A Theosophical definition of Chakra :

Chakra

(Cakra, Sanskrit) A word signifying in general a "wheel," and from this simple original meaning there were often taken for occult and esoteric purposes a great many subordinate, very interesting, and in some cases highly mystical and profound derivatives.

Chakra also means a cycle, a period of duration, in which the wheel of time turns once. It also means the horizon, as being circular or of a wheel-form. It likewise means certain centers or pranic spherical loci of the body in which are supposed to collect streams of pranic energy of differing qualities, or pranic energies of different kinds. T

hese physiological chakras, which are actually connected with the pranic circulations and ganglia of the auric egg, and therefore function in the physical body through the intermediary of the linga-sarira or astral model-body, are located in different parts of the physical frame, reaching from the parts about the top of the skull to the parts about the pubis.

It would be highly improper, having at heart the best interests of humanity, to give the occult or esoteric teaching concerning the exact location, functions, and means of controlling the physiological chakras of the human body; for it is a foregone conclusion that were this mystical knowledge broadcast, it would be sadly misused, leading not only in many cases to death or insanity, but to the violation of every moral instinct. Alone the high initiates, who as a matter of fact have risen above the need of employing the physiological chakras, can use them at will, and for holy purposes  - which in fact is something that they rarely, if indeed they ever do.

See also: Chakra , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

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

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Pluralism

See also: Pluralism , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Logos :

Logos

(Greek) In old Greek philosophy the word logos was used in many ways, of which the Christians often sadly misunderstood the profoundly mystical meaning. Logos is a word having several applications in the esoteric philosophy, for there are different kinds or grades of logoi, some of them of divine, some of them of a spiritual character; some of them having a cosmic range, and others ranges much more restricted.

In fact, every individual entity, no matter what its evolutionary grade on the ladder of life, has its own individual logos. The divine-spiritual entity behind the sun is the solar logos of our solar system. Small or great as every solar system may be, each has its own logos, the source or fountainhead of almost innumerable logoi of less degree in that system. Every man has his own spiritual logos; every atom has its own logos; every atom likewise has its own paramatman and mulaprakriti, for every entity everywhere has its own highest. These things and the words which express them are obviously relative.

One meaning of the Greek logos is "word"  - a phrase or symbol taken from the ancient Mysteries meaning the "lost word," the "lost" logos of man's heart and brain. The logos of our own planetary chain, so far as this fourth round is concerned, is the Wondrous Being or Silent Watcher.

The term, therefore, is a relative and not an absolute one, and has many applications.

See also: Logos , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Tulku sprul sku (Tibetan) [short for sprul pa'i sku (tul-pe-ku) from sprul pa phantom, disembodied spirit; cf Sanskrit nirmanakaya body of magical transformation]

Applied to a lama of high rank, often to the head abbot of a monastery; specifically, to those lamas who have proved their ability of remembering their office and standing in a former incarnation, e.g., by selecting articles belonging previously to themselves, describing details of a former life, surroundings, etc. The two most important tulkus in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy are the Tashi and Dalai Lamas. Tulku is often referred to as an incarnation but, outside of the many varieties of an incarnating or imbodying power or energy, incarnation in popular usage is the direct continuance of a previous imbodiment. These so-called living buddhas of Tibet are one kind of tulku -- the transmission of a spiritual power or energy from one Buddha-lama of a Tibetan monastery when he dies, to a child or adult successor. If the transmission is successful, the result is tulku.

Tulku is of many different kinds and very closely parallels the Hindu doctrine of avatara. Taking Jesus as an example: here was a life-long tulku, a ray from a divinity; a tulku of that divinity so far as that ray goes, a divine manifestation, and hence a true avatara in the Brahmanical sense. Again, Gautama Buddha was tulku of his own inner buddha or inner god. The average person, however, is merely overshadowed occasionally, if he really aspires, by a touch of the divine flame from within the higher parts of his own constitution, and yet even for these fugitive instants such person is tulku. But when Gautama attained buddhahood, he was relatively infilled with his own inner buddha, and therefore was that god's human tulku. That was for Siddhartha the man, nirvana; he then entered dharmakaya and this portion of him was then known of men no more: that portion of him was a man become divine.

