Chemistry (from Greek chemeia)

An ancient art or science relating to the extraction of medicinal juices from plants, or of metals from their earths, or the transmutation of physical elements, as of base metals into gold, the preparation of elixirs, and other things usually connected with alchemy, from which modern chemistry is a derivative along specialized line.

In The Secret Doctrine chemistry is mentioned as being, together with biology, one of the magicians of the future, especially in its form of chemical physics, when it is no longer the mechanistic science into which it has degenerated.

"In Esoteric Philosophy, every physical particle corresponds to and depends on its higher noumenon -- the Being to whose essence it belongs; and above as below, the Spiritual evolves from the Divine, the psycho-mental from the Spiritual -- tainted from its lower plane by the astral -- the whole animate and (seemingly) inanimate Nature evolving on parallel lines, and drawing its attributes from above as well as from below" (SD 1:218).

(See also: Chemistry, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dhatu-Vada:

Dhatu-Vada. "Essence Way". Alchemy.

(See also: Dhatu-Vada, Tantra, Tantra Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Transmutation Generally the transmutation of inferior metals into gold, although the reverse process properly falls under the same term. Three things are involved: the old metal, the new metal, and the underlying essence common to both. To transmute lead into gold we must change something which is now lead so that this something will then be gold.

Transmutations are now being performed in chemistry on this principle. The alchemists reasoned that, since all elements come from a root-element, it must be possible to perform transmutations by reducing the gross elements to their subtle substratum. Apart from the love of knowledge, one sees no object in the physical process other than that of acquisitive gain.

If the language of alchemy is taken allegorically, as it very frequently was and is, transmutation means the refinement of the gross elements of human nature. The scientific thinkers and researchers who are leading the world in scientific experimentation in the ultimates of matter are the modern alchemists or transmutationists.

(See also: Transmutation, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

DRAGON (lung, Chinese, rong, Vietnamese, ryu, Japanese, naga, Sanskrit) -

1. great beneficent being in Far East mythology which guards hidden treasures and heavenly mansions, presides over the weather and bestows rewards on deserving persons; traditionally represented with the horns of a deer, the head of a camel or horse, the eyes of a prawn or devil, the neck of a snake, the belly of a giant clam, the scales of a fish, the claws of an eagle, the feet of a tiger and the ears of a cow; symbol of Heaven, yang, energy, fortune, the Tao, virtue.

2. symbol of the defender of the Dharma in Buddhism.

3. one of an superhuman race of serpents in Hinduism.

4. dreadful beastie in Western mythology, which is forever carrying off maidens or laying waste the countryside, as in the tales of St. George, Perseus, Jason, Siegfried.

5. symbol of wisdom in the hermetic tradition and alchemy.

6. symbol of that which encloses and turns the psyche in on itself. (Joseph Campbell) (NAD)

(See also: DRAGON, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN: Founded in 1888 by Dr. William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddle MacGregor Mathers and Dr. W.R. Woodman based on a manuscript said to be an old German occult order.  Aleister Crowley is the most well known member in occult circles, but membership also included W.B. Yeats and A.E. Waite.

During its height the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn possessed the greatest known repository of Western magickal knowledge. Three magickal systems were taught: the Key of Solomon; Abra-Melin magick; and Enchonian magick. Materials were also incorporated from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, William Blake’s Prophetic Books and the Chaldean Oracles. Some of the texts included Christian elements and members circulated various Catholic and Anglican writings and sermons. Instruction was given in astral travel, scrying, alchemy, geomancy, the tarot and astrology.

(See also: HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN: A Ceremonial Magick Order founded in 1888 by Dr. William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddle MacGregor Mathers and Dr. W.R. Woodman based on a manuscript said to be an old German occult order. Aleister Crowley is the most well known member in occult circles, but membership also included W.B. Yeats and A.E. Waite. During its height the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn possessed the greatest known repository of Western magickal knowledge.

Three magickal systems were taught: the Key of Solomon; Abra-Melin magick; and Enchonian magick. Materials were also incorporated from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, William Blake’s Prophetic Books and the Chaldean Oracles. Some of the texts included Christian elements and members circulated various Catholic and Anglican writings and sermons. Instruction was given in astral travel, scrying, alchemy, geomancy, the tarot and astrology.

