Earth Changes

New Age term for the cataclysmic events predicted by Edgar Cayce and others to happen as the earth moves from the Piscean Age into the Aquarian Age.

(see Edgar Cayce,)

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

Seasons The seasons are at least in part due to the inclination of the earth's axis, and wholly according to this explanation in modern astronomy. If there were no inclination -- if the ecliptic coincided with the equator, and the earth's axis with the poles of the equator -- there would be no seasons.

In satya yuga there were no changes of season, but an eternal spring which lasted as long as the lack of polar inclination endured, but which came to an end when the third root-race fell into "sin" -- the two events coinciding. The earth's axis when without inclination is at right angles with the plane of the ecliptic. The titans or kabiri are described in The Secret Doctrine as the generators and regulators of the seasons, thus showing that they take their part with the karmic lipikas in the cosmic history of the globe. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter correspond with other quaternaries, such as the four points of the compass and the four elements; and also represent a cycle of changes from birth to dissolution and rebirth.

In theosophical literature the earth's axis is said to undergo a secular movement of inclination with interims of pausings and smaller changes, or what may be called librations; and this secular movement is on the whole continuous, so that in course of long ages the axis of the earth becomes inverted, and consequently the poles are reversed; continuing their movement, they finally return to the position of right angularity with the plane of the ecliptic. Enormous changes must take place during this cycle upon the earth, not only as regards seasons, but likewise as regards geological and marine convulsions and cataclysms -- evidences of which are apparent not only in the geological record, but in many otherwise unexplained and perhaps unexplainable botanical and zoological migrations. What is at one time land becomes sea, and vice versa.

See also EQUINOX; SOLSTICE

(See also: Seasons , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

cleansing

Purification or Earth changes

(See also: Cleansing , Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Devachan :

Devachan

[Tibetan, bde-ba-can, pronounced de-wa-chen] A translation of the Sanskrit sukhavati, the "happy place" or god-land. It is the state between earth-lives into which the human entity, the human monad, enters and there rests in bliss and repose.

When the second death after that of the physical body takes place  - and there are many deaths, that is to say many changes of the vehicles of the ego  - the higher part of the human entity withdraws into itself all that aspires towards it, and takes that "all" with it into the devachan; and the atman, with the buddhi and with the higher part of the manas, become thereupon the spiritual monad of man. Devachan as a state applies not to the highest or heavenly or divine monad, but only to the middle principles of man, to the personal ego or the personal soul in man, overshadowed by atma-buddhi. There are many degrees in devachan: the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest. Yet devachan is not a locality, it is a state, a state of the beings in that spiritual condition.

Devachan is the fulfilling of all the unfulfilled spiritual hopes of the past incarnation, and an efflorescence of all the spiritual and intellectual yearnings of the past incarnation which in that past incarnation have not had an opportunity for fulfillment. It is a period of unspeakable bliss and peace for the human soul, until it has finished its rest time and stage of recuperation of its own energies.

In the devachanic state, the reincarnating ego remains in the bosom of the monad (or of the monadic essence) in a state of the most perfect and utter bliss and peace, reviewing and constantly reviewing, and improving upon in its own blissful imagination, all the unfulfilled spiritual and intellectual possibilities of the life just closed that its naturally creative faculties automatically suggest to the devachanic entity.

Man here is no longer a quaternary of substance-principles (for the second death has taken place), but is now reduced to the monad with the reincarnating ego sleeping in its bosom, and is therefore a spiritual triad. (See also Death, Reincarnating Ego)

See also: Devachan , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Horses

An astrologist from helenaparis.com analyses an iVillager's real dream

serendipity1980 says:

Normally my dreams are straightforward and I can understand them but this one is just strange! I am standing behind the fence of a paddock watching horses running about. Two come over to me as I have apples for them. When the first horse bends down to take the apple, its face changes to a human face (not of anyone I know, but in the dream this person seems familiar). As the horse moves away to chew the apple, its features change back into a horse. Then the second horse bends down to take an apple and the exact same thing happens but it's a different face - this person also looks familiar. When I see their faces change, I'm not frightened but think to myself ... why would they do that? I have a warm feeling inside and just smile. I don't say anything, I just stand there watching. I know this sounds very weird but does it signify anything? Thanks for your help.

Helena Paris says:

Hello, serendipity1980. Thank you for sharing your dream.

Our bodies tell us in dreaming what it is we already know in spirit. It is interesting that you are standing behind a fence watching the horses, like you are watching a part of yourself that is somehow disconnected in daily life. Horses are beautiful and majestic creatures associated with freedom and power. They are often linked with our sexual, creative and spiritual energy. You are already familiar with that part of yourself, but you aren't quite sure how to access it, how to get over the fence and let it out!

As a symbol, apples have long been associated with deeper wisdom and knowing. An apple contains within it the seeds of new life; it is the perfect container for the growth of that new life, like women are the perfect containers for new life and creative expression. We long to express ourselves, but there are so many ideas which we never bring to fruition, because we don't make time to explore them.

