Horoscope (from Greek horoskopos observing the hours)

The charts drawn in natal astrology for the birth-moment of a child, and the character and destiny to be read from them. The analogy between the positions of the heavenly bodies and the character and destiny of the native is deducible from theosophic principles and can be proved by the experience of really competent astrologers.

To arrive at any completeness in such forecasts, however, it would be necessary to take into account vastly more data than are usually considered by, or accessible to, modern astrologers: the influence of fixed stars and of planets which are not visible to physical sight, and the immense influences of circumambiant space. At best, too, astrologers can but ascertain the environmental circumstances which surround the native, without being able to estimate those indeterminate factors which result from a free will and an active intelligence.

See also ASTROLOGY

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

KIA

"The eye of central mystical vision." (The "atmospheric eye.") (See ZOS.)

KISMET

Arab version of Destiny in which everything is "written" and nothing can be changed. From Arabic qasama, "lot; to divide," cognate of Greek kosmein, "to order" > cosmos. "Fate" is the ultimate excuse for laziness and doing nothing to change reality.

The important events of our lives seem to derive from the most random and trivial accidents, and yet if we look more closely, it's plain we engineer them more than we realize. We throw ourselves into the paths of the juggernauts we serve and if we miss our destiny today, we will run into it tomorrow. Our lives might be different as to some of the trappings and surroundings if we were to change certain events, but the spirit of our history and our final shape would probably be the same.

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

SPIDER

 In India the spider is the weaver of the web of Maya, illusion. As the destroyer of insect life, it is a guardian against invasion of the lower forces. It is the maternal, feminine force par excellence, inasmuch as the female destroys the male upon completion of mating. In her web she stands as the center of the world. In her spinning of the web and devouring her prey she parallels the waxing and waning of the Moon, involution and evolution, the alternation of birth and death. The spider, as the Moon, then weaves the destiny of everything in the world.

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

SPINNING: archaic means by which raw fiber is spun into thread with a distaff or spindle. In archaic times, it was figuratively believed that the Great Goddess spun all of existence from raw chaos into reality. Spinning Magick was used among the ancient Norse and Germans as a solitary or group ritual. The Norns, the crone-goddesses of north and east Europe, were said to spin fates and destinies.

(See also: SPINNING, Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

INTUITION -

1. undoubting conception of a pure and attentive mind which come from the light of reason alone. (Descartes)

2. harmonizing the self with totality, the infinite universe perceiving far away or future things seeing if someone can be healed or seeing his or her destiny; the judgment of the infinite working through us, received primarily by the mid-brain and the body as a whole. (Michio Kushi) (NAD)

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

Sister Planet "Every world has its parent star and sister planet. Thus Earth is the adopted child and younger brother of Venus" (SD 2:33).

The reference, cosmogonically, is not only to parent stars, but more particularly to planetary chains, their origins and future evolutionary destiny as chains. Theosophical literature on the planetary chains contains but a small part of the material on this teaching.

(See also: Sister Planet, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Microcosm [from Greek mikro little + kosmos world]

A little world; applied to man or any other being considered as a miniature copy of the universe or macrocosm. The destiny and origin of man and the universe are said to be coeval, which is the key to understanding and the basis of practical occultism. Man, as a microcosm, is a storehouse of universal types, not merely as a whole, all parts of his constitution included, but any part of his constitution such as his physical body is itself a microcosm. The decad is applicable in each case, as also septenary and duodenary classification.

(See also: Microcosm, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Orlog (Icelandic) [from or, ur primal + log law]

In Norse mythology, the primal law of all existence, corresponding to karma, the beginningless and endless succession of causes and effects constantly modifying each being's fate or destiny as a result of its own actions.

The agents of Orlog are the three norns that represent the past (Urd, origin), present (Verdandi, becoming), and future (Skuld, debt). It is the inescapable result of all that has gone before and is presently creating the future, whether of universal gods or human beings.

(See also: Orlog, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Promised Land Exoterically, the so-called Holy Land of Palestine, which was promised to the Hebrews as the goal of their wanderings. All peoples of the earth cherish the hope of reaching a Promised Land where peace, happiness, and prosperity will once again be the endowment of the human race.