(See also: HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Hermes Trismegistus (Ancient Greek). The "thrice great Hermes", the Egyptian. The mythical personage after whom the Hermetic philosophy was named. In Egypt the God Thoth or Thot. A generic name of many ancient Greek writers on philosophy and Alchemy.

Hermes Trismegistus is the name of Hermes or Thoth in his human aspect, as a god he is far more than this. As Hermes-Thoth-Aah, he is Thoth, the moon, i.e., his symbol is the bright side of the moon, supposed to contain the essence of creative Wisdom, "the elixir of Hermes ". As such he is associated with the Cynocephalus, the dog-headed monkey, for the same reason as was Anubis, one of the aspects of Thoth. (See " Hermanubis".)

The same idea underlies the form of the Hindu God of Wisdom, the elephant-headed Ganesa, or Ganpat, the son of Parvati and Siva. (See "Ganesa".) When he has the head of an ibis, he is the sacred scribe of the gods; but even then he wears the crown atef and the lunar disk. He is the most mysterious of gods. As a serpent, Hermes Thoth is the divine creative ‘Wisdom. The Church Fathers speak at length of Thoth-Hermes. (See "Hermetic".)

(See also: Hermes Trismegistus, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Atom atomos (Greek) Indivisible, individual, a unit; among the Greek Atomists what in theosophy is called a monad. Atomic theories of the constitution of the universe or of matter are many and ancient. In modern physics the atom is a small particle once thought indivisible, but now resolved into component units. In some philosophies, as that of Leibniz, the atoms (which he calls monads) are psychological rather than physical units -- unitary beings of diverse kinds and grades, composing the universe.

In theosophy, atoms have to be considered in relation to monads; in The Secret Doctrine gods, monads, and atoms are a triad like spirit, soul, and body. A monad is a divine-spiritual life-atom, a living being, evolving on its own plane, and a life-atom is the vehicle of the monad which ensouls it, and in turn ensouls a physical atom. The ultimates of nature are atoms on the material side, monads on the energic side; monads are indivisible, atoms divisible (a departure from the etymological meaning). Thus there is a quaternary of gods, monads, life-atoms, and physical atoms. "An atom may be compared to (and is for the Occultist) the seventh principle of a body or rather of a molecule.

The physical or chemical molecule is composed of an infinity of finer molecules and these in their turn of innumerable and still finer molecules. Take for instance a molecule of iron and so resolve it that it becomes non-molecular; it is then, at once transformed into one of its seven principles, viz., its astral body; the seventh of these is the atom. The analogy between a molecule of iron, before it is broken up, and this same molecule after resolution, is the same as that between a physical body before and after death. The principle remains minus the body. Of course this is occult alchemy, not modern chemistry" (TBL 84).

(See also: Atom, atomos, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Rasa:

Rasa. The elixir in Alchemy. "Liquid". "Mercury". Sense of taste. Dance of Krishna and the Gopis.

(See also: Rasa, Tantra, Tantra Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

PARACELSUS

 The famous 16th Century physician and alchemist who taught the maxim, "As above, so below." Born in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, 1493, the full glory of his name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. He taught (before the word was invented) that man is "hologram" of the universe -- the macrocosm dwells within the microcosm. His medicine was based on the observation that health requires the proper balance of sulphur, salt and mercury (male, neutral, female). His understanding was that alchemy was not chemistry so much as an inner human process, yet his pharmacology is still amazing and effective and he is credited with having discovered nitrogen (azote). The secret of the lapis philosophorum was said to have been conferred on him by Solomon of Trismosin. Disease, according to Paracelsus was caused by the separation of man's three elements (sulphur, salt and mercury) from Universe.

Smaragdine, yet Venusian Falling

As yods but green indicating

Undulating flesh-sperm

Pushing forth in microposopic splendor  vectored

in the Four

under the Three Substances

under the Two Hypostatic Principles

under the One Reality

And lifting upward in vaster arc  from Kingdom to Crown

From vacua no more to Gods no less

Thus silk  primordial

Divine foreteller.

(See also: PARACELSUS, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

CEREMONIAL MAGICK:  Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Ceremonial Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic.

Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ceremonial Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

Ceremonial Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Ceremonial Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self.  Also known as High Magick, Ritual Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also: CEREMONIAL MAGICK, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

RITUAL MAGICK:  Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Ritual Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic.

Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin. This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ritual Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

Ritual Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Ritual Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self.  Also known as Ceremonial Magick, High Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also: RITUAL MAGICK, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

 HIGH MAGICK: Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. It is called theurgy, from theourgia "working things pertaining to the gods".  High Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic. Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and High Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

High Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, High Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self.  Also known as Ceremonial Magick, Ritual Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also:  HIGH MAGICK, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

THEURGIC MAGICK, THEURGY (Greek, theourgia, "working things pertaining to the gods"):  Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Theurgic Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic. Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ceremonial Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

Theurgic Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Theurgic Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self.  Also known as Ceremonial Magick, High Magick, Ritual Magick.

(See also: THEURGIC MAGICK, THEURGY, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

CEREMONIAL MAGICK: Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Ceremonial Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic.

Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin. This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ceremonial Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

Ceremonial Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Ceremonial Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self. Also known as High Magick, Ritual Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also: CEREMONIAL MAGICK, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

HIGH MAGICK: Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. It is called theurgy, from theourgia "working things pertaining to the gods". High Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic. Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and High Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

High Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, High Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self. Also known as Ceremonial Magick, Ritual Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also: HIGH MAGICK, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

RITUAL MAGICK: Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Ritual Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic. Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ritual Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc..

Ritual Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Ritual Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self. Also known as Ceremonial Magick, High Magick, Theurgic Magick, Theurgy.

(See also: RITUAL MAGICK, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

THEURGIC MAGICK, THEURGY (Greek, theourgia, "working things pertaining to the gods"): Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is akin to religion. Theurgic Magick is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity and currently is divided into three forms: Enochian, Thelemic and Eclectic. Enochian Magick originated with John Dee and Edward Kelly in the 16th century and communication with spirits involved the Nineteen Calls (or Keys): incantations in the Enchonian language, a complex language of unknown origin.

 This system of Magick was revived by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and studied at length by Aleister Crowley. In turn, Crowley developed the Thelemic Magick system from his studies and Ceremonial Magickians have since expanded to develop Eclectic Magick systems based on a variety of different systems, inclusive of Alchemy, Egyptology, Kabbalistic doctrines, Chaos Magick etc.

Theurgic Magick requires a rigorous discipline and has an intellectual appeal, the mage derives power from God (the Judeo-Christian God) through the successful control of spirits, usually demons, which are believed easier to control than angels. Demons may be good, evil, or neutral. In its highest sense, Theurgic Magick is a transcendental experience that takes the mage into mystical realms and into communication with the Higher Self. Also known as Ceremonial Magick, High Magick, Ritual Magick.

(See also: THEURGIC MAGICK, THEURGY, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

EGYPT

It is in Egypt that we encounter the roots of the entire Western tradition, including the Hermetic arts. If you would unravel the mystery of alchemy and qabalah, dedicate yourself to Egyptian studies. In Egypt we also find the roots of Greek philosophy and science. The Egyptians held that life was a miracle and they rightly worshiped creation as a product of magic. They drew no lines of difference (other than focus) in the degree or quality of consciousness between man, animal and god. Similarly, every member of Kamite society, from peasant to king, though not interchangeable, was of importance. Nor did they make the slightest division between religion, science, art and magic. The Gods were entities to be understood, so that their powers could be used to alter or maintain the natural course of things. (The Gods are actually forces of nature). An initiate, or magician, was simply a man of superior intelligence and will who had lined up his goals to parallel and augment those of the Gods. 20th Century America has been compared to Egypt in its predilection for building huge things and its materialistic philosophy. But America's psychotic compulsion to change everything as rapidly as possible, its lust for technological gimmicks and its attempt to control, counter and even destroy Nature, would have seemed blasphemous and meaningless to the Egyptians.

(See also: EGYPT, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

HOMUNCULUS

A "little man" (less than a foot high) artificially created. The magician's sperm, along with other materials such as bones and fur, is placed in a vessel and buried in a heap of mare dung for forty days. At the end of this period the vessel is removed, opened and fed more blood. It is then replaced for an additional 40 days, with the heat from the decomposing dung providing the heat to begin spontaneous generation. This should produce an embryo. In Crowley's version of the Hermit, the wheat germ is a symbol of the homunculus seed. The medieval homunculus obsession finds its counterpart in modern man's attempt to create artificial intelligence and robots.

