Great links with more reading Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Bird Goddess - Neolithic Goddess appearing with wings, a beak or a bird’s body.
Charge Of The Goddess - CHARGE OF THE GODDESS: not an exercise but a well-known literary work. Doreen Valiente wrote it for Gardner and it came from the Charge of the Goddess in Aradia, Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland. The High Priestess intones these words, as the Goddess to her ''hidden children'' during ritual.
Charge Of The Goddess - The Traditional words of the Goddess to her followers, or "hidden children". Normally declaimed by the HPS at every coven Circle.
Charge Of The Goddess - The Traditional words of the Goddess to her followers. Originally written by Doreen Valiente, it is a story of the message from the Goddess to her children. Normally declared by the HPS at every coven Circle.
Church Of The Lamb Of God - Founded in 1974 by Ervil LeBaron in Salt Lake City, UT: A polygamous, Mormon Fundamentalist splinter group. Ervil LeBaron was removed from The Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness of Times following accusations that he was responsible for his brother''s assassination.
The church has also been suspected in the deaths of other rival Mormon Fundamentalists, including Rulon Allred, founder of another Mormon Fundamentalist church. LaBaron died in a Utah State Prison in 1981.
City Of God - City of God. See HOLY CITY
Cosmic Gods - Cosmic Gods. Inferior gods, those connected with the formation of matter.
Covenant Of The Goddess Wicca - A cross-traditional federation of over one hundred covens, solitary elders and associates who organized in 1975 at Coeden Brith. The Covenant works to have Wicca recognized as a legitimate and legally recognized religion. It is incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in California, though it has grown to be a nationwide organization with members throughout the United States, as well as a few in Canada and Overseas.
Decisions are made at an annual Grand Council or in local councils which may cover a city, state or an even larger area. A coven can apply for membership if it a cohesive, self-perpetuating group which has been meeting for six months or more; the group follows the code of ethics defined by COG; the coven has three or more members studying for the priesthood, one of whom is an Elder; and the focus of the group''s ritual and theology is the worship of the Goddess and the Old Gods (or the Goddess alone).
Decrees Of God - The Decrees of God is His eternal purpose, according to His will, whereby He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. His Decrees do not negate the responsibility of people for their sins nor does it mean that God is responsible for sin. But, it necessarily is true that God knows all things actual as well as potential, and that that which exists, exists due to His creative effort. It also follows that God has eternally known all events that have occurred, are occurring, and will occur in this creation including the fall, redemption, glorification, etc. Yet, God is not the one responsible for the sin in the world but has decreed, by His permission, that it be allowed to exist. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure."
God''s efficacious decrees are those decrees which God has purposed and determined to occur, i.e., Acts 2:23 "this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." God''s permissive decrees are those decrees where He permits things to occur such as evil.
Eight Divisions Of Gods And Dragons - Devas (gods), Nagas (Dragons) and others of eight divisions (classes): deva, nagas, yakas, ganharvas, asuras, gaudas, kinaras, mahoragas.
False God - A god that is not real, but invented by men or (according to Judea- Christian teaching) inspired by demons to deceive people so they do not believe in the true and living God.
In the Bible any god of another people was considered a false god.
False Gods - Gods that are not real, but invented by men or inspired by demons the purpose of which is to deceive people so they do not believe in the true and living God. Some of the false gods listed in the Bible are Adrammelech and Anammelech (2 Kings 17:31), Asherah (1 Kings 15:13; 18:19), Ashtoreth (1 Kings 11:5,33), Baal (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 23:7), Baalzebub (2 Kings 1:1-16); Luke 11:19-23), Dagon (Judges 16:23-30), Molech/Moloch (Lev. 18:21; 20:1-5), Rimmon (2 Kings 5:18, and Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14).
God Comparison - The theory of Monogenesis, or the single origin of language, was first proposed by the Italian linguist Alfredo Trombetti in his book L''Unità del Origine del Linguaggio, published in Bologna circa 1900 and still unavailable in English.
