Arimaspi, Arimaspes arimastioi (Greek) In Greek mythology, a one-eyed people of the extreme northeast of Scythia, perhaps near the region of eastern Altai, mentioned by Aristeas of Proconnesus, from whom Herodotus derives his account.

They stole gold from the griffins who guarded it, and Apollo destroyed them with his shafts. The allegory, which is mixed up with history in Herodotus' account, refers to the supersession of a degraded remnant of third-eye people by the coming fifth root-race, as in the case of the Cyclopes.

(See also: Arimaspi, Arimaspes, arimastioi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Christos (Greek) Anointed; applied in the Greek Mysteries to a candidate who had passed the last degree and become a full initiate. Also the immanent individual god in a person, equivalent in some respects to Dionysos, Krishna, etc.

The Hebrew word for anointed (mashiah) is generally written in English as Messiah. What we know as Christianity is a syncretism of borrowings from Neoplatonism, neo-Pythogoreanism, Greek Gnosticism, and Hebrew religion. Christos was commonly used in the Greek translation of the Bible as a title of the Jewish Kings, those who had been anointed for reigning -- a symbolic rite taken originally from the Mysteries. St. Paul's use of the word shows that he understood its true mystical meaning, but spoke with precaution in his public epistles or writings.

The first two letters of the Greek word, , superimposed in a monogram, were on the military standard of the later Christian emperors of Rome, probably dating from Constantine, and have a significance as geometrical symbols besides.

See also CHRESTOS

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

Ardhanarisa or Ardhanarisvara (Sanskrit) (from ardha half + nari woman + isvara, isa lord)

Half-feminine lord; a form of Siva, also applied to the first cosmic androgyne, equivalent to the mystically androgynous Sephirah-'Adam Qadmon of the Qabbalah. Cosmic entities are not sexual or sexed in the human sense, for sex as known in the human and animal kingdoms is a transitory phase of evolution.

The application of terms such as androgyne, masculine, or feminine to cosmic divinities has reference to states of cosmic force or energy and substance which may be polarized or unpolarized. Human energies and substances in our present evolutionary stage -- and this applies likewise to the animal kingdom, and to a degree to the vegetable kingdom -- are divided into opposites which bring about sex conditions.

When the forces are partially polarized, the androgynous or hermaphroditic condition results. When the forces or substances are unpolarized during pralayas and at the beginnings and endings of manvantaras, then each entity contains within itself and manifests a state of undivided unity -- a complete and perfect individual.

(See also: Ardhanarisa, Ardhanarisvara , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Grain. See WHEAT; CORN

(See also: Holy Grail , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Asava (Sanskrit, Pali) (from the verbal root su to distill, make a decoction)

A distilling or a decoction; a Buddhist term, difficult to render in European languages, signifying the distillation or decoction which the mind makes or produces from the impact upon it of outside energies or substances, whether these latter be thoughts or suggestions automatically arising and acting from outside upon us, or such as impinge upon the human consciousness from another consciousness striving to affect the former.

Thus it corresponds in some respects to the Christian idea of temptation. Asava signifies attachments rising in the mind from the impact upon it of outside influences, and the ideas born of outside influences which intoxicate the mind, born in the mind or flowing into it and presenting its being held upon higher lines. Freedom from the asavas constitutes the essential of arhatship, which involves self-mastery in all its phases. The four asavas are enumerated in Southern Buddhism as 1) sensuousness and sensuality (kama); 2) hunger for life (bhava); 3) dreamy speculation (dittha); and 4) nescience (avijja).

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

Quindecimviri (Latin) [from quindecim fifteen + viri men]

The priests in ancient Rome who had charge of the Sibylline Books. Originally two in number and called duoviri, they later became ten (decemviri), and Sulla increased them to fifteen, Julius Caesar to sixteen, and some of the emperors in later times made further additions. Thus, as being members of a commission or board, or what the Romans called a Collegium, they were State functionaries with definite duties as well as powers.

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

Puloma (Sanskrit) One of the daughters of the danava Vaisvanara. She and her sister Kalaka were mothers of thirty million danavas by Kasyapa. They are said to have lived in Hiranyapura (the golden city), which floats in the air -- the sun. Their children were called paulomas and kalakanjas.

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

Sulfur, Sulphur In European medieval alchemy, a cosmic element of which the mineral sulfur was regarded as a manifestation or correspondence. In classical Latin, also used for lightning, and the Greek for sulfur is theion (divine); it was regarded as having a purifying, and protective power.

The alchemical division of nature and man into spirit, body, and soul shows sulfur as denoting spirit and the element fire. Sulfur and mercury are used as a means to physical longevity (IU 2:220-1). It is used as a purificatory agent in modern medicine, and popular usage has sanctioned its efficacy in the insoluble form of brimstone.

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

Acharya acarya (Sanskrit) (from a towards + the verbal root car to proceed, practice, conduct oneself)

One who proceeds or practices; a teacher, instructor, or guide. Usually applied to a spiritual teacher or guru, such as Sankaracharya.

