The first sun was called Nahui-Ocelotl, "Four-Jaguar," a date of the ritual calendar. Humankind was first destroyed by jaguars, considered by the Aztec as the nahualli ("animal disguise") of the creator god Tezcatlipoca. At the end of the second sun, Nahui-Ehécatl, "Four-Wind," a magical hurricane transformed all people into monkeys. That disaster was caused by Quetzalcóatl (the Feathered Serpent) in the form of Ehecatl, the wind god. A rain of fire had put an end to the third sun, Nahuiquiahuitl, "Four-Ra ...

See also:

Ancient Aztec eschatology, Ancient Aztec eschatology - Destruction of the four suns, Ancient Aztec eschatology - Fifth Sun

Read more here: » Ancient Aztec eschatology: Encyclopedia II - Ancient Aztec eschatology - Destruction of the four suns

BELTANE OR BEALTAINE-   This Sabbat is celebrated on May 1st.  It is rife with fertility rituals and symbolimsm, and is a celebration of the sacred marriage of the Goddess and God. the festival celebrated on April 30th or May 1st. It also celebrates the maturity of the God to manhood and the union of the God and Goddess, and her fertility. Also the traditional Sabbath where the rule of the "Wheel of the Year" is returned to the Goddess. Also called May Day, the old English May Pole tradition was of a phallic symbol, marking the return of vitality, passion and consumated hopes. One of the Ancient Celtic "Fire Festivals." on this night, the cattle were driven between two bonfires to protect them from disease. Couples wishing for fertility would " jump the fires" on Beltane night. This Festival also marks the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from those of Maiden to Mother Pronounced b' YALt'n. Also see NOSWYL MAI.

(See also: BELTANE, BEALTAINE, Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Purification: Once the lamp has been lit and the circle made, the interior of the circle is purged with the materials of purification, which represent one or more of the occult elements. Some groups purify with all four elements, or with the three active elements of Fire, Water, and Air (Earth is regarded as a mixture of these three), as described in The New Magus. In my personal rituals I often use the ancient materials of cleansing: salt, water, and flame. Salt symbolizes elemental Earth, water elemental Water, and the flame combines elemental Fire and Air in the form of a smoking candle or incense stick.

The salt, previously blessed by prayer and consecrated to its purpose, is cast in small pinches sunwise around the circle at the four cardinal points of South, West, North, and East. The water, likewise consecrated, is sprinkled from the fingertips in a similar manner at the four quarters. The flame is waved three times in the air at each of the corners of the circle. Usually the entire act of cleansing is accompanied by prayer.

Remember that you are cleaning the house of the spirit so that the light of the spirit will descend and reside within it. This is a sacred act. It has been said by other writers that purification is the most important part of any ritual. It sets the stage for what is to follow. When done negligently, the work that comes after it will likely be futile, because it will lack a solid foundation.

Q-Celtic: The Goidelic or ancient Gaelic language from which Old Irish evolved and developed into Middle Irish, and then ModernIrish, Gaelic (Scots Gaelic) and Manx Gaelic. Irish calls "four" and "five" ceathair and cuig (ka-her and koo-eeg), Scots Gaelic calls them ceithair and coig (keh-her and koyk).

(See also: Purification, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

John the Baptist Considered by Christians the last of the Hebrew prophets and the forerunner and announcer of Jesus. His statement "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt 3:11), is explained to mean that John as a non-initiate could impart no greater mysteries than those pertaining to the plane of matter -- the exoteric gnosis and ritualism; while Jesus could impart the fire of spiritual knowledge (SD 2:566). His disciples are described as dissenters from the Essenes (IU 2:130).

The rite of baptism was an important function of the Less Mysteries, and in various forms was universal over the earth, so that John the Baptist appears as a teacher in the Less Mysteries, which he seems to have resurrected as a rite in Judea at about the time when Jesus lived. A baptismal rite is known to have been practiced as a function of the Less Mysteries not only among the Chaldeans and Akkadians, but likewise among the Egyptians and certain of the ancient Greeks.

(See also: John the Baptist, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Veda: (Sanskrit) "Wisdom." Sagely revelations which

comprise Hinduism's most authoritative scripture. They, along with the Agamas, are shruti, "that which is heard."

The Vedas are a body of dozens of holy texts known

collectively as the Veda, or as the four Vedas: Rig, Yajur,

Sama and Atharva. In all they include over 100,000

verses, as well as additional prose. The knowledge

imparted by the Vedas is highly mystical or

superconscious rather than intellectual. Each Veda has

four sections: Samhitas (hymn collections), Brahmanas

(priestly manuals), Aranyakas (forest treatises) and

Upanishads (enlightened discourses). The Samhitas and

Brahmanas (together known as the karmakanda, "ritual

section") detail a transcendent-immanent Supreme-Being

cosmology and a system of worship through fire ceremony

and chanting to establish communication with the Gods.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads (the jnanakanda,

"knowledge section") outline the soul's evolutionary

journey, providing yogic-philosophic training and

propounding a lofty, nondual realization as the destiny of

all souls. The oldest portions of the Vedas are thought to

date back as far as 6,000 bce, written down in Sanskrit in

the last few millennia, making them the world's most

ancient scriptures.

