Creator Dictionary

Brahma:

The supreme Lord...in the Hindu trinity, God in His aspect as the creator of the universe.

(See also: Brahma , Kundalini, Kundalini Yoga, Kundalini Dictionary)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

Archetype:

A form or template emanating directly from the mind of God, which represents one of the twelve attributes of God. Each person has one primary archetype for a particular incarnation. Examples are the Creator, the Teacher and the Healer.

(See also: Archetype , Body Mind and Soul)

Swedenborg, Emmanuel ( 1688-1772)

A Swedish scientist, theosophist, and mystic, a pioneer in both scientific, religious and spiritual thought.

For most of his life Swedenborg pursued a conventional, albeit brilliant, career. Educated at Uppsala University he first became a natural scientist and official with the Swedish Royal College of mines (1710-45), concentrating on research and theory. His foremost scientific writing is 'Opera Philosophica et Mineralia' (Philosophical and Mineralogical Works, three volumes, 1734), a unique combination of metaphysics, cosmology, and science.

A first-rate scientific theorist and inventor, Swedenborg, in some of his insights, anticipated scientific progress by more than a century. Visited by a mystic illumination in 1745, Swedenborg claimed a direct vision of a spiritual world underlying the natural sphere. He began having dreams, ecstatic visions, trances and mystical illusions in which he communicated with Jesus Christ and God and was granted a view of the order of the universe that was radically different from the teachings of the Christian church.

He resigned his job to concentrate full-time on his ecstatic visions and transcribing the knowledge imparted to him from the spiritual world. His voluminous works from this period are presented as divinely revealed biblical interpretations. In his system, best reflected in 'Divine Love and Wisdom' (1763), Swedenborg conceived of three spheres: divine mind, spiritual world, and natural world. Each corresponds to a degree of being in God and in humankind: love, wisdom, and use (end, cause, and effect). Through devotion to each degree, unification with it takes place and a person obtains his or her destiny, which is union with creator and creation.

Unlike many mystics, Swedenborg proposed an approach to spiritual reality and God through, rather than in rejection of, material nature. His 12-volume compendium 'The Heavenly Arcana' (1747-56) represents a unique synthesis between modern science and religion.

In response to a vision of the 'last judgment' and the 'return of Christ', Swedenborg proclaimed the advent of the New Church, an idea that found social expression in the Swedenborgian societies and in the foundation of the Church Of The New Jerusalem in England in 1778, and in the United States in 1792. Many of his views were adopted by 19th century spiritualism and many of his ideas were also disseminated in the works of writers and poets such as William Blake , Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Henry James .

(See also: Emmanuel Swedenborg , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma -

(1) any activity performed in the course of material existence.

(2) pious activities leading to material gain in this world or in the heavenly planets after death.

(3) fate; former acts leading to inevitable results.

(See also: Karma , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Hindu: (Sanskrit) A follower of, or relating to, Hinduism.

Generally, one is understood to be a Hindu by being born into a Hindu family and practicing the faith, or by declaring oneself a Hindu. Acceptance into the fold is recognized through the name-giving sacrament, a temple ceremony called namakarana samskara, given to born Hindus shortly after birth, and to self-declared Hindus who have proven their sincerity and been accepted by a Hindu community. Full conversion is completed through disavowal of previous religious affiliations and legal change of name.

While traditions vary greatly, all Hindus rely on the Vedas as scriptural authority and generally attest to the following nine principles:

1)    There exists a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both creator and unmanifest Reality.

2)    The universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.

3)    All souls are evolving toward God and will ultimately find moksha: spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.

4)    Karma is the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.

5)    The soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved.

6)    Divine beings exist in unseen worlds, and temple worship, rituals, sacraments, as well as personal devotionals, create a communion with these devas and Gods.

7)    A spiritually awakened master or satguru is essential to know the transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, self-inquiry and meditation.

8)    All life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore one should practice ahimsa, nonviolence.

9)    No particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others. Rather, all genuine religious paths are facets of God's pure love and light, deserving tolerance and understanding.

See: Hinduism.

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

creation: The act of creating, especially bringing the world into ordered existence. Also, all of created existence, the cosmos. Creation, according to the monistic-theistic view, is an emanation or extension of God, the Creator. It is Himself in another form, and not inherently something other than Him.

See: cause, tattva.

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

Brahma or Brahmaji or Virinca - SB, 8:

Brahma or Brahmaji or Virinca - SB, 8:6-16): the Creator. Demi-god. There exist more Brahma's. First living being sprouted from Vishnu's navel. Resides on the lotus which is the Creation, i.e. mount Meru. The first created living being and secondary creator of the material universe.

