Ab-i-hayat. See AB-E-HAYAT

(See also: Ab-i-hayat, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kala Brahma (Gouri) (Sanskrit) Another name for the god Sabda Brahma, a mystic name for akasa or the astral light, the source of occult sounds and the power of mantras.

Sabda Brahma's "vehicle is called Shadja, and the latter is the basic tone in the Hindu musical scale. It is only after . . . passing through the study of preliminary sounds, that a Yogi begins to see Kala Brahma, i.e., perceives things in the Astral Light" (BCW 4:166; cf 4:164).

(See also: Kala Brahma, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Burham-i-Kati. See Borhan Quatiu {SD 2:366-7}

(See also: Burham-i-Kati, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Javidan Khirad (Persian) Eternal intellect; the original Javidan Khirad which is supposed to be the teachings of Houshang, one of the mythical Pishdadian kings (Para-Dhata), the ancient law givers. Ibh-e-Moskouyeh (Iranian historian, 923-1030) wrote a book under the same name. In the introduction to this book he writes:

"In my youth I had read a book called Estetalat-al-Fahm by Jahiz (160-255 Hejra) in which he had spoken of Javidan Khirad with such unparalleled praise that was unheard of. I searched for this book and traveled everywhere until at last I found it with the Mobed-Mobedan (the chief of Mobeds) of Fers."

(See also: Javidan Khirad, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dzog-pa'i-Ku rdzogs-pa'i-sku (Tibetan) Body of bliss, equivalent of Sambhogakaya {BCW 14:392n}.

(See also: Dzog-pa'i-Ku, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Karaim Jews "Jews of the Crimea -- who call themselves the descendants of the true children of Israel, i.e., of the Sadducees -- reject the Torah and the Pentateuch of the Synagogue, reject the Sabbath of the Jews (keeping Friday), will have neither the Books of the Prophets nor the Psalms -- nothing but their own Books of Moses and that they call his one and real Law" (BCW 14:174).

(See also: Karaim Jews, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I-em-hetep or Imhetep (Egyptian) Imouthis, Imouthes (Greek) Also Imhotep, Imhot-pou. He who comes in peace; the Egyptian deity presiding over medicine, especially in connection with its learning and science; a son of Ptah who, with his brother Nefer-tem, was regarded as the third member of the great triad of gods at Memphis.

The Greeks equated him with Aesculapius. He was regarded as the god of study and in later times took on some of the attributes of Thoth or Tehuti as the scribe of the gods. During their life he healed men's bodies; after their death he superintended the preservation of their bodies, and was regarded as one of the protectors of the dead in the underworld. He is termed the Logos-Creator in conjunction with Kneph (SD 1:353).

(See also: I-em-hetep, Imhetep, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Jehovah Nissi yehowah nissi (Hebrew) (from nes lofty, an elevation + i mine)

Jehovah, my elevation; in the Bible the altar built by Moses (Ex 17:15); Blavatsky maintains that this aspect of Jehovah was equivalent to Dionysos or Bacchus, and that the Jews worshiped this deity (the androgyne of Nissi) as the Greeks might have worshiped Bacchus and Osiris.

Tradition has it that Bacchus was reared in a cave of Nysa, which is between Phoenicia and Egypt. As the son of Zeus, he was named for his father (gen Dios) and the place: Dio-Nysos (the Zeus or Jove of Nysa). Diodorus identifies this Dionysos with Osiris.

(See also: Jehovah Nissi, yehowah nissi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Joshua, Josue (Hebrew) In the Old Testament, son of Nun (nun, "fish") and successor of Moses, who led the Israelites in the invasion and settlement of Caanan; in the Middle Ages, rated among the "Nine Worthies." Moses died or disappeared "from the top of Mount Pisgah (Nebo, oracular Wisdom), after he had laid his hands upon Joshua, who thus became 'full of the spirit of wisdom,' i.e., initiated" (BCW 14:264-5). Jesus (from Hebrew Yeshua` contraction of Yehoshua` savior, helper, or that which is spacious or widespread)

is sometimes identified with Joshua, Qabbalistically. (SD, BCW)

(See also: Joshua, Josue, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I Ching (Chinese) Also Yi King. The Book of Changes; also Holy Book of Mutations, these mutations being the manifestations of tao.

