Nominalists, Nominalism [from Latin nomen name]

In the 11th century, Scholastic controversy arose between the Nominalists and Realists, as to whether substantive reality should be ascribed to particulars or to universals. The Nominalists held that nothing exists but individuals, and that universals are mere names invented to express the qualities of particular things. Thus the conception "man" is a mere abstract idea, a figment of the mind, devised to express certain qualities which we have abstracted from our experience of individual men, but having no existence except as a name. The Realists, on the contrary, maintained that universals alone have substantive reality, and that they exist independently of, and prior to, the individuals, which are derivative from them or expressive of them. The controversy dates back to Aristotle's question as to whether genera, species, and abstract nouns are real or only convenient abstractions and ways of speaking.

Intermediate between these doctrines is that of the Conceptualists, identified with the name of Abelard, who held that universals, while they exist only in the mind, yet correspond to real similarities in things, which previous to creation existed in the mind of God. These notions are well illustrated by the question as to the meaning of such words as motion, force, heat, or light. Are the things studied by science under those names generalizing terms, existing only in the mind and posterior to the objects which manifest them; or are they realities in themselves, prior to the objects, and of which the objects are manifestations? Science often unconsciously uses such words in both senses at once; force, for example, is treated as though it were at the same time a result of motion in matter and a cause of that motion.

Theosophy, because of the confusion arising in scholastic and modern disputes, points directly to all the phenomena of nature as expressed in beings, objects, entities, and things as arising in spiritual realms, or noumena. The hidden or invisible noumena of beings and things are both real and mere abstract names. Thus force -- electricity, for instance -- is both an existing emanation from cosmic entities, and yet also a "name" or abstraction because it is an aggregate of effects derivative from a hid cause which is the cosmic being or beings. All natural phenomena arise in and are therefore derivative from and emanations from causal and originating cosmic intelligences, which perdure in essence throughout eternity, but express themselves by means of phenomena or effects in comic manvantaras. Thus the phenomena which human intelligence cognizes are transitory but yet are real in their essence, because that essence lies in the perduring intelligence or intelligences from which they flow.

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Nazar [from Hebrew nazar to consecrate, devote, set apart] Also nazir, nezer.

A Nazarite, or one consecrated; the specific name for Nazarite is nazir, a body or companionship of ascetics among the ancient Hebrews who set themselves apart, or consecrated themselves, to holiness and divine things. They belong to the school of ancient Chaldean initiates and "the nazars or prophets, as well as the Nazarenes, were an anti-Bacchus caste, in so far that, in common with all the initiated prophets, they held to the spirit of the symbolical religions and offered a strong opposition to the idolatrous and exoteric practices of the dead letter.

Hence, the frequent stoning of the prophets by the populace and under the leadership of those priests who made a profitable living out of the popular superstition" (IU 2:129). Joseph, Sampson, and Samuel are described as Nazars. Likewise "Paul must have belonged to this class of Initiates, for he himself tells the Galatians (i, 15) that he was separated or 'set apart' from the moment of his birth; and that he had his hair cut at Cenchrea, because 'he had a vow' (Acts xviii, 18) i.e., had been initiated as a Nazar; after which he became a 'master-builder' (1 Corinth. iii, 10)" (TG 226).

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Polarity The property of having poles; duality throughout nature. Poles are antithetical in quality and yet interdependent; each presupposes the other, as without the other neither can exist. Similar poles repel, dissimilar attract. As long as they are apart, there is force; when they coalesce, they are said to neutralize each other -- the force becomes latent.

The most fundamental polarity is that of spirit and matter, which may also be called positive and negative, active and passive, etc. This is repeated endlessly on every plane and subplane. When the One becomes Two, it becomes polar; when the Two rebecomes the One, it ceases to be polar. The expansive and contractive forces (in themselves constituting a polarity) are seen everywhere in evolution and involution.

The polarity of right and left is hard to define absolutely, but gains significance when we consider the right-handed and left-handed groupings of atoms in the molecules of such compounds as dextrose and levulose -- a contrast of similarities. In magnetism, electricity, and chemistry, we have familiar instances of polarity, in which the above general laws are illustrated. In the germinal cell, the One becomes the Two by the extrusion of the polar bodies. The human body is polar; Reichenbach discovered polarity in plants and minerals, as shown by the colors seen by his sensitives.

