THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY
BY
H.
P. BLAVATSKY
First
Published 1892
W-Z
W_The 23rd letter. Has no equivalent in Hebrew. In
Western Occultism some take it as the symbol for celestial water, whereas M
stands for terrestrial water.
Wala
(Scand.). A prophetess in the
songs of the Edda (Norse mythology). Through the incantations of Odin
she was raised from her grave, and made to prophesy the death of Baldur.
Walhalla (Scand.). A kind of paradise (Devachan) for slaughtered warriors, called by the Norsemen “the
hall of the blessed heroes”; it has five hundred doors.
Wali (Scand.). The son of Odin who avenges the
death of Baldur, “the well-beloved”.
Walkyries
(Scand.). Called the “choosers
of the dead”. In the popular poetry of the Scandinavians, these goddesses
consecrate the fallen heroes with a kiss, and bearing them from the
battle-field carry them to the halls of bliss and to the gods in Walhalla.
Wanes
(Scand.). A race of gods of
great antiquity, worshipped at the dawn of time by the Norsemen, and later by
the Teutonic races.
Wara
(Scand.). One of the maidens
of Northern Freya; “the wise Wara ”, who watches the desires of each human
heart, and avenges every breach of faith.
Water. The first principle of things, according to Thales and
other ancient philosophers. Of course this is not water on the material plane,
but in a figurative sense for the potential fluid contained in boundless space.
This was symbolised in ancient
We (Scand.). One of the three gods—Odin, Wili and
We—who kill the giant Ymir (chaotic force), and create the world out of his
body, the primordial substance.
Werdandi (Scand.). See “ Nörns ”, the three
sister-goddesses who represent the Past, the Present and the Future. Werdandi
represents the ever-present time.
Whip
of Osiris. The scourge which
symbolises Osiris as the “judge of the dead ”. It is called the nekhekh,
in the papyri, or the flagellum. Dr. Pritchard sees in it a fan or van,
the winnowing instrument. Osiris, “whose fan is in his hand and who purges the
Amenti of sinful hearts as a winnower sweeps his floor of the fallen grains and
locks the good wheat into his garner ”. (Compare Matthew, 12.)
White
Fire (Kab.). The Zohar
treating of the “Long Face” and Short Face “, the symbols of Macrocosm and
Microcosm, speaks of the hidden White Fire, radiating from these night
and day and yet never seen. It answers to vital force (beyond luminiferous
ether), and electricity on the higher and lower planes. But the mystic “White
Fire” is a name given to Ain-Soph. And this is the difference between the Aryan
and the Semitic philosophies. The Occultists of the former speak of the Black
Fire, which is the symbol of the unknown and unthinkable Brahm, and declare any
speculation on the“ Black Fire” impossible. But the Kabbalists who, owing to a
subtle permutation of meaning, endow even Ain-Soph with a kind of indirect will
and attributes, call its “fire” white, thus dragging the Absolute into the
world of relation and finiteness.
White
Head. In Hebrew Resha Hivra,
an epithet given to Sephira, the highest of the Sephiroth, whose cranium “
distils the dew which will call the dead again to life”.
White
Stone. The sign of initiation
mentioned in
Widow’s
Son. A name given to the French Masons,
because the Masonic ceremonies are principally based on the adventures and
death of Hiram Abif, “the widow’s son”, who is supposed to have helped to build
the mythical Solomon’s
Wili
(Scand.). See “ We ”.
Will. In metaphysics and occult philosophy, Will is that
which governs the manifested universes in eternity. Will is the one and
sole principle of abstract eternal MOTION, or its ensouling essence. “ The
will”, says Van Helmont, “is the first of all powers. . . . The will is the
property of all spiritual beings and displays itself in them the more actively
the more they are freed from matter.” And Paracelsus teaches that “determined
will is the beginning of all magical operations. It is because men do not
perfectly imagine and believe the result, that the (occult) arts are so
uncertain, while they might he perfectly certain.” Like all the rest, the Will
is septenary in its degrees of manifestation. Emanating from the one,
eternal, abstract and purely quiescent Will (Âtmâ in Layam), it becomes Buddhi
in its Alaya state, descends lower as Mahat (Manas), and runs down the ladder
of degrees until the divine Eros becomes, in its lower, animal manifestation,
erotic desire. Will as an eternal principle is neither spirit nor substance but
everlasting ideation. As well expressed by Schopenhauer in his Parerga,
“ in sober reality there is neither matter nor spirit. The
tendency to gravitation in a stone is as unexplainable as thought in the human
brain. . . If matter can—no one knows why——fall to the ground, then it can
also—no one knows why—-think. . . . As soon, even in mechanics, as we trespass
beyond the purely mathematical, as soon as we reach the inscrutable adhesion,
gravitation, and so on, we are faced by phenomena which are to our senses as mysterious
as the WILL.”
Wisdom. The “ very essence of wisdom is contained in the Non-
Being ”. say the Kabbalists; but they also apply the term to the WORD or Logos,
the Demiurge, by which the universe was called into existence. “The one Wisdom
is in the Sound ”, say the Occultists; the Logos again being meant by Sound,
which is the substratum of Âkâsa. Says the Zohar, the “ Book of
Splendour” “It is the Principle of all the Principles, the mysterious Wisdom,
the crown of all that which there is of the most High”. (Zohar, iii.,
fol. 288, Myers Qabbalah.) And it is explained, “Above Kether is the
Ayin, or Ens, i.e., Ain, the NOTHING”. “It is so named because we do not know,
and it is impossible to know, that which there is in that Principle,
because . . . it is above Wisdom itself.” (iii., fol. 288.) This shows that the
real Kabbalists agree with the Occultists that the essence, or that which is in
the principle of Wisdom, is still above that highest Wisdom.
