Dream Dictionary Hermes

Pot-Amun. Said to be a Coptic term. The name of an Egyptian priest and hierophant who lived under the earlier Ptolemies. Diogenes Laertius tells us that it signifies one consecrated to the "Amun", the god of wisdom and secret learning, such as were Hermes, Thoth, and Nebo of the Chaldees. This must be so, since in Chaldea the priests consecrated to Nebo also bore his name, being called the Nebo?m, or in some old Hebrew Kabbalistic works, "Abba Nebu". The priests generally took the names of their gods. Pot-Amun is credited with having been the first to teach Theosophy, or the outlines of the Secret Wisdom-Religion, to the uninitiated.

(See also: Pot-Amun , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Eichton (Greek) a deity identical with Agathodaimon:

"(or the fire of the celestial gods -- the great Thot-Hermes), to whom Hermes Trismegistus attributes the invention of magic" (SD 2:210-11).

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

Ogmius. The god of wisdom and eloquence of the Druids, hence Hermes in a sense.

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

AKASHA

The fifth tattwa (Hindu Element). The black egg of the spirit, i.e. the ether, whereby everything is written down. In the Akashic records, found on every plane, no event, however insignificant, goes unmarked. If time be not a closed, self-repeating cycle, then the Akashic Records are of infinite length, having no beginning. The Guardians of the Akashic records have been equated with Thoth and Hermes as well as with Mnemosyne and the Muses. These were the guardians of the Well of Memory, from which the initiate must drink. In Norse mythology, the Guardian of the Well of knowledge, beside the root of the world-tree, Yggdrasil, was Mimir (to whom Odin paid his eye).

HPB describes Akasha as "The Second Differentiation of evolving substance Chaos, Aether, Matter of the Monadic Plane...often used where chaos or aether would be indicated. Akasha is located in the sphere of Vibratory Sound, whence all auras derive.

Lest those who feel they have contributed positively or negatively to the Akashic records be prideful on the one hand or discouraged on the other, it should be understood that all such actions are dualistic and the expansion of the darkness automatically ensures the expansion of the light and vice-versa.

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

GEMINI

A bipolar sign of opposites, hence the "twins." It is both creative (the twin with the lyre) and destructive (the twin with the club). It is the sign of all things pertaining to Hermes, Mercury or Thoth, that is, of intercourse between differing segments of reality or society and the intellect or intelligence: writing, communications media, bohemia, detection, medicine, fashion, crossroads, markets, theaters, dens of thieves, traveling, etc. Its element, of course, is air and its animal sometimes ascribed to the monkey (Thoth, the babboon-headed).

Well-known Geminians include: Mesmer, Elsa Maxwell, Bob Dylan, Emerson, Bennett Cerf, Gucci, Duchess of Windsor, Pauline Kael, Escher, Stravinsky, Pascal, Judy Garland, Velikovsky, Peter the Great, Allen Ginsberg, Josephine Baker, Christine Jorgensen, Bob Hope, Herman Wouk, Dante, Arthur Conan Doyle, Isadora Duncan, Dionne Quintuplets, Marilyn Monroe, Marquis de Sade, Sartre, Jefferson Davis.

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

Thoth (Egypt, Egyptian). The most mysterious and the least understood of gods, whose personal character is entirely distinct from all other ancient deities.

While the permutations of Osiris, Isis, Horus, and the rest, are so numberless that their individuality is all but lost, Thoth remains changeless from the first to the last Dynasty. He is the god of wisdom and of authority over all other gods. He is the recorder and the judge. His ibis-head, the pen and tablet of the celestial scribe, who records the thoughts, words and deeds of men and weighs them in the balance, liken him to the type of the esoteric Lipikas.

