Hierophant (from Greek hierophantes from hieros sacred + phainein to show)

A revealer of sacred mysteries; title given to the highest adepts in the temples of antiquity, who taught and expounded the Mysteries. The attributes of a hierophant were those of Hermes or Mercury, being both expounder and mystagog or conductor of souls. In Hebrew an equivalent is found in the hierarchy of the 'elohim. Many names of man-gods refer to archaic hierophants, such as Orpheus, Enoch, etc.

The hierophants of ancient Egypt handed down the sacred teachings, some of which were, however, lost by the deaths of hierophants before they had completed their message because, due to the degeneration which had come upon the West, they were unable to find appropriate pupils to receive the wisdom.

During the celebration of the ancient Mysteries, the hierophant in the drama of the Mysteries represented the demiurge, the Third Logos, opening or revealing the mysteries of the universe and, in consequence, of human nature to the neophytes. He was thus the sacred teacher.

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

Gyges (Greek) One of three giants having a dual aspect as a god and a mortal, imprisoned by Kronos for their rebellion against him. The Ring of Gyges is a familiar metaphor in European literature. Plato relates that Gyges was a Lydian who murdered King Candaules and then married his widow. He once descended into a chasm and found a brazen horse with an opening in its side in which was the skeleton of a man, on whose finger was a brass ring. Gyges took the ring and when placed upon his own finger, it made him invisible.

The ring here signifies the circle of knowledge or cycle of initiatory experience and wisdom thus gained, which the fully completed initiate thereafter carries with him in the form of the ring or circle of wisdom and power. One of the powers of the adept, for instance, is to render himself invisible at will, which is achieved by throwing around himself a veil of akasa. The descent into the earth points emphatically to the descent into the pit or underworld which every neophyte of the higher degrees must undertake before completing the initiatory cycle.

See also BRIAREUS

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

Mara (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root mri to die]

That which kills, death, destroyer; in exoteric Indian literature, the representation of temptation, esoterically personified temptation through men's vices, which kill the soul. Maha-Mara is the king of the maras, or temptations collectively, the great ensnarer, and is usually represented "with a crown in which shines a jewel of such lustre that it blinds those who look at it, this lustre referring of course to the fascination exercised by vice upon certain natures" (VS 76).

Mara is the god of darkness and death: "Death of every physical thing truly; but Mara is also the unconscious quickener of the birth of the Spiritual" (SD 2:579n). The hosts of Mara refer to the unconquered passions that the neophyte must slay or transmute before he is reborn spiritually, or can become a dvija (twice-born). Mara is also a name frequently given to Kama, the personified god of love or desire.

(See also: Mara, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Hierophant (from Greek hierophantes from hieros sacred + phainein to show)

A revealer of sacred mysteries; title given to the highest adepts in the temples of antiquity, who taught and expounded the Mysteries. The attributes of a hierophant were those of Hermes or Mercury, being both expounder and mystagog or conductor of souls. In Hebrew an equivalent is found in the hierarchy of the 'elohim. Many names of man-gods refer to archaic hierophants, such as Orpheus, Enoch, etc.

The hierophants of ancient Egypt handed down the sacred teachings, some of which were, however, lost by the deaths of hierophants before they had completed their message because, due to the degeneration which had come upon the West, they were unable to find appropriate pupils to receive the wisdom.

During the celebration of the ancient Mysteries, the hierophant in the drama of the Mysteries represented the demiurge, the Third Logos, opening or revealing the mysteries of the universe and, in consequence, of human nature to the neophytes. He was thus the sacred teacher.

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

Job 'iyyob (Hebrew) Persecuted, tried; one of the books in the Bible, depicting the story of Job, regarded by Blavatsky as far older than the Pentateuch. She points out that there is no reference to any of the Hebrew patriarchs, that Jehovah is not mentioned in the poem itself, that there is no mention of the Sabbatical institution, and that there is a direct discussion on the worship of the heavenly bodies (prevailing in those days in Arabia).

"The Book of Job is a complete representation of ancient initiation and the trials which generally precede this grandest of all ceremonies. The neophyte perceives himself deprived of everything he valued, and afflicted with foul disease. His wife appeals to him to adore God and die; there was no more hope for him" (IU 2:494-5). Elihu the hierophant teaches Job, now ready to learn the meaning of his experience, and Job is able to contact his own higher self or inner god.

