Ah-hi (Senzar) A group or class of celestial or spiritual beings known in different countries under various names: dhyani-chohans, angels or angelic hosts, 'elohim, the Greek minor logoi, etc. Vehicles for the manifestation of cosmic mind and will, they are "the collective hosts of spiritual beings" through which the universal mind comes into action.

"They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and enact in Nature her 'laws,' while themselves acting according to laws imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers; but they are not 'the personifications' of the power of Nature, as erroneously thought" (SD 1:38). During pralaya "Universal Mind was not, for there were no Ah-hi to contain it," no celestial beings to manifest mind (Stanzas of Dzyan 1:3).

Commenting on this, Blavatsky describes the Ah-hi as entities who "being on the highest plane, reflect the universal mind collectively at the first flutter of Manvantara. After which they begin the work of evolution of all the lower forces throughout the seven planes, down to the lowest -- our own. The Ah-hi are the primordial seven rays, or Logoi, emanated from the first Logos, triple, yet one in its essence. . . .

"Like all other Hierarchies, on the highest plane they are arupa, i.e., formless, bodiless, without any substance, mere breaths. On the second plane, they first approach to Rupa, or form. On the third, they become Manasa-putras, those who became incarnated in men. With every plane they reach they are called by different names . . ." (TBL 17, 20-21).

(See also: Ah-hi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Seven The fundamental number of manifestation, frequently found in the different cosmogonies as well as in many religious dogmas and observances of the different ancient peoples.

Although ten was called one of the perfect numbers by the Pythagoreans, seven was unique in their series of numbers because it has all the "perfection of the Unit -- the number of numbers. For as absolute unity is uncreated, and impartite (hence number-less) and no number can produce it, so is the seven: no digit contained within the decade can beget or produce it" (SD 2:582). Seven is the number of the manifested universe, while ten or twelve is the number of the unmanifested universe.

Pythagoras taught that seven was composed of the numbers three and four, explaining that "on the plane of the noumenal world, the triangle was, as the first conception of the manifested Deity, its image: 'Father-Mother-Son'; and the Quaternary, the perfect number, was the noumenal, ideal root of all numbers and things on the physical plane" (ibid.). Further, seven was called by the Pythogoreans the vehicle of life for it consisted of body and spirit: the body was held to consist of four principal elements, while the spirit was in manifestation triple, comprising the monad, intellect or essential reason, and mind.

There are innumerable instances of sevening -- the seven days of the week, the seven colors of the spectrum, the seven notes of the musical scale -- while special emphasis is placed upon the seven human and cosmic principles; the seven senses (five senses now in manifestation and two more to be attained in the future through evolutionary unfolding); the seven cosmic elements; the seven root-races and seven subraces; the seven kingdoms, human and below; the seven rounds; the seven lokas and talas; the seven manifested globes of the planetary chain; the seven sacred planets; the seven racial buddhas; the seven dhyani-bodhisattvas and -buddhas; the seven Logoi; etc.

Man as well as nature is called saptaparna (seven-leaved plant), symbolized by the triangle above the square {illust}. While the senary was applied to man in all ranges from the physical to the spiritual, when completed by the atman, thus making the septenary, the latter signified the entire range of the constitution, whether of man or nature, crowned by the immortal spirit.

In Hindu literature the number seven continually appears: the saptarshis (the seven sages), the seven superior and inferior worlds, the seven hosts of deities, the seven holy cities, the seven holy islands, seas, or mountains, the seven deserts, the seven sacred trees, etc. In Greece seven was often connected with the gods and goddesses: Mars had seven attendants, seven was sacred to Pallas Athene and to Phoebus Apollo -- the latter with his seven-stringed lyre playing hymns to septenary nature as well as to the seven-rayed sun; Niobe's seven sons and seven daughters, etc.

Apart from mythological considerations, in physical life manifestations of the number seven occur continuously: "if the mysterious Septenary Cycle is a law in nature, and it is one, as proven; if it is found controlling the evolution and involution (or death) in the realms of entomology, ichthyology and ornithology, as in the Kingdoms of the Animal, mammalia and man -- why cannot it be present and acting in Kosmos, in general, in its natural (though occult) divisions of time, races, and mental development?" (SD 2:623n).

Seven is indeed the sacred number of life, and with the circle and the cross it forms a triad of primordial symbols of the ancient wisdom.

(See also: Seven , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Selfishness Making the gratification of the personal self or ego the paramount aim in conduct; a disregard of the interests of others. While individualism is a necessary stage in evolution, yet humanity on the upward arc of evolution is on the road towards realization of the essential unity of all selves. Hence selfishness is our greatest obstacle in spiritual unfolding or development.

