Astronomy Dictionary

Seasons The seasons are at least in part due to the inclination of the earth's axis, and wholly according to this explanation in modern astronomy. If there were no inclination -- if the ecliptic coincided with the equator, and the earth's axis with the poles of the equator -- there would be no seasons.

In satya yuga there were no changes of season, but an eternal spring which lasted as long as the lack of polar inclination endured, but which came to an end when the third root-race fell into "sin" -- the two events coinciding. The earth's axis when without inclination is at right angles with the plane of the ecliptic. The titans or kabiri are described in The Secret Doctrine as the generators and regulators of the seasons, thus showing that they take their part with the karmic lipikas in the cosmic history of the globe. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter correspond with other quaternaries, such as the four points of the compass and the four elements; and also represent a cycle of changes from birth to dissolution and rebirth.

In theosophical literature the earth's axis is said to undergo a secular movement of inclination with interims of pausings and smaller changes, or what may be called librations; and this secular movement is on the whole continuous, so that in course of long ages the axis of the earth becomes inverted, and consequently the poles are reversed; continuing their movement, they finally return to the position of right angularity with the plane of the ecliptic. Enormous changes must take place during this cycle upon the earth, not only as regards seasons, but likewise as regards geological and marine convulsions and cataclysms -- evidences of which are apparent not only in the geological record, but in many otherwise unexplained and perhaps unexplainable botanical and zoological migrations. What is at one time land becomes sea, and vice versa.

See also EQUINOX; SOLSTICE

(See also: Seasons , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Conjunction A conjunction of two heavenly bodies occurs when, as seen from the earth, they are in the same ecliptic longitude, according to astrology; or in the same right ascension, according to astronomy. More than two bodies appearing in exact conjunction is an exceedingly rare occurrence. The planets and the sun and moon are usually considered, but the fixed stars may be included. Such conjunctions have always been held in astrology to indicate, prefigure, or cause important events and changes, and to mark the changes of cycles. The conjunctions of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars together are specially mentioned. The conjunctions of the sun and moon are related to human and animal physiological conception. Also, the fact that the planetary orbits have nodes and apsides with their own periods of revolution, affords us material for the calculation of many longer periods.

See also ANNUS MAGNUS.

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

Purana (Sanskrit) Ancient, old, an ancient tale or legend. The 18 Hindu scriptures known today as the Puranas are ancient legends of olden times, written in verse, partly in symbolical and allegorical and partly in quasi-historical language.

They are supposed originally to have been composed by Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata. A Purana is a work which has five distinguishing topics (pancha-lakshanas): 1) the creation of the universe; 2) its destruction and renovation; 3) the genealogy of gods and patriarchs; 4) the reigns of the manus, forming the periods called manvantaras; and 5) the history of the solar and lunar races of kings.

The invariable form of the Puranas is of a dialogue between an exponent or teacher and an inquirer or disciple, interspersed with the dialogues and observations of other individuals. In addition to the Puranas there are 18 subordinate Upa-puranas. The Puranas are popularly classified in India under three categories corresponding to the gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas. Those in which the quality of sattva (purity) prevails are: the Vishnu, Naradiya, Bhagavata, Garuda, Padma, and Varaha Puranas, also called the Vaishnava-Puranas. Those in which rajas (passion) are said to prevail, relating chiefly to the god Brahma, are the Brahma, Brahmanda, Brahma-vaivarta, Markandeya, Bhavishya, and Vamana Puranas. Those in which tamas (inertia) is said to prevail, relating chiefly to the god Siva, are the Matsya, Kurma, Linga, Siva, Skanda, and Agni Puranas.

The Puranas ingeniously interweave allegory with cosmic facts and far later human events. "Puranic astronomy, with all its deliberate concealment and confusion for the purpose of leading the profane off the real track, was shown even by Bentley to be a real science; and those who are versed in the mysteries of Hindu astronomical treatises, will prove that the modern theories of the progressive condensation of nebulae, nebulous stars and sun, with the most minute details about the cyclic progress of asterisms -- far more correct than Europeans have even now -- for chronological and other purposes, were known in India to perfection.

