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Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Algard Wicca - Mary Nesnick, an American who was initiated into both Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions, combined them in 1972 and created a new tradition called Algard.
American Wicca - An offshoot of Gardnerian Wicca, founded by Ed Fitch and several Southern Californian Gardnerians in the late 1970''s. The tradition includes Gardnerian material and additional material supplied by the founders. Also known as Mohsian Wicca.
Artufas - Artufas, Estufas Initiation caves or the underground secret temples of the Central American Indians, called kivas by the Indians of the southwestern United States.
Atheism - The assertion, to be taken on faith, that there is no God. Some atheists, such as Madalyn Murray-O''Hair, have fought to prevent any recognition of God in public life. See American Atheists, Inc.
Black Muslim - Generic term referring to Nation of Islam and related groups of Black American Muslims.
Brujeria - A Mexican shamanistic magickal system that is an integration of Roman Catholicism and Native American lore. Practitioners are called Bruja (female) and Brujo (male); and Curandera (female) and Cureandero (male). Both Curanderos and Brujos use herbal and folk remedies.
Celtic Tradition - CELTIC TRADITION:
1) Old Celtic Tradition as practiced by the late Lady Gwynne (or Gwen) Thompson d. 1987. This is a tradition similar to Welsh Traditional but which adopted rituals similar to those of Gardnerian. This Family Tradition derived from Southern Welsh sources and was brought to the U.S. through Nova Scotia.
2) American Celtic Tradition as practiced by Lady Sheba (Jessie Bell) allegedly derived from Family traditional, Mike Howard of "The Cauldron" in Wales, and Gardnerian sources.
3) In England, British Celtic covens are called tribes and are led by Elders instead of High Priests and High Priestesses. See WELSH TRADITION
Christian Fundamentalism - Fundamentalism is a Protestant view that affirms the absolute and unerring authority of the Bible, rules out a scientific or critical study of the scriptures, denies the theory of evolution, and holds that alternate religious views within Christianity or outside are false.
A Bible conference of conservative Protestants at Niagara, New York, in 1895 affirmed five doctrinal points that were later named the "five fundamentals":
the verbal inerrancy of scripture,
the divinity of Jesus,
the virgin birth,
the substitutionary atonement, and
Jesus'' bodily resurrection and physical return.
Although these points do not include all the elements of Protestant fundamentalism, they are regularly present in fundamentalist views.
A series of volumes entitled The Fundamentals by American, Canadian, and British writers (1910-15) carried the discussion further by attacking Catholic doctrine, Christian Science, Mormon teachings, Darwin''s theory of evolution, and liberal theology''s critical study of the Bible and denial of miracles. In 1920 C. L. Laws used the term fundamentalist in the Baptist Watchman-Examiner to identify these views. In the North during the 1920s and following, Presbyterians and Baptists, among others, were torn by controversies over fundamentalism. From this struggle came institutions like Westminster Theological Seminary (1929) and new denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Conservative Baptist Association of America (1947).
Interdenominational organizations were also formed, e. g. , the American Council of Christian Churches (1941, to offset the National Council of Churches) and the National Association of Evangelicals (1942). By the 1950s, Neo-Orthodox theology with its emphasis on biblical revelation had changed the theological situation from a standoff between fundamentalists and liberals by developing a middle ground between them. Since the more militant fundamentalist leaders had settled into their own organizations by then, the basis for intragroup fights lessened, and the controversy waned. With the political swing to the Right in the 1980s fundamentalist voices found new support. Attacks on evolution and liberal scholarship fell into the background as some fundamentalists emphasized more positive themes such as conversion, personal and social morality, and a right-wing political agenda. In other groups, however, attacks on nonfundamentalist scholarship came with new vigor. Fundamentalism is characteristically evangelistic. Some ministries combine evangelism with healing.
Coyote Energy - Trickster energies. Named for the American Indian Trickster, Coyote, who tricks man into learning what he needs to learn. Applies to one who constantly jokes and clowns. Also applies to the concept of "Holy Fool" in many traditions.
Coyote Energy - Trickster energies. Named from bb bbb the American Indian Trickster Coyote who tricks man into learning what he needs to learn. Applies to one who constantly jokes and clowns. Also applies to the concept of "Holy Fool" in many traditions.
Crown - Crown In the Qabbalah, the first or highest Sephirah, Kether (Crown). In the Stanzas of Dzyan, "Fohat traces spiral lines to unite the sixth to the seventh -- the Crown" (SD 1:31), which means that fohat, in this case working as Eros or divine love, strives to blend atman with buddhi, and the same on the corresponding cosmic planes.
Crown also signifies the summit of attainment in initiation, spiritual sovereignty, or dignity or splendor, and is much used in those senses in both the Old and New Testaments, and was typically so employed in pagan initiatory rites.
The kings and pontiffs of modern times are the feeble imitators of former king-initiates, whose insignia comprised the crown, representative of the glory or buddhic splendor, which actually encircled the head of the initiate as a nimbus, as it does in the case of the yogi in samadhi and of the buddha. The ceremony of coronation was performed in the Mysteries as the outward symbol of the completion of this attainment; and that ceremony is still perpetuated. The later Roman emperors adopted the Eastern royal fillet, which they called by the Greek name diadema; the Papal tiara goes back through it to the Persian royal headdress of that name. The American Indian wears feathers imitating the rays of light from the head.