His name is one of the first that appears on the oldest monuments. He is the lunar god of the first dynasties, the master of Cynocephalus - the dog-headed ape who stood in Egypt as a living symbol and remembrance of the Third Root-Race. (Secret Doctrine, II. pp. 184 and 185). He is the "Lord of Hermopolis" - Janus, Hermes and Mercury combined. He is crowned with an atef and the lunar disk, and bears the "Eye of Horus ", the third eye, in his hand. He is the Greek Hermes, the god of learning, and Hermes Trismegistus, the " Thrice-great Hermes ", the patron of physical sciences and the patron and very soul of the occult esoteric knowledge. As Mr. J. Bonwick, F.R.G.S., beautifully expresses it: " Thoth has a powerful effect on the imagination . . . in this intricate yet beautiful phantasmagoria of thought and moral sentiment of that shadowy past. It is in vain we ask ourselves however man, in the infancy of this world of humanity, in the rudeness of supposed incipient civilization, could have dreamed of such a heavenly being as Thoth. The lines are so delicately drawn, so intimately and tastefully interwoven, that we seem to regard a picture designed by the genius of a Milton, and executed with the skill of a Raphael." Verily, there was some truth in that old saying, " The wisdom of the Egyptians ".When it is shown that the wife of Cephren, builder of the second Pyramid, was a priestess of Thoth, one sees that the ideas comprehended in him were fixed 6,000 years ago ". According to Plato, "Thoth-Hermes was the discoverer and inventor of numbers, geometry, astronomy and letters". Proclus, the disciple of Plotinus, speaking of this mysterious deity, says: "He presides over every species of condition, leading us to an intelligible essence from this mortal abode, governing the different herds of souls".

In other words Thoth, as the Registrar and Recorder of Osiris in Amenti, the Judgment Hall of the Dead was a psychopompic deity; while Iamblichus hints that " the cross with a handle (the thau or tau) which Tot holds in his hand, was none other than the monogram of his name". Besides the Tau, as the prototype of Mercury, Thoth carries the serpent-rod, emblem of Wisdom, the rod that became the Caduceus. Says Mr. Bonwick, " Hermes was the serpent itself in a mystical sense. He glides like that creature, noiselessly, without apparent exertion, along the course of ages. He is . . . a representative of the spangled heavens. But he is the foe of the bad serpent, for the ibis devoured the snakes of Egypt."

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

Hiram (or Huram), King of Tyre (Hebrew) (from hawar to become white or pale; or from harah to burn (as with ardor), be noble or free-born; or haram to devote, consecrate as to religion or destruction, be killed or destroyed)

A contemporary of the kings of Israel David and Solomon, who sent David cedar trees, carpenters, and masons in order to build him a house and who later, in response to a request from Solomon, sent timber from Lebanon and a skillful man, Hiram Abif or Huram 'abiu, to aid him in building Solomon's Temple (2 Chron 3:12-13). All the ancient records speak of King Hiram as a master builder who built the temples of Hercules and Astarte, virtually rebuilt Tyre, and reconstructed the national temple of Melkarth (Melekartha). At the entrance to this temple were two pillars, one of gold and one of smaragdus or emerald, which probably were the immediate prototypes of the pillars Jachin and Boaz in front of the temple which Solomon later built with Hiram's assistance, thus connecting the worship of Jehovah with that of Melkarth or Baal. The original prototype of these pillars were the Pillars of Hermes.

(See also: Hiram Abif, Huram Abif , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Phallic, Phallicism, Phallus [from Greek phallos penis]

The phallus occurs frequently in Greek mythologic and mystical representation: it is carried by Pan; borne in Bacchic processions; carved on the pedestals of the Hermae in the streets of Athens. There is no reason, apart from appropriateness, for preferring or rejecting one part of the body rather than another as a symbol, so that the phallus of Pan may be quite on a par with the wings on the feet of Hermes.

But the symbol has gone through stages of degradation, from being an emblem of spiritual generation to one of mere physical procreation, when physical procreation itself, once thought of in purity and with reverence, acquired associations of profligacy, sin, and shame. The words are chiefly used in The Secret Doctrine in reference to the degeneration of ancient doctrine and ritual from their originally exalted form into a materialized form, whether in Hebraic systems, Dionysion or Bacchic rites, Hindu ceremonial, etc.

All archaic and ancient mankind was strongly addicted to expressing spiritual and abstract cosmic verities under the forms of things which were concrete and visible. Thus not only has the sun at various times been an emblem of the light of the cosmic spirit or Logos, shining throughout the entire time period of the universe; but the moon has always been the symbol of the lower mind, the brain-mind reflecting the light of the spirit, just as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

In this impersonal and abstract manner of representation did the ancients symbolize the formative, creative, or procreative forces or energies of nature under appropriate emblems drawn from the animal kingdom, and most commonly from man himself. Thus it was that the phallus in Classical antiquity stood as the emblem of the abstract creative forces of the universe, as well as the solar system, and even of earth; precisely as the linga in India has always expressed the identic cycle of thought.

Likewise the female organ has frequently been used to express the generative and maternally productive powers of nature. Modern European sophistication unwillingly recognizes this truth, and insists in giving to these symbols the most offensive of constructions. Yet even Western religious iconology has followed the same line of thought, and whether we refer to the lamb, or to the serpent or dove, we ascertain exactly the same thing.

(See also: Phallic, Phallicism, Phallus , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Anubis (Greek) Anpu (Egyptian) The Egyptian jackal-headed deity, lord of the Silent Land of the West (the underworld). To him with Thoth was entrusted the psychopompic leading of the dead. In the judgment after death, Anubis tests the balance in the scene of the weighing of the heart. His offices were likewise those of the embalmer, mystically speaking.

Originally the god of the underworld, he was later replaced by Osiris. In Heliopolis during the later dynasties he was identified with Horus, for he was often regarded as the son of Osiris and Isis -- more often of Osiris and Nephthys (Neith). Plutarch writes: "By Anubis they understand the horizontal circle, which divides the invisible part of the world, which they call Nephthys, from the visible, to which they give the name of Isis; and as this circle equally touches upon the confines of both light and darkness, it may be looked upon as common to them both . . . Others again are of opinion that by Anubis is meant Time . . . " (On Isis and Osiris, sec 44).

The mysteries of Osiris and Isis were revived in Rome, and Apuleius (2nd century) in The Golden Ass tells of the Procession of Isis, in which the dual aspect of Anubis was portrayed: "that messenger between heaven and hell displaying alternately a face black as night, and golden as the day; in his left the caduceus, in his right waving aloft the green palm branch" (Gods of the Egyptians, Budge 2:264-5). In most of his attributes, Anubis is a lunar power, Plutarch connecting him with the Grecian Hecate, one of the names for the moon; and this is further emphasized by his being a guide of the dead. Also identified with Hermes as psychopomp.

See also Hermanubis

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

Gnostics Various schools -- agreeing in fundamentals, differing in details according to their teachers -- which inculcated gnosis (divine wisdom); they preceded or coincided with the early centuries of Christianity, and were grouped about Alexandria, Antioch, and other large centers of the Jewish-Hellenic-Syrian culture.

The teachers include Philo Judaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Simon Magus and his pupil Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Valentinus, Marcion, Celsus, and others. Their teachings in many respects were those of the ancient wisdom, derived from contact with the still extant sources in Egypt, India, Persia, and elsewhere.

Characteristic doctrines held by them are the system of emanations, powers, or aeons, with which they bridged the gap, otherwise remaining unfilled, between divinity and the world; the whole thus constituting the pleroma. All the potentialities of the supreme descend by emanational evolution through the various orders of aeons to man, who is thereby endowed with unlimited potentials. The distinction between Agathodaimon and Kakodaimon; the recognition of the mystical serpent of knowledge as the endower of mankind with wisdom and opponent of the merely creative or working Demiourgos (represented as the Old Testament Jehovah) were, among other matters, fairly well made in these systems.

According to Clement, the enlightened or perfect Christian is a Gnostic. In Gnostic teaching, Christ is an aeon of high degree; he is Lucifer the Light-bringer, who redeems humanity from the lower power of the merely creative or working Demiourgos -- that is, from becoming enmeshed in the lower cosmic powers.

Until the mid-twentieth century, the principal extant Gnostic writings were quotes in surviving attacks against the Gnostics made by early Christian writers, the Pistis Sophia and "two Books of Jeu," and the Neoplatonic Corpus Hermeticum (Hermes Trimegistos, Divine Pymander, etc.). With the discovery of the Nag-Hammadi scrolls, many more Gnostic writings have come to light and scholars are gaining a wider understanding of both Christian and non-Christian Gnosticism.

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

LIGHTNING

(Poetic: Leven). Sudden, divine illumination occurring simultaneously in mind and matter. Zeus and Thor, bearers of lightning bolts, are the most demonstrative of divine powers. They are the makers, but not the deliverers of Omniscience and Omnipotence. Since they preside only over special occasions, it is left to Hermes and Odin to do the everyday work of fetching and carrying. Thus we come more often in contact with them. The tree most often struck by lightning used to be the oak (hence its numinosity for the Druids), but whether this is still true in our forestless and ruined world is no longer known.

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

Gwydion (Welsh) The son of Don (Irish, Dana). There were two chief god-families: the Children of Don and the Children of Llyr. Gwydion might be equated with Hermes. His castle (Caer Gwydion) is the Milky Way, but also (like many of the stars and constellations) it was projected in Wales somewhere. An exactly similar projecting of celestial powers and functions into human life was at one time universal. One has to divine the functions of these gods from corresponding figures in other mythologies: in the Mabinogi they are all euhemerized into men.