Trombetti hoped one day to see a lexicon of universal word comparisons, but in his day all his energies were absorbed in fighting an academic establishment that strongly resisted new ideas. Babel Rebuilt (as yet unpublished) is my attempt to provide such a lexicon of juxtapositions. It is the source of these words for God taken from various languages and juxtaposed strictly by similarity of form, without regard to family origin or historical sequence.
God Realization - Direct and personal experience of the Divine within oneself.
It can refer to either
savikalpa samadhi ("enstasy with form") in its various levels, from the experience of inner light to the realization of Satchidananda, the pure consciousness or primal substance flowing through all form, or
nirvikalpa samadhi ("enstasy without form"), union with the transcendent Absolute, Parasiva, the Self God, beyond time, form and space. In Dancing with Siva, the expression God Realization is used to name both of the above samadhis, whereas Self Realization refers only to nirvikalpa samadhi.
See: raja yoga, samadhi, Self Realization.
Great Goddess - the chief deity during the prehistoric or megalithic period exhibiting creative, destructive and regenerative powers. (NAD)
Horned God - Consort of the Goddess. The lord of animals and forrests, associated with hunting.
Horned God - Consort of the Goddess. The lord of animals and forrests, associated with hunting.
Horned God - One of the most prevalent God-images in Paganism. NOT Satan or the Devil!!!
Horned God - Pagan or Wiccan father God. Usually wears goat or deer''s horns, but in ancient times, wore bull''s horns.
Horned God - consort of the Goddess, the lord of animals and forests, associated with hunting and the forces of death. (NAD)
Image Of God - Man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26).
The image of God is generally held to mean that people contain within their nature elements that reflect God''s nature: compassion, reason, love, hate, patience, kindness, self-awareneness, etc. Though we have a physical image, it does not mean that God has one. Rather, God is spirit (John 4:24), not flesh and bones (Luke 24:39).
Impersonal God - God in His perfections of Pure Consciousness (Parashakti) and Absolute Reality beyond all attributes (Parasiva) wherein He is not a person. (Whereas, in His third perfection, Parameshvara, Siva is someone, has a body and performs actions, has will, dances, etc.)
Inner God - Inner God Used for the higher self or divine monad, the focus of divine-spiritual individuality in the human constitution, especially in connection with the degree of initiation when the candidate comes into communion with his true spiritual self, the god within.
Intercosmic Gods - Intercosmic gods. The Planetary Spirits, Dhyan-Chohans, Devas of various degrees of spirituality, and "Archangels" in general.
Kingdom Of God - 1) Originally, the Hebrew kingdom as established by God.
2) A future divine kingdom to be ruled over by Christ.
3) The heavenly kingdom of God.
Kingdom Of God - The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven seem to be variations of the same idea. A kingdom implies a king. Our king is Jesus. Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus'' authority did not come from man but from God (Luke 22:29).
Entrance into the kingdom of God is by a new birth (John 3:5), repentance (Matt. 3:2), and the divine call (1 Thess. 2:12). We are told to seek the kingdom of God first (Matt. 6:33) and to pray for its arrival (Matt. 6:10). "The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). It is also a future kingdom where full rulership in the actual presence of the king Jesus will occur when He returns to earth.
1. Jesus'' adding to Himself the nature of man by becoming one of us is known as the Hypostatic Union. Errors dealing with the relationship of Jesus'' two natures are: 1) Monophycitism which states that Jesus'' two natures combined into one new one; the problem here is that neither God nor man was represented in Christ. 2) Nestorianism which states that the two natures of Christ were so separated from each other that they were "not in contact;" the problem here is that worship of the human Jesus would then not be allowed. 3) Eutychianism is similar to Monophycitism. It states that Christ''s natures were so thoroughly combined -- in a sense scrambled together -- that a new third thing emerged; the problem is this implies that Jesus was not truly God nor man, therefore unable to act as mediator.
