Explanation Dictionary

ACCUPUNCTURE:

·      The modern name is derived from the Latin words Acus (needle) and Punctura (penetration). It is, however, an ancient Chinese art of healing that sticks needles into a patient's skin or even muscles to correct imbalances in the `yin' & `yang' of the body.

·      Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, one of the oldest medical texts in the world, comprises a special section called `Magic Gate', which is devoted to this therapeutic style.

·      Although modern acupuncture charts more than 2000 points in the body - located along invisible energy called `meridians', 12 channels in each half of the body and 2 major channels (Ren & Du) along the middle line - traditionally there were only 365.

·      The western explanation for this is that a needle inserted at specific acupuncture points of the body releases certain chemical substances, that activate neuro-transmitters, which then pass on nerve impulses to the brain to obtain the desired effects. Must be performed by trained practitioners only.

The fundamental difference between these two systems being:

ACUPUNCTURE

·      A form of surgery where needles are penetrated into specific points of your body.

·      To cure chronic aches and pain.

ACUPRESSURE

·      A form of physiotherapy that indulges in massage and stimulation of precise points of the body.

• To ease all kinds of aches and pains and provide relief from tension, exhaustion and disease.

(See also: ACCUPUNCTURE , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Planetary Chain Every kosmic body or globe, be it sun or planet, nebula or comet, atom or electron, is a composite entity comprised of inner and invisible energies and substances, and of an outer and often visible physical body. These elements all together, whether enumerated as seven or twelve, are the principles or elements of every self-contained entity or individual life-center. What theosophy calls a planetary chain is an entity composed of seven or twelve such multiprincipled globes, and which taken as a unit form one planetary chain. All celestial bodies are multiprincipled entities as man is, who is a copy in the small of what the universe is in the great, there being one life and one system of laws in that universe. Every entity in the universe is an inseparable part of it, therefore whatsoever the whole contains, is found in miniature in every part.

Our own earth-chain is composed of seven or twelve globes, of which only one, our physical earth, exists on this plane, perceptible to our physical sense apparatus because that apparatus is evolved to cognize this earth-plane and none other. But the life-waves of all the globes of the earth-chain pass in succession, following each other, from globe to globe, thus gaining experience of energy, matter, and consciousness on all the various planes and spheres that this chain comprises.

Limiting our explanation only to the manifest seven globes of the complete twelve, the six globes other than the earth exist, according to one diagrammatic delineation, two by two, on the three planes of the solar system more ethereal than the physical plane. These three superior planes or worlds are each one superior to the world or plane immediately beneath it. Our earth-globe is the fourth and most material of all the manifest globes of the earth-chain. Three globes precede it on the descending or shadowy arc and three globes follow it on the ascending or luminous arc of evolution.

(See also: Planetary Chain , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

pluralism

In metaphysical view, the phenomena of reality (including life) must have multiple explanation. For example, the body is physical matter, the soul or spirit is non-material, the spirit body is composed of matter not yet fully analyzed

(See also: Pluralism , Body Mind and Soul)

Vortex-Atom Theory The theory devised by Kelvin (1824-1907), more or less copied after misunderstood teachings of the ancients, to represent the atoms of matter as vortices in a homogeneous, incompressible, and perfectly nonviscous fluid.

It can be shown, both mathematically and by experiments with smoke rings, that such vortices would have many of the properties attributed to atoms -- they are indestructible, when two meet they rebound and vibrate -- but the property of mass is not sufficiently explained. A vortical motion in such a fluid should keep on forever, but the hypothesis supplies no explanation of how such a motion could ever have been started. Descartes propounded a vortical theory, relating however to the physical universe of stars and planets; but, in his theory, it was God who set his vortices in motion.

(See also: Vortex-Atom Theory , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Buddhakshetra buddhakshetra (Sanskrit) (from buddha awakened + kshetra field, sphere of action)

The sphere of action of an enlightened one. According to theosophy, there are four (or seven) buddhakshetras or fields in which the buddhas manifest and do their sublime work of benevolence which, counting from above, are: 1) the realms in which the dhyani-buddhas live and work; 2) the realms in which the dhyani-bodhisttvas live and work, called by Blavatsky "the domain of ideation"; 3) the realms of the manushya-buddhas, in which these work as nirmanakayas; and 4) the field of action in which the human buddhas work, the ordinary human world -- our physical globe.

