Cardiff Blavatsky Archive, Wales UK:- Theosophy Study Resource

THEOSOPHY

H P BLAVATSKY

Cardiff Blavatsky Archive

Cardiff Theosophical Society, 206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

1831 - 1891

THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY

H. P. BLAVATSKY

First Published 1892

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H ,—The eighth letter and aspirate of the English alphabet, and also the eighth in the Hebrew. As a Latin numeral it signifies 200, and with the addition of a dash 200,000; in the Hebrew alphabet Châth is equivalent to h, corresponds to eight, and is symbolised by a Fence and Venus according to Seyffarth, being in affinity and connected with Hê, and therefore with the opening or womb. It is pre-eminently a Yonic letter.

Ha (Sk.) A magic syllable used in sacred formulæ it represents the power of Akâsa Sakti. Its efficacy lies in the expirational accent and the sound produced.

Habal de Garmin (Heb.) According to the Kabbalah this is the Resurrection Body: a tzelem image or demooth similitude to the deceased man; an inner fundamental spiritual type remaining after death. It is the “Spirit of the Bones ” mentioned in Daniel and Isaiah and the Psalms, and is referred to in the Vision of Ezekiel about the clothing of the dry bones with life: consult C, de Leiningen on the Kabbalah, T.P.S. Pamphlet, Vol. II., No. 18.

Hachoser (Heb.) Lit., “reflected Lights”; a name for the minor or inferior powers, in the Kabbalah.

Hades (Gr.), or Aїdes. The “invisible”, i.e., the land of the shadows, one of whose regions was Tartarus, a place of complete darkness, like the region of profound dreamless sleep in the Egyptian Amenti. Judging by the allegorical description of the various punishments inflicted therein, the place was purely Karmic. Neither Hades nor Amenti were the hell still preached by some retrograde priests and clergymen; but whether represented by the Elysian Fields or by Tartarus, Hades was a place of retributive justice and no more. This could only be reached by crossing the river to the “other shore”, i.e. by crossing the river Death, and being once more reborn, for weal or for woe. As well expressed in Egyptian Belief: “The story of Charon, the ferryman (of the, Styx) is to be found not only in Homer, but in the poetry of many lands. The River must be crossed before gaining the Isles of the Blest. The Ritual of Egypt described a Charon and his boat long ages before Homer. He is Khu-en-ua, the hawk-headed steersman.”
(See “Amenti”, “Hel” and “Happy Fields”.)

Hagadah (Heb.) A name given to parts of the Talmud which are legendary. [w. w.w.]

Hahnir (Scand.), or Hönir. One of the three mighty gods (Odin, Hahnir and Lodur) who, while wandering on earth, found lying on the sea-shore two human forms, motionless, speechless, and senseless. Odin gave them souls; Hahnir, motion and senses; and Lodur, blooming complexions. Thus were men created.

Haima (Heb.) The same as the Sanskrit hiranya (golden), as “the golden Egg” Hiranyagarbha.

Hair. Occult philosophy considers the hair (whether human or animal) as the natural receptacle and retainer of the vital essence which often escapes with other emanations from the body. It is closely connected with many of the brain functions—for instance memory. With the ancient Israelites the cutting of the hair and beard was a sign of defilement, and “the Lord said unto Moses. . . They shall not make baldness upon their head”, etc. (Lev. XX1., 1-5.) “Baldness”, whether natural or artificial, was a sign of calamity, punishment, or grief, as when Isaiah (iii., 24) enumerates, “instead of well-set hair baldness”, among the evils that are ready to befall the chosen people. And again, “On all their heads baldness and every beard cut” (Ibid. xv., 2). The Nazarite was ordered to let his hair and beard grow, and never to permit a razor to touch them. With the Egyptians and Buddhists it was only the initiated priest or ascetic to whom life is a burden, who shaved. The Egyptian priest was supposed to have become master of his body, and hence shaved his head for cleanliness; yet the Hierophants wore their hair long. The Buddhist still shaves his head to this day—as sign of scorn for life and health. Yet Buddha, after shaving his hair when he first became a mendicant, let it grow again and is always represented with the top-knot of a Yogi. The Hindu priests and Brahmins, and almost all the castes, shave the rest of the head but leave a long lock to grow from the centre of the crown. The ascetics of India wear their hair long, and so do the war-like Sikhs, and almost all the Mongolian peoples. At Byzantium and Rhodes the shaving of the beard was prohibited by law, and in Sparta the cutting of the beard was a mark of slavery and servitude. Among the Scandinavians, we are told, it was considered a disgrace, “a mark of infamy”, to cut off the hair. The whole population of the island of Ceylon (the Buddhist Singhalese) wear their hair long. So do the Russian, Greek and Armenian clergy, and monks. Jesus and the Apostles are always represented with their hair long, but fashion in Christendom proved stronger than Christianity, the old ecclesiastical rules (Constit. Apost. lib. I. C. 3) enjoining the clergy “to wear their hair and beards long” (See Riddle’s Ecclesiastical Antiquities.) The ‘Templars were commanded to wear their beards long. Samson wore his hair long, and the biblical allegory shows that health and strength and the very life are connected with the length of the hair. If a cat is shaved it will die in nine cases out of ten. A dog whose coat is not interfered with lives longer and is more intelligent than one whose coat is shaven. Many old people as they lose their hair lose much of their memory and become weaker. While the life of the Yogis is proverbially long, the Buddhist priests (of Ceylon and elsewhere) are not generally long-lived. Mussulmen shave their heads but wear their beards; and as their head is always covered, the danger is less.