Diakka - Diakka Coined by Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910), a prominent American Spiritualist, to denote kama-lokic elementaries and astral spooks or shells generally. In his A Stellar Key to the Summer Land he describes these spooks as amoral, deceptive beings existing in a shady corner of the Summer Land. Blavatsky cites Porphyry in connection with the Diakka:
"It is with the direct help of these bad demons, that every kind of sorcery is accomplished . . . These spirits pass their time in deceiving us, with a great display of cheap prodigies and illusions; their ambition is to be taken for gods, and their leader demands to be recognized as the supreme god" (IU 1:219).
These shells, spooks, elementaries, and evil phantoms of the astral light were known throughout antiquity, universally abhorred and often feared by human beings because of their evil effects on human life. Hebrew and early Christian demonologists personalized them under the head of Belial and his army of imps.
Diakka - Diakka. Called by Occultists and Theosophists "spooks" and "shells", i.e., phantoms from Kama 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.
Discipline - Training or experience that corrects, molds, strengthens, or perfects (especially) the mental faculties or moral character; noted primarily by its absence in American occult groups.
Druid - (Celtic, "true seer") A member of the priestly and intellectual elite of the Celts.
Druids were the religious and legal authorities in Gaul before its conquest by the Romans (51 BC) and were celebrated for their esoteric knowledge. The druid survived as a stock figure in medieval Irish literature. A priestly caste of the ancient Celtic people of France and the British Isles. They were the keepers of oral history and law, and officiates of religious practices.
Modern Druids are various new religious traditions that attempt to incorporate the insights of ancient Druidism, Celtic history and lore, and romanticized notions of the ancient Druids formed in the eighteenth century. In England today, there are the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and the Ancient Order of Druids, among others.
While there is no scholarly connection between the Druids and Stonehenge, the Ancient Order of Druids used Stonehenge for their rituals until instances of vandalism by the curious closed the ancient site.
In the United States, the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) began in 1963 as a satirical protest against required attendance at chapel at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. The RDNA developed rituals and lore from Celtic history, poetry, and anthropology, and the movement continued and became more serious, even after the chapel attendance requirement was dropped. The RDNA considered Druidism a philosophy of life, not a religion.
In 1966 the New Reformed Druids of North America (NRDNA) reformed Druidism as a Neo- Pagan religion. A few chapters of both groups still exist. Other current American Druidic groups include Ar nDraiocht Fein ("Our Own Druidism"), founded by Isaac Bonewits in 1983. Currently the largest American revivalist Druid organization, it sees itself as a Neo-Pagan religion based on the beliefs and practices of the ancient Indo-Europeans but adapted to modern needs and sensibilities, such as the preservation of the earth and excellence in arts and scholarship.
Dynion Mywn - The American branch of Dynion Mwyn, a Welsh tradition named for the faery folk. It emphasizes historical lineage, religious equality, and Welsh mythology and lore. The American branch is called Y Tylwyth Teg.
Father Divine - (1878–1965)
Born George Baker, he was the Black minister and founder of the Peace Mission Movement in Sayville, New York, in 1932. on of ex-slaves, Divine developed a theology comprised of elements of African-American Christianity, Methodism, Catholicism, Pentecostalism, and the power-of-positive-thinking ideology, New Thought.
He taught that he was God and encouraged followers to channel his spirit to achieve health, prosperity, and salvation. An integrationist, Divine attracted both blacks and whites and campaigned for Civil Rights. During the Depression, disciples opened businesses offering low-priced goods and services, and Peace Missions provided social assistance to the poor.
Fetish - (derived from a Portuguese word for medals and crucifixes worn by sailors and extended by them to amulets used by Africans; first used as a generic term by Ch. de Brosses in 1760)
An article of paraphernalia used in religious practice, or a physical object representative of religious authority. Fetishes commonly are misunderstood to be objects accorded magical or supernatural powers by their users. Objects such as the perfect ear of corn or Corn Mother, important in religious practices of Pueblos (American Southwest), medicine bundles of various North American tribes, and objects that represent the religious authority of clans in Native American communities are often referred to as fetishes.
Small carved stone objects and feather arrangements, with no religious significance, manufactured for commercial sale by modern Native American peoples.
An object or body part that arouses sexual desire, sometimes to the exclusion of genital attraction.
Fox Sisters - Leah, Kate, and Margaaret; sisters in Hydesville, N.Y. who started modern American Spiritualism in 1848
Fox Sisters - Margaret, 1836–93, Leah, 1814–90, and Catherine, 1841–92. In 1848, Margaret and Catherine claimed to hear mysterious rappings in their Arcadia, N. Y. , home. Claiming the sounds to be communication from spirits, the sisters became the founders and most famous seers of 19th-cent, American spiritualism, which claimed about one million followers by 1855. They moved to Rochester, N. Y. , and the rappings followed them. They organized “performances” in theaters to which they charged admission, attracting attention and skepticism. See Spiritualism.
Freemasonry - The world''s largest and best-known secret society, with its greatest numbers in Britain and North America. The first formal organization was the chartering of the Grand Lodge (London) in 1714, The organization is loosely based on associations or guilds of stone cutters ( masons).
To become a Mason one does not have to be a Christian but must acknowledge belief in a supreme being and in the immortal soul. Masons advance through a complex system of degrees correlated to a symbolic spiritual initiation advancing from darkness to full consciousness.
Since 1738, Roman Catholicism has officially condemned Freemasonry as do many Protestant denominations. It is outlawed in several countries, and anti-Masonic sentiments have played an important role in American religious history. Freemasonry claims to have its roots in the builders of Solomon''s Temple.