Esoterically it is nirvana or the pristine spiritual laya-state from which issued the eternal monad and to which it shall ultimately return. It also refers to the sublime consummation of human evolutionary destiny which will take place at the end of the seventh round on the last globe of our planetary chain; and to the reaching by the neophyte through self-devised efforts and initiation of the full status of mahatmaship or minor dhyan-chohanship even on this earth.

(See also: Promised Land, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Prarabhda (Sanskrit) [from pra-a-rabh to begin, undertake]

That which has commenced or been undertaken; that karma arising from the past which is already ripe and which begins to work itself out in the present incarnation. That class of karma which is in the making and will exhaust itself in the future is called sanchita-karma.

Prarabhda-karma parallels the Greek idea of the Moira Lachesis; whereas sanchita-karma corresponds to Atropos; Clotho, third of the Moirae, is the spinner of the present, the karma or destiny which we are now spinning for ourselves.

See also LIPIKA

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

Jiva (Sanskrit) A living being, or center of potential vitality and intelligence, equivalent to monad as well as life-atom.

"Beginning its career as an unself-conscious god-spark, a jiva -- a cosmic elemental born from the cosmic element -- its destiny is to pass through all intermediate stages of evolution until finally it becomes a full-blown god, a jivanmukta" (FSO 225).

Jiva is also used for the cosmic life principle or force and is sometimes used interchangeably with prana, the life principle of the human constitution.

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

Jagad-yoni (Sanskrit) (from jagat world + yoni womb)

The womb of the world; applied to Brahma, Vishnu, and Krishna. It is the material cause of the universe and not the mother of the world, as often translated. It signifies a portion of the spatial deeps to be womb or source of some celestial body such as a planet, or a group of bodies such as a solar system.

Jagad-yoni, therefore, is any portion of kosmic space which through karmic destiny is to be the focus out of which shall spring a celestial globe or solar system. It parallels in certain senses the Hindu hiranyagharba and Greek pleroma (BCW 11:491).

(See also: Jagad-yoni, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Jacob ya`aqob (Hebrew) The younger son of Isaac, founder of the nation of the Israelites, and twin brother of Esau; the Israelites are occasionally called Beith ya`aqob (house of Jacob). The twins symbolize the dual principle in nature, Jacob being the feminine and Esau the masculine principle.

Jacob's pillar is equivalent to the linga; the twelve sons of Jacob are parallel to the Hindu rishis and can correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac. The dream of Jacob, in which he sees angels ascending and descending a ladder from heaven to earth may be interpreted as the transferring of matter from plane to plane, or as the constant circulation of peregrinating monads or beings upwards and downwards, thus fulfilling destiny and feeding the structure of the universe.

(See also: Jacob, ya`aqob, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Achyuta acyuta (Sanskrit) (from a not + the verbal root cyu to move to and fro, fall, fade)

Unfalling, undecaying; the imperishable or indestructible, as applied to Brahman (BG 2:21, VP 1:2); also used as a title of Vishnu and Krishna.

The reverse of chyuta, the fallen or perishable, achyuta refers not so much to an individualized divinity, however sublime, because such divinity would be an entity and therefore limited; but rather to a condition of essential cosmic Being, consciousness-life-substance, the source and final destiny of all entities and things.

(See also: Achyuta, acyuta, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dream Interpretation Bicycle

A bicycle stands for an individual choice of direction, strength and effort. Riding a bike in a dream may suggest that you are the one who is in charge of your own destiny. If you feel as if your bike is floating in the air, you want to advance socially, and to improve your financial situation. Buying a bicycle means that you need to be more active and improve your physical condition.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Bicycle, Meaning of Dreams about Bicycle, Dream Interpretation Bicycle)

Bardesanes or Bardaisan. A Syrian Gnostic, erroneously regarded as a Christian theologian, born at Edessa (Edessene Chronicle) in 155 of our era (Assemani Bibl.. Orient. i. 389).

