Samba or Samba (Sanskrit) The reputed son of Krishna by Jambavati. According to esoteric tradition Krishna had no son; therefore Samba is symbolic of some power attained by Krishna. Through a curse of some holy sages, Samba was condemned to produce offspring in the shape of a terrific iron club for the destruction of the race of Yadu. Samba accordingly brought forth as iron club which was pounded and cast into the sea. But one piece which could not be crushed was subsequently found in the belly of a fish, and was used to tip an arrow used by the hunter Jaras (old age) to unintentionally kill Krishna. Thus old age finally overtakes and gathers in all things; and our future karma flows forth from our emotional and mental offspring, and sooner or later overtakes us all through time or old age. The iron club may represent the blows of destiny, based upon the kama of which iron is often a symbol; we may attempt to destroy the effects of our feelings and thoughts, but always there will be one little portion which cannot be crushed, and which is the seed of the future destiny, at least of our lower self.

(See also: Samba, Samba, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Land of the Eternal Sun From immemorial time mystics and occult philosophers have consistently taught of the existence of a land where the sunshine is perpetual, the abode of the gods whose particular function it is to oversee the destinies, not only of mankind, but of other hierarchical groups occupying the earth. Any attempt to fix a geographical locality as this land of the eternal sun has never been successful, for it is no geographical locality, but a region mystically said to be at the top of Mount Meru or the north pole of the earth.

There is a legend known in Tibet which places the mystical Sambhala not only on earth, but likewise upon Mount Meru, and again in the sun -- implying a hierarchy of divine or spiritual beings existing in a threefold order, each order having its own stage or place in this scheme.

(See also: Land of the Eternal Sun, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Imagination Usually the making of mental pictures; but this is actually merely fancy; imagination is "one of the plastic powers of the higher Soul, the memory of preceding incarnations, which, however, disfigured by the lower Manas, yet rests always on a ground of truth" (TG 153).

Imagination is therefore a creative power which, used in conjunction with will, calls forth not only creative forces, but likewise their productions. Thus it can be used for spiritualization and also for the materialization of images conceived in the mind; to bring about the results we desire, whether good or evil. It may become our master, chaining us to the illusions we have created; when, however, we can direct this power and resist its suggestions of fancy, it becomes a powerful instrument in shaping our lives and destiny.

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

Disk Worship Another form of sun worship; however, the ancients, especially whose who had been initiated in the Mystery schools, did not worship the physical sun but reverenced the central source of life and vivifying power of which the sun is the focus in its own kingdom, and which it therefore represents.

In ancient Egypt the various forms of the disk were favorite symbols, representing either the sun or moon. The deities specially connected with the solar disk were Amen-Ra, Aten, and Horus. In ancient India the disk or chakra was frequently associated with Vishnu; with the Buddhists it appears in the symbol of the wheel which every buddha is represented as turning or setting in motion.

The winged disk is a symbol of the soul or reincarnating ego. The wings represent the movement of the peregrinating ego through space and time, drifting by karmic destiny and its own inner impulses. The disk carried by the wings is the emblem of the ego itself.

(See also: Disk Worship, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dvapara Yuga (Sanskrit) (from dvapara twain, double + yuga age)

The third of the four great yugas which constitute a mahayuga (great age). Its duration is 864,000 human years. The Mahabharata gives a description of the dvapara yuga:

"In the Dwapara Yuga righteousness was diminished by a half. The Veda became fourfold. Some men studied four Vedas, other three, others two, others one, and some none at all. Ceremonies were celebrated in a great variety of ways. From the decline of goodness only few men adhered to truth.

When men had fallen away from goodness, many diseases, desires, and calamities, caused by destiny, assailed them, by which they were severely afflicted and driven to practise austerities. Others desiring heavenly bliss offered sacrifices. Thus men declined through unrighteousness" (abridged by Muir, 1:144)

(See also: Dvapara Yuga, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dream Interpretation Ball

Playing with a colourful ball or balloon signifies that if you got disappointed, you will get over it quickly. If you are playing with a ball on your own, it is a sign of a passing love affair. But if you play ball with a lot of people, it denotes a positive relationship with a new person. Playing ball with you life's partner is a good sign which means that you are learning from each other in a playful manner. The ball also may symbolize your destiny, and what you do with your life. Sometimes it plays games with us!

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

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

Star:

1) Like The Star card in the Tarot deck, dreaming of a single bright, shining star is a sign that even if things seem bad, there is still hope, and that your desires and destiny will be fulfilled, possibly through the efforts of a friend.