See: Aranyaka, Brahmana, shruti,

Upanishad, Vedanga.

(See also: Veda, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

yajna: (Sanskrit) "Worship; sacrifice."

One of the most central Hindu concepts - sacrifice and surrender through acts of worship, inner and outer.

1) A form of ritual worship especially prevalent in Vedic times, in which oblations - ghee, grains, spices and exotic woods - are offered into a fire according to scriptural injunctions while special mantras are chanted.

-       The element fire, Agni, is revered as the divine messenger who carries offerings and prayers to the Gods.

-       The ancient Veda Brahmanas and the Shrauta Shastras describe various types of yajna rites, some so elaborate as to require hundreds of priests, whose powerful chanting resounds for miles. These major yajnas are performed in large, open-air structures called yagashala.

-       Domestic yajnas, prescribed in the Grihya Shastras, are performed in the family compound or courtyard. Yajna requires four components, none of which may be omitted: dravya, sacrificial substances; tyaga, the spirit of sacrificing all to God; devata, the celestial beings who receive the sacrifice; and mantra, the empowering word or chant.

-       While puja (worship in temples with water, lights and flowers) has largely replaced the yajna, this ancient rite still continues, and its specialized priestly training is carried on in schools in India.

-       Yajnas of a grand scale are performed for special occasions, beseeching the Gods for rain during drought, or for peace during bloody civil war. Even in temples, yajna has its Agamic equivalent in the agnikaraka, the homa or havana ceremony, held in a fire pit (homakunda) in an outer mandapa of a temple as part of elaborate puja rites.

-        

2) Personal acts of worship or sacrifice. Life itself is a jivayajna.

-       The Upanishads suggest that one can make "inner yajnas" by offering up bits of the little self into the fires of sadhana and tapas until the greater Self shines forth.

The five daily yajnas, pancha mahayajna, of the householder (outlined in the Dharma Shastras) ensure offerings to rishis, ancestors, Gods, creatures and men. They are as follows.

-       brahma yajna: (also called Veda yajna or rishi yajna) "Homage to the seers." Accomplished through studying and teaching the Vedas.

-       deva yajna: "Homage to Gods and elementals." Recognizing the debt due to those who guide nature, and the feeding of them by offering ghee and uncooked grains into the fire. This is the homa sacrifice.

-       pitri yajna: "Homage to ancestors." Offering of cakes (pinda) and water to the family line and the progenitors of mankind.

-       bhuta yajna: "Homage to beings." Placing food-offerings, bali, on the ground, intended for animals, birds, insects, wandering outcastes and beings of the invisible worlds. ("Let him gently place on the ground [food] for dogs, outcastes, svapachas, those diseased from sins, crows and insects" Manu Dharma Shastras 3.92).

-       manushya yajna: "Homage to men." Feeding guests and the poor, the homeless and the student. Manushya yajna includes all acts of philanthropy, such as tithing and charity. The Vedic study is performed in the morning.

The other four yajnas are performed just before taking one's noon meal. Manu Dharma Shastras (3.80) states, "Let him worship, according to the rule, the rishis with Veda study, the devas with homa, the pitris with shraddha, men with food, and the bhutas with bali."

Mystics warn that all offerings must be tempered in the fires of kundalini through the power of inner yajna to be true and valuable, just as the fire of awareness is needed to indelibly imprint ideas and concepts on one's own akashic window.

See: dharma, havana, homa, puja, sacrifice.

(See also: Yajna, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Veda: (Sanskrit) "Wisdom."

Sagely revelations which comprise Hinduism's most authoritative scripture. They, along with the Agamas, are shruti, "that which is heard."

The Vedas are a body of dozens of holy texts known collectively as the Veda, or as the four Vedas:

-       Rig,

-       Yajur,

-       Sama and

-       Atharva.

In all they include over 100,000 verses, as well as additional prose. The knowledge imparted by the Vedas is highly mystical or superconscious rather than intellectual.

Each Veda has four sections:

-       Samhitas (hymn collections),

-       Brahmanas (priestly manuals),

-       Upanishads (enlightened discourses).

The Samhitas and Brahmanas (together known as the karmakanda, "ritual section") detail a transcendent-immanent Supreme-Being cosmology and a system of worship through fire ceremony and chanting to establish communication with the Gods.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads (the jnanakanda, "knowledge section") outline the soul's evolutionary journey, providing yogic-philosophic training and propounding a lofty, nondual realization as the destiny of all souls.

The oldest portions of the Vedas are thought to date back as far as 6,000 bce, written down in Sanskrit in the last few millennia, making them the world's most ancient scriptures.

See: Aranyaka, Brahmana, shruti, Upanishad, Vedanga.