Benjamin Franklin invented the terms positive and negative to describe the two qualities or attributes of electricity as understood in his day. It has become customary to speak of things which are masculine, expansive, dispersive, etc., as being positive, and to speak of things which are centripetal, contractive, etc., as being negative, with perhaps an unconscious bias of thought in the direction of looking upon the positive as being the active, and the negative as being inactive or passive. Such usage is illogical and misleading, for it is well known that in both magnetism and electricity -- as examples of fields of nature where polarity is native and studied -- the negative can be as "positive" in its action as the so-called positive itself; and that furthermore action and reaction in these fields are equal and equivalent. Furthermore, a thing may be positive on one plane and negative on another plane or in another direction, or again positive at one moment and negative at the next moment -- here using positive and negative according to their common significances.

Adopting such common parlance, it is not uncustomary to speak of the realms of spirit as being negative and the realms of manifestation as being positive; but in nature the masculine is no stronger or weaker than the feminine: they are coequal, reciprocal, interacting, always conjoined during manifestation, and paradoxically during manifestation continuously separate, but always in action and reaction, the one upon the other. Polarity is sometimes defined by the terms male and female; but, while using these symbolically, we must refrain from qualifying them by ideas drawn from merely physiological sex. Hence we

See why it is to be regretted that these two terms have become so fixed in the language, and how much better had it been had the simple term polar been adopted.

However, if it be considered advisable to keep these terms, then one perhaps in the light of the theosophical philosophy, may be driven to say that the north pole of the earth, electrically and magnetically, is the negative pole, and the south pole is positive or dispersive; that spirit is negative and that matter is positive; though it is obvious that these allocations are arbitrary, so far as the words themselves are concerned, but correct enough as regards the facts.

Were we living in the realms of spirit rather than in the realms of material manifestation, we should probably be driven by the logic of circumstance to invert our usage of these terms, and declare the spiritual realms of our domain to be the positive ones, and the material realms to be the negative.

We are thus compelled to see that polarity reigns throughout nature, beginning with manifestation and closing with the beginning of pralaya, where polarity for the time ceases to exist; for polarity is one of the phenomenal products of manifested life. However, in the manifested universe, envisaging now the great cosmic planes, there is a relative homogeneity or vanishing of polarity at the apex or summit of any cosmic plane, that all intermediate parts of that cosmic plane showing polarity merge again into relative homogeneity, and the vanishing of polarity, at the extreme bottom of the said cosmic plane.

In The Secret Doctrine it is stated that fohat, in bringing worlds into being, makes whirls or gyrations in opposite directions, thus starting polarity; and of this we have an illustration in right-handed and left-handed helical or screw motions. Fohat or cosmic electricity, thus inducing polarity into the opening drama of manvantaric life, does so because the polarity unrolls from within fohat itself; fohat thus being instrumental in reproducing the many from out the One, being the steed ridden by cosmic mind.

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Mensambulism [from Latin mensa table + ambule walk]

Table-walking, table-turning, a familiar spiritualistic phenomenon. To obtain this phenomenon the sitters are supposed to form a circle or "bridge" which enables the astral elements or forces to perform physical effects. The astral forces are thereafter used as the vehicles for the passing over of intelligent or quasi-intelligent communications by means of a code concerted among the sitters themselves. The intelligent answers sometimes accruing to the sitters arise either in the sitters' own subconscious or are the pranks of more or less intelligent astral elementals, talking shells -- attracted to the magnetic media -- or elementaries in the astral light.

Attempts to label and classify such phenomenon are hampered by dividing things sharply into intelligent and mechanical; a lack of experience prevents people from imagining any other kind of intelligent being than a disembodied human spirit. All forces are intelligent in one degree or another; and there are ranges of beings between those which operate in the ordinary laws of physics and those which manifest themselves as the intelligent kingdoms of nature.

We have found out how to call into action some of the by-plays of a few of these occult forces, which can produce at times powerful mechanical effects, and also at times exhibit a degree of intelligence or stupidity. The tendency is to try to fit them into the scheme of familiar knowledge, but what is needed is much more observation of the facts by those who experiment with these matters before they venture to theorize or even dogmatize about them.