(See also: Acharya, acarya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tanjur Bstan-hgyur, bstan 'gyur (ten-gyur, ten-jur) (Tibetan) Translation of the sastras; the second part of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, the first part being the Kanjur (both words came into Western languages via Mongolian).

The Tanjur is divided into three parts: a one-volume collection of hymns or praises to the Buddha, and two voluminous collections of sastras: tantra commentaries and sutra commentaries. Although called commentaries, these also include independent treatises, and the sutra-commentaries section also includes miscellaneous works such as letters, dictionaries, grammars, medical works, etc.

The Tanjur is even larger than the Kanjur, containing up to 225 volumes. Four editions are known in the West: Narthang, Peking, Derge, and Cone (cho-ne) -- all 18th century blockprints, although the Tanjur is much older as a manuscript collection. The Tanjur contains works assumed to be Tibetan translations of the works of Indian Buddhist masters, other than the Buddha himself. Compositions by Tibetan masters, however authoritative, are not included in the Tanjur.

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

Lebanon (Hebrew) A mountain range in Syria and Palestine of two principal chains, Lebanon or Libanus on the west and Antilibanus on the east. In this region dwell the brotherhood of the Druzes and likewise the Nabatheans.

Lebanon is most often associated with its cedars; however, the phrase cedars of Lebanon also meant initiants who "were called the 'trees of Righteousness,' and the cedars of Lebanon, as also were come kings of Israel" (SD 2:494). In India too adepts of the right- and left-hand path were often called trees. It depended upon the tree which was selected as being beneficent or maleficent as, for instance, the upas tree of the left-hand, or the bodhi tree of the right-hand.

While the range of mountains in Syria and Palestine is called Lebanon (white), nevertheless there is a direct ancient mystical reference here to the moon or lunar influence; as a meaning of this range as envisaged by the ancient inhabitants would be the lunar range of mountains, points directly to esoteric observances connected with the moon and its malignant and unwholesome influences.

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

Idol, Idolotry (from Greek eidolon image, idol)

The use of images of divinities, which pertains to exotericism, as do visible symbols, ceremonies, and rituals in general. Attitudes vary among religions: Judaism, Islam, and Protestant Christianity absolutely forbid it; Orthodox Christianity permits icons, such as pictures of saints; Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism permit it altogether.

Varying degrees of ignorance or enlightenment may regard an idol as in itself a species of imbodied divinity, as transmitting the influence of a divinity or, more spiritually, as a reminder of a divinity. In a real sense, idolatry is the attaching of undue importance to the form rather than to the spirit, and often becomes degraded into worshiping the images made in our imagination and imbodied in work of the hands.

"Esoteric history teaches that idols and their worship dies out with the Fourth Race, until the survivors of the hybrid races of the latter (Chinamen, African Negroes, etc.) gradually brought the worship back. The Vedas countenance no idols; all the modern Hindu writings do" (SD 2:723).

(See also: Idol, Idolotry , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Anumati (Sanskrit) (from anu-man to approve, grant)

Assent, permission, approbation; personified frequently as a goddess. The fifteenth day of the moon's age "when one digit is deficient" (VP 2:8), a time said to be propitious for the offering of oblations to devas and pitris.

It is therefore the moon at full: "when from a god -- Soma -- she becomes a goddess" (TG 25). Mythologically the first fortnight of the moon or waxing period is often regarded as being masculine, and its second fortnight or waning period as feminine. The moon in some cultures is looked upon as masculine, in others as feminine. In Latin the moon was both lunus (masculine) and luna (feminine), but in most other languages the moon is almost consistently either masculine or feminine.

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

Phenomena [from Greek phainomena appearances from phainomai to appear]

The impermanent, ever-changing outward appearances of things, as opposed to onta, the permanent enduring realities behind. Also, objects of perception as opposed to objects of cognition; that which is perceived by the senses, contrasted with that which is conceived by the mind.

The word correlates with both meanings of noumena. Under the first meaning it may be said that, in one sense, everything is phenomenal except the one Reality; but the word may also be used relatively.

Under the second meaning, we may speak of phenomena as a word stressing the mechanical aspect of things, as contrasted with the unseen intelligences behind, as in the contrast between the forces of science and the intelligent noumena of which they are merely the manifestations.

In modern popular use it also denotes a supernormal event, such as an exercise of occult or magical powers, or again a portent, what the Latins would have called a prodigy.

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

Euhemerization The theory of Euhemeros, a Greek of about 316 BC, that the ancient Greek myths were imaginative or allegorical renderings of historical events, the gods once having been mortals or men, and their deeds the poetized actions of archaic human worthies. Hence to euhemerize is to interpret myths as having been once historical events. It is sometimes used in The Secret Doctrine as equivalent to anthropomorphism.

A great deal of archaic mythology, however, is the half-forgotten and often distorted racial tradition or memory of events in the lives of once semi-divine humans, who actually were in most cases the demigods, god-men, or initiates of the later third and early fourth root-races.