(See also: Job, 'iyyob, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chrestes, Chrestos, Chrestians chrestos (Greek) Applied by the Greeks as a title of respect equivalent to "the worthy." Chrestes meant an interpreter of oracles. In the language of the Mysteries, a chrestos was a candidate or neophyte, and a christos (anointed) was an initiate.

Christ is a mystical expression for the human inner god, while chrest is the good but as yet unregenerated nature; using here the language of the Mysteries, Christ may be likened to Dionysos, Osiris, or Krishna, who will deliver the suffering Chrest, mankind or Prometheus, in its trial. It is Christos that incarnates in Chrestos.

These usages were taken over by the Gnostic schools out of which Christianity largely sprang, and there is abundant evidence to be found among the early Christian writers and the Gnostics themselves that the adherents originally called themselves Chrestians.

(See also: Chrestes, Chrestos, Chrestians, chrestos, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gyges (Greek) One of three giants having a dual aspect as a god and a mortal, imprisoned by Kronos for their rebellion against him. The Ring of Gyges is a familiar metaphor in European literature. Plato relates that Gyges was a Lydian who murdered King Candaules and then married his widow. He once descended into a chasm and found a brazen horse with an opening in its side in which was the skeleton of a man, on whose finger was a brass ring. Gyges took the ring and when placed upon his own finger, it made him invisible.

The ring here signifies the circle of knowledge or cycle of initiatory experience and wisdom thus gained, which the fully completed initiate thereafter carries with him in the form of the ring or circle of wisdom and power. One of the powers of the adept, for instance, is to render himself invisible at will, which is achieved by throwing around himself a veil of akasa. The descent into the earth points emphatically to the descent into the pit or underworld which every neophyte of the higher degrees must undertake before completing the initiatory cycle.

See also BRIAREUS

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

Good Friday Anniversary celebration of the alleged physical crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which has a shifting date, varying between the 20th of March and the 23rd of April, the epoch of the Jewish Passover and the spring equinox.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday are a borrowing from the ancient Mysteries -- the mystic death and resurrection of the unconquered sun, exemplified by the mystic death and resurrection of the successful neophyte. This celebration is likewise connected with the winter solstice; the wish of the church authorities to accommodate themselves both to Roman and Jewish customs has caused the festival to be split, so that the birth now is celebrated in winter and the death and the resurrection in spring, whereas birth and resurrection are two words for the same mystic truth.

Even in the dogmatic and somewhat mechanical Christian celebration of these originally pagan mysteries, Friday is the day of Venus, a prototype of the organ of the gnostic individuality; Saturday is the day of Saturn, a prototype of the guardian in ancient mystical occultism of the initiatory Ring-pass-not; and Sunday, the day of the rising or resurrection, is the day of the sun, giver of life and light.

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

A Theosophical definition of Asrama :

Asrama

(Sanskrit) A word derived from the root sram, signifying "to make efforts," "to strive"; with the particle a, which in this case gives force to the verbal root sram.

Asrama has at least two main significations.

1. The first is that of a college or school or a hermitage, an abode of ascetics, etc.; whereas the second meaning signifies a period of effort or striving in the religious life or career of a Brahmana of olden days. These periods of life in ancient times in Hindustan were four in number: the first, that of the student or brahmacharin;
2. second, the period of life called that of the grihastha or householder  - the period of married existence when the Brahmana took his due part in the affairs of men, etc.; third, the vanaprastha, or period of monastic seclusion, usually passed in a vana, or wood or forest, for purposes of inner recollection and spiritual meditation; and fourth, that of the bhikshu or religious mendicant, meaning one who has completely renounced the distractions of worldly life and has turned his attention wholly to spiritual affairs.

Brahmasrama. In modern esoteric or occult literature, the compound term Brahmasrama is occasionally used to signify an initiation chamber or secret room or adytum where the initiant or neophyte is striving or making efforts to attain union with Brahman or the inner god.

See also: Asrama, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Astronomos (Ancient Greek). The title given to the Initiate in the Seventh Degree of the reception of the Mysteries. In days of old, Astronomy was synonymous with Astrology; and the great Astrological Initiation took place in Egypt at Thebes, where the priests perfected, if they did not wholly invent the science.

Having passed through the degrees of Pastophoros, Neocoros, Melanophoros, Kistophoros, and Balahala (the degree of Chemistry of the Stars), the neophyte was taught the mystic signs of the Zodiac, in a circle dance representing the course of the planets (the dance of Krishna and the Gopis, celebrated to this day in Rajputana); after which he received a cross, the Tau (or Tat), becoming an Astronomos and a Healer. (See Isis Unveiled. Vol. II. 365).