(See also: Veda, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Salt Used in alchemy for a fundamental principle of nature, a member of the triad mercury, sulphur, and salt, corresponding to spirit, soul, and body; or to fire (or air), water, and earth. Paracelsus regarded these as the mystical elements of all compound bodies.

All forms of matter were reducible to one or other of them -- everything was either a sulphur, a mercury, a salt, or a compound. The philosopher's stone was said to be a compound of all three. Thus salt is the physical rudiment, as illustrated by the cubical crystals of common salt. Ancient thought regarded such elements as fundamental principles which manifest on various planes, nor did it make hard and fast distinctions between physical and nonphysical; but modern thought has given a fictitious reality to physical objects, and regards the ancient use of the terms as metaphorical.

The veneration shown for salt was not a mere deification of its physical virtues, but a recognition of the salt-principle in nature, of which ordinary salt is merely a physical emblem. The well-known stimulant, flavoring, and preservative qualities of salt prove it to be a physical manifestation of an important principle; such phrases as bread and salt, and salt of the earth are therefore theosophy, as concerns not merely figures of speech but a use of salt in its more radical sense. For the same reason it played an important part, along with other substances, in sacrificial ceremonies.

The word was also used to include other bodies besides sodium chloride or common salt, and is still used in chemistry in this generic sense. With some alchemists we find arsenic taking the place of salt in the fundamental triad, and this would be one of the salts of arsenic.

The Roman Catholic ritual of the exorcism of salt, promulgated in 1851 and 1852 under the sanction of Cardinal Engelbert, Archbishop of Malines, and of the Archbishop of Paris, runs: "The Priest blesses the salt and says: 'Creature of Salt, I exorcise thee in the name of the living God . . . become the health of the soul and of the body. Everywhere where thou art thrown may the unclean spirit be put to flight' " (IU 2:85). A Qabbalistic version is similar.

(See also: Salt, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Typhon (Egypt, Egyptian). An aspect or shadow of Osiris.

Typhon is not, as Plutarch asserts, the distinct " Evil Principle " or the Satan of the Jews; but rather the lower cosmic "principles " of the divine body of Osiris, the god in them - Osiris being the personified universe as an ideation, and Typhon as that same universe in its material realization.

The two in one are Vishnu-Siva. The true meaning of the Egyptian myth is that Typhon is the terrestrial and material envelope of Osiris, who is the indwelling spirit thereof. In chapter 42 of the Ritual (" Book of the Dead"), Typhon is described as "Set, formerly called Thoth".

Orientalists find themselves greatly perplexed by discovering Set-Typhon addressed in some papyri as "a great and good god ", and in others as the embodiment of evil. But is not Siva, one of the Hindu Trimurti, described in some places as "the best and most bountiful of gods ", and at other times, "a dark, black, destroying, terrible " and " fierce god"? Did not Loki, the Scandinavian Typhon, after having been described in earlier times as a beneficent being, as the god of fire, the presiding genius of the peaceful domestic hearth, suddenly lose caste and become forthwith a power of evil, a cold-hell Satan and a demon of the worst kind? There is a good reason for such an invariable transformation. So long as these dual gods, symbols of good and necessary evil, of light and darkness, keep closely allied, i.e., stand for a combination of differentiated human qualities, or of the element they represent - they are simply an embodiment of the average personal god.

No sooner, however, are they separated into two entities, each with its two characteristics, than they become respectively the two opposite poles of good and evil, of light and darkness ; they become in short, two independent and distinct entities or rather personalities. It is only by dint of sophistry that the Churches have succeeded to this day in preserving in the minds of the few the Jewish deity in his primeval integrity. Had they been logical they would have separated Christ from Jehovah, light and goodness from darkness and badness. And this was what happened to Osiris Typhon ;but no Orientalist has understood it, and thus their perplexity goes on increasing. Once accepted - as in the case of the Occultists -  as an integral part of Osiris, just as Ahriman is an inseparable part of Ahura Mazda, and the Serpent of Genesis the dark aspect of the Elohim, blended into our "Lord God " - every difficulty in the nature of Typhon disappears. Typhon is a later name of Set, later but ancient - as early in fact as the fourth Dynasty; for in the Ritual one reads: " 0 Typhon-Set ! I invoke thee, terrible, invisible, all-powerful god of gods, thou who destroyest and renderest desert ". Typhon belongs most decidedly to the same symbolical category as Siva the Destroyer, and Saturn - the "dark god ". In the Book of the Dead, Set, in his battle with Thoth (wisdom)_who is his spiritual counterpart  -  is emasculated as Saturn-Kronos was and Ouranos before him. As Siva is closely connected with the bull Nandi - an aspect of Brahma-Vishnu, the creative and preserving powers - so is Set-Typhon allied with the bull Apis, both bulls being sacred to, and allied with, their respective deities. As Typhon was originally worshipped as an upright stone, the phallus, so is Siva to this day represented and worshipped as a lingham. Siva is Saturn. Indeed, Typhon-Set seems to have served as a prototype for more than one god of the later ritualistic cycle, including even the god of the Jews, some of his ritualistic observances having passed bodily into the code of laws and the canon of religious rites of the "chosen people". Who of the Bible-worshippers knows the origin of the scape-goat (ez or aza) sent into the wilderness as an atonement ? Do they know that ages before the exodus of Moses the goat was sacred to Typhon, and that it is over the head of that Typhonic goat that the Egyptians confessed their sins, after which the animal was turned into the desert?