It is not its grosser manifestations that are most harmful, but the subtler forms in which it may wear the mask of the virtues. It is overcome by aspiration towards the source of our being, by recognizing the barrenness and futility of self-seeking and its destructive results, and by the cultivation of that primal instinct of altruism which is at the heart of every being.

What is here called selfishness corresponds in the minds of Buddhist philosophers and scholars to the ideas they disputed grouped about the word atman. They never intended to deny the fundamental meaning of atman or selfhood, and yet this misconception of ancient Buddhist teaching has brought about the false idea that Gautama Buddha and his followers taught that man has no essential self or selfhood. Because selfishness was popularly considered the permanent soulhood in man, the doctrine of anatma (in Pali, anatta) was strongly and continuously taught.

The deduction shows clearly that even in India at the time of the Buddha, selfhood in its popular sense of concentration on the lower self and its interests was as popular and widespread as today. It is a paradox that in selflessness is found the noblest and highest emanation of self-expression of the atman or spiritual self in man.

(See also: Selfishness , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Stanzas of Dzyan Archaic verses of philosophical and cosmogonical content drawn from the Book of Dzyan, which form the basis of The Secret Doctrine. They present the esoteric teachings in regard to cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, and are the ancient heritage of humanity as preserved by the brotherhood of mahatmas.

Every race and nation has drawn from this source through the medium of its initiated or inspired teachers and saviors. Only portions of the original verses are given in The Secret Doctrine, and Blavatsky's presentation there represents the first time that they have been set down in a modern European language; her endeavor always was to represent the meaning rather than to give a merely literal rendering of the words: "it must be left to the intuition and the higher faculties of the reader to grasp, as far as he can, the meaning of the allegorical phrases used. Indeed it must be remembered that all these Stanzas appeal to the inner faculties rather than to the ordinary comprehension of the physical brain" (SD 1:21).

Especially is this the case when the Stanzas refer to events and conditions of cosmic or human life of which mankind today has virtually lost all memory, except for the scattered fragments of archaic writings which have reached us out of the darkness of prehistory. Only deep meditation and contemplation upon the mystical symbols used will awaken the faculty to comprehend them:

"The history of cosmic evolution, as traced in the Stanzas, is, so to say, the abstract algebraical formula of that Evolution. . . . .

"The Stanzas, therefore, give an abstract formula which can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to all evolution: to that of our tiny earth, to that of the chain of planets of which that earth forms one, to the solar Universe to which that chain belongs, and so on, in an ascending scale, till the mind reels and is exhausted in the effort.

"The seven Stanzas given in this volume represent the seven terms of this abstract formula. They refer to, and describe the seven great stages of the evolutionary process, which are spoken of in the Puranas as the 'Seven Creations,' and in the Bible as the 'Days' of Creation" (SD 1:20-1).

These archaic stanzas are written preeminently in symbolic language, with the intention of giving, perhaps, a sevenfold meaning; "as there are seven keys of interpretation to every symbol and allegory, that which may not fit a meaning, say from the psychological or astronomical aspect, will be found quite correct from the physical or metaphysical" (SD 2:22n).

See also BOOK OF DZYAN

(See also: Stanzas of Dzyan , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Agnishvatta agnisvatta (Sanskrit) (from agni fire + the verbal root svad to sweeten, taste)

Tasted or sweetened by fire; one of the higher of the seven classes of pitris or progenitors spoken of in the Puranas as those "devoid of fire." They are thus popularly represented as grihasthas or householders who in previous births failed to keep up their domestic fires and to offer burnt sacrifices, etc. In contrast, the pitris "possessed" of fire are the barhishads, those who kept up their household fires (cf VP 1:10).

Mystically the agnishvattas are far higher beings than are the barhishads because they are devoid of the fire of creative passion. Being too divine and pure for this, they are devoid (i.e., freed) of the grosser creative fire, and thus unable to form physical man. They are, on the other hand, possessed of spiritual-intellectual fire and are the endowers of the human conscious, spiritually immortal ego or selfhood. Hence the agnishvatta-pitris are those who are "purified by fire" -- which may be interpreted as either 1) the fire of suffering and pain in material existence producing great fiber and strength of character or spirituality; or 2) from the esoteric standpoint as signifying those entities who have through evolution become one in essence with the aethery fire of spirit.

The agnishvattas signify our ancestral solar selves in contradistinction to the barhishads, our lunar ancestors. The agnishvattas are variously spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the fashioners of the inner man, manasa-dhyanis (lords of mind), solar devas, sons of the flame of wisdom, givers of human intelligence and consciousness, and fire-dhyanis. In ancient Greece they were collectively personified by the epic figure of Prometheus, and in China by the Fiery Dragons of Wisdom.