Astronomy and Chemistry were inseparable in these studies. "Hippocrates had so lively a faith in the influence of the stars on animated beings, and on their diseases, that he expressly recommends not to trust to physicians who are ignorant of astronomy.’ (Arago.) Unfortunately the key to the final door of Astrology or Astronomy is lost by the modern Astrologer; and without it, how can he ever be able to answer the pertinent remark made by the author of Mazzaroth, who writes: "people are said to be born under one sign, while in reality they are born under another, because the sun is now seen among different stars at the equinox "?

 Nevertheless, even the few truths he does know brought to his science such eminent and scientific believers as Sir Isaac Newton, Bishops Jeremy and Hall, Archbishop Usher, Dryden, Flamstead, Ashmole, John Milton, Steele, and a host of noted Rosicrucians.

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

Theopathy [from Greek theos god + pathos experience, feeling]

The seventh stage of initiation in the Mysteries, where the candidate becomes a selfless channel for communion with his inner god; the third and last stage of spiritual development -- the first being theophany, the second theopneusty. The sense of theopathy, originally used in the Greek Mysteries, was that the adept "suffered" the full influence of the god within him, becoming a selfless, consenting channel for the divine power pouring through him, in utter disregard of the personal self. Because of the immense personal renunciation involved, such an adept was said to suffer -- meaning to bear or carry the divinity within.

The second of these three initiatory grades, theopneusty, was the same as the third, but in less full degree, and signified that the initiate received the inspiration from above-within and, as it were, was breathed into from above, but did not carry the full load of the spiritual fire or inspirational flow. The first stage, theophany, was by comparison a temporary occurrence and signified the appearance of one's divinity to the initiant's self-conscious perception; the neophyte met his own inner god face to face, and the appearance or theophany lasted for a greater or less time depending upon various circumstances.

Such terms were held secret in the ancient Mysteries, although the words themselves, as time passed, slowly filtered outwards and often became misunderstood, as by Christian theologians.

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

White Stone "To him that overcometh will I give of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (Rev 2:17).

In Revelation, a symbolic record of John's initiation, the white stone is the new, pure, inner psychological vehicle in the person which the spirit within him is enabled to acquire and work through when the victory in initiation has been won; and the new name signifies the new self which has thus become manifest in him.

The stone "had the word prize engraved on it, and was the symbol of that word given to the neophyte who, in his initiation, had successfully passed through all the trials in the Mysteries. It was the potent white cornelian of the mediaeval Rosicrucians, who took it from the Gnostics" (TG 369).

In exoteric rites this truth was represented by the gift of an actual stone or gem, and we hear of the alba petra (white stone) of initiation; while the Gnostic gems and their inscriptions are well known. It also calls to mind the philosopher's stone.

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

Sarcophagus (Greek) Flesh-eating; limestone in Assus in the Troad had the property of consuming the bodies placed in coffins made of it, and so was called sarcophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone) or lapis Assius (stone of Assus), and the name came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

A sarcophagus was placed in the adytum of a temple and mystically signified the matrix of nature and resurrection. In initiation ceremonies the candidate, representing the energizing ray, descended into the sarcophagus representing nature's fecund womb, and emerged therefrom, which symbolized resurrection after death. In the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid, the candidate descended into the sarcophagus, where his body was entranced while his spiritual ego confabulated with the gods, descended into Amenti or the Underworld, and did works of charity to invisible beings; being carried during the night before the third day to the entrance of a gallery where the beams of the rising sun awoke him as an initiate.

The Mysteries of ancient times, and the rites connected with them, were very largely based on the secret and carefully hid events which occurred to a person after death, so that the secrets of death, and the resurrection from death, formed a large part of the initiation ceremonies of the ancient Mysteries. Thus it was that the sarcophagus or coffin, the emblem of death, held not only the physical body of the dead person, but likewise the entranced body of the neophyte whose soul was peregrinating into the invisible worlds and in and through the Underworld.

(See also: Sarcophagus, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Python (Greek) The serpent slain by Apollo, who was therefore called Pythius. At one time the world was covered with temples to the sun and dragon: the Ophites adopted it from Egypt, whither it had come from India. It is seen in the story of Bel and the Dragon, of St. George or St.

Michael and the Dragon, of Osiris and Typhon, Krishna and Kaliya, and the Lord God and the Serpent of Eden. The cosmic dragon represents the shadow side of the logos, and the opposition between these two is the so-called war in heaven.

