Ha Dictionary

Zohar, Sepher haz-Zohar (Hebrew) [from zohar light, splendor]

Book of the light; the principal work or compendium of the Qabbalists, forming with the Book of Creation (Sepher Yetsirah) the main canon of the Qabbalah. It is written largely in Chaldean interspersed with Hebrew, and is in the main a running commentary on the Pentateuch. Interwoven are a number of highly significant sections or books scattered apparently at random through the volumes: sometimes incorporated as parallel columns to the text, at other times as separate portions.

These auxiliary books, so casually appended to the text as we now have it, are considered by Qabbalists to be the chief contribution of the Zohar. The following form the bulk of the Zoharic writings outside of the commentary itself, as found in present editions, though in one or two editions a few additional fragments of minor importance are included:

1. Tosephta' (Additions or supplements);

2. Heichaloth (Mansions, Abodes) usually enumerated as seven, describing the structure of the upper and lower realms;

3. Sithrei Torah (Mysteries or Secrets of the Law [Pentateuch]) describing the evolution of the Sephiroth;

4. Midrash Han-Ne`elam (The Hidden Interpretation), deducing esoteric doctrine from the narratives in the Pentateuch;

5. Ra`ya' Meheimna' (The Faithful Shepherd), recording discussions between Moses the faithful shepherd, the prophet Elijah, and Rabbi Shim`on ben Yohai (the reputed compiler of the Zohar);

6. Razei deRazin (Secrets of Secrets), a treatise on physiognomy and higher psychology;

7. Saba' deMishpatim (The Aged in Decisions, Judgments), the Aged One or Scholar is Elijah who discourses with Yohai on the doctrine of metempsychosis;

8. Siphra' di-Tseni`utha' (The Book of the Mysteries), discourses on cosmogony and demonology;

9. Ha-'Idra' Rabba' Qaddisha' (The Great Holy Assembly), discourses of Rabbi Yohai to his disciples on the form of the deity and on pneumatology;

10. Yenoqa' (The Youth), discourses on the mysteries of ablutions by a young man of such high talent that he was thought to be of superhuman origin;

11. Ha-'Irda' Zuta' Qaddisha' (The Lesser Holy Assembly), discourses on the Sephiroth to six disciples.

The Zohar was compiled by Rabbi Simeon Ben-Iochai, and completed by his son Rabbi Eleazar, and his secretary Rabbi Abba. "But voluminous as is the work, and containing as it does the main points of the secret and oral tradition, it still does not embrace it all. It is well known that this venerable kabalist [Simeon] never imparted the most important points of his doctrine otherwise than orally, and to a very limited number of friends and disciples, including his only son. Therefore, without the final initiation into the Mercaba the study of the Kabala will be ever incomplete, . . . Since the death of Simeon Ben-Iochai this hidden doctrine has remained an inviolate secret for the outside worlds" (IU 2:348-9).

The Zohar contains the universal wisdom or theosophy of the ages. Nevertheless it "teaches practical occultism more than any other work on that subject; not as it is translated though, and commented upon by its various critics, but with the secret signs on its margins. These signs contain the hidden instructions, apart form the metaphysical interpretations and apparent absurdities . . ." (IU 2:350). The present "approximation of the Zohar was written by Moses de Leon in the 13th century. "Mistaken is he who accepts the Kabalistic works of to-day, and the interpretations of the Zohar by the Rabbis, for the genuine Kabalistic lore of old! For no more to-day than in the day of Frederick von Schelling does the Kabala accessible to Europe and America, contain much more than 'ruins and fragments, much distorted remnants still of that primitive system which is the key to all religious systems' . . . The oldest system and the Chaldean Kabala were identical. The latest renderings of the Zohar are those of the Synagogue in the early centuries -- i.e., the Thorah, dogmatic and uncompromising" (SD 2:461-2).