The agnishvattas, our solar spiritual-intellectual parts, are those who in preceding manvantaras completed their evolution in the realms of matter; and when evolution had brought the nascent human stock to the state where they had only the physical creative fire, the agnishvattas came to their rescue by inspiring and enlightening these lower lunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or fires (OG 14-15; SD 2:91-2).

In the Puranas, the agnishvattas are identified with the seasons, and are spoken of as one of the classes of deities presiding over the cyclic divisions of the year.

(See also: Agnishvatta, agnisvatta , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sex As applied to the organism as a whole, the differentiation of the reproductive function and the character of being male and female.

Organisms reproduce their kind in various ways: fission, gemmation, parthenogenesis, hermaphrodite reproduction, and sexual reproduction. In the course of evolution, organisms pass from one method to another; the passage from the hermaphrodite method to the one in which the sexes are in separate individuals took place in the animals in the third root-race of this round on this globe, and shortly afterwards in humanity (SD 2:184), the latter then being in the fifth subrace of the third root-race.

The process of separation did not occur suddenly, but slowly. This is often called the Fall, and is so in one sense, since it is a descent from spirit toward matter, and was an initiation of the beasts. "THEY (the animals) BEGAN TO BREED. The TWOFOLD MAN (then) SEPARATED ALSO. HE (man) SAID: "LET US AS THEY: LET US UNITE AND MAKE CREATURES.' THEY DID" (ibid.). But from another viewpoint, it was simply a following of the natural course of unfolding progress in evolution. The separation is symbolized by a circle with a vertical diameter.

The hermaphroditic state is repeated in the developing embryo where the organs of both sexes arise from the same germinal layer of cells, and the differentiation does not occur until near the middle of the viable period of fetal life. Today, the orderly unfolding of embryonic cells into a human form is due to following the invisible model which, in keeping with the imbodying ego's karma, is directed by creative spiritual entities and forces.

"Before man could become male and female physically, his prototype, the creating Elohim, had to arrange his Form on this sexual plane astrally. That is to say, the atoms and the organic forces, descending into the plane of the given differentiation, had to be marshaled in the order intended by Nature, so as to be ever carrying out, in an immaculate way, that law which the Kabala calls the balance, through which everything that exists does so as male and female in its final perfection, in this present stage of materiality. Chochmah, Wisdom, the Male Sephiroth, had to diffuse itself in, and through, Binah, intelligent Nature, or Understanding" (SD 2:84). After the separation, the third eye began to disappear, and death as we now understand it was not known until then.

Thus the primeval polarity of all things differentiated on the material plane -- including sexual humanity -- was of immaculate origin and purpose. This sublime ancient teaching has been degraded generally in theological interpretations of cosmic sex symbols in crude physiological terms, such as the substitution of a Jehovistic god of generation for an ineffable, unknown deity.

The originating causes of sex are not rooted in the higher principles or elements of the human composite constitution. It is the effect of former thought-deposits, of emotional and mental tendencies and biases given way to in preceding lives on earth. "The predominating and it may perhaps truly be said that the main cause of sex-change in incarnation is strong attraction to the opposite sex during the few -- or in rare cases it may be a fairly large number -- preceding lives on earth. This attraction, which is the instrumental cause of the tendencies and biases spoken of, arising out of thought and emotional energy, feminizes the life-atoms, or masculinizes them, as the individual case may be, and the natural consequence is incarnation in a body of the sex to which attraction leads" (ET 666). Thus a reincarnating ego may have several incarnations in bodies of one sex, and then incarnate in bodies of the opposite sex for a number of times in succeeding incarnations. How many times, therefore, a reincarnating ego may imbody in a male or a female body is not subject to any arbitrary rule but depends solely upon the karmic impulse laid aside in the treasury of psychomental experiences.

Though the distinction of sex is biologically regarded as a profound and nearly universal attribute of organized beings, yet knowledge of composite human nature shows that it does not reach into the roots of the human constitution. Its causes go no deeper than the lower part of the human ego or soul, the psychophysiological nature. It is an evolutionary condition or cycle of the reincarnating ego's development in this present stage of materiality. Therefore, it is a transitory event in its bipolar earthly experience. As sex has been nature's plan for the race for some 18 million years, it will continue to be the natural plan for some ages to come. Some ages hence, sex differentiation will have given way to the activities of impersonal, spiritual creative energies.

(See also: Sex , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Triangle An emblem of the triad or three-in-one, expressing more than the three dots alone: the points, lines, and the whole figure give a septenate composed of two triads and a monad.

The triangle also symbolizes twin rays proceeding from a central point, and when the other ends of these lines are joined, the base line signifies that which is produced by the interaction and interblending of the two formative rays. The apex, the side lines, and the base thus represent the three chief stages of cosmic evolution. The idea is further elaborated in the square pyramid.