The feeling you have when you see the horses may be connected to the sense of fulfilment from realising even the smallest achievement of our goals. We all have an inner calling, a yearning to be a part of a much more creative existence. By ingesting the idea, giving it time to gestate, making time for even the smallest of creative projects, brings a passion and colour to our lives, and becomes a constant source of regeneration. Joseph Campbell said 'We have to give up the life we have planned, in order to have the one that is waiting for us'. What is the life that is planned for you, who has planned it, what is it you would really like to do?

By feeding your inner life through meditation, walking in nature, being silent within, you will engage with another kind of energy, that of life itself. Learning to ride this power in existence you will shine, nurture yourself and you will grow, express your deeper knowing and you will move into the life that is waiting for you.

Sweet dreams.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

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

Kalki Avatar (Sanskrit). The "White Horse Avatar", which will be the last manvantaric incarnation of Vishnu, according to the Brahmins; of Maitreya Buddha, agreeably to Northern Buddhists; of Sosiosh, the last hero and Saviour of the Zoroastrians, as claimed by Parsis ; and of the "Faithful and True" on the white Horse (Rev. xix.,2 ).

In his future epiphany or tenth avatar, the heavens will open and Vishnu will appear "seated on a milk-white steed, with a drawn sword blazing like a comet, for the final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of ‘creation’ and the ‘restoration of purity’". (Compare Revelation.)

This will take place at the end of the Kaliyuga 427,000 years hence. The latter end of every Yuga is called "the destruction of the world", as then the earth changes each time its outward form, submerging one set of continents and upheaving another set.

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

Poles, Terrestrial Poles, Celestial Poles The poles of the earth are the extremities of its axis of rotation, and the great circle at right angles to this axis is the terrestrial equator. Corresponding to these in the celestial sphere are the celestial poles and equator.

The terrestrial poles are storehouses of cosmic vitality, and here the fohatic forces result in the auroral phenomena of colored light and sounds. The north pole is heaven, Olympus, Mount Meru, the abode of the higher gods, and the place of the first continent, the Sacred Imperishable Land. The south pole is the pit, hell, patala, the vent of the earth. These two are often called the Mountain and the Pit. In the Vendidad the north pole is a serpent who bites spring and turns it to cold. The poles are variously personified in mythology, often rather distantly, e.g., as Castor and Pollux.

The extremities of the axis of the ecliptic point to the poles of the ecliptic in the celestial sphere. The axis of the earth is inclined to the axis of the ecliptic at an angle of something more than 23 degrees, called the obliquity, which makes the angle between the ecliptic and the equator.

The obliquity is believed by modern astronomers to oscillate about a mean position to the extent of 1 degree 21 minutes on both sides in a period of about 10,000 to 18,000 years; but The Secret Doctrine states that the obliquity has been 90 degrees and 180 degrees, that it has had these positions repeatedly, and that the obliquity varies at the rate of nearly 3.6 degrees in each precessional cycle. It would appear from this that the earth's axis makes a complete circle or revolution with regard to the ecliptic axis, passing through angles of 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees, and so back to the starting point. When the two axes coincide, there can be no seasons, no equinoxes or solstices.

When they are at right angles, either the northern hemisphere or the southern, as the case may be, has six months of spring and summer, the opposite hemisphere having six months of autumn and winter; and the ecliptic poles being in the equator. When the axis is entirely inverted, although the zodiacal constellations remain the same, of course, because of the rotation of the earth, they apparently have a reversed movement from their present one (SD 2:785). Herodotus learned from Egyptian priests that the two axes had once coincided and that they had been reversed three times since their records began; and the Denderah zodiacal charts show that the rectangular position and three inversions had taken place.

Considering the dynamic bearings of the shifting in space of the earth's axis in light of the phenomena of the gyrostat, and how the application of an external force will produce a change in the direction of the axis of rotation, a mathematician might deduce the nature and value of the external forces which must in past ages have acted on the rotating earth in order to produce these axial changes.

(See also: Poles, Terrestrial Poles, Celestial Poles , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

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

Cataclysms (from Greek kataklysmos flood)

The term originated among the Stoics, who taught that the world is visited periodically and alternately by deluge (cataclysm) and conflagration (ekpyrosis, "burning up"). This last teaching was taken over into early Christian theology in the idea that the world will perish in flame.

The meaning of cataclysm, however, now includes both deluges and volcanic action. Theosophy holds that the earth is visited periodically and at long intervals by comparatively sudden changes, varying in geographic importance from a continental to merely local catastrophes. The whole period of the cataclysm includes a gradual beginning, a progressive intensification, a culmination, and a gradual diminution. Local transformations are often sudden, sharp, or violent, whereas those embracing a wide geographical field are usually much slower or of longer period, frequently seeming to be nothing more than the merely secular changes which human experience recognizes as customary.

Cataclysms are due to the influence of the sun, moon, planets, and ultimately also to the constellations. As all physical phenomena are manifestations of what originally occurs in the realms of mind and consciousness, the movements of the earth's crust reflect the movements in the minds of the beings inhabiting it, for all nature is an organism and all things are ineluctably knitted together by cosmic forces.