Throughout history, moreover, there has been a constant search for the "perfect image". This led to all the schools of painting and sculpture. With the invention of photography in the 19th Century, the quest took a new turn and the image became more and more subjective with cubism, futurism, abstract art, etc. With the cinema the image not only assumed exactness but also acquired motion and sound. The image, now perfected at last, turned to cartoons and animated film in which the perfected image could not be extended into the fantastic and bizarre. Attempts to create "realistic" cartoons and animations is a mistake because that interferes with the creative and experimental character of the image.

We should recognize that virtual reality has, in the last few years, produced homunculus-like images of more certain creation. Cloning plus genetic re-scripting could in actuality create a homunculus of exactly the sort that medieval alchemy struggled to produce.

(See also: HOMUNCULUS, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Smaragdine Tablet The emerald tablet, alleged mystically to be of the Egyptian Hermes or Thoth, on which was inscribed, according to the Hermeticists, "the whole of magic in a single page."

In a letter to the Sophists, Paracelsus says: "The ancient Emerald Table shows more art and experience in Philosophy, Alchemy, Magic, and the like than ever could be taught by you or your crowd of followers."

Masons and Christian Qabbalists alleged it to have been found on the dead body of Hermes by Sarai, Abraham's wife; this allegory may mean that Sarasvati (wife of Brahma and a legendary prototype of Sarai) found much of the ancient wisdom latent in the dead body of humanity and revivified it. It is also said that the Emerald Tablet was found at Hebron, the city of the kabeiroi or cabiri (the gibborim, the Four Mighty Ones), by an Essenian initiate (TG 302, SD 2:556). It exists only in a late Latin form referred to the 7th century.

Hermes was the Greek god of mystical thinking and interpretations, corresponding to the Egyptian Thoth, both divinities being overseers or hierophants of works of initiation concealing the archaic secrets of the god-wisdom. Thus the ascription to Hermes of profoundly mystical allegories is properly assigned, whoever their actual writers may have been.

A fundamental law of interpretation -- analogy -- is expressed in the Emerald Tablet in the famous aphorism, "That which is above is as that which is below; and that which is below, is as that which is above, for performing the marvels of the Kosmos. As all things are from the One, by the mediation of the One so all things arose out of this One Thing by evolving . . ."

(See also: Smaragdine Tablet, Emerald tablet, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Astral Light (Occult) The invisible region that surrounds our globe, as it does every other, and corresponding as the second Principle of Kosmos (the third being Life, of which it is the vehicle) to the Linga Sharira or the Astral Double in man.

A subtle Essence visible only to a clairvoyant eye, and the lowest but one (viz., the earth), of the Seven Akasic or Kosmic Principles. Eliphas Levi calls it the great Serpent and the Dragon from which radiates on Humanity every evil influence. This is so; but why not add that the Astral Light gives out nothing but what it has received; that it is the great terrestrial crucible, in which the vile emanations of the earth (moral and physical) upon which the Astral Light is fed, are all converted into their subtlest essence, and radiated back intensified, thus becoming epidemics -  moral, psychic and physical. Finally, the Astral Light is the same as the Sidereal Light of Paracelsus and other Hermetic philosophers. "Physically, it is the ether of modern science.

Metaphysically, and in its spiritual, or occult sense, ether is a great deal more than is often imagined. In occult physics, and alchemy, it is well demonstrated to enclose within its shoreless waves not only Mr. Tyndall’s ‘promise and potency of every quality of life’, but also the realization of the potency of every quality of spirit. Alchemists and Hermetists believe that their astral, or sidereal ether, besides the above properties of sulphur, and white and red magnesia, or magnes, is the anima mundi, the workshop of Nature and of all the Kosmos, spiritually, as well as physically.

The ‘grand magisterium’ asserts itself in the phenomenon of mesmerism, in the ‘levitation’ of human and inert objects; and may be called the ether from its spiritual aspect. The designation astral is ancient, and was used by some of the Neo-platonists, although it is claimed by some that the word was coined by the Martinists. Porphyry describes the celestial body which is always joined with the soul as ‘immortal, luminous, and star-like’. The root of this word may be found, perhaps, in the Scythic Aist-aer - which means star, or the Assyrian Istar, which, according to Burnouf has the same sense." (Isis Unveiled.)

(See also: Astral Light, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )