Kamadhatu (Sanskrit). Called also Kamavatchara, a region including Kamaloka.

In exoteric ideas it is the first of the Trailakya - or three regions (applied also to celestial beings) or seven planes or degrees, each broadly represented by one of the three chief characteristics; namely, Kama, Rupa and Arupa, or those of desire, form and formlessness. The first of the Trailokyas, Kamadhatu, is thus composed of the earth and the six inferior Devalokas, the earth being followed by Kamaloka (q.v.).

These taken together constitute the seven degrees of the material world of form and sensuous gratification. The second of the Trailokya (or Trilokya) is called Rupadhatu or "material form" and is also composed of seven Lokas (or localities). The third is Arupadhatu or "immaterial lokas". "Locality", however, is an incorrect word to use in translating the term dhatu, which does not mean in some of its special applications a "place" at all. For instance, Arupadhatu is a purely subjective world, a "state" rather than a place. But as the European tongues have no adequate metaphysical terms to express certain ideas, we can only point out the difficulty.

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

Padma (Sanskrit) The lotus, a flower which has been held sacred from remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, as well as revered in other lands such as Egypt.

Mystically, it was looked upon as an emblem of productive nature growing between the spiritual sunlight above and the water or the astral light below; or in a more general sense between spirit and matter. It has also other meanings, such as in India, of the prolific earth, and even of Mount Meru.

The lotus is "a very ancient and favourite simile for the Kosmos itself, and also for man. The popular reasons given are, firstly, . . . that the Lotus-seed contains within itself a perfect miniature of the future plant, which typifies the fact that the spiritual prototypes of all things exist in the immaterial world before those things become materialised on Earth. Secondly, the fact that the Lotus plant grows up through the water, having its root in the Ilus, or mud, and spreading its flower in the air above.

The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; . . . The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represents material life, the stalk passing up through the water typifies existence in the astral world, and the flower floating on the water and opening to the sky is emblematical of spiritual being" (SD 1:57-8).

(See also: Padma, lotus , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Signs of the Zodiac: The Zodiac is a circle of space surrounding the Earth. It may be imagined as a belt in the heavens about 15 degrees wide in which the planets travel. It is the Sun's apparent path, called the ecliptic. The zodiacal circle is divided into twelve parts, each part containing 30 degrees of space called the Signs of the Zodiac. Thus a sign is a one-twelfth division of the zodiacal circle and is defined as containing 30 degrees of celestial longitude: 12 signs each measuring 30 degrees constitute the circle of the zodiac or 360 degrees. In this circle the planets travel each in its own orbit, one outlying beyond the other. The zodiac, then, is a circle divided into twelve signs through which the planets travel or transit from west to east, going through one sign after another in their order from Aries to Pisces. Although the zodiac is generally referred to as a circle it is, in fact, elliptical.

Each sign possesses a certain specific influence of its own.

The motion of the Earth around the Sun once a year causes the Sun to appear to pass through one of the 12 signs each month. Its influence, according to location, determines not alone the seasons but the general nature and character of persons born at that time.

The signs in order are Aries the Ram, Taurus the Bull, Gemini the Twins, Cancer the Crab, Leo the Lion, Virgo the Virgin, Libra the Scales, Scorpio the Scorpion, Sagittarius the Archer, Capricorn the Goat, Aquarius the Water-Bearer, and Pisces the Fishes.

(See also: Signs of the Zodiac , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Anthropoids The larger or manlike apes. During the period when the fourth root-race of mankind in this fourth round on globe D (our earth) was passing its climax, certain humans as yet only partially conscious miscegenated with the then existing types of simians or monkeys, which were themselves the offspring of an earlier similar miscegenation of the third root-race.

That the anthropoids are a product descended partly from the human stem, and not forms ascending towards man in the sense of earlier Darwinism, is shown by a study of the structural and functional differences and resemblances between anthropoids and man (cf MIE 94-116, 305-12). S

ince the middle of the fourth root-race, no monads from the animal kingdom could any longer enter the human kingdom because from that time the earth started on its ascending arc of evolution. Nevertheless, the monads imbodied in the anthropoids will enter the very lowest and least evolved branchlets of the human kingdom during the fifth round. The monads now in anthropoid bodies will disappear from incarnation during the present fifth root-race to enter their inter-round paranirvana, remaining as astral monads until the next (fifth) round.