Hajaschar (Heb.) The Light Forces in the Kabbalah; the “Powers of Light”, which are the creative but inferior forces.

Hakem. Lit., “the Wise One”, the Messiah to come, of the Druzes or the “Disciples of Hamsa”.

Hakim (Arab.) A doctor, in all the Eastern countries, from Asia Minor to India.

Halachah (Heb.) A name given to parts of the Talmud, which are arguments on points of doctrine; the word means “rule”.

Hallucination. A state produced sometimes by physiological disorders, sometimes by mediumship, and at others by drunkenness. But the cause that produces the visions has to be sought deeper than physiology. All such visions, especially when produced through mediumship, are preceded by a relaxation of the nervous system, in variably generating an abnormal magnetic condition which attracts to the sufferer waves of astral light. It is the latter that furnishes the various hallucinations. These, however, are not always what physicians would make them, empty, and unreal dreams. No one can see that which does not exist—i.e., which is not impressed—in or on the astral waves. A Seer may, however, perceive objects and scenes (whether past, present, or future) which have no relation whatever to himself, and also perceive several things entirely disconnected with each other at one and the same time, thus producing the most grotesque and absurd combinations. Both drunkard and Seer, medium and Adept, see their respective visions in the Astral Light; but while the drunkard, the madman, and the untrained medium, or one suffering from brain-fever, see, because they cannot help it, and evoke the jumbled visions
unconsciously to themselves, the Adept and the trained Seer have the choice and the control of such visions. They know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they want to observe, and how to see beyond the upper outward layers of the Astral Light. With the former such glimpses into the waves are hallucinations: with the latter they become the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is, or will be, taking place. The glimpses at random caught by the medium, and his flickering visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding will of the Adept and Seer into steady pictures, the truthful representations of that which he wills to come within the focus of his perception.

Hamsa or Hansa (Sk.) “Swan or goose”, according to the Orientalists ; a mystical bird in Occultism analogous to the Rosicrucian Pelican. The sacred mystic name which, when preceded by that of KALA (infinite time), i.e. Kalahansa, is name of Parabrahm ; meaning the “ Bird out of space and time”. Hence Brahmâ (male)is called Hansa Vahana “the Vehicle of Hansa” (the Bird). We find the same idea in the Zohar, where Ain Suph (the endless and infinite) is said to descend into the universe, for purposes of manifestation, using Adam Kadmon (Humanity) as a chariot or vehicle.

Hamsa (Arab.). The founder of the mystic sect of the Druzes of Mount Lebanon. (See “Druzes” .)

Hangsa (Sk) A mystic syllable standing for evolution, and meaning in its literal sense
“I am he”, or Ahamsa.

Hansa (Sk.) The name, according to the Bhâgavata Purâna, of the “One Caste” when there were as yet no varieties of caste, but verily “one Veda, one Deity and one Caste”.

Hanuman (Sk.) The monkey god of the Ramayana; the generalissimo of Rama’s army; the son of Vayu, the god of the wind, and of a virtuous she-demon. Hanuman was the faithful ally of Rama and by his unparalleled audacity and wit, helped the Avatar of Vishnu to finally conquer the demon-king of Lanka, Ravana, who had carried off the beautiful Sita, Rama’s wife, an outrage which led to the celebrated war described in the Hindu epic poem.