"If we turn to geology and zoology we find the same. What are all the myths and endless genealogies of the seven Prajapati and their sons, the seven Rishis or Manus, and of their wives, sons and progeny, but a vast detailed account of the progressive development and evolution of animal creation, one species after the other? . . ."

". . . the Puranic histories of all those men are those of our Monads, in their various and numberless incarnations on this and other spheres, events perceived by the 'Siva eye' of the ancient Seers, (the 'third eye' of our Stanzas and described allegorically. Later on, they were disfigured for Sectarian purposes; mutilated, but still left with a considerable ground-work of truth in them. Nor is the philosophy less profound in such allegories for being so thickly veiled by the overgrowth of fancy" (SD 2:253, 284).

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

Pythagoreans The school founded at Crotona, Italy in the 6th century BC by Pythagoras of Samos. Pythagoras was an initiate not only into the Mysteries of his own native state, but also into those of the ancient Orient, where he had pursued extensive studies. His special work was to translate his esoteric knowledge into terms of the Grecian thought of that period. He shows the ultimate derivation of his wisdom and consequent teaching both by the content of his philosophical doctrines and by his insistence upon purity and self-mastery in life as a prime requisite to the attainment of wisdom.

His word metempsychoses is given as meaning the transference of the soul from one body to another; whereas by its Greek etymology it should mean the various highly occult transformations undergone by the soul-ego after death, and preceding the process of reensoulment -- something of larger significant content than what the word reincarnation has mainly come to mean today, as implying merely soul-reimbodiment. It is the teaching of the various successive karmic transformations and imbodiments of a monad during its evolutionary cycle -- not only in the larger sense of cosmic destiny, but also in the smaller sense of its karmic transformations between death and the succeeding physical birth.

Pythagoras is famous for his use of numerical and geometrical keys, which he illustrated by reference to the geometrical figures, the musical scale, astronomy, etc. He is supposed to have "discovered" the Divine Section, the regular polyhedra, and the proposition relating to the square of the hypotenuse; what he did was to show that these were keys to the interpretation of mysteries. Porphyry reports that the numerals of Pythagoras were "hieroglyphical symbols by means whereof he explained ideas concerning the nature of things: (Vita Pythag) or, Blavatsky adds, "the origin of the universe" (SD 1:361). His tetraktys is a gem of condensed esoteric symbolism.

The influence of his school may be traced in subsequent Greek history, inspiring such characters as Epaminondas; "It was Pythagoras who was the first to teach the heliocentric system, and who was the greatest proficient in geometry of his century. It was he also who created the word 'philosopher,' composed of two words meaning a 'lover of wisdom' -- philosophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer and astronomer of historical antiquity, and also the highest of the metaphysicians and scholars, Pythagoras has won imperishable fame. He taught reincarnation as it is professed in India and much else of the Secret Wisdom" (TG 266).

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

Year There are several years -- the sidereal, tropical, lunar, and others -- known to astronomy and calendrical science. Among nations we find numerous artificial years used for purposes of adapting civil requirements to celestial necessities, or for carrying out particular methods of computation: e.g., the year of 365 days, the Julian year of 365 1/4 days, an ancient Mexican year of 260 days, and a variety of Hindu years.

There is also the occult year of 360 days, which may be looked upon as a year based upon a deep knowledge of astronomy and celestial principles. The year of 360 days may likewise be considered as an average, i.e., the year which the earth hovers around and attempts through the evolving cycles of time to attain and to hold. The lunar year of twelve lunations has been widely used in ancient times, and is still used by some nations; and there is a large number of intercalary devices for accommodating this to the solar year. Blavatsky speaks of years of six months and of two months (SD 2:621), and uses the word year as synonymous with cycle as applicable to various periods, known or secret, and even to so long a cycle as that of the precession.

The solstices and equinoxes are found in history as starting points for the year among different nations. Our own was intended for the winter solstice, but confusions of the calendar have shifted the date. The 4th of January is mentioned in theosophical writings as being the right time for the beginning of the civil year, as marking the date of the first full moon after a winter solstice coincident with a new moon. This has relation to initiatory rites.

