MANTRA(M)

A secret utterance or secret vibrational name of a god that when unleashed can have a potent effect. The most popular Hindu examples are "Om mani padmi om"; "Tat tvam asti!" and "Om namah shivaya." Riland adds "Om! Bhur Buhva Swah. Tat savitur varnyam devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo na prachodayat." Gurus sometimes supply their chelas with secret and "tailored" mantras. Mantras are extremely important meditational engines and provide powerful foundations for the psyche.

Here is an old pain mantram:

Swords miss, knots loose!

Asclepius, Apollo, Hermes, Zeus!

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

Master M.

See MORYA

(See also: Master M, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

M'bul.

See MABBUL

(See also: M'bul, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Makaras (Sanskrit) The five words beginning with M that concern the lower tantric practices: madya (wine); mamsa (flesh); matsya (fish); mudra (mystic gesticulations); and maithuna (sexual intercourse).

(See also: Makaras, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Charcot, Jean M. (1825-1893) French neurologist and pathologist who investigated hypnotism, hysteria, sclerosis, senile diseases, etc. (BCW, SD 2:370-1n)

(See also: Jean M Charcot, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Per-M-Rhu (Egypt, Egyptian). This name is the recognised pronunciation of the ancient title of the collection of mystical lectures, called in English The Book of the Dead. Several almost complete papyri have been found, and there are numberless extant copies of portions of the work.

(See also: Per-M-Rhu, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Om (Sanskrit) Also Aum. In Brahmanical literature, a syllable of invocation, considered very holy: "Om is the bow, the Self is the arrow, Brahman is called its aim" (Mandukya Upanishad 2:2).

It is placed at the beginning of scriptures considered of unusual sanctity. "Prolonging the uttering of this word, both of the O and the M, with the mouth closed, it reechoes in and arouses vibration in the skull, and affects, if the aspirations be pure, the different nervous centers of the body for great good" (Fund 28). The virtue or spiritual and magical properties attributed to this word, however, arise out of the purity and devotion of the one uttering it.

(See also: Om, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Master, Masters Adopted in theosophical literature to designate those human beings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than the general run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanity and the founders of the world-religions.

These great human beings (also known by the Sanskrit term mahatma, "great self") are the representatives in our day of a brotherhood of immemorial antiquity running back into the very dawn of historic time, and for ages beyond it.

It is a self-perpetuating brotherhood formed of individuals who, however much they may differ among themselves in evolution, have all attained mahatmaship, and whose lofty purposes comprise among other things the constant aiding in the regeneration of humanity, its spiritual and intellectual as well as psychic guidance, and in general the working of the best spiritual, intellectual, psychic, and moral good to mankind. From time to time members from their ranks, or their disciples, enter the outside world publicly in order to inspire mankind with their teachings.

Two of Blavatsky's teachers became publicly known under the names of Master M (Morya) and Master KH (Koot Hoomi). Some of their correspondence with one of Blavatsky's earlier theosophical helpers has been published as The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.

(See also: Master, Masters, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mysticism The doctrine that the nature of reality can be known by direct apprehension, by faculties above the senses, by intuition.

"Mysticism demands a faculty above reason, by which the subject shall be placed in immediate and complete union with the object of his desire -- a union in which the consciousness of self has disappeared, and in which therefore subject and object are one" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed. "Mysticism"). It overlaps in meaning such terms as the Neoplatonic ecstasis, and the theosophy of Iamblichus.

(See also: Mysticism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mystic Death An experience at a certain stage of initiation, where the candidate undergoes the experiences of virtual death, differing from actual death in that his body is prevented from dissolution so that he may resume it when the trial has been passed.

Through its symbolic representation in the exoteric Mystery dramas, it has passed into the substance of religious creeds where it has been adapted to those formulas, as in the story or mythos of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is, among other things, a description of some of the experiences undergone by such a candidate.

