THE
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY
AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEILED", “THE SECRET DOCTRINE", " THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY"
London:
THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY,
7, DUKE STREET, ADELPHI, W.C.
The Path Office: 132, NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK, U.S.A.
The Theosophist Office: ADYAR, MADRAS, INDIA.
1892
FROM A PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION
OF THE ORIGINAL EDITION
THE THEOSOPHY COMPANY
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA
1930
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X T Z
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.
LONDON, January, 1892
THEOSOPHICAL
GLOSSARY
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 Ceylon and passed beyond the Himalayas, where they have remained ever since.
Abhidharma (Sk.). The metaphysical (third) part of Tripitaka, a very philosophical Buddhist work by Kâtyâyana.
Abhijńâ (Sk.). Six phenomenal (or “supernatural”) gifts which Sâkyamuni Buddha acquired in the night on which he reached Buddhaship. This is the “fourth” degree of Dhyâna (the seventh in esoteric teachings) which has to be attained by every true Arhat. In China, the initiated Buddhist ascetics reckon six such powers, but in Ceylon they reckon only five. The first Abhijńâ is Divyachakchus, the instantaneous view of anything one wills to see; the second, is Divyasrotra, the power of comprehending any sound whatever, etc., etc.
Abhimânim (Sk.). The name of Agni (fire) the “eldest son of Brahmâ”, in other words, the first element or Force produced in the universe at its evolution (the fire of creative desire). By his wife Swâhâ, Abhimânim had three sons (the fires) Pâvaka, Pavamâna and Suchi, and these had “forty-five sons, who, with the original son of Brahmâ and his three descendants, constitute the forty-nine fires” of Occultism.
Abhimanyu (Sk.). A son of Arjuna. He killed Lakshmana,in the great battle of the Mahâbhârata on its second day, but was himself killed on the thirteenth.
Abhűtarajasas (Sk.). A class of gods or Devas, during the period of the fifth Manvantara.
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 Mount Meru, and other sacred hills. [w.w.w.]
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
Egypt.
(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 Alexandria, AD. 90.
He uses Abraxas as a title for Divinity, the supreme of Seven, and as having 365
virtues. In Greek numeration, a. 1, b. 2, r. 100, a.
I, x 60, a. I, s. 200 = 365
days of the year, solar year, a cycle of divine action. C. W. King, author of
The Gnostics, considers the word similar to the Hebrew Shemhamphorasch, a
holy word, the extended name of God. An Abraxas Gem usually shows a man’s body
with the head of a cock, one arm with a shield, the other with a whip.
[ w.w.w.]
Abraxas is the counterpart of the Hindu Abhimânim (q.v.) and Brahmâ combined. It is these compound and mystic qualities which caused Oliver, the great Masonic authority, to connect the name of Abraxas with that of Abraham. This was unwarrantable ; the virtues and attributes of Abraxas, which are 365 in number, ought to have shown him that the deity was connected with the Sun and solar division of the year——nay, that Abraxas is the antitype, and the Sun, the type.
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 (Sk.). Personal and social (religious) obligations.
Âchârya (Sk.). Spiritual teacher, Guru; as Sankar-âchârya, lit., a “teacher of ethics”. A name generally given to Initiates, etc., and meaning “Master”.
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 (Sk.). Absolute non-intelligence; as Chit is—in contrast— absolute intelligence.
Achyuta (Sk.). That which is not subject to change or fall; the opposite to Chyuta, “fallen”. A title of Vishnu.
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.
[w.w.w.]
In the Kabalah Adam Kadmon is the manifested Logos corresponding to our Third Logos; the Unmanifested being the first paradigmic ideal Man, and symbolizing the Universe in abscondito, or in its “privation” in the Aristotelean sense. The First Logos is the “Light of the World”, the Second and the Third—its gradually deepening shadows.
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 . 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 Egypt.