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

Beelzebub, Beelzebul ba`al zebub (Hebrew) (from ba`al lord + zebub fly)

Lord of the flies; a god of the Philistines, popularly worshiped as the destroyer of flies, to whom was erected a temple at Ekron. The mythical zoology of the ancients points directly to an inner and mystical significance: "flies" is used not in the sense of the insect, but for a certain class of elementals whose "flying" around and through the earth is governed directly by lunar influences. Thus Beelzebub is in this connection a lunar divinity.

Ba`al-zebul, a form in the Old and New Testaments, is translated as Lord of the High House or Lord of the Habitation, the reference here being to the moon as the habitation or receptacle of these elemental souls at a certain time of their existence.

In Christian demonology, Beelzebub is one of the gubernatores of the infernal kingdom under Lucifer: thus in Milton's Paradise Lost he is second to Satan. In Matthew 12:24, Beelzebub is referred to as the prince of the devils.

(See also: Beelzebub, Beelzebul, ba`al zebub , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Crucifix (BCW).

See also CROSS

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Aeon, Aeons (Latin) Aion (Greek) (from aion time)

An age, a period of time; used alone, equivalent to the word logos, but the usual meaning includes a spiritual being considered as an emanation from the divine essence and also a period of time which is brought about by the existence of this spiritual being.

In the Gnostic systems it signified the various creative powers issuing from the demiurgic Logos, and varying in degree from the most spiritual or ethereal planes to the most gross. Valentinus held that a perfect aion called Propator, equivalent to the First Logos, existed before bythos or the spatial deep (equivalent to the Second Logos).

Blavatsky explains that it is "Aion, who springs as a Ray from Ain-Soph (who does not create), and Aion, who creates, or through whom, rather, everything is created, or evolves" (SD 1:349). This twofold use of a word to denote a period of time and a deific power, also appears in Manu, and in the names of the Biblical patriarchs and the periods assigned to their respective lifetimes. (See FSO 194-5 for more detail)

The adjective aeonios occurs frequently in the New Testament, where it is mistranslated as eternal or everlasting.

(See also: Aeon, Aeons , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Bundahish or Bundahis (Pahlavi) (from bun root, origin + dah to create)

Origin of creation; a Zoroastrian mythologico-theological work treating of cosmogony, the government of the world, and its end. Its present form is of later date than the Avesta, but the material contained in it is of distinctly archaic character and runs far back into the night of early Persian history.

(See also: Bundahish, Bundahis , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Fate (from Latin fatum that which is divinely decreed from fari to speak)

The regents of the kosmos, acting as karmic agents of past destiny, are said to be the establishers of fate or destiny for the world or universe then beginning its manvantaric evolution. They establish in the noumenal worlds the roots, and in the phenomenal worlds the fruits, of the essential laws of being.

Fatalism is the belief that human beings have no free will; however, in actual fact, though perhaps we cannot maintain our own personal will against the laws of the universe except in very moderate degree, yet we have considerable latitude to make experiments and learn from our mistakes.

The Latin fatum means the laws of nature or the will of the gods, personified as the Parcae or three Fates, the Greek Moirai. In the best sense therefore it means our lot, appointed by the destiny born of our own past thoughts, feelings, and acts.

See also KARMA; MOIRA

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

Lotus (from Greek lotos)

A lily belonging to the genus Nymphaea, an ancient and universal symbol; in India spoken of innumerable times under its Sanskrit name padma.

"It is the flower sacred to nature and her Gods, and represents the abstract and the Concrete Universes, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both spiritual and physical nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and the Buddhists after them; revered in China and Japan, and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger as the Christians do now, who replace it with the water lily. It had, and still has, its mystic meaning which is identical with every nation on the earth" (SD 1:379).

In relation to men, the lotus is the symbol of the self-producing soul which, during manifestation immersed in material life as the lotus seed is embedded in the mud of lake or pond, is wakened by the warm rays of the spiritual sun, and grows upward through the world of illusion (symbolized by water) to blossom in the free air and sunlight of truth.

Cosmically the lotus symbolizes the emanation of the objective from the subjective, the manifested effect or production of the eternal plan on which the invisible worlds are built by the formative logoi. This lies buried, until the time for its svabhava or production comes, in the bosom of eternal ideation -- as the lotus plant of visible nature exists in miniature in the seed.

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

Theos, Theoi (Greek) [from theein to run, in reference to the planetary deities who perform the formative work in cosmic evolution; or cf Sanskrit deva, Latin deus (connected with Zeus or Dios) the bright or shining one]

God, gods; builders or cosmocratores. The two derivations are not antagonistic because the planets, stars, and suns are the bright and shining ones. Used in the triad of chaos, theos, cosmos -- three hypostases on the matter side of cosmic evolution -- meaning respectively the storehouse of cosmic seeds, the builders, and the universe built thereby.

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