The Zohar has been widely studied by European mystical and other scholars for centuries past, and many speculations have been made by these scholars as to its age, some affirming with perfect truth that the roots or origins of the Qabbalah go back into the very night of time and are probably to be traced to now unknown originals in ancient Chaldea, while others points out that in several places the Zohar mentions facts of history that have taken place in Europe after the beginning of the Christian era, such as the Crusades, and the mentioning of the Massoretic vowel points which came into use at the time of the Rabbi Mocha, 570 AD, the mention of a comet which can be proved by the context to have appeared in 1264, etc. Moses de Leon was probably the first to edit or give to the world the volume of the Zohar as we now have it considered as a whole. We thus have a work of progressive compilation, the form in which it has reached our hands showing the labor of several, if not many, minds since the beginning of the Christian era, but which nevertheless in its typically Chaldean thought and manner of envisioning religious and philosophical principles prove it to have come down from an unknown time in Chaldean history.

(See also: Zohar, Sepher haz-Zohar , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

The shuddha tattvas: Actinic or spiritual energy. This is the superconscious realm, also known as shuddha (pure) maya or mahamaya. Bindu, transcendent light, is the "material" cause of this pure sphere. This is the Sivaloka, the region of the 330 million Gods, the myriad rishis and other beings who have attained freedom from the triple bondage.

1.    Siva tattva: "auspiciousness," of two parts: the higher is Parashakti, "Supreme Energy," from which emerges primal sound, nada (more precisely Paranada, soundless sound). Though most often referred to as sound, nada is more mystically known as movement, the first impulse arising from perfect quiescence, the first "thing" out of the motionless Self. This is Siva's second perfection, Parashakti, superconsciousness, the mind of God. The Siva tattva pervades all other 35 categories and possesses the powers of will, knowledge and action (ic�ha, jnana, kriya).

2. Shakti tattva: energy, corresponds to bindu, light, the cause of form (more precisely Parabindu, primal nucleus). This is the tattva of Parameshvara, the Primal Soul, father-mother God, Siva's third perfection, who after mahapralaya remains transfixed in deep samadhi, until He again emanates the universe through His Cosmic Dance.
3. Sadasiva tattva: the power of revealing grace. In this realm the energies of knowledge and action are in perfect equilibrium. This is the realm of the anandamaya kosha.
4. Ishvara tattva: the energy of concealment, concealing grace. The energy of action prevails over that of knowledge in order to arouse cosmic activity in its subtle form.
5. shuddhavidya tattva: pure knowledge, dharma. This is a level of manifestation in which the energy of action is in abeyance and the energy of knowledge prevails. Shuddhavidya tattva includes Siva's other three powers or aspects: Rudra (destruction), Vishnu (preservation) and Brahma (creation).

See:tattvas, tattva, atattva, antahkarana, guna, kosha, Siva

(See also: Shuddha tattvas , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

ABRAXAS (or Abrasax)

Being the unreachable, unknowable and unmanifested "God" beyond existence and non-existence, beyond good and evil, beyond all dualities, "he" may be considered the ultimate synthesis. Since the Judeo-Xtian God is a monad, He must have an opposite (Satan), in company with Zoroaster's Ahriman and Ahuramazda, Abraxas does not require opposition.

The Gods are the original essences of Reality and as such are limited to the manifestation of the processes of Nature or Subnature. Therefore, they are necessarily below Abraxas.

Budge is the only Egyptologist who presents us with the Egyptian word:

Abraskkiaks (Leemans Papyrus, III, 210- ). Probably derived from the same word as ABRACADABRA (Heb. Ha-b'rakah, "the blessing" or "the sacred name"). He is the ultimate God beyond good and evil (for that matter he is even beyond being and non-being). On ancient Gnostic amulets he appears as rooster-headed, with two serpents for legs and bearing in one hand a whip and in the other a shield with the word 'IAO'. Occasionally he appears as a charioteer. He is the source of the 365 emanations of the Divine Pleroma. The Creator God (see IALDABAOTH) is much inferior, hardly more than a Demiurge. It is said that, in order to express the important number 365 ("The Divine Cycle"). In Greek letters, Abraxas has that many Gods or "aeons" (or "Archons") under him.

