Guna (Sanskrit) A thread, cord, string of a musical instrument; also an attribute, quality, or peculiarity. Each of the five elements is said to have its guna or peculiar quality, as well as a corresponding organ of sense in the human being.

Thus ether has sabda or sound for its guna and the ear for its organ; the air has tangibility for its guna and the skin for its organ; fire or light has sight for its guna and the eye for its organ; water has taste for its guna and the tongue for its organ; the earth has smell for its guna and the nose for its organ. There are actually seven gunas in nature, only five of which have yet been evolved in any especial degree, and two remain still to appear both as qualities and as sense organs in the distant future.

Each one of these gunas, with its corresponding quality or sense organ, is evolved in each one of the seven root-races that form a globe manvantara. The above listing gives the order in which these gunas appear correspondentially to the root-race which brings them into activity. At the present time, being in the fifth root-race, we have evolved five perceptible gunas with their corresponding qualities and sense organs.

According to the Sankhya philosophy, prakriti is considered to possess three basic qualities or qualitative bases (triguna), namely sattva (substantial reality), rajas (inherent activity), and tamas (inertia), popularly rendered goodness, passion, and darkness; or virtue, foulness, and ignorance.

According to the Nyaya philosophy, all existing things possess 24 gunas or characteristic qualities: rupa (shape or form); rasa (savor); gandha (odor); sparsa (tangibility); sankhya (number); parimana (dimension); prithaktva (severalty); samyoga (conjunction); vibhaga (disjunction); paratva (remoteness); aparatva (proximity); gurutva (weight); dravatva (fluidity); sneha (viscidity); sabda (sound); buddhi or jnana (understanding or knowledge); sukha (happiness); duhkha (pain); ichchha (desire); dvesha (aversion); prayatna (effort); dharma (merit or virtue); adharma (demerit); and samskara (the self-reproductive quality).

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

Guna (Sanskrit) A thread, cord, string of a musical instrument; also an attribute, quality, or peculiarity. Each of the five elements is said to have its guna or peculiar quality, as well as a corresponding organ of sense in the human being.

Thus ether has sabda or sound for its guna and the ear for its organ; the air has tangibility for its guna and the skin for its organ; fire or light has sight for its guna and the eye for its organ; water has taste for its guna and the tongue for its organ; the earth has smell for its guna and the nose for its organ. There are actually seven gunas in nature, only five of which have yet been evolved in any especial degree, and two remain still to appear both as qualities and as sense organs in the distant future.

Each one of these gunas, with its corresponding quality or sense organ, is evolved in each one of the seven root-races that form a globe manvantara. The above listing gives the order in which these gunas appear correspondentially to the root-race which brings them into activity. At the present time, being in the fifth root-race, we have evolved five perceptible gunas with their corresponding qualities and sense organs.

According to the Sankhya philosophy, prakriti is considered to possess three basic qualities or qualitative bases (triguna), namely sattva (substantial reality), rajas (inherent activity), and tamas (inertia), popularly rendered goodness, passion, and darkness; or virtue, foulness, and ignorance.

According to the Nyaya philosophy, all existing things possess 24 gunas or characteristic qualities: rupa (shape or form); rasa (savor); gandha (odor); sparsa (tangibility); sankhya (number); parimana (dimension); prithaktva (severalty); samyoga (conjunction); vibhaga (disjunction); paratva (remoteness); aparatva (proximity); gurutva (weight); dravatva (fluidity); sneha (viscidity); sabda (sound); buddhi or jnana (understanding or knowledge); sukha (happiness); duhkha (pain); ichchha (desire); dvesha (aversion); prayatna (effort); dharma (merit or virtue); adharma (demerit); and samskara (the self-reproductive quality).

(See also: Gullveig, Gultweig, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Vaisvanara, Vaisvana (Sanskrit) [from visva all + nara man]

Relating to or belonging to all men; omnipresent, universal. In Hindu philosophy, it represents one of the four states of Brahma, and hence is a manifestation of Brahma in and through prakriti. Cosmically it is the astral light, or "in another sense, the living magnetic fire that pervades the manifested solar system. It is the most objective . . . and ever present aspect of the One Life, for it is the Vital Principle" (SD 2:311).