Wisdom
Religion. The one religion which
underlies all the now-existing creeds. That “faith” which, being primordial,
and revealed directly to human kind by their progenitors and informing
EGOS (though the Church regards them as the “fallen angels”), required no
“grace”, nor blind faith to believe, for it was knowledge. (See
“Gupta Vidyâ”,
Hidden
Knowledge.) It is on this Wisdom Religion that Theosophy
is based.
Witch. From the Anglo-Saxon word wicce, German wissen,
“to know”, and wikken, “to divine”. The witches were at first called “wise
women”, until the day when the Church took it unto herself to follow the law of
Moses, which put every “witch” or enchantress to death.
Witchcraft.
Sorcery, enchantment, the art of
throwing spells and using black magic.
Witches’
Sabbath. The supposed festival and
gathering of witches in some lonely spot, where the witches were accused of
conferring directly with the Devil. Every race and people believed in it, and
some believe in it still. Thus the chief headquarters and place of meeting of
all the witches in
Wittoba
(
(See
Wizard. A wise man. An enchanter, or sorcerer.
Wodan
(Saxon). The Scandinavian
Odin, Votan, or Wuotan.
World. As a prefix to mountains, trees, and so on, it
denotes a universal belief. Thus the “World-Mountain” of the Hindus was Meru.
As said in
The
Soma, the sacrificial drink of the Hindus, is that sacred beverage. For, at the
creation of the prima materia, while the grossest portions of it
were used for the physical embryo-world, its more divine essence pervaded the
universe, invisibly permeating and enclosing within its ethereal waves the
newly-born infant, developing and stimulating it to activity as it slowly
evolved out of the eternal chaos. From the poetry of abstract conception, these
mundane myths gradually passed into the concrete images of cosmic symbols, as
archćology now finds them.” Another and still more usual prefix to all these
objects is
“Mundane”. (See “Mundane Egg”, “Mundane Tree”, and “Yggdrasil”.)
Worlds, the Four. The Kabbalists recognise Four
Worlds of Existence: viz., Atziluth or archetypal ; Briah or creative, the
first reflection of the highest; Yetzirah or formative; and Assiah, the ‘World
of Shells or Klippoth, and the material universe. The essence of Deity
concentrating into the Sephiroth is first manifested in the Atziluthic World,
and their reflections are produced in succession in each of the four planes, with
gradually lessening radiance and purity, until the material universe is arrived
at. Some authors call these four planes the intellectual, Moral, Sensuous, and
Material Worlds. [w.w.w.]
Worlds, Inferior and Superior. The Occultists and the
Kabbalists agree in dividing the universe into superior and inferior worlds,
the worlds of Idea and the worlds of Matter. “As above, so below”, states the
Hermetic philosophy. This lower world is formed on its prototype—the higher
world; and “everything in the lower is but an image (a reflection) of the
higher”. (Zohar, ii., fol. 2oa.)
X.—This letter is one of the important symbols in the
Occult philosophy. As a numeral X stands, in mathematics, for the
unknown quantity; in occult numerals, for the perfect number 10; when
placed horizontally, thus χ, it means 1,000; the same with a dash over it
χ for 10,000; and by itself, in occult symbolism, it is Plato’s logos (man
as a microcosm) decussated in space in the form of the letter X. The , or cross within the circle, has moreover a still
clearer significance in Eastern occult philosophy: it IS MAN within his own spherical
envelope.
Xenophilus. A Pythagorean adept and philosopher, credited by
Lucian (de Macrob.), Pliny and others with having lived to his 170th
year, preserving all his faculties to the last. He wrote on music and was
surnamed the “ Musician”.
Xisusthrus
(Gr.). The Chaldean Noah, on
the Assyrian tablets, who is thus described in the history of the ten kings by
Berosus, according to Alexander Polyhistor: “After the death of (the ninth)
Ardates, his son Xisusthrus reigned eighteen sari. In his time happened a great
deluge.” Warned by his deity in a vision of the forthcoming cataclysm,
Xisusthrus was ordered by that deity to build an ark, to convey into it his
relations, together with all the different animals, bird etc., and trust
himself to the rising waters. Obeying the divine admonition, Xisusthrus is
shown to do precisely what Noah did many thousand years after him. He sent out
birds from the vessel which returned to him again; then a few days after he
sent them again, and they returned with their feet coated with mud; but the third
time they came back to him no more. Stranded on a high mountain of Armenia,
Xisusthrus descends and builds an altar to the gods. Here only, comes a
divergence between the polytheistic and monotheistic legends. Xisusthrus,
having worshipped and rendered thanks to the gods for his salvation,
disappeared, and his companions “saw him no more ”. The story informs us that
on account of his great piety Xisusthrus and his family were translated to
live with the gods, as he himself told the survivors. For though his body
was gone, his voice was heard in the air, which, after apprising them of the
occurrence, admonished them to return to Babylon, and pay due regard to virtue,
religion, and the gods. This is more meritorious than to plant vines, get drunk
on the juice of the grape, and curse one’s own son.
Y.—The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, and
the tenth of the Hebrew—the Yod. It is the litera Pythagorś
the Pythagorean letter and symbol, signifying the two branches, or paths of
virtue and vice respectively, the right leading to virtue, the left to
vice. In Hebrew Kabbalistic mysticism it is the phallic male member, and also
as number ten, the perfect number. Symbolically, it is represented by a hand
with bent forefinger. Its numerical equivalent is ten.
