Epimetheus (Ancient Greek). Lit., "He who takes counsel after" the event. A brother of Prometheus in Greek Mythology.

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Hermes Sarameyas (Greco-Sanskrit) The God Hermes, or Mercury, "he who watches over the flock of stars" in the Greek mythology.

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Helheim (Scandianvian Norse), The Kingdom of the Dead in the Norse mythology. In the Edda, Helheim surrounds the Northern Mistworld, called Nifelheim.

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TARTARY

Along with Tibet, one of the sacred lands. Not to be confused with Tartarus. In Greek mythology Tartarus is the bottomless abyss beneath Hades.

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Difficult Passage:

A common mythological motif involving a hard transition or journey from one state or location to another through impossibly dangerous or paradoxical territory.

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CAVE OF CRUACHAN: The Irish name of the entrance to the Otherworld. In the Christian mythology of the islands this became disparagingly known as the "Gateway to Hell."

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DEMON: non-physical spirit; also called elemental, deva, angel. In Christian mythology this word refers to evil entities who are governed by Satan.

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Brahmana:

Brahmana: a brahmin, a member of the highest social class of traditional Indian society; also an early type of ritual text explicating the rituals and mythology of the four Vedas; cf. Aranyaka, Upanishad, Veda

(See also: Brahmana, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Kamadhenu (Sanskrit) (from kama desire, wish + dhenu milch cow)

Also Kamaduha, Surabhi. The mythical cow belonging to the sage Vasishtha, produced by the gods at the churning of the cosmic ocean. She is supposed to grant all desires and hence is termed the cow of plenty. This allegory refers to the appearance of the earth in space as the mother of all that later is -- at least so far as our globe is concerned -- the earth being mythologically considered to be milked and thus producing food. Many archaic mythologies have such an emblem of generative fertility.

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Anunnaki (Chaldean) In Babylonian mythology, a hierarchy of lower angels: the angels of earth or the underworld, star gods who had sunk below the horizon and become judges of the dead. Below the anunnaki were several classes of genii -- sadu, vadukku, ekimu, gallu -- some of which were represented as being good, some evil. The anunnaki are "terrestrial Elementals also" (TG 25).

In Sumerian mythology, the children and followers of An, judges of the dead.

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Dii Magni or Di Magni (Latin) The great gods; referring specifically to the twelve great deities of the Latin pantheon. Identified with the kabiri, dhyani-chohans, etc. (SD 2:360), the twelve great deities are easily discoverable in Greek and other mythologies; they were particularly cultivated in the ancient Etrurian mythology. They are directly connected with the twelve signs of the zodiac, as being the twelve great deific spirits of the cosmos, of which divinities the twelve zodiacal signs are representations.

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Gopa (Sanskrit) (from go cow + the verbal root pa to protect, cherish)

Protector, guardian, cowherd, herdsman, milkman; in the mythology concerning Krishna, Gopa is applied to him as chief herdsman -- or shepherd, to use the Christian form of the idea.

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Gopi (Sanskrit) (fem of gopa cowherd)

In Hindu mythology the female cowherds of Vrindavana -- playmates and companions of Krishna during his boyhood, considered mystically as celestial personages or powers. Gopi is sometimes spoken of as one of the wives of Sakyamuni, but the meaning here is a mystical power.

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Gnipa (Icelandic, Scandinavian) Peak; in Norse mythology, the gnipa-hollow is the cave that gives entrance to the underworld or world of the dead governed by Hel, Loki's daughter. The hound of Hel, Garm, howls in the hollow before Ragnarok.

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Hemera (Greek) Day; in older Greek mythology, from Chaos issue Erebus and Nox (cosmic darkness and cosmic night) and from these two under the action of Eros, issue Aether and Hemera (light and day) -- darkness generates light. Aether is the light of the heavenly or superior spheres, whereas Hemera is the light of the inferior and terrestrial regions.

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Gullinbursti (Icelandic) (from gullin golden + bursti bristles, mane)

In Norse mythology, a golden boar which draws the chariot of Frey, god of the terrestrial world. He received it as a gift from the two dwarfs Brock (mineral kingdom) and Sindri (vegetable kingdom), sons of Ivalde, the moon.

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Kottos (Greek) Also Cottus. In Greek mythology, a son of Ouranos and Gaia (heaven and earth), one of the Hecatonchires -- three gigantic brothers each with 100 arms and 50 heads -- who were banished to Tartarus by Ouranos and who under Zeus became assistants to Hephaistos.

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Lobha (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root lubh to desire greatly)

Covetousness, avarice, stupidity; in Hindu mythology a god, the son of Pushti and Maya, equivalent to the Latin Cupido, from which comes the modern European Cupid. In this connection Lobha is said to be a son of Brahma generated by the latter in an evil moment.

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Linga-Purana (Sanskrit) One of the 18 principal Puranas, in which Siva, supposed to be present in the Agni-linga (great fiery phallus) gives an account of the formation of the worlds and the objects of life. It also contains mythologic accounts of Siva's incarnations as avataras.

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Karttika (Sanskrit) (from krittika the Pleiades)

A month corresponding to October-November. Also the ancient Hindu god of war, given the name Karttika or Karttikeya because mythologically he is said to have been nursed and reared by the six Krittikas or Pleiades.

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Lachesis (Greek) Lot, destiny; second of the three Moirae (Fates), represented in Greek mythology as allotting to each person the characteristics as well as the length of his life, measuring these by the thread which they spun. Lachesis measured the thread spun by her sister Clotho, which then was cut by Atropos. She is often represented as a maiden with a scroll or globe.

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Kailasa (Sanskrit) A lofty mountain in the Himalayas; in mythology Siva's paradise is placed upon Kailasa, north of Lake Manasasarovara. The god of wealth, Kuvera, also is said to have his palace there. Because of the occult history attached to Mount Kailasa, Hindu metaphysics not infrequently uses Kailasa for heaven or the abode of the gods.

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