(See also: Brahma or Brahmaji or Virinca - SB, 8 , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

RELIGION

The word "religion" derives from the Latin prefix, re (an intensive) + ligio, "to tie, to bind," hence "a practice designed to tie down tightly, as though by a spell-binding force." If religions were not impervious to change, they would quickly dissolve into the chaos of the occult.

Religion is worship. It is based on the strict separation of divinity and humanity. Magic, on the contrary, is the invocation or evocation of spirits or divinity based on kinship or identity with them.

Living religions begin by being as creative, spontaneous and iconoclastic as the arts. But that creative fire quickly damps down to immutable dogma and robot-priests. Worship for its own sake amounts to little more than useless idolatry. It is utterly infra dig for any intelligent human being. The sole purpose of ritual is the arousal of consciousness in the participant. When such awakening fails to take place, it is time to throw the ikons to the dogs. The universe is self-created and everything in it created itself and goes on creating itself. There are higher beings, to be sure, but it is a perilous mistake to worship "The Creator" who is as far from perfect as you can get and still live on this side of Nothing. Nor should we consider humanity, in its present condition, to be anything but imperfect. Along with Nietzsche, we should see man as capable of infinite improvement. But Nietzsche's so-called "superman" will never evolve without struggle -- and not be the easy struggle of fascistic tyranny over material forms, but by the infinitely more difficult way of universal internal enlightenment.

Since there are infinite levels of enlightenment the majority of people are incapable of consensus or agreement, hence any idea of a religious "congregation" is absurd. As for the profane multitudes... unaware that omniscience, omnipotence and immortality comprise the deepest foundation of existence, they consider their own confusion to be the highest expression of consciousness. The ultimate purpose of creation is to know itself through the experience of eternal expansion of the mind. It is physical or fiscal expansion, however, that is of primary interest to homo vulgaris.

The mission of the magician isn't necessarily to bring down the traditional houses of religion -- especially the monoliths: Islam, Christendom or Judaism. But neither can he support them. For it is a truism that there is wisdom in the individual and it is difference that we should value, not sameness. For the magician, far more acceptable alternatives to monotheism can be found in India, Egypt, Tibet, etc. with their practices of Lamaism, Tantrism, Yoga and so on, or in the atheistic systems of the Tao and Buddhism. But always -- though he understands and honors tradition, the magus creates his own rituals and observances, tailored to his own needs. He does not serve established orders. As Madame Blavatsky so hopefully put it, "There is no religion higher than truth."

RING-PASS-NOT

As the magician draws his circle to keep the demons from entering his world, so other monads draw their own circles to keep out the magician. The ring-pass-not is that Level of attainment beyond which you cannot go. In occult literature, according to Alice Bailey, it is a term used "to denote the periphery of the sphere of influence of any central life force, and is applied equally to all atoms, from the atom of matter as dealt with by the physicist or chemist through the human planetary atoms up to the great atom of a solar system. The ring- pass-not of the average person is the spheroidal form of his mental body which extends considerably beyond the physical and enables him to function on the lower levels of the mental plane."

HPB (The Secret Doctrine) defines the RPN as: "The circumference of the sphere of influence of any center of positive life. This includes the fire sphere of magnetic work of the solar orb, viewing it as the body of manifestation of a Solar Logos or to a planetary scheme and could equally well be applied to the sphere of activity of the human Ego."

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

Christ

(Greek) pure, perfect, ideal, or annointed,

1)    1)The only begotten Son of God, the creator or essence of all that can be known.

2)    one of a number of pretenders to the Jewish throne in the first century.

(See also: Christ , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Sun The central focus of radiating energy, physical and spiritual, of any solar system. In our solar system the sun is one of several suns subordinate to the more central sun of the universal solar system. In the solar cosmos as a whole it is the Logos, the head of the septenary hierarchy of creative forces, corresponding to the Christos, Abraxas, Mithras, Dionysos, etc., in man. Its names among the many peoples of the earth are countless: Osiris, Ormazd, Apollo, Phoebus, Ammon-Ra, Helios, Surya, etc. Symbolized by the circle with a central point, it is for its own system the All-Father. Sun worship, in the occult sense, was once the universal foundation of religion, but it has mostly given place to what is really lunar worship. The sun is often found contrasted with the moon as spiritual is with material; and solar magic means white magic as contrasted with the dark lunar magic. Thus we find deities classed as solar and lunar, or particular deities have both a solar and a lunar aspect. As Father and Son he is seen in Osiris and Horus, atman and buddhi-manas, God and Christos.