All the cataclysms are accompanied by both deluges and volcanism, but one or the other of these is accentuated at alternately different times. The forthcoming cataclysms at the end of the fifth root-race are stated to be especially marked by the action of the element fire. Lemuria, the third continental system, is said to have perished by subterranean convulsion, tremendous volcanic activity, and other phenomena arising in the igneous element, and the consequent breaking of the sea floor; whereas that of Atlantis, or the fourth great continental system, was mainly caused by axial disturbance, leading to subsidence of lands, tremendous consequent tidal waves, and the shifting of large portions of the oceanic system. "Therefore, it is absolutely false, . . . that all the great geological changes and terrible convulsions have been produced by ordinary and known physical forces. For these forces were but the tools and final means for the accomplishment of certain purposes, acting periodically, and apparently mechanically, through an inward impulse mixed up with, but beyond their material nature. There is a purpose in every important act of Nature, whose acts are all cyclic and periodical" (SD 1:640).

Conflagration was also used by Blavatsky to denote the destruction of the earth in pralayas, greater or less.

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

Venus The second visible planet from the sun in our solar system, and the brightest orb in the heavens except the sun and moon: regarded by the ancients as one of the seven sacred planets. Astrologically its zodiacal houses are Taurus and Libra; its day of the week is Friday.

"Venus is the most occult, powerful, and mysterious of all the planets; the one whose influence upon, and relation to the Earth is most prominent. . . .

". . .According to the Occult Doctrine, this planet is our Earth's primary, and its spiritual prototype. . . .

"Every sin committed on Earth is felt by Usanas-Sukra [Venus]. The Guru of the Daityas is the Guardian Spirit of the Earth and Men. Every change on Sukra is felt on, and reflected by, the Earth" (SD 2:30-1).

In theosophy the regent or rector of Venus has a particular influence over globe C of the earth-chain, and likewise over the third root-race of the earth's globe D. The sign of Venus (the circle over the cross ) represents the fall of mankind and animal life into sexual generation at the end of the third root-race.

As Venus has no satellites, the ancients said that Venus adopted the Earth, the progeny of the Moon. "Every world has its parent star and sister planet. Thus Earth is the adopted child and younger brother of Venus, but its inhabitants are of their own kind" (SD 2:33). The inhabitants of Venus have bodies in one sense more gross than those of Earth-dwellers; yet despite this the former are far more intelligent than are the humans of Earth. Furthermore, Venus is said to be in its seventh round (cf SD 1:602; FSO 327-9).

For the Roman goddess,

See APHRODITE

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

Geological Eras When H. P. Blavatsky was writing about the age of the earth in The Secret Doctrine she compared the teachings of the scientists of that time and found nothing but confusion and uncertainty as to geological figures. However, Professor Lefevre in his Philosophy adopted an original method of interpreting the data available. Instead of trying to reach exact figures in regard to the length of the entire fossil-bearing period of sedimentation from the Laurentian period to the present day, or of its subdivisions, he worked out the relative durations of the sedimentary deposits.

With this for a background the actual duration of the eras and periods could easily be calculated when reliable evidence was found. Lefevre's studies were based on the erosion of rocks and the deposition of sediments, and his conclusions have stood with little modification till now. H. P. Blavatsky noticed that his estimates of the relative duration of the geological ages agreed fairly well with the 'esoteric' information in her possession, and so by adapting her knowledge of the real figures to Lefevre's proportional scale she constructed a time table which, she says, approximates the truth "in almost every particular." Her total of "320,000,000 years of sedimentation" is much less than that of modern geologists, even though she includes the Laurentian period in her table, which they omit. Her "Esoteric" table (Sd 2:710) is as follows:

ROUGH APPROXIMATIONS.

Primordial lasted 171,200,000 years.

Laurentian

Cambrian

Silurian

Primary lasted 103,040,000 years

Devonian

Coal

Permian

Secondary lasted 36,800,000 years

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Tertiary lasted 7,360,000 years (probably in excess)

Eocene

Miocene

Pliocene

Quaternary lasted 1,600,000 years (probably in excess).

A glance at the modern table alongside hers will show how greatly modern geologists have extended their time periods. Two reasons are given for this great extension: first, the supposedly known and constant rate of radioactive disintegration in certain minerals found in the rocks; second, the modern belief that biological evolution by natural selection, etc., required far more time than formerly seemed necessary or permissible.

In her Esoteric table Blavatsky, following Lefevre's arrangement, combines the three oldest periods, the Laurentian, Cambrian and Silurian, into her Primordial era. The two latter are now placed in the Paleozoic era, and the Laurentian and older rocks are included within the preceding Precambrian era, an enormously long complex of sedimentary, plutonic and metamorphosed rocks lying in tangled confusion below the Paleozoic strata, and in which forms of life are very scanty or altogether absent. The Precambrian era was longer than all the subsequent eras combined, and probably covers much of the "third round" evolution of life on this globe, for Blavatsky says that her 320,000,000 years of sedimentation, which approximates to the time elapsed since the Precambrian era, refers to this round (the fourth) of the human life-wave, for "it must be noted that even a greater time elapsed during the preparation of this globe for the Fourth Round previous to stratification" (SD 2:715). The tremendous cataclysms and the general transformations of the earth's crust that took place at the end of the third round (greater than any of the "revolutions" that have happened since) destroyed nearly all traces of the third round forms of life. A few living entities, mostly or entirely marine, managed to exist in and survive the great disturbances during the dawning of the opening drama of the fourth round. Their fossils are found in the earliest periods of the Paleozoic era associated with the rather more advanced forms which gradually superseded them (SD 2:712).

