THE
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY
AUTHOR OF "ISIS UNVEILED", “THE SECRET DOCTRINE", " THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY"
D. Both in the English and Hebrew alphabets the fourth letter, whose numerical value is four. The symbolical signification in the Kabbala of the Daleth is “door”. It is the Greek delta D, through which the world (whose symbol is the tetrad or number four,) issued, producing the divine seven. The name of the Tetrad was Harmony with the Pythagoreans, “because it is a diatessaron in sesquitertia”. With the Kabbalists, the divine name associated with Daleth was Daghoul.
Daath (Heb.) Knowledge; “the conjunction of Chokmah and Binah, Wisdom and Understanding”: sometimes, in error, called a Sephira. [w.w.w.]
Dabar (Heb.) D (a) B (a) R (im), meaning the “Word”, and the “Words” in the Chaldean Kabbala, Dabar and Logoi. (See Sec.Doct. I. p. 350, and “Logos”, or “Word”.)
Dabistan (Pers.) The land of Iran; ancient Persia.
Dache-Dachus (Chald.) The dual emanation of Moymis, the progeny of the dual or androgynous World-Principle, the male Apason and female Tauthe. Like all theocratic nations possessing Temple mysteries, the Babylonians never mentioned the “One” Principle of the Universe, nor did they give it a name. This made Damascious (Theogonies) remark that like the rest of “ barbarians” the Babylonians passed it over in silence. Tauthe was the mother of the gods, while Apason was her self-generating male power, Moymis, the ideal universe, being her only-begotten son, and emanating in his turn Dache-Dachus, and at last Belus, the Demiurge of the objective Universe.
Dactyli (Gr.) From daktulos, “a finger”. The name given to the Phrygian Hierophants of Kybele, who were regarded as the greatest magicians and exorcists. They were five or ten in number because of the five fingers on one hand that blessed, and the ten on both hands which evoke the gods. They also healed by manipulation or mesmerism.
Dadouchos (Gr.) The torch-hearer, one of the four celebrants in the Eleusinian mysteries. There were several attached to the temples but they appeared in public only at the Panathenaic Games at Athens, to preside over the so-called “torch-race”. (See Mackenzie’s R.M, Cyclopćdia.)
Dćmon (Gr.) In the original Hermetic works and ancient classics it has a meaning identical with that of “god”, “angel” or “genius”. The Dćmon of Socrates is the incorruptible part of the man, or rather the real inner man which we call Nous or the rational divine Ego. At all events the Dćmon (or Daimon of the great Sage was surely not the demon of the Christian Hell or of Christian orthodox theology. The name was given by ancient peoples, and especially the philosophers of the Alexandrian school, to all kinds of spirits, whether good or bad, human or otherwise. The appellation is often synonymous with that of gods or angels. But some philosophers tried, with good reason, to make a just distinction between the many classes.
Dćnam (Pahlavi) Lit., “Knowledge”, the principle of understanding in man, rational Soul, or Manas, according to the Avesta.
Dag, Dagon (Heb.). “Fish” and also “Messiah”. Dagon was the Chaldean man-fish Oannes, the mysterious being who arose daily out of the depths of the sea to teach people every useful science. He was also called Annedotus.
Dâgoba (Sk.), or Stűpa. Lit: a sacred mound or tower for Buddhist holy relics. These are pyramidal-looking mounds scattered all over India and Buddhist countries, such as Ceylon, Burmah, Central Asia, etc. They are of various sizes, and generally contain some small relics of Saints or those claimed to have belonged to Gautama, the Buddha. As the human body is supposed to consist of 84,000 dhâtus (organic cells with definite vital functions in them), Asoka is said for this reason to have built 84,000 dhâtu-gopas or Dâgobas in honour of every cell of the Buddha’s body, each of which has now become a dhârmadhâtu or holy relic. There is in Ceylon a Dhâtu-gopa at Anurâdhapura said to date from160 years B.C. They are now built pyramid-like, but the primitive Dâgobas were all shaped like towers with a cupola and several tchhatra (umbrellas) over them. Eitel states that the Chinese Dâgobas have all from 7 to 14 tchhatras over them, a number which is symbolical of the human body.
Daitya Guru
(Sk.) The instructor of the giants, called Daityas (q.v.) Allegorically,
it is the title given to the planet Venus-Lucifer, or rather to its indwelling
Ruler, Sukra, a male deity
(See Sec. Doct.. ii. p. 30).
Daityas (Sk.) Giants, Titans, and exoterically demons, but in truth identical with certain Asuras, the intellectual gods, the opponents of the useless gods of ritualism and the enemies of puja sacrifices.
Daivi-prakriti (Sk.) Primordial, homogeneous light, called by some Indian Occultists “the Light of the Logos” (see Notes on the Bhagavat Gita, by T. Subba Row, B.A., L.L.B.); when differentiated this light becomes FOHAT.
Dâkinî (Sk.) Female demons, vampires and blood-drinkers (asra-pas). In the Purânas they attend upon the goddess Kâli and feed on human flesh. A species of evil “Elementals” (q.v.).
Daksha (Sk.) A form of Brahmâ and his son in the Purânas But the Rig Veda states that “Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha”, which proves him to be a personified correlating Creative Force acting on all the planes. The Orientalists seem very much perplexed what to make of him; but Roth is nearer the truth than any, when saying that Daksha is the spiritual power, and at the same time the male energy that generates the gods in eternity, which is represented by Aditi. The Purânas as a matter of course, anthropomorphize the idea, and show Daksha instituting “sexual intercourse on this earth”, after trying every other means of procreation. The generative Force, spiritual at the commencement, becomes of course at the most material end of its evolution a procreative Force on the physical plane ; and so far the Purânic allegory is correct, as the Secret Science teaches that our present mode of procreation began towards the end of the third Root-Race.
Daladâ (Sk.)A very precious relic of Gautama the Buddha; viz., his supposed left canine tooth preserved at the great temple at Kandy, Ceylon. Unfortunately, the relic shown is not genuine. The latter has been securely secreted for several hundred years, ever since the shameful and bigoted attempt by the Portuguese (the then ruling power in Ceylon) to steal and make away with the real relic. That which is shown in the place of the real thing is the monstrous tooth of some animal.
Dama (Sk.). Restraint of the senses.