Happy Fields. The name given by the Assyrio-Chaldeans to their Elysian Fields, which were intermingled with their Hades. As Mr. Boscawen tells his readers—“The Kingdom of the underworld was the realm of the god Hea, and the Hades of the Assyrian legends was placed in the underworld, and was ruled over by a goddess, Nin-Kigal, or ‘the Lady of the Great Land’. She is also called Allât.” A translated inscription states:—“After the gifts of these present days, in the feasts of the land of the silver sky, the resplendent courts, the abode of blessedness, and in the light of the Happy Fields, may he dwell in life eternal, holy, in the presence of the gods who inhabit Assyria”. This is worthy of a Christian tumulary inscription. Ishtar, the beautiful goddess, descended into Hades after her beloved Tammuz, and found that this dark place of the shades had seven spheres and seven gates, at each of which she had to leave something belonging to her.

Hara (Sk.) A title of the god Siva.

Hare-Worship. The hare was sacred in many lands and especially among the Egyptians and Jews. Though the latter consider it an unclean, hoofed animal, unfit to eat, yet it was held sacred by some tribes. The reason for this was that in a certain species of hare the male suckled the little ones. It was thus considered to be androgynous or hermaphrodite, and so typified an attribute of the Demiurge, or creative Logos. The hare was a symbol of the moon, wherein the face of the prophet Moses is to be seen to this day, say the Jews. Moreover the moon is connected with the worship of Jehovah, a deity pre-eminently the god of generation, perhaps also for the same reason that Eros, the god of sexual love, is represented as carrying a hare. The hare was also sacred to Osiris. Lenormand writes that the hare “has to be considered as the symbol of the Logos . . . the Logos ought to be hermaphrodite and we know that the hare is an androgynous type”.

Hari (Sk.) A title of Vishnu, but used also for other gods.

Harikesa (Sk.). The name of one of the seven rays of the Sun.

Harivansa (Sk.) A portion of the Mahâbhârata, a poem on the genealogy of Vishnu, or Hari.

Harmachus (Gr.) The Egyptian Sphinx, called Har-em-chu or “Horus (the Sun) in the Horizon”, a form of Ra the sun-god; esoterically the risen god. An inscription on a tablet reads “0 blessed Ra Harmachus Thou careerest by him in triumph. 0 shine, Amoun-Ra Harmachus self-generated ‘. The temple of the Sphinx was discovered by Mariette Bey close to the Sphinx, near the great Pyramid of Gizeh All the Egyptologists agree in pronouncing the Sphinx and her temple the “oldest religious monument of the world ”—at any rate of Egypt.

“The principal chamber”, writes the late Mr. Fergusson “in the form of a cross, is supported by piers, simple prisms of Syenite granite without base or capital . . no sculptures or inscriptions of any sort are found on the walls of this temple, no ornament or symbol nor any image in the sanctuary”. This proves the enormous antiquity of both the Sphinx and the temple. “The great bearded Sphinx of the Pyramids of Gizeh is the symbol of Harmachus, the same as each Egyptian Pharaoh who bore, in the inscriptions, the name of ‘living form of the Solar Sphinx upon the Earth ‘,”writes Brugsh Bey. And Renan recalls that “at one time the Egyptians were said to have temples without sculptured images” (Bonwick). Not only the Egyptians but every nation of the earth began with temples devoid of idols and even of symbols. It is only when the remembrance of the great abstract truths and of the primordial Wisdom taught to humanity by the dynasties of the divine kings died out that men had to resort to mementos and symbology. In the story of Horus in some tablets of Edfou, Rouge found an inscription showing that the god had once assumed “the shape of a human-headed lion to gain advantage over his enemy Typhon. Certainly Horus was so adored in Leontopolis. He is the real Sphinx. That accounts, too, for the lion figure being sometimes seen on each side of Isis. . . It was her child.” (Bonwick.) And yet the story of Harmachus, or Har em-chu, is still left untold to the world, nor is it likely to he divulged to this generation. (See “Sphinx”.)

Harpocrates (Gr.). The child Horus or Ehoou represented with a finger on his mouth, the solar disk upon his head and golden hair. He is the “god of Silence” and of Mystery. (See “Horus”). Harpocrates was also worshipped by both Greeks and Romans in Europe as a son of Isis.

Harshana (Sk.) A deity presiding over offerings to the dead, or Srâddha.

Harvîri (Eg.) Horns, the elder: the ancient name of a solar god: the rising sun represented as a god reclining on a full-blown lotus, the symbol of the Universe.

Haryaswas (Sk.) The five and ten thousand sons of Daksha, who instead of peopling the world as desired by their father, all became yogis, ‘as advised by the mysterious sage Narada, and remained celibates. “They dispersed through the regions and have not returned.” This means, according to the secret science, that they had all incarnated in mortals. The name is given to natural born mystics and celibates, who are said to be incarnations of the “Haryaswas”.