The text of the original treatise is from a system of eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, composed of whole and broken lines, thus: (illust) which, by altering the positions of the whole and broken lines form the changes in the diagrams. This has been assigned by scholars to Fu-Hsi (30th century BC). The first extant commentary on it is assigned to Ching Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty in 1122 BC, and his son.

There have been many explanations offered regarding this work, called by many the Qabbalah of China: some see in it only a system of divination, a lunar calendar, phallic worship, or again the vocabulary of a tribe whose very existence had to be postulated for this purpose. Both Taoists and Confucianists regard the I Ching as the holiest of books; Confucius declared that he would like to give another 50 years of his life to its study, while the only Chinese commentator who is said to have understood it was Chu Hsi (1130-1200).

In the Hi-ts'ze (or so-called Appendices to the work) the universe is described as a living organism called T'ai-ch'i (the supreme being, or most ultimate). The processes of birth and rebirth, or the production of life, are due to the manifestations of tao by means of the yang and yin.

"To Yang belong the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9; to Yin belong the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. There are then five celestial and five terrestrial numbers; these rows of five operate upon each other, and each number has one with which it corresponds. The sum of the celestial numbers is twenty-five. It is in accordance with these factors that the processes of the Universe are effected, and the kwei and the shen do their work" (Hi-ts'ze).

Speaking of the I Ching, Blavatsky says:

"the Stanzas given in our text . . . represent precisely the same idea. The old archaic map of Cosmogony is full of lines in the Confucian style, of concentric circles and dots. Yet all these represent the most abstract and philosophical conceptions of the Cosmogony of our Universe" (SD 1:441).

(See also: I Ching, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Iddhi (Pali) (from the verbal root sidh to succeed, attain an objective, reach accomplishment)

Equivalent to the Sanskrit siddhi, used to signify the powers or attributes of perfection: powers of various kinds, spiritual and intellectual as well as astral and physical, acquired through training, discipline, initiation, and individual holiness. In Buddhism it is generally rendered "occult power." There are two classes of iddhis, the higher of which, according to the Digha-Nikaya and other Buddhist works, are eight in number: 1) the power to project mind-made images of oneself; 2) to become invisible; 3) to pass through solid things, such as a wall; 4) to penetrate solid ground as if it were water; 5) to walk on water; 6) to fly through the air; 7) to touch sun and moon; and 8) to ascend into the highest heavens. The same work represents the Buddha as saying:

"It is because I see danger in the practice of these mystic wonders that I loathe and abhor and am ashamed thereof" (1:213) -- a true statement although iddhis are powers of the most desirable kind when pertaining to the higher nature, for they are of spiritual, intellectual, and higher psychical character. It is only when iddhis or siddhis are limited to the meaning of the gross astral psychic attributes that the Buddha properly condemns them as being dangerous always, and to the ambitious and selfish person extremely perilous. Further, it was an offense against the regulations of the Brotherhood (Samgha) for any member to display any powers before the laity.

The bases for the acquirement of the iddhis rested upon four completed steps in training (iddhipada): determination in respect of concentration on purpose, on will, on thoughts, and on investigation.

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

Ineffable Name With the Jews, applied to the word Jehovah; with the Qabbalists, associated with the Tetragrammaton (JHVH, YHVH, or IHVH). The Ineffable Name is the secret of secrets, IHVH (or Jehovah) being used as a screen.