Our visible sun, though the center of its system, is not the father of the planets but their "co-uterine brother," one of the "eight sons of Aditi." It is not the creator of the fohatic forces, but their radiating focus. Nor is it an incandescent and cooling body; it is nature's great laboratory of intelligently vital and electromagnetic forces for our system. "The Sun is the heart of the Solar World (System) and its brain is hidden behind the (visible) Sun. From thence, sensation is radiated into every nerve-centre of the great body, and the waves of the life-essence flow into each artery and vein. . . . The planets are its limbs and pulses" (SD 1:541). Physiologically, the sun pulsates life through the solar system, in connection with the 11 and 22 year sunspot phenomena -- the solar spots being due to the contraction of the solar heart.

The sun is a vitally electric glowing sphere; what our eyes see is a reflection, the shell of the real sun, which is hidden behind this reflection. Further, the sun is the storehouse of the vital force of the solar system, which is the "Noumenon of Electricity"; it issues forth from the sun as life currents not only for the earth and every organism upon it, but for all the planets of the solar system (SD 1:531). The production of this vital energy will not cease until the end of the solar manvantara when the sun will instantaneously disappear, after certain long-standing premonitory symptoms.

The sun, like each of the planets, is a chain of globes, of which we see only the globe on the fourth cosmic plane -- a highly ethereal body composed of the fifth, sixth, and seventh, states of matter (counting upwards) of the fourth cosmic plane.

Regarding the elements which scientists state are present in the sun, because such elements are present in spectroscopic observations, theosophy holds that no element on the earth is missing in the sun, and there are other elements there which are unknown to science, yet which are present in the sun.

In the enumeration of the seven sacred planets the sun is used as a substitute for an esoteric planet.

The enormous importance which the sun assumes in nature is based on its being the spiritual and intellectual head of solar system, as well as the general physical and psychological life-giver.

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

DIFFERENCE

All things are one and separation is an illusion, but we are "separated" from reality for the purpose of maximizing experience. The nature of the universe is mind. the purpose of mind is to know itself, and knowing can be done only through particularization.

We must, therefore, respect the differences between one another and honor the wisdom of the individual. Sameness is not an imitation of divinity; it is dross. That which in society is undifferentiated is ugly, evil and dangerous.

The only number of value is One, the number of divinity. No common thread connects things unless it is their complementarity or synergy. Things partake of divinity in proportion to their uniqueness. All power comes from the One, the number of the Magician. All great things, all beautiful or important things reach perfection once and once only. Thus there is no separate "Creator God" apart from his "Creation". That would mean diversity is a lie. Still, diversity is the nature of the One and there is only One. Separation is the illusion, not differentiation. The One mirrors itself, differentiating according to our attention. In Crowley's words, "Every man and every woman is a star."

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

Tortoise In China, a favorite symbol, and Confucius regarded it as sacred; in India the same veneration is given to it, for in one of the preceding manvantaras Vishnu is said in the Puranas to have taken the form of a tortoise to uphold the earth and its beings; his second avatara is called the Tortoise or Kurma avatara.

The Satapatha-Brahmana tells of the collective creator, Prajapati, taking the form of a tortoise to create offspring, and it states that the name of one of the celebrated rishis, Kasyapa, means a tortoise. Also in Hindu astronomy the tortoise is prominent, for the host of stars and constellations are regarded as being placed on a rotating belt in the figure of a sisumara or tortoise.

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

A Christian theological definition of Jesus according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

"

Jesus

See also: Jesus , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

Orr, Leonard

Creator of Rebirthing

(See also: Leonard Orr , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Destiny and Karma. The 10th and central Arcanum, circumscribed by the tetramorph and lettered Caph. It is the pathway between Chesed and Netzach. The wheel is a mandala, enabling the magus to master the polarities within himself. It may also be equated with the wheel of Samsara (birth, death and rebirth). Fortune tellers assign great happiness to this card (presumably because it is ruled by Jupiter).

It also represents the Wheel of the Tarot itself. Caph is "the palm of the hand" and the number ten refers to the ten fingers, leading some interpreters to conclude that the wheel is really a potter's wheel (in the hands of the Creator). Others interpret this as meaning that our fortunes lie in the palms of our hands. Clearly, the meanings of the wheel spin out in all directions.

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

trimurti:

literally 'three-form',the hindu trinity of three deities, brahma, vishnu and shiva, the creator, the Preserver and the destroyer, respectively

(See also: trimurti , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Brahma

1)The first plane, dimension or demigod created at the beginning of manifestation (manvantara) , and the last one to dissapear at the time of cosmic dissolution (pralaya). The first person of the Hindu Trinity (2), the Creator and first member of the trinity in Hinduism, including Shiva and Vishnu, equivalent to the "Father" of the Christians. The name Brahma is a corruption of Abraham. 3)The source of Cosmic Will.

