Norse magic: Western European magical tradition. It is a form of ritual magic that enlists:

(a)           the Aesir (Asa-Gods), whose mythical home is Asgard;

(b)           Light (helpful) elves;

(c)           good dwarves;

(d)           the rulers of the Elements; and (e) dead ancestors. Norse magic promotes mental, physical, and spiritual health.

(See also: Norse magic , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

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.

(See also: Alfheim, Alfhem , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

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.

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

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)

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.

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

A Theosophical definition of Elemental (Elementals) :

Elemental (Elementals)

Nature-spirits or sprites. The theosophical usage, however, means beings who are beginning a course of evolutionary growth, and who thus are in the elemental states of their growth. It is a generalizing term for purposes of convenient expression for all beings evolutionally below the minerals. Nevertheless, the minerals themselves are expressions of one family or host or hierarchy of elemental beings of a more evolved type.

The vegetable kingdom likewise manifests merely one family or host of elemental beings happening to be in the vegetable phase of their evolution on this earth. Just so likewise is it as regards the beasts. The beasts are highly evolved elemental beings, relatively speaking. Men in far distant aeons of the kosmic past were elemental beings also. We have evolved from that elemental stage into becoming men, expressing with more or less ease, mostly very feebly, the innate divine powers and faculties locked up in the core of the core of each one of us.

An elemental is a being who has entered our universe on the lowest plane or in the lowest world, degree, or step on the rising stairway of life; and this stairway of life begins in any universe at its lowest stage, and ends for that universe in its highest stage  - the universal kosmic spirit. Thus the elemental passes from the elemental stage through all the realms of being as it rises along the stairway of life, passing through the human stage, becoming superhuman, quasi-divine  - a quasi-god  - then becoming a god. Thus did we humans first enter this present universe.

Every race of men on earth has believed in these hosts of elemental entities  - some visible, like men, like the beasts, like the animate plants; and others invisible. The invisible entities have been called by various names: fairies, sprites, hobgoblins, elves, brownies, pixies, nixies, leprechauns, trolls, kobolds, goblins, banshees, fawns, devs, jinn, satyrs, and so forth.

The medieval mystics taught that these elemental beings were of four general kinds:

1. those arising in and frequenting the element of fire  - salamanders;
2. those arising in and frequenting the element air  - sylphs;
3. those arising in and frequenting the element water  - undines;
4. those arising in and frequenting the element earth  - gnomes.

See also: Elemental (Elementals) , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Buddha of Compassion One who, having gained the right to nirvana, renounces it to return to help all living beings. "They are men who have raised themselves from humanity into quasi-divinity; and this is done by letting the light imprisoned within, the light of the inner god, pour forth and manifest itself through the humanity of the man, through the human soul of the man. Through sacrifice and abandoning of all that is mean and wrong, ignoble and paltry and selfish: through opening up the inner nature so that the god within may shine forth; in other words, through self-directed evolution, they have raised themselves from mere manhood into becoming god-men, man-gods -- human divinities.

"They are called 'Buddhas of Compassion' because they feel their unity with all that is, and therefore feel intimate magnetic sympathy with all that is, and this is more and more the case as they evolve, until finally their consciousness blends with that of the universe and lives eternally and immortally, because it is at one with the universe. 'The dewdrop slips into the shining sea' -- its origin. . . . The Buddhas of Compassion, existing in their various degrees of evolution, form a sublime hierarchy extending from the Silent Watcher on our planet downwards through these various degrees unto themselves, and even beyond themselves to their chelas or disciples" (OG 23-4).

They are in contrast to the Pratyeka Buddhas, whose goal is to win spiritual liberation for themselves alone and who do not renounce nirvana.

(See also: Buddha of Compassion , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

depossession (releasement, release therapy): Outgrowth of past-life therapy. Depossession is a variation of exorcism that involves detachment of human and nonhuman spirits from humans, usually by persuasion. nonhuman possessors include elementals: nature spirits such as elves, fairies, gnomes (e.g., trolls), nymphs, satyrs, and pixies.