Hatchet. In the Egyptian Hieroglyphics a symbol of power, and also of death. The hatchet is called the “Severer of the Knot ” i.e., of marriage or any other tie.

Hatha Yoga (Sk.) The lower form of Yoga practice; one which uses physical means for purposes of spiritual self-development The opposite of Râja Yoga.

Hathor (Eg.) The lower or infernal aspect of Isis, corresponding to the Hecate of Greek mythology.

Hawk. The hieroglyphic and type of the Soul. The sense varies with the postures of the bird. Thus when lying as dead it represents the transition, larva state, or the passage from the state of one life to another. When its wings are opened it means that the defunct is resurrected in Amenti and once more in conscious possession of his soul. The chrysalis has become a butterfly.

Hayo Bischat (Heb.) The Beast, in the Zohar: the Devil and Tempter. Esoterically our lower animal passions.

Hay-yah (Heb.) One of the metaphysical human “Principles”. Eastern Occultists divide men into seven such Principles; Western Kabbalists, we are told, into three only—namely, Nephesh Ruach and Neshamah. But in truth, this division is as loose and as mere an abbreviation as our “Body, Soul, Spirit ”. For, in the Qabbalah of Myer (Zohar ii.,141 b., Cremona Ed. ii., fol. 63 b., col. 251) it is stated that Neshamah or Spirit has three divisions, “the highest being Ye’hee-dah (Atmâ) the middle, Hay-yah (Buddhi), and the last and third, the Neshamah, properly speaking (Manas) ”. Then comes Mahshabah, Thought (the lower Manas, or conscious Personality), in which the higher then manifest themselves, thus making four; this is followed by Tzelem, Phantom of the Image (Kama-rupa in life the Kamic element); D’yooq-nah, Shadow of the image (Linga Sharira, the Double); and Zurath, Prototype, which is Life—seven in all, even without the D’mooth, Likeness or Similitude, which is called a lower manifestation, and is in reality the Guf, or Body. Theosophists of the E. S. who know the transposition made of Atmâ and the part taken by the auric prototype, will easily find which are the real seven, and assure themselves that between the division of Principles of the Eastern Occultists and that of the real Eastern Kabbalists there is no difference. Do not let us forget that neither the one nor the other are prepared to give out the real and final classification in their public writings.

Hay-yoth ha Qadosh (Heb.) The holy living creatures of Ezekiel’s vision of the Merkabah, or vehicle, or chariot. These are the four symbolical beasts, the cherubim of Ezekiel, and in the Zodiac Taurus, Leo, Scorpio (or the Eagle), and Aquarius, the man.

Hea (Chald.) The god of the Deep and the Underworld; some see in him Ea or Oannes, the fish-man, or Dagon.

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

Head of all Heads (Kab). Used of the “Ancient of the Ancients” Atteehah D’atteekeen, who is the “Hidden of the Hidden, the Concealed of the Concealed”. In this cranium of the “White Head”, Resha Hivrah, “dwell daily 13,000 myriads of worlds, which rest upon It, lean upon It” (Zohar iii. Idrah Rabbah). . . “In that Atteehah nothing is revealed except the Head alone, because it is the Head of all Heads. . . The Wisdom above, which is the Head, is hidden in it, the Brain which is tranquil and quiet, and none knows it but Itself. . . . And this Hidden Wisdom . . . the Concealed of the Concealed, the Head of all Heads, a Head which is not a Head, nor does any one know, nor is it ever known, what is in that Head which Wisdom and Reason cannot comprehend “ (Zohar iii., fol. 288 a). This is said of the Deity of which the Head (i.e., Wisdom perceived by all) is alone manifested. Of that Principle which is still higher nothing is even predicated, except that its universal presence and actuality are a philosophical necessity.

Heavenly Adam. The synthesis of the Sephirothal Tree, or of all the Forces in Nature and their informing deific essence. In the diagrams, the Seventh of the lower Sephiroth, Sephira Malkhooth—the Kingdom of Harmony—represents the feet of the ideal Macrocosm, whose head reaches to the first manifested Head. This Heavenly Adam is the natura naturans, the abstract world, while the Adam of Earth (Humanity) is the natura naturata or the material universe. The former is the presence of Deity in its universal essence; the latter the manifestation of the intelligence of that essence. In the real Zohar not the fantastic and anthropomorphic caricature which we often find in the writings of Western Kabbalists—there is not a particle of the personal deity which we find so prominent in the dark cloaking of the Secret Wisdom known as the Mosaic Pentateuch.

Hebdomad (Gr.) The Septenary.