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

Kether: The first and topmost of the Sephiroth of the cabalistic Tree of Life. The term is a Hebrew word meaning "Crown." It represents the archetype of the number 1, the undifferentiated Godhead. It corresponds to the divine name Eheieh, the archangel Metatron, the angelic choir called Chayoth ha-Qadesh (Holy Living Creatures) and the Rashith ha-Gilgalim, or Primum Mobile.

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

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)

Kether: In Kether is the Divine White Brilliance, the scintillation and corruscation of the Divine Glory--that Light which lighteth the universe--that Light which surpasseth the glory of the Sun and beside which the light of mortals is but darkness, and concerning which it is not fitting that we should speak more fully. And the Sphere of its Operation is called Rashith Ha-Gilgalim--the beginning of whirling (or whirls, or whorls), the Primum Mobile or First Mover, which bestoweth the gift of life in all things and filleth the whole Universe. And Eheieh is the Name of the Divine Essence in Kether; and its Archangel is the Prince of Countenances--Metatron or Metraton, He who bringeth others before the face of God. And the Name of its Order of Angels is called Chaioth ha-Qadesh, the Holy Living Creatures, which are also called the Order of Seraphim.

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

hamsa: (Sanskrit) "Swan;" more accurately, the highflying wild goose Anser indicus.

The vahana, vehicle, of the God Brahma. It has various meanings, including Supreme Soul and individual soul. It is a noble symbol for an adept class of renunciates (paramahamsa) - winging high above the mundane, driving straight toward the goal, or of the discriminating yogi who - like the graceful swan said to be able to extract milk from water - can see the Divine and leave the rest.

The hamsa mantra indicates the sound made by the exhalation (ha) and inhalation (sa) of the breath.

See: paramahamsa.

(See also: Hamsa , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Koah hag-Guph (Hebrew) (from koah power, strength, aptness + guph body, vehicle, shell)

Also Choach-ha-guf, ko'h-ha-guph, etc. The body of (vital) strength; equivalent to the model-body or linga-sarira in the sevenfold classification of human principles (cf SD 2:633).

(See also: Koah hag-Guph , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Khoda (Persian) Khvataya, Khvatadha (Avestan) (from khvat self + aya come to be, or dhata creating, law)

Khvataya is similar to the Sanskrit svata-ayu (self-existing), while khvatadha means self-created. In modern Persian khoda means "God."

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

Oeaohoo Also Oeaihu, Oeaihwu. A very ancient form of the sacred and mystical holy name as it occurs in the Stanzas of Dzyan. These seven letters stand for seven vowels, and according to the method of pronunciation the name may be given "as one, three, or even seven syllables by adding an e after the letter o" (SD 1:68). The pronunciation is somewhat similar to the Chinese tones (kungs): the spelling of a word is the same, but according to the tonal value or stress given, its meaning alters.

This word is a way of expressing the kosmic life in all its seven, ten, or twelvefold divisions, each letter of the seven referring to one of the kosmic principles or elements. Their union into a single term calls attention to kosmic unity. It is a representation for the six manifested and the one unmanifested, thus making the mystic seven principle-elements of our home universe. Oeaohoo the Younger is the reflection or mirroring on a lower plane of the universal unity; and therefore Oeaohoo the Younger is, strictly speaking, the Logos considered as a triad and thus really comprising the First or unmanifest, the Second or partially manifest, and the creative, manifest, or Third Logoi.

Corresponding to Kwan-shai-yin, Oeaohoo "contains in himself the Seven Creative Hosts (the Sephiroth), and is thus the essence of manifested Wisdom" (SD 1:72). In the human constitution, Oeaohoo the Younger is the higher triad of atma-buddhi-manas, with an emphatic pointing to the atman as the predominant life in this higher triad. Similarly so as regards the kosmos or universe. The meaning of one of its permutations, Oi-ha-hou, is "among the Eastern Occultists of the North, a circular wind, whirlwind; but in this instance, it is a term to denote the ceaseless and eternal Cosmic Motion; or rather the Force that moves it, which Force is tacitly accepted as the Deity but never named. It is the eternal Karana, the ever-acting Cause" (SD 1:93n).