"And Aaron shall take the scapegoat (Azazel) and lay his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel . . . and shall send him away . . . into the wilderness" (Levit., xvi.). And as the goat of the Egyptians made an atonement with Typhon, so the goat of the Israelites "made an atonement before the Lord" (Ibid., v. 10). Thus, if one only remembers that every anthropomorphic creative god was with the philosophical ancients the "Life-giver" and the "Death-dealer " - Osiris and Typhon, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, etc., etc. - it will be easy for him to comprehend the assertion made by the Occultists, that Typhon was but a symbol for the lower quaternary, the ever conflicting and turbulent principles of differentiated chaotic matter, whether in the Universe or in Man, while Osiris symbolized the higher spiritual triad. Typhon is accused in the Ritual of being one who "steals reason from the soul ". Hence, he is shown fighting with Osiris and cutting him into fourteen (twice seven) pieces, after which, left without his counterbalancing power of good and light, he remains steeped in evil and darkness. I

n this way the fable told by Plutarch becomes comprehensible as an allegory. He asserts that, overcome in his fight with Horus, Typhon "fled seven days on an ass, and escaping begat the boys Ierosolumos and Ioudaios ". Now as Typhon was worshipped at a later period under the form of an ass, and as the name of the ass is AO, or (phonetically) IAO, the vowels mimicking the braying of the animal, it becomes evident that Typhon was purposely blended with the name of the Jewish God, as the two names of Judea and Jerusalem, begotten by Typhon - sufficiently imply.

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

Zagreus, Zagreus-Dionysos (Greek) Dionysos was an earlier name for Bacchus. The mythos concerning Zagreus belongs to the cycle of teachings of the Orphic Mysteries rather than to mythology, so no references occur in the writings for the people, such as Homer and Hesiod. The references that have come down to our day occur principally in the manuscripts of the ancient Greek dramatists, poets, and in other ancient fragments.

As cosmic evolution was taught in the Orphic Mysteries by allegory, so was the evolution of the individual soul or microcosm, centering in the mythos of Zagreus, later Zagreus-Dionysos, the Greek savior, which the Greek Dionysian Mysteries sought to unfold in dramatic and veiled or symbolic literary form. "Dionysos is one with Osiris, with Krishna, and with Buddha (the heavenly wise), and with the coming (tenth) Avatar, the glorified Spiritual Christos . . ." (SD 2:420).

Zagreus has three distinct meanings: 1) the mighty hunter (the pilgrim-soul, hunting for the truth, its aeonic pilgrimage back to divinity); 2) he that takes many captives (the Lord of the Dead); and 3) the restorer or regenerator (King of the Reborn or initiates). Zagreus (later Bacchus or Iacchos) is the divine Son, the third of the Orphic Trinity, the other two being Zeus the Demiurge or divine All-father, and Demeter-Kore, the earth goddess in her twofold aspect as the divine Mother and the mortal maid.

The mythos relates that Zagreus, a favored son of Zeus, aroused the wrath of Hera, who plotted his destruction. First she released the dethroned titans from Tartaros to slay the newborn babe. They induced the child to give up the scepter and apple for the false toys which they held before him: a thyrsos or Bacchic wand (symbol of matter and rebirth into material life), a giddy spinning top, and a mirror (maya or illusion). As the child was gazing at himself in the mirror, they seized him, tore his body into seven or fourteen pieces (as in the Egyptian Mystery tale of Osiris); boiled and roasted and then devoured them. Discovered in this enormity by Zeus, the titans were blasted with his thunderbolt and from their ashes sprang the human race.

The titans with their false gifts symbolize the pursuing energies of the personal, material life, which enchain and delude the soul. They are earth powers which lead the soul from the path by the lure of things of sense. The dismembered body is first boiled in water -- symbol of the astral world; then roasted, "as gold is tried by fire," symbol of suffering and purification and the reascent of the victorious soul to bliss.

Apollo or the Muses, at the command of Zeus, gathered the scattered fragments and interred them near the Omphalos (navel of the earth) at Delphi. The coffin was inscribed: "Here lies dead, the body of Dionysos, son of Semele," as the Zagreus myth was known only to those initiated into the Orphic Mysteries; and the Semele myth was popularly known. The exoteric myth represents the divine Son as the son of Zeus by the mortal maid Semele, Demeter-Kore in the guise of a mortal woman, to whom the still beating heart of Zagreus was entrusted when he was slain, that she might become its mother-guardian.