The scheme of terrestrial evolution from the standpoint of the ancient wisdom given in The Secret Doctrine is, in a few words: the earth we see is the fourth of a sevenfold "chain" of globes which constitutes a single organism, as we may call it. The other six globes are not visible to our gross senses but the entire group is intimately connected. The vast stream of human monads circulates seven times round the earth planetary chain during the great cycle. We are now in the fourth circulation or round of the great pilgrimage on our globe and so this period is called the fourth round. While on our globe we pass through seven stages called "root-races," each lasting for millions of years. Each in its turn is subdivided into smaller septenary sections. Each succeeding root-race is shorter than its predecessor, and there is some overlapping. Great geological changes separate each root-race from its successor and only a comparatively few survivors remain to provide the seed for the next root-race.

The individualized life cycles in the rounds are associated with diversities in environment. Each round is a component part of a great serial order of evolution which may be summarized as the gradual descent of spirit into matter and the subsequent ascent. The first round, even on this globe, was highly spiritual and ethereal: the succeeding rounds are less so, until the middle of the fourth round is reached. After that axial period the process is reversed and by degrees the original state of ethereality is reassumed. A similar process takes place within each round, but on a minor scale -- smaller cycles within a dominant one. The physical condition of the earth's substance is modified in a corresponding way. The amazing modern discoveries of the nature of the atom, of its transmutations, and of the transformation of 'matter' into energy have removed any prima facie objections to such a process.

The first root-race of the fourth round was by far the longest of its seven root-races, because within it were included advanced monads from the third round or life-wave on this globe, called sishtas (those left behind to serve as "seeds of life" for the returning life-wave in the succeeding round), and other forerunners, who preceded by millions of years the main aggregation of monads that formed the first root-race properly so called. The second root-race was not so long as the first, the third was considerably shorter, and so forth. We are now about halfway through the fifth root-race, and two-and-a-half root-races are still to come before the end of the fourth round on this globe. The fourth round contains the period of greatest materiality for the vehicles of the monad during the entire seven rounds, and during this middle round the ascent of the ladder of spiritual unfoldment begins. Although the "physical" conditions of the entire fourth round were denser than those of its predecessors, the early part of the fourth, which includes the first and second root-races and most of the third, was still quite ethereal and no material traces of man have been left for science to discover. In the fourth root-race, the earth itself became hard and dense.

In regard to the dates and duration of the earlier root-races of the fourth round we are given but little information. We can, however, place the early root-races approximately side by side with the periods and dates given by H. P. Blavatsky in her Esoteric table and reach a fairly close idea of their antiquity. From some casual hints contained in The Secret Doctrine it is clear that the first root-race began before the Mesozoic (Secondary) era, most probably in the Pennsylvanian (Carboniferous) period in the Paleozoic, but possibly earlier. According to the Esoteric table this could even be almost 150,000,000 years ago. The ethereal first root-race, which did not know physical "death," gradually blended with the second root-race in the Permian period.

It is noteworthy that there is some parallelism between the root-races and the periods beginning with great geological, climatic, and biological changes called by geologists "revolutions." This applies even to the earliest or ethereal races. At least four and possibly more have taken place, the most important and earth-shaking being that which ushered in the fourth round (about the end of the Precambrian era as already mentioned). As we are only in the fifth root-race no doubt we shall experience other cataclysmic changes during the closing period of this round on this globe. We read in The Secret Doctrine:

As land needs rest and renovation, new forces, and a change for its soil, so does water. Thence arises a periodical redistribution of land and water, change of climates, etc., all brought on by geological revolution, and ending in a final change in the axis. -- 2:726

The exact duration of the rounds or the root-races has never been given out; and the geologists are not inclined to commit themselves definitely in regard to the length of their eras and periods. But there is no doubt of the actuality of the serial events or cyclic repetitions and of the order in which they occur, irrespective of the number of years that may be assigned to them.

Nothing definite is revealed about the chronology of the four earlier subraces of the third root-race, but approximately exact figures are given for the first time when we reach the fifth subrace, and we learn that about 18,618,000 years have elapsed from that subrace to the present day. This period is called by Blavatsky that of "our humanity" because the characteristics of mankind as we understand it -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- showed their first indications in the fifth subrace.

We have, however, so greatly changed since the monad emerged from the shadowy ethereal vestures or vehicles of "pre-human man" that as Blavatsky says:

that which Science -- recognizing only physical man -- has a right to regard as the prehuman period, may be conceded to have extended from the First Race down to the first half of the Atlantean (Fourth) race, since it is only then that man became the "complete organic being he is now." And this would make Adamic man no older than a few million of years. -- SD 2:315

According to the dating in the Esoteric table, the third root-race was at its peak in the Jurassic period, becoming denser in the Cretaceous period and ending in the early Cenozoic era. It overlapped the fourth root-race, commonly called the Atlantean, which reached its middle period 8-9,000,000 years ago, near the beginning of the earliest division of the Cenozoic era, the Paleocene. The disastrous breaking up of the main Atlantean continental area occurred in the Miocene period, but portions such as the great islands, Ruta and Daitya, lingered until much later, and Plato's small "island of Atlantis" perished only 11-12,000 years ago.