Every incarnate buddha lives and works in the fourth or lowest buddhakshetra, as Gautama Buddha did; but at the same time, and more particularly when he has laid aside the physical body, he can live and work at will in the next higher buddhakshetra as a nirmanakaya; again as a dhyani-bodhisattva in his higher intermediate spiritual-psychological principle, he can at will function in the next higher buddhakshetra; while last, the dhyani-buddha within him lives and does its own sublime labor on the highest buddhakshetras as a dhyani-buddha. Here lies the true explanation of the many apparently conflicting statements made about the various kinds of buddhas and their various duties or functions, as found in the Buddhist scriptures, especially in the Mahayana writings of Central and Northern Asia.

Each one of the trikaya (three bodies or vehicles) -- the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya -- has its respective place and function on and in the three highest of the buddhakshetra: the dharmakaya is the luminous or spiritual body or vehicle in which the dhyani-buddha lives and works on the first and highest buddhakshetra; the dhyani-bodhisattva similarly lives and works in the spiritual-intellectual body or vehicle called the sambhogakaya, on the second of the buddhakshetras; while the manushya-buddha, when working in the third buddhakshetras, does so in his nirmanakaya vesture or robe, vehicle, or body. The lowest buddhakshetra is the one in which the human buddha is found clothed in his body of flesh as an incarnate being.

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

Rings and Rounds. Terms employed by Theosophists in explanation of Eastern cosmogony. They are used to denote the various evolutionary cycles in the Elemental, Mineral, &c., Kingdoms, through which the Monad passes on any one globe, the term Round being used only to denote the cyclic passage of the Monad round the complete chain of seven globes. Generally speaking, Theosophists use the term ring as a synonym of cycles, whether cosmic, geological, metaphysical or any other.

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

Fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice

(Jpn.: gojuni-i)

Also, fifty-two stages of practice. The stages through which bodhisattvas advance from the time of their initial resolve until they finally attain Buddhahood. The fifty-two stages are enumerated in the Jeweled Necklace Sutra and consist of ten stages of faith, ten stages of security, ten stages of practice, ten stages of devotion, ten stages of development, the stage of near-perfect enlightenment, and the stage of perfect enlightenment. The Brahma Net Sutra divides bodhisattva practice into forty stages. The Benevolent Kings Sutra divides it into fifty-one stages, and there is an explanation elsewhere that sets forth forty-one stages.

(See also: Fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice , Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Guides Spiritualistic term for supposed invisible helpers and instructors belonging to the Spirit-land communicating with people either through mediumship or by a receptive capacity of the person communicated with.

While theosophy rejects the explanation offered by spiritualists, it nevertheless teaches that the universe in its webs of being contains many orders of entities existing in all-various grades. Some of these entities can be to any worthy person a source of inspiration. However, the fact that their influence comes from a nonphysical source is no guarantee of the desirability of that influence, but by the very fact of its unknown origin should be scrutinized at once or suspected as to character and source. Nor must we forget in this connection that the possibilities of self-deception are almost infinite.

In general the consensus of all antiquity was that communication or intercourse of any kind with astral entities, whether spooks, shells, elementaries, or what not, was extremely dangerous and often evil in their influence upon human character. In India such astral entities are called bhutas, pisachas, etc.

(See also: Guhya-vidya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Folklore - (in reference to chapter seventeen) , there is a saying: "To make money by counting the waves.” The explanation is as follows. In ancient times, there was a rich vaisya, who became famous all over the country as someone who could make money in any circumstances. Some envious people poisoned the ears of the local King, and managed to convince him to send the businessman far away, where he would have no opportunity to make any money. The King decided to send him to a lonely place near the sea. But this vaisya, true to his character, sat on the beach counting the waves! Whenever a vessel passed across the sea, he would stop it by waving his arms, and then say, "You are not allowed to cross. The King has appointed me to count the waves here, and your vessel is disturbing them.” He would argue back and forth, and only relent when he had extracted a bribe. In this way, he became a rich man again.

(See also: Folklore , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Besom

(Old English) A ritual broom. A witch's broomstick. European folklore has witches riding their brooms through the sky, which may be an uninformed explanation of astral travel.