Dambulla (Sk.) The name of a huge rock in Ceylon. It is about 400 feet above the level of the sea. Its upper portion is excavated, and several large cave-temples, or Vihâras, are cut out of the solid rock, all of these being of pre-Christian date. They are considered as the best- preserved antiquities in the island. The North side of the rock is vertical and quite inaccessible, but on the South side, about 150 feet from its summit, its huge overhanging granite mass has been fashioned into a platform with a row of large cave-temples excavated in the surrounding walls—evidently at an enormous sacrifice of labour and money. Two Vihâras may he mentioned out of the many: the Maha Râja Vihâra, 172 ft. in length and 75 in breadth, in which there are upwards of fifty figures of Buddha, most of them larger than life and all formed from the solid rock. A well has been dug out at the foot of the central Dâgoba and from a fissure in the rock there constantly drips into it beautiful clear water which is kept for sacred purposes. In the other, the Maha
Dewiyo Vihâra,
there is to be seen a gigantic figure of the dead Gautama Buddha, 7 feet long,
reclining on a couch and pillow cut out of solid rock like the rest. “This long,
narrow and dark temple, the position and placid aspect of Buddha, together with
the stillness of the place, tend to impress the beholder with the idea that he
is in the chamber of death. The priest asserts . . . . that such was Buddha, and
such were those (at his feet stands an attendant) who witnessed the last moments
of his mortality” (Hardy’s East. Monachism). The view from Dambulla is
magnificent. On the large rock platform which seems to he now more visited by
very intelligent tame white monkeys than by monks, there stands a huge Bo-Tree,
one of the numerous scions from the original Bo-Tree under which the Lord
Siddhârtha reached Nirvâna. “About 50 ft. from the summit there is a pond which,
as the priests assert, is never without water.”
(The Ceylon Almanac, 1834.)
Dammâpadan (Pali.) A Buddhist work containing moral precepts.
Dâna (Sk.). Almsgiving to mendicants, lit., “charity”, the first of the six Paramitas in Buddhism.
Dânavas (Sk.). Almost the same as Daityas; giants and demons, the opponents of the ritualistic gods.
Dangma (Sk.) In Esotericism a purified Soul. A Seer and an Initiate; one who has attained full wisdom.
Daos (Chald.) The seventh King (Shepherd) of the divine Dynasty, who reigned over the Babylonians for the space of ten sari, or 36,000 years, a saros being of 3,600 years’ duration. In his time four Annedoti, or Men-fishes (Dagons) made their appearance.
Darâsta (Sk) Ceremonial magic practised by the central Indian tribes, especially among the Kolarians.
Dardanus
(Gr.) The Son of
Jupiter and Electra, who received the Kabeiri gods as a dowry, and took them to
Samothrace, where they were worshipped long before the hero laid the foundations
of Troy, and before Tyre and Sidon were ever heard of, though Tyre was built
2,760 years B.C.
(See for fuller details “Kabiri”.)
Darha (Sk.) The ancestral spirits of the Kolarians.
Darsanas (Sk.) The Schools of Indian philosophy, of which there are six; Shad-darsanas or six demonstrations.
Dasa-sil (Pali.) The ten obligations or commandments taken by and binding upon the priests of Buddha; the five obligations or Pansil are taken by laymen.
Dava (Tib.) The moon, in Tibetan astrology.
Davkina (Chald.) The wife of Hea, “the goddess of the lower regions,
the consort of the Deep”, the mother of Merodach, the Bel of later times, and mother to many river-gods, Hea being the god of the lower regions, the “lord of the Sea or abyss”, and also the lord of Wisdom.
Dayanisi
(Aram.).
The god worshipped by the Jews along with other Semites, as the “Ruler of men”;
Dionysos—the Sun; whence Jehovah Nissi, or Iao-Nisi, the same as Dio-nysos or
Jove of Nyssa.
(See Isis Unveil.
II. 526.)
Day of Brahmâ. See “Brahmâ's Day” etc.
Dayus or Dyaus (Sk). A Vedic term. The unrevealed Deity, or that which reveals Itself only as light and the bright day—metaphorically.
Death, Kiss of. According to the Kabbalah, the earnest follower does not die by the power of the Evil Spirit, Yetzer ha Rah, but by a kiss from the mouth of Jehovah Tetragrammaton, meeting him in the Haikal Ahabah or Palace of Love. [w.w.w.]
Dei termini
(Lat.). The name for pillars with human heads representing Hermes, placed
at cross-roads by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Also the general name for
deities presiding over boundaries
and frontiers.
Deist. One who admits the existence of a god or gods, but claims to know nothing of either and denies revelation. A Freethinker of olden times.
Demerit. In Occult and Buddhistic parlance, a constituent of Karma. It is through avidya or ignorance of vidya, divine illumination, that merit and demerit are produced. Once an Arhat obtains full illumination and perfect control over his personality and lower nature, he ceases to create merit and demerit
Demeter The Hellenic name for the Latin Ceres, the goddess of corn and tillage. The astronomical sign, Virgo. The Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated in her honour.
Demiurgic Mind.The same as “Universal Mind”. Mahat, the first “product” of Brahmâ, or himself.
Demiurgos (Gr) The Demiurge or Artificer; the Supernal Power which built the universe. Freemasons derive from this word their phrase of “Supreme Architect ”. With the Occultists it is the third manifested Logos, or Plato’s “second god”, the second logos being represented by him as the “Father”, the only Deity that he dared mention as an Initiate into the Mysteries.
Demon est Deus inversus (Lat) A Kabbalistic axiom; lit., “the devil is god reversed”; which means that there is neither evil nor good, but that the forces which create the one create the other, according to the nature of the materials they find to work upon.
Demonologia (Gr.). Treatises or Discourses upon Demons, or Gods in their dark aspects.
Demons. According to the Kabbalah, the demons dwell in the world of Assiah, the world of matter and of the “shells”’ of the dead. They are the Klippoth. There are Seven Hells, whose demon dwellers represent the vices personified. Their prince is Samael, his female companion is Isheth Zenunim—the woman of prostitution: united in aspect, they are named “The Beast”, Chiva. [w.w.w.]
Demrusch (Pers.). A Giant in the mythology of ancient Iran.
Denis, Angoras. “A physician of Paris, astrologer and alchemist in the XIVth century” (R.M.C.).
Deona Mati. In the Kolarian dialect, one who exorcises evil spirits.
Dervish. A Mussulman—Turkish or Persian—ascetic. A nomadic and wandering monk. Dervishes, however, sometimes live in communities. They are often called the “whirling charmers”. Apart from his austerities of life, prayer and contemplation, the Turkish, Egyptian, or Arabic devotee presents but little similarity with the Hindu fakir, who is also a Mussulman. The latter may become a saint and holy mendicant the former will never reach beyond his second class of occult manifestations. The dervish may also be a strong mesmerizer, but he will never voluntarily submit to the abominable and almost incredible self-punishment which the fakir invents for himself with an ever-increasing avidity, until nature succumbs and he dies in slow and excruciating tortures. The most dreadful operations, such as flaying the limbs alive; cutting off the toes, feet, and legs ; tearing out the eyes and causing one’s self to be buried alive up to the chin in the earth, and passing whole months in this posture, seem child’s play to them. The Dervish must not be confused with the Hindu sanyâsi or yogi. (See “Fakir”).
