Pythagoreans The school founded at Crotona, Italy in the 6th century BC by Pythagoras of Samos. Pythagoras was an initiate not only into the Mysteries of his own native state, but also into those of the ancient Orient, where he had pursued extensive studies. His special work was to translate his esoteric knowledge into terms of the Grecian thought of that period. He shows the ultimate derivation of his wisdom and consequent teaching both by the content of his philosophical doctrines and by his insistence upon purity and self-mastery in life as a prime requisite to the attainment of wisdom.

His word metempsychoses is given as meaning the transference of the soul from one body to another; whereas by its Greek etymology it should mean the various highly occult transformations undergone by the soul-ego after death, and preceding the process of reensoulment -- something of larger significant content than what the word reincarnation has mainly come to mean today, as implying merely soul-reimbodiment. It is the teaching of the various successive karmic transformations and imbodiments of a monad during its evolutionary cycle -- not only in the larger sense of cosmic destiny, but also in the smaller sense of its karmic transformations between death and the succeeding physical birth.

Pythagoras is famous for his use of numerical and geometrical keys, which he illustrated by reference to the geometrical figures, the musical scale, astronomy, etc. He is supposed to have "discovered" the Divine Section, the regular polyhedra, and the proposition relating to the square of the hypotenuse; what he did was to show that these were keys to the interpretation of mysteries. Porphyry reports that the numerals of Pythagoras were "hieroglyphical symbols by means whereof he explained ideas concerning the nature of things: (Vita Pythag) or, Blavatsky adds, "the origin of the universe" (SD 1:361). His tetraktys is a gem of condensed esoteric symbolism.

The influence of his school may be traced in subsequent Greek history, inspiring such characters as Epaminondas; "It was Pythagoras who was the first to teach the heliocentric system, and who was the greatest proficient in geometry of his century. It was he also who created the word 'philosopher,' composed of two words meaning a 'lover of wisdom' -- philosophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer and astronomer of historical antiquity, and also the highest of the metaphysicians and scholars, Pythagoras has won imperishable fame. He taught reincarnation as it is professed in India and much else of the Secret Wisdom" (TG 266).

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

Shin-sieu (Chinese) A sage and seer; the sixth Buddhist Patriarch of North China who taught the esoteric doctrine of bodhidharma, one of whose sayings appears in The Voice of the Silence: "For mind is like a mirror; it gathers dust while it reflects. It needs the gentle breezes of Soul Wisdom to brush away the dust of our illusions. Seek, O Beginner, to blend thy Mind and Soul"; "The human mind is like a mirror which attracts and reflects every atom of dust, and has to be, like that mirror, watched over and dusted every day" (VS 26, 83).

(See also: Shin-sieu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Manjusri (Sanskrit) [from manju beautiful + sri an epithet of holiness, dignity, and reverence]

The holy beautiful one; a name of the dhyani-bodhisattvas, the guardians and Silent Watchers of the globes of our planetary chain. Another title is Vajrapanins.

In exoteric Buddhist literature, Manjusri is looked upon as the god of wisdom because the title is personalized or anthropomorphized as an individual, but "It is erroneous to take literally the worship of the human Bodhisattvas, or Manjusri. It is true that, exoterically, the Mahayana school teaches adoration of these without distinction, and that Hiuen-Tsang speaks of some disciples of Buddha as being worshipped. But esoterically it is not the disciple or the learned Manjusri personally that received honours, but the divine Bodhisattvas and Dhyani Buddhas that animated . . . the human forms" (SD 2:34n).

(See also: Manjusri, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kratudvish kratudvis (Sanskrit) In Hindu mythology, an enemy of all ritualistic and ceremonial worship and exoteric sham; the spiritual beings which represented, in their human aspect, the adepts of esoteric wisdom in opposition to the multitude who followed exoteric and popular religious forms, mummeries, and sacrifices.

The kratusvishas were often called the asuras, daityas, danavas, kinnaras, etc., who fought against Brihaspati, the prototype of exoteric and ritualistic worship in the Tarakamaya (war in heaven). All the kratudvishas are represented as being yogis and ascetics of great spiritual and intellectual power.

(See also: Kratudvish, kratudvis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Pistis Sophia An important treatise on Gnostic teachings, discovered in a Coptic manuscript in the British Museum by the Orientalist Schwartze, who rendered it into Latin and published the original text and his translation in 1851. It was translated into English by G. R. S. Mead and annotated by Blavatsky.