(1000BC) Freemasonry (“speculative” masons) sought to give philosophical, moral, or spiritual meaning to the lodge, tools, and oaths of the stone cutters. Most modern adherents maintain that the organization is not a religion but a fraternity.
Great Awakening - A Christian revivalist movement that swept the American colonies from 1725 to 1760. In experiences of ecstatic joy and release, converts "awakened" to Christ and knew him experientially. By 1730, Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, a Dutch Calvinist, and Gilbert Tennent, a revivalist Presbyterian, had begun the Awakening from their churches in New Jersey. In 1734, Jonathan Edwards, the most formidable apologist for this experiential religion, witnessed to the "surprising work of God" in his Congregationalist church at Northampton, Massachusetts. British evangelist George Whitefield toured the colonies between 1738 and 1740 lending impetus and cohesiveness to the movement. Itinerant revivalists carried the Awakening to the South.
Its distinguishing characteristics included the insistence on the personal nature of conversion to Christ, itinerant ministry, and a novel preaching style appealing openly to the emotions. Mobile ministry and individual conversion tended to undermine the parish structure of the old tax-supported churches and led to a proliferation of separate and voluntary ones. The revivalists succeeded in revitalizing colonial Protestantism by a typically modern appeal to individual experience. They accommodated New World Calvinism and Anglicanism to conditions of dramatically expanded personal liberty.
Happy Hunting Ground - A popular phrase for the Native American view of the afterworld. It does not derive from Native American traditions.
Hellebore - According to Pliny, an increaser of intelligence, but latterly used in treatment of the mentally ill. The poisonous root of this strange weed is also an extreme purgative, heart stimulant and insecticide. It has various old world and new world names: Christmas rose, stinking hellebore, American false hellebore, Indian Poke and Itch Weed.
Houdini - The American stage illusionist (1874 - 1926). It is commonly believed that Houdini''s pact with his wife, that, if possible, he would manage to communicate with her after his death, was never fulfilled. Her failure to receive Houdini''s message is frequently offered as proof that all spritualism is bunk. According to Dr. Clifford Wilson, The Alien Agenda (Signet, 1988), one Rev. Arthur Ford was the medium of a spirit called "Fletcher", who did convey a message to Mrs. Houdini after all. She acknowledged it as being in a code known only to her and to her husband.
Jumping Jesus - Coined by George Anderla of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 1973. It is a term for measuring incremental velocities of technological change. All the knowledge of mankind from the beginning of history to the birth of Jesus represents one jesus. During the period from the birth of Jesus to the Renaissance the worlds storehouse of knowledge doubled. Thus all knowledge doubles at a geometric rate. From the Renaissance to the American Revolution it doubled again. With each jesus, the period of time necessary for this doubling shortens dramatically. At some point in the 1980s the length of a jesus became infinitely short.
Karma - In many eastern religions, the load of guilt or innocence carried from one incarnation to the next, determining one’s lot in the next life; often used by American occultists as a general term for moral responsibility, as in “You can do that if you want to, but it’s your karma.”
Karma Dumping Run - American occult slang for a ritual process of visiting someone’s “just deserts” upon them, by “concentrating the karma” they may have earned in their life (or recent past) and delivering it back to them in one brief period of time; usually done when someone is suspected of evil doing but proof is lacking, since it is considered a morally neutral way of stopping them.
Kingstone Tradition - KINGSTONE TRADITION: A conservative American form of British Traditional Wicca. It has existed in California since the 1960''s. and was founded by a student of Gerald Gardner.
Liberation Theology - A movement that attempts to unite theology with social and religious concerns about oppression.
It finds expressions among blacks, feminists, Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans, but it is most closely identified with the shift toward Marxism among Roman Catholic theologians and priests in Latin America. Most traditional doctrines of Christianity are de-emphasized or reinterpreted.
Jesus and the Bible are defined and interpreted in light of a class struggle, with the gospel seen as a radical call to activism (or even revolution) promoting political and social answers usually in the form of classic Communism.
Mary Baker Eddy - (1821-1910) American founder of Christian Science. She is best known for her work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1875). (See Christian Science)
Nation Of Islam - A sect of Islam originating in America composed of black Americans. Followers, sometimes called Black Muslims, believe that Allah (God) appeared in 1930 to the last great prophet Elijah Muhammad, in the person of Wallace D. Fard.
Elijah Muhammad borrowed many beliefs from traditional Islam but introduced important differences. Most notable was the focus on black oppression and equating Satan and evil with the white race.
Malcolm X became a notable leader of the movement in the 1960s and the focus on black supremacy and militancy escalated. Malcolm X later converted to traditional Islam and rejected radical black supremacy and was subsequently murdered. The current leader of the Nation is Islam is Louis Farrakhan.
Native American Spirituality - The religious beliefs, practices, and rituals associated with Native Americans.
Early Native American beliefs, though diverse, often shared common religious ideas. Many believed in a “Great Spirit,” that nature in all of its forms possesses spirits, and that all life is interconnected.
Seasons and moons often were viewed as marking times of evocation for spirits and prosperity.
Some New Age believers promote revival of Native American spirituality, seeing obvious parallels with their own views.
Nimbus - Nimbus (Latin) A cloud, a luminous atmosphere surrounding a high adept or deity when appearing on earth. In Oriental and Christian art the representations of deities or saints have a nimbus surrounding the head. Equivalent to aureole, glory, aura, halo, and the feathers on the head and down the spine of American Indian chiefs.