Hebron or Kirjath-Arba. The city of the Four Kabeiri, for Kirjath Arba signifies “the City of the Four”. It is in that city, according to the legend, that an Isarim or an Initiate found the famous Smaragdine tablet on the dead body of Hermes.

Hel or Hela (Scand.). The Goddess-Queen of the Land of the Dead; the inscrutable and direful Being who reigns over the depths of Helheim and Nifelheim. In the earlier mythology, Hel was the earth-goddess, the good and beneficent mother, nourisher of the weary and the hungry. But in the later Skalds she became the female Pluto, the dark Queen of the Kingdom of Shades, she who brought death into this world, and sorrow afterwards.

Helheim (Scand.), The Kingdom of the Dead in the Norse mythology. In the Edda, Helheim surrounds the Northern Mistworld, called Nifelheim.

Heliolatry (Gr.). Sun-Worship.

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

Hemadri (Sk.) The golden Mountain; Meru.

Hemera (Gr.) “The light of the inferior or terrestrial regions” as Ether is the light of the superior heavenly spheres. Both are born of Erebos (darkness) and Nux (night).

Heptakis (Gr.) “The Seven-rayed One ” of the Chaldean astrolaters: the same as IAo.

Herakies (Gr.). The same as Hercules.

Heranasikha (Sing.) From Herana “novice” and Sikha “rule” or precept: manual of Precepts. A work written in Elu or the ancient Singhalese, for the use of young priests.

Hermanubis (Gr.). Or Hermes Anubis“ the revealer of the mysteries of the lower world ”—not of Hell or Hades as interpreted, but of our Earth (the lowest world of the septenary chain of worlds)—and also of the sexual mysteries. Creuzer must have guessed at the truth of the right interpretation, as he calls Anubis-Thoth-Hermes “a symbol of science and of the intellectual world ”. He was always represented with a cross in his hand, one of the earliest symbols of the mystery of generation, or procreation on this earth. In the Chaldean Kabbala (Book of Numbers) the Tat symbol, or +, is referred to as Adam and Eve, the latter being the transverse or horizontal bar drawn out of the side (or rib) of Hadam, the perpendicular bar. The fact is that, esoterically, Adam and Eve while representing the early third Root Race—those who, being still mindless, imitated the animals and degraded themselves with the latter—stand also as the dual symbol of the sexes. Hence Anubis, the Egyptian god of generation, is represented with the head of an animal, a dog or a jackal, and is also said to be the “ Lord of the underworld” or “ Hades ” into which he introduces the souls of the dead (the reincarnating entities), for Hades is in one sense the womb, as some of the writings of the Church Fathers fully show.

Hermaphrodite (Gr.). Dual-sexed; a male and female Being, whether man or animal.

Hermas (Gr.). An ancient Greek writer of whose works only a few fragments are now extant.

Hermes-fire. The same as “Elmes-fire”. (See Isis Unveiled Vol. I.,p. 125.)

Hermes Sarameyas (Greco-Sanskrit) The God Hermes, or Mercury, “he who watches over the flock of stars” in the Greek mythology.

Hermes Trismegistus (Gr.). The “thrice great Hermes”, the Egyptian. The mythical personage after whom the Hermetic philosophy was named. In Egypt the God Thoth or Thot. A generic name of many ancient Greek writers on philosophy and Alchemy. Hermes Trismegistus is the name of Hermes or Thoth in his human aspect, as a god he is far more than this. As Hermes-Thoth-Aah, he is Thoth, the moon, i.e., his symbol is the bright side of the moon, supposed to contain the essence of creative Wisdom, “the elixir of Hermes ”. As such he is associated with the Cynocephalus, the dog-headed monkey, for the same reason as was Anubis, one of the aspects of Thoth. (See “ Hermanubis”.) The same idea underlies the form of the Hindu God of Wisdom, the elephant-headed Ganesa, or Ganpat, the son of Parvati and Siva. (See “Ganesa”.) When he has the head of an ibis, he is the sacred scribe of the gods; but even then he wears the crown atef and the lunar disk. He is the most mysterious of gods. As a serpent, Hermes Thoth is the divine creative ‘Wisdom. The Church Fathers speak at length of Thoth-Hermes. (See “Hermetic”.)