The original version contains many Greek technical terms having no Coptic equivalents and preserved also in the later translations. The tile itself is two such words, the names of two principal Aeons in the Gnostic system. Sophia means wisdom, enlightenment; pistis means intuitive trust, firm belief based on inner conviction, ardent devotion, that quality in the disciple which corresponds to the heart, as wisdom relates to his understanding -- rather than merely faith.

As the opening verses show, these are the esoteric teachings said in the treatise itself to have been given by Jesus to his disciples, when he was rising from the dead and teaching them for eleven years. This means that the teacher had passed eleven degrees of initiation, awaiting only the final degree. The work is a highly veiled version of some of the teachings of the archaic wisdom; it quotes abundantly from the Book of Enoch, and the doctrines of the Upanishads have, at least in degree, passed into it.

(See also: Pistis Sophia, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

In 1908 its founder, Max Heindel, was reported to have been chosen and prepared by the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order to reveal the teachings of the Rosicrucian Philosophy (Western Wisdom Teachings). In November 1909 these teachings were printed in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception and were subsequently developed in other books, lectures and lessons. Heindel also founded a Christian Esoteric magazine titled Rays from the Rose Cross in June 1913, whi ...

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Rosicrucian Fellowship, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Origins & foundation, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Philosophy teachings, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Life as a School: doctrine of Rebirth and Law of Cause and Consequence, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Evolution, Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Seven-fold constitution of Man, Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Seven Worlds & the Seven Cosmic Planes, Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Ten-fold constitution of Man, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Death as a Birth, Rosicrucian Fellowship - the Cosmic Christ and the Christ Within, Rosicrucian Fellowship - Rosicrucian mission

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A Theosophical definition of Guru-parampara :

Guru-parampara

(Sanskrit) This is a compound formed of guru, meaning "teacher," and a subordinate compound param-para, the latter compound meaning "a row or uninterrupted series or succession." Hence guru-parampara signifies an uninterrupted series or succession of teachers. Every Mystery school or esoteric college of ancient times had its regular and uninterrupted series or succession of teacher succeeding teacher, each one passing on to his successor the mystical authority and headship he himself had received from his predecessor.

Like everything else of an esoteric character in the ancient world, the guru-parampara or succession of teachers faithfully copied what actually exists or takes place in nature herself, where a hierarchy with its summit or head is immediately linked on to a superior hierarchy as well as to an inferior one; and it is in this manner that the mystical circulations of the kosmos, and the transmission of life or vital currents throughout the fabric or web of being is assured.

From this ancient fact and teaching of the Mystery schools came the greatly distorted Apostolic Succession of the Christian Church, a pale and feeble reflection in merely ecclesiastical government of a fundamental spiritual and mystical reality. The great Brotherhood of the sages and seers of the world, which in fact is the association of the Masters of Wisdom and Compassion headed by the Maha-chohan, is the purest and most absolute form or example of the guru-parampara existing on our earth today. (See also Hermetic Chain)

See also: Guru-parampara, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Adept

An esoteric master. An individual highly experienced and skilled in occult wisdom or magickal craft, as a result of the study of various mystical techniques and philosophies. An initiate that has willfully achieved the highest attainment in the mastery of the occult sciences and powers. Adepts often take on students or chelas, in which case, the adept is known as a masters.

The chela must first accomplish self-denial and self-development in order to become worthy to become a chela. . The activities of adepts are diverse, being concern with the direction and guidance of the activities of the rest of mankind.

According to Theosophy, their knowledge, like their powers, far surpasses that of man, and they can control forces both in the spiritual and physical dominion, and are said to be able to prolong their lives for centuries. In alchemical lore there are always eleven adepts. The term adept was also employed by medieval magicians and alchemists to denote a master of their sciences. See Mahatma.

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

Upanishad (Sanskrit) [from upa according to + ni down + the verbal root sad to sit]

Following or according to the teachings which were received when sitting down; esoteric doctrine. "Literary works in which the rahasya -- a Sanskrit word meaning esoteric doctrine or mystery -- is imbodied. The Upanishads belong to the Vedic cycle and are regarded by orthodox Brahmans as a portion of the Sruti or 'Revelation.' It was from these wonderful quasi-esoteric and very mystical works that was later developed the highly philosophical and profound system called the Vedanta" (OG 179).