Yâdaya
(Sk.). A descendant of Yadu;
of the great race in which Krishna was born. The founder of this line was Yadu,
the son of King Yayâti of the Somavansa or Lunar Race.It was under Krishna—
certainly no mythical personage—that the kingdom of Dwârakâ in Guzerat
was established; and also after the death of Krishna (3102 B.c.) that all the
Yâdavas present in the city perished, when it was submerged by the ocean. Only
a few of the Yâdavas, who were absent from the town at the time of the
catastrophe, escaped to perpetuate this great race. The Râjâs of Vijaya-Nâgara
are now among the small number of its representatives.
Yah
(Heb.). The word, as claimed in the Zohar, through
which the Elohim formed the worlds. The syllable is a national adaptation and
one of the many forms of the “Mystery name”IAO.
(See “Iaho” and “Yâho ”.)
Yâho
(Heb.). Fürst shows this to be the same as the Greek Iao.
Yâho is an old Semitic and very mystic name of the supreme deity, while Yah
(q.v.) is a later abbreviation which, from containing an abstract ideal,
became finally applied to, and connected with, a phallic symbol—the lingham of
creation. Both Yah and Yâho were Hebrew “mystery names” derived from Iao,
but the Chaldeans had a Yâho before the Jews adopted it, and with them, as
explained by some Gnostics and Neo-Platonists, it was the highest conceivable
deity enthroned above the seven heavens and representing Spiritual Light
(Âtman, the universal), whose ray was Nous, standing both for the intelligent
Demiurge of the Universe of Matter and the Divine Manas in man, both
being Spirit. The true key of this, communicated to the Initiates only, was
that the name of IAO was “triliteral and its nature secret ”, as
explained by the Hierophants. The Phśnicians too had a supreme deity whose name
was triliteral, and its meanings secret, this was also IAO; and Y-ha-ho
was a sacred word in the Egyptian mysteries, which signified “the one
eternal and concealed deity” in nature and in man; i.e., the “universal Divine
Ideation”, and the human Manas, or the higher Ego.
Yajna (Sk.). “Sacrifice”, whose symbol or
representation is now the constellation Mriga-shiras (deer-head), and also a
form of Vishnu. “ The Yajna ”, say the Brahmans, “exists from eternity, for it proceeded
from the Supreme, in whom it lay dormant from no beginning ”. It is the
key to the Trai-Vidyâ , the thrice sacred science contained in the Rig
-Veda verses, which teaches the Yajna or sacrificial mysteries. As Haug
states in his Introduction to the Aitareya Brâhmana—the Yajna
exists as an invisible presence at all times, extending from the Âhavanîya
or sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of
which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of devas, “and even ascend
when alive to their abodes”. It is one of the forms of Akâsa, within which the
mystic WORD (or its underlying “ Sound ”) calls it into existence. Pronounced
by the Priest-Initiate or Yogi, this WORD receives creative powers, and is
communicated as an impulse on the terrestrial plane through a trained Will-power.
Yakin
and Boaz (Heb.). A Kabbalistic
and Masonic symbol. The two pillars of bronze (Yakin, male and white; Boaz,
female and red), cast by Hiram Abif of Tyre, called “the Widow’s Son , for Solomon’s
supposed (Masonic) Temple. Yakin was the symbol of Wisdom (Chokmah), the
second Sephira; and Boaz, that of Intelligence (Binah); the temple
between the two being regarded as Kether, the crown, Father- Mother.
Yaksha
(Sk.). A class of demons, who,
in popular Indian folk-lore, devour men. In esoteric science they are simply
evil (elemental) influences, who in the sight of seers and clairvoyants descend
on men, when open to the reception of such influences, like a fiery comet or a
shooting star.
Yama
(Heb.). The personified third
root-race in Occultism. In the Indian Pantheon Yama is the subject of two
distinct versions of the myth. In the Vedas he is the god of the dead,
a Pluto or a Minos, with whom the shades of the departed dwell (the Kâmarűpas
in Kâmaloka). A hymn speaks of Yama as the first of men that died, and the
first that departed to the world of bliss (Devachan). This,
because Yama is the embodiment of the race which was the first to be endowed
with consciousness (Manas), without which there is neither Heaven nor
Hades. Yama is represented as the son of Vivaswat (the Sun). He had a
twin-sister named Yami, who was ever urging him, according to another hymn,
to take her for his wife, in order to perpetuate the species. The above has a
very suggestive symbolical meaning, which is explained in Occultism. As Dr.
Muir truly remarks, the Rig -Veda—the greatest authority on the primeval
myths which strike the original key-note of the themes that underlie all the
subsequent variations—nowhere shows Yama “as having anything to do with the
punishment of the wicked ”. As king and judge of the dead, a Pluto in short,
Yama is a far later creation. One has to study the true character of Yama-Yamî
throughout more than one hymn and epic poem, and collect the various accounts
scattered in dozens of ancient works, and then he will obtain a consensus of
allegorical statements which will be found to corroborate and justify the
Esoteric teaching, that Yama-Yamî is the symbol of the dual Manas, in
one of its mystical meanings. For instance, Yama-Yamî is always represented of
a green colour and clothed with red, and as dwelling in a palace
of copper and iron. Students of Occultism know to which of the
human “principles” the green and the red colours, and by correspondence the
iron and copper,’ are to be applied. The “twofold-ruler ”—the
epithet of Yama Yamî—is regarded in the exoteric teachings of the
Chino-Buddhists as both judge and criminal, the restrainer of his own
evil doings and the evil-doer himself. In the Hindu epic poems Yama-Yami is the
twin- child of the Sun (the deity) by Sanjnâ (spiritual consciousness); but
while Yama is the Aryan “lord of the day”, appearing as the symbol of spirit in
the East, Yamî is the queen of the night (darkness, ignorance) “who opens to
mortals the path to the West ”—the emblem of evil and matter. In the Purânas
Yama has many wives (many Yamis) who force him to dwell in the lower world
(Pâtâla, Myalba, etc., etc.); and an allegory represents him with his foot
lifted, to kick Chhâyâ, the hand maiden of his father (the astral body of his
mother, Sanjnâ, a metaphysical aspect of Buddhi or Alaya). As stated in the
Hindu Scriptures, a soul when it quits its mortal frame, repairs to its abode
in the lower regions (Kâmaloka or Hades). Once there, the Recorder, the Karmic
messenger called Chitragupta (hidden or concealed brightness), reads out
his account from the Great Register, wherein during the life of the human
being, every deed and thought are indelibly impressed-— and, according to the
sentence pronounced, the “soul” either ascends to the abode of the Pitris (Devachan), descends
to a “hell ” (Kâmaloka), or is reborn on earth in
another human form. The student of Esoteric philosophy will easily recognise
the bearings of the allegories.