Any being in a state of high spiritual and intellectual ecstasy is surrounded with a glory or brilliant, coruscating aura, which at times can even be perceived by the physical eye; sometimes this nimbus or glory surrounds the head more particularly, and at other times it surrounds the entire body. It is shot through with colors coruscating and flashing brilliantly in a most beautiful fashion, because the vital aura which surrounds every animate being in times of spiritual ecstasy is stimulated to unusual activity, and thus surrounds the being with splendor.
The sun in the heavens is a cosmic example, for the floods of sunlight which it pours forth are the vital aura, nimbus, or glory surrounding the solar heart. The adoption of the nimbus surrounding the heads or entire bodies of the Christian saints was a clear case of borrowing from the Orient, because from time immemorial the nimbus has been used there to signify spiritual ecstasy, as exemplified in large numbers of Buddhist images.
Ouija Board - A board and pointer used for divination and to contact the spirit world. The name is said to come from the French for ''yes'', oui, and the German for ''yes'', ja - though there are other claims.
The board, which has the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0 to 9, and the words ''yes'' and ''no'' printed on it, is placed on a table. Participants rest their fingertips lightly on the pointer, a heart-shaped device with three felt-tipped legs. One person poses a question, and the pointer is then supposed to move to answer the question.
Similar board-type instruments were used for divination in ancient China and Greece. In the mid-nineteenth century a similar device, the planchette, came into use in Europe. The modern Ouija board is marketed as a game, originally called ''Ouija Talking Board'', and was developed in the late 1890s by an American, William Fuld, who sold the patent to the Parker Brothers game company in 1966.
Ouija boards became popular during and after World War I, when many people were desperate to communicate with friends and loved ones killed in the fighting.
Parapsychologists regard the Ouija board as a means to tap into the subconscious; critics of its use claim that it is dangerous in that users have no control over repressed material, which may lead to psychological trauma. Most fundamentalist Christians condemn the Ouija board as dangerous tinkering with potentially harmful occult forces and a tool of the Devil.
Parsons - I hight Don Quixote, I live on peyote,
marijuana, morphine and cocaine,
I never know sadness but only a madness
that burns at the heart and the brain
I see each charwoman, ecstatic inhuman,
angelic, demonic, divine.
Each wagon a dragon, each beer mug a flagon
that brims with ambrosial wine.
So goes a poem written by magician Jack Parsons, head of the California lodge of the O.T.O. (1944-52), as privately printed in a 1943 issue of The Oriflamme. This was, synchronistically enough, as Robert Anton Wilson has pointed out, but a few weeks before the discovery of LSD.
All of Crowley''s disciples struggled valiantly to "discover the identity of the hidden God" within them, their "True (Thelemic) Will" and to find a way to implement their knowledge. Their endings were mostly dismal. Those who claimed success in the Great Work ceased all further activity and led lives thereafter of total obscurity. One of them, Frater 210, Jack Parsons, claimed success, only to go up in flames shortly thereafter.
Jack Parsons was a co-founder of The California Institute of Technology. His contributions to the aerospace industry and nuclear research were so considerable that he has the unique distinction of being the only North American sorcerer in the 20th Century to have had a mountain on the moon named after him. He was also one of Aleister Crowley''s more bizarre disciples.
He was born on October 2, 1914, in Los Angeles, California. The only offspring of divorced parents, he spent a solitary and uneventful childhood. He devoted himself, as solitary children do, to reading and daydreaming. He also harbored a grudge against authority and interference and nursed a rebellious spirit. His studies led him into aerospace technology, but by temperament he was apparently not a scientist and his life did not truly begin until 1939, when an acquaintance, Wilfred T. Smith, introduced him to Aleister Crowley''s writings and invited him to join his Agap‚ Lodge of the Ordo Templi Orientis.
Wilfred T. Smith, or Frater 132, had ostensibly been a special protege of Crowley''s, who had decided for astrological reasons that Smith was a god imprisoned in human flesh. This seems curious to us now, because Smith''s behavior was totally psychopathic. The truth is that Smith had fallen into disfavor with Crowley, who had decided the man was turning the O.T.O.''s California Lodge into a cheap love cult, which Crowley considered a "slimy abomination." As soon as Parsons came into the order, Smith grabbed Parson''s wife, Helen, as his very own familiar and had a child by her. Thereupon Parsons abandoned her and took her younger sister, Betty, as his mistress and magickal partner. This arrangement appeared to work well enough for him and he soon advanced into the inner circles of the lodge. Meanwhile, Crowley very cleverly gave Smith a specific formula for his apotheosis and ordered him to resign in order to identify this God within. This was the easiest way of getting Smith out of the Lodge so that Parsons could be put in charge. Immediately, Smith''s star began to fall. He conceived a hatred for Parsons and "attacked him astrally." Kenneth Grant in his Magical Revival recounts a curious hallucination or dream that Parsons underwent with a black-caped figure whom he transfixed with knives and eventually drove away.
But now Parsons, determined to repeat his initial disasters, brought in a mysterious "Frater X" as his secretary and who seemed a promising candidate for the lodge which Parsons had now taken over. His new friend, however, also proved to be a rogue and quickly wormed out of Parsons the top-secret psycho-sexual and magical techniques of the Agape Lodge. Soon thereafter, Frater X got him to enter a business venture with him, with Parson''s money as the lion''s share of the investment. Next Frater X persuaded him to sell the property that was the headquarters of the Lodge. Then he and Betty went on a yachting cruise around the world. Now that Frater X had reduced him to poverty, Parsons had to earn his living in an "aircraft company." What it is about the occult that could possibly interest dreary U.S. government agents defies the imagination, but Parsons was, after all, working for the government. So by now the O.T.O. was swarming with U.S. intelligence agents posing as members!