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Attraction and Repulsion Two forces ever in operation during periods of manifested activity, called by Empedocles love and hate. In physics attraction is an effect, whose cause cannot be mechanically explained without circular reasoning, and which must therefore be assumed. Newton in speaking of gravitational attraction treats it mathematically as an effect and does not dogmatize on its real nature. These two aspects of the manifestation of universal unity arise out of the polarity inherent in cosmic manifestation as between spirit and matter generally, between the higher hierarchies and the lower. Physical attraction is a manifestation of a cosmic principle which has manifestations on all planes, spiritual, mental, and psychic, so that its influence is seen in our thoughts and feelings.

In The Secret Doctrine (1:103), three great universal causes of manifestation are named in connection with intelligent cosmic motion, namely the breath, love or attraction, and hate or repulsion, the latter being merely polar antitheses of the same underlying cosmic energy. Through the interaction of these three, universes and worlds come into being, have their periods of manvantaric growth, and finally decay and disappear, only to reappear after a period of rest or pralaya. Herbert Spencer intuitively refers to manvantara and pralaya, and what takes place within each: "the universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the Universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes -- produce now an immeasurable period during which the attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, causes universal diffusion -- alternate eras of Evolution and dissolution" (SD 1:12).

A capital mistake made by modern science and philosophy, producing momentous consequences in theory, has been the arbitrary division of natural forces into disjunct and unrelated energies. All forces of nature originally spring from a common source, a cosmic spiritual unit, which is the heart of nature itself, and hence it is no more possible to divorce attraction from its alter ego repulsion than it would be to have a stick which has only one end. This principle applies directly to such forces as gravitation, which is bipolar exactly as electricity is recognized to be, its two forms being attraction and repulsion, though the last has been ignored in scientific experimentation and deduction. Just as human beings, because of the bipolarity in their vital auras feel attracted to, repelled by, or both from other human beings, producing the strong sympathies and antipathies which are so well known, so does gravity operate. Celestial bodies are not only strongly or weakly attracted to each other, but are likewise strongly or weakly repelled by each other.

The universal life principle which manifests everywhere in nature, and which under one of its forms is called kundalini-sakti, of necessity includes the two great forces of attraction and repulsion. Attraction and repulsion being of cosmic origin are therefore of necessity likewise manifest in the manifold conditions of human life; but this does not imply that the individual should passively or negatively accept disturbances caused by inharmony when it is within his power as an offspring of the higher divinities to restore it -- insofar as his energies and knowledge permit -- to the harmony or cosmic unity from which these cosmic energies themselves spring. Hence the teaching of the greatest sages and seers of history has been to rise above the elements of personal attraction or repulsion, and to blend the two into the compassionate mastery which the indomitable human will, when trained and practiced, can acquire over not merely moods but all conditions in life. Thus he becomes a friend to all, and an enemy to none, repelling evil and attracting good, until these by association may themselves blend or marry into that mystic unity which is the achievement or culmination of evolution, whether human or cosmic.

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A Theosophical definition of Sakti :

Sakti

(Sanskrit) A term which may be briefly defined to mean one of what in modern Occultism are called the seven forces of nature, of which six are manifest and the seventh unmanifest, or only partly manifest. Sakti in general may be described as universal energy, and is, as it were, the feminine aspect of fohat. In popular Hinduism the various saktis are the wives or consorts of the gods, in other words, the energies or active powers of the deities represented as feminine influences or energies.

These anthropomorphic definitions are unfortunate, because misleading. The saktis of nature are really the veils, or sheaths, or vehicular carriers, through which work the inner and ever-active energies. As substance and energy, or force and matter, are fundamentally one, as modern science in its researches has begun to discover, it becomes apparent that even these saktis or sheaths or veils are themselves energic to lower spheres or realms through which they themselves work.

The crown of the astral light, as H. P. Blavatsky puts it, is the generalized sakti of universal nature in so far as our solar system is concerned.

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Alfheim, Alfhem (Icelandic, Swedish) (alf elf (cf Icelandic elfrom river, channel) + heim, hem home)

The home of elves in Norse mythology; the meaning commonly ascribed to the word elf as a fairy or sprite needs reexamination, as the myths bear out the assumption that an elf denotes a channel between the divine source of an entity and its vehicle or body; in other words, that the elf is the intermediate nature or soul of any being.

In the Edda, Alfhem is the "teething gift" bestowed in the morning of time on the god Frey, the planetary deity, indwelling consciousness, or lord of our earth-system with all its components, so that Elf-home is the abode of souls on this sphere. The warriors of Odin on earth use the sword of Frey (the spiritual will) to do battle in the "giant world" of matter. Alfhem is to Frey as the human soul (elf) is to a human being.