Yamabooshee, or Yamabusi (Jap.). A
sect in
Yasna, or Yacna (Pahl.). The third portion of the
first of the two parts of the Avesta, the Scripture of the Zoroastrian Parsis.
The Yasna is composed of litanies of the same kind as the Vispęrad (the
second portion) and of five hymns or gâthas. These gâthas are the
oldest fragments of Zoroastrian literature known to the Parsis, for they are
written “in a special dialect, older than the general language of the Avesta”
(Darmesteter). (See “ Zend ”.)
Yati (Sk) A measure of three feet.
Yâtus, or Yâtudhânas (
Yazathas
(Zend). Pure celestial
spirits, whom the Vendidâd shows once upon a time sharing their food
with mortals, who thus participate in their existence.
Years
of Brahmâ. The whole period of
“Brahma’s Age” (100 Years). Equals 31I,040,000,000,000 years. (See “Yuga ”.)
Yeheedah
(Heb.). Lit., “Individuality ”;
esoterically, the highest individuality or Âtmâ-Buddhi-Manas, when united in
one. This doctrine is in the Chaldean Book of Numbers, which teaches a
septenary division of human “principles”, so-called, as does the Kabalah
in the Zohar, according to the Book of Solomon (iii.,Io4a
so as translated in I. Myer’s Qabbalah). At the time of the conception,
the Holy “sends a d’yook-nah, or the phantom of a shadow image”
like the face of a man. it is designed and sculptured in the divine tzelem,
i.e., the shadow image of the Elohim. “ Elohim created man in his (their) tzelem
” or image, says Genesis (i. 27). It is the tzelem that awaits
the child and receives it at the moment of its conception, and this tzelem is
our linga sharira. “ The Rua’h forms with the Nephesh the
actual personality of the man ”, and also his individuality, or, as
expressed by the Kabbalist, the combination of the two is called, if he (man)
deserves it, Yeheedah. This combination is that which the Theosophist
calls the dual Manas, the Higher and the Lower Ego, united to
Âtmâ-Buddhi and become one. For as explained in the Zohar
(i., 205b, 206a, Brody Ed.): “Neshamah, soul (Buddhi), comprises
three degrees, and therefore she has three names, like the mystery above: that
is, Nephesh, Rua’h, Neshamah “, or the Lower Manas, the Higher Ego, and
Buddhi, the Divine Soul. “It is also to be noted that the Neshamah has
three divisions;” says Myer’s Qabbalah, “the highest is the Ye-hee-dah ”—or
Âtmâ-Buddhi-Manas, the latter once more as a unit; “the middle principle is Hay-yak
“—or Buddhi and the dual Manas; ”and the last and third, the Neshamah,
properly speaking ”—or Soul in general. “They manifest themselves in Ma’hshabah,
thought, Tzelem, phantom of the image, Zurath, prototypes
(mâyâvic forms, or rűpas), and the D'yooknah, shadow of the
phantom image. The D’mooth, likeness or similitude (physical body), is a
lower manifestation” (p. 392). Here then, we find the faithful echo of Esoteric
science in the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works, a perfect Esoteric
septenary division. Every Theosophist who has studied the doctrine sketched
out first in Mr. Sinnett’s Occult World and Esoteric Buddhism, and later
in the Theosophist, Lucifer, and other writings, will recognise them in
the Zohar. Compare for instance what is taught in Theosophical works
about the pre- and post-mortem states of the three higher and the
four lower human principles, with the following from the Zohar: “
Because all these three are one knot like the above, in the mystery of Nephesh,
Rua’h, Neshamah, they are all one, and bound in one. Nephesh (Kâma-Manas)
has no light from her own substance; and it is for this reason that she is
associated with the mystery of guff, the body, to procure enjoyment and
food and everything which it needs.
Rua’h
(the Spirit) is that which rides on
that Nephesh (the lower soul) and rules over her and lights (supplies)
her with everything she needs [ with the light of reason], and the Nephesh
is the throne [ of that Ru’ah. Neshamah (Divine Soul) goes over
to that Rua’h, and she rules over that Rua’h and lights to him
with that Light of Life, and that Rua’h depends on the Neshamah
and receives light from her, which illuminates him. . . When the ‘upper’ Neshamah
ascends (after the death of the body), she goes to . . . the Ancient of the
Ancient, the Hidden of all the Hidden, to receive Eternity. The Rua’h
does not
[ go to Gan Eden [ because he is [ up with] Nephesh
the Rua’h goes up to
(Zohar, ii., 142a,
Cremona Ed., ii., fol. 63b col. 252). It
would be difficult not to recognise in the above our Âtmâ (or the “upper” Neshamah),
Buddhi (Neshamah),. Manas (Rua’h), and Kâma-Manas (Nephesh)
or the lower animal soul; the first of which goes after the death of man to
join its integral whole, the second and the third proceeding to Devachan, and the
last, or the Kâmarűpa, “remaining in its grave”, called other wise the Kâmaloka
or Hades.