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 (Sk.). The name of a great Rishi, much revered in Southern India; the reputed author of hymns in the Rig Veda, and a great hero in the Râmâyana. In Tamil literature he is credited with having been the first instructor of the Dravidians in science, religion and philosophy. It is also the name of the star “Canopus”.
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 (Sk.). The fiery missiles or weapons used by the Gods in the exoteric Purânas and the Mahâbhârata the magic weapons said to have been wielded by the adept-race (the fourth), the Atlanteans. This
“weapon of fire” was given by Bharadwâja to Agnivesa, the son of Agni, and by him to Drona, though the Vishnu Purâna contradicts this, saying that it was given by the sage Aurva to King Sagara, his chela. They are frequently mentioned in the Mahâbhârata and the Râmâyana.
Agni (Sk.). The God of Fire in the Veda; the oldest and the most revered of Gods in India. He is one of the three great deities: Agni, Vâyu and Sűrya, and also all the three, as he is the triple aspect of fire; in heaven as the Sun; in the atmosphere or air (Vâyu), as Lightning; on. earth, as ordinary Fire. Agni belonged to the earlier Vedic Triműrti before Vishnu was given a place of honour and before Brahmâ and Siva were invented.
Agni Bâhu (Sk.). An ascetic son of Manu Swâyambhuva, the “Self-born”.
Agni Bhuvah (Sk.). Lit., “born of fire”, the term is applied to the four races of Kshatriyas (the second or warrior caste) whose ancestors are said to have sprung from fire. Agni Bhuvah is the son of Agni, the God of Fire; Agni Bhuvah being the same as Kartti-keya, the God of War. (See Sec.Doct., Vol. II., p. 550.)
Agni Dhätu Samâdhi (Sk.). A kind of contemplation in Yoga practice, when Kundalini is raised to the extreme and the infinitude appears as one sheet of fire. An ecstatic condition.
Agni Hotri (Sk.). The priests who served the Fire-God in Aryan antiquity. The term Agni Hotri is one that denotes oblation.
Agni-ratha (Sk.). A “Fiery Vehicle” literally. A kind of flying machine. Spoken of in ancient works of magic in India and in the epic poems.
Agnishwattas (Sk.). A class of Pitris, the creators of the first ethereal race of men. Our solar ancestors as contrasted with the Barhishads, the “lunar” Pitris or ancestors, though otherwise explained in the Purânas.
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 (Sk.). The “Assessors” or Recorders who read at the
judgment of a disembodied Soul the record of its life in the heart of that “Soul”. The same almost as the Lipikas of the Secret Doctrine. (See Sec.Doct., Vol. I., p. 105.)
Agruerus ; A very ancient Phśnician god. The same as Saturn.
Aham (Sk.). “I”—the basis of Ahankâra, Self-hood.
Ahan (Sk.). “Day”;the Body of Brahmâ, in the Purânas.
Ahankâra (Sk.). The conception of “I”, Self-consciousness or Self- identity; the “I”, the egotistical and mâyâvic principle in man, due to our ignorance which separates our “I” from the Universal ONE-SELF Personality, Egoism.
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 (Sk.). A serpent. A name of Vritra, the Vedic demon of drought.
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 Northern Siberia.
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 (Sk.). Wife of Indra.
Aindriya (Sk.). Or Indrânî, Indriya; Sakti. The female aspect or “wife” of Indra.
Ain Soph (Heb.). The “Boundless” or Limitless; Deity emanating and extending. [w.w.w.]
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 (Sk.). A theistic school of Nepaul, which sets up Âdi Buddha as a supreme god ( Îsvara ), instead of seeing in the name that of a principle, an abstract philosophical symbol.
Aitareya (Sk.). The name of an Aranyaka (Brâhmana) and a Upanishad of the Rig Veda. Some of its portions are purely Vedântic.
Aith-ur (Chald.). Solar fire, divine Ćther.
Aja (Sk.). “Unborn”, uncreated; an epithet belonging to many of the primordial gods, but especially to the first Logos—a radiation of the Absolute on the plane of illusion.