The Gnostics used the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet AEHIOY-O on their gems; and in the Pistis Sophia the Rabbi Jesus in speaking to his disciples says: "Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the seven vowels and their forty and nine powers, and their numbers thereof; and no name is more excellent than all these vowels" (SD 2:564).

Blavatsky gives several variants of the spelling of this word and the modern spelling is of minor importance; what is important is to get the mystic or metaphysical philosophical meaning behind the word.

See also AEIOV

(See also: Oeaohoo, Oeaihu, Oeaihwu , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Vasishtha Vasistha (Sanskrit) The most wealthy; a celebrated Vedic rishi, representing the typical Brahmin sage. Many legends have clustered about him, especially in regard to his conflict with the sage Visvamitra -- the king who raised himself from the Kshatriya to the Brahmanical class.

Many hymns of the Rig-Veda are attributed to these two sages: one hymn represents Vasishtha as the family priest of King Sudas, and in the Rig-Veda (7:33:11) he is called the son of the apsaras Urvasi by Mitra and Varuna, hence his name Maitravaruni. He is also supposed to have owned Nandini, the cow of plenty (offspring of Surabhi). As this cow was able to grant the sage all his wishes, he became the master of every vasu (desirable object).

In Manu (1:35) Vasishtha is enumerated as one of the ten prajapatis, the patriarchs produced by Manu-Svayambhuva for the peopling of the earth. In the Mahabharata he is regarded as the family priest of the Suryavansa (solar race), and also as one of the seven great rishis associated with the seven stars of the Great Bear. In the Puranas, Vasishtha is represented as one of the arrangers of the Vedas in a dvapara yuga of a certain chatur yuga, and as the father of seven celebrated sons.

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

Abib 'abib (Hebrew) (from the verbal root abab to be fresh, green; to blossom, bear fruit)

Ear or sprout (of grain); first month of the Hebrew sacred year, equivalent to March-April and beginning with the new moon. Hodesh ha-'abib was the "month of green corn"; later, after the exile, called Nisan during which the vernal equinox was celebrated.

(See also: Abib, abib , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

2005-04-23

Gonpis (Sanskrit). Shepherdesses  -  the playmates and companions of Krishna, among whom was his wife Raddha.

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

dambha:

dambha (dhambha). Hypocrisy.

(See also: dambha , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Saaswatha:

Saaswatha (shaashvatha). Eternal.

(See also: Saaswatha , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

taptha:

taptha (thaptha). Hot.

(See also: taptha , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Ha-'Indra' Rabba' Qaddisha' (Chaldean) The Great Holy Assembly; one treatise of the Zohar, consisting of discourses by Rabbi Shim`on to his assembly of disciples upon the form of the Deity and on pneumatology. It is considered to be a development of the Siphra di-Tseni`utha', the most ancient portion, and therefore the basis of the Zohar.

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

Isa:

Isa (Eesha). Supreme, Lord.

(See also: Isa , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Arkites. The ancient priests who were attached to the Ark, whether of Isis, or the Hindu Argua, and who were seven in number, like the priests of the Egyptian Tat or any other cruciform symbol of the three and the four, the combination of which gives a male-female number. The Avgha (or ark) was the four-fold female principle, and the flame burning over it the triple lingham.

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

BERESHITH

Bereshith bara elohim et hashamayim et ha-aretz, the first sentence of Genesis in Hebrew. The Theosophists point out that it has two meanings. If the division is made thusly, beresh yithbara, be-resh (i.e., head, wisdom, knowledge, higher part, first in a series) Head or knowledge made Itself (Into) Heaven and Earth (out of previously present material?). That is, "The gods, through wisdom, carved (yithbara) the heaven and the material sphere."

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

desa:

desa (dhesha). Region, space, country.

(See also: desa , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)