A relatively few individuals among the anthropoids, because of having attained the most advanced degree of evolution in the anthropoid stock, will reach quasi-human status, although still in anthropoid bodies, before the fifth root-race has reached its end. Even these exceptional anthropoids will probably have died out before the fifth root-race is ended or by the early sixth root-race -- a period several million years from now.

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

Vanir, Vaner, Vanr (Icelandic, Scandinavian) [plural of van wont, accustomed, lacking, defective]

Sometimes Wane. A class of Norse gods, representing the waters of space or infinitude. Because the vanagods are associated with the waters of space, they are usually believed to be water gods who were supplanted by the aesir in the course of time. However, the evidence points to the vanir having a range of activity extending through far vaster realms of space. They are evidently superior to the aesir, whose dwelling is Asgard and who imbody in the worlds of the solar system, and are almost always referred to by the aesir as "the wise Vanir."

The vanagods are said to have battled the aesir (the war in heaven) and remained victorious in the celestial realms, while the aesir were "ousted" and descended into material spheres, where they are the regents of worlds.

Following the war in heaven there took place an exchange of "hostages" between the aesir and vanir, and Njord (Saturn) was a vanagod sent as hostage to the aesir. He represents the saturnian qualities, among them those of Chronos (time). His children are Frey, the earth deity, and Freya, Venus, who is the guardian and protectress of the intelligent kingdom (humanity) on earth. This suggests that Njord was an emissary or avatara from the wise vanir to the active planetary gods, and that the vanir inspire avataric figures among the aesir. There are indications also that the aesir may graduate to the stature of the wise vanagods.

(See also: Vanir, Vaner, Vanr , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

rudraksha: (Sanskrit) "Eye of Rudra;" or "red-eyed." From rud, "to cry," and aksha, meaning "eye."

Marblesized, multi-faced, reddish-brown seeds from the Eleocarpus ganitrus, or blue marble tree, which are sacred to Siva and a symbol of His compassion for humanity. Garlands, rudraksha mala, of larger seeds are worn around the neck by monks; and nonmonastics, both men and women, often wear a single bead on a cord at the throat. Smaller beads (usually numbering 108) are strung together for japa (recitation). Indian legend records that God shed a tear when looking down upon the sorrowful plight of humanity. That tear fell to Earth and from it grew the first rudraksha tree. Thus its seeds are worn by Hindus as a symbol of Siva's love and compassion.

See: japa, mantra.

(See also: Rudraksha , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Anahita (Avestan) Nahid (Persian) (in full Aredvi-Sura-Anahita from ared to grow straight or high, expand + sura strong, powerful + anahita undefilable from a not + ahit unclean)

The Avestan goddess of the waters dwelling in the region of the stars; similar to the Hindu Ganga, she is described as "the large river, known afar, that is as large as the whole of the waters that run along the earth; that runs powerfully from the height Hukairya down to the sea Vouru-Kasha (the waters of space)

. All the shores of the sea Vouru-Kasha are boiling over, all the middle of it is boiling over, when she runs down there, when she streams down there, she, Ardvi Sura Anahita, who has a thousand cells and a thousand channels: the extent of each of those cells, of each of those channels is as much as a man can ride in forty days, riding on a good horse. From this river of mine (Ahura Mazda's) alone flow all the waters that spread all over the seven Karshvares (the seven globes of the earth-chain); this river of mine alone goes on bringing waters, both in summer and in winter" (Aban Yasht 3-5).

According to Berosus, it was Artaxerxes Mnemon (404-361 BC) who first instituted formal worship of a divinity hitherto held too holy and sacred for public adoration, erecting statues under the name of Venus-Anahita -- thus she became the Anaitis of the Greeks. Blavatsky equates her with the Hindu Sarasvati.