(See also: Mystic Death, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

'Or (Hebrew) [from 'or to be or become light]

Also aior, aour, aur. Light, with secondary meanings of dawn, daybreak, lightning; the light of life; mystically light in the sense of instruction, knowledge, hence doctrine. Metaphorically, happiness, prosperity, guidance, and a teacher. By extension when used with paneh (face), to make the face shine, said of a candidate during initiation.

Equivalent to the astral light, and the source and synthesis of the two aspects of the manifested astro-etheric light: the one being the light- and life-giving ('od) and the other the matter side ('ob), the dealer of death.

(See also: 'Or, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

M - The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew and of the English alphabets, and the twenty-fourth of the Arabic. As a Roman numeral, this letter stands for 1,000, and with a dash on it (M) signifies one million.

In the Hebrew alphabet Mem symbolized water, and as a numeral is equivalent to 40. The Sanskrit ma is equivalent to number 5, and is also connected with water through the sign of the Zodiac, called Makara (q.v.).

Moreover, in the Hebrew and Latin numerals the m, stands "as the definite numeral for an indeterminate number"(Mackenzie’s Mason. Cyc.), and "the Hebrew sacred name of God app]ied to this letter is Meborach, Benedictus." With the Esotericists the M is the symbol of the Higher Ego - Manas, Mind.

(See also: M - Letter M, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Matha (Sanskrit) A seat of learning or instruction and training, especially for young Brahmins; or occasionally a temple. Also a hut or cottage, particularly of an ascetic, as a center of mystical training.

(See also: Matha, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mu (Senzar) Destruction of temptation; a portion of the mystic word in Northern Buddhism (TG 217).

(See also: Mu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Nava-nidhi (Sanskrit) The nine jewels; in Hindu mysticism, "a consummation of spiritual development . . ." (TG 225).

(See also: Nava-nidhi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

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)

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)

Olympus (Greek) The abode of the great gods in Grecian mythology in Homer and Hesiod. Such heavenly abodes are usually associated with mountains, such as the Hindu Meru, the Greek Atlas, and the Hebrew Sinai; in this case the name was given to the summit of the range dividing Macedonia from Thessaly, but there were other mountains called Olympus. Later philosophers, perhaps more mystically minded, placed Olympus in the zenith, as the abode of the divinities.

There were many Olympuses, the references in story occasionally being to the higher globes of the earth-chain, and in a cosmic sense the higher planes of the solar system. At one time in Greek legend both the gods and their abode had a character of voluptuousness, comparable wit the Hebrew Eden (which means "delight"), the heaven of Indra, or the abode of the Arabian houris; but this was when degeneracy had set in and the people had forgotten the significance of the deities, and lost the key enabling them to interpret the myths and allegories forming their respective mythologic religions.

Although in Greek mythology the gods are said to dwell on Olympus, three of the main Olympian divinities, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades (or Pluto), had their habitats respectively in what may be called heaven or the inmost world of spirit, the cosmic spaces or the waters of space, and the underworld of the universe. Yet these three same divinities, because of their permeant cosmic forces or energies, and strictly on the law of analogical reasoning, had the same functions and occupy the same relative places in the minor forms of their respective manifestations: as, Zeus in the sky, Poseidon in the oceans of the globe, and Hades or Pluto in the underworld of our earth. Or again, the twelve great gods of the Mediterranean peoples may be considered to be the twelve main cosmic and intelligent powers whose all-permeant nature and activity is as apparent in the universe itself as in every atom or minor division thereof.

In the mystic language of ancient time, a holy mountain universally signified a school of esoteric teaching. Just as a mountain on earth raises its summits towards the free heaven, and therefore mystically towards spirit and the gods, so in the ancient esoteric schools the training and the initiations conducted raised the neophytes or initiants towards the spirit, both cosmically and inner, and hence likewise towards the gods.

See also PARNASSUS

(See also: Olympus, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Migmend {BCW 13:292&n}

(See also: Migmend, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)