Since his mistress had also been stolen from him, Parsons set about, by evocation (and ritual masturbation supervised by Frater X), to obtain an Elemental Spirit to take the place of Betty. And in 1946 he wrote to Crowley that he had actually found such an elemental -- a woman named Marjorie Cameron. She soon became his second wife. Crowley wrote to warn him to avoid excessive devotion to an elemental, but his warning had little effect... Now Parsons contacted an "Intelligence" who spoke to him, directly at first. It was not long, however, before he began speaking through Fr. X, who, it seems, had returned and been forgiven! This time Frater X informed Parsons that he was "overshadowed by an Angel with flaming hair." Parsons now set about to make a Moonchild -- a procedure that must take place at a time when the moon is "void of course" or without earth influence. This endeavor annoyed the dying Crowley very much. In fact, by now, Crowley was thoroughly disgusted with Parsons and the Californians. At this point Parsons took the "Oath of the Abyss" and the magical name of "Belarion Armilus All Dajjal Anti-Christ." In 1948 he took the oath of the Antichrist and in 1949 penned his autobiographies. Finally he took up the "Black Pilgrimage," a terrible path forcing him to chose between suicide, madness and the Oath of the Abyss. In this endeavor he would open himself up to the influence of the demon, Choronzon.
Petrified Wood - Petrified wood, also known as fossilized wood, is a gray-brown conglomerate of muted tones. It can have light brown, yellow, red, pink, and even blue to violet colors in it. It is a microcrystalline quartz and a member of the chalcedony family. The organic wood is not really changed into stone, only the shape and structural elements of the wood are preserved. It is found mainly in the southwest U.S.
Petrified wood is very earthy, and will assist you in becoming grounded and balanced. If you feel spacey and not quite “with it”, having a piece of petrified wood near you will restore your subtle bodies to a more harmonious grounded state, and you will be able to think and reason more clearly.
It was used by the American Indians as a protective amulet against accidents, injuries and infections. It was thought to bring good luck, build reserves of physical energy, help ease mental and emotional stress, and encourage emotional security.
This stone is helpful for arthritis, environmental pollutants, skeletal systems, enhances longevity and generally strengthens the body.
Peyote - Hallucinogenic used by some Native American and New Age groups as a sacrament in order to produce altered states of consciousness.
Peyote Way Church Of God - Native American church founded by Anne L. Zapf in Willcox AZ. It uses peyote as a sacrament.
Phallus - It may be seen as an emblem of the present moment, whose worship is a denial of past and future. That''s also why the "historical" west fears it so, but Carpe diem ("Seize the day!") was the classical rule. For Aleister Crowley, just as the Sun was the supreme deity whence all life derives, so on earth the phallus was its "vice-regent" and the supreme power as giver of life.
With the advent of monotheistic religions, the phallus became an object of taboo in an effort to disguise its "holiness." But this was not everywhere true. Until recently in Naples and other Italian cities, giant images of the phallus were carried in religious processions, along with the saints and other holy artifacts.
The God Priapus, attempted to rape the sleeping goddesses and mortal maidens after an Olympic feast. In punishment by Zeus he was banished to his bees and vines, to hide himself forever from the sight of men. Ever since, in revenge, winged phalloi have surreptitiously dominated historical erotic art. The wings portray the phalloi in their extremis as totally liberated and unconnected to any distracting mere person. The phallus is, in fact, the destroyer of ego and individualism bar none.
Of course the phallus remains an object of fascination and obsession for homosexual and savage alike. Even for the ordinary man, however, it engages him for life in an unconscious participation mystique with his brothers, from which he never really departs. It is symbolized by an endless parade of objects: the key, the wand, the baton, the scepter, the sword, the maypole, the battering ram, the Tibetan stupa, the Egyptian obelisk, the cathedral, the American skyscraper, the automobile, the airplane, the horse, the serpent, the bull, volcanoes, monoliths, trees, flowers of all kinds and even fire. In the modern American male''s domain, also loom large the pistol and the rifle -- serving in countermeasure, as instruments capable of expelling the seeds of death, as the penis expels the seeds of life.
For the magician the phallus is much more than an organ of generation or a source of debauchery. It is a font of energy that can be channeled and funneled in a variety of ways. On the other hand, the power of the witch sometimes, though not as a general rule, derives from an astute understanding of how to subvert or divert this organ to her own purposes. The feminine mystique, however, is infinitely more complicated than males understand and finds its center far beyond the genital zone.
In our era of total damnation, however, since semen now carries death as well as life, the scientists who created the HIV plague have made a mockery of procreation. (See NIANTIEL.)
Pyramidology - Study of the Ancient Egyptian and/or Central American Mayan pyramids, which are believed to possess keys to hidden mystic knowledge or secret spiritual messages.
Qliphoth - Lit. "shells" (singular: qliphah). Shades of the dead whose names appear in the books of Dyzan or Thoth, or the Book of the Law (AL). They may contain formulae of magical powers. RAW calls them "souls of those who died insane... the tulpas of Tibet... avatars of Coyote, the American Indian prankster-god." RAW also identifies them with the Celtic "little people" or faeries. Some of the twenty-two qliphotic entities of the Black Tarot, as envisioned by Grant, are defined herein under separate entries, although strictly speaking, the qlippoth are the names of the guardians of the tunnels, not the tunnels themselves. To understand the qliphothic atus fully and to do them justice can be more deleterious to the artist or researcher than one might suspect. Conceivably, such complete understanding could result in the destruction of the ego without restoration in the Oversoul and therefore lead to actual madness. Dealing with the Qliphoth is the psychic equivalent of working with toxic wastes, dangerous animals or high voltage wires.