In the old Persian Language Aredvi-Sur-Nahid has been used in the sense of powerful and unblemished water; Nahid is also the name of Venus. Anahita represents the water of life or the primordial substance in which the life-giving Mithra penetrates and creates light. Mehr-Ab (Mithra + water) is the name given to the most sacred place of worship or altar in all mosques, usually represented with a triangle over a square, geometrically pertaining to the number seven. This symbol can also be seen in some carpet designs and many Persian artifacts of different periods, both Islamic and pre-Islamic.

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

Ring-pass-not The limit in spiritual, intellectual, or psychological power or consciousness, beyond which an individual is unable to pass until he evokes from within the strength and the vision to carry him forwards and over the circumscribing limits set by that individual's own karma. In the Stanzas of Dzyan, the lipikas are said to circumscribe the triangle, the first one, the cube, the second one, and the pentacle within the egg, which is the ring called pass not for those who descend and ascend and for those who are progressing toward the great Day Be-With-Us.

Also called the dhyanipasa (rope of the dhyanis or angels) that hedges off the phenomenal from the noumenal kosmos. The world circumscribed by this ring is signified mathematically by 31415 = 14 expressing hierarchies of dhyan-chohans. The imbodying monads, and men who are ascending towards purification but have not yet quite reached the goal, can cross the ring only on the Day Be-With-Us, the day when man will have freed himself from the trammels of ignorance and recognized fully the nonseparateness of his personal ego from the universal ego, and returns into conscious at-one-ness with Brahman.

These ring-pass-not are therefore obviously not actual rings of matter, but inabilities to pass beyond the limits set by one's own strength. They refer to tangible and intangible, albeit temporarily impassible, frontiers or barriers raised by past karma and guarded by the lipikas, those cosmic spirits of extremely mystical character who are at the same time the guardians and agents of karma.

The term is variable, inasmuch as what would be the ring-pass-not for the human hierarchy would not be so to a superior hierarchy. Similarly the ring-pass-not for the beings below the human kingdom is not a boundary for humans. This has an especial reference to states of consciousness, and the majority of the human host is still unable to extend its consciousness beyond the sphere of man's immediate activities -- which thus at present form for humanity an intangible but very real ring-pass-not. There is a ring-pass-not surrounding globe D, this earth, and a ring of farther extension surrounding the earth planetary-chain, and beyond that still another surrounding the solar system, and a still larger one circumscribing the galaxy, etc.

(See also: Ring-pass-not , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Thor (Scandinavian) Thorr (Icelandic) [from thonor thunder; cf Swedish tordon, German donner]

Best known as the Norse god of thunder and lightning, champion of the gods and subduer of giants in the ongoing battle between these opposites: gods meaning energy and giants typifying inertia. Like the Latin Jupiter, Thor controls the weather and represents the planet Jupiter. The hair of his beautiful wife Sif represents the golden harvest, whether of grain or of experience -- the mead or nectar of the gods.

The sagas depict Thor as blunt, hot-tempered, without fraud or guile, of few words and ready blows. His chariot, drawn by the two goats Toothcrusher and Toothgnasher, has an iron whiffletree, and sparks fly from its wheels and from the goats' hooves. Thor's fiery eyes color the scarlet clouds, his beard is red, on his brow he wears a crown of stars, and under his feet rests the earth whose defender he is. His chariot cannot cross the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, for its lightnings would set the bridge on fire, so the god daily fords the river beneath it when he attends the Thing (parliament) of the gods.

The symbology connected with this deity is multiform and complex, as he functions on many levels. Thor's various names indicate his many aspects as electromagnetic force which he represents in all its spectrum. His "shelf" (plane) is Thrudvang, his mansion Bilskirnir (flash, from bil momentary + skirnir shining). He is comparable to the Greek Eros, the Vedic Kama, the primal motive power which gave rise to the creative divinities from whom emanated the cosmos. In this capacity he is named Trudgalmer (sound of Thor, Icelandic Thrudgelmir), the sustaining power that maintains the cosmos as a viable functioning entity throughout its existence. Trudgalmer has two sons in space: Mode (force) and Magne (strength), the forces of repulsion and attraction recognized in radiation and gravitation or as centrifugal and centripetal force. As the life force in all living beings Thor is called Vior; as electricity on earth his name is Lorride. The terrestrial Lorride has two adopted children, Tjalfe (speed) and Roskva (work).