The Upanishads belong to the third division of the Vedas and are appended to the Brahmanas. The number of Upanishads hitherto known is about 170, though probably only a score are now complete without evident marks of excision or interpolation. These Upanishads belong to different periods of antiquity, some being of a much later date than others. Although the Upanishads are usually considered by modern scholars to be as a whole of later date than the Brahmanas, the original Upanishads were composed in an antiquity which anteceded that of the Brahmanas, and are probably coeval with the composition of the Vedas themselves.

"The Upanishads must be far more ancient than the days of Buddhism, as they show no preference for, nor do they uphold, the superiority of the Brahmans as a caste. On the contrary, it is the (now) second caste, the Kshatriya, or warrior class, who are exalted in the oldest of them. As stated by Professor Cowell in Elphinstone's History of India -- 'they breathe a freedom of spirit unknown to any earlier work except the Rig-Veda . . . The great teachers of the higher knowledge and Brahmans are continually represented as going to Kshatriya Kings to become their pupils.' The 'Kshatriya Kings' were in the olden times, like the King-Hierophants of Egypt, the receptacles of the highest divine knowledge and wisdom, the Elect and the incarnations of the primordial divine Instructors -- the Dhyani Buddhas or Kumaras. There was a time, aeons before the Brahmans became a caste, or even the Upanishads were written, when there was on earth but one 'lip,' one religion and one science, namely, the speech of the gods, the Wisdom-Religion and Truth. This was before the fair fields of the latter, overrun by nations of many languages, became overgrown with the weeds of intentional deception, and national creeds invented by ambition, cruelty and selfishness, broke the one sacred Truth into thousands of fragments" (TG 354).

Thirteen of the principal Upanishads are: Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Kena, Taittiriya, Maitri, Katha, Brihadaranyaka, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Isa, Chhandogya, and Svetasvatara.

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

Pythagoras (Ancient Greek). The most famous of mystic philosophers, born at Samos, about 586 B.C. He seems to have travelled all over the world, and to have culled his philosophy from the various systems to which he had access.

Thus, he studied the esoteric sciences with the Brachmanes of India, and astronomy and astrology in Chaldea and Egypt. He is known to this day in the former country under the name of Yavanacharya ("Ionian teacher"). After returning he settled in Crotona, in Magna Grecia, where he established a college to which very soon resorted all the best intellects of the civilised centres. His father was one Mnesarchus of Samos, and was a man of noble birth and learning.

It was Pythagoras. who was the first to teach the heliocentric system, and who was the greatest proficient in geometry of his century. It was he also who created the word "philosopher", composed of two words meaning a "lover of wisdom" - philo-sophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer and astronomer of historical antiquity, and also the highest of the metaphysicians and scholars, Pythagoras has won imperishable fame. He taught reincarnation as it is professed in India and much else of the Secret Wisdom.

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

Asuras (Sanskrit). Exoterically, elementals and evil, gods - considered maleficent; demons, and no gods. But esoterically - the reverse.

For in the most ancient portions of the Rig Veda, the term is used for the Supreme Spirit, and therefore the Asuras are spiritual and divine It is only in the last book of the Rig Veda, its latest part, and in the Atharva Veda, and the Brahmanas, that the epithet, which had been given to Agni, the greatest Vedic Deity, to Indra and Varuna, has come to signify the reverse of gods.

Asu means breath, and it is with his breath that Prajapati (Brahma) creates the Asuras. When ritualism and dogma got the better of the Wisdom religion, the initial letter a was adopted as a negative prefix, and the term ended by signifying "not a god", and Sura only a deity. But in the Vedas the Suras have ever been connected with Surya, the sun, and regarded as inferior deities, devas.

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

Baphomet (Ancient Greek). The androgyne goat of Mendes. (See Secret Doctrine, I. 253).

According to the Western, and especially the French Kabalists, the Templars were accused of worshipping Baphomet, and Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Templars, with all his brother-Masons, suffered death in consequence.

But esoterically, and philologically, the word never meant "goat", nor even anything so objective as an idol. The term means according to Von Hammer, "baptism" or initiation into Wisdom, from the Greek words bafh and mhtiz and from the relation of Baphometus to Pan. Von Hammer must be right. It was a Hermetico Kabalistic symbol, but the whole story as invented by the Clergy was false.

(See "Pan ".)