Yęnę,
Angânta. The meaning of the Angânta
Yęnę is known to all India. It is the action of an elemental (bhűt),
who, drawn into the sensitive and passive body of a medium, takes possession of
it. In other words, angânta vęnę means literally “obsession”. The Hindus
dread such a calamity now as strongly as they did thousands of years ago. “No
Hindu, Tibetan, or Sinhalese, unless of the lowest caste and intelligence, can
see, without a shudder of horror, the signs of ‘mediumship’ manifest themselves
in a member of his family, or without saying, as a Christian would do now, ‘ he
hath the devil’. This ‘gift, blessing, and holy mission’, so called in England
and America. is, among the older peoples, in the cradle-lands of our race,
where longer experience than ours has taught them more spiritual wisdom,
regarded as a dire misfortune.”
Yesod
(Heb.). The ninth Sephira;
meaning Basis or Foundation.
Yetzirah (Heb.). The third of the Four Kabbalistic
Worlds, referred to the Angels; the “World of Formation”, or Olam Yetzirah.
It is also called Malahayah, or “of the Angels ”. It is the abode of all the
ruling Genii (or Angels) who control and rule planets, worlds and spheres.
Yeu
(Chin.). “Being”, a synonym of
Subhâva; or “the Substance giving substance to itself ”.
Yggdrasil (Scand.). The “World Tree of the Norse
Cosmogony; the ash Yggdrasil ; the tree of the Universe, of time and of life”.
It has three roots, which reach down to cold Hel, and spread thence to Jotun
heim, the land of the Hrimthurses, or “ Frost Giants ”, and to Midgard, the
earth and dwelling of the children of men. Its upper boughs stretch out into
heaven, and its highest branch overshadows Waihalla, the Devachan
of the fallen heroes. The Yggdrasil is ever fresh and green, as it is daily
sprinkled by the Norns, the three fateful sisters, the Past, the Present, and
the Future, with the waters of life from the fountain of Urd that flows on our
earth. It will wither and disappear only on the day when the last battle
between good and evil is fought ; when, the former prevailing, life, time and
space pass out of life and space and time. Every ancient people had their
world-tree. The Babylonians had their “tree of life”, which was the world-tree,
whose roots penetrated into the great lower deep or Hades, whose trunk was on
the earth, and whose upper boughs reached Zikum, the highest heaven
above. Instead of in Walhalla, they placed its upper foliage in the holy house
of Davkina, the “great mother” of Tammuz, the Saviour of the world—the Sun-god
put to death by the enemies of light.
Yi-King. (Chin.). An ancient Chinese work, written by
generations of sages.
Yima (Zend). In the Vendîdâd, the first man,
and, from his aspect of spiritual progenitor of mankind, the same as
Yama (q.v.). His further functions are not given in the Zend books,
because so many of these ancient fragments have been lost, made away with, or
otherwise prevented from falling into the hands of the profane. Yima was not
born, for he represents the first three human Root-races, the first of which is
“not born”; but he is the “first man who dies”, because the third race,
the one which was informed by the rational Higher Egos, was the first
one whose men separated into male and female, and “man lived and died, and was
reborn”. (See Secret Doctrine, II., pp. 60 et seq.)
Ymir
(Scand.). The personified
matter of our globe in a seething condition. The cosmic monster in the form of
a giant, who is killed in the cosmogonical allegories of the Eddas by
the three creators, the sons of Bör, Odin, Wili and We, who are said to have
conquered Ymir and created the world out of his body. This allegory shows the
three principal forces of nature—separation, formation and growth (or
evolution) conquering the unruly, raging “giant” matter, and forcing it to
become a world, or an inhabited globe. it is curious that an ancient, primitive
and uncultured pagan people, so philosophical and scientifically correct in
their views about the origin and formation of the earth, should, in order to be
regarded as civilized, have to accept the dogma that the world was created out
of nothing!
Yod
(Heb.). The tenth letter of the alphabet, the first in the
four fold symbol of the compound name
Jah-hovah (Jehovah) or Jah-Eve, the hermaphrodite force and existence in
nature. Without the later vowels, the word Jehovah is written IHVH (the letter
Yod standing for all the three English letters y, i, or j, as the
case may require), and is male-female. The letter Yod is the symbol of the lingham,
or male organ, in its natural triple form, as the Kabalah shows. The
second letter He, has for its symbol the yoni, the womb or “
window-opening” as the Kabalah has it ; the symbol of the third letter,
the Vau, is a crook or a nail (the bishop’s crook having its origin in this),
another male letter, and the fourth is the same as the second—the whole meaning
to be or to exist under one of these forms or both. Thus the word or
name is pre-eminently phallic, it is that of the fighting god of the
Jews, “ Lord of Hosts” ; of the “aggressive Yod” or Zodh, Cain (by
permutation), who slew his female brother, Abel, and spilt his (her)
blood. This name, selected out of many by the early Christian writers, was an
unfortunate one for their religion on account of its associations and original
significance ; it is a number at best, an organ in reality. This letter Yod
has passed into God and Gott.
Yoga (
Yogâchârya
(
Yogi (Sk.). (1) Not “a state of six-fold bodily and
mental happiness as the result, of ecstatic meditation” (Eitel) but a state
which, when reached, makes the practitioner thereof absolute master of his six
principles”, he now being merged in the seventh. It gives him full
control, owing to his knowledge of SELF and Self, over his bodily, intellectual
and mental states, which, unable any longer to interfere with, or act upon, his
Higher Ego, leave it free to exist in its original, pure, and divine state.