Thor is sometimes known as Akuthor [from the verbal root aka ride in a vehicle, travel], sometimes as Vingthor (winged Thor) or Vingner (the winged one). His day is Thursday (Thor's day, Anglo-Saxon Thunresdaeg). His hammer mjolnir (miller) is the sacred instrument with which life forms are created and annihilated. It symbolizes the power that brings beings to birth and is the slayer of giants, whereby their lives are ended, for giants represents the lifeterms of living beings.

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

Akkadians, Accadians A non-Semitic race which preceded the Semites in Babylonia, evidence for whom is mainly found in some of the cuneiform inscriptions. The name comes from the city of Agade, the capital of Sargon I. Blavatsky says in The Secret Doctrine that the Akkadians were not Turanian, but were emigrants from India and were the Aryan instructors of the later Babylonians. There is an Akkadian Genesis, which stands in the line of descent leading to the Biblical Genesis.

The ethnology of the ancient peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia is extremely obscure. The records of occult history show that in a previous geological period, all that portion of western and central-western Asia, which includes Persia, Babylonia, Turkestan, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, etc., was once a highly fertile and well-populated portion of the earth's surface, not only bearing once famous and brilliant civilizations, but likewise the seat of different peoples living side by side.

When immense climatic and geological changes took place, this vast stretch of territory became the seeding-place or focus whence spread to the east, south, and west various emigrant offshoots which populated what were then less fertile territories, which in time became on the one hand northern India, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and Turkestan, and on the southwest Iran, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus district.

It was far later that a reverse current of emigration left what is now northern India and proceeded westward settling to a certain extent in the lands of their ancient forefathers, and this accounts not only for the similarities between the west and east of this district, but the Indian influence perceptible in Mesopotamia and the close linguistic and other links that existed between the ancient Zoroastrians and the Brahmanical streams of thought.

(See also: Akkadians, Accadians , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gnomes: gnome - one of a fabled race of diminutive beings supposed to inhabit the inner parts of the earth, and to be the guardians of mines, quarries, etc. The name gnome was given by Paracelsus to beings having earth as their element, so that they can move through it as freely as a fish through water (cf. sylph, salamander, undine). In later use the conception has been largely influenced by popular ideas about dwarfs, elves, and fairies, probably in particular by the Teutonic belief in "dark elves.

(See also: Gnomes , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Egg One of the most comprehensive symbols, equally suggestive in a spiritual, physiological, and cosmological sense. Among other things, it stands for primordial chaos, the universal matrix, the great Deep, the Virgin Mother, and also for the kosmos or world egg produced from it. As chaos or space, it is the virgin egg, unproduced; this is fructified by the spiritual ray, and from it then issues the Third Logos.

"The Virgin-egg being in one sense abstract Egg-ness, or the power of becoming developed through fecundation, is eternal and for ever the same. And just as the fecundation of an egg takes place before it is dropped; so the non-eternal periodical germ which becomes later in symbolism the mundane egg, contains in itself, when it emerges from the said symbol, 'the promise and potency' of all the Universe . . . The simile of an egg also expresses the fact . . . that the primordial form of everything manifested, from atom to globe, from man to angel, is spheroidal, the sphere having been with all nations the emblem of eternity and infinity" (SD 1:64-5).

As the symbol of generation, birth, and rebirth, it is "the most familiar form of that in which is deposited and developed the germ of every living being" (IU 1:157), used not only on account of the mystery of apparent self-generation, but from its spheroidal shape, the sphere and circle both being symbols of encompassing space.

The egg symbol appears in many cultures. In the Laws of Manu, for instance, it is stated that the Self-existent Lord, becoming manifest, created water alone; in that he cast seed which became a golden egg (hiranyagarbha); having dwelt in that egg for a divine year, Brahma splits it, forming heaven and earth. Brahma thus both fructifies the egg and is produced from it. Again, the female evolver or emanator is first a germ, a drop of heavenly dew, a pearl, and then an egg; the egg gives birth to the four elements with the fifth (akasa); it splits, the shell being heaven, the meat earth, and the white the waters of both space and earth. Vishnu, too, emerges from the egg. In Egypt, Osiris is born from an egg, like Brahma; the egg was sacred to Isis and therefore the priests never ate eggs.

