Pantheism

The belief that all that exists is God and all that exists is God. This God is an all-encompassing, impersonal principle or force of which everything is a part. A central doctrine for most eastern religions and New Age groups. This leads naturally to the concept of the divinity of the individual, that we are all Gods. They do not seek God as revealed in a sacred text or as exists in a remote heaven; they seek God within the self and throughout the entire universe. (see also Panentheism)

(See also: Pantheism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Psychometry

Reading information or impressions from a physical object the history of the object (and the history of things and people associated with the object) which is hidden to ordinary sensibility. The term was coined in the mid-nineteenth century by Joseph R. Buchanan, an American physiologist, who claimed it could be used to measure the 'soul' of all things.

Buchanan further said that the past is entombed in the present. Researchers who followed Buchanan theorized that objects retain imprints of the past and their owners - variously called 'vibrations', 'psychic ether', and aura - that could be picked up by sensitives.

(See also: Psychometry , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

King Solomon

(Hebrew- peaceable) Third king of Israel (965-925 BC), son of David by Bathsheba, built the famous first temple of Israel and established the great empire of the Jews, (the kingdom of God). the legend is told in I Kings 3 that God offered the young Solomon, either wisdom or wealth, he chose wisdom. God was so pleased that he gave him both wisdom and wealth. The wisdom of Solomon has become proverbial.

(See also: King Solomon , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Alien Abduction

Kidnapping by non-human beings. The first reported claim of alien abduction was in Brazil in 1957 and since then there have been reports from all over the Western world - in Europe including the UK, Australia, South Africa, Russia, and North America. Although peopleÕs experiences vary quite widely, the following features recur

• Light, especially a beam which draws the person up, and sometimes vibration.
• A spacecraft of some kind.
• Humanoid beings, especially small gray ones with large black eyes, who communicate by telepathy.
• Medical tests being performed and eggs or sperm removed so that human/alien offspring can be produced.
• Lost periods of time and inexplicable small wounds.
• Very few accounts are complete but sometimes the full story is recovered through hypnosis.

(See also: Alien Abduction , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Goddess

A term used in various senses to affirm a feminine nature or aspect of the divine. Three beliefs are common: revering ÒMother Nature,Ó or the Earth, as divine (see Gaia); worshiping a female deity (often linked to primitive pagan religions, as in Wicca); and the search by some women for the Òdivine sparkÓ of the Ògoddess within. Ó

(See also: Goddess , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Chandra

(Sanskrit) ¥ The Moon.

(See also: Chandra , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Om Mane Padme Hum

(Sanskrit: Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus) An ancient (Sanskrit) buddhist mantra. In Tibetan Buddhism the most common prayer, found everywhere.

Related to the chant "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo", used in some Japanese buddhist sects. "Myoho Renge Kyo" is the title of the Lotus Sutra, tranlated into Chinese by Kumarajiva and then transliterated into Japanese.

Loosely translated, "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" becomes "Hail to the Mystic Law( jewel) of the Lotus Sutra" Om Mane Padme Hum

(See also: Om Mane Padme Hum , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Rainbow Therapy

(1)  A combination massage and Tibetan energy techniques using 9 highly antimicrobial oils developed by "Tesla" of Lead, South Dakota, designed to bring the body into a higher frequency, electrical alignment and balance.

(2)  Massage therapy using stones, a colorchromatherapy wand, sound, flower essences, organic essential plant oils, creative visualization, breath work and intuitive healing, developed by Laurel Gerber of Mt. Shasta, California.

(3)  Any of several therapies using color, chakras and/or a mixture of oils.

(See also: Rainbow Therapy , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Karma

(Sanskrit "deed," "action," "ritual," "result") A central Indian term with various meanings.

1)    Any mental, verbal, or physical action or intention, especially a morally correct or textually prescribed activity.

2)    The results or consequences of actions or intentions.

3)    The Hindu principle of cause and effect, originally developed in South Asian religions, that determines one's past, current, and future existences. Everything we do produces some effect, now or later, on the physical or astral planes. Representing neither good nor evil, all actions and events cause corresponding actions and events in the past or future (including past and future lives through reincarnation).

4)    Ritual activity, particularly the ancient Indian rites propitiating a pantheon of gods as prescribed in the Vedic texts. Ritual performance might be done to meet religious obligations, such as initiation into the community, to honor one's ancestors, or to fulfill individual desires such as wealth, progeny, or immortality. The results of ritual, which are also called karma, were sometimes interpreted as "unseen" (apurva), that is, postponed or not yet noticeable in order to explain apparently delayed consequences. While all could admit that actions would eventually bear consequences, the doctrine of unseen results provoked lively debate and reconsideration of the importance of ritual.

5)    The erroneous western interpretation: That the good and bad deeds that we do adds and subtracts from our accumulated record, our karma. At the end of our life, we are rewarded or punished according to our karma by being reincarnated into either a painful or good new life.

(see Karma)

(See also: Karma , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mahavira

Founder of Jainism.

(See also: Mahavira , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Maithuna

(Sanskrit) Sacramental intercourse

(See also: Maithuna , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Maitreya

The name has its roots in a legendary Buddha figure. Some New Age advocates believe that the "second coming of Christ" occurred in 1977 when the Maitreya began teaching in London.

(See also: Maitreya , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mahasamadhi

The conscious leaving of the body at death and total merging with the Divine.

(See also: Mahasamadhi , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Naga

(Sanskrit) Ancient hooded serpent, associated with Kundalini and the chakras.

(See also: Naga , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Magic Circle

Ring drawn by occultists to protect them from the spirits and demons they call up by incantations and rituals.

(See also: Magic Circle , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mahadeva

The great god, Shiva

(See also: Mahadeva , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Founder of Transcendental Meditation.

(See also: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mala

A string of beads used as an aid for mantra repetition. Also, such a string of beads worn as a token of one's guru. Some believe that a mala can also protect the one who wears it.

(See also: Mala , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mahatma

(Sanskrit) A great man.

(See also: Mahatma , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mandala

(Sanskrit - circle) A design of lines, forms and colors, usually circular, used in meditation to focus attention to a single point.

(See also: Mandala , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Marriage

An ancient practice of taking a life's companion or long term sexual/social partner.

(See also: Marriage , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)