In the human being it is represented in the Anu-gita as a sevenfold fire which blazes up in the midst of the five pranas (life-streams) which circulate in the body, and a commentary on this work says that Vaisvanara is often used to denote the self. Blavatsky remarks: "In the astronomical and cosmical key, Vaisvanara is Agni, son of the Sun, or Viswanaras, but in the psycho-metaphysical symbolism it is the Self, in the sense of non-separateness, i.e., both divine and human" (SD 2:568n).

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

Ahamkara (Sanskrit) (from aham ego, I + kara maker, doer from the verbal root kri to do)

I-maker; conception of egoity or I-am-I-ness. In its lower aspect, the egoistical and mayavi principle, born of avidya (ignorance), which produces the notion of the personal ego as being different from the universal self. In Sankhya philosophy ahamkara is the third emanation: from prakriti (primal nature or substance) issues mahat (the great), standing for universal mind, which in turn produces ahamkara, selfhood, individuality; from ahamkara come forth the five tanmatras, the subtle forms of the elements or principles and "the two series of sense organs" (Samkhya-Sutra 1:61).

In the Bhagavad-Gita (7:4), prakriti manifests in eight portions -- "earth, water, fire, air, ether (space: kham-akasa), mind (manas), understanding (buddhi) and egoity, self-sense (ahamkara)

" -- all of which relate to the object side, which gives an erroneous sense of identity or egoity.

As universal self-consciousness, ahamkara has "a triple aspect, as also Manas. For this conception of 'I,' or one's Ego, is either sattwa, 'pure quietude,' or appears as rajas, 'active,' or remains tamas, 'stagnant,' in darkness. It belongs to Heaven and Earth, and assumes the properties of either" (SD 1:335n).

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

Sukshma-sarira suksma-sarira (Sanskrit) [from sukshma fine, ethereal, subtle + sarira body]

Subtle body, popularly astral body; often confused with the linga-sarira. Blavatsky remarks that the sukshma-sarira is a " 'dream-like' illusive body, with which are clothed the inferior Dhyanis of the celestial Hierarchy" (SD 1:132).

In the Vedantic fourfold classification of the human constitution, it is the second division -- the others being 1) sthula-sarira, 3) karana-sarira, and 4) atman. The sukshma-sarira "bears to the physical body the same relationship which the astral world bears to the objective plane of the solar system. It is sometimes called kama-rupa in our theosophical dissertations. This unfortunate expressive has given rise also to a misconception that the principle called kama represents this astral body itself, and is transformed into it. But it is not so. It is composed of elements of quite a different nature. Its senses are not so differentiated and localized as in the physical body, and, being composed of finer materials, its powers of action and thought are considerably greater than those found in the physical organism" (Notes on BG 30-1).

In the Law of Manu (1:17) sukshma used in the plural refers to the six subtle principles from which the grosser elements are evolved (ahamkara and the fine tanmatras); other systems define 17 subtle principles of the five organs of sense, six organs of action, five elements, buddhi, and manas.

The term is more or less equivalent to the sukshmopadhi of the Taraka-Raja-Yoga school.

(See also: Sukshma-sarira, suksma-sarira, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Guardian Angel Christian term for the various classes of dhyanis which guard the worlds, races, nations, and mankind pertaining to them.

The five middle human principles are the essence of the sixfold dhyani-chohans and of the pitris. Equivalents are daimones, genii, theoi, devas, gods, Paracelsus' flagae, etc. The personal quality that pervades so much of Christianity represents them as special to each individual, which is true enough in a sense; and they may be anything from a ray of divine light from the core of our being, to the kind of karmic heirloom designated as one's lucky star.

As a matter of fact, there is for each human individual an ever watching, forever guiding and stimulating spiritual power within himself, his own spiritual ego which, when allowed by the brain-mind, infills the individual with its strength, wisdom, and peace.

(See also: Guardian Angel, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kwei Shen, Kuei Shen (Chinese) "Man is a product of the beneficial operation of Heaven and Earth, or of the copulation of the Yin and the Yang, and the union of a kwei with a shen; he consists of the finest breath which the five elements contain" (Li yun 3).