The egg is used in Easter celebrations as the symbol of the renewal of life. The Easter egg derives from the pagan custom of exchanging eggs at the birth-time of the year. Originally it had a deep esoteric hint completely lost sight of today where the custom is still held in the Occident, although commonly candies in the shape of eggs are exchanged. Giving a fellow disciple an egg in the old Mystery schools suggested the rebirth of nature, so apparent in the springtime, or again the initiation ceremonies that prevailed at the spring equinox, thereby expressing the hope that he too might at some time be "reborn," able to free his spiritual nature from the enveloping shell as a chick frees itself from the egg.

Sometimes the word is used for the circle or zero, for the egg combines the senses of fertility and sphericity in one symbol. The egg with its central germ is the circle with the point. In company with the stroke for the masculine power in nature -- sometimes represented as a vertical line -- it makes the number 10, or the figure of relatively perfected or complete emanation. The egg was the symbol of life in immortality and eternity, and also the glyph of the generative matrix. The anatomy of a hen's egg shows a wonderful analogy with the stages in comic evolution and the human principles.

See also BRAHMANDA; WORLD EGG

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

Wicca

(Anglo-Saxon, "wise one. ")

An earth or pagan religion and magical system dedicated to the Goddess and God which uses ceremonies or rituals to achieve communion with the natural forces. The religion founded in England in 1938, often referred to as Witchcraft. A common creed is, ÒDo what you will, and harm none. Ó Modern Wicca owes much to the influence of Gerald B. Gardner

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

Valhalla (Scandinavian) Valholl (Icelandic) [from val choice, death + hall, holl hall]

In Norse mythology, the hall of the chosen or of the slain where Odin's heroes, the One-harriers, are brought by the Valkyries at the end of each day's battles to feast with Ropt, the maligned or misunderstood god (Odin). "The hall of the chosen glows golden in Gladhome," one of the superior "shelves" or ethereal planes which are closely related to our planet earth.

The walls of Valhalla are built of the spears of the warriors, it is roofed with their shields, while inside the hall "the benches are strewn with byrnies." Over the entrance door are transfixed the wolf (bestiality) and the eagle (pride). All of these are symbolic of the sacrifice of properties that have been relinquished by Odin's chosen warriors, for these represent, in the Norse tales, the initiated adepts who have elected to serve the cause of universality and aid the progress of human evolution. Abandoning progressively all weapons of offense, then of defense, and finally all personal protection, exemplifies the universal service of the chosen.

The One-harriers of Odin emerge daily to do battle on the plain of consecration (Vigridsslatten, life on earth) and by night return to feast with Allfather Ropt in the sacred hall on the mead brewed from their experience of life.

At the feast of the warriors in Valhalla they are served three boars, representing three elements as well as three principles of cosmic life: Andrimner (air, spirit), Sarimner (water, mind), and Eldrimner (fire, desire). A suggestive verse in Grimnismal may then be read as: "Spirit lets mind be steeped in desire. Few know what nourishes the One-harriers."

The tales concerning Valhalla have been sadly misunderstood in popular mythologies. Far from being an account of gross debauchery, there is mystical meaning hidden in every detail of the description of Odin's domain and of the feasting of his warriors. For example, Valhalla is said to have 540 doors, through each of which 800 warriors issue abreast. This makes the number of One-harriers total 432,000, an oft-recurring number in Hindu and Babylonian time tables dealing with mystic and mythic history. Their message is in fact one of the noblest and most inspiring of mythic tales, when read between the lines of allegory, for here the warriors of emerge willingly to be "slain" daily in the cause of humanity's evolutionary progress.

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

Pururavas (Sanskrit) In Hindu philosophical mysticism and epic literature, the son of Budha, regent of the planet Mercury and equivalent to cosmic wisdom. Budha is given as the son of Soma, the moon, and Ila or Ida, the ethereal earth. Pururavas is an extremely occult character, mentioned both in the Vedas and Puranas.