The dual nature of the serpent is seen in Rahu and Ketu, the Dragon's head and tail; and Typhon or Apophis, slain by Horus is also called Set, who is in one of his permutations Hermes, god of wisdom, and whose name likewise is that of the Biblical Seth and Satan.

In initiations the inner enlightened individual had to confront his lower passions, now personified into a veritable astral monster, and to be either its victor or its victim; when victorious he became the spiritual serpent in its other sense of the dragon of wisdom. This double meaning has its correspondence in the fact that snakes shed their skin and reemerge purified, just as the neophyte through training and initiation sheds the Old Person and reemerges from the tests as the New Person.

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

Powers In theosophical literature, usually those endowments and abilities (Sanskrit siddhis) which are said to be dormant in present mankind as a whole. It would be more accurate to say that mankind itself is at present dormant, while the powers themselves are not dormant but simply without ability to express themselves through the constitution of the present relatively sleeping mankind.

Thus it is that by evolutionary advancement or initiatory training the neophyte does not rouse these powers into activity, but instead raises his human nature into the planes where these powers respectively already exist in full function. Thus, intellect is not dormant in mankind at present, but it is the human unevolved side of us which is as yet so imperfectly developed as to form a veil around the already fully evolved intellectual or manasaputric power within us. Thus, in a blind person, it is not the light which is latent or unawakened, but merely the blind person's incapacity to see: the glorious sunlight is always there. Very often the word is employed with a qualifying adjective, such as spiritual powers, occult powers, man's inner powers, etc.

Also, the sixth order of angels in the celestial hierarchy as enumerated by pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, ranking last in the second triad of Dominions, Virtues, and Powers. It translates the Greek exousiai; Latin, potestates (Eph 1:21; Col 1:16). In the ancient Syrian scheme, the Powers had governance over the sphere of the sun.

See also PRINCIPALITIES

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

Gospels Usually, the four accepted or canonical gospels of the New Testament, being the three synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke -- and the Gospel according to John. They are an authorized and approved selection from a far larger number of Gospels, extant, partially extant, and lost, attributed to various disciples and apostles, claiming to give accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

The key to an understanding of the nature of the four Gospels lies in a consideration of the process which the functions and teachings of some of the Mystery schools of Asia Minor became gradually transformed into the formal religious system known as Christianity. The Gospels must have originated as extracts from the Mystery-dramas enacted in those schools. The mystical-human birth of Jesus, his trials or tests, his teachings, crucifixion, resurrection, etc., are clearly a form of the world-old and universal Mystery-drama of initiation of a human neophyte re-enacted in those ceremonies.

The Gospels' present form is the result of many copyings, recensions, omissions, additions, and alterations. They are, in fact, symbolic narratives made around the personality and individuality of a real character which thus has become a Mystery-figure; and contain also many teachings properly to be attributed to him, belonging to the general class of logia, or wise sayings of teachers, paralleled in the other world sacred scriptures. Jesus, as represented, is not historical; but there was an actual teacher, doubtless bearing the name Yeshua`, Latinized as Jesus, who lived about a century earlier than the commonly accepted beginning of the Christian era.

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

Mystes (Greek) [from muo to close the mouth]

Plural mystai. An initiate to the first degrees of the Mysteries; the next higher rank being that of the epoptes (seer); and the highest function being that of the hierophantes (teacher or communicator). With the Pythagoreans the neophyte or mystes guarded silence as to what he had learned, and was authorized and empowered to speak or teach only when his mouth had been opened because of attaining the rank of epoptes.

This custom has been borrowed by Roman Catholic Cardinals along with the term Mystes: "A word or two may be said of the singular practice of closing and subsequently opening the mouth of a newly created cardinal. Like almost everything else connected with the subject, this form had once a real significance, but has become a mere meaningless formality. Some reasonable time was originally allowed to elapse before the pontiff in one consistory formally pronounced the mouth to be opened which he had declared to be closed in a previous consistory. Now the form of opening is pronounced within a few minutes of the form of closing" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed., "Cardinal").

(See also: Mystes, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kore-Persephone (Greek) (from kore maiden cf Ionic koure)

The name under which Persephone was worshiped in Attica; one of the three aspects of the earth goddess Demeter, who appears as wife, mother, and daughter. Kore-Persephone was one of the three great Eleusianian deities, the other two being Demeter and Zagreus-Iacchos, her child. As one of the chief divinities in the Mysteries, Kore (as Demeter-Kore) was fit consort of the dragon god (Zeus who wooed her in the form of a dragon).