The Pythagoreans recognized the triangle as the first regular rectilinear figure, as three is the first odd number -- the one being considered as the origin and unit, out of which all subsequent parts flow. The usual form of the triangle in symbology is equilateral, with the apex up or down. The circle, triangle, and square form another important triad representing stages in evolution. For interlaced triangles,

See also SIX-POINTED STAR

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

Touch Second in serial order in the evolution of the elements and senses, corresponding with the element air.

See also SENSES

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

Darwin's theory: Theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin (18091882) stating that plant and animal species develop or evolve from earlier forms due to hereditary transmission of variations that enhance the organism's adaptability and chances of survival.

See: evolution of the soul, nonhuman birth.

(See also: Darwin's theory , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

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

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

ROUGH APPROXIMATIONS.

Primordial lasted 171,200,000 years.

Laurentian

Cambrian

Silurian

Primary lasted 103,040,000 years

Devonian

Coal

Permian

Secondary lasted 36,800,000 years

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

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

Eocene

Miocene

Pliocene

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Law of Retardation and Acceleration The working of the inherent law of progressive development in every entity is modified by this law. When an entity occupies a dominant place in the evolutionary scale, the inferior and subordinate entities under its sway can no longer find a fully free field for their own self-expression, and consequently their evolution is said to be retarded. Thus the hosts of subordinate entities which compose the human body are retarded because their activities must be coordinated with that of the dominating human; while the evolution of the latter is unimpeded except for higher retardative elements, and at certain periods has its own phases of acceleration. This is part of the give-and-take policy by which corporate action among individuals of all hierarchical classes is rendered not only possible, but necessary.

The law of retardation means that certain individuals or groups are from time to time retarded in their forward development because the field of evolution immediately before them is already occupied by a superior aggregate group of evolving entities, which superior group exercises upon the inferior group an influence retarding the full expression of the evolving faculties of the individuals of the lower group. This can be illustrated by considering the evolution of the life-waves, or kingdoms, which run the rounds on our own planetary chain. The beasts are thus subject to a very definite law of retardation, because their immediate and future field of evolutionary unfolding is occupied by the evolving human kingdom, although it is equally true that the human kingdom exercises upon the beast kingdom beneath it a stimulating and elevating power. In the kingdoms of the planetary chain, if one such kingdom has not already reached a certain evolutionary standing on the ladder of life, it will have to wait in a more or less inactive or dormant evolutionary condition until room is made for its further progress by the passing ahead of the kingdom preceding it.

The beasts, for instance, as indeed all other kingdoms in similar circumstances, are undergoing retardation at the present time in another slightly different sense: because they have not as yet evolved forth human qualities and powers. They will not make the grade into the human kingdom on the ascending arc for all the remainder of the present chain-manvantara, and this is the meaning of the phrase frequently found in theosophical writings that the door into the human kingdom closed at about the midpoint of the fourth root-race.

Contrariwise, when an individual, group, life-wave, or kingdom has been thus retarded because of karmic necessity, when the way is finally opened for them to progress forwards, and if they are ready to do so, there is an immediate acceleration, a quickening or vivifying of the entire life-stream, so that their progress from the beginning of such acceleration is quick and runs rapidly on. Such individuals are prepared, and unfold or develop rapidly when the time comes -- the law of acceleration, just the contrary of the law of retardation.

(See also: Law of Retardation and Acceleration , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Aesir (Icelandic) (from ass the ridgepole supporting a roof) plural ases; feminine asynja, feminine plural asynjor.

Creative gods of the Norse Eddas, inhabiting Asgard (gard, yard or estate), where they retire to feast on the "mead" of experience gained in spheres of life. The twelve deities who build their mansions on various "shelves" of our universe are: Odin Allfather, who occurs on every level of life and is inherent in every living thing; his consort, Frigga; Thor, the power of life and electromagnetism, who corresponds to the Tibetan fohat and in one aspect corresponds to Jove; Balder, the sun god; Njord, the Norse Saturn; Tyr, the Norse Mars; Frey, the deity of planet Earth; Freya, of Venus; Hermod (an aspect of Odin), of Mercury. Heimdall, "the whitest Ase," is the watcher on the rainbow bridge who sounds the gjallarhorn (loud horn) at Ragnarok when a world ends. Brage is poetic inspiration. The most mysterious and lofty ase is Ull, a cold, wintry (unmanifest) world. Paradoxically, "blessed is he who first touches the fire" of that sphere. Forsete is the god of justice who corresponds to the lipikas, agents of karma.