In the Vedas he seems to be connected with the functions of the sun, Surya, while according to later writers he is one of the ten belonging to the class of visvadevas. His cosmic functions are those belonging to the realms of mahat or cosmic mind, and therefore Pururavas is that faculty of cosmic intelligence which guides cosmic evolution and directs it. The visvadevas are entities whose fields of activity are the intermediate region of our universe.

In the epics, Pururavas is the famous prince of the Soma-vansa (lunar dynasty), the father of Ayus and the ancestor of Puru, Dushyanta, Bharata, Kuru, Bhritarashtra, and Pandu. He is supposed to have instituted the three sacrificial fires, and is likewise the hero of the Vikramorvasi.

According to the Vedas and Puranas was famous for being the first to produce the sacred triad of fires by the friction of two sticks as many finger-breadths long as there are syllables in the Gayatri, and made of the wood of the asvattha tree (the tree of wisdom). This legend is full of occult meaning hid under archaic allusions.

Pururavas is a generalized name for the human monad which in imbodiment is at once the son of divine wisdom and spirit, and of space or mystic earth. The triad of sacred fires are the fire of spirit or inspiration and intuition, the fire of intellect, and the fires of matter or space; and the union of these three into the one generalized fire of the human constitution forms in a sense the field of self-consciousness as well as of the self-conscious ego itself.

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

Lotus (from Greek lotos)

A lily belonging to the genus Nymphaea, an ancient and universal symbol; in India spoken of innumerable times under its Sanskrit name padma.

"It is the flower sacred to nature and her Gods, and represents the abstract and the Concrete Universes, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both spiritual and physical nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and the Buddhists after them; revered in China and Japan, and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger as the Christians do now, who replace it with the water lily. It had, and still has, its mystic meaning which is identical with every nation on the earth" (SD 1:379).

In relation to men, the lotus is the symbol of the self-producing soul which, during manifestation immersed in material life as the lotus seed is embedded in the mud of lake or pond, is wakened by the warm rays of the spiritual sun, and grows upward through the world of illusion (symbolized by water) to blossom in the free air and sunlight of truth.

Cosmically the lotus symbolizes the emanation of the objective from the subjective, the manifested effect or production of the eternal plan on which the invisible worlds are built by the formative logoi. This lies buried, until the time for its svabhava or production comes, in the bosom of eternal ideation -- as the lotus plant of visible nature exists in miniature in the seed.

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

Trailokya, or Trilokya (Sanskrit). Lit., the "three regions" or worlds ; the complementary triad to the Brahmanical quaternary of worlds named Bhuvanatraya.A Buddhist profane layman will mention only three divisions of every world, while a non-initiated Brahman will maintain that there are four. The four divisions of the latter are purely physical and sensuous, the Trailokya of the Buddhist are purely spiritual and ethical. The Brahmanical division may be found fully described under the heading of Vyahritis, the difference being for the present sufficiently shown in the following parallel:

Brahmanical Division of the Worlds. Buddhist Division of the Regions.

1.     Bhur, earth.

2.     World of desire, Kamadhatu or Kamaloka.

3.     Bhuvah, heaven, firmament.

4.     World of form, Rupadhatu.

5.     Swar atmosphere the sky.

6.     Mahar, eternal luminous essence. }

7.     The formless world Arupadhatu.

All these are the worlds of post mortem states. For instance, Kamaloka or Kamadhatu, the region of Mara, is that which medieval and modern Kabalists call the world of astral light, and the "world of shells Kamaloka has, like every other region, its seven divisions, the lowest of which begins on earth or invisibly in its atmosphere; the six others ascend gradually, the highest being the abode of those who have died owing to accident, or suicide in a fit of temporary insanity, or were otherwise victims of external forces. It is a place where all those who have died before the end of the term allotted to them, and whose higher principles do not, therefore, go at once into Devachanic state - sleep a dreamless sweet sleep of oblivion, at the termination of which they are either reborn immediately, or pass gradually into the Devachanic state. Rupadhatu is the celestial world of form, or what we call Devachan.