Hera, however, poisoned the mind of Semele with suspicion when the new-forming body of Zagreus within her reached the seventh month of gestation, and Semele impelled Zeus to reveal himself to her in his true form, whereupon the mortal body of Semele was destroyed by the divine fire. The holy babe was saved from death by Zeus, who sewed the child up in his own thigh until "the life that formerly was Zagreus, was reborn as Dionysos," the risen Savior, at Easter (the spring equinox), while as Zagreus he had been born at Semele's death at the winter solstice. Here we

See the myth's solar significance.

The nymphs of Mount Nysa reared him safely in a cave, and when he reached manhood, Hera forced him to wander over the earth. He overcame all opposition and was successful in establishing Mystery schools wherever he went. After his triumph in the world of men, Dionysos descended into the underworld and led forth his mother, now rechristened as Semele-Thyone (Semele the Inspired), to take her place among the Olympian divinities as the divine mother and radiant queen, and later, with Dionysos, to ascend to heaven.

Zagreus as Dionysos is known as the god of many names, most of which refer to his twofold character as the suffering mortal Zagreus, and the immortal or reborn god-man. Many titles also refer to him as the mystic savior. He is the All-potent, the Permanent, the Life-blood of the World, the majesty in the forest, in fruit, in the hum of the bee, in the flowing of the stream, etc., the earth in its changes -- the list runs on indefinitely, and is strikingly similar to the passage in which Krishna, the Hindu avatara, instructs Arjuna how he shall know him completely: "I am the taste in water, the light in the sun and moon," etc. (BG ch 7).

The philosophers, dramatists, and historians who held the Dionysian mythos to be purely allegorical and symbolic take in the great names of antiquity, including Plato, Pythagoras, all the Neoplatonists, the greatest historians, and a few of the early Christian Fathers, notably Clement of Alexandria; Eusebius, Tertullian, Justin, and Augustine, also write of it.

The exoteric literature of Orphism is scanty, while the esoteric teachings were never committed to writing. Outside of the Orphic Tablets and Orphic Hymns, no original material has been discovered to date. Scholars judging from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, have held that the Eleusinian Mystery-drama was based solely on the story of Persephone; but later researches indicate that, under the influence of Epimenides and Onomakritos, both deep students of Orphism, the Orphic Mystery tale of Zagreus-Dionysos was incorporated in the Eleusian ritual, the divine son Iacchos becoming thus identified with the Orphic god-man, Zagreus-Dionysos.

Cosmically this highly esoteric story refers to the cosmic Logos building the universe and becoming thereby not only its inspiriting and invigorating soul, but likewise the divinity guiding manifestation from Chaos to complete fullness of evolutionary grandeur; and in the case of mankind, the legend refers to the origin, peregrinations, and destiny of the human monad, itself a spiritual consciousness-center, from unself-consciousness as a god-spark, through the wanderings of destiny until becoming a fully self-conscious god. The key to the symbolism of Zagreus-Dionysos is given by Plato in the Cratylus: "The Spirit within us is the true image of Dionysos. He therefore who acts erroneously in regard to It . . . sins against Dionysos Himself," i.e., the inner god, the divinity in man. The legend thus contains not only past cosmic as well as human history, but contains as a prophecy what will come to pass in the distant future.

(See also: Zagreus, Zagreus-Dionysos, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

On the morning of the marriage ceremony, the groom was expected to leave before dawn and go to a spot near a river or other body of running water, and kindle a fire before the first light of dawn with coals taken from his clans fire. In Ah-ni-yv-wi-ya culture, the first light of dawn was considered the most powerful time of the day. He was also expected to be met there before dawn by his close male relatives and men he hunted with from his clan. The young man was expected to talk about his adventures and make his goodbyes to his friends. Onl ...

See also:

Cherokee Clans, Cherokee Clans - Background on Cherokee Clans in Ancient History, Cherokee Clans - The Seven Cherokee Clans, Cherokee Clans - Spiritual Significance of the Clans in Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni Rituals, Cherokee Clans - Ancient Spiritual Symbolism of the Cherokee Clans, Cherokee Clans - Clan Customs of the Cherokee Clans, Cherokee Clans - Cherokee Marriage Customs Between the Clans, Cherokee Clans - Clan Marriage Ceremonies of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni, Cherokee Clans - Clan Married Life, Cherokee Clans - Clan Voting and Banishment in Ancient Times

Read more here: » Cherokee Clans: Encyclopedia II - Cherokee Clans - Clan Marriage Ceremonies of the Ah-ni-ku-ta-ni

Soma (Sanskrit) In Hinduism, the moon astronomically; mystically, a sacred beverage of initiates, "made from a rare mountain plant by initiated Brahmans" (TG 304).