To invoke any force is to invoke automatically its opposite as well. In the more conventional sense, qliphoth are negative cosmic energies equating with the ten positive Sephiroth (e.g., Lilith is the evil counterpart of Malkuth). All positive aspects of divinity have their "excremental" sides, or demons: Beelzebub, Satanas, etc. The difference between metamorphosis and excretion is thinner than you might guess.
From the universal lexicon:
scall English scab
chale Cupeno husk, shell
skalli Icelandic a peeled head
geled Hebrew skin
kulit Malay skin
skull English the "shell" of the brain
azal Basque peeling
soale Hausa to peel off
scale, shell English
scalp< shell a Dutch M. schelpe Qabalah the of ?demons? or refuse? ?peelings, Qlipphoth discard husk, Hebrew qliphah husk peel; skin; to Malay kupas sheath English Middle>
In the waning years of Alchemy, occultists were fond of saying that the Philosopher''s Stone was "that which all men despise" -- and this in turn led the puffers to experiment with various types of excrement in order to see if that substance, perchance, could possibly yield the Secret of the Ages, since nothing so far had succeeded in doing so. And of course all such experiments accomplished was to mark the nadir of human folly.
What is this word "excrement", after all? It''s from Latin, excernere, "to separate." It is a separation, a peeling away, as when we peel away a scab or a blister, making it no longer a part of ourselves. German scheiden/schieden (divide, separate, divorce) is simply another form of the word Scheisse (Fr. chier, Engl. shit) or its Greek equivalent schizo, "to split."
Latin cutis (skin), we should notice, first of all, is a cognate of Greek skatos (dung). Like the snake, what we throw away begins with the "skin" -- a word which probably represents a form of one of the universal roots. Compare Peruvian kina (the bark, or tree peeling, whence we get quinine) and Malay sisek (fish scales). Perhaps even the Austrian Kakadu word, k…ngir meaning "skin" is distantly related. At any rate, k…ngir is almost certainly the origin of "kangaroo," particularly since the Australian Warramunga word, nguru, meant "foreskin." These two are clearly connected and the marsupial associations are plain enough.
The puffers didn''t understand that excrement isn''t exactly what all men despise. Or to be more precise, what matters isn''t so much what is discarded and thrown away, but the value we place on the kept, as opposed to the trash. That faulty decision itself is where the problem lies. In fact, the Finnish proverb: Kulta kultainen v„lkkya roskatta, "gold glitters in what is thrown away", is a sentiment well understood by shamans, witches and other marginal people, who are drawn to the rubbish heaps and middens, much as the money-vultures circle the stock market.
Queztalcoatl - (Aztec - "feathered-serpent")
An Aztec god of the air or a sun-god and a benefactor of their race who instructed them in the use of agriculture, metals and the like.
According to one account, Quetzalcoatl was driven from the country by a superior god and on reaching the shores of the Mexican Gulf promised his followers that he would return. He then embarked on his magic skiff for the land of Tlapallan.
The Great Bird-Serpent is the most powerful figure in Mexican mythology, and it was known and accepted as a god in ancient Mexico and Central America. Accordingly, he dominated the great early American civilizations, from the land of the Incas in South America, to the Pueblo Indians of the our southwestern desert; from Teotihuacan (Mexico City) on the high plateau to Chichen Itza in Yucatan, he is a prevailing motif on ancient monuments.
Sometimes with his jaws open, bifid tongue, and articulated spinal column, he is easily recognizable. At others, he seems to have been coded in an almost infinite variety of formalized patterns derived from his famous scales, or feathers.
To the ancients, Quetzalcoatl became the force for understanding the universe, as it was known before the introduction of modern religion by the Conquistadors of Spain. The god Quetzalcoatl represented, to the ancient peoples of Central and South America, the very essence of life.
Quinanes - Quinanes (Central American) A race of beings regarded as giants, about whom traditions and even history were prevalent at the time of the conquest of Central America. {Quinametzin given as Aztec giants created during 1st sun, "Facts and Artifacts of Ancient Middle America"}
Rhuddlwm Gawr - RHUDDLWM GAWR: an American Witch High Priest, Elder and author of the Welsh Tradition who has done much to promote the Craft in the United States and Europe. wrote The Quest, The Way, The Word, and Celtic Crystal Magick to name only a few. Rhuddlwm lives in North Georgia.
Rootwork - An American magickal system drawn from African magickal practice, Native American botanical healing knowledge and European folklore. It is often confused with Voodoo and it''s practitioners are called Hoodoo, Hoodoo Doctors, Hoodoo Men/Women, Conjure Men/Women Conjurers, Root Doctors or Root Workers. Also known as Hoodoo.
Shaman - (Siberian Tungus language) A medicine man/woman or witch doctor. While a medicine man will tend to the sick, working with herbs, barks and the like, the shaman works more on the psychological level. He will go down on "a journey" for the benefit of the one who is ill; he will direct sacrifices, he will seek out new knowledge, and he will accompany the spirits of the dead on their journey to the afterlife.
The Eskimos, Maoris, Polynesians, Mongolians and the American Indians are some of the peoples that believe in the abilities of shamans.