The solar year has sometimes been used correctly enough as a symbol of solar gods and powers. Its length in full days, 365, is given by the letters in certain names, taken as numerals in accordance with the rules of the Greek alphabet: Abraxas, Meithras, Neilos, all add up to 365. This is often contrasted with the lunar year of 354 days, for which similar symbolism may be found.

The actual mysteries connected with the computations of the annual cycle of the sun are very numerous, yet all have a common background of identic fact, though the details vary considerably from people to people. As an example of the many ideas connected with the year, what is now popularly but rather mistakenly called the Babylonian method of dividing the circle or a cycle of time into 360 divisions called degrees, and each such degree again into 60 minutes, and each minute again into 60 seconds, was itself based on the occult year of 360 days, each day consisting of 12, or indeed 24, hours, each hour consisting of 60 minutes, and each minute again comprising 60 seconds.

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

Hiranyagarbha (Sanskrit) (from hiranya imperishable substance, golden + garbha womb, embryo, fetus, also the interior of anything, hence a temple)

Golden egg or womb; the matrix of imperishable substance.

"The luminous 'fire mist' or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed" (TG 142); applied to Brahma, described in the Rig-Veda as born from a golden egg formed out of the seed deposited in the waters when they were produced as the first vikaras of the Self-existent; according to Manu (1:9) this seed became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which the self-existent Brahman while remaining transcendent in its higher parts, evolved into Brahma the Creator, who is therefore regarded as a manifestation of the Self-existent. Having continued a year in the egg, Brahma divided it into two parts by his mere thought, and with these two he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters.

"The 'Mundane Egg' is, perhaps, one of the most universally adopted symbols, highly suggestive as it is, equally in the spiritual, physiological, and cosmological sense. . . . The mystery of apparent self-generation and evolution through its own creative power repeating in miniature the process of Cosmic evolution in the egg, both being due to heat and moisture under the efflux of the unseen creative spirit, justified fully the selection of this graphic symbol. The 'Virgin Egg' is the microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype -- the 'Virgin Mother' -- Chaos or the Primeval Deep. The male Creator (under whatever name) springs forth from the Virgin female, the immaculate root fructified by the Ray. Who, if versed in astronomy and natural sciences, can fail to see its suggestiveness? Cosmos as receptive Nature is an Egg fructified -- yet left immaculate; once regarded as boundless, it could have no other representation than a spheroid. The Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), 'four ready, three secret'" (SD 1:65).

In Vedantic philosophy, used somewhat equivalently to sutratman, atman invested with the sukshma-sarira, as well as with the other sariras flowing forth from this and permeating and infilling them all as the thread-self.

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

Pillaloo Codi (Tamil). A nickname in popular astronomy given to the Pleiades, meaning "hen and chickens". The French also, curiously enough call this constellation, "Poussinière".

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

Paranellatons. In ancient Astronomy the name was applied to certain stars and constellations which are extra Zodiacal, lying above and below the constellations of the Zodiac; they were 36 in number: allotted to the Decans, or one-third parts of each sign. The paranellatons ascend or descend with the Decans alternately, thus when Scorpio rises, Orion in its paranellaton sets, also Auriga; this gave rise to the fable that the horses of Phaeton, the Sun, were frightened by a Scorpion, and the Charioteer fell into the River Po; that is the constellation of the River Eridanus which lies below Auriga the star.

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

Vriddha-garga Vriddha-garga (Sanskrit) Old Garga; an ancient sage who was one of the oldest writers on astronomy.

(See also: Vriddha-garga , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

AQUARIUS

The 11th sign, the number of wizardry - electronic as well as esoteric. The sign of astronomy, no less than astrology, and above all the sign of independence and service to the world. The new precessional beginning of the zodiac, heading the New Age. It is the emblem and inspiration of "Man": "Henceforth the Son of Man appeareth in the heavens..." In 1929 Jung wrote that we would enter the first star of Aquarius in 1940, adding "That would be the turning point. We may look for a new development about that time." The fact that 1940 marked the entry into a lustrum that encompassed the nadir of humanity indicates that the "Age of Man" is the Kali Yuga.

Famous Aquarians are Lincoln, Thomas Paine, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Edison, Lindbergh, Dickens, and Jules Verne.