The mayavi-rupa, which is the combination by the power of thought (or the inner kriyasakti) of the manasic faculty with a tenuous astral garment. The mayavi-rupa, however, is more often made to contain the complete human being minus the lowest triad (body, physical vitality, and linga-sarira); thus only in one sense does the mayavi-rupa correspond with the kwei shen.

In the lower parts of the human constitution, it becomes vehicular rather than related to active self-consciousness, and can signify the vital body or linga-sarira.

(See also: Kwei Shen, Kuei Shen, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Amsa, Amsu (Sanskrit) Fragment, particle, part; name of one of the adityas in the Mahabharata; also of Surya (the sun) whose solar energy was so tremendous that the divine architect Visvakarman cut off an eighth part of his glory.

From the luminous fragments (amsa) which fell to earth, Visvakarman made a number of implements for the gods, including Vishnu's discus and Siva's trident. In the Bhagavad-Gita (15:7), Krishna emanates an amsa of himself which, becoming a jiva (monad) in the world of living beings, draws to itself manas (mind) and the five senses which originate in prakriti (nature).

Also, the tonic or predominant note in a raga, a Hindu mode of musical notes or melodic sounds so formulated as to arouse intensity of emotion, often of a high order, appropriate to the different portions of the day and night.

In theosophy amsa may be applied to particles of any kind: to a life-atom as well as to a monad as points or "fragments" of the cosmic consciousness-life-substance.

(See also: Amsa, Amsu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dactyli, Dactyls (Greek) (from daktylos finger)

Fingers; in Greek mythology, the smith said to have first discovered and worked copper and iron, and to have introduced music and rhythm into Greece. Also a name for the Phrygian Hierophants of Rhea Cybele, said to be magicians, exorcists, and healers.

Five or ten in number, as the number of the fingers, they have been identified with the Corybantes -- priests of Atys, the youth beloved by Cybelle -- with the Curetes, Telchines, and others, all of which have also been connected with the kabiri. But the kabiri were the manus, rishis, and dhyani-chohans who incarnated in the elect of the third root-race and earliest part of the fourth root-race.

Since the structure of the higher planes is reflected in the lower, all these names can also stand for terrestrial powers and their hierophants, according to the rites peculiar to various countries. They have been connected with the Pelasgian masonry (SD 2:345); but, like the cyclopes they were masons in more senses than one.

(See also: Dactyli, Dactyls, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chutuktu, Hutukhtu (Mongolian) Also Khutukhtu, Houtouktou, etc. Saintly; same as the Tibetan tulku or chutuktu and the Chinese huo-fo (living buddha), rendered into Chinese by the ideographs tsai lai jen (the man who comes again, the one who returns), identic in meaning with the Buddhist tathagata.

A high initiate or adept; those individuals who are, or are supposed to be, incarnations of a bodhisattva or some lower buddha; although these so-called incarnations may be not actual reimbodiments in the strict sense, but rather what may be described as overshadowings by a buddhic or buddha-power.

The chutuktu is able, upon leaving his body at death, consciously to seek reimbodiment almost immediately in some child newly born, or at the moment of birth. Blavatsky states that it is commonly believed that there are "generally five manifesting and two secret Chutuktus among the high lamas" (TG 85).

(See also: Chutuktu, Hutukhtu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Guardian Angel Christian term for the various classes of dhyanis which guard the worlds, races, nations, and mankind pertaining to them.

The five middle human principles are the essence of the sixfold dhyani-chohans and of the pitris. Equivalents are daimones, genii, theoi, devas, gods, Paracelsus' flagae, etc. The personal quality that pervades so much of Christianity represents them as special to each individual, which is true enough in a sense; and they may be anything from a ray of divine light from the core of our being, to the kind of karmic heirloom designated as one's lucky star.

As a matter of fact, there is for each human individual an ever watching, forever guiding and stimulating spiritual power within himself, his own spiritual ego which, when allowed by the brain-mind, infills the individual with its strength, wisdom, and peace.