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

Trismegistus (Greek) Thrice greatest; a title given to the mysterious personage after whom the Hermetic philosophy is named. In Egypt, he is equivalent to the god Thoth, but the title was also a generic name assumed by many ancient Greek writers on philosophy and alchemy. This title was likewise given to the supreme initiator in the ancient Mystery-system and therefore corresponding directly, both as regards function and position, to what in theosophical philosophy is called the mahachohan. The title, therefore, applies both to the divinity and its human representatives.

See also HERMES; PYMANDER

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

ALCHEMY

Chemistry is the child of the Alchemists. It's the legacy of "the puffers," those charlatan imitators who tried to fake the production of real gold. Alchemy was called "the Hermetic Science" because it supposedly began with Hermes (or Thoth). Paracelsus saw it chiefly as a means of producing medicine. The classical goals of Alchemy, however, have been to transmute lower metals into gold, to prolong life via an elixir, to search for the Mysterium Magnum, to create a homunculus and to find a universal solvent. This was to be accomplished via the manufacture or discovery of the Lapis Philosophorum, The Sophic Hydrolith, "Our Mercury" or "Philosopher's Stone." Other names for the "Stone" (achieved through the hieros gamos "marriage" of opposites) are: Virgin's Milk, Cock's Egg, Dry Water and similar contradictions. Generally, a cryptic vocabulary is used to disguise psychological and materialistic parallels, e.g. "red lion", "nigredo", etc. There are supposedly seven stages of the alchemical Great Work, which are symbolical as well as chemical/metallurgical steps: Calcination, Putrefaction, Solution, Distillation, Conjunction, Sublimation and Philosophic Congelation. There are also minor, intermediary steps, such as Coloratio, Corrosio, Ceratio, Extractio, Separatio etc.

We should bear in mind, however, that true alchemists consider the Great Work to be not merely aureofaction or the transmogrification of matter, but rather, as Alice Bailey points out "to transfer consciousness to one of the higher vehicles..." In other words, the integrity of the inner transformation is more important than any flashy theatrical results.

According to some theories alchemy is the raising of vibrations. The vegetable kingdom resonates at the lowest level. In between vibrates the animal kingdom. It is for this reason that the extraction of plant essence is easy, while the extraction of mineral essence is extremely difficult. This is also why man, situated midway between the two kingdoms, can, by simultaneously distilling his own essence, assist the mineral.

From a psychological standpoint, any work, on the most general level, is the process of separating the important from the non-essential and the decision as to whether to continue further to distill that residue to any degree of perfection and finally the determination of when the whole is of a piece and completely finished. This process can apply to a work of art, to self-analysis, to the quest for the elixir of life or even, for that matter, to metallurgy - because (according to the Emerald Tablet) all things are one.

It is no accident or coincidence, for instance, that there is a correlation between the atomic numbers of modern physics and the ancient progression of metals in their metamorphosis into gold:

                Lead          82

                Thallium      81

                Mercury       80

                Gold          79

                Platinum      78

The most important alchemical instruction is "Solve et Coagula", but an even more specific hint is "Flee contraction, seek dispersion."

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

Anthesteria (Greek) (from anthos flower)

Flower festival; part of the Dionysion Mysteries celebrated from the 11th to the 13th of the month of Anthesterion (February-March). At Athens on the first day the casks of new wine were opened; on the second day a beaker of new wine was served to each guest at a public banquet and the wife of the Archon Basileus, representing the whole country, was married to Dionysos. These two days were considered of ill-omen, and the souls of the dead were thought to walk abroad. On the third day, offerings of cooked pulse were offered to Hermes as psychopomp and to the souls of the dead.

"At the mysteries of the Anthesteria . . . after the usual baptism by purification of water, the Mystae were made to pass through to another door (gate), and one particularly for that purpose, which was called, 'the gate of Dionysus,' and that of 'the purified' " (IU 2:245-6). These were the Less Mysteries, preliminary and complementary to those held in the month of Boedromion (September) in Eleusis.

Some scholars, seeing the analogy between climatic seasons and the stages of initiation, have supposed that the festival celebrated primarily the advent of spring and that the rites were symbolic of this; whereas others believe that the initiations were the main events and were held at times when nature harmonized with the purpose in view.