Another kind of tulku is where a human mahatma will send a ray from himself, or a part of himself, to take imbodiment, perhaps only temporarily, perhaps almost for a lifetime, in a neophyte-messenger that this mahatma is sending out into the world to teach. The messenger in this instance acts as a transmitter of the spiritual and divine powers of the mahatma. Blavatsky was such a tulku, imbodying frequently the very life of, and hence guided by, her own teacher. While this incarnation of the teacher's higher essence lasted, she was tulku. When for one reason or another the influence or ray was withdrawn for a longer or shorter period, tulku then and there became nonexistent.

Still another aspect of the tulku doctrine is illustrated by the case of Blavatsky. Where is she now? Blavatsky has not yet again reincarnated -- she has not yet been born as a child -- but she has at certain times, and for one certain individual, with that individual's consent, organized as it were tulku for that individual. For the time being, therefore, we can say that Blavatsky has partially imbodied in that chosen individual for the purpose of special transmission. In all cases of tulku, they are incarnations or appearances. If Blavatsky, for instance, were to make tulku of a person for a month or a year, for the time being that person would be tulku, but when that particular work was done, the influence would be withdrawn and tulku would stop.

There is again another kind of avataric incarnation or tulku, a temporary physical appearance of an adept in the mayavi-rupa. Certain Tibetan lamas are known to be able to perform this feat, and thus they too have been properly called tulkus, which is the type of tulku that certain Orientalists have referred to as "an appearance."

Another type of tulku of an opposite and essentially evil character is that brought about by a hypnotist who temporarily displaces the psychological nature of his entranced subject through psychologization or even hypnosis plus mesmerism. This, however, is more often than not an act of black magic and fraught with grave dangers, both to the hypnotist and the one entranced. Every clever hypnotist actually makes a tulku of his victim in a black magic sense. When he puts an idea into the brain of his victim, that one week from now at three o'clock in the afternoon he is going to do some essentially foolish or undignified act -- for the time being that hypnotist is working a black magic tulku on that victim, and every psychologist and hypnotist knows the possibility of this fact, though the scientific explanation of the term may be strange to him. A key example of black magic tulku was what the medieval Europeans used to call werewolves. This doctrine of the tulku, however, is at heart beautiful and sublime, and hence highly reverenced by the Tibetans.

(See also: Tulku, sprul sku, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Monsters : Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Children and Dreams - Monsters

Monsters

Children have different kinds of monsters in their dreams, and the action involved varies. When a monster is hiding in the closet or under the bed, or lives under the front porch, this makes the situation doubly scary, because there is nowhere safe or off-limits. When a monster is chasing the child in a dream, or yelling and threatening, we have a clue that the monster may represent not so much a situation as a person in the child's life.

What you need to know:

When parents yell or exhibit unexpectedly harsh behavior either toward their children or toward others, this sometimes translates into "monster" dreams. A cranky teacher or scary neighbor can also be the human side of the monster. These dreams are not necessarily a signal of abuse or anything horrific, but they do indicate that your child may be experiencing something stressful, usually regarding someone close to her. If the dreams repeat, notice when they occur and see if you can associate them with waking-life activities or people. If you recognize your own temper or meltdowns as fodder for the dream, take time to reassure your child that grown-ups sometimes get upset too, but that it does not mean she is at risk, she is in trouble or she needs to be frightened.

Source: The Complete Dream Book and Dreaming Insights

More children dreams here: Children and Dreams

(See also: Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation Monsters, Dream Dictionary Monsters)

A Christian theological definition of Cherub/Cherubim according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Cherub/Cherubim

See also: Cherub/Cherubim , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

Zervan Akarana (Avestan) [from zervan time (cf Pahlavi zervam, zarvan, zurvan) + arana, akrana boundary]

Also Zeruana Akerne. Boundless spirit (BCW 4:328); in Zoroastrian literature there are two different kinds of time -- boundless time, pre-existing and ever-existing -- and finite time, which lasts for 12,000 symbolic years, the period during which the two forces of Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman are engaged in their never-ending struggle. According to the Avesta, Zervan Akarana has always existed; its glory is too exalted, its light too resplendent, for human intellect to grasp and comprehend. Its first emanation is eternal light, which becomes Ahura Mazda, the Logos; from whom emanate the six Amesha Spentas, and everything that has being, existence, and form. Another translation is "duration in a circle," the circle being the symbol for the endless, the beginningless, the unknown -- hence boundless time. Zervan Akarana is thus the Mazdean equivalent of Parabrahman or 'eyn soph.