As Vaivasvata's humanity, in which we are particularly interested, began to develop 18-19,000,000 years ago, it is obviously far older than the Cenozoic era which, according to the Esoteric table, began about 8,960,000 years ago, but here we find a striking unconformity between modern geology and the esoteric teaching. In several places Blavatsky envisages the possibility that the geologists might increase their estimate of the length of the Cenozoic era, and says that this would not be disturbing.

It may make our position plainer if we state at once that we use Sir C. Lyell's nomenclature for the ages and periods, and that when we talk of the Secondary and Tertiary age, of the Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene periods -- this is simply to make our facts more comprehensible. Since these ages and periods have not yet been allowed fixed and determined durations, 2½ and 15 million years being assigned at different times to one and the same age (the Tertiary) -- and since no two geologists and naturalists seem to agree on this point -- Esoteric teachings may remain quite indifferent to whether man is shown to appear in the Secondary or the Tertiary age. If the latter age may be allowed even so much as 15 million years' duration -- well and good; for the Occult doctrine, jealously guarding its real and correct figures as far as concerns the First, Second, and two-thirds of the Third Root-Race -- gives clear information upon one point only -- the age of "Vaivasvata Manu's humanity." (SD 2:693)

Though Vaivasvata's humanity -- our humanity -- has existed for 18-19,000,000 years, and for less than half that time we have been complete organic beings, we may look forward to many more millions of years before any radical changes will take place in our physical structure. During the fourth root-race, the Atlantean, the lowest stage of materiality was reached, and we in the fifth root-race are now somewhat less physically dense. By the time we attain the seventh root-race of this fourth round, in the far distant future, our flesh will have become much more refined and almost translucent, and near the close of the manvantara or great life-period of planetary evolution in the seventh round we shall have risen so far above the lower cosmic plane in which our earth now functions that our highly ethereal bodies "will become self-luminous forms of light."

(See also: Geological Eras , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Killing : Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Killing indicates the changes occurring within the dreamer

Killing indicates the changes occurring within the dreamer.

Death in a dream represents change. Killing, as part of the dream action indicates a change occurring in the dreamer and his/her life. The type of change is signified by who or what is killed in the dream. For instance, the dreamer killing a tiger represents changing a habit.

Source: The Dreamer's Dictionary

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

Wind

The wind in your dream could be symbolic of your own spirit or the life force. The wind may represent changes in your life. The greater the force of the wind, the grater the change. A very gusty wind could represent stress and turmoil but also the energy that you need or have to make changes. The sound of the wind and the movement of objects around you are probably what alert you to the wind in the dream, rather than a sensation of wind on your skin (most people don't have tactile experiences in their dreams). The sound of the wind is considered by some to be special because it is a sound of nature and has spiritual significance.

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

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

Akasic Magnetism In theosophy both electricity and magnetism are considered as the vital fluids or effluxes of living beings, which flow forth from them and, interblending and interworking, produce the multimyriad forms of electric and magnetic phenomenal activity common everywhere. This means that both magnetism and electricity are to be traced to their source in cosmic akasa, which is in the great what the magnetism of an individual is in the small.

 The changes occurring in the earth's magnetism "are due to akasic magnetism incessantly generating electric currents which tend to restore disturbed equilibrium" (ML 160). Hence all magnetic or electrical activity on earth is produced by astral magnetism and electricity incessantly generating electric and magnetic currents which reproduce themselves in the physical sphere.

(See also: Akasic Magnetism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Zagreus, Zagreus-Dionysos (Greek) Dionysos was an earlier name for Bacchus. The mythos concerning Zagreus belongs to the cycle of teachings of the Orphic Mysteries rather than to mythology, so no references occur in the writings for the people, such as Homer and Hesiod. The references that have come down to our day occur principally in the manuscripts of the ancient Greek dramatists, poets, and in other ancient fragments.

As cosmic evolution was taught in the Orphic Mysteries by allegory, so was the evolution of the individual soul or microcosm, centering in the mythos of Zagreus, later Zagreus-Dionysos, the Greek savior, which the Greek Dionysian Mysteries sought to unfold in dramatic and veiled or symbolic literary form. "Dionysos is one with Osiris, with Krishna, and with Buddha (the heavenly wise), and with the coming (tenth) Avatar, the glorified Spiritual Christos . . ." (SD 2:420).

Zagreus has three distinct meanings: 1) the mighty hunter (the pilgrim-soul, hunting for the truth, its aeonic pilgrimage back to divinity); 2) he that takes many captives (the Lord of the Dead); and 3) the restorer or regenerator (King of the Reborn or initiates). Zagreus (later Bacchus or Iacchos) is the divine Son, the third of the Orphic Trinity, the other two being Zeus the Demiurge or divine All-father, and Demeter-Kore, the earth goddess in her twofold aspect as the divine Mother and the mortal maid.