In the Eddas the aesir are in perpetual opposition to the jotunn (giants; Icelandic jotnar), as energy is opposed to inertia. When the gods withdraw at Ragnarok, the universe ceases to be. The aesir's reign or life was preceded by a period of quiescence, during which nothing existed. This was Ymir, the frostgiant, the transformed Bargalmer (Icelandic Bergelmir), fruitage of a previous cycle of universal life, who was "saved on a boatkeel" or "ground on the mill" to furnish substance for the succeeding world. This was to be created by All-father Odin and his two brothers, Vile and Vi (or Ve). The frost giant is killed -- transformed -- by the three gods, and from his substance (Orgalmer) the worlds are created. They are sustained by Trudgalmer until the gods again withdraw. In his capacity of creator Odin is named Ofner (opener), energic counterpart of Orgalmer, while at the end of a cosmic life he becomes Svafner (closer) and paired with Bargalmer.

The aesir are not the highest gods, even though cosmic Odin in his capacity of Allfather is the father of gods and men by virtue of being descended from a previous era of evolution. "All the creative gods, or personal Deities, begin at the secondary stage of Cosmic evolution" (SD 1:427). The aesir were ousted from Asgard by the vaner, superior gods who remain in their high realms while the aesir dwell in living spheres. Nevertheless even the aesir receive a "hostage" (in one interpretation an avatara) from the vaner and in exchange furnish the mind and matter which enable these exalted beings to evolve.

"The brew of the as," "Odin's brew," or the "bardic mead" is inspired poetry, the runes of ancient wisdom sought by Odin in the giant worlds. The "driving of the as" or Tordon (Thor's din) is thunder.

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

Solar System Commonly, the Sun with the nine principal planets -- Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto -- their satellites, and the minor planets, comets, and meteors; in theosophy, however, the solar system is a far more complex entity, for many of its worlds manifest on planes of being invisible to our senses.

The planets are individual manifestations of conscious intelligences, their distances from the sun being generally in rhythmical progression and their motions directed by mind and volition, as Kepler declared in his doctrine of Rectors, following the ancient teachings. The nebular hypothesis, once so popular in European scientific thought and now more or less rejected, was first suggested by Swedish seer Swedenborg and German philosopher Kant, and around the beginning of the 19th century was worked out in mathematical detail by the Frenchman Laplace. Though the nebular hypothesis as scientifically presented was unacceptable to theosophical thinkers, it nevertheless was based upon facts of cosmic evolution accepted by the ancient wisdom-religion and approximated somewhat more closely to what theosophy teaches as the facts of cosmogony than do the later tidal or planetesimal theories.

In theosophy the universe is the product of cosmic mind or intelligence, whose all-permeant activities manifest on our material plane as the laws of nature. The universe and all in it, proceeding from cosmic consciousness, is imbued throughout with the qualities and attributes of its divine originators; and as there is but one primordial fundamental life -- and therefore one fundamental law -- energizing and guiding all, the ancient teaching of analogy is the master key to understanding universal nature.

Calling the primordial origins of every being and thing by the term monads, as Leibniz did following Pythagoras, these monads may be looked upon as the seeds of cosmic life, life-centers or energy points, and in such case naught in the universe is the product of chance, but is the offspring of mind. Thus the solar system itself sprang from such a cosmic seed or monad; and the same holds true for the planets, nebulae, comets, and all other individually enduring cosmic bodies.

Comets are coordinated with earlier and later stages of nebular evolution, playing an activating part in the formation of individual celestial bodies. The planets did not emerge from the sun, but the sun is their "co-uterine brother" with the same nebular origin. The sun is the great distributor of light and other radiations, including vital energy, throughout the solar system, and is itself a member of a hierarchy of solar beings.

The ancient wisdom speaks of seven sacred planets which are especially connected with the earth, as indeed our own earth is likewise especially connected with various planetary chains, which mutually assisted in the formation of the seven or twelve globes of the planetary chains. These sacred planets are: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn -- the Sun and Moon being substitutes for esoteric and invisible planets. The complete number of the planets of a solar system is twelve, which is the number of globes composing a planetary chain. These twelve sacred planets are closely linked with the twelve houses of the zodiac, these links of unity being the energic coordinates tying our solar system in with the life and structure of the galaxy.

Theosophy makes a distinction between the solar system and the universal solar system -- the former has especial reference to the twelve sacred planets, while the universal solar system refers to all bodies belonging to and revolving around a master- or king-sun (raja-sun) and within the latter's far-flung realm on seven or more planes of being. It therefore contains planets and suns invisible to our present range of sense perception. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are said not to belong to the solar system (nor are they included among the twelve sacred planets), but are members of the universal solar system.