Hermetic. Any doctrine or writing connected with the esoteric teachings of Hermes, who, whether as the Egyptian Thoth or the Greek Hermes, was the God of Wisdom with the Ancients, and, according to Plato, “discovered numbers, geometry, astronomy and letters”. Though mostly considered as spurious, nevertheless the Hermetic writings were highly prized by St. Augustine, Lactantius, Cyril and others. In the words of Mr. J. Bonwick, “ They are more or less touched up by the Platonic philosophers among the early Christians (such as Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus) who sought to substantiate their Christian arguments by appeals to these heathen and revered writings, though they could not resist the temptation of making them say a little too much. Though represented by some clever and interested writers as teaching pure monotheism, the Hermetic or Trismegistic books are, nevertheless, purely pantheistic. The Deity referred to in them is defined by Paul as that in which “we live, and move and have our being”—notwithstanding the “in Him” of the translators.

Hetu (Sk.). A natural or physical cause.

Heva (Heb.). Eve, “the mother of all that lives”.

Hiarchas (Gr.). The King of the “Wise Men”, in the Journey of Apollonius of Tyana to India.

Hierogrammatists. The title given to those Egyptian priests who were entrusted with the writing and reading of the sacred and secret records. The “scribes of the secret records” literally. They were the instructors of the neophytes preparing for initiation.

Hierophant. From the Greek “Hierophantes”; literally, “One who explains sacred things ”. The discloser of sacred learning and the Chief of the Initiates. A title belonging to the highest Adepts in the temples of antiquity, who were the teachers and expounders of the Mysteries and the Initiators into the final great Mysteries. The Hierophant represented the Demiurge, and explained to the postulants for Initiation the various phenomena of Creation that were produced for their tuition. “ He was the sole expounder of the esoteric secrets and doctrines. It was forbidden even to pronounce his name before an
uninitiated person. He sat in the East, and wore as a symbol of authority a golden globe suspended from the neck. He was also called Mystagogus” (Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, ix., F.T.S., in The Royal Masonic cyclopædia). In Hebrew and Chaldaic the term was Peter, the opener, discloser; hence the Pope as the successor of the hierophant of the ancient Mysteries, sits in the Pagan chair of St. Peter.

Higher Self. The Supreme Divine Spirit overshadowing man. The crown of the upper spiritual Triad in man—Atmân.

Hillel. A great Babylonian Rabbi of the century preceding the Christian era. He was the founder of the sect of the Pharisees, a learned and a sainted man.

Himachala Himadri (Sk.). The Himalayan Mountains.

Himavat (Sk). The personified Himalayas; the father of the river Ganga, or Ganges.

Hinayana (Sk.). The “ Smaller Vehicle”; a Scripture and a School of the Northern Buddhists, opposed to the Mahayana, “the Greater Vehicle”, in Tibet. Both schools are mystical. (See “Mahayana”.) Also in exoteric superstition the lowest form of transmigration.

Hiouen Thsang. A great Chinese writer and philosopher who travelled in India in the sixth century, in order to learn more about Buddhism, to which he was devoted.

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

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

Hiquet (Eg.). The frog-goddess; one of the symbols of immortality and of the “water” principle. The early Christians had their church lamps made in the form of a frog, to denote that baptism in water led to immortality.

Hiram Abiff. A biblical personage; a skilful builder and a “Widow’s Son”, whom King Solomon procured from Tyre, for the purpose of super-intending the works of the Temple, and who became later a masonic character, the hero on whom hangs all the drama, or rather play, of the Masonic Third Initiation. The Kabbala makes a great deal of Hiram Abiff.

Hiranya (Sk.). Radiant, golden, used of the “Egg of Brahmâ”.

Hiranya Garbha (Sk.). The radiant or golden egg or womb. Esoterically the luminous “fire mist” or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed.

Hiranyakasipu (Sk.). A King of the Daityas, whom Vishnu—in his avatar of the “man.lion”—puts to death.

Hiranyaksha (Sk.). “The golden-eyed.” the king and ruler of the 5th region of Pâtala, the nether-world; a snake-god in the Hindu Pantheon. It has various other meanings.

Hiranyapura (Sk.). The Golden City.

Hisi (Fin.). The “Principle of Evil ”in the Kalevala, the epic poem of Finland.

Hitopadesa (Sk.). “Good Advice.” A work composed of a collection of ethical precepts, allegories and other tales from an old Scripture, the Panchatantra.