The mythos relates that Zagreus, a favored son of Zeus, aroused the wrath of Hera, who plotted his destruction. First she released the dethroned titans from Tartaros to slay the newborn babe. They induced the child to give up the scepter and apple for the false toys which they held before him: a thyrsos or Bacchic wand (symbol of matter and rebirth into material life), a giddy spinning top, and a mirror (maya or illusion). As the child was gazing at himself in the mirror, they seized him, tore his body into seven or fourteen pieces (as in the Egyptian Mystery tale of Osiris); boiled and roasted and then devoured them. Discovered in this enormity by Zeus, the titans were blasted with his thunderbolt and from their ashes sprang the human race.

The titans with their false gifts symbolize the pursuing energies of the personal, material life, which enchain and delude the soul. They are earth powers which lead the soul from the path by the lure of things of sense. The dismembered body is first boiled in water -- symbol of the astral world; then roasted, "as gold is tried by fire," symbol of suffering and purification and the reascent of the victorious soul to bliss.

Apollo or the Muses, at the command of Zeus, gathered the scattered fragments and interred them near the Omphalos (navel of the earth) at Delphi. The coffin was inscribed: "Here lies dead, the body of Dionysos, son of Semele," as the Zagreus myth was known only to those initiated into the Orphic Mysteries; and the Semele myth was popularly known. The exoteric myth represents the divine Son as the son of Zeus by the mortal maid Semele, Demeter-Kore in the guise of a mortal woman, to whom the still beating heart of Zagreus was entrusted when he was slain, that she might become its mother-guardian.

Hera, however, poisoned the mind of Semele with suspicion when the new-forming body of Zagreus within her reached the seventh month of gestation, and Semele impelled Zeus to reveal himself to her in his true form, whereupon the mortal body of Semele was destroyed by the divine fire. The holy babe was saved from death by Zeus, who sewed the child up in his own thigh until "the life that formerly was Zagreus, was reborn as Dionysos," the risen Savior, at Easter (the spring equinox), while as Zagreus he had been born at Semele's death at the winter solstice. Here we

See the myth's solar significance.

The nymphs of Mount Nysa reared him safely in a cave, and when he reached manhood, Hera forced him to wander over the earth. He overcame all opposition and was successful in establishing Mystery schools wherever he went. After his triumph in the world of men, Dionysos descended into the underworld and led forth his mother, now rechristened as Semele-Thyone (Semele the Inspired), to take her place among the Olympian divinities as the divine mother and radiant queen, and later, with Dionysos, to ascend to heaven.

Zagreus as Dionysos is known as the god of many names, most of which refer to his twofold character as the suffering mortal Zagreus, and the immortal or reborn god-man. Many titles also refer to him as the mystic savior. He is the All-potent, the Permanent, the Life-blood of the World, the majesty in the forest, in fruit, in the hum of the bee, in the flowing of the stream, etc., the earth in its changes -- the list runs on indefinitely, and is strikingly similar to the passage in which Krishna, the Hindu avatara, instructs Arjuna how he shall know him completely: "I am the taste in water, the light in the sun and moon," etc. (BG ch 7).

The philosophers, dramatists, and historians who held the Dionysian mythos to be purely allegorical and symbolic take in the great names of antiquity, including Plato, Pythagoras, all the Neoplatonists, the greatest historians, and a few of the early Christian Fathers, notably Clement of Alexandria; Eusebius, Tertullian, Justin, and Augustine, also write of it.

The exoteric literature of Orphism is scanty, while the esoteric teachings were never committed to writing. Outside of the Orphic Tablets and Orphic Hymns, no original material has been discovered to date. Scholars judging from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, have held that the Eleusinian Mystery-drama was based solely on the story of Persephone; but later researches indicate that, under the influence of Epimenides and Onomakritos, both deep students of Orphism, the Orphic Mystery tale of Zagreus-Dionysos was incorporated in the Eleusian ritual, the divine son Iacchos becoming thus identified with the Orphic god-man, Zagreus-Dionysos.

Cosmically this highly esoteric story refers to the cosmic Logos building the universe and becoming thereby not only its inspiriting and invigorating soul, but likewise the divinity guiding manifestation from Chaos to complete fullness of evolutionary grandeur; and in the case of mankind, the legend refers to the origin, peregrinations, and destiny of the human monad, itself a spiritual consciousness-center, from unself-consciousness as a god-spark, through the wanderings of destiny until becoming a fully self-conscious god. The key to the symbolism of Zagreus-Dionysos is given by Plato in the Cratylus: "The Spirit within us is the true image of Dionysos. He therefore who acts erroneously in regard to It . . . sins against Dionysos Himself," i.e., the inner god, the divinity in man. The legend thus contains not only past cosmic as well as human history, but contains as a prophecy what will come to pass in the distant future.

(See also: Zagreus, Zagreus-Dionysos , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Piscean Age: Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the position of the stars in relation to the Earth slowly changes, moving through one sign of the zodiac every 2,100 years. Since there are no lines of demarcation in the universe, just transitional areas, the full effect of entering an age may begin to occur a hundred years or more before any date given as the beginning of an age, and may not completely manifest for hundreds of years after the age has officially started.