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

Jahva Alhim (Hebrew, Jewish). The name that in Genesis replaces "Alhim", or Elohim, the gods. It is used in chapter I., while in chapter II. the "Lord God" or Jehovah steps in.

In Esoteric philosophy and exoteric tradition, Jahva Alhim (Java Aleim) was the title of the chief of the Hierophants, who initiated into the good and the evil of this world in the college of priests known as the Aleim College in the land of Gandunya or Babylonia.

Tradition and rumour assert, that the chief of the temple Fo-ma?yu, called Foh-tchou (teacher of Buddhist law), a temple situated in the fastnesses of the great mount of Kouenlong-sang (between China and Tibet), teaches once every three years under a tree called Sung-Min-Shu, or the" Tree of Knowledge and (the tree) of life", which is the Bo (Bodhi) tree of Wisdom.

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

Hermetic. Any doctrine or writing connected with the esoteric teachings of Hermes, who, whether as the Egyptian Thoth or the Greek Hermes, was the God of Wisdom with the Ancients, and, according to Plato, "discovered numbers, geometry, astronomy and letters".

Though mostly considered as spurious, nevertheless the Hermetic writings were highly prized by St. Augustine, Lactantius, Cyril and others. In the words of Mr. J. Bonwick, "

They are more or less touched up by the Platonic philosophers among the early Christians (such as Origen and Clemens Alexandrinus) who sought to substantiate their Christian arguments by appeals to these heathen and revered writings, though they could not resist the temptation of making them say a little too much.

Though represented by some clever and interested writers as teaching pure monotheism, the Hermetic or Trismegistic books are, nevertheless, purely pantheistic. The Deity referred to in them is defined by Paul as that in which "we live, and move and have our being" - notwithstanding the "in Him" of the translators.

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

A Theosophical definition of Vidya :

Vidya

(Sanskrit) The word (derived from the same verbal root vid from which comes the noun Veda) for "knowledge," "philosophy," "science." This is a term very generally used in theosophical philosophy, having in a general way the three meanings just stated. It is frequently compounded with other words, such as: atma-vidya  - "knowledge of atman" or the essential Self; Brahma-vidya  - "knowledge of Brahman," knowledge of the universe, a term virtually equivalent to theosophy; or, again, guhya-vidya  - signifying the "secret knowledge" or the esoteric wisdom. Using the word in a collective but nevertheless specific sense, vidya is a general term for occult science.

See also: Vidya, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Religion :

Religion

An operation of the human spiritual mind in its endeavor to understand not only the how and the why of things, but comprising in addition a yearning and striving towards self-conscious union with the divine All and an endlessly growing self-conscious identification with the cosmic divine-spiritual realities. One phase of a triform method of understanding the nature of nature, of universal nature, and its multiform and multifold workings; and this phase cannot be separated from the other two phases (science and philosophy) if we wish to gain a true picture of things as they are in themselves.

Human religion is the expression of that aspect of man's consciousness which is intuitional, aspirational, and mystical, and which is often deformed and distorted in its lower forms by the emotional in man.

It is usual among modern Europeans to derive the word religion from the Latin verb meaning "to bind back"  - religare. But there is another derivation, which is the one that Cicero chooses, and of course he was a Roman himself and had great skill and deep knowledge in the use of his own native tongue. This other derivation comes from a Latin root meaning "to select," "to choose," from which, likewise, we have the word lex, "law," i.e., the course of conduct or rule of action which is chosen as the best, and is therefore followed; in other words, that which is the best of its kind, as ascertained by selection, by trial, and by proof.

Thus then, the meaning of the word religion from the Latin religio, means a careful selection of fundamental beliefs and motives by the higher or spiritual intellect, a faculty of intuitional judgment and understanding, and a consequent abiding by that selection, resulting in a course of life and conduct in all respects following the convictions that have been arrived at. This is the religious spirit.

To this the theosophist would add the following very important idea: behind all the various religions and philosophies of ancient times there is a secret or esoteric wisdom given out by the greatest men who have ever lived, the founders and builders of the various world religions and world philosophies; and this sublime system in fundamentals has been the same everywhere over the face of the globe.