He was a great astrologer following the Eastern Occult System. According to Porphyry (who calls him the Babylonian, probably on account of his Chaldeeism or astrology), "Bardesanes . . . . held intercourse with the Indians that had been sent to the Cesar with Damadamis at their head" (De Abst. iv. 17), and had his information from the Indian gymnosophists.

The fact is that most of his teachings, however much they may have been altered by his numerous Gnostic followers, can be traced to Indian philosophy, and still more to the Occult teachings of the Secret System. Thus in his Hymns he speaks of the creative Deity as "Father-Mother", and elsewhere of "Astral Destiny" (Karma) of "Minds of Fire" (the Agni-Devas) &c. He connected the Soul (the personal Manas) with the Seven Stars, deriving its origin from the Higher Beings (the divine Ego); and therefore "admitted spiritual resurrection but denied the resurrection of the body", as charged with by the Church Fathers. Ephraim shows him preaching the signs of the Zodiac, the importance of the birth-hours and "proclaiming the seven".

Calling the Sun the "Father of Life" and the Moon the "Mother of Life", he shows the latter "laying aside her garment of light (principles) for the renewal of the Earth". Photius cannot understand how, while accepting "the Soul free from the power of genesis (destiny of birth)" and possessing free will, he still placed the body under the rule of birth (genesis). For "they (the Bardesanists) say, that wealth and poverty and sickness and health and death and all things not within our control are works of destiny" (Bibl. Cod. 223, p.221 - f). This is Karma, most evidently, which does not preclude at all free-will. Hippolytus makes him a representative of the Eastern School.

Speaking of Baptism, Bardesanes is made to say (loc. cit. pp. 985-ff "It is not however the Bath alone which makes us free, but the Knowledge of who we are, what we are become, where we were before, whither we are hastening, whence we are redeemed; what is generation (birth), what is re-generation (re.birth)". This points plainly to the doctrine of re-incarnation.

His conversation (Dialogue) with Awida and Barjamina on Destiny and Free Will shows it. "What is called Destiny, is an order of outflow given to the Rulers (Gods) and the Elements, according to which order the Intelligences (Spirit-Egos) are changed by their descent into the Soul, and the Soul by its descent into the body". (See Treatise, found in its Syriac original, and published with English translation in 1855 by Dr. Cureton, Spicileg. Syriac. in British Museum.)

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

Moira (Greek) Plural morai or morae. One's allotted share; destiny. As a proper name, there was originally only one Moira, but later there were three: Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. Lachesis is from a root lach, as in lagchano "to obtain that which has already been determined or fixed"; she is depicted as a grave maiden holding a staff pointing to a horoscope, signifying that which man has built in the past is now unfolding. She was occultly connected with the earth.

Clotho or Klotho is from a verb meaning "to spin," and is represented as a woman holding a spindle, spinning thread which is man's destiny, that which he is at present weaving for the future, and is connected with the future in that what we weave now determines what our future shall be. Thus it is linked with the psychological part of human nature, and connected occultly with the moon. Atropos is from a verb meaning "impossible to set aside or evade," and therefore is translated as "inevitable, ineluctable."

It was often represented as a woman pointing to a sundial signifying that as the sun brings its light to the earth, so the future shall bring its destiny to man, as the flying hours unfold what comes to us out of the womb of time. Thus we have Lachesis representing the ineluctable destiny coming to us in our present life on earth from our past; Clotho, the present spinning of our future destiny because of the actions and reactions, mental and emotional, by which we are now weaving the web of fate which someday will become the present; and Atropos, the ineluctable and inescapable future represented as held in store, every thread of which has been woven by ourselves in past and present. Their respective functions are sometimes interchanged. Equivalent to the Latin Parcae and Fata, and the Scandinavian Norns.

It is only in this world that the action of fate seems extraneous to human will, for in reality we are the weaver of our own fates. The Morai are karmic agents or forces rather than karma, which is fundamentally the law governing universal equilibrium. In its essence the constant working of cosmic harmony, karma must of necessity manifest itself in multimyriad forms and manners -- in and through multimyriad agents or forces.

Karma being essentially the law of cosmic unity and concord, it is only the individuals which disturb this universal equilibrium who can feel the reaction therefrom, whether in one life or in a later one; but the karmic effects are by no means always identic with the originating causative action of the individual, because of the karmic agents of many kinds through which karma works.