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

PAROUSIA

The 2nd Coming (of X). The return of Christ is, as it was in the beginning, the return of the Christ consciousness -- for there is no historical Christ, (unlike, let us say Thoth or Hermes). Minions of the historical Church will wait in vain as the Xtian Age of Pisces draws to an end at last with nary a glimmer of suburban yuppie Jesus in tennis shoes and pink jogging shorts. Technically, in eternal terms, the three "days" of Christ's death are eons. The first day was the day of his crucifixion, yesterday, which took place 2000 years ago. The second day is the entire span of time since then, taken as a single day. During all this day, Christ has been in Hell. The third day is the millennium, tomorrow, when he will "rise" up out of Hell. In fact, the real meaning of Parousia (in Greek) is a "remaining beside" and really has nothing to do with "coming back" at all.

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

Mercury For the Latin god,

See HERMES

Also the closest visible planet to the sun. Irregularities discovered in its orbit led astronomers at one time to suspect that there is an inter-Mercurial planet, and such a suspected planet, once claimed to have been seen crossing the solar disk, was named Vulcan. Mercury is included in the enumeration of the seven sacred planets of the ancients.

Theosophy, as it does with all the visible planetary bodies, considers Mercury to be the lowest globe of a septenary chain of globes; so that this planet is not one of the seven globes of the earth-chain (SD 1:163 et seq). A connection with the earth-chain, however, is found in that the spiritual rector or genius of the Mercury planetary chain has especial influence over globe E of the earth-chain, and over the fifth or present root-race of our globe D. Astrologically, the zodiacal houses of Mercury are Gemini and Virgo; it has given its name to the day of the week Wednesday.

As Mercury is about ready to inaugurate its last or seventh round, it is far older as a chain in its present imbodiment than is the earth-chain in its. It is supposed to receive seven times more light and other solar energies from the sun than the earth receives. "Mercury is, as an astrological planet, still more occult and mysterious than Venus. It is identical with the Mazdean Mithra, the genius, or god, 'established between the Sun and the Moon, the perpetual companion of "Sun" of Wisdom' " (SD 2:28). Esoterically the planets Mercury, Venus, and the Moon in ancient ceremonial rites were represented by three initiators. This is the origin of the three Magi or wise men associated with Christmas and the birth of Jesus.

The metal mercury plays a great part in alchemy, being one of the trinity of sulphur, mercury, salt -- denoting spirit, water, and blood; or flame, nature, and mother.

(See also: Mercury , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Week The period of seven days was known to the Hindus, Egyptians, Hebrews, and other ancient nations, but not used by the Greeks or Romans until the Christian Emperor Theodosius. It is not based on any exact astronomical cycle, so far as is ordinarily known, though it may be considered roughly as a subdivision of the month. It was well known to the Hebrews, and in the New Testament the word week translates the Greek Sabbator which is the Hebrew Shabbath. Though commonly Sabbath is taken to mean a seventh day after six, a more esoteric sense makes it a period of seven time units of rest after a period of seven active time units -- in other words after a septenary manvantara comes a septenary pralaya. The word is also used of other sevenfold time periods, such as a week of years or of ages; for each of the days in a week of years represents 360 solar years, and the whole week 2,520 years. The Hebrews "had a Sabbatical week, a Sabbatical year, etc., etc., and their Sabbath lasted indifferently 24 hours or 24,000 years -- in their secret calculations of the Sods. We of the present times call an age a century" (SD 2:395).

The nomenclature of the seven days of the week according to the seven sacred planets is serially uniform in the various calendars, and points to a common origin of this knowledge. It can be arrived at by dividing the day into 24 hours and assigning a planet to each hour, for instance, first counting from Saturn, then Jupiter, then Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, down to the Moon when, by this system of counting and pausing at every fourth, both inclusive, the first planetary hour of each day, beginning with the sunrise, will be found to be governed by the planet which is assigned to that day. The same occurs with a ten-hour day, or by counting the planets in order and giving one to each quarter of the day (cf Fund 250).