As a tool, the broom is used to sweep a sacred cross, ground a circle, or to brush away negative influences. Besoms were often mounted and ÒriddenÓ over crops in fertility rites. used to cleanse and purify sacred space. .

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

Diakka. Called by Occultists and Theosophists "spooks" and "shells", i.e., phantoms from Kama Loka. A word invented by the great American Seer, Andrew Jackson Davis, to denote what he considers untrustworthy "Spirits".

In his own words: "A Diakka (from the Summerland) is one who takes insane delight in playing parts, in juggling tricks, in personating opposite characters; to whom prayer and profane utterances are of equi-value; surcharged with a passion for lyrical narrations; . . . morally deficient, he is without the active feelings of justice, philanthropy, or tender affection.

He knows nothing of what men call the sentiment of gratitude; the ends of hate and love are the same to him; his motto is often fearful and terrible to others - SELF is the whole of private living, and exalted annihilation the end of all private life. Only yesterday, one said to a lady medium, signing himself Swedenborg, this: ‘Whatsoever is, has been, will be, or may be, that I AM.; and private life is but the aggregative phantasms of thinking throb- lets, rushing in their rising onward to the central heart of eternal death’

(The Diakka and their Victims; "an explanation of the False and Repulsive in Spiritualism.") These "Diakka" are then simply the communicating and materializing so-called "Spirits" of Mediums and Spiritualists.

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

A Christian theological definition of Occam's Razor according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

"

Occam's Razor

See also: Occam's Razor , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

Vyakarana Vedanga: (Sanskrit) Auxiliary Vedic texts on

Sanskrit grammar. Vyakarana is among four linguistic

skills taught for mastery of the Vedas and the rites of

yajna. The term literally means "separation, or

explanation." The most celebrated Vyakarana work is

Panini's 4,000-sutra Ashtadhyayi, which set the linguistic

standards for classical Sanskrit (ca 400 bce).

See:

Vedanga.

(See also: Vyakarana Vedanga , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Incense Fragrant incense has been used from immemorial antiquity practically worldwide, often in ceremonial magic of various kinds. Incense may be simple, as in the usage of burning leaves, bark, or wood, the smoke itself being often so fragrant as to fall under the modern ideas of incense; or compound when it is composed of various ingredients, all of a more or less fragrant character when burned.

The explanation of the original use of incense was that it was a strong purifying agent, some plants thus used in purificatory fumigations being far more powerful in effect than others. In its worst uses, incense is distinctly stupefying in character, and when so used its burning partakes of sorcery.

Its purificatory effect is because smoke of various kinds, or the fumes from the burning, are antiseptic or cleansing in character; and some plants especially when burned repel evil-natured denizens in the astral light.

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

Chased : Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Being Chased

BEING CHASED IN A DREAM

This is the most common negative dream. Did you know that the cultural identity of the dreamer could determine the nature of the pursuer? You could say that people from the same country sometimes have the same creatures chasing them

• In India, children dream of being chases by bats
• In Switzerland, a wolf chasing you, would be a common dream
• While in Canada the pursuers are bears
• After the release of the movie ‘Jaws’, many dreamed that sharks attacked or chased them!

You are running away, rather than confronting an issue. That’s what a chasing dream often mean, say experts. A wish to get away from the over protected environment of your parents’ home, could be a more specific explanation. Or is it an attempt to live life your own way? (Breaking some social code)

Source: http://purpleshaman.com

(See also: Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation Chased , Dream Dictionary Chased )

Zend, Zand (Pahlavi) Zantay (Avestan) [from the verbal root zan cognition, knowledge cf Old Persian dan]

Commentary, interpretation, explanation; in the Occident, Zend refers to a language in which the Avesta is written, but modern Parsi scholars and older Pahlavi books speak of the language and writing as Avesta. Blavatsky links Zend with Zensar or Senzar, the mystery-language of the initiates.

Zend also means "The 'rendering of the esoteric into exoteric sentences,' the veil used to conceal the correct meaning of the Zen-(d)-zar texts, the sacerdotal language in use among the initiates of archaic India. Found now in several undecipherable inscriptions, it is still used and studied unto this day in the secret communities of the Eastern adepts, and called by them -- according to the locality -- Zend-zar and Brahma- or Deva-Bhashya" (BCW 4:517-8n).