Ajitas (Sk.). One of the Occult names of the twelve great gods incarnating in each Manvantara. The Occultists identify them with the Kumâras. They are called Jnâna (or Gnâna) Devas. Also, a form of Vishnu in the second Manvantara. Called also Jayas.
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 (Sk.). The subtle, supersensuous spiritual essence which pervades all space; the primordial substance erroneously identified with Ether. But it is to Ether what Spirit is to Matter, or Âtmâ to Kâma-rűpa. It is, in fact, the Universal Space in which lies inherent the eternal Ideation of the Universe in its ever-changing aspects on the planes of matter and objectivity, and from which radiates the First Logos, or expressed thought. This is why it is stated in the Purânas that Âkâsa has but one attribute, namely sound, for sound is but the translated symbol of Logos—“Speech” in its mystic sense. In the same sacrifice (the Jyotishtoma Agnishtoma) it is called the “God Âkâsa”. In these sacrificial mysteries Âkâsa is the all-directing ‘and omnipotent Deva who plays the part of Sadasya, the superintendent over the magical effects of the religious performance, and it had its own appointed Hotri (priest) in days of old, who took its name. The Âkâsa is the indispensable agent of every Krityâ (magical performance) religious or profane. The expression “to stir up the Brahmâ”, means to stir up the power which lies latent at the bottom of every magical operation, Vedic sacrifices being in fact nothing if not ceremonial magic. This power is the Âkâsa—in another aspect, Kundalini—occult electricity, the alkahest of the alchemists in one sense, or the universal solvent, the same anima mundi on the higher plane as the astral light is on the lower. “At the moment of the sacrifice the priest becomes imbued with the spirit of Brahmâ, is, for the time being, Brahmâ himself”. (Isis Unveiled).
Akbar. The great Mogul Emperor of India, the famous patron of religions, arts, and sciences, the most liberal of all the Mussulman sovereigns. There has never been a more tolerant or enlightened ruler than the Emperor Akbar, either in India or in any other Mahometan country.
Akiba (Heb.). The only one of the four Tanaim (initiated prophets) who entering the Garden of Delight (of the occult sciences) succeeded in getting himself initiated while all the others failed. (See the Kabbalistic Rabbis).
Akshara (Sk.). Supreme Deity; lit., “indestructible”, ever perfect.
Akta
(Sk.).
Anointed: a title of Twashtri or Visvakarman, the highest “Creator” and Logos in
the
Rig -Veda. He is called the “Father of the Gods” and “Father of the sacred Fire”
(See note page 101, Vol. II., Sec.Doct.).
Akűpâra (Sk.). The Tortoise, the symbolical turtle on which the earth is said to rest.
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 Babylonia who reigned.. “three Sari”. The first king of the divine Dynasty was Alorus according to Berosus. He was “the appointed Shepherd of the people” and reigned ten Sari (or 36,000 years, a Saros being 3,600 years).
Alaya (Sk.). The Universal Soul (See Secret Doctrine Vol. I. pp. 47 et seq.). The name belongs to the Tibetan system of the contemplative Mahâyâna School. Identical with Âkâsa in its mystic sense, and with Mulâprâkriti, in its essence, as it is the basis or root of all things.
Alba Petra (Lat.). The white stone of Initiation. The “white cornelian” mentioned in St. John’s Revelation.
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 Egypt. The Rosicrucians of
the middle ages, such as Robertus de Fluctibus (Robert Fludd), Paracelsus,
Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes), Van Helmont, and others, were all
alchemists, who sought for the hidden spirit in every inorganic matter.
Some people— nay, the great majority—have accused alchemists of charlatanry and
false pretending. Surely such men as Roger Bacon, Agrippa, Henry Khunrath, and
the Arabian Geber (the first to introduce into Europe
some of the secrets of chemistry), can hardly he treated as impostors— least of
all as fools. Scientists who are reforming the science of physics upon the basis
of the atomic theory of Democritus, as restated by John Dalton, conveniently
forget that Democritus, of Abdera, was an alchemist, and that the mind that was
capable of penetrating so far into the secret operations of nature in one
direction must have had good reasons to study and become a Hermetic philosopher.