2. If the dream displays a clear sky full of many bright stars, great success lies ahead, but if the stars are pale or obscured by clouds, there will be a period of poverty before you finally attain your goals.

3. A star between the horns of the New Moon indicates that an influential person, probably a woman, will appear on the scene and assist you in attaining your dearest dream.

4. A shooting or falling star implies success after a period of great effort.

Source: Astrocenter, http://astrocenter.astrology.msn.com/msn/DreamDictionary.aspx

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

Definition and meaning of Young America:

Young America

"Young America" was the confident, Manifest Destiny spirit of Americans in the 1850s. Expansionists began to think about transmitting the dynamic, democratic spirit of the United States to other countries by aiding revolutionaries, opening up new markets, and annexing foreign lands.

(Source: Madrid Waddington High School )

Also see these pages:  American History, American History Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Winged Wheel Used in mystic philosophy worldwide, depicted under many forms, whether as a winged wheel, globe, egg, disk, etc. The Stanzas of Dzyan state that "Fohat takes five strides, and builds a winged wheel at each corner of the square for the four holy ones." Here winged wheel is a name for the four Maharajas who are the guardians or regents of the cosmic forces of the cardinal points north, south, east, and west (SD 1:122).

More generally, the winged wheel or globe suggests cyclic time unrolling its mysterious destiny, emerging from the darkness of the mists of the past, passing through the present, and pursuing its equally mysterious but always karmic courses into the future. In a more restricted sense, it applies to the reimbodying monads, the egg, wheel, or disk representing the monad or consciousness-center, and its wings suggesting its passage through not only duration but space.

See also WHEEL

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

PENTACLE

In a general sense it stands for all magical symbols and talismans. Specifically, as the pentagram, or five-pointed star, it is the symbol of itself. Therefore, it is the magician's sine qua non. It is the representative of the material world and human mastery over it -- hence when it is depicted on a coin or disk it is the element of "earth." When it points upward, it refers to "white" magic, or self as part of the world. When it points downward, it indicates "black" magic, self opposed to the world. The stars in the American flag are based on the same Masonic principle. Each state is an independent sovereign, master of its own destiny, in the same way that the magician is master of his own world.

The Magician must understand that he lives on earth, encased in flesh, and that is only through matter and material reality that he can operate. The pentacle reminds him that philosophy and abstract principles are useless without concrete material implementation.

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

Labyrinth (from Greek labyrinthos probably from laura crypt)

The complex prison built for King Minos of Crete by Daedalus to house the Minotaur. Theseus succeeded in finding his way out with the aid of the thread given him by the king's daughter, Ariadne. Symbolically, it may be the celestial labyrinth, into which the souls of the departed plunge, and also its earthly counterpart, as shown in the tortuous subterranean chambers in ancient Egypt, or similar constructions under temples in various ancient lands.

These labyrinths also symbolized the races of mankind, and the succession of gods, demigods, and heroes who preceded mortal kings. These underground chambers in general were used as initiation chambers in the Mysteries, where candidates were taught by actual experience various truths regarding human destiny after death; hence there was an exact analogy between the physical construction of these chambers and the truths thus symbolized.

The labyrinth therefore refers both to an inner and outer mystery. One of the coins unearthed at Knossos in Crete showed a diagram of such a maze, and this identical pattern, exact to the last important detail, has been found among the Pima Indians of Arizona (cf Theosophical Path, April 1925). Clearly its real significance was common knowledge to initiates in all parts of the world.

Concerning the labyrinth of ancient Egypt, "Herodotus, preserved for posterity the remembrance of that wonder of the world, the great Labyrinth. . . . Herodotus says that he found therein 3,000 chambers; half subterranean and the other half above-ground. 'The upper chambers,' he says, 'I myself passed through and examined in detail. In the underground ones (which may exist till now, for all the archaeologists know), the keepers of the building would not let me in, for they contain the sepulchres of the kings who built the Labyrinth, and also those of the sacred crocodiles. The upper chambers I saw and examined with my own eyes, and found them to excel all other human productions' " (IU 1:522-3).

The series of chambers in the labyrinth was an attempt to portray in the Mysteries by means of a construction -- whether subterranean or above ground -- the peregrinations of the human monad in its postmortem destiny, as it wandered from chamber to chamber -- from sphere to sphere or globe to globe -- in the celestial spaces, finally returning to its point of departure, in this instance to human reimbodiment.