Smudging - Waving a smoldering handful of herbs around a person, as a ritual cleansing gesture. An American practice adopted from Native Americans, though the Native American practice itself is said to have arisen only in the past hundred years.
Summerland - Summerland. The name given by the American Spiritualists and Phenomenalists to the land or region inhabited after death by their "Spirits". It is situated, says Andrew Jackson Davis, either within or beyond the Milky Way. It is described as having cities and beautiful buildings, a Congress Hall, museums and libraries for the instruction of the growing generations of young " Spirits ".
We are not told whether the latter are subject to disease, decay and death; but unless they are, the claim that the disembodied "Spirit" of a child and even still-born babe grows and develops as an adult is hardly consistent with logic. But that which we are distinctly told is, that in the Summerland Spirits are given in marriage, beget spiritual (?) children, and are even concerned with politics.
All this is no satire or exaggeration of ours, since the numerous works by Mr. A. Jackson Davis are there to prove it, e.g., the International Congress of Spirits by that author, as well as we remember the title. It is this grossly materialistic way of viewing a disembodied spirit that has turned many of the present Theosophists away from Spiritualism and its "philosophy". The majesty of death is thus desecrated, and its awful and solemn mystery becomes no better than a farce.
Theosophical Society - Theosophical Society, or "Universal Brotherhood". Founded in 1875 at New York, by Colonel H. S. Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky, helped by W. Q. Judge and several others. Its avowed object was at first the scientific investigation of psychic or so-called "spiritualistic" phenomena, after which its three chief objects were declared, namely
(1) Brotherhood of man, without distinction of race, colour, religion, or social position;
(2) the serious study of the ancient world-religions for purposes of comparison and the selection therefrom of universal ethics;
(3) the study and development of the latent divine powers in man. At the present moment it has over 250 Branches scattered all over the world, most of which are in India, where also its chief Headquarters are established. It is composed of several large Sections - the Indian, the American, the Australian, and the European Sections.
Unitarian Universalist Association - A denomination formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association (the principal religious body teaching Unitarianism) and the Universalist Church in America (which emphasized universalism). While the two parent denominations were rooted in liberal Christianity, the UUA does not even profess to be a specifically Christian body. Its churches exhibit an eclectic blend of liberal Christianity and humanism,
Uragas - Uragas (Sanskrit) [from ura breast + ga going]
Breast-going, a serpent; serpents or nagas dwelling in Patala -- popularly considered hell, but according to Hindu legend, the Indian antipodes or America. These nagas were the
"Adepts, High Priests and Initiates of Central and South America, known to the ancient Aryans; where Arjuna wedded the daughter of the king of the Nagas -- Ulupi. . . . In Mexico the chief ''sorcerers,'' the ''medicine men,'' are called Nagals [Naguals] to this day; just as thousands of years ago the Chaldean and Assyrian High Priests were called Nargals, they being chiefs of the Magi (Rab-Mag), the office held at one time by the prophet Daniel. The word Naga, ''wise serpent,'' has become universal, because it is one of the few words that have survived the wreck of the first universal language. In South as well as in Central and North America, the aborigines use the word, from Behring Straits down to Uruguay, where it means a ''chief,'' a ''teacher,'' and a ''serpent.'' The very word Uraga may have reached India and been adopted through its connection, in prehistoric times, with South America and Uruguay itself, for the name belongs to the American Indian vernacular" (TG 355).
Uragas - Uragas (Sanskrit). The Nagas (serpents) dwelling in Patala the nether world or hell, in popular thought ; the Adepts, High Priests and Initiates of Central and South America, known to the ancient Aryans; where Arjuna wedded the daughter of the king of the Nagas - Ulupi. Nagalism or Naga-worship prevails to this day in Cuba and Hayti, and Voodooism, the chief branch of the former, has found its way into New Orleans.
In Mexico the chief "sorcerers ", the " medicine men ", are called Nagals to this day; just as thousands of years ago the Chaldean and Assyrian High Priests were called Nargals, they being chiefs of the Magi (Rab.Mag), the office held at one time by the prophet Daniel. The word Naga, " wise serpent ", has become universal, because it is one of the few words that have survived the wreck of the first universal language. In South as well as in Central and North America, the aborigines use the word, from Behring Straits down to Uruguay, where it means a "chief", a "teacher and a " serpent ".
The very word Uraga may have reached India and been adopted through its connection, in prehistoric times, with South America and Uruguay itself, for the name belongs to the American Indian vernacular. The origin of the Uragas, for all that the Orientalists know, may have been in Uruguai, as there are legends about them which locate their ancestors the Nagas in Patala, the antipodes, or America.
Vampire - A demon, succubus, incubus, bat, zombie or night-thing between being and non-being who lives off the stolen "blood" of the living. Such blood can be literal blood, divine "Ambrosia," soma, physical energy, menses, semen, life itself or merely the mind or psyche. In languages around the world, words for "cruelty", "red" and "blood" have similar roots: Ainu fure ("red"); Latin burrus ("reddish"); Albanian vras ("hurt"; "kill"); Finnish verta ("blood"); Serbian vampir (vampire); Turkish uber ("witch"); Hungarian vé''r ("blood") and so on.
In his novel, Bat Wing, Sax Rohmer describes a particularly intelligent and horrible Central American vampire bat that has learned how to crawl under the mosquito netting of its sleeping donor.