(2)
Also the name of the devotee who practises Yoga.
Yong-Grüb (Tib.). A state of absolute rest, the same as
Paranirvâna.
Yoni
(Sk.). The womb, the female
principle.
Yudishthira (Sk.). One of the heroes of the Mahâbharata.
The eldest brother of the Pândavas, or the five Pându princes who fought
against their next of kin, the Kauravas, the sons of their maternal uncle.
Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna, was his younger brother. The Bhagavad Gitâ
gives mystical particulars of this war. Kunti was the mother of the Pândavas,
and Draupadî the wife in common of the five brothers— an allegory. But
Yudishthira is also, as well as Krishna, Arjuna, and so many other heroes, an
historical character, who lived some 5,000 years ago, at the period when the
Kali Yuga set in.
Yuga
(Sk.). A 1,000th part of a
Kalpa. An age of the World of which there are four, and the series of which
proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each Yuga is preceded by a
period called in the Purânas Sandhyâ, twilight, or transition period,
and is followed by another period of like duration called Sandhyânsa, “portion
of twilight”. Each is equal to one-tenth of the Yuga. The group of four
Yugas is first computed by the divine years, or “ years of the
gods”—each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men. Thus we have, in
“divine” years :
1. Krita or Satya
Yuga
- -
- 4,000
Sandhyâ
-
- -
- 400
Sandhyansa
-
-
-
- 400
4,800
2. Tretâ Yuga
-
-
-
- 3,000
Sandhyâ
-
- -
- 300
Sandhyânsa
-
-
-
- 300
3,600
3. Dwâpara Yuga
-
-
- 2,000
Sandhya
-
- -
- 200
Sandhyânsa
-
-
-
- 200
2,400
4. Kali Yuga
-
-
- -
1,000
Sandhyâ
-
-
-
- 100
Sandhyânsa -
-
-
-
100
1,200
Total 12,000
This
rendered in years of mortals equals:
4800 X 360 =
1,728,000
3600 X 360 = 1,296,000
2400 X 360 =
864,000
1200 X 360 =
432,000
Total
4,320,000
The
above is called a Mahâyuga or Manvantara. 2,000 such Mahâyugas, or a period of
8,640,000 years, make a Kalpa the latter being only a “day and a night”, or
twenty-four hours, of Brahmâ. Thus an “age of Brahmâ”, or one hundred of his
divine years, must equal 311,040,000,000,000 of our mortal years. The old
Mazdeans or Magi (the modern Parsis) had the same calculation, though the
Orientalists do not seem to perceive it, for even the Parsi Moheds themselves
have forgotten it. But their “Sovereign time of the Long Period” (Zervan
Dareghâ Hvadâta) lasts 12,000 years, and these are the 12,000 divine years
of a Mahâyuga as shown above, whereas the Zervan Akarana (Limitless
Time), mentioned by Zarathustra, is the Kâla, out of space and time, of
Parabrahm.
Yurbo
Adonai. A contemptuous epithet given
by the followers of the Nazarene Codex, the St. John Gnostics, to the
Jehovah of the Jews.
Yürmungander (Scand.). A name of the Midgard snake in the
Edda, whose brother is Wolf Fenris, and whose sister is the horrible
monster Hel—the three children of wicked Loki and Angurboda (carrier of
anguish), a dreaded giantess. The mundane snake of the Norsemen, the monster
created by Loki but fashioned by the constant putrid emanations from the body
of the slain giant Ymir (the matter of our globe), and producing in its turn a
constant emanation, which serves as a veil between heaven and earth, i.e.,
the Astral Light.
Z.—The 26th letter of the English alphabet. It stands
as a numeral for 2,000, and with a dash over it thus, Z, equals 2,000,000. It
is the seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet—zayin, its symbol being a
kind of Egyptian sceptre, a weapon. The zayin is equivalent to number
seven. The number twenty-six is held most sacred by the Kabbalists, being equal
to the numerical value of the letters of the Tetragrammaton
—thus
he vau he yod
5 + 6 + 5 + ‘0 =26.
Zabulon (Heb.). The abode of God,
the tenth Devachan in degree.
Hence Zabulon, the tenth son of Jacob.
Zacchai
(Heb.). One of the
deity-names.
Zadok (Heb.). According to Josephus (see Antiquities,
x., 8, § 6), Zadok was the first High-Priest Hierophant of Solomon’s High
Temple. Masons connect him with some of their degrees.
Zalmat
Gaguadi (Akkad.). Lit., “the
dark race”, the first that fell into generation in the Babylonian legends. The
Adamic race, one of the two principal races that existed at the time of the ‘
Fall of Man (hence our third Root-race), the other being called Sarku,
or the “light race”.
(Secret Doctrine, II., 5.)
Zampun (Tib.). The sacred tree of life, having many
mystic meanings.
Zarathustra (Zend). The great lawgiver, and the founder of
the religion variously called Mazdaism, Magism, Parseeїsm, Fire-Worship,
and Zoroastrianism. The age of the last Zoroaster (for it is a generic name) is
not known, and perhaps for that very reason. Xanthus of Lydia, the earliest
Greek writer who mentions this great lawgiver and religious reformer, places
him about six hundred years before the Trojan War. But where is the historian
who can now tell when the latter took place? Aristotle and also Eudoxus assign
him a date of no less than 6,000 years before the days of Plato, and Aristotle
was not one to make a statement without a good reason for it. Berosus makes him
a king of Babylon some 2,200 years B.C.; but then, how can one tell what were
the original figures of Berosus, before his MSS. passed through the hands of
Eusebius, whose fingers were so deft at altering figures, whether in Egyptian
synchronistic tables or in Chaldean chronology? Haug refers Zoroaster to at
least 1,000 years B.C.; and Bunsen (God in History, Vol. I., Book
iii., ch. vi., p. 276) finds that Zarathustra Spitama lived under the King
Vistaspa about 3,000 years B.C., and describes him as “one of the mightiest
intellects and one of the greatest men of all time”. It is with such exact
dates in hand, and with the utterly extinct language of the Zend, whose
teachings are rendered, probably in the most desultory manner, by the Pahlavi
translation—a tongue, as shown by Darmsteter, which was itself growing obsolete
so far back as the Sassanides— that our scholars and Orientalists have presumed
to monopolise to themselves the right of assigning hypothetical dates for the
age of the holy prophet Zurthust. But the Occult records claim to have the
correct dates of each of the thirteen Zoroasters mentioned in the Dabistan.
Their doctrines, and especially those of the last (divine) Zoroaster, spread
from Bactria to the Medes; thence, under the name of Magism, incorporated by
the Adept-Astronomers in Chaldea, they greatly influenced the mystic teachings
of the Mosaic doctrines, even before, perhaps, they had culminated into what is
now known as the modern religion of the Parsis. Like Manu and Vyâsa in
Zarpanitu (Akkad) The goddess who was the supposed
mother, by Merodach, of Nebo, god of Wisdom. One of the female “Serpents
of Wisdom”.
Zelator. The lowest degree in the exoteric Rosicrucian
system; a kind of probationer or low chelâ.
Zend-Avesta (Pahl.). The general name for the sacred books
of the Parsis, fire or sun worshippers, as they are ignorantly called. So
little is understood of the grand doctrines which are still found in the
various fragments that compose all that is now left of that collection of
religious works, that Zoroastrianism is called indifferently Fire-worship,
Mazdaism, or Magism, Dualism, Sun-worship, and what not. The Avesta has
two parts as now collected together, the first portion containing the Vendîdâd,
the Vispęrad and the Yasna; and the second portion, called the Khorda
Avesta (Small Avesta), being composed of short prayers called Gâh, Nyâyish,
etc. Zend means “a commentary or explanation”, and Avesta (from
the old Persian âbashtâ, “the law”. (See Darmsteter.) As the translator
of the Vendîdâd remarks in a foot note (see int. xxx.): “what it is customary
to call ‘the Zend language’, ought to be named ‘the Avesta language’, the Zend
being no language at all and if the word be used as the designation of one, it
can be rightly applied only to the Pahlavi”. But then, the Pahlavi itself is
only the language into which certain original portions of the Avesta are
translated. What name should be given to the old Avesta language, and
particularly to the “special dialect, older than the general language of the Avesta”
(Darmst.), in which the five Ghthas in the Yasna are written? To this
day the Orientalists are mute upon the subject. Why should not the Zend be of
the same family, if not identical with the Zen-sar, meaning also the speech
explaining the abstract symbol, or the “mystery language,” used by Initiates?
Zervana
Akarna, or Zrvana Akarna (Pahl.).
As translated from the Vendîdâd (Fargard xix), lit., “Boundless”, or
“Limitless Time”, or “Duration in a Circle”. Mystically, the Beginningless and
the Endless One Principle in Nature ; the Sat of the Vedânta and
esoterically, the Universal Abstract Space synonymous with the Unknowable
Deity. It is the Ain-Soph of the Zoroastrians, out of which radiates Ahura
Mazda, the eternal Light or Logos, from which, in its turn, emanates everything
that has being, existence and form.
Zeus
(Gr.). The “Father of the
gods”. Zeus-Zen is Ćther, there fore Jupiter was called Pater Ćther by
some Latin races.
Zicu
(Akkad.). Primordial matter, from Zi,
spirit-substance, Zikum and Zigarum.
Zio (Scand.). Also Tyr and Tius, A god in the Eddas
who conquers and chains Fenris-WoIf, when the latter threatened the gods
themselves in Asgard, and lost a hand in the battle with the monster. He is the
god of war, and was greatly worshipped by the ancient Germans.
Zipporah (Heb.). Lit., the shining, the radiant. In the
Biblical allegory of Genesis, Zipporah is one of the seven
daughters of Jethro, the Midianite priest, the Initiator of Moses, who meets
Zipporah (or spiritual light) near the “well” (of occult knowledge) and marries
her.
Zirat-banit (Chald.). The wife of the great, divine hero
of the Assyrian tablets, Merodach. She is identified with the Succoth Benoth of
the Bible.
Ziruph (Heb.). More properly Tziruph, a mode of
divination by Temura, or permutation of letters, taught by the medićval
Kabbalists. The school of Rabbis Abulafia and Gikatilla laid the most stress on
the value of this process of the Practical Kabalah.
Zodiac (Gr.). From the word zodion, a
diminutive of zoon, animal. This word is used in a dual meaning; it may
refer to the fixed and intellectual Zodiac, or to the movable and natural
Zodiac. “In astronomy”, says Science, “it is an imaginary belt in the heavens
16° or 18° broad, through the middle of which passes the sun’s path (the
ecliptic) .“It contains the twelve constellations which constitute the twelve
signs of the Zodiac, and from which they are named. As the nature of the zodiacal
light—that elongated, luminous, triangular figure which, lying almost in
the ecliptic, with its base on the horizon and its apex at greater and smaller
altitudes, is to be seen only during the morning and evening twilights—is
entirely unknown to science, the origin and real significanće and occult
meaning of the Zodiac were, and are still, a mystery, to all save the
Initiates. The latter preserved their secrets well. Between the Chaldean
star-gazer and the modern astrologer there lies to this day a wide gulf indeed;
and they wander, in the words of Albumazar, “‘twixt the poles, and heavenly
hinges, ‘mongst eccentricals, centres, concentricks, circles and epicycles”,
with vain pretence to more than profane human skill. Yet, some of the
astrologers, from Tycho Braire and Kepler of astrological memory, down to the
modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, have contrived to make a wonderful science from
such scanty occult materials as they have had in hand from Ptolemy downwards.