The cycle marking the time period of the world (a fixed period, in contradistinction to boundless time) was called in the Avesta, Zervan daregho-hvadata (the sovereign time of the long period), measured as twelve periods of a thousand years, but what is generally understood in the 'Avesta' system as a thousand years, means, in the esoteric doctrine, a cycle of a duration known but to the initiates and which has an allegorical sense" (IU 2:221n).

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

Man

All different kinds of people clutter our dream landscape. The men in your dream may include family members or total strangers. You may dream about your father, son, husband, or friend and should interpret the dream according to its details. A man, particularly the father figure, may represent collective consciousness and the traditional human spirit. He is the Yang and his energy, when mobilized, creates the earthly realities. Depending on the details of the dream, the masculine figure could be interpreted as the Creator or Destroyer. At times, women dream about men that are strangers to them. These men may represent the women's unconscious psychic energy. Carl Jung called the stranger in a woman's dream the "animus." He represents autonomous, unconscious energy and he plays a vital role in obtaining a

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

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

Angel:

1. Pay attention to the other symbols in the dream. A dream of an angel almost always implies that the dream contains an important message that could have a major impact on your life.

2. There are many different kinds of angels. Dreaming of a strong, commanding, six-winged seraph is a powerful sign that any difficulties occurring in your life will be overcome by your own strength and determination. A smaller, gentler cherub is a bringer of God's knowledge and wisdom, so dreaming of a cherub (not to be confused with a putto) hints at insights and revelations that are basically spiritual in nature but can be used to enrich your earthly life as well. Putti, which are the winged babies commonly and incorrectly referred to as cherubs, imply happy times ahead. Dreaming of one of the archangels - Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel - means that you are or soon will be doing God's work, and the usual type of angel pictured on Christmas cards implies divine protection.

3. A very positive symbol implying success, happiness, and rewarding friendships ahead.

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

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

Bhastra: Breath control. Hatha Yoga uses eight different kinds of breath control.  Bhastra is one of them.

(See also: Bhastra, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

SYMBOL

A symbol, whose meaning is unconscious or indirect, must not be confused with a sign, which is obviously a resemblance or conscious pointer. A symbol represents something that can't be defined or expressed. Otherwise it is an allegory or a sign. A phallic symbol, for instance, is not a symbol because we know what it stands for. Nor is a skull a "symbol" of death. Nor are the cross (standing for Christ), a heart (standing for love) or a bird (standing for freedom) anything more than signs, i.e., equivalents. Examples of true symbols might be the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's Stone, or even a personalized mandala, since we have no (conscious) idea what these things represent. Most certainly of all, Christ and Buddha are symbols of human perfection. A.B. says their purpose is pedagogical, preserving encapsulizations of truth and developing intuition. Moreover, every symbol can be read in many different ways. And there are four kinds of symbols (physical, astral, numerical, geometrical). There are also symbolic "books" of the "Masters," the words of which are interpreted by color, their position above or below the line, their connection to one another and by their "key," that is, right to left (greater cycles), left to right (lesser cycles), from above down (involution), from below up (evolution).

Postmodern man tends to believe that symbols generate meanings in infinite concentric waves from their centers. Indeed, symbols come to have different meanings in different times and places. For example, the triskelion, tripes, or "three-legs of man," originally meant the 3 ages riddled by the Sphinx or three faces of the Hindu Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). But in Europe, according to Goblet d'Aviella (The Migration of Symbols) it eventually came to acquire purely political meanings, standing, amongst other things, for the "Land of the Three Capes," i.e., Sicily, for Norwegian royalty and for The Isle of Man. In our time many once very fertile and numinous symbols are all but dead.

Says Carlyle: "In a symbol lies concealment or revelation." And further, "It is in and through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works, and has his being."

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

Self-luminous Matter Matter which shines from itself and not by reflected light; the existence of such matter in interstellar space was believed in by Halley, and The Secret Doctrine states that matter in several phases of the nebulous condition, before it condenses into solar or planetary bodies, is self-luminous; and that the planets are also self-luminous before they become materially concreted globes. Science has long recognized self-luminosity in phosphorus, radium, and in some other bodies.