Vampires, along with other automata and hell-beings created by the sick fantasies of human invention, swell in the qliphotic regions of the nightside of the Tree of Life. The magician crossing the qliphotic path of Characith (whose kala is cunnilingus) is warned to avoid lingering here too long lest he become an addict and vampire. In some black magic practices, the priestess is sacrificed and her soul turned into a familiar for the magician. Here the line between vampire and zombie has been almost deliberately blurred.
Vidya-dhara - Vidya-dhara (Sanskrit). And Vidya-dhari, male and female deities. Lit., "possessors of knowledge".
They are also called Nabhas-chara, "moving in the air", flying, and Priyam-vada, "sweet-spoken ". They are the Sylphs of the Rosicrucians; inferior deities inhabiting the astral sphere between the earth and ether; believed in popular folk-lore to be beneficent, but in reality they are cunning and mischievous, and intelligent Elementals, or "Powers of the air ". They are represented in the East, and in the West, as having intercourse with men (" intermarrying ", as it is called in Rosicrucian parlance; see Count de Gabalis).
In India they are also called Kama-rupins, as they take shapes at will. It is among these creatures that the "spirit-wives" and " spirit-husbands" of certain modern spiritualistic mediums and hysteriacs are recruited. These boast with pride of having such pernicious connexions (e.g., the American "Lily ", the spirit-wife of a well-known head of a now scattered community of Spiritualists, of a great poet and well-known writer), and call them angel-guides, maintaining that they are the spirits of famous disembodied mortals.
These " spirit-husbands" and "wives" have not originated with the modern Spiritists and Spiritualists, but have been known in the East for thousands of years, in the Occult philosophy, under the names above given, and among the profane as - Pishathas.
Vision Quest - Native American spiritual search, especially through solitude, fasting, and dreams
Voodoo - Voodoo is both a corruption of the African Fon word ''Vodou'' (which means ''spirit'' or ''mystery'') and now a powerful spiritual tradition in its own right, most associated with New Orleans and the American South.
Voodoo travelled from Africa in the hearts and souls of Africans who were transported to the Americas during the slave trade. There it became blended with the spiritual practices of the indigenous peoples, who often had a shamanic or animistic belief system, and with the Catholic religion of the slave owners. It recognises one creator-god and a pantheon of angel-like spirits (called Loa) who work on his behalf. The ancestors are a third spiritual force.
All of these spirits may be appealed to for practical help, advice, and support, through prayer, divination and magic. Herbalism also plays a major role in New Orleans Voodoo, where it is known as Hoodoo or root doctoring, and the Voodoo priest and priestess are often powerful healers, working with herbs and with more spiritual and magical healing tools.
Famous names associated with New Orleans Voodoo include Marie Laveau and Dr. John.
Way International - Organization founded by Victor Paul Wierwille The group meets in small groups called Twigs, usually in members'' homes. The American Christian Press is their publishing arm. Current leader is Rosalie F. Rivenbark, installed as third president after resignation of Craig Martindale, who was under accusation of sexual misconduct. The Way has experienced several schisms
Welsh Tradition - WELSH TRADITION:
1) Y Dynion Mwyn, the American branch of Dynion Mwyn, brought to the U.S. by Rhuddlwm Gawr in 1966. Derived from the Tribe of Dynion Mwyn in North Wales. What distinguishes the Tradition of Y Dynion Mwyn from other traditions of Witchcraft or Wicca in general, is the emphasis on a historical linage (alleged to have been passed down from Prince Llewellyn) since 1282; a focus on religious equality (either High Priest or High Priestess may initiate or lead a coven (or grove); and the passing down of handwritten copies of books of power, which include: The Owl (a Book of Shadows), and thirteen books containing magickal philosophy, myths, legends, history, and rituals. These books were named after the Original Mythological Thirteen Treasures of Ancient Britain. The tradition includes a body of lore and ritual associated with the Welsh Mabinogion and Welsh Triads.
2) The New York Welsh Tradition. This tradition was originally founded by Ed Buczynski with the help of Herman Slater. It is derived from The Celtic Tradition as taught by the late Gwen Thompson.
3) A Tradition of Witchcraft derived from the teachings of the ancient Welsh Bards and practiced by Keith Morgan of Wales.
4) A Southern Wales tradition called "Nementon", which was brought to the U.S. by the late Gwydion Penderwen, who founded the tradition in the 60''s and 70''s in California, and is being carried on by his initiates.
Yule - YULE:
1) the festival celebrated about Dec. 21, on the Winter Solstice (shortest day of year).
2) also called Alban Arthan, Jul, and the Winter Solstice. Also see GWYL CANOL GAEAF. It marks the God''s rebirth from Goddess, and reminds us that Death''s product is Rebirth! The American Heritage Dictionary says modern ''yule'' is from Middle English, ''yole'' or ''yule''; which comes from Old English ''geol, geohhol''; from Common Germanic, ''jehwla, jegwla'', meaning unattested.
Zeta Reticuli - The star system whence most American ufo''s are said to derive.
ár Ndraíocht Féin - A Druid Fellowship founded in 1983 by P.E.I (Isaac) Bonewits, former Archdruid of several groves in the Reformed Druids of North America.
Ár Ndraíocht Féin is an American based neo-pagan Druid religious fellowship. It has no direct links to the ancient Druids but is a reconstruction of Druidic and Indo-European pagan rituals and religions. It integrates religion with alternate healing arts, ecology-consciousness, psychic development and artistic expression. It is organized in groves, many of them named after trees. They have eight seasonal High Days (celebrated on the same dates as the Sabbats) and they conduct regular study and discussion groups in addition to a wide range of artistic activities.
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