See also ZEND-AVESTA; AVESTA; SENZAR

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

Tao Teh Ching or Tao Te King (Chinese) [from tao path, way + te virtue + ching book]

The canon of tao and virtue, or the Book of Taoistic virtue; the principal work on tao, attributed to Lao Tzu, consisting of 81 short chapters written in a terse, pithy style which makes its translation and explanation most difficult. When Lao Tsu was departing through the pass, it is said that at the request of its keeper, Yin Hsi (a famous Taoist), he wrote a book in regard to his ideas on tao and te running to somewhat over five thousand characters. Its teaching is principally imparted by means of paradoxes, the object being that by startling the mind one may perceive truth without ratiocinations.

"It is a kind of cosmogony which contains all the fundamental tenets of Esoteric Cosmogenesis. Thus he says that in the beginning there was naught but limitless and boundless Space. All that lives and is, was born in it, from the 'Principle which exists by Itself, developing Itself from Itself,' i.e., Swabhavat. As its name is unknown and its essence is unfathomable, philosophers have called it Tao (Anima Mundi), the uncreate, unborn and eternal energy of nature, manifesting periodically. Nature as well as man when it reaches purity will reach rest, and then all become one with Tao, which is the source of all bliss and felicity. As in the Hindu and Buddhistic philosophies, such purity and bliss and immortality can only be reached through the exercise of virtue and the perfect quietude of our worldly spirit; the human mind has to control and finally subdue and even crush the turbulent action of man's physical nature; and the sooner he reaches the required degree of moral purification, the happier he will feel" (TG 320).

(See also: Tao Teh Ching, Tao Te King , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Soma (Sanskrit) In Hinduism, the moon astronomically; mystically, a sacred beverage of initiates, "made from a rare mountain plant by initiated Brahmans" (TG 304).

As the moon, Soma is an occult mystery, for the moon as a symbol stands for both good and evil, yet more often a symbol of evil than of good. Astrologically, Soma is the regent of the invisible or occult moon, while Indu represents the physical moon. "Soma is the mystery god and presides over the mystic and occult nature in man and the Universe" (SD 2:45). Soma or lunar worship was once purely occult and its rites were based upon a minute and profound knowledge of nature.

According to Hindu tradition, Soma as a sacred juice gave mystic visions and trance-revelations, the result of which union was Budha (esoteric wisdom). This sacred beverage was drunk by Brahmins and initiates during their mysteries and sacrificial rites.

"The 'Soma' plant is the asclepias acida, which yields a juice from which that mystic beverage, the Soma drink, is made. Alone the descendants of the Rishis, the Agnihotri (the fire priests) of the great mysteries knew all its powers. But the real property of the true Soma was (and is) to make a new man of the Initiate, after he is reborn, namely once that he begins to live in his astral body . . .; for, his spiritual nature overcoming the physical, he would soon snap it off and part even from that etherealized form. . . .

"The partaker of Soma finds himself both linked to his external body, and yet away from it in his spiritual form. The latter, freed from the former, soars for the time being in the ethereal higher regions, becoming virtually 'as one of the gods,' and yet preserving in his physical brain the memory of what he sees and learns. Plainly speaking, Soma is the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge forbidden by the jealous Elohim to Adam and Eve or Yah-ve, 'lest Man should become as one of us' " (SD 2:498-9&n).

"A 'soma-drinker' attains the power of placing himself in direct rapport with the bright side of the moon, thus deriving inspiration from the concentrated intellectual energy of the blessed ancestors. . . .

"This which seems one stream (to the ignorant) is of a dual nature -- one giving life and wisdom, the other being lethal. He who can separate the former from the latter, as Kalahamsa separated the milk from the water, which was mixed with it, thus showing great wisdom -- will have his reward" (BCW 12:203-4).