In the Brahmanical system the solar system was regarded as an Egg of Brahma (brahmanda), the prakritic or prithivi-form of Brahma, so that its life span is equivalent to the length of Brahma's manifested life. A Day of Brahma for a planetary chain consists of a planetary manvantara -- seven rounds of the various life-waves around that chain -- a period of 4,320,000,000 terrestrial years. The ensuing pralaya or Night of Brahma is of an equivalent length, together equaling 8,640,000,000 terrestrial years. Forty-nine such planetary Days and Nights equal one solar manvantara, equivalent to a Year of Brahma; and each such year of Brahma is figured as being 360 of his Days; and 100 such Years of Brahma equal Brahma's Life, a period of 311,040,000,000,000 terrestrial years -- including in this vast time period the various twilights and dawns. Theosophic philosophy states that one-half of Brahma's Life has been spent, or 50 Years of Brahma. At the end of Brahma's Life, the final consummation of the solar system, so far as the planetary chain is concerned, will occur, and everything within the bounds of this system will vanish, and the succeeding solar pralaya will commence.

(See also: Solar System , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Fourth Round The circling of each life-wave around the globes of a planetary chain for the fourth time is its fourth round. The midpoint of the fourth round is the turning point for this planetary manvantara. Before this point the monadic hosts pursue their gyrations downwards on the descending arc, karmically evolving material vestures from within the womb of spirit. During the fourth round on globe D, during the fourth root-race, the midway point of this manvantara is reached, for the lowest point in the descent of the life-waves then takes place, and thereafter the monads begin evolving upwards on the ascending arc: the involution or matter and evolution of spirit.

What are termed the geologic eras are the product of nature's evolutionary forces at work during our present fourth round; and every one of the globes of the chain, including globe D, was of characteristically somewhat different aspect and consistency during each of the three previous rounds. Each round develops a cosmic principle, and the fourth principle, earth, is in process of developing during the fourth round (the three previous rounds having developed fire, air, and water) -- these elements are not to be understood in their popular meaning, but in the sense in which they are used in archaic philosophy. Thus the fourth round "transformed the gaseous fluids and plastic form of our globe into the hard, crusted, grossly material sphere we are living on" (SD 1:260).

Naturally the geologic changes which the globe underwent up to our own time, took many, many millions of years; for example, sedimentation on globe D in this round began more than 320 million years ago. Sedimentation refers to the appearance of the mineral life-wave on globe D after preliminary work during the fourth round had been accomplished by the three preceding elemental kingdoms. After the mineral kingdom had run through its septenary cycling, then its surplus of life passed to the succeeding globe E, and the life-wave of the vegetable kingdom made its appearance on globe D; after the vegetable life-wave came the animal; and after the animal appeared the human, which in its turn will be followed by the life-waves of the three dhyani-chohanic kingdoms.

At the beginning of the human stage of the fourth round on globe D, the lunar pitris or human monads projected their astral doubles from the bodies which these pitris had evolved during the third round, and "it is this subtle, finer form, which serves as the model round which Nature builds physical man" (SD 1:180). The human life-wave has completed its fourth root-race on this globe and has now reached the midpoint of its fifth root-race. The point of man's grossest physical development has already been passed and his body henceforth will evolve along the lines of increasing refinements and ethereality.

During the fourth round the fourth principle kama (desire) will be fully developed, both in man and in the world. Man became truly human with the intellectual enlightenment of early mankind in this round through the descent of the manasaputras. This great event occurred during the third root-race.

In regard to the beast kingdom, at the midway point in the manvantara, the "door" to the human kingdom automatically closed, for then began the ascending arc: i.e., all monads not reaching the evolutionary status where they were able to pursue their evolution by entering the human kingdom must thereafter remain in the lower kingdoms for the three and one-half rounds still to come. The mammalian beasts all appeared in this round, but the first mammal on this globe was man himself, as the mammalian beasts were very early off-throwings or specializations from offthrowings originating in the human stock.

As to the vegetable kingdom, vegetation began in its ethereal form before what is termed the Primordial Epoch, continuing on through the Primary Era, during which it condensed, to our own time. It reached its fullest physical efflorescence in the early part of the Secondary, and probably even during the middle and later Primary, where the great coal deposits are now found.

(See also: Fourth Round , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Missing Link On the theory that man has been produced by evolution from the anthropoid apes, a type which shall be intermediate between the anthropoid and man. A misleading term, implying that a chain of graduated types between animals and men has been completely established except for the lack of a single link or type which, when found, will make the chain complete.

The existence of such a nearly complete chain has always been largely suppositious. The Darwinian theory requires that man evolved by successive stages of continually greater refinement, from an unknown beast ancestor, then from a primitive savage and almost bestial type, up to the man of today. The numerous degrees of human refinement found living today or evidenced by their remains, do not represent a progressive, unbroken serial time scale of evolution, but merely a complicated assortment of types which in all times known to science appear to have existed contemporaneously with each other. Moreover the so-called primitive types are now recessive, and have been so for ages, being themselves to us the remote descendants of far earlier races, once civilized, but now represented merely by these degenerate remnants.