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

Sephira, Sephirah, Sephiroth (Hebrew, Chaldean) [from saphar to mark, scrape, write, engrave, count or number; cf Sanskrit verbal root lip as in lipika] plural Sephiroth (qv). The emanations proceeding from 'eyn soph, these ten emanations being frequently called the Sephirothal Tree or the Qabbalistic Tree of (Cosmic) Life.

The primitive Qabbalists conceived the universe as coming into manifestation by a process of mathematical or numerical emanations, proceeding out of the bosom of 'eyn soph (no limit) in a series of nine or ten Sephiroth -- imbodying the idea of cosmic mathematical quantities on the one hand, and of cosmic karmic consequences from previous universes as being thus written or numbered from a former universe. Thus the universe is envisaged as a karmic picture of destiny unrolling itself from 'eyn soph in form or number, and therefore as being based on strictly mathematical relations derivative from destiny.

Sephirah is especially applied to the first emanation, Kether (the Crown), the other nine Sephiroth being involved or held in germ within the first emanation, and emanating therefrom one by one in serial order as "nine splendid lights" (Zohar 111 288a).

The first Sephirah is also called 'eyn soph 'or (boundless light). "The Spiritual substance sent forth by the Infinite Light is the first Sephira or Shekinah: Sephira exoterically contains all the other nine Sephiroth in her. Esoterically she contains but two, Chochmah or Wisdom, 'a masculine, active potency whose divine name is Jah ({Hebrew char}),' and Binah, a feminine passive potency, Intelligence, represented by the divine name Jehovah ({Hebrew char}); which two potencies form, with Sephira the third, the Jewish trinity or the Crown, Kether" (SD 1:355).

(See also: Sephira, Sephirah, Sephiroth, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Peratae (Latin) Peratai (Greek) One of the Gnostic bodies or associations, the Naaseni or Ophites, the "Serpent Gnostics," so called because of the mystical prominence of the serpent symbol in their rites and observances.

This Gnostic body is said by scholars to have been founded by Euphrates, who possessed wide astrological knowledge, and because of the teachings which his school followed were they named Peratai -- wanderers, i.e., on this earth of trial and tribulation; or "those of the other side," signifying individuals who regarded themselves as merely wanderers or pilgrims in regions far from their native home, the spirit.

Among other ideas, they held that the celestial bodies in a person's horoscope are the instruments of destiny or karma, which because of causes engendered in other lives bring the individuals to birth on this earth under the destined yoke marked in the celestial spaces by the sun, moon, and planets; and in order to protect themselves from the malignant influence of the genii of the planets they wore serpent sigils or talismans.

C. W. King states that the Ophites were the descendants of the Bacchic Mystae, basing this on the fact that coins of the period bear the Bacchic serpent, which is represented as raising himself out of the sacred coffer, while the reverse side of the coin shows two serpents entwined around torches (Gnostics and Their Remains 225).

(See also: Peratae, Peratai, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Khepera (Egyptian) (from kheper to become, be born, arise into manifestation)

Originally one of three aspects of the sun:

"I am Khepera in the morning, and Ra at noon-day, and Temu in the evening." Later each of these aspects developed into a separate deity. Khepera was the god of regeneration and development in growth, a spiritual power regulating reimbodiments and transmigrations and the deity presiding over the Egyptian form of the creation, where he is the only thing in existence besides the watery abyss, Nu. The deity of the universe, Nebertcher (a form of Ra) says:

"I am he who came into being in the form of the god Khepera," the hieroglyphic text representing the word by the scarab surmounted by a circle. The universe, then, is but the re-manifestation of a previous universe: the scarab standing for rebirth and regeneration, and the circle for karmic destiny in the universe as containing the seeds of life, brought into activity through reimbodiment or rebirth. The primeval deities Shu and Tefnut were brought forth by Khepera, who was the developer of everything which comes into manifested being from latency. In The Book of the Dead Khepera is called the father of the gods.

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

Gandharvas (Sanskrit) Hindu devas or divinities called celestial singers or musicians. Esoterically they are intermediaries between the gods and mankind, and hence can be called the instructors of humanity in the secret science.