2. B. Milne, Know the Truth (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982), p. 145.
Lunar Gods - Lunar Gods If moon stands for the feminine side of nature, it is Isis, the Great Mother; and thus a lunar god may be a very august being, and even with some nations regarded as superior to and prior to the masculine side.
On the other hand, moon may stand for the nether pole of manifestation and thus lunar gods may stand in contrast with solar gods, as pertaining to an inferior, exoteric, or materialistic cultus. The moon is said to be threefold, e.g., Diana-Hecate-Luna, ruling over the superior, inferior, and middle worlds. Lunar gods may also apply to the lunar pitris.
"Called in India the Fathers, ''Pitris'' or the lunar ancestors. They are subdivided, like the rest, into seven classes or Hierarchies. In Egypt although the moon received less worship than in Chaldea or India, still Isis stands as the representative of Luna-Lunus, ''the celestial Hermaphrodite.'' Strange enough while the modern connect the moon only with lunacy and generation, the ancient nations, who knew better, have, individually and collectively, connected their ''wisdom gods'' with it.
Thus in Egypt the lunar gods are Thoth-Hermes and Chons; in India it is Budha, the Son of Soma, the moon; in Chaldea Nebo is the lunar god of Secret Wisdom, etc., etc. The wife of Thoth, Sifix, the lunar goddess, holds a pole with five rays of the five-points star, symbol of man, the Microcosm, in distinction from the Septenary Macrocosm.
As in all theogonies a goddess precedes a god, on the principle most likely that the chick can hardly precede its egg, in Chaldea the moon was held as older and more venerable than the Sun, because, as they said, darkness precedes light at every periodical rebirth (or ''creation'') of the universe.
Osiris although connected with the Sun and a Solar god is, nevertheless, born on Mount Sinai, because Sin is the Chaldeo-Assyrian word for the moon; so was Dio-Nysos, god of Nyssi or Nisi, which latter appellation was that of Sinai in Egypt, where it was called Mount Nissa" (TG 192-3).
Lunar Gods - Lunar Gods. Called in India the Fathers, "Pitris" or the lunar ancestors.
They are subdivided, like the rest, into seven classes or Hierarchies, In Egypt although the moon received less worship than in Chaldea or India, still Isis stands as the representative of Luna-Lunus, "the celestial Hermaphrodite". Strange enough while the modern connect the moon only with lunacy and generation, the ancient nations, who knew better, have, individually and collectively, connected their "wisdom gods" with it. Thus in Egypt the lunar gods are Thoth, Hermes and Chons; in India it is Budha, the Son of Soma, the moon; in Chaldea Nebo is the lunar god of Secret Wisdom, etc., etc.
The wife of Thoth, Sifix, the lunar goddess, holds a pole with five rays or the five-pointed star, symbol of man, the Microcosm, in distinction from the Septenary Macrocosm. As in all theogonies a goddess precedes a god, on the principle most likely that the chick can hardly precede its egg, in Chaldea the moon was held as older and more venerable than the Sun, because, as they said, darkness precedes light at every periodical rebirth (or "creation") of the universe. Osiris although connected with the Sun and a Solar god is, nevertheless, born on Mount Sinai, because Sin is the Chaldeo-Assyrian word for the moon; so was Dio-Nysos, god of Nyssi or Nisi, which latter appelation was that of Sinai in Egypt, where it was called Mount Nissa.
The crescent is not - as proven by many writers - an ensign of the Turks, but was adopted by Christians for their symbol before the Mahommedans. For ages the crescent was the emblem of the Chaldean Astarte, the Egyptian Isis, and the Greek Diana, all of them Queens of Heaven, and finally became the emblem of Mary the Virgin. "The Greek Christian Empire of Constantinople held it as their palladium. Upon the conquest by the Turks, the Sultan adopted it . . . and since that, the crescent has been made to oppose the idea of the cross". (Eg. Belief.)