(See also: Depossession , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Dervish (Persian) Driyosh (Pahlavi) Drighu (Avestan) (from Pers darvish seeking doors from dar a door; i.e., those who seek from door to door, beggars)

Poor one; an Islamic devotee, used in mystic Persian literature for one who shows his spiritual grandeur by turning away from the common norms of society and material wealth. Originally a mendicant, but now it generally indicates a member of a religious fraternity, whether mendicant or not, cloistered or lay. In Turkey and Persia it indicates a wandering, begging religious, called in Arabic-speaking countries a fakir. Those whose faith is so great that they have miraculous powers are termed walis.

The dervishes are the practical expounders of Islam. As with the fakirs and sufis, the origin of the dervish fraternities is assigned to either Ali or Abu Bekr. They are divided into two great classes, the ba-Shara (with the law), who govern their conduct according to the principles of Islam; and the be-Shara (without the law), who do not rule their lives according to the formal principles of any religious creed, although they call themselves Moslems. The sufis belong principally to the latter class.

There are reckoned 32 different fraternities of dervishes, with innumerable suborders, but the two principal ones known in the West are the Mevlevits (whirling or dancing dervishes), an order founded by Jelal ud-Din ar-Rumi, author of the great Persian mystical poem the Mathnawi; and the Rifa'ites (howling dervishes), who in ecstasy cut themselves with knives, eat live coals and glass, handle red-hot iron, and devour serpents.

In the symbolism of Hafiz (14th-century mystic Persian poet) dervish is one who has reached the highest degree of spirituality by giving up worldly possessions and in a beggar-like appearance holds the secret of alchemy. In later times, people who did not understand the subtleties of mysticism took the symbolic rejection of the material world too literally and the attitude of certain dervishes also contributed to this misconception, particularly during the Safavids, who were themselves dervishes, followers of the Sharia or Shariat (the outward rituals of religion).

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

Fairy: An imaginary [sic] supernatural being or spirit, supposed to assume a human form (usually diminutive), either male or female, and to meddle for good or evil in the affairs of mankind; a fay. See elf. "Elves and fairies in a ring."--Shakespeare

Also See: faery

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

Elohim 'elohim (Hebrew) (from 'eloah goddess + im masculine plural ending)

The monotheistic proclivities, not only of the Jews but of Christian translators, have led to this word always being translated as God; yet the word itself is a plural form, nor is it in any sense necessarily a plural of majesty, as suggested by some monotheistic scholars. A correct rendering should denote both masculine and feminine characteristics, such as androgyne divinities.

In spite of the ideas imbodied in the word itself, the later development of Judaism caused 'elohim to be almost entirely translated in paraphrase as the "one true God"; but in earlier times 'elohim (or rather benei 'elohim or benei 'elim -- sons of gods, members of the classes of divine beings) meant spiritual beings or cosmic spirits of differing hierarchical grades: a collective class of cosmic spirits among whom is found the familiar Jewish Yahweh or Jehovah. Thus, strictly speaking and as viewed in the original Qabbalah, the 'elohim meant the angelic hierarchies of many varying grades of spirituality or ethereality; and in cosmogonic or astrological matters, the 'elohim were often mentally aggregated under the generalized term tseba'oth (fem pl from the verbal root tsaba' a host, an army) as in the expression "host of heaven."

In the Jewish Qabbalah the 'elohim, however, are the sixth hierarchical group in derivation from the first or Crown, Kether: cosmogonically they represent the manifested formers or weavers of the cosmos. In this Qabbalistic system, Jehovah was the third angelic potency (counting from the first, Kether). Blavatsky calls all these hierarchicies symbols "emblematic, mutually and correlatively, of Spirit, Soul and Body (man); of the circle transformed into Spirit, the Soul of the World, and its body (or Earth). Stepping out of the Circle of Infinity, that no man comprehendeth, Ain-Soph (the Kabalistic synonym for Parabrahm, for the Zeroana Akerne, of the Mazdeans, or for any other 'Uunknowable') becomes 'One' -- the Echos, the Eka, the Ahu -- then he (or it) is transformed by evolution into the One in many, the Dhyani-Buddhas or the Elohim, or again the Amshaspends, his third Step being taken into generation of the flesh, or 'Man.' And from man, or Jah-Hova, 'male female,' the inner divine entity becomes, on the metaphysical planes, once more the Elohim" (SD 1:113).