"The Gandharva of the Veda is the deity who knows and reveals the secrets of heaven and divine truths to mortals. Cosmically -- the Gandharvas are the aggregate powers of the solar-fire, and constitute its Forces; psychically -- the intelligence residing in the Sushumna, Solar ray, the highest of the seven rays; mystically -- the occult force in the Soma (the moon, or lunar plant) and the drink made of it; physically -- the phenomenal, and spiritually -- the noumenal causes of Sound and the 'Voice of Nature.' Hence, they are called the 6,333 'heavenly' Singers and musicians of Indra's loka who personify (even in number) the various and manifold sounds in Nature, both above and below. In the latter allegories they are said to have mystic power over women, and to be fond of them. The esoteric meaning is plain. They are one of the forms, if not the prototypes, of Enoch's angels, the Sons of God, who saw that the daughters of men were fair (Gen. vi.) who married them, and taught the daughters of the Earth the secrets of Heaven" (SD 1:523n).

The heavenly consorts or saktis of the gandharvas are the apsarasas, their negative or vehicular aspects, much as a person's soul is the container and vehicular expression of his spirit and will.

The gandharvas are similar to the various classes of Greek daimones or to the classes of the Christian angels; the highest classes of the angels, or the highest gandharvas, are equivalent to the higher dhyani-chohans. They are intelligent streams in the cosmic economy, at times active and at times passive in the working out of karmic destiny.

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

Eighth Sphere or Planet of Death Both a globe and a condition of being, where utterly, irredeemably corrupt human souls are attracted, to be dissipated as earth entities.

These "lost souls" have through lifetimes lost their link with their inner god, and so can no longer serve as a channel for those spiritual forces. Too gross to remain in kama-loka or avichi, they sink to this slowly dying planet of our solar system, invisible because too dense, which acts as a vent or receptacle for human waste.

"The Eighth Sphere is a very necessary organic part of the destiny of our earth and its chain. . . . in the solar system there are certain bodies which act as vents, cleansing channels, receptacles for human waste and slag. . . . (the lost soul)

therefore sinks into the Planet of Death or the globe of Mara to which its own heavy material magnetism drags it, where it is dissipated as an entity from above, which means from our globe, and is slowly ground over in nature's laboratory. . . . However, precisely because the lost soul is yet an aggregate of astral-vital-psychical life-atoms connected around a monad as yet scarcely evolved, this monad, when freed from its earth veil of life atoms, thereupon begins in the Planet of Death a career of its own in this highly material globe (FSO 347-8).

(See also: Eighth Sphere, Planet of Death, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dhruva (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root dhru to be firm, fixed)

The pole star; "the heavenly form of the mighty lord Hari is made of stars and shaped like a porpoise with Dhruva in its tail. This constellation makes the planets, moon, sun and so on revolve, and the nakshatras circle him like a wheel. . . . on Dhruva rests the sun, upholder the world with its gods, demons and human beings.

"all the planets, constellations, stars and meteors are without exception tied to Dhruva with wind cords and move in their proper courses, O Maitreya" (Classical Hindu Mythology 45-6).

"The occult sciences show that the founders (the respective groups of the seven Prajapatis) of the Root Races have all been connected with the Pole Star. In the Commentary we find: --

'He who understands the age of Dhurva who measures 9090 mortal years, will understand the times of the pralayas, the final destiny of nations, O Lanoo' " (SD 2:768).

Also the name of an ancient Aryan sage, a Kshatriya, who through continuous religious austerities and philosophical meditation, became a rishi, and whose name was given to the pole star. In the Puranas, the son of Uttanapada, who was raised to the pole star by Vishnu.

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

Urd, Urdr (Scandinavian, Icelandic) [cf Swedish ur original, fundamental; Anglo-Saxon wyrd, English weird]

Also Urdar. The principal of the three norns (Fates) in Norse mythology, representing the past in the sense of causation: all that has gone before, giving rise to the present. Her sister norns are Verdande (becoming), usually translated as the present; and Skuld (debt), obligations yet to be repaid. The past and present create the third sister, norn of the future, which is suggestive of karma, where the future is the outcome of all past and present acts.

The three norns are pictured by the fountain of Urd who from that source (the past) waters one of the three roots of the Tree of Life. Of the other two roots one is watered by the spring of mother matter, the other by that from which flow the many rivers of lives: the forms taken by all the kingdoms of nature.

Every individual's Tree of Life is watered by these three springs and, after each death, the past life is evaluated at the well of Urd by its divine judge, its Odin, whose decrees are determined by the advice of Urd. Before each birth Urd also is instrumental in selecting the future life and destiny.