Desatir. A very ancient Persian work called the Book of Shet. It speaks of the thirteen Zoroasters, and is very mystical.
Deva (Sk.). A god, a “resplendent” deity. Deva-Deus, from the root div “to shine”. A Deva is a celestial being—whether good, bad, or indifferent. Devas inhabit “the three worlds”, which are the three planes above us. There are 33 groups or 330 millions of them.
Deva Sarga (Sk.). Creation: the origin of the principles, said to be Intelligence born of the qualities or the attributes of nature.
Devachan (Sk.). The “dwelling of the gods”. A state intermediate between two earth-lives, into which the EGO (Atmâ-Buddhi-Manas, or the Trinity made One) enters, after its separation from Kâma Rupa, and the disintegration of the lower principles on earth.
Devajnânas (Sk.). or Daivajna. The higher classes of celestial beings, those who possess divine knowledge.
Devaki (Sk.). The mother of Krishna. She was shut up in a dungeon by her brother, King Kansa, for fear of the fulfilment of a prophecy which stated that a son of his sister should dethrone and kill him. Notwithstanding the strict watch kept, Devaki was overshadowed by Vishnu, the holy Spirit, and thus gave birth to that god’s avatara, Krishna. (See “Kansa”.)
Deva-laya (Sk.). “The shrine of a Deva”. The name given to all Brahmanical temples.
Deva-lôkas (Sk.). The abodes of the Gods or Devas in superior spheres. The seven celestial worlds above Meru.
Devamâtri (Sk.). Lit., “the mother of the gods”. A title of Aditi, Mystic Space.
Dęvanâgarî (Sk.). Lit., “the language or letters of the dęvas” or gods. The characters of the Sanskrit language. The alphabet and the art of writing were kept secret for ages, as the Dwijas (Twice-born) and the Dikshitas (Initiates) alone were permitted to use this art. It was a crime for a. Sudra to recite a verse of the Vedas, and for any of the two lower castes (Vaisya and Sudra) to know the letters was an offence punishable by death. Therefore is the word lipi, ‘‘writing”, absent from the oldest MSS., a fact which gave the Orientalists the erroneous and rather incongruous idea that writing was not only unknown before the day of Pânini, but even to that sage himself That the greatest grammarian the world has ever produced should be ignorant of writing would indeed be the greatest and most incomprehensible phenomenon of all.
Devapi (Sk.). A Sanskrit Sage of the race of Kuru, who, together with another Sage (Moru), is supposed to live throughout the four ages and until the coming of Maitreya Buddha, or Kalki (the last Avatar of Vishnu) ; who, like all the Saviours of the World in their last appearance, like Sosiosh of the Zoroastrians and the Rider of St. Johns Revelation, will appear seated on a White Horse. The two, Devapi and Moru, are supposed to live in a Himalayan retreat called Kalapa or Katapa. This is a Purânic allegory.
Devarshis, or Deva-rishi (Sk). Lit., “gods rishis” ; the divine or god like saints, those sages who attain a fully divine nature on earth.
Devasarman (Sk.). A very ancient author who died about a century after Gautama Buddha. He wrote two famous works, in which he denied the existence of both Ego and non-Ego, the one as successfully as the other.
Dhârana (Sk). That state in Yoga practice when the mind has to be fixed unflinchingly on some object of meditation.
Dhâranî(Sk.).
In Buddhism—both Southern and Northern—and also in Hinduism, it means simply a
mantra or mantras—sacred verses from the Rig Veda. In days of old these mantras
or Dhâranî were all considered mystical and practically efficacious in their
use. At present, however, it is the Yogâchârya school alone which proves the
claim in practice. When chanted according to given instructions a
Dhâranî produces wonderful effects. Its occult power, however, does not
reside in the words but in the inflexion or accent given and the resulting sound
originated thereby. (See “Mantra” and “Akasa”).
Dharma (Sk.). The sacred Law; the Buddhist Canon.
Dharmachakra (Sk.). Lit., The turning of the “wheel of the Law”. The emblem of Buddhism as a system of cycles and rebirths or reincarnations.
Dharmakâya
(Sk). Lit., “the
glorified spiritual body” called the “Vesture of Bliss”. The third, or highest
of the Trikâya (Three Bodies), the attribute developed by every “Buddha”, i.e., every initiate who has crossed or reached the end of what is called the
“fourth Path” (in esotericism the sixth “portal” prior to his entry on the
seventh). The highest of the Trikâya, it is the fourth of the
Buddhakchętra, or Buddhic planes of consciousness, represented figuratively
in Buddhist asceticism as a robe or vesture of luminous Spirituality.
In popular
Northern Buddhism these vestures or robes are:
(1) Nirmanakâya
(2) Sambhogakâya (3) and Dharmakâya the last being the highest and most
sublimated of all, as it places the ascetic on the threshold of Nirvâna. (See,
however, the Voice of the Silence, page 96, Glossary, for the true
esoteric meaning.)
Dharmaprabhasa (Sk). The name of the Buddha who will appear during the seventh Root-race. (See “Ratnâvabhâsa Kalpa”, when sexes will exist no longer).
Dharmasmriti Upasthâna (Sk). A very long compound word containing a very mystical warning. “Remember, the constituents (of human nature) originate according to the Nidânas, and are-not originally the Self”, which means—that, which the Esoteric Schools teach, and not the ecclesiastical interpretation.
Dharmâsôka (Sk.). The name given to the first Asoka after his conversion to Buddhism,—King Chandragupta, who served all his long life “Dharma”, or the law of Buddha. King Asoka (the second) was not converted, but was born a Buddhist.
Dhâtu (Pali). Relics of Buddha’s body collected after his cremation.
Dhruva (Sk). An Aryan Sage, now the Pole Star. A Kshatriya (one of the warrior caste) who became through religious austerities a
Rishi, and was, for this reason, raised by Vishnu to this eminence in the skies. Also called Grah-Âdhâr or “the pivot of the planets”.
Dhyan Chohans (Sk). Lit., “The Lords of Light”. The highest gods, answering to the Roman Catholic Archangels. The divine Intelligences charged with the supervision of Kosmos.
Dhyâna
(Sk.).
In Buddhism one of the six Paramitas of perfection, a state of abstraction which
carries the ascetic practising it far above this plane of sensuous perception
and out of the world of matter.
Lit., “contemplation”. The six stages of Dhyan differ only in the degrees of
abstraction of the personal Ego from sensuous life.
Dhyani Bodhisattyas (Sk.). In Buddhism, the five sons of the Dhyani-Buddhas. They have a mystic meaning in Esoteric Philosophy.
Dhyani Buddhas (Sk.). They “of the Merciful Heart”; worshipped especially in Nepaul. These have again a secret meaning.