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

Suryasiddhanta (Sanskrit). A Sanskrit treatise on astronomy.

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

Singular Point Used in mathematics in contradistinction to an ordinary point or Euclid's point, without length, breadth, or thickness.

The singular point is made by the intersection of two lines, at the apex of a cone, where a decreasing magnitude reaches zero, the node of a vibration, or when something passes from one state to another. Sir James Jeans, in Astronomy and Cosmogony, says: "The type of conjecture which presents itself, somewhat insistently, is that the centers of the nebulae are of the nature of 'singular points,' at which matter is poured into our universe from some other, and entirely extraneous, spatial dimension, so that, to a denizen of our universe, they appear as points at which matter is being continually created."

This suggests that he avoids the idea that matter can be created, and resorts to a fourth-dimensional theory to explain its mysterious appearance. In theosophical philosophy, physical matter is formed or deposited from ultraphysical matter, as energy-substance passing from one plane to another, so there is no need to resort to a fourth-dimensional theory.

(See also: Singular Point , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Ketu (Sanskrit). The descending node in astronomy; the tail of the celestial dragon who attacks the Sun during the eclipses; also a comet or meteor.

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

Sunspots Astronomers describe the spots appearing upon the photosphere of the sun as irregularly ring-shaped penumbra enclosing a darker central umbra. Although the umbra looks black in comparison with the bright surrounding photosphere, it is actually quite brilliant. The spots have no permanence, either in time or shape: they often arise from combinations of contiguous smaller spots, or from no apparent cause on the sun's face, within a short period (often about a day). Bridges may form across a spot and thus give shape to two spots. All spots are carried across the sun's body by the sun's rotation, very few being found near the equator nor at 45 or more degrees from the equator.

In theosophy the spots are due to the diastolic and systolic movements of the sun -- which is the heart as well as the brain of the solar system -- in its rhythmic pulsations, by which the life forces of the system are circulated in a period roughly ranging from ten to twelve years, and usually given as being eleven years -- the sunspot cycle of astronomy. "Thus, there is a regular circulation of the vital fluid throughout our system, of which the Sun is the heart -- the same as the circulation of the blood in the human body -- during the manvantaric solar period, or life; the Sun contracting as rhythmically at every return of it, as the human heart does. Only, instead of performing the round in a second or so, it takes the solar blood ten of its years, and a whole year to pass through its auricles and ventricles before it washes the lungs and passes thence to the great veins and arteries of the system.

". . . It is similar to the regular and healthy pulsation of the heart, as the life fluid passes through its hollow muscles. Could the human heart be made luminous, and the living and throbbing organ be made visible, so as to have it reflected upon a screen, . . . then every one would see the Sun-spot phenomenon repeated every second -- due to its contraction and the rushing of the blood" (SD 1:541-2).

The sunspots serve not only as vents for egress and ingress of the steams of lives in constant circulation throughout this solar system, but such solar pulsations are cosmically rhythmic and the well-being of the entire solar system is controlled by the vital and intellectual energies constantly active in and through the sun, and whose functional operations are physically expressed by the appearance and disappearance of the sunspots.

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

The Venus Transit will be a wonderful opportunity to plug into a major planetary shift that will have positive collective consequences for us all.

Enter the Goddess. As we glimpse voluptuous Venus, bejeweled and beguiling, we view our selves in her role. Confident, sensual, self-assured. The feminine embodiment of Divine Love, Venus takes center stage. The script for this evocative scene has yet to be written. Venus stands alone.

Read more here: » Venus Transit: Enter the Goddess - Venus Transit 2004-2012

Siddhanta (Sanskrit). Any learned work on astronomy or mathematics, in India.

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

SIRIUS

(See SOTHIS.) In recent times reputable French anthropologists who visited the Dogon people of Mali, living in the furthest reaches of Africa, discovered that their mythology revealed an astonishing astronomical knowledge of the star system Sirius. This knowledge could not have evolved from merely studying the star by the naked eye. Only a strong, modern telescope could possibly have told them that Sirius is really two stars, that it has a companion, Sirius B, which is invisible from the earth without a telescope. Nor should they have known that this invisible star has an elliptical orbit, that it is heavier and yet much smaller and so on. The Dogons claim they were told such secret things by Sirian explorers who visited the earth in millennia past. It now appears that missionaries may have confused the issue by teaching them our astronomy at an earlier time.