(See “Astrology”.) To return to the astrological Zodiac proper, however, it is
an imaginary circle passing round the earth in the plane of the equator, its
first point being called Aries 0ş. It is divided into twelve equal parts called
“Signs of the Zodiac”, each containing 30ş of space, and on it is measured the
right ascension of celestial bodies. The movable or natural Zodiac is a
succession of constellations forming a belt of in width, lying north and south
of the plane of the ecliptic. The precession of the Equinoxes is caused by the
“motion” of the sun through space, which makes the constellations appear to
move forward against the order of the signs at the rate of 501/3 seconds per
year. A simple calculation will show that at this rate the constellation Taurus
(Heb. Aleph) was in the first sign of the Zodiac at the beginning of the
Kali Yuga, and consequently the Equinoctial point fell therein. At this time,
also, Leo was in the summer solstice, Scorpio in the autumnal Equinox, and
Aquarius in the winter solstice ; and these facts form the astronomical key to
half the religious mysteries of the world-—the Christian scheme included. The
Zodiac was known in India and Egypt for incalculable ages, and the knowledge of
the sages (magi) of these countries, with regard to the occult influence of the
stars and heavenly bodies on our earth, was far greater than profane astronomy
can ever hope to reach to. If, even now, when most of the secrets of the
Asuramayas and the Zoroasters are lost, it is still amply shown that horoscopes
and judiciary astrology are far from being based on fiction, and if such men as
Kepler and even Sir Isaac Newton believed that stars and constellations
influenced the destiny of our globe and its humanities, it requires no great
stretch of faith to believe that men who were initiated into all the mysteries
of nature, as well as into astronomy and astrology, knew precisely in what way
nations and mankind, whole races as well as individuals, would be affected by
the so-called “signs of the Zodiac”.
Zohak, or Azhi Dâhaka. The personification of the
Evil One or Satan under the shape of a serpent, in the Zend Avesta. This
serpent is three-headed, one of the heads being human. The Avesta describes it
as dwelling in the region of Bauri or Babylonia. In reality Zohak is the
allegorical symbol of the Assyrian dynasty, whose banner had on it the purple
sign of the dragon. (Isis Unveiled, Vol. II., p. 486, n.)
Zohar, or Sohar. A compendium of Kabbalistic Theosophy, which
shares with the Sepher Yetzirah the reputation of being the oldest
extant treatise on the Hebrew esoteric religious doctrines. Tradition assigns
its authorship to Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, AD. 80, but modern criticism is
inclined to believe that a very large portion of the volume is no older than
1280, when it was certainly edited and published by Rabbi Moses de Leon, of
Guadalaxara in Spain. The reader should consult the references to these two
names. In Lucifer (Vol. I., p. 141) will be found also notes on this
subject : further discussion will be attainable in the works of Zunz, Graetz,
Jost, Steinschneider, Frankel and Ginsburg. The work of Franck (in French) upon
the Kabalah may be referred to with advantage. The truth seems to lie in
a middle path, viz., that while Moses de Leon was the first to produce the
volume as a whole, yet a large part of some of its constituent tracts consists
of traditional dogmas and illustrations, which have come down from the time of
Simeon ben Jochai and the Second Temple. There are portions of the doctrines of
the Zohar which bear the impress of Chaldee thought and civilization, to which
the Jewish race had been exposed in the Babylonish captivity. Yet on the other
hand, to condemn the theory that it is ancient in its entirety, it is noticed
that the Crusades are mentioned; that a quotation is made from a hymn by Ibn
Gebirol, A,D. 1050; that the asserted author, Simeon ben Jochai, is spoken of
as more eminent than Moses; that it mentions the vowel-points, which did not
come into use until Rabbi Mocha (AD. 570) introduced them to fix the
pronunciation of words as a help to his pupils, and lastly, that it mentions -a
comet which can be proved by the evidence of the context to have appeared in
1264. There is no English translation of the Zohar as a whole, nor even
a Latin one. The Hebrew editions obtainable are those of Mantua, 1558; Cremona,
1560; and Lublin, 1623. The work of Knorr von Rosenroth called Kabbala
Denudata includes several of the treatises of the Zohar, but not all
of them, both in Hebrew and Latin. MacGregor Mathers has published an English
translation of three of these treatises, the Book of Concealed Mystery,
the Greater and the Lesser Holy Assembly, and his work includes
an original introduction to the subject.
The
principal tracts included in the Zohar are :—“ The Hidden Midrash”, “The
Mysteries of the Pentateuch”, “The Mansions and Abodes of Paradise and
Gaihinnom”, “The Faithful Shepherd”, “The Secret of Secrets”, “Discourse of the
Aged in Mishpatim” (punishment of souls), “The Januka or Discourse of the Young
Man”, and “The Tosephta and Mathanithan”, which are additional essays on
Emanation and the Sephiroth, in addition to the three important treatises
mentioned above. In this storehouse may be found the origin of all the later
developments of Kabbalistic teaching.
Zoroaster. Greek form of Zarathustra (q.v.).
Zumyad
Yasht (Zend). Or Zamyad
Yasht as some spell it. One of the preserved Mazdean fragments. It treats
of metaphysical questions and beings, especially of the Amshaspends or
the Amesha Spenta—the Dhyân Chohans of the Avesta books.
Zuńi. The name of a certain tribe of Western American
Indians, a very ancient remnant of a still more ancient race. (Secret
Doctrine, II., p. 628.)
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