Dhyani Pasa (Sk.). “The rope of the Dhyanis” or Spirits; the Ring “Pass not” (See Sec.Doct., Stanza V., Vol. I., p. 129).
Diakka. Called by Occultists and Theosophists “spooks” and “shells”, i.e., phantoms from Kâma Loka. A word invented by the great American Seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, to denote what he considers untrustworthy “Spirits”. In his own words: “A Diakka (from the Summerland) is one who takes insane delight in playing parts, in juggling tricks, in personating opposite characters; to whom prayer and profane utterances are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for lyrical narrations; . . . morally deficient, he is without the active feelings of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection. He knows nothing of what men call the sentiment of gratitude; the ends of hate and love are the same to him; his motto is often fearful and terrible to others—SELF is the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation the end of all private life. Only yesterday, one said to a lady medium, signing himself Swedenborg, this: ‘Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be, that I AM.; and private life is but the aggregative phantasms of thinking throb- lets, rushing in their rising onward to the central heart of eternal death’
(The Diakka and their Victims; “an explanation of the False and Repulsive in Spiritualism.”) These “Diakka” are then simply the communicating and materializing so-called “Spirits” of Mediums and Spiritualists.
Dianoia (Gr.). The same as the Logos. The eternal source of thought, “divine ideation”, which is the root of all thought. (See “Ennoia.”)
Dido, or Elissa. Astarte; the Virgin of the Sea—who crushes the Dragon under her foot; The patroness of the Phoćnician mariners. A Queen of Carthage who fell in love with Ćneas according to Virgil.
Digambara (Sk.). A naked mendicant. Lit., “clothed with Space”. A name of Siva in his character of Rudra, the Yogi.
Dii Minores (Lat.). The inferior or “reflected group of the twelve gods ” or Dii Majores, described by Cicero in his De Natura Deorum, I. 13.
Dîk (Sk). Space, Vacuity.
Diktamnon (Gr.), or Dictemnus (Dittany). A curious plant possessing very occult and mystical properties and well-known from ancient times. It was sacred to the Moon-Goddesses. Luna, Astarte, Diana. The Cretan name of Diana was Diktynna, and as such the goddess wore a wreath made of this magic plant. The Dihtamnon is an evergreen shrub whose contact, as claimed in Occultism, develops and at the same time cures somnambulism. Mixed with Verbena it will produce clairvoyance and ecstasy. Pharmacy attributes to the Dihtamnon strongly sedative and quieting properties. It grows in abundance on Mount Dicte, in Crete, and enters into many magical performances resorted to by the Cretans even to this day.
Diksha (Sk). Initiation. Dikshit, an Initiate.
Dingir and Mul-lil (Akkad.). The Creative Gods.
Dinur (Heb.). The River of Fire whose flame burns the Souls of the guilty in the Kabbalistic allegory.
Dionysos (Sk.). The Demiurgos, who, like Osiris, was killed by the Titans and dismembered into fourteen parts. He was the personified Sun, or as the author of the Great Dionysiak Myth says “He is Phanes, the spirit of material visibility, Kyklops giant of the Universe, with one bright solar eye, the growth-power of the world, the all-pervading animism of things, son of Semele Dionysos was born at Nysa or Nissi, the name given by the Hebrews to Mount Sinai (Exodus xvii. 15), the birthplace of Osiris, which identifies both suspiciously with “Jehovah Nissi”. (See Isis Unv. II. 165, 526.)
Dioscuri (Gr.). The name of Castor and Pollux, the sons of Jupiter and Leda. Their festival, the Dioscuria, was celebrated with much rejoicing by the Lacedćmonians.
Dîpamkara (Sk.). Lit., “the Buddha of fixed light”; a predecessor of Gautama, the Buddha.
Diploteratology (Gr.). Production of mixed Monsters; in abbreviation teratology.
Dis (Gr.). In the Theogony of Damascius, the same as Protogonos, the “first born light”, called by that author “the disposer of all things.
Dises (Scand.). The later name for the divine women called Walky-rics, Norns, &c., in the Edda.
Disk-worship. This was very common in Egypt but not till later times, as it began with Amenoph III., a Dravidian, who brought it from Southern India and Ceylon. It was Sun-worship under another form, the Aten-Nephru, Aten-Ra being identical with the Adonai of the Jews, the “ Lord of Heaven” or the Sun. The winged disk was the emblem of the Soul. The Sun was at one time the symbol of Universal Deity shining on the whole world and all creatures; the Sabćans regarded the Sun as the Demiurge and a Universal Deity, as did also the Hindus, and as do the Zoroastrians to this day. The Sun is undeniably the one creator of physical nature. Lenormant was obliged, notwithstanding his orthodox Christianity, to denounce the resemblance between disk and Jewish worship. “Aten represents the Adonai or Lord, the Assyrian Tammuz, and the Syrian Adonis”(The Gr. Dionys. Myth.)
Divyachakchus
(Sk.).
Lit., “celestial Eye” or divine seeing, perception. It is the first of the six
“Abhijnas” (q.v.) ; the faculty developed by Yoga practice to perceive any
object in the Universe, at whatever distance.
Divyasrôtra (Sk). Lit., “celestial Ear” Or divine hearing. The second “Abhijna”, or the faculty of understanding the language or sound produced by any living being on Earth.
Djâti (Sk.). One of the twelve “Nidanas” (q.v.); the cause and the effect in the mode of birth taking place according to the “Chatur Yoni”(q.v.), when in each case a being, whether man or animal, is placed in one of the six (esoteric seven) Gâti or paths of sentient existence, which esoterically, counting downward, are: (1) the highest Dhyani (Anupadaka); (2) Devas ; (3) Men; (4) Elementals or Nature Spirits; (5) Animals; (6) lower Elementals; (7) organic Germs. These are in the popular or exoteric nomenclature, Devas, Men, Asűras, Beings in Hells, Prętas (hungry demons), and Animals.
Djin (Arab.). Elementals ; Nature Sprites; Genii. The Djins or Jins are much dreaded in Egypt, Persia and elsewhere.
Djnâna (Sk), or Jnâna. Lit., Knowledge; esoterically, “supernal or divine knowledge acquired by Yoga”. Written also Gnyana.
Docetć (Gr.). Lit.,“The Illusionists”. The name given by orthodox Christians to those Gnostics who held that Christ did not, nor could he, suffer death actually, but that, if such a thing had happened, it was merely an illusion which they explained in various ways.
Dodecahedron (Gr.). According to Plato, the Universe is built by “the first begotten” on the geometrical figure of the Dodecahedron. (See Timaeus).
Dodona (Gr.). An ancient city in Thessaly, famous for its Temple of
Jupiter and its oracles. According to ancient legends, the town was founded by a dove.