"This Hindu sacred beverage answers to the Greek Ambrosia or nectar, drunk by the gods of Olympus. A cup of kykeon was also quaffed by the mysta at the Eleusinian initiation. He who drinks it easily reaches Brahma, or the place of splendor (Heaven). The soma-drink known to Europeans is not the genuine beverage, but its substitute; for the initiated priests alone can taste of the real soma; and even kings and rajas, when sacrificing, receive the substitute. . . . We were positively informed that the majority of the sacrificial priests of the Dekkan have lost the secret of the true soma. It can be found neither in the ritual books nor through oral information. The true followers of the primitive Vedic religion are very few; these are the alleged descendants from the Rishis, the real Agnihotris, the initiates of the great Mysteries. The soma-drink is also commemorated in the Hindu Pantheon, for it is called King-Soma. He who drinks of it is made to participate in the heavenly king, because he becomes filled with it, as the Christian apostles and their converts became filled with the Holy Ghost, and purified of their sins. The soma makes a new man of the initiate; he is reborn and transformed, and his spiritual nature overcomes the physical; it gives the divine power of inspiration, and develops the clairvoyant faculty to the utmost. According to the exoteric explanation the soma is a plant, but, at the same time it is an angel. It forcibly connects the inner, highest 'spirit' of man, which spirit is an angel like the mystical soma, with his 'irrational soul,' or astral body, and thus united by the power of the magic drink, they soar together above physical nature and participate during life in the beatitude and ineffable glories of Heaven.

"Thus the Hindu soma is mystically, and in all respects the same that the Eucharist supper is to the Christian. The idea is similar. By means of the sacrificial prayers -- the mantras -- this liquor is supposed to be transformed on the spot into real soma -- or the angel, and even into Brahma himself" (IU 1:xl-xli).

The mystical drink has been known in all ages and among all peoples. The ancient Teutonic tribes, whether of the Germanic or Anglo-Saxons, spoke of their divine mead, the drink of the gods. The Hindus spoke of Soma, the direct distillation from the moon and from the overseeing and guiding eye of the sun; the Greeks of the Homeric age spoke of ambrosia or nectar, a drink of the gods which renewed their understanding and gave them inspiration as well. Another branch of the Greeks belonging to the Dionysian and Orphic branches of mystical thought, spoke equally mystically of the mystic wine, and also of the mystic cereal, partaken of during the Mysteries, and it is from this last that the mystical wine and cereal or bread of the Christians was taken over almost completely from the Dionysian Eucharist, only among Christians even from quite early times it became degraded into actual blood and flesh of Jesus.

The evident meaning must be connected with the old occult thought that wine, or the mead of the northern peoples where the grape and soma were unknown or uncultivated, all had the meaning of the inspiration of initiation, a kind of ecstasy of vision and knowledge brought about through initiation, of which the physical intoxication of wine, mead, or the soma juice has all the lower and materialized aspect, every spiritual thing having its material counterpart, every right-hand thought or rule in occultism having its left-hand or sorcerer perversion or counterpart. Thus in the highest initiation, even today and from immemorial time, the holy drink or potation was entirely mystical, and had a dozen of these significances, all bound up together; yet despite this fact, for some of the lower initiations where a student found difficulty in throwing off the physical and astral influences, a harmless -- when administered rightly -- drug or drink was given which temporarily stupefied the lower quaternary; but it is to be noted that this substitute of the physical drink came about when neophytes began to find it very difficult to do what their more spiritual forerunners had done: raising themselves solely by inner aspiration up to inspiration, by inner insight up to the epopteia or vision.

Thus the question whether the mystical drink was an actual drink, or merely a mystical one, cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. Originally it was entirely mystical, later it remained as mystical as ever, but the body with its grossness, and the astral influences with their terrible power over the men and women of the time, were temporarily reduced to quiescence by a preparation known to initiates to have the power of bringing about the condition required, without any permanent or even long after-effect, very much as a sedative will be given by a physician today. It is of course true that if this drink, however relatively innocent in a single instance, were to be constantly repeated, it would have developed into a drug habit.

Some of the later peoples in their initiations actually did use a kind of physical soma which had the effect of bringing about a dulling of the restless brain-mind for the time being, so that the inner powers were temporarily freed from the clogging influences of the astral light and the body.

The use of drugs in initiatory ceremonies of any kind, however, is a relatively late and degenerate practice, and has never at any time been, nor will it ever be, introduced by the Mother-Lodge coming down to us even from the middle of the third root-race. With it the old tradition burns more brightly than ever that the true soma, the true mead of the gods or wine of the spirit, is the raising of the human into the spiritual by aspiration, training, and strict following of the traditional laws of discipleship, so that finally the neophyte feels the sunlight from above stealing through the moon of his mind.