This system has passed under various names, e.g., the esoteric philosophy, the ancient wisdom, the secret doctrine, the traditional teaching, theosophy, etc. (See also Science, Philosophy)

See also: Religion, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Evolution :

Evolution

As the word is used in theosophy it means the "unwrapping," "unfolding," "rolling out" of latent powers and faculties native to and inherent in the entity itself, its own essential characteristics, or more generally speaking, the powers and faculties of its own character: the Sanskrit word for this last conception is svabhava. Evolution, therefore, does not mean merely that brick is added to brick, or experience merely topped by another experience, or that variation is superadded on other variations  - not at all; for this would make of man and of other entities mere aggregates of incoherent and unwelded parts, without an essential unity or indeed any unifying principle.

In theosophy evolution means that man has in him (as indeed have all other evolving entities) everything that the cosmos has because he is an inseparable part of it. He is its child; one cannot separate man from the universe. Everything that is in the universe is in him, latent or active, and evolution is the bringing forth of what is within; and, furthermore, what we call the surrounding milieu, circumstances  - nature, to use the popular word  - is merely the field of action on and in which these inherent qualities function, upon which they act and from which they receive the corresponding reaction, which action and reaction invariably become a stimulus or spur to further manifestations of energy on the part of the evolving entity.

There are no limits in any direction where evolution can be said to begin, or where we can conceive of it as ending; for evolution in the theosophical conception is but the process followed by the centers of consciousness or monads as they pass from eternity to eternity, so to say, in a beginningless and endless course of unceasing growth.

Growth is the key to the real meaning of the theosophical teaching of evolution, for growth is but the expression in detail of the general process of the unfolding of faculty and organ, which the usual word evolution includes. The only difference between evolution and growth is that the former is a general term, and the latter is a specific and particular phase of this procedure of nature.

Evolution is one of the oldest concepts and teachings of the archaic wisdom, although in ancient days the concept was usually expressed by the word emanation. There is indeed a distinction, and an important one, to be drawn between these two words, but it is a distinction arising rather in viewpoint than in any actual fundamental difference. Emanation is a distinctly more accurate and descriptive word for theosophists to use than evolution is, but unfortunately emanation is so ill-understood in the Occident, that perforce the accepted term is used to describe the process of interior growth expanding into and manifesting itself in the varying phases of the developing entity.

Theosophists, therefore, are, strictly speaking, rather emanationists than evolutionists; and from this remark it becomes immediately obvious that the theosophist is not a Darwinist, although admitting that in certain secondary or tertiary senses and details there is a modicum of truth in Charles Darwin's theory adopted and adapted from the Frenchman Lamarck. The key to the meaning of evolution, therefore, in theosophy is the following: the core of every organic entity is a divine monad or spirit, expressing its faculties and powers through the ages in various vehicles which change by improving as the ages pass. These vehicles are not physical bodies alone, but also the interior sheaths of consciousness which together form man's entire constitution extending from the divine monad through the intermediate ranges of consciousness to the physical body. The evolving entity can become or show itself to be only what it already essentially is in itself  - therefore evolution is a bringing out or unfolding of what already preexists, active or latent, within. (See also Involution)

See also: Evolution, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Upanishad :

Upanishad

(Sanskrit) A compound, composed of upa "according to," "together with," ni "down," and the verbal root sad, "to sit," which becomes shad by Sanskrit grammar when preceded by the particle ni: the entire compound thus signifying "following upon or according to the teachings which were received when we were sitting down." The figure here is that of pupils sitting in the Oriental style at the feet of the teacher, who taught them the secret wisdom or rahasya, in private and in forms and manners of expression that later were written and promulgated according to those teachings and after that style.

The Upanishads are examples of literary works in which the rahasya  - a Sanskrit word meaning "esoteric doctrine" or "mystery"  - is imbodied. The Upanishads belong to the Vedic cycle and are regarded by orthodox Brahmans as a portion of the sruti or "revelation." It was from these wonderful quasi-esoteric and very mystical works that was later developed the highly philosophical and profound system called the Vedanta. The Upanishads are usually reckoned today as one hundred and fifty in number, though probably only a score are now complete without evident marks of literary change or adulteration in the way of excision or interpolation.

The topics treated of in the Upanishads are highly transcendental, recondite, and abstruse, and in order properly to understand the Upanishadic teaching one should have constantly in mind the master-keys that theosophy puts into the hand of the student. The origin of the universe, the nature of the divinities, the relations between soul and ego, the connections of spiritual and material beings, the liberation of the evolving entity from the chains of maya, and kosmological questions, are all dealt with, mostly in a succinct and cryptic form. The Upanishads, finally, may be called the exoteric theosophical works of Hindustan, but contain a vast amount of genuine esoteric information.