The connection of the names "Dogon" and the "Dog Star" is based on a peculiarity of language. For the French who made these discoveries, English is a mystery and the similarity of Dogon/dog is an illuminating revelation -- for the word "dog" is, of course, non-existent in French, which uses chien. For us, however, the connection is difficult to see as anything more than a simple-minded and childish pun.

In Egyptian history, the rising of Sirius, the Dog star, at dawn marked the beginning of the year. Sirius (called Sothis) was considered to be "the sun beyond the Sun."

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

Angula (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root ag, the verbal root ang to move)

A thumb or finger, a digit's breadth, a measure equal to eight barley corns; 12 angulas make a vitasti (span), and 24 a hasta (cubit). In astronomy, a digit or 12th part. Anguli-panchaka is the five fingers.

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

Hiranyagarbha (Sanskrit) (from hiranya imperishable substance, golden + garbha womb, embryo, fetus, also the interior of anything, hence a temple)

Golden egg or womb; the matrix of imperishable substance.

"The luminous 'fire mist' or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed" (TG 142); applied to Brahma, described in the Rig-Veda as born from a golden egg formed out of the seed deposited in the waters when they were produced as the first vikaras of the Self-existent; according to Manu (1:9) this seed became a golden egg, resplendent as the sun, in which the self-existent Brahman while remaining transcendent in its higher parts, evolved into Brahma the Creator, who is therefore regarded as a manifestation of the Self-existent. Having continued a year in the egg, Brahma divided it into two parts by his mere thought, and with these two he formed the heavens and the earth; and in the middle he placed the sky, the eight regions, and the eternal abode of the waters.

"The 'Mundane Egg' is, perhaps, one of the most universally adopted symbols, highly suggestive as it is, equally in the spiritual, physiological, and cosmological sense. . . . The mystery of apparent self-generation and evolution through its own creative power repeating in miniature the process of Cosmic evolution in the egg, both being due to heat and moisture under the efflux of the unseen creative spirit, justified fully the selection of this graphic symbol. The 'Virgin Egg' is the microcosmic symbol of the macrocosmic prototype -- the 'Virgin Mother' -- Chaos or the Primeval Deep. The male Creator (under whatever name) springs forth from the Virgin female, the immaculate root fructified by the Ray. Who, if versed in astronomy and natural sciences, can fail to see its suggestiveness? Cosmos as receptive Nature is an Egg fructified -- yet left immaculate; once regarded as boundless, it could have no other representation than a spheroid. The Golden Egg was surrounded by seven natural elements (ether, fire, air, water), 'four ready, three secret'" (SD 1:65).

In Vedantic philosophy, used somewhat equivalently to sutratman, atman invested with the sukshma-sarira, as well as with the other sariras flowing forth from this and permeating and infilling them all as the thread-self.

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

Siddhanta (Sanskrit) [from siddha accomplished from the verbal root sidh to accomplish, succeed + anta end, completion]

An established or canonical textbook or scientific treatise on astronomy and mathematics. One of the best known and most ancient in India is the Surya-Siddhanta, whose age dates even from Atlantean times.

The Surya-Siddhanta itself claims to have been written down under solar instruction by the Atlantean astronomer and mathematician Asuramaya, so that it is contemporaneous with the first appearance of the present fifth root-race.

(See also: Siddhanta , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Vedanga: (Sanskrit) "Veda-limb." Six branches of post- Vedic studies revered as auxiliary to the Vedas.

Four Vedangas govern correct chanting of the Vedas:

1)    Shiksha (phonetics),

2)    ‚handas (meter),

3)    Nirukta (etymology),

4)    Vyakarana (grammar). The two other Vedangas are

5)    )Jyotisha Vedanga (astronomy-astrology) and

6)    Kalpa Vedanga (procedural canon) which includes the Shrauta and Shulba Shastras (ritual codes), Dharma Shastras (social law) and Grihya Shastras (domestic codes).

See: Kalpa Vedanga, Vedas, and individual entries for named texts.

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