So strongly is this the case, that even today in theosophical occult studies, drug taking of any kind is strictly forbidden, including alcohol, for alcohol is a drug, a product of natural decay and decomposition, and while less spectacular and violent as a rule than drugs such as opium and its derivatives, it is far more easily procurable and is therefore more specifically pointed to as objectionable. The idea of the occult student is to have the body absolutely normal, healthy, clean, and functioning in the smoothness of health, so that even overeating is seen to be a harmful thing, because it clogs the body, dulls the mind, and could even actually lead to physical disability.

There is and has been a great deal of confusion, not only at present but throughout the ages, about these matters, and several mystical schools have even chosen the language of the tavern and drinking house as the cloak for conveying occult or semi-occult teaching. A noted example is the Sufi school with its poems lauding the flowing bowl and the joys of the tavern and the bosom friends therein, and the beloved's breast. Here the tavern was the universe, the flowing cup or wine was the wine of the spirit bringing inner ecstasy, the bosom of the beloved was the raising oneself into inner communion with the god within, of which the Jewish bosom of Abraham is a feeble correspondence. The friends of the tavern are those perfect human relations brought about by a community of spiritual and intellectual interests, and the associations of the tavern are the mysteries of the world around us with their marvels and arcana. Nevertheless in various countries as the fourth root-race ran toward its evil culmination, the mystic became translated into the material, the spiritual degenerated into the teaching of matter, so that indeed in later Atlantean times the drugging of initiates was common, and the results always disastrous, this being one of the sorceries for which the Atlanteans in occult history have remained infamous. Yet even in the fifth root-race, due to the heavy Atlantean karma still weighing on us, many nations as late as historic times employed more or less harmless potations to bring about a temporary dulling or stupefying of the brain and nervous system -- a procedure always vigorously opposed by the theosophic occult school which has never at any time allowed it.

(See also: Soma , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Upasruti (Sanskrit). According to Orientahists a "supernatural voice which is heard at night revealing the secrets of the future ". According to the explanation of Occultism, the voice of any person at a distance -  -  generally one versed in the mysteries of esoteric teachings or an adept -  -  endowed with the gift of projecting both his voice and astral image to any person whatsoever, regardless of distance. The upasruti may "reveal the secrets of the future ", or may only inform the person it addresses of some prosaic fact of the present; yet it will still be an upasruti - the "double" or the echo of the voice of a living man or woman.

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

Hyades (from Greek hyo to rain)

The rainers, or daughters of rain; the stars in the head of Taurus the Bull, the brightest of them being Aldebaran. The usual explanation, borrowed from the Greeks and Romans, is that their rising with the sun, which occurs in May, indicates rain, but they also indicate periodical deluges (SD 2:785).

In Greek mythology they were nymphs, the daughters of Atlas and Aethra, and sisters of the Pleiades, their number varying from two to seven. They were worshiped as nurses of Zeus or Dionysos, and for this service were put in the sky as stars.

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

Hyades (from Greek hyo to rain)

The rainers, or daughters of rain; the stars in the head of Taurus the Bull, the brightest of them being Aldebaran. The usual explanation, borrowed from the Greeks and Romans, is that their rising with the sun, which occurs in May, indicates rain, but they also indicate periodical deluges (SD 2:785).

In Greek mythology they were nymphs, the daughters of Atlas and Aethra, and sisters of the Pleiades, their number varying from two to seven. They were worshiped as nurses of Zeus or Dionysos, and for this service were put in the sky as stars.

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

Mistletoe. This curious plant, which grows only as a parasite upon other trees, such as the apple and the oak, was a mystic plant in several ancient religions, notably that of the Celtic Druids: their priests cut the Mistletoe with much ceremony at certain seasons, and then only with a specially consecrated golden knife. Hislop suggests as a religious explanation that the Mistletoe being a Branch growing out of a Mother tree was worshipped as a Divine Branch out of an Earthly Tree, the union of deity and humanity. The name in German means "all heal". Compare the Golden Branch in Virgil’s Eneid, Vi. 126: and Pliny, Hist. Nat., xvii. 4 "Sacerdos candida veste cultus arborem scandit,

falce aurea demetit."

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