Philosophically, it is a mere matter of choice whether to regard light as primordial and rudimentary and deduce other phenomena from it, or to consider luminosity as a result of the vibration of molecules -- since light is both. But theosophy agrees with archaic thought in placing light as the first of all manifested things, regarding light as the very essence of matter, not as a decoration of it. Nor is light necessarily associated with heat, as even the humble glow worm attests.

Theosophy teaches that self-luminosity, with or without heat, is of natural necessity a characteristic of everything that is, although this self-luminosity is by no means always visible to our human physical senses. Every entity anywhere, great or small, as well as every aggregate of atoms, is continuously and uninterruptedly self-luminous, continually emanating forth because of the energies ever active within itself an unceasing stream of radiation; and this radiation is of several different kinds, usually enumerated as sevenfold, of which ordinary or physical light is but one manifestation. Everything is radiant, radiating; radiant here meaning not only luminous, but self-luminous, generating radiation of many kinds from within itself. It is the imperfect ability of our organ of vision to

See these many forms of radiation that causes us to be unconscious of them; our eyes have been evolved to sense only one small gamut in the great scale of radiation of the universe surrounding us. Science, with its various kinds of radiation, is becoming keenly cognizant of this ancient fact and scientists are pointing out that not only is visible light but a short stretch of the scale of radiation, but are envisaging the high probability that matter itself in all its forms is but concreted radiation or crystallized light.

(See also: Self-luminous Matter, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Bhava-bhakti - the initial stage of perfection in devotion. A stage of bhakti in which suddha-sattva, or the essence of Sri Krsna’s internal potency consisting of spiritual knowledge and bliss, is transmitted into the heart of the practicing bhakta from the heart of one of His eternal associates and softens the heart by different kinds of tastes. It is the first sprout of prema, or pure love of God. Bhava-bhakti is the seventh of the eight stages of development of the bhakti-lata, the creeper of devotion.

In Sri Brhad-Bhagavatamrta there are five divisions of bhava accepted amongst bhaktas:

1) jnana-bhakta (e.g. Bharata Maharaja) ,

2) suddha-bhakta (e.g. Ambarisa Mahaaraja) ,

3) prema-bhakta (e.g. Hanuman) ,

4) prema-para-bhakta (e.g. the Pandavas headed by Arjuna) , and

5) prematura-bhakta (atura means ‘very eager for’, or agitated out of prema e.g. the Yadavas headed by Uddhava).

(See also: Bhava-bhakti, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Faces

It is very common to dream about all kinds of faces. Strange faces and familiar faces alike are frequent images in our dreams. Interpret your dream by considering the face and the general content of the dream. A stranger's face could represent different parts of your personality or psyche. You think that you are seeing a stranger but in actuality you are seeing a different part of yourself. Jung said that the stranger is a part of you that comes from the unconscious. A comic face may indicate that you have a conscious or unconscious need to mock or snub the conventional. Featureless faces suggest that you may feel unnoticed and unappreciated. On the other hand, some believe that the blank or unclear face represents a teacher. That is someone who is there to show and teach you a lesson but you are unprepared for it and the face is blank. Smiling faces are representative of happy thoughts and feelings and possibly anticipation of a joyful event in the near future. Always remember the compensatory nature of dreams and their ability to point to the opposite of what you experience in daily life.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

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

A Theosophical definition of Pralaya :

Pralaya

(Sanskrit) A compound word, formed of laya, from the root li, and the prefix pra. Li means "to dissolve," "to melt away," "to liquefy," as when one pours water upon a cube of salt or of sugar. The cube of salt or of sugar vanishes in the water  - it dissolves, changes its form  - and this may be taken as a figure, imperfect as it is, or as a symbol, of what pralaya is: a crumbling away, a vanishing away, of matter into something else which is yet in it, and surrounds it, and interpenetrates it.

Such is pralaya, usually translated as the state of latency, state of rest, state of repose, between two manvantaras or life cycles. If we remember distinctly the meaning of the Sanskrit word, our minds take a new bent in direction, follow a new thought. We get new ideas; we penetrate into the arcanum of the thing that takes place. Pralaya, therefore, is dissolution, death.

There are many kinds of pralayas. There is the universal pralaya, called prakritika, because it is the pralaya or vanishing away, melting away, of prakriti or nature. Then there is the solar pralaya. Sun in Sanskrit is surya, and the adjective from this is saurya: hence, the saurya pralaya or the pralaya of the solar system. Then, thirdly, there is the terrestrial or planetary pralaya. One Sanskrit word for earth is bhumi, and the adjective corresponding to this is bhaumika: hence, the bhaumika pralaya. Then there is the pralaya or death of the individual man. Man is purusha; the corresponding adjective is paurusha: hence, the paurusha pralaya or death of man. These adjectives apply equally well to the several kinds of manvantaras or life cycles.