The opening words of the Bible refer directly to the activities of the 'elohim, for this is the sole divine name mentioned in Genesis 1:1-2. De Purucker translates these verses from the original Hebrew as:

"In a host (or multitude), the gods (Elohim) formed themselves into the heavens and the earth. And the earth became ethereal. And darkness upon the face of the ethers. And the ruah (the spirit-soul) of the gods (of Elohim) fluttered or hovered, brooding" (cf Fund 99-100). He goes on to say that "we see that the Elohim evolved man, humanity, out of themselves, and told them to become, then to enter into and inform these other creatures. Indeed, these sons of the Elohim are, in our teachings, the children of light, the sons of light, which are we ourselves, and yet different from ourselves, because higher, yet they are our own very selves inwardly. In fact, the Elohim, became, evolved into, their own offspring, remaining in a sense still always the inspiring light within, or rather above . . . the Elohim projected themselves into the nascent forms of the then 'humanity,' which thenceforward were 'men,' however imperfect their development still was" (Fund 101-2).

The 'elohim, then, correspond to both classes of the pitris mentioned in theosophical literature: the higher or more spiritual-intellectual of the 'elohim are the agnishvatta-pitris, and the lower groups are the barhishad-pitris. As the agnishvatta-pitris are devoid of the astral-vital-physical productive fire because they are too high and distinctly intellectual, they leave the work of production to the lower 'elohim or barhishads, who "being the lunar spirits more closely connected with Earth, became the creative Elohim of form, or the Adam of dust" (SD 2:78).

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

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.

(See also: DRAWING DOWN THE MOON , Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

PREMISE

This is the flawing point of logic. Premises are the bedrock upon which logic is based. They are not themselves subject to logical proof, however, hence their validity is always questionable. From an old, anonymous BBS message: in primitive healing, sacred mustard seeds are thrown in the face of sickness, but "if the seeds are themselves infected..."

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

Esir (Scandianvian Norse). The same as Ases, the creative Forces personified. The gods who created the black dwarfs or the Elves of Darkness in Asgard. The divine Esir, the Ases are the Elves of Light. An allegory bringing together darkness which comes from light, and matter born of spirit.

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

Visvakarman (Sanskrit) The omnificent, the all-worker; in the Rig-Veda, the highest and oldest of the cosmic architects, and hence the father, initiator, or teacher of the hierarchies of later gods under him. As a collective name, he corresponds in many respects to the Greek cosmocratores, in some to the Third Logos. He is spoken of as the divine artist and carpenter, the architect of the universe, the creative god, father of the creative fire, the builder and artificer of the gods, and the great patron of initiates.

"The Secret Doctrine teaches that 'He who is the first to appear at Renovation will be the last to come before Re-absorption (pralaya).' Thus the logoi of all nations, from the Vedic Visvakarma of the Mysteries down to the Saviour of the present civilised nations, are the 'Word' who was 'in the beginning' (or the reawakening of the energising powers of Nature) with the One Absolute. Born of Fire and Water, before these became distinct elements, It was the 'Maker' (fashioner or modeller) of all things . . . who finally may be called, as he ever has been, the Alpha and the Omega of manifested Nature" (SD 1:470).

In the Rig-Veda, Visvakarman is said to sacrifice himself to himself. This refers, among other things, to the fact that when manvantara opens, in order for its vast content of worlds and hierarchies to appear, the originating entities must -- because of karmic mandate or impulse -- themselves form the beginnings of things from themselves, thus sacrificing themselves to themselves so that the cosmos may appear in manifestation. Another significance of the statement is the reference to the spiritual resurrection at the end of the manvantara or, in the case of man, to the choice to be spiritual rather than material, to rise self-consciously from material existence into the one Life. "Then he ascends into heaven indeed; where, plunged into the incomprehensible absolute Being and Bliss of Paranirvana, he reigns unconditionally, and whence he will re-descend again at the next 'coming,' which one portion of humanity expects in its dead-letter sense as the second advent, and the other as the last 'Kalki Avatar' " (SD 1:268).