Donar (Scand.), or Thunar, Thor. In the North the God of Thunder. He was the Jupiter Tonans of Scandinavia. Like as the oak was devoted to Jupiter so was it sacred to Thor, and his altars were over shadowed with oak trees. Thor, or Donar, was the offspring of Odin, “the omnipotent God of Heaven”, and of Mother Earth.
Dondam-pai-den-pa (Tib.). The same as the Sanskrit term Paramarthasatya or “absolute truth”, the highest spiritual self-consciousness and perception, divine self-consciousness, a very mystical term.
Doppelgänger (Germ.). A synonym of the “Double” and of the “Astral body” in occult parlance.
Dorjesempa (Tib.). The “Diamond Soul”, a name of the celestial Buddha.
Dorjeshang (Tib.). A title of Buddha in his highest aspect; a name of the supreme Buddha; also Dorje.
Double. The same as the “Astral body” or “Doppelgänger”.
Double Image. The name among the Jewish Kabbalists for the Dual Ego, called respectively: the Higher, Metatron, and the Lower, Samael. They are figured allegorically as the two inseparable companions of man through life, the one his Guardian Angel, the other his Evil Demon.
Dracontia
(Gr.). Temples
dedicated to the Dragon, the emblem of the Sun, the symbol of Deity,
of Life and Wisdom. The Egyptian Karnac, the Carnac in Britanny, and Stonehenge
are Dracontia
well known to all.
Drakôn (Gr.) or Dragon. Now considered a “mythical” monster, perpetuated in the West only on seals,. &c., as a heraldic griffin, and the Devil slain by St. George, &c. In fact an extinct antediluvian monster In Babylonian antiquities it is referred to as the “scaly one” and connected on many gems with Tiamat the sea. “The Dragon of the Sea” is repeatedly mentioned. In Egypt, it is the star of the Dragon (then the North Pole Star), the origin of the connection of almost all the gods with the Dragon. Bel and the Dragon, Apollo and Python, Osiris and Typhon, Sigur and Fafnir, and finally St. George and the Dragon, are the same. They were all solar gods, and wherever we find the Sun there also is the Dragon, the symbol of Wisdom—Thoth-Hermes. The Hierophants of Egypt and of Babylon styled themselves “Sons of the Serpent-God” and “Sons of the Dragon”. “I am a Serpent, I am a Druid”, said the Druid of the Celto-Britannic regions, for the Serpent and the Dragon were both types of Wisdom, Immortality and Rebirth. As the serpent casts its old skin only to reappear in a new one, so does the immortal Ego cast off one personality but to assume another.
Draupnir (Scand.). The golden armlet of Wodan or Odin, the companion of the spear Gungnir which he holds in his right hand; both are endowed with wonderful magic properties.
Dravidians. A group of tribes inhabiting Southern India; the aborigines.
Dravya (Sk.). Substance (metaphysically).
Drishti (Sk.). Scepticism; unbelief.
Druids. A sacerdotal caste which flourished in Britain and Gaul. They were Initiates who admitted females into their sacred order, and initiated them into the mysteries of their religion. They never entrusted their sacred verses and scriptures to writing, but, like the Brahmans of old, committed them to memory; a feat which, according to the statement of Cćsar took twenty years to accomplish. Like the Parsis they had no images or statues of their gods. The Celtic religion considered it blasphemy to represent any god, even of a minor character, under a human figure. It would have been well if the Greek and Roman Christians had learnt this lesson from the “pagan” Druids. The three chief commandments of their religion were:—“Obedience to divine laws; concern for the welfare of mankind; suffering with fortitude all the evils of life”.
Druzes. A large sect, numbering about 100,000 adherents, living on Mount Lebanon in Syria. Their rites are very mysterious, and no traveller, who has written anything about them, knows for a certainty the whole truth. They are the Sufis of Syria. They resent being called Druzes as an insult, but call themselves the “disciples of Hamsa ”, their Messiah, who came to them in the ninth century from the “Land of the Word of God”, which land and word they kept religiously secret. The Messiah to come will be the same Hamsa, but called Hakem—the “All-Healer ”. (See Isis Unveiled, II 308, et seq.)
Dudaim (Heb.). Mandrakes. The Atropa Mandragova plant is mentioned in Genesis, XXX., 14, and in Canticles: the name is related in Hebrew to words meaning “breasts” and “love”, the plant was notorious as a love charm, and has been used in many forms of black magic. [ w.w.w.]
Dudaim in Kabbalistic parlance is the Soul and Spirit; any two things united in love and friendship (dodim). “Happy is he who preserves his dudaim (higher and lower Manas) inseparable.”
Dugpas (Tib.). Lit., “Red Caps,” a sect in Tibet. Before the advent of Tsong-ka-pa in the fourteenth century, the Tibetans, whose Buddhism had deteriorated and been dreadfully adulterated with the tenets of the old Bhon religion,—were all Dugpas. From that century, however, and
after the rigid laws imposed upon the Gelukpas (yellow caps) and the general reform and purification of Buddhism (or Lamaism), the Dugpas have given themselves over more than ever to sorcery, immorality, and drunkenness. Since then the word Dugpas has become a synonym of “sorcerer”, “adept of black magic” and everything vile. There are few, if any, Dugpas in Eastern Tibet, but they congregate in Bhutan, Sikkim, and the borderlands generally. Europeans not being permitted to penetrate further than those borders, the Orientalists never having studied Buddho-Lamaism in Tibet proper, but judging of it on hearsay and from what Cosmo di Köros, Schlagintweit, and a few others have learnt of it from Dugpas, confuse both religions and bring them under one head. They thus give out to the public pure Dugpaism instead of Buddho-Lamaism. In short Northern Buddhism in its purified, metaphysical form is almost entirely unknown.
Dukkha (Sk.). Sorrow, pain.
Dumah (Heb.). The Angel of Silence (Death) in the Kabbala.
Durga (Sk). Lit., “inaccessible”. The female potency of a god; the name of Kali, the wife of Siva, the Mahesvara, or “the great god”.
Dustcharitra (Sk.). The “ten evil acts”; namely, three acts of the body viz., taking life, theft and adultery; four evil acts of the mouth, viz., lying, exaggeration in accusations, slander, and foolish talk; and three evil acts of mind (Lower Manas), viz., envy, malice or revenge, and unbelief.
Dwapara Yuga
(Sk.).
The third of the “Four Ages” in Hindu Philosophy ;
or the second age counted from below.
Dwarf of Death. In the Edda of the Norsemen, Iwaldi, the Dwarf of Death, hides Life in the depths of the great ocean, and then sends her up into the world at the right time. This Life is Iduna, the beauti- ful maiden, the daughter of the “Dwarf”. She is the Eve of the Scandinavian Lays, for she gives of the apples of ever-renewed youth to the gods of Asgard to eat ; but these, instead of being cursed for so doing and doomed to die, give thereby renewed youth yearly to the earth and to men, after every short and sweet sleep in the arms of the Dwarf. Iduna is raised from the Ocean when Bragi (q.v.), the Dreamer of Life, without spot or blemish, crosses asleep the silent waste of waters. Bragi is the divine ideation of Life, and Iduna living Nature—Prakriti, Eve.