There is another kind of pralaya which is called nitya. In its general sense, it means "constant" or "continuous," and can be exemplified by the constant or continuous change  - life and death  - of the cells of our bodies. It is a state in which the indwelling and dominating entity remains, but its different principles and rupas undergo continuous and incessant change. Hence it is called nitya, signifying continuous. It applies to the body of man, to the outer sphere of earth, to the earth itself, to the solar system, and indeed to all nature. It is the unceasing and chronic changing of things that are  - the passing from phase to phase, meaning the pralaya or death of one phase, to be followed by the rebirth of its succeeding phase. There are other kinds of pralayas than those herein enumerated.

See also: Pralaya , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Actio in Distans (Latin) Action at a distance. Can force be transmitted across an empty space? On the automechanical theory of the universe, such action is inexplicable and yet inevitable, for if the universe consists entirely of matter made of atoms separated from each other by empty spaces, the transmission of force from one atom to another cannot be explained except by supposing some medium to intervene. If this medium is atomic, the old difficulty reappears; if it is continuous, there is no reason for supposing it, since matter might in the first place have been supposed to be continuous.

Thus if we choose to represent reality as a system of points in space, we must assume actio in distans as an axiom. The difficulty that a body cannot act where it is not, may be gotten over by stating that wherever it can act, there it is. Scientific theories, carried to a logical conclusion, support the idea that all things in the universe are connected with each other, so that whatever affects one part affects every other part. Notions of physical space do not enter to the realm of mind, thought, and feeling.

To meet this difficulty of action at a distance, early European scientists invented various kinds of ethers to bridge the supposed gap of nothingness between atom and atom or body and body. These finally were abandoned, with the exception of the luminiferous or light-carrying ether, which remained until the Michelson-Morley experiment, after which it was abandoned.

Nevertheless, theosophy postulates the existence of atomic and subatomic ethers of various degrees of tenuity, ranging from physical to spiritual. Collectively these ethers are the different planes or ranges of akasa, the fundamental substratum of the universe and the garment in which the kosmic divinity clothes itself -- the various prakritis as outlined especially in the Sankhya philosophy. Any scientific ether is not the akasa or aether, but solely the lowest plane of the akasic plenum, some of the ranges of the astral light, which in one sense is the highest principle of the earth's atmosphere -- a subtle ethereal energy-stuff permeant through and interpenetrating physical matter of all kinds.

See also Aether; Ether

(See also: Actio in Distans, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Manifestation :

Manifestation

A generalizing term signifying not only the beginning but the continuance of organized kosmic activity, the latter including the various minor activities within itself. First there is of course always the Boundless in all its infinite planes and worlds or spheres, aggregatively symbolized by the circle; then parabrahman, or the kosmic life-consciousness activity, and mulaprakriti its other pole, signifying root-nature especially in its substantial aspects.

Then the next stage lower, Brahman and its veil pradhana; then Brahma-prakriti or Purusha-prakriti (prakriti being also maya); the manifested universe appearing through and by this last, Brahma-prakriti, "father-mother." In other words, the second Logos or father-mother is the producing cause of manifestation through their son which, in a planetary chain, is the primordial or the originating manu, called Svayambhuva.

When manifestation opens, prakriti becomes or rather is maya; and Brahma, the father, is the spirit of the consciousness, or the individuality. These two, Brahma and prakriti, are really one, yet they are also the two aspects of the one life-ray acting and reacting upon itself, much as a man himself can say, "I am I." He has the faculty of self-analysis or self-division. All of us know it, we can feel it in ourselves  - one side of us, in our thoughts, can be called the prakriti or the material element, or the mayavi element, or the element of illusion; and the other is the spirit, the individuality, the god within.

The student should note carefully that manifestation is but a generalizing term, comprehensive therefore of a vast number of different and differing kinds of evolving planes or realms. For instance, there is manifestation on the divine plane; there is manifestation also on the spiritual plane; and similarly so on all the descending stages of the ladder or stair of life. There are universes whose "physical" plane is utterly invisible to us, so high is it; and there are other universes in the contrary direction, so far beneath our present physical plane that their ethereal ranges of manifestation are likewise invisible to us.