The existing anthropoid apes, however, are truly the closest of the animals or semi-animals to the human stock, actually having originated from a miscegenation by very early, quasi-mindless humans (actually undeveloped savages of those far distant times) with what then were fairly evolved simian types. Thus the present-day anthropoids are a somewhat, if slightly, advanced stock over their earlier forefathers who were the original anthropoids produced by the "sin" of unevolved and savage Atlantean tribes with simians. Precisely because the anthropoids have some human ancestry they will attract to incarnation in the future human egos as yet in a low state of unfolded spiritual and intellectual powers and capacities, and who will thus, as the cycles roll on, finally evolve into a low type of thinking and sensitive human being.

In theosophy evolution is unfolding or emanational development from within outwards of the incarnating monads; and the bodies in which these monads incarnate are the least important part of the matter. The bodies slowly follow, in improving sensitivity and relatively continuous perfection of the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, the unfolding impulses from within, which thus guide these bodies to greater degrees of perfection. As the egos or monads unfold from themselves the latent powers of spirit and mind, as well as of the psychological nature, the bodies feel the inner and compelling urges and impulses, and very slowly through the ages conform to become vehicles fitted to express the inner fires.

(See also: Missing Link , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Atonement Reconciliation brought about by a re-formation of the lower, so that it may become at one with the higher. Hence a number of Occidental mystics refer to the processes of atonement involving the foregoing idea as at-one-ment.

In its best sense atonement means the becoming at one between the human ego and its spiritual counterpart, where the life or vitality of the lower personal man is offered up as a sacrifice, willing and utterly joyful, to the higher self.

Thus the life which the hierophant is enjoined to offer is not his physical life, but the undesirable and imperfect life of his lower self, the selfish personality. The custom of sacrificing helpless animals -- a custom protested against by Gautama Buddha in particular -- is but an instance of the way in which lofty spiritual teachings or initiatory ceremonies can degenerate into repellent or cruel rites.

Nevertheless, "the atonements by blood -- blood-covenants and blood transferences from gods to men, and by men, as sacrifices to the gods -- are the first keynote struck in every cosmogony and theogony; soul, life and blood were synonymous words in every language . . . The mystic meaning of the injunction, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves' (John 6:53). . . (has) to be interpreted with the help of three keys -- one opening the psychic door, the second that of physiology, and the third that which unlocks the mystery of terrestrial being, by unveiling the inseparable blending of theogony with anthropology" (BCW 8:181-2).

The relation between the atonement and the intellectual and moral evolution of mankind may be explained as follows: "The Higher Manas or ego is essentially divine, and therefore pure; . . . Yet by the very fact that, though dual and during life the Higher is distinct from the Lower, 'the Father and Son' are one, and because that in reuniting with the parent Ego, the Lower Soul fastens and impresses upon it of all its bad as well as good actions, the Higher Ego -- though innocent and without blemish -- has to bear the punishment of the misdeeds committed by the lower Self together with it in their future incarnation. The whole doctrine of atonement is built upon this old esoteric tenet; . . . The Secret Doctrine shows that the Manasa-Putras or incarnating Egos have taken upon themselves, voluntarily and knowingly, the burden of all the future sins of their future personalities. . . . It is, then, true to say that when we remain deaf to the Voice of our Conscience, we crucify the Christos within us" (TBL 55-6).

See also VICARIOUS ATONEMENT

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

Science [from Latin scientia from scire to know]

In its widest sense formulated knowledge, a knowledge of structure, laws, and operations. The unity of human knowledge may be artificially divided into religion, philosophy, and science. Science and philosophy, as presently understood, have in common the quality of being speculative, as opposed to religion, which in the West is supposed to be founded merely on faith and moral sentiments.

The present distinction between science and philosophy lies largely in their respective fields of speculation. What is known as modern science investigates the phenomena of physical nature and by inferential reasoning formulates general laws therefrom. Its method is called inductive and its data are so-called facts -- i.e., sensory observations; whereas deductive philosophy starts from axioms. Yet a scientist, in order to reason from his data at all, must necessarily use both induction and deduction.

Modern science has limited its field of study to the laws of physical nature; but in the 20th century the illusive and entirely phenomenal nature of matter and energy, formerly assumed to be eternal and indestructible, is better realized by scientists who have traced the chain of physical causation to a point beyond physical limits altogether and admit that the physical world consists of phenomena occurring in an ultraphysical substance.