See also: Upanishad, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Gematria: Of all the ancient magickal languages, the mysticism surrounding biblical Hebrew is the best known in the West. The body of esoteric teachings concerning the Hebrew language is known as the Qabalah (meaning that knowledge which can only be imparted orally in secret, handed down from one generation to the next). In modern occultism, the term Qabalah, which originally meant Hebraic secret wisdom, has now come to mean any secret, esoteric system of thought which uses alphabet letter, color, symbol, sound, and number as the basic building blocks of its philosophical system. Thus modern writers will refer to a "Greek" Qabalah, a "Celtic" Qabalah, or even a "Wiccan" Qabalah.

The traditional Qabalistic science from which modern numerology has evolved is called gematria. Gematria is the art of substituting a number value for any given word in Hebrew and finding a corresponding meaning in any other word equal to that specific number value. Gematria is a Rabbinical Hebrew term derived from Greek roots. It is a combination of gramma (letter) and metria (measure), to denote the measurement (or counting) of the letters composing any word, just as geometry is the measure (metria) of earth (geo).

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

Esoteric Movements

Religious and philosophical groups centered on knowledge or experience accessible only to those who have received a special initiation or attained a special level of spiritual awareness.

Esoteric refers to what is "inner," restricted to persons or groups who are in some way on the "inside" of a secret or process. Esotericists believe they are custodians of an important truth about reality that is unknown to most people either because it has been lost or concealed or because by its nature it is unknowable without special training or induction into its mysteries. In this context, initiation or induction implies a set of experiences designed not only to convey knowledge but also to induce an intuitive awareness of unfamiliar dimensions of reality.

Because of the cognitive and initiatory emphases, esoteric movements are likely to employ study more than devotion, the lecture more than the devotional sermon, and tightly controlled initiatory scenarios more than devotional practice. Precision of information and technical skill in the use of esoteric knowledge are significant, for these features conform the objective nature and practical importance of its insights.

Esoteric movements in the West have flourished at least from the pre-Christian Gnostics on down to the present. Rosicrucian groups. More recent ones are the Order of the Golden Dawn.

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

Valentinus Famous 2nd century Gnostic who in many ways was the unacknowledged teacher of the Church Fathers Origen and Clement. His teachings, largely those of the ancient wisdom, were probably derived from the esoteric schools in Alexandria.

He is author of "The Shepherd of Hermes" and various Homilies and Epistles, and is said to have been the author of the celebrated Gnostic gospel, the Pistis Sophia, where his doctrines are set forth. His school, the Valentinians, had Italian and Asiatic branches, which gave rise to other offshoots, thus spreading his influence far and wide and exerting an enduring effect on thought. He averred that the apostles had not publicly given out all they knew, but that they had esoteric knowledge.

He taught that the primal cause, which he names Bythos (depth), manifested itself as the pleroma (fullness), the sum total of all manifestation. His teachings on pleroma are defined by a vast, intricate diagrammatic scheme, representing a process of emanation on a hierarchical plan with threefold, sevenfold, tenfold, and twelvefold hierarchies; mankind itself forming a lower branch of these hierarchies. Thus he is enabled to explain the origin of mixture or evil, and to reconcile the goodness of God with the imperfection of nature by pointing to minor demiurgic creators; thus too he can give the true meaning of Christ and redemption.

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

Vairochana Vairocana (Sanskrit) A son of the sun (Virochana -- the spiritual sun); a generalizing term for some of the highest classes of dhyani-chohans emanating directly from the Third Logos, and therefore virtually identical with the vairajas, kumaras, manasaputras, and agnishvattas, called collectively children of the sun.

"A generic personification of a class of spiritual beings described as the embodiment of essential wisdom (Bodhi) and absolute purity. They dwell in the fourth Arupa Dhatu (formless world) or Buddhakshetra, and are the first or the highest hierarchy of the five orthodox Dhyani Buddhas. There was a Sramana (an Arhat) of this name (see Eitel's Sansk. Chin. Dict.), a native of Kashmir, 'who introduced Buddhism into Kustan and laboured in Tibet (in the seventh century of our era). He was the best translator of the semi-esoteric Canon of Northern Buddhism, and a contemporary of the great Samantabhadra . . ." (TG 358-9).

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