Thus, the gods, all human beings, the earth itself, and all its component forces and substances are karmic agents constantly interacting upon each other; so that while abstractly the action of karma is infallible and infinitely unerring and cannot ever be escaped or set aside, its reactions upon the individual who broke its laws may take place in diverse ways and usually through agents or instruments, since karma is no individual or cosmic god.

In the Pistis Sophia, Moira is enumerated as one of the principles of man, and called by Blavatsky the karmic ego (SD 2:605).

(See also: Moira, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Pleiades (Greek) Also Atlantides. Six stars (the seventh being invisible or missing) in the constellation Taurus, and their heliacal rising in May was considered by sailors as a sign of propitious weather. They were, especially Alcyone, regarded as the point around which the divine breath or motion works during the manvantara, and have been thought by modern astronomers to be the center of the sun's orbit.

In legend, the seven daughters of Atlas (Maia, Electra, Taygeta, Asterope, Merope, Alcyone, and Celaeno), who complained to the gods because they were pursued by Orion and were then changed into pigeons or doves and made into a constellation. Atlas represents the Atlantean root-race, and the daughters are the seven subraces.

They married gods and became the mothers of heroes and the founders of city-states. They are connected with the destiny of nations, which is shaped by the events of their past lives, so that truly our destiny is written in the stars. In India, as the Krittikas, they were the wives of the seven rishis, six visible, one concealed; and the function of the rishis is concerned with times and events.

The first pyramids in Egypt are said to have been built at the beginning of a sidereal year under Dhruva (alpha polaris), when the Krittikas looked over his head. They are mentioned in Job, who speaks of the sweet influence of the Pleiades, and Bailly makes a calculation as to the date when they had that influence. In India they have a very occult meaning connected with sound and other mysterious potencies.

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

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, )

Spermatic Logos The Stoics taught that things do not exist solely or originally by reason of some definite end to which they are tending, but because of something living and acting within and through them, the essential law of evolutionary growth.

This inner power they called the logos spermatikos (Greek for spermatic or seed-logos), the monad of individuality in living and evolving beings. It is the unfolding by such a logos spermatikos of its inherent or characteristic qualities, powers, and functions which bring about the evolutionary growth of the vehicles of consciousness in and through which the logos lives and works.

It corresponds to the particular monad of each entity which contains its svabhava, and hence determines all its subsequent destiny, particularized individualizations, and forms.

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

Son-Suns "The Rejected Son is One, the 'Son-Suns' are countless" (SD 1:103). Our own sun, because of certain cosmic reasons of destiny, was "rejected," but the sun-sons or stars in general, are countless.

Our sun is represented in an ancient allegory as being placed in the center of his kingdom, hence rejected, where he turns slowly around himself. Son-suns refer not only to the planets of the solar system, but likewise to the stars and other heavenly bodies, the term itself holding the key to the ancient teaching: "only a reflection of the Central Spiritual Sun, Surya [our sun] is the prototype of all those bodies that evolved after him" (SD 1:100).

(See also: Son-Suns, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Voluspa (Icelandic) [from volva, vala sibyl + spa see clairvoyantly]

The foremost lay of the poetic or Elder Edda, sung by the "wise sibyl" in response to Odin's quest for knowledge. The vala represents the indelible record of the past, which here is consulted by the god Odin. Odin Allfather is the central character in Norse myths, and represents evolving consciousness, whether human, solar, planetary, or cosmic. Odin questions the vala and she responds with an account of creation and foretells the future destiny of conscious beings. From this record of the past history of the world, Odin learns about our planet's destiny and of nine former worlds that preceded the present one. The entire process of cosmic evolution is here comprised in a thumbnail sketch, which is all but incomprehensible unless amplified by the other lays of the Elder Edda.

The Wagner opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelungen" is based on the Volsupa, which relates the beginning and end of the world, and the fresh, new creation to follow. The sibyl speaks of Ragnarok, when the gods retreat from existence into their own celestial spheres, presenting a grim and fearsome prospect, but the narrative ends with a note of hope for a serene future world to follow.

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