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

Winged Wheel Used in mystic philosophy worldwide, depicted under many forms, whether as a winged wheel, globe, egg, disk, etc. The Stanzas of Dzyan state that "Fohat takes five strides, and builds a winged wheel at each corner of the square for the four holy ones." Here winged wheel is a name for the four Maharajas who are the guardians or regents of the cosmic forces of the cardinal points north, south, east, and west (SD 1:122).

More generally, the winged wheel or globe suggests cyclic time unrolling its mysterious destiny, emerging from the darkness of the mists of the past, passing through the present, and pursuing its equally mysterious but always karmic courses into the future. In a more restricted sense, it applies to the reimbodying monads, the egg, wheel, or disk representing the monad or consciousness-center, and its wings suggesting its passage through not only duration but space.

See also WHEEL

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

PENTACLE

In a general sense it stands for all magical symbols and talismans. Specifically, as the pentagram, or five-pointed star, it is the symbol of itself. Therefore, it is the magician's sine qua non. It is the representative of the material world and human mastery over it -- hence when it is depicted on a coin or disk it is the element of "earth." When it points upward, it refers to "white" magic, or self as part of the world. When it points downward, it indicates "black" magic, self opposed to the world. The stars in the American flag are based on the same Masonic principle. Each state is an independent sovereign, master of its own destiny, in the same way that the magician is master of his own world.

The Magician must understand that he lives on earth, encased in flesh, and that is only through matter and material reality that he can operate. The pentacle reminds him that philosophy and abstract principles are useless without concrete material implementation.

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

Tabernacle Used mainly to describe the portable sanctuary instituted during the wandering of the Israelites. The references in the Jewish history before Deuteronomy are different from later writings in the Old Testament which mention a very elaborate edifice containing a courtyard, outer and inner chambers, with sacrificial and atoning rituals, albeit erected so that it could readily be taken down and transferred to another place. The sanctuary referred to in the Priestly Code, however, is the sanctuary of the ark (in Hebrew mishkan ha`eduth, "the tabernacle of revelation"), i.e., the receptacle in which lay the ark of testimony, the chest in which it is alleged that the stones containing the inscriptions of the decalog were placed.

The real meaning of the tabernacle can be traced to Egypt:

"In the Egyptian temples, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, an immense curtain separated the tabernacle from the place for the congregation. The Jews had the same. In both, the curtain was drawn over five pillars (the Pentacle) symbolising our five senses and five Root-races esoterically, while the four colours of the curtain represented the four cardinal points and the four terrestrial elements. The whole was an allegorical symbol. It is through the four high Rulers over the four points and Elements that our five senses may became cognisant of the hidden truths of Nature; and not at all, as Clemens would have it, that it is the elements per se that furnished the Pagans with divine Knowledge or the knowledge of God. . . . . For what was the meaning of the square tabernacle raised by Moses in the wilderness, if it had not the same cosmical significance? 'Thou shalt make an hanging . . . of blue, purple, and scarlet' and 'five pillars of shittim wood for the hanging . . . four brazen rings in the four corners thereof . . . boards of fine wood for the four sides, North, South, West, and East . . . of the Tabernacle . . . with Cherubims of cunning work." (Exodus, Ch. xxvi, xxvii.) The Tabernacle and the square courtyard, Cherubim and all, were precisely the same as those in the Egyptian temples. The square form of the Tabernacle meant just the same thing as it still means, to this day, in the exoteric worship of the Chinese and Tibetans -- the four cardinal points signifying that which the four sides of the pyramids, obelisks, and other such square erections mean. Josephus takes care to explain the whole thing. He declares that the Tabernacle pillars are the same as those raised at Tyre to the four Elements, which were placed on pedestals whose four angles faced the four cardinal points: adding that 'the angles of the pedestals had equally the four figures of the Zodiac' on them, which represented the same orientation (Antiquites I, VIII, ch. xxii).

"The idea may be traced in the Zoroastrian caves, in the rock-cut temples of India, as in all the sacred square buildings of antiquity that have survived to this day" (SD 2:125-6).

The sacred chest or receptacle -- in which was supposed to reside either a god's presence or mystically holy or sacred emblems connected therewith -- is also virtually universal throughout the world.