The power of the Ineffable Name is the power or force of the natural harmony in nature, which the ancient Greek mystical philosophers called music or the cosmic harmony. The name used by the Western Qabbalists is not to be pronounced, rather than ineffable, for the " 'Ineffable Name' of the true Occultist, is no name at all, least of all is it that of Jehovah. The latter implies, even in its Kabbalistical, esoteric meaning, an androgynous nature, YHVH, or one of a male and female nature.

 It is simply Adam and Eve, or man and woman blended in one, and as now written and pronounced, is itself a substitute. But the Rabbins do not care to remember the Zoharic admission that YHVH means 'not as I Am written, Am I read" (Zohar, fol. III., 230a). One has to know how to divide the Tetragrammaton ad infinitum before one arrives at the sound of the truly unpronounceable name of the Jewish mystery-god" (TG 155-6).

(See also: Ineffable Name, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ad-i Name given by the Aryans to "the first speaking race of mankind" in the fourth round (SD 2:452). The root ad is prominent in many ancient words: Sanskrit adi (first, primeval); Hebrew 'Adon (lord), 'Adonim (angles or planetary lords) -- "the first spiritual and ethereal sons of the earth" (ibid.). The Sons of Adi (sons of the first) are often called Sons of the Fire-Mist (TG 6).

(See also: Ad-i, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Khem (Egyptian) A deity presiding over the districts of Herui and Khem in Upper Egypt; being an aspect of Horus the Younger (Heru-merti). He is especially connected with the fish in the city of Sekhem in the Underworld:

"Se-khen is the residence or loka of the god Khem (Horus-Osiris, or Father and Son), hence the 'Devachan' of Atma-Buddhi.

". . . Khem is Horus avenging the death of his father Osiris, hence punishing the Sins of man when he becomes a disembodied Soul. Thus the defunct 'Osirified' became the god Khem, who 'gleans the field of Aanroo,' i.e., he gleans either his reward or punishment, as that field is the celestial locality (Devachan) where the defunct is given wheat, the food of divine justice" (SD 1:220-21).

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

Ivaldi, Ivalde (Icelandic, Scandinavian) (from i in, into + valdi power, wielder)

Wielder of power, or entering into power; in the Norse Edda, a dwarf (a not-yet-human consciousness) and also a giant, meaning a period of material life.

Ivaldi seemingly represents the previous lifetime of our planetary consciousness which was imbodied in the moon when it was living before the earth was formed. His is the home of the dark elves, said to be situated beneath Midgard (the earth). His children are Nanna (the lunar soul), and Idun (the terrestrial soul), while Hjuke and Bil are the children whose shadows are seen on the face of the full moon and who live on in the nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill. Additional descendants of Ivaldi are the dwarfs Brock and Sindri, representing respectively the mineral and vegetable kingdoms now on earth.

(See also: Ivaldi, Ivalde, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Cimmerians In Greek mythology a people who dwelt in a land of mist and darkness, variously placed, as by Homer in the extremest west on the ocean; in historical times, a people in the Palus Maeotis, who were driven away by the Scythians. The Cimmerians were contrasted with the Hyperboreans, who inhabited a land of perpetual sunshine.

(See also: Cimmerians I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

John the Baptist Considered by Christians the last of the Hebrew prophets and the forerunner and announcer of Jesus. His statement "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt 3:11), is explained to mean that John as a non-initiate could impart no greater mysteries than those pertaining to the plane of matter -- the exoteric gnosis and ritualism; while Jesus could impart the fire of spiritual knowledge (SD 2:566). His disciples are described as dissenters from the Essenes (IU 2:130).

The rite of baptism was an important function of the Less Mysteries, and in various forms was universal over the earth, so that John the Baptist appears as a teacher in the Less Mysteries, which he seems to have resurrected as a rite in Judea at about the time when Jesus lived. A baptismal rite is known to have been practiced as a function of the Less Mysteries not only among the Chaldeans and Akkadians, but likewise among the Egyptians and certain of the ancient Greeks.