As the moon, Soma is an occult mystery, for the moon as a symbol stands for both good and evil, yet more often a symbol of evil than of good. Astrologically, Soma is the regent of the invisible or occult moon, while Indu represents the physical moon. "Soma is the mystery god and presides over the mystic and occult nature in man and the Universe" (SD 2:45). Soma or lunar worship was once purely occult and its rites were based upon a minute and profound knowledge of nature.

According to Hindu tradition, Soma as a sacred juice gave mystic visions and trance-revelations, the result of which union was Budha (esoteric wisdom). This sacred beverage was drunk by Brahmins and initiates during their mysteries and sacrificial rites.

"The 'Soma' plant is the asclepias acida, which yields a juice from which that mystic beverage, the Soma drink, is made. Alone the descendants of the Rishis, the Agnihotri (the fire priests) of the great mysteries knew all its powers. But the real property of the true Soma was (and is) to make a new man of the Initiate, after he is reborn, namely once that he begins to live in his astral body . . .; for, his spiritual nature overcoming the physical, he would soon snap it off and part even from that etherealized form. . . .

"The partaker of Soma finds himself both linked to his external body, and yet away from it in his spiritual form. The latter, freed from the former, soars for the time being in the ethereal higher regions, becoming virtually 'as one of the gods,' and yet preserving in his physical brain the memory of what he sees and learns. Plainly speaking, Soma is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge forbidden by the jealous Elohim to Adam and Eve or Yah-ve, 'lest Man should become as one of us' " (SD 2:498-9&n).

"A 'soma-drinker' attains the power of placing himself in direct rapport with the bright side of the moon, thus deriving inspiration from the concentrated intellectual energy of the blessed ancestors. . . .

"This which seems one stream (to the ignorant) is of a dual nature -- one giving life and wisdom, the other being lethal. He who can separate the former from the latter, as Kalahamsa separated the milk from the water, which was mixed with it, thus showing great wisdom -- will have his reward" (BCW 12:203-4).

"This Hindu sacred beverage answers to the Greek Ambrosia or nectar, drunk by the gods of Olympus. A cup of kykeon was also quaffed by the mysta at the Eleusinian initiation. He who drinks it easily reaches Brahma, or the place of splendor (Heaven). The soma-drink known to Europeans is not the genuine beverage, but its substitute; for the initiated priests alone can taste of the real soma; and even kings and rajas, when sacrificing, receive the substitute. . . . We were positively informed that the majority of the sacrificial priests of the Dekkan have lost the secret of the true soma. It can be found neither in the ritual books nor through oral information. The true followers of the primitive Vedic religion are very few; these are the alleged descendants from the Rishis, the real Agnihotris, the initiates of the great Mysteries. The soma-drink is also commemorated in the Hindu Pantheon, for it is called King-Soma. He who drinks of it is made to participate in the heavenly king, because he becomes filled with it, as the Christian apostles and their converts became filled with the Holy Ghost, and purified of their sins. The soma makes a new man of the initiate; he is reborn and transformed, and his spiritual nature overcomes the physical; it gives the divine power of inspiration, and develops the clairvoyant faculty to the utmost. According to the exoteric explanation the soma is a plant, but, at the same time it is an angel. It forcibly connects the inner, highest 'spirit' of man, which spirit is an angel like the mystical soma, with his 'irrational soul,' or astral body, and thus united by the power of the magic drink, they soar together above physical nature and participate during life in the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven.

"Thus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers -- the mantras -- this liquor is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real soma -- or the angel, and even into Brahma himself" (IU 1:xl-xli).

The mystical drink has been known in all ages and among all peoples. The ancient Teutonic tribes, whether of the Germanic or Anglo-Saxons, spoke of their divine mead, the drink of the gods. The Hindus spoke of Soma, the direct distillation from the moon and from the overseeing and guiding eye of the sun; the Greeks of the Homeric age spoke of ambrosia or nectar, a drink of the gods which renewed their understanding and gave them inspiration as well. Another branch of the Greeks belonging to the Dionysian and Orphic branches of mystical thought, spoke equally mystically of the mystic wine, and also of the mystic cereal, partaken of during the Mysteries, and it is from this last that the mystical wine and cereal or bread of the Christians was taken over almost completely from the Dionysian Eucharist, only among Christians even from quite early times it became degraded into actual blood and flesh of Jesus.

The evident meaning must be connected with the old occult thought that wine, or the mead of the northern peoples where the grape and soma were unknown or uncultivated, all had the meaning of the inspiration of initiation, a kind of ecstasy of vision and knowledge brought about through initiation, of which the physical intoxication of wine, mead, or the soma juice has all the lower and materialized aspect, every spiritual thing having its material counterpart, every right-hand thought or rule in occultism having its left-hand or sorcerer perversion or counterpart. Thus in the highest initiation, even today and from immemorial time, the holy drink or potation was entirely mystical, and had a dozen of these significances, all bound up together; yet despite this fact, for some of the lower initiations where a student found difficulty in throwing off the physical and astral influences, a harmless -- when administered rightly -- drug or drink was given which temporarily stupefied the lower quaternary; but it is to be noted that this substitute of the physical drink came about when neophytes began to find it very difficult to do what their more spiritual forerunners had done: raising themselves solely by inner aspiration up to inspiration, by inner insight up to the epopteia or vision.