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

Star Popularly, all points of light in the firmament; more accurately, the so-called fixed stars or suns, as distinct from planets. Also a star-polygon, such as the five-pointed star; or a symbol.

Adepts in genuine archaic astrology know the peculiar qualities of the various stars and the influences they shed around them, and therefore likewise on earth and man; the tattered remnants of this knowledge have been handed down to modern astrologers. One branch concerns worship of the genii of the stars, the star-angles or -rishis especially -- because of a certain occult mystery -- the seven of the Great Bear. All entities, whether worlds or men, have each its own parent-star or mahadhyani-buddha; but this does not refer to the dominant star in merely natal astrology. There is an analogy and intimate connection between the celestial hierarchies of orbs and the hierarchies of human principles, for every star we

See is one globe of a chain of six or eleven other star-globes, just as our earth is one globe of a planetary chain. Thus our sun is the visible representative of a solar or stellar chain, of which only the most physicalized, concreted globe is visible to us as our day-star. Every star or sun is the imbodiment of a conscious living being, pursuing its own pathways of destiny, and most intimately bound together not only with its own planetary family but with all the other stars and suns in the galaxy to which it belongs. This fact was the real basis of the wide diffusion of what is popularly called sun worship.

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

TAROT CARDS -

1. Set of 78 cards which have pictures and symbols which is used to connect the diviner, with the collective unconscious. (TRASB)

2. used to determine the past, present and future of an event or person and can become powerful tools in magickal working and rituals. (NAD)

3. deck of 78 cards with archetypal symbols 15th C. (From Italian tarocchi)

0. The Fool-choice; folly/wisdom 1. Magician-creative power

2. High Priestess-hidden influence 3. Empress-material wealth

4. Emperor-leadership  5. Hierophant-organized rule

6. Lovers-choice between opposites 7. Chariot - conquest

8. Strength - courage  9. Hermit-opening of the path

10. Wheel of Fortune-destiny 11. Justice-harmony

12. Hanged Man-reversal, wisdom 13. Death-transformation

14. Temperance-growth  15. Devil-bondage to material

16 Tower-end of selfishness 17. Stars-hope

18. Moon-deception  19. Sun-success

20. Judgment-spirtual renewal 21. World-freedom, success

(See also: TAROT CARDS, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Sambhala (Sanskrit) Also Shambala. A mystical and unknown locality, mentioned in the Puranas and elsewhere, from which will appear in due course the Kalki-avatara of Vishnu. Buddhists state that out of Sambhala will come the next buddha, Maitreya.

Sambhala "is an actual land or district, the seat of the greatest Brotherhood of spiritual Adepts, of great Sages and Seers, on the Earth today. It is the secret home of the Brotherhood of the theosophical Mahatmans and their Chiefs; and from Sambhala at certain times in the history of the world, or more accurately of our own Fifth Root-race, come forth the Messengers or Envoys of the Great Brotherhood has branches or Subordinate Lodges in various parts of the world, but Sambhala is the center of Chief Lodge. We may tentatively locate it . . . in a little known and remote distract of the high table-lands of central Asia, more particularly in what is now called Tibet.

A multitude of aeroplanes might fly over the place without 'seeing' it, for its frontiers are very carefully guarded and protected against invasion, and will continue to be so until the karmic destiny of our present Fifth Root-race brings about a change of location to some other spot on the Earth, which then in its turn will be as carefully guarded as Sambhala now is" (OG 152).

(See also: Sambhala, Shambala, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Raja-star or Raja-sun King sun; coined by the Master KH, referring to a sun having subordinate solar individuals under its control and oversight, one of the latter in our case being our own sun.

Theosophy teaches that even suns evolve during the course of aeons of time; as every sun is but the visible representative or reflection of an inner spiritual power or essence, and as everything in the universe is progressive, whatever is, whether atom or sun, is but an entity pursuing its individual evolutionary course of unfolding destiny.

Such a raja-star is said to be "right behind Jupiter, that no mortal physical eye has ever seen during this, our Round. Could it be so perceived it would appear, through the best telescope with a power of multiplying its diameter ten thousand times, -- still a small dimensionless point, thrown into the shadow by the brightness of any planet; nevertheless -- this world is thousands of times larger than Jupiter. The violent disturbance of its atmosphere and even its red spot that so intrigues science lately, are due . . . to the influence of that Raja-Star" (ML 167).

(See also: Raja-star, Raja-sun, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)