Dwellers (on the Threshold). A term invented by Bulwer Lytton in Zanoni; but in Occultism the word “Dweller” is an occult term used by students for long ages past, and refers to certain maleficent astral Doubles of defunct persons.
Dwesa (Sk.). Anger. One of the three principal states of mind (of which 63 are enumerated), which are Râga—pride or evil desire, Dwesa— anger, of which hatred is a part, and Moha—the ignorance of truth. These three are to be steadily avoided.
Dwijâ (Sk.). “Twice-born”. In days of old this term was used only of the Initiated Brahmans; but now it is applied to every man belonging to the first of the four castes, who has undergone a certain ceremony.
Dwija Brahman (Sk.). The investure with the sacred thread that now constitutes the “second birth”. Even a Sudra who chooses to pay for the honour becomes, after the ceremony of passing through a silver or golden cow—a dwijâ.
Dwipa (Sk.). An island or a continent. The Hindus have seven (Sapta dwipa ); the Buddhists only four. This is owing to a misunderstood reference of the Lord Buddha who, using the term metaphorically, applied the word dwipa to the races of men. The four Root-races which preceded our fifth, were compared by Siddhârtha to four continents or isles which studded the ocean of birth and death—Samsâra.
Dynasties. In India there are two, the Lunar and the Solar, or the Somavansa and the Suryavansa. In Chaldea and Egypt there were also two distinct kinds of dynasties, the divine and the human. In both countries people were ruled in the beginning of time by Dynasties of Gods. In Chaldea they reigned one hundred and twenty Sari, or in all 432,000 years; which amounts to the same figures as a Hindu Mahayuga 4,320,000 years. The chronology prefacing the Book of Genesis (English translation) is given “Before Christ, 4004”. But the figures are a rendering by solar years. In the original Hebrew, which preserved a lunar calculation, the figures are 4,320 years. This “coincidence” is well explained in Occultism.
Dyookna
(Kab.).
The shadow of eternal Light. The “Angels of the Presence” or archangels.
The same as the Ferouer in the Vendidad and other Zoroastrian
works.
Dzyn or Dzyan (Tib.). Written also Dzen. A corruption of the Sanskrit Dhyan and jnâna (or gnyâna phonetically)—Wisdom, divine knowledge. In Tibetan, learning is called dzin.
.
E.—The fifth letter of the English alphabet. The he (soft) of the Hebrew alphabet becomes in the Ehevi system of reading that language an E. Its numerical value is five, and its symbolism is a window; the womb, in the Kabbala. In the order of the divine names it stands for the fifth, which is Hadoor or the “majestic” and the “splendid.”
Ea (Chald.) also Hea. The second god of the original Babylonian trinity composed of Anu, Hea and Bel. Hea was the “Maker of Fate”, “Lord of the Deep”, “God of Wisdom and Knowledge”, and “Lord of the City of Eridu”.
Eagle. This symbol is one of the most ancient. With the Greeks and Persians it was sacred to the Sun; with the Egyptians, under the name of Ah, to Horus, and the Kopts worshipped the eagle under the name of Ahom. It was regarded as the sacred emblem of Zeus by the Greeks, and as that of the highest god by the Druids. The symbol has passed down to our day, when following the example of the pagan Marius, who, in the second century B.C. used the double-headed eagle as the ensign of Rome, the Christian crowned heads of Europe made the double-headed sovereign of the air sacred to themselves and their scions. Jupiter was satisfied with a one-headed eagle and so was the Sun. The imperial houses of Russia, Poland, Austria, Germany, and the late Empire of the Napoleons, have adopted a two-headed eagle as their device.
Easter. The word evidently comes from Ostara, the Scandinavian goddess of spring. She was the symbol of the resurrection of all nature and was worshipped in early spring. It was a custom with the pagan Norsemen at that time to exchange coloured eggs called the eggs of Ostara. These have now become Easter-Eggs. As expressed in Asgard and the Gods: “Christianity put another meaning on the old custom, by connecting it with the feast of the Resurrection of the Saviour, who, like the hidden life in the egg, slept in the grave for three days before he awakened to new life”. This was the more natural since Christ was identified with that same Spring Sun which awakens in all his glory, after the dreary and long death of winter. (See “Eggs”.)
Ebionites (Heb.). Lit., “the poor”; the earliest sect of Jewish Christians, the other being the Nazarenes. They existed when the term “Christian” was not yet heard of. Many of the relations of Iassou (Jesus), the adept ascetic around whom the legend of Christ was formed, were among the Ebionites. As the existence of these mendicant ascetics can
be traced at least a century earlier than chronological Christianity, it is an additional proof that lassou or Jeshu lived during the reign of Alexander Jannćus at Lyd (or Lud), where he was put to death as stated in the Sepher Toldos Jeshu.
Ecbatana. A famous city in Media worthy of a place among the seven wonders of the world. It is thus described by Draper in his Conflict between Religion and Science, chap. i, . . “ The cool summer retreat of the Persian Kings, was defended by seven encircling walls of hewn and polished blocks, the interior ones in succession of increasing height, and of different colours, in astrological accordance with the seven planets. The palace was roofed with silver tiles; its beams were plated with gold. At midnight in its halls, the sun was rivalled by many a row of naphta cressets. A paradise, that luxury of the monarchs of the East, was planted in the midst of the city. The Persian Empire was truly the garden of the world.”
Echath (Heb.). The same as the following—the “One”, but feminine.
Echod (Heb or Echad. “One”, masculine, applied to Jehovah.
Eclectic Philosophy. One of the names given to the Neo-Platonic school of Alexandria.
Ecstasis (Gr.). A psycho-spiritual state; a physical trance which induces clairvoyance and a beatific state bringing on visions.
Edda (Iceland.). Lit., “great-grandmother”of the Scandinavian Lays. It was Bishop Brynjϋld Sveinsson, who collected them and brought them to light in 1643. There are two collections of Sagas, translated by the Northern Skalds, and there are two Eddas. The earliest is of unknown authorship and date and its antiquity is very great. These Sagas were collected in the XIth century by an Icelandic priest; the second is a collection of the history (or myths) of the gods spoken of in the first, which became the Germanic deities, giants, dwarfs and heroes.