His mother Yoga-Siddha (striving to become one with the inner god) and his daughter Sanjna (spiritual consciousness) show his mystic character, for no actual mother or daughter is here intended, but the ideas of human spiritual and intellectual reformation taking place within himself from yoga-siddha, from which is brought forth the spiritual consciousness which is the fruit or daughter of perfect achievement.

From another viewpoint, he represents spiritual humanity collectively and is equivalent to Purusha, synonymous in the Epic and Puranic period with Tvashtri, he is also called Karu (worker, builder) or Takshaka (carpenter, etc.).

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

Jupiter: Jupiter is in its rulership in Sagittarius. Jupiter is the planet that can tell you about processes in your life. On the physical level Jupiter relates to glandular function, specifically the liver. The sign and house placement indicate the general level of glandular function, and may indicate the most appropriate diet. Aspects to Jupiter can indicate the timing of diet and nutritional changes to achieve healthier processing within the body.

The same is true for the mind. Jupiter indicates a philosophical level of thinking. Its placement and aspects suggest how you relate to the world on the mental level, where you thoughts tend to expand, and how you approach new situations mentally. Jupiter reflects the area where you are most optimistic about life. It can also show where you can become extravagant or how you tend to exaggerate.

Jupiter also shows how you approach religious concepts. Do you examine the details Virgo style? Do you go with what is comfortable Taurus style? Jupiter shows how you come to understand the Universe and God, what inspires you to greater faith, and how you hold onto your beliefs once they have developed.

Jupiter is idealistic. Its placement and aspects show where idealism will take you during your life. Jupiter provides a reflection of how you pursue your mission in life. Here I am referring to your spiritual mission, but also to your career as that pertains to your spiritual development.

Jupiter reflects the human capacity for forgiveness. Each of us has a personal style where relationships are concerned, and each of us forgives the errors and differences in others. Jupiter’s placement and aspects show how we learn to forgive ourselves for weaknesses and mistakes as well. This is how we come to understand ourselves, not as vessels of perfect human expression, but rather as spiritually guided beings who seek our own most inspired, most confident, most successful expression. Jupiter allows us to indulge in excesses, while at the same time guiding us to our goals. This planet shows how your individual sense of humor works. Through Jupiter we come to understand humanity n general and ourselves in particular, both aspiring to be spiritually wise and understanding of self and others.

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

Kumara (Sanskrit) (from ku with difficulty + mara mortal)

Mortal with difficulty; often used for child or youth, but philosophically pure spiritual beings, unself-conscious god-sparks uninvolved with matter who, destined by evolution to pass through the realms of matter, become mortal, i.e., material, only with difficulty because of their lofty spirituality. They are the classes of arupa or solar pitris, along with the agnishvattas and manasaputras. Of all the seven great divisions of dhyani-chohans, there is none with which humanity is more concerned than with the kumaras, the mind-born sons of Brahma-Rudra or Siva, the inveterate destroyer of human passions:

"it is they who, by incarnating themselves within the senseless human shells of the two first Root-races, and a great portion of the Third Root-race -- create, so to speak, a new race: that of thinking, self-conscious and divine men" (SD 1:456-7). In the Puranas their number varies, given as seven, four, and five. They are often called the Four, because Sanaka, Sanada, Sanatana, and Sanat-Kumara are the names of four important groups of kumaras as they spring from the fourfold mystery. The three secret names of the seven are variously given: Sana, Sanat-Sujata, and Kapila; or Kapila, Ribhu, and Panchasikha; or Jata, Vodhu, and Panchasikha, all of which are but aliases. The patronymic name of the kumaras is Vaidhatra (from vidhatri a title of Brahma as creator of the universe)

These kumaras are sometimes also called rudras, adityas, gandharvas, asuras, maruts, and vedhas. The seven kumaras -- both as groups and as aggregated individuals -- are intimately connected with the dhyani-buddhas who watch over the seven rounds of our planetary chain. The four groups of kumaras generally spoken of are connected equally intimately with the four celestial bodhisattvas of the four globes of our round, and by correspondence with the four completed root-races of our earth. They are identical with the angels of the seven planets, and their name shows their connection with the constellation Makara or Capricorn. Makara is connected with the birth of the spiritual microcosm, and the death or dissolution of the physical universe (its passage into the realm of the spiritual) as are the kumaras.