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New Age Movement

A loose organization of people, many of them "Yuppies," who believe the world has entered the Aquarian Age when peace on earth and one-world gov-ernment will rule. They see themselves as advanced in consciousness, rejecting Judeo-Christian values and the Bible in favor of Oriental philosophies and religion. Among them may be found environmentalists, nuclear-freeze proponents, Marxist-socialist utopians, mind-contol advocates, ESP cultists, spiritists, witchcraft practitioners, and others using magical rites.

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DRAWING DOWN THE MOON: A ritual performed during the Full Moon by witches to empower themselves and unite their essence with a particular deity, usually the Goddess.

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Orpheus (Ancient Greek). Lit., the "tawny one". Mythology makes him the son of Eager and the muse Calliope. Esoteric tradition identifies him with Arjuna, the son of Indra and the disciple of Krishna. He went round the world teaching the nations wisdom and sciences, and establishing mysteries. The very story of his losing his Eurydice and finding her in the underworld or Hades, is another point of resemblance with the story of Arjuna, who goes to Patàla (Hades or hell, but in reality the Antipodes or America) and finds there and marries Ulupi, the daughter of the Naga king. This is as suggestive as the fact that he was considered dark in complexion even by the Greeks, who were never very fair-skinned themselves.

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Nature Spirits

Various types of beings that are said to be the "soul" of natural forms. Belief in the existence of nature spirits is common to all cultures throughout history.

They are usually attached to a specific place, such as a tree, river, plant or mountain. They come in a variety of shapes and temperaments. Some are described as human in form, others are like animals or are half-human, half animal; some are helpful, others deceitful or malevolent. They are normally invisible to humans, except to those with the gift of clairvoyance.

Elementals are a sub-class of nature spirits that are a part of the life force of all things in nature. They are ruled by archangels and are generally regarded as benevolent. The Neoplatonic Greeks categorized elementals according to the four elements:

• Earth elementals are gnomes;
• air elementals are sylphs;
• Water elementals are undines; and
• Fire elementals are salamanders.

In the Middle Ages interest in these main groups was revived and alchemists and magicians sought to control and manipulate the forces of nature and the universe. Other elementals include elves, who live in the woods, and household spirits such as brownies, goblins and bogies. Fairies are also sometimes included in this category.

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Rings, Magic. These existed as talismans in every folk-lore. In Scandinavia such rings are always connected with the elves and dwarfs who were alleged to be the possessors of talismans and who gave them occasionally to human beings whom they wished to protect. In the words of the chronicler: "These magic rings brought good luck to the owner so long as they were carefully preserved ; but their loss was attended with terrible misfortunes and unspeakable misery".

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Elementals. Spirits of the Elements. The creatures evolved in the four Kingdoms or Elements - earth, air, fire, and water. They are called by the Kabbalists, Gnomes (of the earth), Sylphs (of the air), Salamanders (of the fire), and Undines (of the water).

Except a few of the higher kinds, and their rulers, they are rather forces of nature than ethereal men and women. These forces, as the servile agents of the Occultists, may produce various effects; but if employed by" Elementaries" (q.v.)_in which case they enslave the mediums - they will deceive the credulous.

All the lower invisible beings generated on the 5th 6th, and 7th planes of our terrestrial atmosphere, are called Elementals Peris, Devs, Djins, Sylvans, Satyrs, Fauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Trolls, Kobolds, Brownies, Nixies, Goblins, Pinkies, Banshees, Moss People, White Ladies, Spooks, Fairies, etc., etc., etc.

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elementals

Creatures that evolved in the Four Elements - earth (gnomes), air (sylphs), water (undines), and fire (salamanders). These forces of nature are known as Pixies, Gnomes, Fauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Trolls, Norns, Kobolds, Brownies, Nixies, Goblins, Pinkies, Banshees, Moss People, White Ladies, Spooks, Faeries, etc

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Asgard (Scandianvian Norse). The kingdom and the habitat of the Norse gods, the Scandinavian Olympus ; situated "higher than the Home of the Light-Elves", but on the same plane as Jotunheim, the home of the Jotuns, the wicked giants versed in magic, with whom the gods are at eternal war. It is evident that the gods of Asgard are the same as the Indian Suras (gods) and the Jotuns as the Asuras, both representing the conflicting powers of nature - beneficent and maleficent. They are the prototypes also of the Greek gods and the Titans.