Thus the question whether the mystical drink was an actual drink, or merely a mystical one, cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. Originally it was entirely mystical, later it remained as mystical as ever, but the body with its grossness, and the astral influences with their terrible power over the men and women of the time, were temporarily reduced to quiescence by a preparation known to initiates to have the power of bringing about the condition required, without any permanent or even long after-effect, very much as a sedative will be given by a physician today. It is of course true that if this drink, however relatively innocent in a single instance, were to be constantly repeated, it would have developed into a drug habit.

Some of the later peoples in their initiations actually did use a kind of physical soma which had the effect of bringing about a dulling of the restless brain-mind for the time being, so that the inner powers were temporarily freed from the clogging influences of the astral light and the body.

The use of drugs in initiatory ceremonies of any kind, however, is a relatively late and degenerate practice, and has never at any time been, nor will it ever be, introduced by the Mother-Lodge coming down to us even from the middle of the third root-race. With it the old tradition burns more brightly than ever that the true soma, the true mead of the gods or wine of the spirit, is the raising of the human into the spiritual by aspiration, training, and strict following of the traditional laws of discipleship, so that finally the neophyte feels the sunlight from above stealing through the moon of his mind.

So strongly is this the case, that even today in theosophical occult studies, drug taking of any kind is strictly forbidden, including alcohol, for alcohol is a drug, a product of natural decay and decomposition, and while less spectacular and violent as a rule than drugs such as opium and its derivatives, it is far more easily procurable and is therefore more specifically pointed to as objectionable. The idea of the occult student is to have the body absolutely normal, healthy, clean, and functioning in the smoothness of health, so that even overeating is seen to be a harmful thing, because it clogs the body, dulls the mind, and could even actually lead to physical disability.

There is and has been a great deal of confusion, not only at present but throughout the ages, about these matters, and several mystical schools have even chosen the language of the tavern and drinking house as the cloak for conveying occult or semi-occult teaching. A noted example is the Sufi school with its poems lauding the flowing bowl and the joys of the tavern and the bosom friends therein, and the beloved's breast. Here the tavern was the universe, the flowing cup or wine was the wine of the spirit bringing inner ecstasy, the bosom of the beloved was the raising oneself into inner communion with the god within, of which the Jewish bosom of Abraham is a feeble correspondence. The friends of the tavern are those perfect human relations brought about by a community of spiritual and intellectual interests, and the associations of the tavern are the mysteries of the world around us with their marvels and arcana. Nevertheless in various countries as the fourth root-race ran toward its evil culmination, the mystic became translated into the material, the spiritual degenerated into the teaching of matter, so that indeed in later Atlantean times the drugging of initiates was common, and the results always disastrous, this being one of the sorceries for which the Atlanteans in occult history have remained infamous. Yet even in the fifth root-race, due to the heavy Atlantean karma still weighing on us, many nations as late as historic times employed more or less harmless potations to bring about a temporary dulling or stupefying of the brain and nervous system -- a procedure always vigorously opposed by the theosophic occult school which has never at any time allowed it.

(See also: Soma, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

List of songs over fifteen minutes in length - Yes. (18:41) "Close to the Edge" in Close to the Edge (1972) by Yes (22:22) "The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)" in Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) by Yes (20:38) "The Remembering (High the Memory)" in Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) by Yes (18:35) "The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)" in Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) by Yes (21:37) "Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)" in ...

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Fire is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. Prometheus stole fire from the gods to protect the otherwise helpless humans, and was tortured for his kindness. Fire is considered to be both hot and dry, and according to Plato is associated with the tetrahedron. In Wiccan tradition, it is associated with the South, Summer, and the color red on the physical plane. It is sometimes represented by a red triangle, the athame, blood, candles, the guitar, rubies, and incense. Fire represents energy, inspir ...

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Fire classical element, Fire classical element - Western concepts of Fire, Fire classical element - Non-Western concepts of Fire

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Note: Because Hao mastered all five elements, he can simply change the Spirit of Fire into any of the other elemental spirits as he wishes. The only reason he uses the Spirit of Fire instead of the others is because he likes fire. The only spirit capable of defeating any one of those five are the great spirits themselves. Reishi (Soul Sight) This is the ability to read the hearts of others. Whilst in some ways a useful ability, it is incredibly hard to control, with the end result that Hao was constantly i ...

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Hao Asakura, Hao Asakura - Character, Hao Asakura - History, Hao Asakura - Events of Shaman King, Hao Asakura - Abilities/Techniques, Hao Asakura - Anime vs Manga, Hao Asakura - Side Note

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Although the term baptism is not used to describe the Jewish rituals, the purification rites (or Mikvah - ritual bath) in Jewish laws and tradition, this is where the ritual of baptism can find its origins. In the Tanakh, and other Jewish texts, bathing for ritual purification was established for specified circumstances – in order to be restored to a condition of 'ritual purity'. For example, Jews who become ritually 'defiled' by contact with a corpse (according to the Law of Moses), had to use the mikvah before being alowed ...