With the uninitiated Brahmans, Chinese and other Buddhists, the Rupadhatu is divided into eighteen Brahma or Devalokas; the life of a soul therein lasts from half a Yuga up to 16,000 Yugas or Kalpas, and the height of the "Shades" is from half a Yojana up to 16,000 Yojanas (a Yojana measuring from five and a half to ten miles !), and such-like theological twaddle evolved from priestly brains. But the Esoteric Philosophy teaches that though for the Egos for the time being, everything or everyone preserves its form (as in a dream), yet as Rupadhatu is a purely mental region, and a state, the Egos themselves have no form outside their own consciousness. Esotericism divides this " region" into seven Dhyanas, "regions", or states of contemplation, which are not localities but mental representations of these.

Arupadhatu: this "region" is again divided into seven Dhyanas, still more abstract and formless, for this "World" is without any form or desire whatever. It is the highest region of the post mortem Trailokya; and as it is the abode of those who are almost ready for Nirvana and is, in fact, the very threshold of the Nirvanic state, it stands to reason that in Arupadhatu (or Arupavachara) there can be neither form nor sensation, nor any feeling connected with our three dimensional Universe.

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

Sun

The sun sustains all life on Earth. When you see it in your dreams, it suggests that you are being nurtured and sustained by your environment and your life choices. It could also represent a spiritual force or the light of God. Sunrise may indicate new beginnings and a new wave of energy while sunsets suggest a period of closure and completion. Sunlight in your dreams is never a negative symbol. Light always symbolizes or indicates consciousness and may connote masculine energy. Its presence, even in the most disturbing dreams, has reassuring quality. Old dream interpretation books say that sun shining on you is an omen of good fortune and good will. "It is the classical symbol for the unity and divinity of the self; source of life and the ultimate wholeness of man" C.G. Jung

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

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

Kamakhya Pitha:

Kamakhya Pitha. Seat of the Goddess at Kamarupa. A place especially sacred as it is the place of the Devi's Yoni on Earth.

(See also: Kamakhya Pitha , Tantra, Tantra Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Zodiac (Ancient Greek). From the word zodion, a diminutive of zoon, animal.

This word is used in a dual meaning; it may refer to the fixed and intellectual Zodiac, or to the movable and natural Zodiac. "In astronomy", says Science, "it is an imaginary belt in the heavens 16° or 18° broad, through the middle of which passes the sun’s path (the ecliptic) ."It contains the twelve constellations which constitute the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and from which they are named. As the nature of the zodiacal light - that elongated, luminous, triangular figure which, lying almost in the ecliptic, with its base on the horizon and its apex at greater and smaller altitudes, is to be seen only during the morning and evening twilights - is entirely unknown to science, the origin and real significan?e and occult meaning of the Zodiac were, and are still, a mystery, to all save the Initiates. The latter preserved their secrets well.

Between the Chaldean star-gazer and the modern astrologer there lies to this day a wide gulf indeed; and they wander, in the words of Albumazar, "‘twixt the poles, and heavenly hinges, ‘mongst eccentricals, centres, concentricks, circles and epicycles", with vain pretence to more than profane human skill. Yet, some of the astrologers, from Tycho Braire and Kepler of astrological memory, down to the modern Zadkiels and Raphaels, have contrived to make a wonderful science from such scanty occult materials as they have had in hand from Ptolemy downwards. (See "Astrology".) To return to the astrological Zodiac proper, however, it is an imaginary circle passing round the earth in the plane of the equator, its first point being called Aries 0º. It is divided into twelve equal parts called "Signs of the Zodiac", each containing 30º of space, and on it is measured the right ascension of celestial bodies. The movable or natural Zodiac is a succession of constellations forming a belt of in width, lying north and south of the plane of the ecliptic.

The precession of the Equinoxes is caused by the "motion" of the sun through space, which makes the constellations appear to move forward against the order of the signs at the rate of 501/3 seconds per year. A simple calculation will show that at this rate the constellation Taurus (Heb. Aleph) was in the first sign of the Zodiac at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and consequently the Equinoctial point fell therein. At this time, also, Leo was in the summer solstice, Scorpio in the autumnal Equinox, and Aquarius in the winter solstice ; and these facts form the astronomical key to half the religious mysteries of the world- - the Christian scheme included.