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

Maharaja (Sanskrit) [from maha great + raja king]

Great king; in Hindu literature four are spoken of as the mystical regents and protectors of the four quarters of the earth -- north, south, east, and west -- because they are the mystical regents and guardians of cosmic space in our solar system.

In Egyptian temples the parti-colored curtain separating the holy recess from the place for the congregation was drawn over the five pillars symbolizing our five senses as well as the five root-races, while the four colors of the curtain represented the four cardinal points and the four as yet evolved cosmico-terrestrial elements. This grouping, among other things, thus symbolized that it is through the four high rulers of the four cosmic quarters that our five senses become cognizant of the hidden truths of nature. The same mystic symbolism is found in the Tabernacle and the square courtyard prepared by Moses in the wilderness, "in the Zoroastrian caves, in the rock-cut temples of India, as in all the sacred square buildings of antiquity that have survived to this day. This is shown definitely by Layard, who finds the four cardinal points, and the four primitive elements, in the religion of every country, under the shape of square obelisks, the four sides of the pyramids . . . Of these elements and their points the four Maharajahs were the regents and the directors" (SD 1:126).

The four Maharajas correspond to the cherubim, seraphim, the winged globes, fiery or winged wheels, the gandharvas (sweet singers), asuras, kinnaras, and celestial nagas. In Chinese Buddhism the Maharajas are called the four hidden dragons of wisdom: the Regent of the North is called the Black Warrior, of the East the White Tiger, of the South the Vermilion Bird, and of the West the Azure Dragon.

There are profound, highly mystical differences which distinguish the Maharajas from the lipikas. The Maharajas, who are both the protectors of mankind on earth and the agents of karma, are those highly evolved spiritual powers or individualized cosmic beings who belong to the light-side of universal nature, to the hierarchies of compassion representing beings of unfolded evolutionary development who by the very nature of their essence become almost the automatic guardians of light and cosmic order which the semi-intelligent and so-called unintelligent forces and energies of nature automatically obey.

The lipikas, on the other hand, are cosmic spiritual entities who might almost be called the viceroys of the sublime cosmic hierarch of our galaxy. For this reason their actions or functions are of so widely impersonal a character, for they operate not so much from power and consciousness belonging solely to the solar system, but in obedience to the spiritual vital mandates of the galactic sphere, to which they are wholly subservient and of whose flow of intelligent impersonal forces they are but impartial ministers in almost instinctual obedience. They represent what might be called the impersonal flow of cosmic destiny.

(See also: Maharaja, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Primeval Matter The negative pole of that cosmic duality of which spirit is the positive pole: homogeneous, undifferentiated substance, the noumenon of all known matter, called pradhana, mulaprakriti, akasa, the Logos. "Primeval matter -- i.e, as it appeared even in its first differentiation from its laya condition -- is yet to this day homogeneous, at immense distances, in the depths of infinitude, and likewise at points not far removed from the outskirts of our solar system" (SD 1:589). We must try to divest ourselves of notions derived from experience of physical matter only -- even electromagnetic waves are beyond our normal perceptions. "That matter, which is truly homogeneous, is beyond human perceptions, if perception is tied down merely to the five senses. We feel its effects through those intelligences which are the results of its primeval differentiation, whom we name Dhyan-Chohans" (SD 1:601).

Primeval or primordial matter is one of the primary spiritual hypostases, eternally coexistent with space, duration, and absolute motion.

See also CHAOS; SVABHAVAT

(See also: Primeval Matter, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kwan-shai-yin, Kuan-shi-yin (Chinese) Equivalent to the Sanskrit Avalokitesvara, both being the seventh kosmic principle. Mystically, the kosmic Logos or Word, and in common with all the logoi referred to as a kosmic Dragon of Wisdom; the first universal manus or kosmic dhyan-chohans.