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Ifing (Scandianvian Norse). The broad river that divides Asgard, the home of the gods, from that of the Jotuns, the great and strong magicians. Below Asgard was Midgard, where in the sunny ether was built the home of the Light Elves. In their disposition and order of locality, all these Homes answer to the Deva and other Lokas of the Hindus, inhabited by the various classes of gods and Asuras.

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HULDU:  Norse/Icelandic term for Elves and Faerie Folk. Also Hulda-Folk, Alfa-Folk - the Hidden or Vanishing People.

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Hel (Icelandic) (from helju hell, death)

The mythical regent of the Norse realm of the dead, depicted as half black or blue and half flesh-colored. In myths the representative of death is usually said to be a child of mind: in the Edda she is the daughter of Loki (fire of mind) and of the giantess Angerboda (boder of regret). She rules the nine worlds of death which correspond to the nine worlds of life, and apportions to each arrival a domicile appropriate to that soul's merit or demerit. Some may frolic in sunlit meadows, others suffer agony beneath the lower gates leading to Niflhel (from nifl cloud + hel death)

where matter is ground to extinction. The realm of Hel with its varied accommodations resembles the Greek Hades more than the hell of popular belief where evil souls are sent for punishment. Rather, the kingdom of death is a restful interlude where souls spend a fitting time in their rightful environment. The Eddas relate that elves (human souls) sleep among the gods when they are feasting on the mead of a past period of life (experience); thus the resting souls are present in the divine spheres even through unconscious of their surroundings.

In the Edda's Vagtamskvadet, the tale is told of the sun god's death and departure for the house of Hel, where a sumptuous apartment is furnished for him and mead is being freshly brewed for his arrival.

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Uller (Scandianvian Norse). The god of archery, who "journeys over the silvery ice-ways on skates". He is the patron of the chase during that period when the Sun passes over the constellation of Sagittarius; and lives in the " Home of the Light-Elves" which is in the Sun and outside of Asgard.

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Ases (Scandianvian Norse). The creators of the Dwarfs and Elves, the Elementals below men, in the Norse lays. They are the progeny of Odin; the same as the Esir.

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Jul (Scandianvian Norse). The wheel of the Sun from whence Yuletide, which was sacred to Freyer, or Pro, the Sun-god, the ripener of the fields and fruits, admitted later to the circle of the Ases. As god of sunshine and fruitful harvests he lived in the Home of the Light Elves.

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ANTI-OCCULT STRATEGIES

Because of Hitler's occult interests, anti-occultists have tried time and again to establish that all those from whom he adopted his twisted ideas were themselves fascist and racist. Similarly, in the 1930's everyone was tagged with either the Communist or Fascist label, whether deservedly or not. Attempts to link Hitler to the sympathies of Aleister Crowley, HPB, Jung and the rest are constantly being forced upon gullible and confused people. The fact is, the Nazis used anyone and anything they could to gain power, as do all villains. Accusations against the occult, however, invariably come down not to anti-semitism practices, but, on the contrary, to a tendency to question Christian authority. Even Nietzsche, the 3rd Reich's most esteemed philosopher, though a strong enemy, it turns out, of the Catholic Church, was deeply opposed to Anti-semitism.

Jung's essay in 1936 on Wotan is often cited in which he simply stated that the God of the German people was not Jesus, but Wotan. That the Nazis could take inspiration from that is hardly Jung's fault, as he merely pointed out the obvious. Evil imagination can take what it needs from any source and we might with far more justification have accused the Vatican of Pro-Fascist tendencies. The charge against Mme. Blavatsky is equally irresponsible. A careful scrutiny of her writings will reveal a deep and abiding affection for the jews, alone with an equally strong antipathy for Xtianity. Attempts to link Blavatsky to "master race" ideas would seem to fare somewhat better, until we learn that she considered the Aryan, Semitic and Turanian branches to have derived from a common pre-Abrahamic source. And when she speaks of races, she really refers to the reincarnated human race itself.

It is true that Gurdjieff spent the war in Paris and survived the German occupation, but he did not survive through collaboration and he undoubtedly put himself in great danger by devoting his time to caring for elderly, impoverished refugees. As for Crowley, the fact that Mussolini shut down his Cefalu Lodge and that the German Gestapo put his Golden Dawn Society on the "Enemies of the Reich" list speaks for itself.

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