See also: Manifestation , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Theurgy theurgia (Greek) [from theos god + ergon work]

Mystery-term popularized by Iamblichus for a method of individual communion with the gods, or bringing the gods down to earth. It consisted in purifying the psycho-astral links between the mind and its divine counterpart, whereby the theurgist was not only brought into conscious communion with his own higher self, but also with other divine entities. The first school in the Christian period

"was founded by Iamblichus among certain Alexandrian Platonists. The priests, however, who were attached to the temples of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Greece, and whose business it was to evoke the gods during the celebration of the Mysteries, were known by this name, or its equivalent in other tongues, from the earliest archaic period. Spirits (but not those of the dead, the evocation of which was called Necromancy) were made visible to the eyes of mortals. Thus a theurgist had to be a hierophant and an expert in the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all great countries. The Neo-platonists of the school of Iamblichus were called theurgists, for they performed the so-called 'ceremonial magic,' and evoked the simulacra or the images of the ancient heroes, 'gods,' and daimonia ( {Greek char} divine, spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the presence of a tangible and visible 'spirit' was required, the theurgist had to furnish the weird apparition with a portion of his own flesh and blood -- he had to perform the theopaea, or the 'creation of gods,' by a mysterious process well known to the old, and perhaps some of the modern, Tantrikas and initiated Brahmans of India" (TG 329-30).

The varied uses by different writers shows the term's applicability to a considerable range of practices.

"The popular prevailing idea is that the theurgists, as well as the magicians, worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the heroes and gods, and other thaumaturgic works, by supernatural powers. But this never was the fact. They did it simply by the liberation of their own astral body, which, taking the form of a god or hero, served as a medium or vehicle through which the special current preserving the ideas and knowledge of that hero or god could be reached and manifested" (TG 330).

Plotinus was opposed to theurgy, and Porphyry says that it can but cleanse the lower or psychic portion and make it capable of perceiving lower beings, such as spirits, angels, and gods; it is powerless to purify the noetic or manasic (intellectual) principle. But Porphyry was persuaded by his master Iamblichus to concede the value of theurgy under certain limitations. Porphyry's views highlight the difference between raja yoga and hatha yoga. In the case of such a person as Iamblichus, practices might be quite safe which would be fraught with nothing but harm in the hands of another or without the help of such a teacher. For once the barriers are down a way is opened for communion with all kinds of undesirable entities, against which the experimenter will not know how to protect himself.

In the ancient Mysteries, theurgy was divided into different degrees. To illustrate, in one of the highest initiatory degrees the initiant was brought face to face with the divinity within himself, and in order to accomplish this the initiant had to give of his own spiritual and intellectual substance and vitality so that his inner god might imbody itself on inner and invisible planes, the rite thus providing a temporary and illusory divorce which was really an essential union of the divine in man with the spiritual-intellectual -- the latter recognizing for the time being its own divine origin and coalescing with it. In a less perfect form of such theurgical practice, and in a lower degree of the Mysteries, the initiant gave of his own astral and physical substance, the effluvia of his astral body and of his flesh and blood, to provide a vehicle through which a spiritual entity might have a tangible, although very temporary, imbodiment; and for the time being the initiant was thus enabled to see, touch, and converse with a being of the inner worlds who otherwise would have been utterly unable to enter our physical sphere except by those spiritual-akasic currents of forces which human beings recognize as inspiration.

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

Chain Used in modern theosophy to designate the visible and invisible globes which form the interior and exterior structure of any celestial body. The kosmos as a whole is a living organism, subdivided into almost innumerable subordinate series of hierarchical units; hence the kosmos is an assemblage of beings of many kinds, each of which is a compound unit, and in order to signify that the elements composing each such unit are linked together as an individual, the word chain is applied to celestial bodies.

The teaching is that every celestial body whatever, visible or invisible, forms a unity with companion globes on invisible planes. When referring to the chains of globes forming a solar system, it is customary to call them planetary chains; thus we have the earth-chain, the lunar chain, the Mercury-chain, etc., each consisting of seven such globes on the manifested plane, to which the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G are applied.