Kwan-shai-yin is often confused with Kwan-yin, the Chinese goddess of compassion, the feminine Logos and counterpart of Kwan-shai-yin; but "Kwan-shai-yin -- or the universally manifested voice 'is active -- male; and must not be confounded with Kwan-yin, or Buddhi the Spiritual Soul (the sixth Pr.) and the vehicle of its "Lord." ' It is Kwan-yin that is the female principle or the manifested passive, manifesting itself 'to every creature in the universe, in order to deliver all men from the consequences of sin'. . . while Kwan-shai-yin, 'the Son identical with his Father' is the absolute activity, hence -- having no direct relation to objects of sense is -- Passivity" (ML 344).

Kwan-shai-yin, the Voice or Logos, is "the germ point of manifested activity; -- hence -- in the phraseology of the Christian Kabalists 'the Son of the Father and Mother,' and agreeably to ours -- 'the Self manifested in Self -- Yih-sin, the 'one form of existence,' the child of Dharmakaya (the universally diffused Essence), both male and female" (ML 346).

In man it is the atman when working through -- as it always does during imbodiment -- its veil buddhi, thus enabling the atman to send down and distribute the atmic rays throughout the other five principles of the human constitution.

(See also: Kwan-shai-yin, Kuan-shi-yin, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, (Greek) Also Aschieros, Achiosera, Achiochersus. In ancient Greek mythology, three divinities whose Mysteries and worship were mainly centered in Samothrace. With Kadmilos, often said to be their parent, they were the kabiri (cf Chaldean gibbor, Hebrew geber beings of power or might, the great ones)

. Frequently Axieros, Axiokersa, and Axiokersos are stated to be the offspring of Hephaestus or Vulcan, the fiery flame of creative cosmic intellect or mahat. The kabiri are equivalent to the four kumaras of Hindu literature -- Sanat-kumara, Sananda, Sanaka, and Sanatana. The functions of both groups was as guardians, guides, inspirers, bringers of illumination and prosperity; and, in the kosmic sense, as divinities intimately involved in the intelligent productive energies of nature. Their number is the same as that of the kosmic elements -- four, occasionally five, and in reality seven or ten. The four named above are the lower quaternary of the kosmic septenary -- those divinities most closely involved in the intelligent building and architectural construction and therefore government of the four lower cosmic planes.

In connection with man, the kabiri are the four lower classes of spiritual entities otherwise known as pitris, kumaras, and agnishvattas -- all children of kosmic mahat. These divinities, although minor gods compared with the twelve great gods, were nevertheless held in the highest veneration particularly by those who were initiated into their Mysteries. Herodotus speaks of them and their functions with great reserve, but refers to them as being fire gods -- which they were because cosmically representing the divine powers of the creative intellectual fire which in humanity works in similar fashion as the intellectual fire- or solar pitris. Their human influence is connected directly with manas and buddhi-manas.

(See also: Axieros, Axiokersa, Axiokersos, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Aura (from Greek, Latin aura air)

A subtle invisible essence or fluid emanating from and surrounding beings, both those classed as animate and inanimate. To the eyes of clairvoyants the human aura appears as a halo of light, variously colored according to the momentary psychic and mental condition of the individual.

Since everything in the universe is a center of living energies of one kind or another, it must necessarily be surrounded by a field of force, representing its radiations into the surrounding space and upon all objects within its sphere of influence. The human being is of a composite nature, and his aura will, therefore, be composite, including astral-vital, psychomental, and spiritual emanations, and any of these may be perceptible according to the plane on which the perceiver is able to function.

But the aura, even though not commonly visible to our eyes, is nevertheless perceptible by the effects which it produces upon those subtle senses which all possess in addition to the conventional five. By the auras of persons we are affected, both consciously and unconsciously, and thus is explained the influence which people exercise on each other. Animals are in some ways far more sensitive to auras than we are.

Auras also emanate from so-called inorganic substances, such as magnetic substances. This subject has been investigated in connection with different bodies by Reichenbach and others, whose researches show that these emanations are bipolar as is ordinary magnetism. The phenomena of animal magnetism, investigated by Mesmer, illustrate this, for his magnetic fluid was a reality. The aura is a psychomental effluvium, and in its higher parts is a direct manifestation of the akasic portion of the auric egg surrounding every individual.