Hivim or Chivim (Heb.). Whence the Hivites who, according to some Roman Catholic commentators, descend from Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, “the accursed”. Brasseur de Bourbourg, the missionary translator of the Scripture of the Guatemalians, the Popol Vuh, indulges in the theory that the Hivim of the Quetzo Cohuatl, the Mexican Serpent Deity, and the “descendants of Serpents” as they call themselves, are identical with the descendants of Ham (! !) “whose ancestor is Cain”. Such is the conclusion, at any rate, drawn from Bourhourg’s writings by Des Mousseaux, the demonologist. Bourbourg hints that the chiefs of the name of Votan, the Quetzo Cohuati, are the descendants of Ham and Canaan. “I am Hivim”, they say. “ Being a Hivim, I am of the great Race of the Dragons. I am a snake, myself, for I am a Hivim’ (Cortes 51). But Cain is allegorically shown as the ancestor of the Hivites, the Serpents, because Cain is held to have been the first initiate in the mystery of procreation. The “race of the Dragons” or Serpents means the Wise Adepts. The names Hivi or Hivite, and Levi—signify a Serpent “; and the Hivites or Serpent-tribe of Palestine, were, like all Levites and Ophites of Israel, initiated Ministers to the temples, i.e., Occultists, as are the priests of Quetzo Cohuatl. The Gibeonites whom Joshua assigned to the service of the sanctuary were Hivites.
(See Isis Unveiled, Vol. II. 481.)

Hler (Scand.). The god of the One of the three mighty sons of the Frost-giant, Ymir. These sons were Kari, god of the air and the storms; Hler of the Sea; and Logi of the fire. They are the Cosmic trinity of the Norsemen.

Hoa (Heb.). That, from which proceeds Ab, the “Father”; therefore the Concealed Logos.

Hoang Ty (Chin.). “The Great Spirit.” His Sons are said to have acquired new wisdom, and imparted what they knew before to mortals, by falling—like the rebellious angels— into the “Valley of Pain”, which is allegorically our Earth. In other words they are identical with the “Fallen Angels” of exoteric religions, and with the reincarnating Egos, esoterically.

Hochmah (Heb.). See “Chochmah”.

Hod (Heb.). Splendour, the eighth of the ten Sephiroth, a female passive potency. [ w. w.w.]

Holy of Holies. The Assyriologists, Egyptologists, and Orientalists, in general, show that such a place existed in every temple of antiquity. The great temple of Bel-Merodach whose sides faced the four cardinal points, had in its extreme end a “Holy of Holies” hidden from the profane by a veil: here, “at the beginning of the year ‘the divine king of heaven and earth, the lord of the heavens, seats himself’.” According to Herodotus, here was the golden image of the god with a golden table in front like the Hebrew table for the shew bread, and upon this, food appears to have been placed. in some temples there also was “a little coffer or ark with two engraved stone tablets on it”. (Myer’s Qabbalah.) In short, it is now pretty well proven, that the “chosen people” had nothing original of their own, but that every detail of their ritualism and religion was borrowed from older nations. The Hibbert Lectures by Prof. Sayce and others show this abundantly. The story of the birth of Moses is that of Sargon, the Babylonian, who preceded Moses by a couple of thousand years; and no wonder, as Dr. Sayce tells us that the name of Moses, Mosheh, has a connection with the name of the Babylonian sun-god as the “hero” or “leader”. (Hib. Lect., p. 46 et seq.) Says Mr. J. Myer, “The orders of the priests were divided into high priests, those attached or bound to certain deities, like the Hebrew Levites; anointers or cleaners ; the Kali, ‘illustrious’ or ‘elders’; the soothsayers, and the Makhkhu or ‘great one’, in which Prof. Delitzsch sees the Rab-mag of the Old Testament. . . The Akkadians and Chaldeans kept a Sabbath day of rest every seven days, they also had thanksgiving days, and days for humiliation and prayer. There were sacrifices of vegetables and animals, of meats and wine. . . . The number seven was especially sacred. . . . The great temple of Babylon existed long before 2,250 B.c. Its ‘Holy of Holies’ was with in the shrine of Nebo, the prophet god of wisdom.” It is from the Akkadians that the god Mardak passed to the Assyrians, and he had been before Merodach, “the merciful”, of the Babylonians, the only son and interpreter of the will of Ea or Hea, the great Deity of Wisdom. The Assyriologists have, in short, unveiled the whole scheme of the “chosen people”.

Holy Water. This is one of the oldest rites practised in Egypt, and thence in Pagan Rome. It accompanied the rite of bread and wine. “Holy water was sprinkled by the Egyptian priest alike upon his gods’ images and the faithful. It was both poured and sprinkled. A brush has been found, supposed to have been used for that purpose, as at this day.” (Bonwick’s Egyptian Belief.) As to the bread, “the cakes of Isis were placed upon the altar. Gliddon writes that they were ‘identical in shape with the consecrated cake of the Roman and Eastern Churches’. Melville assures us ‘the Egyptians marked this holy bread with St. Andrew’s cross’. The Presence bread was broken before being distributed by the priests to the people, and was supposed to become the flesh and blood of the Deity. The miracle was wrought by the hand of the officiating priest, who blessed the food. . . . Rouge tells us ‘the bread offerings bear the imprint of the fingers, the mark of consecration ‘.”
(Ibid, page 458.) (See also “ Bread and Wine”.)