The globes of a chain are said to be in coadunation but not in consubstantiality, which means that, though of different grades of materiality, they form a catenary unit. Although each chain consists of seven or twelve globes, the only one visible to the human eye on earth is that which is on the same plane of materiality. Of the twelve globes to each chain, seven belong to the manifested worlds and five to the unmanifested. The seven manifested globes are distributed on four planes, and the twelve globes on seven planes, as shown in the diagram.

The left-hand side of the diagram represents the descending or shadowy arc of evolution, the right side the ascending or luminous arc. Our universe is also described as one of a cosmic chain of universes.

In other particular uses of the word, the Hermetic Chain is the succession of teachers of the esoteric wisdom who preserve and pass on the sacred knowledge from generation to generation.

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

Vibration, Vibrations Motion is a fundamental principle in universal nature, coeval with boundless space, ceasing not even during pralaya; and we can form only a relative idea of its real nature, yet can have intuitions of it through its manifestations, the most fundamental of which is vibration. The essential characteristic of vibration is periodicity or cyclic motion. It appears in the alternation of manvantara and pralaya in the cosmic Great Breath and in the most rapid oscillations of minutest particles. The relative periodicity of various vibrations is found to constitute a mathematical scale, according to which phenomena may be classified.

The principle of sympathetic vibration involves mysteries relating to the tremendous potency of sound, some of which are familiar to physicists. The discoveries of John Worrell Keely (cf SD 1:555-66) were of this nature. He was able to develop enormous energy in an engine without using the principle of pressure; but his discoveries were premature and their results were frustrated.

Sound is a universal principle which manifests itself physically as vibrations in the mass and particles of bodies. Physicists, by a logical confusion, have called the effects "sound," whereas they are only one of the productions of causal sound. We might as well define fear as a trembling of the body; whereas we know that the trembling is an effect produced by the emotion. The same applies to heat, light, and others of the list of physical forces which manifest themselves in vibrations.

Vibration, in all its myriad manifestations, is the consequence of inner hidden causal agencies. The vibrations ensuing from such inner movements expressing themselves through bodies or veils, are always in accordance with the causal rhythms and mathematics involving quantities such as rate, intensity, and quality, there being vibrations of as many kinds as there are different causal agents. Thus there are vibrations as effects on our gross physical plane, other vibrations which manifest themselves on the astral, emotional, and psychological or lower mental planes. There are again vibrations of higher type which originate in the intellectual and spiritual monads of the human constitution.

Furthermore, because it is an expression of energy, all vibration is force and energy itself, and hence capable of arousing energies or forces of exactly the same quality or rate of intensity in other beings which they affect -- this being the reason behind sympathetic vibration. When vibrations thus interlock and synchronize in rate, intensity, and quality, we have what is called sympathy, love, or attraction, and such sympathetic vibration is operative on all the planes of universal nature. Not only is this the case in all relations of humans with each other, but likewise sympathetic vibration plays an enormous part in such matters as mob psychology, quick electrical sympathies affecting audiences, hates and rebellions -- even what is known as health and disease are communicated by means of vibrations, the one first affected being able to communicate his "affection" of whatever kind to others who are at the time negative to the vibrational impact and in time vibrating synchronously with the impacting energy. There is, of course, such a thing as resistance, which expresses itself in manifold ways, such as being able to throw off the vibration affecting it, and even to return it upon the sender, consciously or unconsciously; and herein lies the secret of the old medieval saying that curses come home to roost, or that if the magician is not stronger than the elementals or nature spirits he attempts to control, he is almost invariably destined to become their victim.

All vibrational activity of whatever rate, intensity, or attributive characteristic is always an effect, although always capable of becoming in its turn a cause producing effects of its own type. In other words, there is always the originating or causal agent for any specific instance of vibration; thus the thinker produces mental vibrational activity which we call thinking or thoughts, or emotion or feeling.

Indeed, every entity or thing in the universe is in incessant motion or vibrational activity arising from force inherent in the entity or thing itself; and these interblending activities of vibration produce the vast diversity of the universe around us. Thus every atom, electron, molecule, or being anywhere, sings its own vibrational note, which is the sound production of its own characteristic svabhava or individuality; so that our physical bodies, could we but hear their mystical music, would sound like a vast and marvelous symphony of interblended sound. For this reason Pythagoras spoke of the music of the spheres, ascribing to each celestial body its own dominant note, and pointing out that from the blending of such individual notes or sounds arise the harmony of the spheres.

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