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

Earth Besides being our terrestrial globe, earth is a comprehensive symbol, meaning the matter or vehicular side of manifestation as well as one of the four, five, or seven elements.

It is primordial undifferentiated matter which, by the action of spirit, produces the manifested worlds of entities. The Western alchemists called this Adam's Earth; in Greek mythology it is the lower side of Rhea. The bringing forth of animate beings was due to the marriage of heaven and earth, so that our earth is an offspring of this cosmic union. Connected with this meaning are the numerous allusions to earth as the nether pole of manifestation, and it is often synonymous with the nether regions, as Pluto, Yama, etc.

In the zodiac it is occasionally symbolized by Taurus, the bull which in popular astrology is the first and fixed earthy sign. As the lowest of the several elements, earth denotes physicalization, what we call physical matter being a combination of all four elements with the earth-element predominating. The pure element, however, is not physical, its characteristic property or tattva in connection with the human organs is smell, and its name in the Hindu system is prithivi-tattva; it is characterized by square or cubical forms and by fixity; the nature spirits pertaining to it were said by medieval European mystics to be the gnomes.

Our own earth is one of a system of planetary chains belonging to the solar system. The earth planetary chain consists of a coadunation or chain of seven or twelve globes, though the name earth is usually applied to the grossest globe, which alone is in direct rapport with our physical senses. The earth actually is an animate being, as are all the celestial globes.

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

Quintuplets Dream Symbols:

(Source: Myths - Dreams - Symbols)

Related pages: Dream Symbols, Dream Interpretation, Dream Symbol Quintuplets, Dream Dictionary Quintuplets, Meaning of dreams about Quintuplets, Dream Interpretation Quintuplets, Dream Analysis Quintuplets, Dreaming of Quintuplets

Quintuplets, Sight, Smell, Taste, Hearing, Touch

Sound In physics, a name for a group of phenomena, and in common speech auditory sensations; but in theosophic philosophy, sound is an attribute of one of the fundamental cosmic elements, akasa.

Being such, sound becomes more than a mere name describing an attribute: it is an actual efflux or production of the universal working of the akasic fluid. Hence, in a sense, it may be said to be an entity, a real force in nature, and the said phenomena and sensations only some of its effects.

Like the terms light, heat, air -- all of which are entities in occultism -- sound will have different shades of meaning according to the particular manifestation or plane concerned. In its most fundamental meaning, sound is the characteristic effect or spiritual efflux of the Third Logos, the upper end of that septenary ladder of being which constitutes the one manifested Life. In this sense akasa, considered as one of the tattvas (elementary substances), may be said to be the third cosmic Logos; although in a more universal sense akasa is the universal substantial space from which emanates the first cosmic Logos of an individual cosmic hierarchy, such as our solar system. As such, this akasic Third Logos, whose characteristic production is sound, occupies the apex of a triangle, combining both the active and passive potencies of creative energy. Logos is Greek for Word, what the Latins called Verbum, including both forms and vibratory force. Sound is therefore a tremendous occult creative power: it called worlds into being out of chaos, as is said in every cosmogony. This power descends to man, through his divine ancestry, as well as from the higher parts of his constitution, and the power of sound is known to adepts and used by them, being called mantrika-sakti.

Always and everywhere the power of mantras and incantations has been recognized. Orators use mantras -- they call them slogans -- with instinctive knowledge of their efficacy, and set afloat phrases that stir the public mind and strongly influence events. Often in daily conversation we instinctively forbear to speak a name or a word, though we would make no objection to writing it.

Sound is a property of akasa, the primary of aether, sometimes called space. In the list of the five commonly accepted tattvas, senses, and organs, akasa-tattva is at the top, corresponding to sound and hearing. The aether of space has seven principles and is the vibratory soundboard of nature in all its seven differentiations. Sound is directed in its operations by fohat, being one of seven radicals.

The power of sound is connected with rhythmic vibration and sympathetic vibration; a powerful voice, sounding the right tone, may shatter a wineglass; and the imagination suggests dangerous applications of this principle. To dabble experimentally in it, or to follow the teachings of pseudo-occultists, would be like an ignorant person meddling with the switches in a powerhouse.

(See also: Sound, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)