The Piscean Age reflects what has been called the “Christian Dispensation,” and perhaps its most obvious feature in this aspect is the dependence upon someone or something other than yourself for spiritual evolution. Dates given for the end of this age range from 1904 to later than 2200, but that does not mean that the effects of the change to the next era are not being felt. Even in song we are told that we have entered “the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.”

(See also: Piscean Age , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Evolution (from Latin evolutio unrolling, opening)

The unfolding or bringing into manifestation of the inherent, already inwardly existing characteristics of a being; it is therefore growth from within, development. The process is universal, since the universe consists of living beings, all of which are growing because unfolding. Evolution presupposes two main factors: the entity which is evolving, and the form which is evolved. These two are related as spirit to matter, as the monad to its organism.

Every one of the countless beings which constitute the universe is essentially a spark of the universal divine fire, life, or spirit; and at any time is at one stage or another of a continuous career of unfolding growth. Every spark creates for itself a succession of forms by which it expresses more or less of its inherent qualities. The physical vehicles are merely the physical end-products; before these physical imbodiments are engendered, there are other imbodiments made of subtler grades of matter or consciousness-substance on intermediate planes, and astral stuff on the lower plane close to the physical. Evolution is a continual reaction between what is within and what is without: environment modifies growth; but without the urge of the indwelling monad, there could be no action upon environment, nor any reaction by environment.

Evolution is not a process of accretion from without; such accretion could not produce an organism unless the full plan of that organism existed already latently in ideation. Nor is evolution in the vegetable and animal kingdoms a process of mere transformism by which one physical organism changes into another. The changes take place because of the unfolding growth of the indwelling entity, each new evolutional enfoldment of the latter impacting on the body, and therefore more or less modifying it; and this indwelling entity in this manner builds for itself new forms suitable to its own changed or more largely unfolded states.

Theosophy does not hold to the idea of a single-track, end-on evolution from a protoplasmic speck to human being, without inner astral, mental, and spiritual urge from within. Rather, the plan of evolution as represented by the different classes and orders of beings on earth may be represented by a tree, whose main trunk is the human stem, from which (so far as this manvantara is concerned) the various animal types have issued like branches, each of them then entering upon a special unfolding development and differentiation of its own. Indeed, the same observation applies with equal force to the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, although their root-types issued from the human stem long aeons before the animal types appeared on earth.

Evolution is an ancient and cardinal tenet of the archaic wisdom and was formerly called emanation. In mankind, three distinct, principal lines of evolution take place and converge; the spiritual, the mental or manasic, and the astral-vital-physical. The manasic factor is derived from the perfected humanity of a previous manvantara, whose entrance into the human stock of the third root-race brought about the union of the heavenly and the terrestrial so as to make a complete self-conscious being who thereafter mirrors every plane in nature. In humankind, the divine monad, a spark of the universal spirit, emanates from itself its first vehicle, and thus is formed the spiritual monad, atma-buddhi. This monad, emanating from itself in its turn another vehicle, becomes the higher human soul or reimbodying ego; and the emanational process is continued throughout the human constitution by the formation of the astral-vital soul which in its turn emanates or oozes forth the physical body.

The process of evolution cannot be considered as ending. Just as below human beings there are less evolved kingdoms, so above are beings in whom fuller self-consciousness has been achieved than we have yet achieved, and still more of the divine potentialities realized. All evolution beneath humankind tends towards humanhood as its objective; but humanity itself has ever greater heights still before it to attain in the future.

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

A Theosophical definition of Death :

Death

Death occurs when a general break-up of the constitution of man takes place; nor is this break-up a matter of sudden occurrence, with the exceptions of course of such cases as mortal accidents or suicides. Death is always preceded, varying in each individual case, by a certain time spent in the withdrawal of the monadic individuality from an incarnation, and this withdrawal of course takes place coincidently with a decay of the seven-principle being which man is in physical incarnation. This decay precedes physical dissolution, and is a preparation of and by the consciousness-center for the forthcoming existence in the invisible realms. This withdrawal actually is a preparation for the life to come in invisible realms, and as the septenary entity on this earth so decays, it may truly be said to be approaching rebirth in the next sphere.

Death occurs, physically speaking, with the cessation of activity of the pulsating heart. There is the last beat, and this is followed by immediate, instantaneous unconsciousness, for nature is very merciful in these things. But death is not yet complete, for the brain is the last organ of the physical body really to die, and for some time after the heart has ceased beating, the brain and its memory still remain active and, although unconsciously so, the human ego for this short length of time, passes in review every event of the preceding life. This great or small panoramic picture of the past is purely automatic, so to say; yet the soul-consciousness of the reincarnating ego watches this wonderful review incident by incident, a review which includes the entire course of thought and action of the life just closed. The entity is, for the time being, entirely unconscious of everything else except this. Temporarily it lives in the past, and memory dislodges from the akasic record, so to speak, event after event, to the smallest detail: passes them all in review, and in regular order from the beginning to the end, and thus sees all its past life as an all-inclusive panorama of picture succeeding picture.