Here are the names of the days of the week in the English, ancient Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, Greek, and Latin systems as being sacred to their deities:

English // Anglo-Saxon // Scandinavian // Greek // Latin

Sunday // Sunnandaeg // Day of the Sun // Phoebus // Apollo

Monday // Monandaeg // Day of the Moon // Artemis // Diana

Tuesday // Tiwesdaeg // Day of Tiw // Ares // Mars

Wednesday // Wodnesdaeg // Day of Odin // Hermes // Mercurius

Thursday // Thunresdaeg // Day of Thor // Zeus // Jupiter

Friday // Frigedaeg // Day of Frigga // Aphrodite // Venus

Saturday // Saeterndaeg // Day of (?) // Kronos // Saturnus

Blavatsky writes that in the course of time the seven-headed or septenary Dragon-logos became split up into "four heptanomic parts or twenty-eight portions," which suggests the division of the week and the month, into the seven days of the week, and the 28 days of the lunar month, and the four seasons of the year. "Each lunar week has a distinct occult character in the lunar month; each day of the twenty-eight has its special characteristics; as each of the twelve constellations, whether separately or in combination with other signs, has an occult influence either for good or for evil" (SD 1:409).

The ancient Mexicans had a different system of dividing their weeks and months: their week consisted of five days, and their month of 20 days. There were likewise other weeks among other nations or peoples as, for instance, the Athenians had a week of ten days, etc.

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

Brihaspati (Sanskrit) (from brih prayer + pati lord)

Sometimes Vrihaspati. A Vedic deity, corresponding to the planet Jupiter, commonly translated lord of prayer, the personification of exoteric piety and religion, but mystically the name signifies lord of increase, of expansion, growth.

He is frequently called Brahmanaspati, both names having a direct significance with the power of sound as uttered in mantras or prayer united with positive will. He is regarded in Hindu mythology as the chief offerer of prayers and sacrifices, thus representing the Brahmin or priestly caste, being the Purohita (family priest) of the gods, among other things interceding with them for mankind. He has many titles and attributes, being frequently designated as Jiva (the living), Didivis (the bright or golden-colored). In later times he became the god of exoteric knowledge and eloquence -- Dhishana (the intelligent), Gish-pati (lord of invocations). In this aspect he is regarded as the son of the rishi Angiras, and hence bears the patronymic Angriasa, and the husband of Tara, who was carried off by Soma (the moon). Tara is "the personification of the powers of one initiated into Gupta Vidya (secret knowledge) . . .

"Soma is the moon astronomically; but in mystical phraseology, it is also the name of the sacred beverage drunk by the Brahmins and the Initiates during their mysteries and sacrificial rites . . . .

"Soma was never given in days of old to the non-initiated Brahman -- the simple Grihasta, or priest of the exoteric ritual. Thus Brihaspati -- 'guru of the gods' though he was -- still represented the dead-letter form of worship. It is Tara his wife -- the symbol of one who, though wedded to dogmatic worship, longs for true wisdom -- who is shown as initiated into his mysteries by King Soma, the giver of that Wisdom. Soma is thus made in the allegory to carry her away. The result of this is the birth of Budha -- esoteric Wisdom -- (Mercury, or Hermes in Greece and Egypt). He is represented as 'so beautiful,' that even the husband, though well aware that Budha is not the progeny of his dead-letter worship -- claims the 'new-born' as his Son, the fruit of his ritualistic and meaningless forms. Such is, in brief, one of the meanings of the allegory" (SD 2:498-9).

Tara's abduction gave rise to the Tarakamaya -- the first war in heaven. The earth was shaken to its very center and turned to Brahma requesting him to restore Tara to her husband, which request was granted. Soma had for his allies the Daityas and Danavas, whose leader is Usanas (Venus) and Rudra (Siva), while the gods who sided with Brihaspati were led by Indra.

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

Hermes, Tablets of. See SMARAGDINE TABLETS

(See also: Hermes-Fire , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Eros (Greek) Love, desire; represented in the Hesiodic theogony as one of four self-existent deities, the others being Chaos, Gaia, and Erebos; otherwise as the son of Aphrodite by either Ares, Zeus, or Hermes.

Eros is the cosmic force which causes the unmanifest to seek self-manifestation: it is divine love, will, desire; the desire to manifest in creative activity, and thus to give life and existence to all beings. This desire, which "arises first in It" (SD 2:578), is in the gods and in all nature. After the worlds have been manifested, Eros then becomes, under the form of fohat, the ever-active force which brings together and combines the elemental atoms.

"Fohat, in his capacity of Divine Love (Eros), the electric Power of affinity and sympathy, is shown allegorically as trying to bring the pure Spirit, the Ray inseparable from the one absolute, into union with the Soul" (SD 1:119). Eros, like his synonyms kama, amor, and cupido, acts on many planes.

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

Book of the Dead. An ancient Egyptian ritualistic and occult work attributed to Thot-Hermes. Found in the coffins of ancient mummies,

(See also: Book of the Dead , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)