Eden
(Heb.). “Delight”,
pleasure. In Genesis the “Garden
of Delight” built by God ; in the Kabbala the
“Garden
of Delight”,
a place of Initiation into the mysteries. Orientalists identify it with a place
which was situated in Babylonia in the district of Karduniyas, called also
Gan-dunu, which is almost like the Gan-eden of the Jews. (See the works of Sir
H. Rawlinson, and G. Smith.) That district has four rivers, Euphrates, Tigris,
Surappi, Ukni. The two first have been adopted without any change by the Jews;
the other two they have probably transformed into “ Gihon and Pison”, so as to
have something original. The following are some of the reasons for the
identification of Eden, given by Assyriologists. The cities of Babylon,
Larancha and
Sippara, were founded
before the flood, according to the chronology of the Jews.
“Surippak was the city of the ark, the mountain east of the Tigris was the resting
place of the ark, Babylon was the site of the tower, and Ur of the Chaldees the
birthplace of Abraham.” And, as Abraham,
“the first leader of the Hebrew race, migrated from Ur to Harran in Syria and
from thence to Palestine”, the best Assyriologists think that it is “so much
evidence in favour of the hypothesis that Chaldea was the original home of these
stories (in the Bible) and that the Jews received them originally from the
Babylonians”.
Edom (Heb.). Edomite Kings. A deeply concealed mystery is to he found in the allegory of the seven Kings of Edorn, who “reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any King over the children of Israel”. (Gen. xxxvi. 31.) The Kabbala teaches that this Kingdom was one of “unbalanced forces’ and necessarily of unstable character. The world of Israel is a type of the condition of the worlds which came into existence subsequently to the later period when the equilibrium had become established. [ w.w. w.]
On the other hand the Eastern Esoteric philosophy teaches that the seven Kings of Edom are not the type of perished worlds or unbalanced forces, but the symbol of the seven human Root-races, four of which have passed away, the fifth is passing, and two are still to come. Though in the language of esoteric blinds, the hint in St. John’s Revelation is clear enough when it states in chapter xvii , 10: “And there are seven Kings; five are fallen, and one (the fifth, still) is, and the other (the sixth Root- race) is not yet come Had all the seven Kings of Edom perished as worlds of “unbalanced forces”, how could the fifth still be, and the other or others “not yet come” ? In The Kabbalah Unveiled, we read on page 48, “ The seven Kings had died and their possessions had been broken up”, and a footnote emphasizes the statement by saying, “these seven Kings are the Edomite Kings”.
Edris (Arab.), or Idris. Meaning “the learned One”, an epithet applied by the Arabs to Enoch.
Eggs (Easter). Eggs were symbolical from an early time. There was the “Mundane Egg”, in which Brahmâ gestated, with the Hindus the Hiranya-Gharba, and the Mundane Egg of the Egyptians, which proceeds from the mouth of the “unmade and eternal deity”, Kneph, and which is the emblem of generative power. Then the Egg of Babylon, which hatched Ishtar, and was said to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates. Therefore coloured eggs were used yearly during spring in almost every country, and in Egypt were exchanged as sacred symbols in the spring-time, which was, is, and ever will be, the emblem of birth
or rebirth, cosmic and human, celestial and terrestrial. They were hung up in Egyptian temples and are so suspended to this day in Mahometan mosques.
Egkosmioi (Gk). “The intercosmic gods, each of which presides over a great number of daemons to whom they impart their power and change it from one to another at will”, says Proclus, and he adds, that which is taught in the esoteric doctrine. In his system he shows the uppermost regions from the zenith of the Universe to the moon belonging to the gods, or planetary Spirits, according to their hierarchies and classes. The highest among them were the twelve Huper-ouranioi, the super-celestial gods. Next to the latter, in rank and power, came the Egkosmioi.
Ego (Lat.). “ Self” ; the consciousness in man “I am I”—or the feeling of “I-am-ship”. Esoteric philosophy teaches the existence of two Egos in man, the mortal or personal, and the Higher, the Divine and the Impersonal, calling the former “personality” and the latter “Individuality Egoity. From the word “Ego”. Egoity means “individuality”, never “personality”, and is the opposite of egoism or “selfishness”, the characteristic par excellence of the latter.
Egregores. Eliphas Lévi calls them “the chiefs of the souls who are the spirits of energy and action” ; whatever that may or may not mean. The Oriental Occultists describe the Egregores as Beings whose bodies and essence is a tissue of the so-called astral light. They are the shadows of the higher Planetary Spirits whose bodies are of the essence of the higher divine light.
Eheyeh (Heb.). “I am”, according to Ibn Gebirol, but not in the sense of “I am that I am”.
Eidolon (Gr.). The same as that which we term the human phantom, the astral form.
Eka (Sk.). “One”; also a synonym of Mahat, the Universal Mind, as the principle of Intelligence.
Ekana-rupa (Sk.). The One (and the Many) bodies or forms; a term applied by the Purânas to Deity.
Ekasloka Shastra (Sk.). A work on the Shastras (Scriptures) by Nagarjuna; a mystic work translated into Chinese.
El-Elion (Heb.). A name of the Deity borrowed by the Jews from the Phśnician Elon, a name of the Sun.
Elementals. Spirits of the Elements. The creatures evolved in the four Kingdoms or Elements—earth, air, fire, and water. They are called
by the Kabbalists, Gnomes (of the earth), Sylphs (of the air), Salamanders (of the fire), and Undines (of the water). Except a few of the higher kinds, and their rulers, they are rather forces of nature than ethereal men and women. These forces, as the servile agents of the Occultists, may produce various effects; but if employed by” Elementaries” (q.v.)_in which case they enslave the mediums—they will deceive the credulous. All the lower invisible beings generated on the 5th 6th, and 7th planes of our terrestrial atmosphere, are called Elementals Peris, Devs, Djins, Sylvans, Satyrs, Fauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Trolls, Kobolds, Brownies, Nixies, Goblins, Pinkies, Banshees, Moss People, White Ladies, Spooks, Fairies, etc., etc., etc.
Elementaries. Properly, the disembodied souls of the depraved; these souls having at some time prior to death separated from themselves their divine spirits, and so lost their chance for immortality; but at the present stage of learning it has been thought best to apply the term to the spooks or phantoms of disembodied persons, in general, to those whose temporary habitation is the Kâma Loka. Eliphas Lévi and some other Kabbalists make little distinction between elementary spirits who have been men, and those beings which people the elements, and are the blind forces of nature. Once divorced from their higher triads and their bodies, these souls remain in their Kâma-rupic envelopes, and are irresistibly drawn to the earth amid elements congenial to their gross natures. Their stay in the Kâma Loka varies as to its duration; but ends invariably in disintegration, dissolving like a column of mist, atom by atom, in the surrounding elements.
Elephanta. An island near Bombay, India, on which are the well- preserved ruins of the cave-temple, of that name. It is one of the most ancient in the country and is certainly a Cyclopeian work, though the late J. Fergusson has refused it a great antiquity.