Homogeneity. From the Greek words homos “the same” and genos “kind”. That which is of the same nature throughout, undifferentiated, non-compound, as gold is supposed to be.

Honir (Scand.). A creative god who furnished the first man with intellect and understanding after man had been created by him jointly with Odin and Lodur from an ash tree.

Honover (Zend). The Persian Logos, the manifested Word.

Hor Ammon (Eg.). “The Self-engendered”, a word in theogony which answers to the Sanskrit Anupadaka, parentless. Hor-Ammon is a combination of the ram-headed god of Thebes and of Horus.

Horchia (Chald.). According to Berosus, the same as Vesta, goddess of the Hearth.

Horus (Eg.). The last in the line of divine Sovereigns in Egypt, said to he the son of Osiris and Isis. He is the great god “loved of Heaven”, the “beloved of the Sun, the offspring of the gods, the subjugator of the world”. At the time of the Winter Solstice (our Christmas), his image, in the form of a small newly-born infant, was brought out from the sanctuary for the adoration of the worshipping crowds. As he is the type of the vault of heaven, he is said to have come from the Maem Misi, the sacred birth-place (the womb of the World), and is, therefore, the “mystic Child of the Ark” or the argha, the symbol of the matrix. Cosmically, he is the Winter Sun. A tablet describes him as the “substance of his father”, Osiris, of whom he is an incarnation and also identical with him. Horus is a chaste deity, and “like Apollo has no amours. His part in the lower world is associated with the judgment. He introduces souls to his father, the judge” (Bonwick). An ancient hymn says of him, “By him the world is judged in that which it contains. Heaven and earth are under his immediate presence. He rules all human beings. The sun goes round according to his purpose. He brings forth abundance and dispenses it to all the earth. Everyone adores his beauty. Sweet is his love in us.”

Hotri (Sk.). A priest who recites the hymns from the Rig Veda, and makes oblations to the fire.

Hotris (Sk). A symbolical name for the seven senses called, in the Anugita “the Seven Priests”. “The senses supply the fire of mind (i.e., desire) with the oblations of external pleasures.” An occult term used metaphysically.

Hrimthurses (Scand.). The Frost-giants; Cyclopean builders in the Edda.

Humanity. Occultly and Kabbalistically, the whole of mankind is symbolised, by Manu in India; by Vajrasattva or Dorjesempa, the head of the Seven Dhyani, in Northern Buddhism; and by Adam Kadmon in the Kabbala. All these represent the totality of mankind whose beginning is in this androgynic protoplast, and whose end is in the Absolute, beyond all these symbols and myths of human origin. Humanity is a great Brotherhood by virtue of the sameness of the material from which it is formed physically and morally. Unless, however, it becomes a Brotherhood also intellectually, it is no better than a superior genus of animals.

Hun-desa (Sk.). The country around lake Mansaravara in Tibet.

Hvanuatha (Mazd.). The name of the earth on which we live. One of the seven Karshvare (Earths), spoken of in Orma Ahr. (See Introduction to the Vendidad by Prof. Darmsteter.)

Hwergelmir (Scand.). A roaring cauldron wherein the souls of the evil doers perish.

Hwun (Chin.). Spirit. The same as Atmân.

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

Hyksos (Eg.). The mysterious nomads, the Shepherds, who invaded Egypt at a period unknown and far anteceding the days of Moses. They are called the “Shepherd Kings”.

Hyle (Gr.). Primordial stuff or matter; esoterically the homogeneous sediment of Chaos or the Great Deep. The first principle out of which the objective Universe was formed.

Hypatia (Gr.). The girl-philosopher, who lived at Alexandria during the fifth century, and taught many a famous man—among others Bishop Synesius. She was the daughter of the mathematician Theon, and became famous for her learning. Falling a martyr to the fiendish conspiracy of Theophilos, Bishop of Alexandria, and his nephew Cyril, she was foully murdered by their order. With her death fell the Neo Platonic School.

Hyperborean (Gr.). The regions around the North Pole in the Arctic Circle.

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

Hypocephalus (Gr.). A kind of a pillow for the head of the mummy. They are of various kinds, e.g., of stone, wood, etc., and very often of circular disks of linen covered with cement, and inscribed with magic figures and letters. They are called “rest for the dead” in the Ritual, and every mummy-coffin has one.