In modern sciences dealing with biology, evolution, and anthropology, legitimate inference from facts has been much interfered with by preconceived ideas. Modern science suffers from its failure to see the necessity of postulating an astral or formative world behind the physical, this astral world being in itself but one stage in a rising scale or ladder of invisible worlds. To ascertain the facts upon which to build a true inductive system, we must admit the existence in man of means of direct perception other than those afforded by the physical senses.

(See also: Science , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Master, Masters Adopted in theosophical literature to designate those human beings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than the general run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanity and the founders of the world-religions.

These great human beings (also known by the Sanskrit term mahatma, "great self") are the representatives in our day of a brotherhood of immemorial antiquity running back into the very dawn of historic time, and for ages beyond it.

It is a self-perpetuating brotherhood formed of individuals who, however much they may differ among themselves in evolution, have all attained mahatmaship, and whose lofty purposes comprise among other things the constant aiding in the regeneration of humanity, its spiritual and intellectual as well as psychic guidance, and in general the working of the best spiritual, intellectual, psychic, and moral good to mankind. From time to time members from their ranks, or their disciples, enter the outside world publicly in order to inspire mankind with their teachings.

Two of Blavatsky's teachers became publicly known under the names of Master M (Morya) and Master KH (Koot Hoomi). Some of their correspondence with one of Blavatsky's earlier theosophical helpers has been published as The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.

(See also: Master, Masters , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Swastika svastika (Sanskrit) An auspicious or lucky object; especially applied to the mystic symbol -- a cross with four equal arms, the extremities of which are bent sharply at right angles, all in the same direction -- marked upon persons and things in order to denote good luck, although originally the symbol had a far deeper significance. Sometimes the arms are bent to the left, sometimes to the right.

The symbol is very widespread, and extremely ancient, engraved on every rock-temple and prehistoric building in India, and wherever Buddhists have flourished, as well as in Greece, among the ancient Scandinavians, and in ancient America. It has been called the Jaina Cross; Fylfot, Mjolnir, or Thor's Hammer by the Scandinavian peoples; and in the Chaldean Book of Numbers the Worker's Hammer.

One of the most comprehensive, important, and philosophically scientific symbols, it is a symbolic summary of the whole work of evolution in cosmos and man, from Brahman down to the smallest biological unit. "Few world-symbols are more pregnant with real occult meaning than the Swastica. It is symbolized by the figure 6; for, like that figure, it points in its concrete imagery, as the ideograph of the number does, to the Zenith and the Nadir, to North, South, West, and East; . . . It is the emblem of the activity of Fohat, of the continual revolution of the 'wheels,' and of the Four Elements, the 'Sacred Four,' in their mystical, and not alone in their cosmical meaning; further its four arms, bent at right angles, are intimately related . . . to the Pythagorean and Hermetic scales. One initiated into the mysteries of the meaning of the Swastica, say the Commentaries, 'can trace on it, with mathematical precision, the evolution of Kosmos and the whole period of Sandhya.' Also 'the relation of the Seen to the Unseen,' and 'the first procreation of man and species' " (SD 2:587).

The bent arms also signify the continual revolution of the invisible cosmos of forces, which on our plane becomes the revolution in time of the world's axes and their equatorial belts. In alchemy its shows that by the unceasing revolution of the four elements, equilibrium about a stable center is attained, the circle is generated out of straight lines, the complex and changeful nature becomes one. The two crossed lines represent spirit and matter, male and female, positive and negative. It shows man to be a link between heaven and earth, for the horizontal arm having one hook pointing up, the other down. In its applicability to all planes it contains the key to the seven great mysteries of kosmos.

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

Spiral The path of a point (generally plane) which moves round an axis while continually approaching it or receding from it; also often used for a helix, which is generated by compounding a circular motion with one in a straight line. The spiral form is an apt illustration of the course of evolution, which brings motion round towards the same point, yet without repetition.

The serpent, and the figures 8 and , denoting the ogdoad and infinity, stand for spiral cyclic motion. The course of fohat in space is spiral, and spirit descends into matter in spiral courses. Repeating the process by which a helix is derived form a circle produces a vortex. The complicated spirals of cosmic evolution bring the motion back to the point from which it started at the birth of a great cosmic age.

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

A Christian theological definition of Creationism according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Creationism

See also: Creationism , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

INVOLUTION

As evolution is an outward unfolding of higher out of lower forms, so involution is a turning towards deeper complexities. It is the separation of the one into the many. The Elemntals are said to be engaged in involution. The highest spiritual being must ultimately descend towards manifestation as physical being, as lesser spirits are still moving upward. This is the true Wheel of the Tarot. By contrast, evolution is the merging of spirit with matter, recognition of self as identified with all forms, high and low. Ultimately, spirit separates and the self merges with the All.

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