Mara is the god of darkness, the Fallen one, and death, i.e., death of every physical thing; but through the karmic lessons learned also the quickener of the birth of the spiritual. The kumaras are connected also with the sage Narada. An allegory in the Puranas says that the kumaras, the first progeny of Brahma, were without desire or passion, inspired with the holy wisdom, and undesirous of progeny. They refused to create, but were compelled later on to complete divine man by incarnating in him. The barhishads or lunar pitris formed the "senseless" astral-physical humanity of the early root-races. Those beings possessing the living spiritual fire were the agnishvattas or solar pitris.

The sons of Brahma, the kumaras, being originally themselves unconscious (in our sense) could be of no use in supplying the mental and kamic principles, as they did not possess them: they had attained no individual karmic elevation in merit of their own as had the agnishvattas. The perfection of the kumaras was passive and negative (nirguna). The kumaras eventually "sacrifice" themselves by incarnating in mankind, thus corresponding to the manasaputras and fallen angels cast into hell (material spheres, our earth).

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

Black Dwarfs. The name of the Elves of Darkness, who creep about in the dark caverns of the earth and fabricate weapons and utensils for their divine fathers, the Esir or Ases. Called also "Black Elves".

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

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

(See also: HULDU , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Qelippoth (Hebrew) Shells, rinds, the outer covering or body of any entity. Because beings in the lowest world of the Qabbalah are considered shells infilled with a certain proportion of degenerate spiritual powers and functions, these beings are often called demons.

In the Qabbalah, the lowest of the four worlds, `olam `asiyyah, is therefore likewise called `olam qelippoth, in that all the beings pertaining to this sphere need the use of a vehicle, termed a rind or shell, which though subject to formation, birth, change, and dissolution as a form, is not so as to its essential life-atoms -- except as these life-atoms themselves undergo rebirth and change, but not dissolution as do the shells.

Just as in the superior `olams there are the analogic divisions into the ten Sephiroth, likewise in this lowest sphere there are ten degrees, each growing denser and darker in its descent farther from the Sephirothic ray. The first two degrees of this descending scale are considered as absence of visible form -- termed in Genesis Tohu Bohu. The third degree is termed the abode of darkness (the darkness which covered the face of the earth of Genesis). Then follow, in descent, the seven infernal halls Sheba` Heichaloth, or hells in which are distributed the various princes of darkness and entities undergoing purgation -- the prince of the whole region being Sama'el (the angel of "venom" or death).

"note what we read in the Zohar (ii. 43a): 'For the service of the Angelic World, the Holy . . . made Samael and his legions, i.e., the world of action, who are as it were the clouds to be used (by the higher or upper Spirits, our Egos) to ride upon in their descent to the earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses.' This, in conjunction with the fact that Q'lippoth contains the matter of which stars, planets, and even men are made, shows that Samael with his legions is simply chaotic, turbulent matter, which is used in its finer state by spirits to robe themselves in. For speaking of the 'vesture' or form (rupa) of the incarnating Egos, it is said in the Occult Catechism that they, the Manasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, use for the consolidation of their forms, in order to descend into lower spheres, the dregs of Swabhavat, or that plastic matter which is throughout Space, in other words, primordial ilus. And these dregs are what the Egyptians have called Typhon and modern Europeans Satan, Samael, etc., etc. Deus est Demon inversus -- the Demon is the lining of God" (TG 269).

Thus Qelippoth has a dual meaning: first and less customary, the unorganized matter of space out of which spiritual beings build their bodies in order to manifest on this physical plane; second and more customary, is the physical bodies themselves as thus built, containing the vital and other characteristics of living beings. The word corresponds to the rupa-worlds -- the imbodied beings of this world or sphere.

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