The Zodiac was known in India and Egypt for incalculable ages, and the knowledge of the sages (magi) of these countries, with regard to the occult influence of the stars and heavenly bodies on our earth, was far greater than profane astronomy can ever hope to reach to. If, even now, when most of the secrets of the Asuramayas and the Zoroasters are lost, it is still amply shown that horoscopes and judiciary astrology are far from being based on fiction, and if such men as Kepler and even Sir Isaac Newton believed that stars and constellations influenced the destiny of our globe and its humanities, it requires no great stretch of faith to believe that men who were initiated into all the mysteries of nature, as well as into astronomy and astrology, knew precisely in what way nations and mankind, whole races as well as individuals, would be affected by the so-called "signs of the Zodiac".

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

Fire Fire has been venerated in all ages as the symbol of spirit as opposed to matter. Its essence or substance is spirit; with essential or substantial air or water -- considered as primordial elements -- it becomes soul; with the further addition of the element earth, it becomes animated bodies because ensouled and enlivened with the attributes and qualities of the preceding more ethereal elements.

 Great importance was attached in ancient times to keeping alive the sacred fires of hearth and altar. In all this it was recognized that terrestrial fire is the representative of celestial fire, a phase of cosmic consciousness. Deity is often spoken of as the cosmic fire of consciousness.

The ancient conception of fire thus embraced far more than the ordinary view of fire as chemical combustion or one of its phenomena. Among all the older peoples fire was multitudinous in both characteristics and attributes, ranging from divine-spiritual intellectuality through all intermediate stages of its manifestations to the physical heat arising from the burning of material such as wood, or the natural heat of the body. It is for this reason that certain ancient philosophers, such as Heracleitos, spoke of fire as the primordial element of the universe, in close accord with the archaic outlook.

Fire is the active, energic, vitalizing, quickening principle on all planes. It is often paired with water as spirit and form; contrasted with earth, as celestial and terrestrial; air is spoken of as its vehicle, as is also aether, because the root of cosmic aether is the celestial fire. The order of the elements varies, from different points of view and on different planes of manifestation. The Secret Doctrine states that from primordial chaos came forth a fire that was cold, formless, and luminous -- essential consciousness-substance. The first manifested hot fires and flames issued at a much later stage in manifestation. Concealed within the central sun is the triple formless invisible fire, which precedes the septenary manifested fire of cosmos. Fire, whether heavenly or terrestrial, is the most perfect and pure reflection of the one universal flame; it is life and death, creator and recreator; the origin and end of every material thing -- divine consciousness-substance. From one flame all lamps can be kindled: fire imparts infinitely without loss. Fire alone is One, on the plane of the one reality; and on the plane of illusion, its particles are fiery lives.

Like most other things, fire has its nether pole and hence its infernal aspect; but the fires of hell are purificatory. By his power of self-conscious choice an individual may set himself at variance with nature's processes, thus creating his own devils. Fire was the great agent of purification in medieval alchemy, for it removes the dross from the gold. The same is true on the moral plane, for spiritual aspiration calls down an inner fire that purifies the gold from the dross in the aspirant's heart. The two births or baptisms relate to water and fire; the former being carnal, the latter being the spiritual birth or baptism that comes to the aspirant.

See also AGNI; ELEMENT; FLAMES; TAIJASA-TATTVA

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

AYURVEDA

Is from India, and is more than 5,000 years old. "Ayur" means life and "Ved" means knowledge. This holistic science is the knowledge of complete balance of the Body, Mind and spirit, including the emotions and psychology, on all levels. It includes in its consideration, longevity, rejuvenation and self-realization therapies through herbs, diet, exercise, yoga, massage, aromas, tantras, mantras, and meditation.

According to Ayurvedic tradition health is the balance of elements air, earth, fire, and water-and illness is as excess or deficiency of any particular element. Ayurveda treats illness at its source, rather than at the level of symptoms, and helps an in individual to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

(See also: AYURVEDA , Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)