Monkey God - Monkey God.
See HANUMAN
Moon Gods - Moon Gods.
See LUNAR GODS
Name Of God - The Name of God, In Welsh Enw Duw, written. This name was sounded at the birth of the universe, "whereupon latency flashed into existence more swiftly than the lightning reaches its home." This sacred word is given as O I W -- the Welsh w being a vowel, equivalent to the Sanskrit u. But in Cywydd Cyfrinach ("The Poem of the Secret," by Rhys Goch o Eryri, c. 11th century), a poem on this sacred word, we are told that the letters of it are to be taken from the words Awen and Menw, which would suggest the Sanskrit pranava Aum.
Nile God - Nile God.
See HAP
Pagan Gods - Pagan Gods. The term is erroneously understood to mean idols. The philosophical idea attached to them was never that of something objective or anthropomorphic, but in each case an abstract potency, a virtue, or quality in nature. There are gods who are divine planetary spirits (Dhyan Chohans) or Devas, among which are also our Egos. With this exception, and especially whenever represented by an idol or in anthropomorphic form, the gods represent symbolically in the Hindu, Egyptian, or Chaldean Pantheons - formless spiritual Potencies of the "Unseen Kosmos".
Personal God -
See: Ishta Devata, Parameshvara.
Personal God - Personal God The personal anthropomorphic extra-cosmic God of theology is a purely human creation -- for personality is a limitation utterly inconsistent with the nature of the boundless and eternal. This theological God is merely a reflection of man. The infinite source of all cannot be defined, since every possible attribute which we might assign to it is a human mental creation. We are forced to speak of God as impersonal, but must beware lest in doing so we reduce the conception to an empty abstraction.
God may denote a divine being, a being who was once in our present human stage but has evolved beyond it, having transcended the limit of personality but without losing individuality. Or God may be applied to a being who has emanated from the divine source but is on the downward arc of evolution, not having yet become man; or again it may be a projection of the human mind, like the personal God of theology, but in this case it is a human mental creation -- therefore containing human limitations because the human mind is finite -- and therefore inadmissible.
The early Christians believed that the pagan gods were impersonated by evil demons or were actually merely daemonia. It is hard to believe that Jehovah, Jupiter, the Christian God, Brahma, and the like are nothing more than merely abstract ideas, for they actually are human ways of expressing some of the active and distinctly concrete powers or potencies in the solar system.
The notion of a personal God implies arbitrary will, caprice, anger, susceptibility to propitiation, and many other human weaknesses; and the attempt to reconcile these wholly human projections of thought with the idea of abstract infinitude results in contradiction and absurdity.
It is clear enough that the universe is filled full with powers and potencies, of which all animate beings known to man, and man himself, are but minor examples; and hence polytheism when properly understood as the necessary and inevitable deduction of spiritual pantheism is seen to be true. The mistake of most polytheists in the past has been to endow these gods, divinities, or spiritual potencies with attributes all too human, instead of considering them as they ought to be considered as the formative forces of the universe, possessing consciousness and will.
See also GOD; GOD(S)
Peyote Way Church Of God - Native American church founded by Anne L. Zapf in Willcox AZ. It uses peyote as a sacrament.
Self God - God Siva''s perfection of Absolute Reality, Parasiva - That which abides at the core of every soul.
See: atattva, Paramatman, Parasiva.
Son Of God - This is a title of Christ. It is also, in A Course in Miracles, used to refer to all of creation.
Son Of God - This is a title of Jesus. It implies His deity (John 5:18) because the title is one of equality with God. In the OT it was figuratively applied to Israel (Exo 4:22). In the NT it is applied to Christ (Luke 1:35). It has many facets, for example: It shows that He is to be honored equally with the Father (John 5:22-23). That He is to be worshiped (Matt. 2:2,11; 14:33; John 9:35-38; Heb. 1:6); called God (John 20:28; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:8); prayed to (Acts 7:55-60; 1 Cor. 1:1-2).