Olaus Borrichius says that the cradle of alchemy is to be sought in the most
distant times. (Isis
Unveiled).
Alchemy
; in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature.
Ui-Khemi or
Al-Kimia, however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek
chemeia, (chemeia) from
cumoz—
“juice”, sap extracted from a plant. Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: “The earliest use
of the actual
term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who
lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the
oldest-extant alchemic treatise known in Europe;
it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D.
in the Greek language, the next oldest is by 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. [w.w.w.]
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.
Alexadrian School (of Philosophers). This famous school arose in Alexandria (Egypt) which was for several centuries the great seat of learning and philosophy. Famous for its library, which bears the name of “Alexandrian”, founded by Ptolemy Soter, who died in 283 B.C., at the very beginning of his reign ; that library which once boasted of 700,000 rolls or volumes (Aulus Gellius); for its museum, the first real academy of sciences and arts ; for its world-famous scholars, such as Euclid (the father of scientific geometry), Apollonius of Perga (the author of the still extant work on conic sections), Nicomachus (the arithmetician); astronomers, natural philosophers, anatomists such as Herophilus and
Erasistratus, physicians, musicians, artists, etc., etc. ; it became still more famous for its Eclectic, or the New Platonic school, founded in 193 A.D., by Ammonius Saccas, whose disciples were Origen, Plotinus, and many others now famous in history. The most celebrated schools of Gnostics had their origin in Alexandria. Philo Judćus Josephus, lamblichus, Porphyry, Clement of Alexandria, Eratosthenes the astronomer, Hypatia the virgin philosopher, and numberless other stars of second magnitude, all belonged at various times to these great schools, and helped to make Alexandria one of the most justly renowned seats of learning that the world has ever produced.
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 Archangel, who is called in the Talmud “the Prince
of Waters”, and in the Roman Catholic Church is regarded as the patron of gulfs
and promontories. Sanat-Sujâta is the immaculate son of the immaculate mother (Ambâ
or Aditi, chaos and space) or the “waters” of limitless space.
(See Secret Doctrine-, Vol. I., p. 460.)
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 kingdom of Osiris divided into fourteen parts, each of which was set aside for some purpose connected with the after state of the defunct. Among other things, in one of these was the Hall of Judgment. It was the “Land of the West”, the “Secret Dwelling”, the dark land, and the “doorless house”. But it was also Ker-noter, the “abode of the gods”, and the “land of ghosts” like the “ Hades” of the Greeks (q.v.). It was also the “Good Father’s House” (in which there are “many mansions”). The fourteen divisions comprised, among many others, Aanroo (q.v.), the hall of the Two Truths, the Land of Bliss, Neter-xev “the funeral (or burial) place” Otamer-xev, the “Silence-loving Fields”, and also many other mystical halls and dwellings, one like the Sheol of the Hebrews, another like the Devachan of the Occultists, etc., etc. Out of the fifteen gates of the abode of Osiris, there were two chief ones,
the “gate of entrance” or Rustu, and the “gate of exit” (reincarnation) Amh. But there was no room in Amenti to represent the orthodox Christian Hell. The worst of all was the Hall of the eternal Sleep and Darkness. As Lepsius has it, the defunct “sleep (therein) in incorruptible forms, they wake not to see their brethren, they recognize no longer father and mother, their hearts feel nought toward their wife and children. This is the dwelling of the god All-Dead. . . . Each trembles to pray to him, for he hears not. Nobody can praise him, for he regards not those who adore him. Neither does he notice any offering brought to him.” This god is Karmic Decree; the land of Silence—the abode of those who die absolute disbelievers, those dead from accident before their allotted time, and finally the dead on the threshold of Avitchi, which is never in Amenti or any other subjective state, save in one case, but on this land of forced re-birth. These tarried not very long even in their state of heavy sleep, of oblivion and darkness, but, were carried more or less speedily toward Amh the “exit gate”.
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 e