the scape-goat for the sins of Israel. He who
comprehends the mystery of Azazel, says Aben-Ezra, “will learn the mystery of
God’s name”, and truly. See “Typhon” and the scape-goat made sacred to him in
ancient Egypt.
Azhi-Dahaka
(Zend) One of the Serpents or Dragons in the legends of Iran and the Avesta
Scriptures, the allegorical destroying Serpent or Satan.
Aziluth
(Heb.) The name for the world of the Sephiroth, called the world of Emanations
Olam Aziluth. It is the great and the highest prototype of the other worlds.
“Atzeelooth is the Great Sacred Seal by means of which all the worlds are
copied which have impressed on themselves the image on the Seal; and as this
Great Seal comprehends three stages, which are three zures (prototypes) of
Nephesh (the Vital Spirit or Soul), Ruach (the moral and reasoning Spirit), and
the Neshamah (the Highest Soul of man), so the Sealed have also received three
zures, namely Breeah, Yetzeerah, and Aseeyah, and these three zures are only
one in the Seal” (Myer’s Qabbalah). The globes A, Z, of our terrestial chain
are in Aziluth. (See Secret Doctrine.)
Azoth
(Alch.). The creative principle in Nature, the grosser portion of which is
stored in the Astral Light. It is symbolized by a figure which is a cross (See
“Eliphas Lévi”), the four limbs of which bear each one letter of the word Taro,
which can be read also Rota, Ator, and in many other combinations, each of
which has an occult meaning.
A.
and ? Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and ending of all
active existence; the Logos, hence (with the Christians) Christ. See Rev. xxi,
6., where John adopts “Alpha and Omega” as the symbol of a Divine Comforter who
“will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely”. The word Azot or Azoth is a medićval glyph of this idea, for the word
consists of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, A and ? of the
Latin alphabet, A and Z, and of the Hebrew alphabet, A and T, or aleph and tau.
(See also “Azoth”.) [ w.w.w.]
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Camberley, Surrey, England GU15 – 2LF
Tekels Park to be Sold to a Developer
Concerns are raised about the fate of the wildlife as
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Classic Introductory
Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By
C
What
Theosophy Is From
the Absolute to Man
The
Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The
Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The
Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The
Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary
Theosophy Who is the Man?
Body
and Soul Body,
Soul and Spirit
Preface Theosophy
and the Masters General
Principles
The Earth
Chain Body
and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation
Reincarnation
Continued
Karma Kama Loka Devachan Cycles
Arguments
Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation
Of Species Missing
Links
Psychic
Laws, Forces, and
Phenomena
Psychic
Phenomena and Spiritualism
Quick Explanations with Links to More
Detailed Info
What
is Theosophy ? Theosophy
Defined (More Detail)
Three
Fundamental Propositions Key
Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races Karma
Ascended
Masters After Death States
Reincarnation
The
Seven Principles of Man Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky
Colonel
Henry Steel Olcott William Quan
Judge
The
Start of the Theosophical Society Theosophical
Society Presidents
History
of the Theosophical Society Glossaries of
Theosophical Terms
History of
the Theosophical Society in Wales
The
Three Objectives of the Theosophical Society
Explanation of the
Theosophical Society Emblem
Karma Fundamental
Principles Laws:
Natural and Man-Made The Law of Laws
The Eternal
Now Succession Causation The Laws of Nature
A
Lesson of The Law
Karma
Does Not Crush Apply
This Law Man
in The Three Worlds Understand
The Truth
Man
and His Surroundings The Three Fates The
Pair of Triplets Thought,
The Builder
Practical
Meditation Will and
Desire The Mastery of Desire
Two
Other Points
The Third
Thread Perfect
Justice Our
Environment Our Kith
and Kin Our Nation
The
Light for a Good Man Knowledge
of Law The Opposing Schools
The More
Modern View Self-Examination Out of the
Past
Old
Friendships We Grow By
Giving Collective
Karma Family Karma
National
Karma India’s Karma National
Disasters
Try these if you are
looking for a
Local Theosophy Group or
Centre
UK Listing of
Theosophical Groups
Pages About
General pages about Wales,
Welsh History
and The History of Theosophy in
Wales
Wales is a
Principality within the United Kingdom
and has an eastern
border with England. The land
area is just over 8,000
square miles. Snowdon in
North Wales is
the highest mountain at 3,650 feet.
The coastline is
almost 750 miles long.
The population of
Wales as at the