Sons Of God - Sons of God An idea, containing divine as well as historic events, known among all ancient peoples.
In ancient Biblical Hebrew, these sons of the Divine or sons of God are called the Benei ''Elohim (sons of the ''elohim) who in Genesis 6 "descend" in order to gain experience by incarnation in astral-physical bodies. They are the so-called fallen angels, one class of which corresponds to manasaputras. Also used for those evolved beings, or men graduated from lower classes of human experience, who at a primordial period descended and taught humanity the arts and sciences which were preserved and afterwards practiced by the initiates of the different root-races. Again, used of men of the seventh root-race, who are to be born of immaculate parents when they appear ages hence.
Elsewhere these sons of God are mystically spoken of as sons of Light, for the various hierarchies generalized under these phrases are all emanations from the manifest or Third Logos.
Sun God - Sun God, Sun Gods Sometimes applied to the cosmic logoi, which collectively are not only symbolized, but actually are represented by and through the septenary sun. Deities of masculine character are often called sun gods. Like the sun, a sun god may be on various planes, from that of a Logos to that of the absolute in various subordinate hierarchies.
Sun gods in mythology usually slay dragons, as Apollo slays Python, and often have serpents for their emblems, the serpent being dual in aspect -- high and low, inner and outer, active and passive, positive and negative, spiritual and material.
As in Egyptian mythology, Osiris the sun god manifests as Horus, his own son, who is also a sun god, in similar fashion sun gods are manifested in man and on the lower planes of nature; similar to the Egyptian Osiris we have Adonis, Bacchus, Krishna, Christ, etc., as the sun god or spiritual monad in man; and cosmically we find sun gods on various planes.
Supreme God - Highest God, the source or creator of all other Gods, beings and all manifestation.
The Word Of God - is inspired: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).
is truth: "all thy commandments are truth" (Psalm 119:151).
makes free: "...If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).
produces faith: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17, NASB).
judges: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
The Word of God:
is inspired: "All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).
is truth: "all thy commandments are truth" (Psalm 119:151).
makes free: "...If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).
produces faith: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17, NASB).
judges: "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
Thou Art God - A statement of divine immanence common among Neopagans, originally from Robert Heinlein’s book, Stranger in a Strange Land.
Touched By The Gods - TOUCHED BY THE GODS Insane.
Triple Goddess - One Goddess in all of her three aspects
Triple Goddess - Refer to MOTHER, MAIDEN, CRONE
Triple Goddess - Triple Goddess: The one Goddess in all of her three aspects: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. This triple theme of feminine deity has been found in nearly every known culture on the planet. She is represented by the three phases of the moon; waxing, full, and waning. There are also a few known male triplicities.
Triple Goddess - the one Goddess in all of her 3 aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone. The triple theme of feminine deity has been found in nearly every known culture on the planet. She is represented by the 3 phases of the moon; waxing, full and waning. (CMM)
Virginal God - Characteristic of a virgin. Pure. - virginal God:
Reference to Lord Karttikeya, the perpetual bachelor,
descriptive of His inherent purity.
Virginal God - Characteristic of a virgin. Pure. - virginal God: Reference to Lord Karttikeya, the perpetual bachelor, descriptive of His inherent purity.
Worldwide Church Of God - Under the leadership of its founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, this church rejected the essential doctrines and epitomized the unique set of beliefs and practices that became known as Armstrongism. Beginning in the early 1990s under the leadership Armstrong''s successors, Joseph W. Tkach and his son Joe Tkach, this group has undergone remarkable doctrinal transformation. They now hold to a more traditional evangelical position on the nature of God and the gospel,. Large numbers of its membership have left to join splinter groups that still teach classic Armstrongism.
|