Proclus, quoting Orpheus, says that when Persephone is united with the celestial Zeus she is then Demeter-Kore, but that when united with Pluto or Hades she is Kore-Persephone.

It was by Kore as the spouse of Hades that the bright side of death was revealed. She thus belonged preeminently to the Eleusinian Mysteries and one of the mystical dramas enacted for the instruction of neophytes was the rape of Persephone in which she was represented as in possession of the third eye. Blavatsky places her among the kabiria (SD 2:363).

Kore is also symbolized as the celestial weaver, who when carried off to the underworld by Hades is said to have left her webs unfinished. Proclus speaks of her as "weaving the diacosm of life" (Cratylus), and Claudianus tells of her weaving a robe for Demeter in which "she marks out the procession of the elements and the paternal seats with her needle, according to the laws of Mother Nature."

(See also: Kore-Persephone, 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)

Advent (from Latin ad to, toward + venio to come)

Arrival; in Christianity a period of some four weeks preceding Christmas.

In pre-Christian Greece one of the great seats of initiation was Eleusis, a Greek word meaning coming or advent. All the Mystery schools of antiquity taught and dramatized doctrines dealing with that which is to come: the mysteries of death, rebirth, and initiation -- the birth or awakening of the inner Buddha or Christos in the neophyte. This was called the coming or advent of the god within.

Advent may also be used to signify the serial comings into the human sphere of a nirmanakaya who imbodies a dhyani-buddha -- a perfected human being from a preceding manvantara -- in order to enlighten the humanity of the current cycle. Such nirmanakayas work in the sphere of our earth as invisible or occasionally visible helpers of mankind.

The "second advent," referring to a second coming of Christ, was considered imminent by some early Christian sects, and is still expected by certain sects today. This echoes the archaic teaching concerning the advent of Maitreya-Buddha -- the next great Buddha to appear in the long line of Buddha-succession -- as well as the second coming of Elijah among the Jews, and the coming of the Kalki-avatara among the Hindus.

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

Enoch, Onech hanoch (Hebrew) Initiation or initiated; hence also hierophant. In the Bible (Genesis 4, 5), "there are three distinct Enochs -- the son of Cain, the son of Seth, and the son of Jared; but they are all identical, and two of them are mentioned for the purposes of misleading. The years of only the last two are given, the first one being left without further notice." He is the great grandfather of Noah, and stands for the first subrace of the fifth root-race (BCW 14:86&n).

The prophet Enoch, supposed to have been an antediluvian, was the inventor of learning, letters, and the founder of initiatory rites. Among the Arabs Enoch is commonly called Idris, meaning the wise or learned. Again, "The Kerkes and the Onech stand for a race cycle, and the mystical tree Ababel -- the 'Father Tree' in the Kuran -- shoots out new branches and vegetation at every resurrection of the Kerkes or Phoenix" (SD 2:617). The connection with the phoenix is purely mystical, because just as the phoenix is said to be reborn from its own ashes, thus bringing about a new cycle, so the neophyte during initiation is said to be reborn from the "ashes" of his past self.

(See also: Enoch, Onech, hanoch, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gospels Usually, the four accepted or canonical gospels of the New Testament, being the three synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke -- and the Gospel according to John. They are an authorized and approved selection from a far larger number of Gospels, extant, partially extant, and lost, attributed to various disciples and apostles, claiming to give accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

The key to an understanding of the nature of the four Gospels lies in a consideration of the process which the functions and teachings of some of the Mystery schools of Asia Minor became gradually transformed into the formal religious system known as Christianity. The Gospels must have originated as extracts from the Mystery-dramas enacted in those schools. The mystical-human birth of Jesus, his trials or tests, his teachings, crucifixion, resurrection, etc., are clearly a form of the world-old and universal Mystery-drama of initiation of a human neophyte re-enacted in those ceremonies.

The Gospels' present form is the result of many copyings, recensions, omissions, additions, and alterations. They are, in fact, symbolic narratives made around the personality and individuality of a real character which thus has become a Mystery-figure; and contain also many teachings properly to be attributed to him, belonging to the general class of logia, or wise sayings of teachers, paralleled in the other world sacred scriptures. Jesus, as represented, is not historical; but there was an actual teacher, doubtless bearing the name Yeshua`, Latinized as Jesus, who lived about a century earlier than the commonly accepted beginning of the Christian era.

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