(See also: Brahma , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Quetzalcoatl, Quetzocohuatl (Toltec, Nahautl?) The name of a great teacher, according to the traditions of the Toltecs, who came to them from Tullan or Yucatan and dwelt for twenty years among the people, teaching them to follow a virtuous life, to cease all wars and violent deeds of any kind, to abolish human and animal sacrifices and instead to give offerings of bread and flowers. He taught the people, likewise, the art of picture-writing and the science of the calendar and the artistry of the workers in metals for which Cholula later became famed.

Quetzalcoatl was described as a being of another race, a "white" man with noble features, long black hair and full beard, dressed in flowing robes, whereas the Toltecs were dark-skinned and nearly beardless. Legend tells that he departed to the land of Tlapallan; others say he went to Coatzacualco on the Atlantic coast. Native tradition there still keeps up the divine name of Gucumatz, which among the Quiche means feathered serpent -- Quetzalcoatl in Aztec having the same meaning.

In Mexican religion Quetzalcoatl is regarded as a great deity, a god of the air. In the Quiche cosmogony, as told in the Popol Vuh Gucumatz is one of the first deities to appear, and holds the position of a minor creator.

Quetzalcoatl's "wand and other 'land-marks' show him to be some great Initiate of antiquity, who received the name of 'Serpent' on account of his wisdom, long life and powers. To this day the aboriginal tribes of Mexico call themselves by the names of various reptiles, animals and birds" (TG 269).

(See also: Quetzalcoatl, Quetzocohuatl , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Vishnu: (Sanskrit) "The All-Pervasive." Supreme Deity of

the Vaishnavite religion. God as personal Lord and

Creator, the All-Loving Divine Personality, who

periodically incarnates and lives a fully human life to reestablish dharma whenever necessary. In Saivism,

Vishnu is Siva's aspect as Preserver.

See: Vaishnavism.

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

Lemminkainen (Finnish) A hero of the Kalevala, the son of Lempi. He does battle with the serpent of Tuoni (death) in the Finnish version of the archaic tale, so common in ancient mythologies. Lemminkainen, however, does not slay the serpent, but conquers it by means of the magic words:

"But the hero, quick recalling, speaks the master-words of knowledge, words that came from distant ages, words his ancestors had taught him, words his mother learned in childhood" (rune 26).

Of especial interest is the account of the hero's journey to the regions of the dead (Tuonela), thence to bring back with him the black swan. He is sent thither with but one arrow and his bow; but he is unsuccessful in returning to the upper regions, owing to the fact that he does not know the magic words enabling him to counteract the bite of an adder from the Stream of the Dead. Similar to the Egyptian account in the story of Osiris, there is the plaint of the bereaved mother, the search for her son, and finally the recovery of the body of Lemminkainen, which had been severed into five pieces and cast into the river of death. The mother is unable to restore her son to life, however, even though with divine aid she was able to make the body whole and heal the wounds with balsam obtained by a honeybee (Mehilainen). Finally she instructs the bee how to fly to the greatest deity, Ukko, on the seventh heaven: by way of the moon and the Great Bear. The honeybee makes the fight successfully, returning with the life-giving essence (the balm of the Creator), and the mother brings her son back to life once more.

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

Bogomils

The followers of Bogomilu, a Bulgarian priest (927-968 AD), who held that the Creator had two sons. The older being Satanel and the younger, Michael.

After a war in heaven Satanel was cast out and became master of all flesh and matter and owner of the Earth. Michael, as the Holy Ghost, entered into Jesus who then became the Christ and took away the power of Satanel, leaving him only as Satan, the originator of orthodox religion with all its clergy, rites and vestments.

Deriving from the teachings of the Manach¾ists, this sect (which survived for 400 years)denied the doctrine of the trinity and infant baptism. Baptism, they taught, is for adults only and does not take place externally in water, but internally and spiritual

(See also: Bogomils , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

God

1.    (Judeo-Christianity) Creator and sustainer of the universe.

2.    (Theosophy) Transcendent and immanent being who guides and controls the course of planetary evolution.

3.    Sum total of all that is.

4.    (Islam) Lord of the universe who cannot be represented by any form.

5.    (Hinduism) The One who plays the game of life by becoming the Many, losing itself in the creation and finding its way back to unity; supreme being, personal friend, teacher, and lover who knows the heart of all beings.

6.    (mysticism) Indwelling spirit within all beings; one's highest self realized through contemplation or service; eternal, infinite, all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving, ever-free radiant presence.

7.    (humanism) Impersonal spirit of selfless love

(See also: God , Body Mind and Soul)