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Baptism, Baptism - Background in Jewish ritual, Baptism - Explanation, Baptism - Ecumenical statement, Baptism - Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Lutheran Anglican and Methodist baptism, Baptism - Baptism and salvation, Baptism - Conditions of the validity of a baptism, Baptism - Baptism by other denominations, Baptism - Who may administer a baptism, Baptism - Baptist and other Protestant baptism, Baptism - Reformed and Covenant Theology view, Baptism - Latter Day Saint baptism, Baptism - Baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Baptism - Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptism - Baptism in Churches of Christ, Baptism - Other baptisms, Baptism - Non-christian religions, Baptism - Non-religious baptism, Baptism - Related articles and subjects, Baptism - People and ritual objects, Baptism - Resources

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Although the term baptism is not used to describe the Jewish rituals, the purification rites (or Mikvah - ritual bath) in Jewish laws and tradition, this is where the ritual of baptism can find its origins. In the Tanakh, and other Jewish texts, bathing for ritual purification was established for specified circumstances – in order to be restored to a condition of 'ritual purity'. For example, Jews who become ritually 'defiled' by contact with a corpse (according to the Law of Moses), had to use the mikvah before being alowed ...

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Baptism, Baptism - Background in Jewish ritual, Baptism - Explanation, Baptism - Ecumenical statement, Baptism - Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Lutheran Anglican and Methodist baptism, Baptism - Baptism and salvation, Baptism - Conditions of the validity of a baptism, Baptism - Baptism by other denominations, Baptism - Who may administer a baptism, Baptism - Baptist and other Protestant baptism, Baptism - Reformed and Covenant Theology view, Baptism - Latter Day Saint baptism, Baptism - Baptism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Baptism - Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptism - Baptism in Churches of Christ, Baptism - Other baptisms, Baptism - Non-Christian religions, Baptism - Methaphorical Baptisms, Baptism - Related articles and subjects, Baptism - People and ritual objects, Baptism - Resources

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In India, some semi-tribal Hindus, as well as some worshipper-communities of Shaktism (the Mother Goddess) offer sacrifice of goats and buffaloes to the deity, but this practise is by and large quickly vanishing, being condemned by other Hindus as superstitious and as inconsistent with Hindu concepts of compassion and ahimsa. Among the Hindus of Nepal, animal sacrifices are common even today, not only for the mother goddess, but also for almost all deities of the Hindu pantheon. Possibly, the ancient Vedic religion of the Aryans involved ani ...

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Sacrifice, Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Islam, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Hinduism, Sacrifice - Animal sacrifice, Sacrifice - Human sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in games

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Suspiria is the first film in a trilogy Argento refers to as "The Three Mothers," about evil forces attempting to break through to the earth and wreak merciless havoc. Argento's next film, Inferno (1980), was the second in the trilogy. The third remains unrealized. The story involves a young US ballet student, Susy Banyon, who arrives in Germany to attend a prestigious dance academy. On the night she arrives, there is a torrential downpour, and she is unable to gain admittance to the school. But she witnesses one student, a young blon ...

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Suspiria, Suspiria - The story, Suspiria - About Suspiria, Suspiria - Soundtrack

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Traditionally absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed, slotted spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then deposited in the bowl of the spoon. Ice cold water is poured or dripped over the sugar until the drink is diluted 3:1 to 5:1. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water come out of solution and cloud the drink; that milky opalescence is called the louc ...

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Absinthe, Absinthe - Constituents, Absinthe - Preparation, Absinthe - History, Absinthe - Etymology, Absinthe - Controversy, Absinthe - Cultural impact, Absinthe - Arts, Absinthe - Movies, Absinthe - Music, Absinthe - Legal status, Absinthe - EU regulations, Absinthe - France, Absinthe - Switzerland, Absinthe - Netherlands, Absinthe - Canada, Absinthe - United States, Absinthe - Countries without bans

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There is some difficulty in describing beliefs and practices because of the fact that there is a great deal of diversity within the religion: between individuals and between traditions. It is commonly understood that most Wiccans worship two deities: the Goddess and the God (sometimes known as the Horned God). Some traditions, such as the Dianic Wiccans, mainly worship the Goddess. In those traditions, the God plays either no role, or a diminished role. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be dualist. They may practice some form of polyth ...

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Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

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There is some difficulty in describing beliefs and practices because of the fact that there is a great deal of diversity within the religion: between individuals and between traditions. It is commonly understood that most Wiccans worship two deities: the Goddess and the God (sometimes known as the Horned God). Some traditions, such as the Dianic Wiccans, mainly worship the Goddess. In those traditions, the God plays either no role, or a diminished role. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be dualist. They may practice some form of polyth ...

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Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

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