Eleusinia (Gr.). The Eleusinian Mysteries were the most famous and the most ancient of all the Greek Mysteries (save the Samothracian), and were celebrated near the hamlet of Eleusis, not far from Athens. Epiphanius traces them to the days of Inachos (1800 B.c.), founded, as another version has it, by Eumolpus, a King of Thrace and a Hierophant. They were celebrated in honour of Demeter, the Greek Ceres and the Egyptian Isis; and the last act of the performance referred to a sacrificial victim of atonement and a resurrection, when the Initiate was admitted to the highest degree of “Epopt” (q.v.). The festival of the Mysteries began in the month of Boëdromion (September), the time of grape-gathering, and lasted from the 15th to the 22nd, seven days. The Hebrew feast of Tabernacles, the feast of Ingatherings, in the month of Ethanim (the seventh), also began on the 15th and ended on the 22nd of that month,
The name of the month (Ethanim)
is derived, according to some, from Adonim, Adonia, Attenim, Ethanim, and was in
honour of Adonai or Adonis (Thammuz), whose death was lamented by the Hebrews in
the groves of
Bethlehem. The sacrifice of both “ Bread and Wine” was performed before the
Mysteries of initiation, and during the ceremony the mysteries were divulged to
the candidates from the petroma, a kind of book made of two stone tablets
(petrai), joined at one side and made to open like a volume.
(See Isis Unveiled II., pp. 44 and 91, et seq., for further
explanations.)
Elivagar (Scand.). The waters of Chaos, called in the cosmogony of the Norsemen “the stream of Elivagar”.
Elohîm (Heb.). Also Alhim, the word being variously spelled. Godfrey Higgins, who has written much upon its meaning, always spells it Aleim. The Hebrew letters are aleph, lamed, hé,yod, mem, and are numerically 1, 30, 5, 10, 40 = 86. It seems to be the plural of the feminine noun Eloah, ALH, formed by adding the common plural form IM, a masculine ending; and hence the whole seems to imply the emitted active and passive essences. As a title it is referred to “Binah” the Supernal Mother, as is also the fuller title IHVH ALHIM, Jehovah Elohim. As Binah leads on to seven succeedent Emanations, so “ Elohim” has been said to represent a sevenfold power of godhead. [ w.w. w.]
Eloї (Gn.). The genius or ruler of Jupiter; its Planetary Spirit. (See Origen, Contra Celsum.)
Elu (Sing.). An ancient dialect used in Ceylon.
Emanation the Doctrine of. In its metaphysical meaning, it is opposed to Evolution, yet one with it. Science teaches that evolution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that develops the foetus pre-exists already in the parent, the development and final form and characteristics of that germ being accomplished in nature; and that in cosmology the process takes place blindly through the correlation of the elements, and their various compounds. Occultism answers that this is only the apparent mode, the real process being Emanation, guided by intelligent Forces under an immutable LAW. Therefore, while the Occultists and Theosophists believe thoroughly in the doctrine of Evolution as given out by Kapila and Manu, they are Emanationists rather than Evolutionists. The doctrine of Emanation was at one time universal. It was taught by the Alexandrian as well as by the Indian philosophers, by the Egyptian, the Chaldean and Hellenic Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (in their Kabbala, and even in Genesis). For it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew word asdt has been translated “angels” from the Septuagint, when it
means Emanations, Ćons, precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word asdt or ashdt is translated as” fiery law”, whilst the correct rendering of the passage should be “from his right hand went [ not a fiery law, but a fire according to law “; viz., that the fire of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail of inflammable substance. This is precisely emanation. As shown in Isis Unveiled : “In Evolution, as it is now beginning to he understood, there is supposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher form—a supposition clearly expressed by Manu and other Hindu philosophers of the highest antiquity. The philosopher’s tree illustrates it in the case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the followers of this school and the Emanationists may he briefly stated thus The Evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of ‘ the Unknowable “; the Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved—or, as the word means, unwombed or born—except it has first been involved, thus indicating that life is from a spiritual potency above the whole.”
Empusa (Gr.). A ghoul, a vampire, an evil demon taking various forms.
En (or Ain) Soph (Heb.). The endless, limitless and boundless. The absolute deific Principle, impersonal and unknowable. It means literally “no-thing” i.e., nothing that could be classed with anything else. The word and ideas are equivalent to the Vedantic conceptions of Parabrahmn. [ w.w.w.]
Some Western Kabbalists, however, contrive to make of IT, a personal “He”, a male deity instead of an impersonal deity.
En (Chald.). A negative particle, like a in Greek and Sanskrit. The first syllable of “En-Soph” (q.v.), or nothing that begins or ends, the “Endless”.
Enoichion (Gr.). Lit., the inner Eye” ; the “Seer”, a reference to the third inner, or Spiritual Eye, the true name for Enoch disfigured from Chanoch.
Ens (Gr.). The same as the Greek To On “Being”, or the real Presence in Nature.
Ephesus (Gr.). Famous for its great metaphysical College where Occultism (Gnosis) and Platonic philosophy were taught in the days of the Apostle Paul. A city regarded as the focus of secret sciences, and that Gnôsis. or Wisdom, which is the antagonist of the perversion of Christo-Esotericism to this day. It was at Ephesus where was the great College of the Essenes and all the lore the Tanaim had brought from the Chaldees,
Epimetheus (Gr.). Lit., “He who takes counsel after” the event. A brother of Prometheus in Greek Mythology.
Epinoia (Gr.). Thought, invention, design. A name adopted by the Gnostics for the first passive Ćon.
Episcopal Crook. One of the insignia of Bishops, derived from the sacerdotal sceptre of the Etruscan Augurs. it is also found in the hand of several gods.
Epoptes (Gr.). An Initiate. One who has passed his last degree of initiation.
Eridanus (Lat.). Ardan, the Greek name for the river Jordan.
Eros (Gr.). Hesiod makes of the god Eros the third personage of the Hellenic primordial Trinity composed of Ouranos, Gća and Eros. It is the personified procreative Force in nature in its abstract sense, the propeller to “creation” and procreation. Exoterically, mythology makes of Eros the god of lustful, animal desire, whence the term erotic esoterically, it is different. (See “ Kâma”.)
Eshmim (Heb.). The Heavens, the Firmament in which are the Sun, Planets and Stars; from the root Sm, meaning to place, dispose ; hence, the planets, as disposers. [ w. w.w.]
Esoteric (Gr.). Hidden, secret. From the Greek esotericos, “inner” concealed.
Esoteric Bodhism. Secret wisdom or intelligence from the Greek esotericos “inner”, and the Sanskrit Bodhi, “knowledge”, intelligence— in contradistinction to Buddhi, “the faculty of knowledge or intelligence” and Buddhism, the philosophy or Law of Buddha (the Enlightened). Also written “ Budhism”, from Budha (Intelligence and Wisdom) the Son of Soma.
Essasua. The African and Asiatic sorcerers and serpent charmers.