(See also: John the Baptist, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kether (Hebrew) Crown; in the Qabbalah, the name of the first Sephirah which is regarded as the first condensation of spiritual substance around the monadic center, this gathering together being the first reflection -- the number 1 -- from manifested nonbeing or 'eyn soph, the mystical kosmic womb of being represented figuratively as the Zero. Kether is termed the Primordial Point (nequdah ri'shonah) and the Expanded or Evolved Point (nequdah peshutah) because when the first reflection from above or condensation from 'eyn soph occurred, it was figurated as a point or monadic garment.

This first Sephirah contains involved within itself all the other nine Sephiroth, which it proceeds in regular serial order to emanate forth. It is considered in the Qabbalah as a sexless yet androgynous potency. Kether is original spiritual Light in comparison with divine Darkness or the absolute Light of 'eyn soph, this divine Darkness being beyond human conception and hence termed the Concealed of the Concealed -- a title also applicable to Kether itself.

Being the oldest or first of the Sephiroth it is termed the Most Holy Ancient One (`Attiqa' Qaddisha'), the Ancient of Days (`Attiq Yomin), and the White Head (Reisha' Hiwwara') as containing within itself all colors. As head of the Sephirothal Tree, Kether is termed the Great Aspect, Macroprosopus, or Long Face ('Arich 'Anpin) as it contains all the attributes of the other nine Sephiroth. Its Divine Name is 'Ehyeh (I am), the first manifested existence or cosmic being. Applied to man, Kether is represented by the head. Its first emanation became the second Sephirah, Hochmah.

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

Personality In distinguishing between individuality and personality, individuality is the simple fact of essential self-consciousness, the recognition that "I am I"; whereas personality is saying that "I am Mr. Smith." In other words, individuality is the recognition of oneself as a distinct non-partite egoity, and personality is the identifying of oneself with a particular aggregate of qualities, the latter serving as vehicle for the individuality.

(See also: Personality I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ichthus, Ichthys (Greek) Fish; used in a mystic sense of Jesus Christ, given acrostically by the initial Greek letters of the phrase 'Iesous Christos Thiou Yios Soter (Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter) meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

"The Gnostics had also a nickname for their ideal Jesus -- or the man in the Chrest condition, the Neophyte on trial, and this nickname was Ichthus, the 'fish.'

"With this fish, with the waters in general, and, for the Christians, with the Jordan waters in particular, the whole program of the ancient Mystery-Initiation is connected. The whole of the New Testament is an allegorical representation of the Cycle of Initiation, i.e., the natural birth of man in sin or flesh, and of his second or spiritual birth as an Initiate followed by his resurrection after three days of trance -- a mode of purification -- during which time his human body or Astral was in Hades or Hell, which is the earth, and his divine Ego in Heaven or the realm of truth" (BCW 11:495).

The word was also applied to Bacchus. It is similar to other figures associated with fish symbols, such as Jonas, Oannes, Dagon, Vishnu, etc.

See also FISH; PISCES

(See also: Ichthus, Ichthys, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Khepera (Egyptian) (from kheper to become, be born, arise into manifestation)

Originally one of three aspects of the sun:

"I am Khepera in the morning, and Ra at noon-day, and Temu in the evening." Later each of these aspects developed into a separate deity. Khepera was the god of regeneration and development in growth, a spiritual power regulating reimbodiments and transmigrations and the deity presiding over the Egyptian form of the creation, where he is the only thing in existence besides the watery abyss, Nu. The deity of the universe, Nebertcher (a form of Ra) says:

"I am he who came into being in the form of the god Khepera," the hieroglyphic text representing the word by the scarab surmounted by a circle. The universe, then, is but the re-manifestation of a previous universe: the scarab standing for rebirth and regeneration, and the circle for karmic destiny in the universe as containing the seeds of life, brought into activity through reimbodiment or rebirth. The primeval deities Shu and Tefnut were brought forth by Khepera, who was the developer of everything which comes into manifested being from latency. In The Book of the Dead Khepera is called the father of the gods.

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