There are very definite ethical and psychological reasons inhering in this process, for this process forms a reconstruction of both the good and the evil done in the past life, and imprints this strongly as a record on the fabric of the spiritual memory of the passing being. Then the mortal and material portions sink into oblivion, while the reincarnating ego carries the best and noblest parts of these memories into the devachan or heaven-world of postmortem rest and recuperation. Thus comes the end called death; and unconsciousness, complete and undisturbed, succeeds, until there occurs what the ancients called the second death.

The lower triad (prana, linga-sarira, sthula-sarira) is now definitely cast off, and the remaining quaternary is free. The physical body of the lower triad follows the course of natural decay, and its various hosts of life-atoms proceed whither their natural attractions draw them. The linga-sarira or model-body remains in the astral realms, and finally fades out. The life-atoms of the prana, or electrical field, fly instantly back at the moment of physical dissolution to the natural pranic reservoirs of the planet.

This leaves man, therefore, no longer a heptad or septenary entity, but a quaternary consisting of the upper duad (atma-buddhi) and the intermediate duad (manas-kama). The second death then takes place.

Death and the adjective dead are mere words by which the human mind seeks to express thoughts which it gathers from a more or less consistent observation of the phenomena of the material world. Death is dissolution of a component entity or thing. The dead, therefore, are merely dissolving bodies  - entities which have reached their term on this our physical plane. Dissolution is common to all things, because all physical things are composite: they are not absolute things. They are born; they grow; they reach maturity; they enjoy, as the expression runs, a certain term of life in the full bloom of their powers; then they "die." That is the ordinary way of expressing what men call death; and the corresponding adjective is dead, when we say that such things or entities are dead.

Do you find death per se anywhere? No. You find nothing but action; you find nothing but movement; you find nothing but change. Nothing stands still or is annihilated. What is called death itself shouts forth to us the fact of movement and change. Absolute inertia is unknown in nature or in the human mind; it does not exist.

See also: Death , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Epidemics (from Greek epi upon + demos the people)

The causes usually assigned to epidemic diseases are: individual susceptibility; earth conditions of heat, moisture, soil, water, hygiene, and sanitation; and mass movements of people, as in wars, pilgrimages, etc. While all these factors provide physical and psychological conditions favorable for the spread of certain epidemic diseases and emotional disorders, there remain potent invisible causes to be reckoned with.

Blavatsky discusses unusual and serious effects of certain causes which in some cases are cosmic rather than bacterial (BCW 13: 109). She explains that all such mysterious epidemics as influenza are due to an exuberance of ozone in the air, where an excess of oxygen has become ozone under the powerful stimulus of electricity.

The pranic life-atoms of the human body make an electrical field which, permeating our astral-vital-physical constitution, puts us in contact with the natural flow of ethereal currents of electric and magnetic force. These forces emanate from great cosmic entities who are the intelligent agencies for the karmic action of the so-called laws of nature. They function in the noumenal realm of causes which are due to appear on earth as phenomena of all kinds. These entities, leaving aside solar forces, are the regents of the seven sacred planets, who help to build the body and oversee the destiny of both humanity and the earth. They act automatically and impersonally in harmony with the combined causes and effects of ethereal and terrestrial conditions.

The sun, moon, planets, earth, and human brain are all magnets in contact with a common network of "live" wires of consciousness. The atoms in the solar system not only probably change their combining equivalents on every planet, but they undergo a certain change in their rapid passage through our atmosphere: concerning "the Spirit, the noumenon of that which becomes in its grossest form oxygen and hydrogen and nitrogen on Earth. . . . Before these gases and fluids become what they are in our atmosphere, they are interstellar Ether; still earlier and on a deeper plane -- something else, and so on in infinitum" (SD 1:626). These fluids and gases, then, have been stepped down, plane after plane, bringing to us the karmic influences of the hierarchies of entities which compose the solar organism. They are the tangible carriers of the cosmic electrical fire of divine, spiritual, mental, psychic, astral, and material forces which infill the universe. Here, in brief, are the astrological causative influences in typical epidemics, which are variously operating in other karmic diseases and mental and emotional disorders such as popular uprisings, fanatical movements, and waves of crime and vice. Happily, the same impersonal agents of the karmic law, under the influences of far higher spiritual agents, are equally active and helpful during human cycles of ethical and spiritual aspiration and progress.

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

Missing Appointments

Many people live and die by their desk calendar these days. Ours is a time-conscious, time-driven culture. Most of us have more things to do on our schedules than we can comfortably manage. These pressures have created an environment where missing appointments and scheduled events is a constant threat.

Dreams to this effect are common. One of the trigger events for these dreams is the nagging fear that we may not get everything done in the time given. Our anxiety about appearing competent to others is fragile and often assaulted in dreams.

Another interpretation of this dream is missing an opportunity. Life throws up so many possibilities that it?s impossible to try everything. Each invitation comes with the promise that this event could change your life. The changes may include relationship or career rewards.

A final scenario revolves around fulfilling the relationship obligations that already exist in your life. In this case, dreams of missed appointments may be reminding you of personal obligations that already exist. You may be missing appointments as a sign that you are not fulfilling the needs of your spouse, family, or employer.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

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