A Theosophical definition ofPlane (Planes) :

Plane (Planes)

This is a word used in theosophy for the various ranges or steps of the hierarchical ladder of lives which blend into each other. There are no solutions of continuity in space, either in inner and invisible space or in outward and visible space. The physical world grades off into the astral world, which grades off again into a world higher than it, the world which is superior to the astral world; and so it continues throughout the series of hierarchical steps which compose a universe such as our universe. Remember also that the boundless All is filled full with universes, some so much greater than ours that the utmost reach of our imagination cannot conceive of them.

To quote H. P. Blavatsky in this connection, in her Theosophical Glossary under this same head:

"As used in Occultism, the term denotes the range or extent of some state of consciousness, or of the perceptive power of a particular set of senses, or the action of a particular force, or the state of matter corresponding to any of the above." (See also Hierarchy)

See also: Plane (Planes) , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Chandra-vansa (Sanskrit) The "Lunar Race", in contradistinction to Suryavansa, the "Solar Race". Some Orientalists think it an inconsistency that Krishna, a Chandravansa (of the Yadu branch) should have been declared an Avatar of Vishnu, who is a manifestation of the solar energy in Rig -Veda, a work of unsurpassed authority with the Brahmans.

This shows, however, the deep occult meaning of the Avatar ; a meaning which only esoteric philosophy can explain. A glossary is no fit place for such explanations; but it may be useful to remind those who know, and teach those who do not, that in Occultism, man is called a solar-lunar being, solar in his higher triad, and lunar in his quaternary. Moreover, it is the Sun who imparts his light to the Moon, in the same way as the human triad sheds its divine light on the mortal shell of sinful man.

Life celestial quickens life terrestrial. Krishna stands metaphysically for the Ego made one with Atma-Buddhi, and performs mystically the same function as the Christos of the Gnostics, both being "the inner god in the temple" - man. Lucifer is "the bright morning star", a well known symbol in Revelations, and, as a planet, corresponds to the EGO. Now Lucifer (or the planet Venus) is the Sukra-Usanas of the Hindus ; and Usanas is the Daitya-guru, i.e., the spiritual guide and instructor of the Danavas and the Daityas. The latter are the giant-demons in the Puranas, and in the esoteric interpretations, the antetypal symbol of the man of flesh, physical mankind. The Daityas can raise themselves, it is said, through knowledge "austerities and devotion" to "the rank of the gods and of the ABSOLUTE".

All this is very suggestive in the legend of Krishna ; and what is more suggestive still is that just as Krishna, the Avatar of a great God in India, is of time race of Yadu, so is another incarnation, "God incarnate himself" - or the "God-man Christ", also of the race Iadoo - the name for the Jews all over Asia. Moreover, as his mother, who is represented as Queen of Heaven standing on the crescent, is identified in Gnostic philosophy, and also in the esoteric system, with the Moon herself, like all the other lunar goddesses such as Isis, Diana, Astarte and others - mothers of the Logoi, so Christ is called repeatedly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Sun-Christ, the Christ-Soleil and so on. If the later is a metaphor so also is the earlier.

(See also: Chandra-vansa, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

A Theosophical definition of Daiviprakriti :

Daiviprakriti

(Sanskrit) A compound signifying "divine" or "original evolver," or "original source," of the universe or of any self-contained or hierarchical portion of such universe, such as a solar system. Briefly, therefore, daiviprakriti may be called "divine matter," matter here being used in its original sense of "divine mother-evolver" or "divine original substance."

Now, as original substance manifests itself in the kosmic spaces as primordial kosmic light  - light in occult esoteric theosophical philosophy being a form of original matter or substance  - many mystics have referred to daiviprakriti under the phrase "the Light of the Logos." Daiviprakriti is, in fact, the first veil or sheath or ethereal body surrounding the Logos, as pradhana or prakriti surrounds Purusha or Brahman in the Sankhya philosophy, and as, on a scale incomparably more vast, mulaprakriti surrounds parabrahman. As daiviprakriti, therefore, is elemental matter, or matter in its sixth and seventh stages counting from physical matter upwards or, what comes to the same thing, matter in its first and second stages of its evolution from above, we may accurately enough speak of those filmy ethereal wisps of light seen in the midnight skies as a physical manifestation of daiviprakriti, because when they are not actually resolvable nebulae, they are worlds, or rather systems of worlds, in the making.

When daiviprakriti has reached a certain state or condition of evolutionary manifestation, we may properly speak of it under the term fohat. Fohat, in H. P. Blavatsky's words, is

"The essence of cosmic electricity. An occult Tibetan term for Daivi-prakriti, primordial light: and in the universe of manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and ceaseless destructive and formative power. Esoterically, it is the same, Fohat being the universal propelling Vital Force, at once the propeller and the resultant."  - Theosophical Glossary, p. 121

All this is extremely well put, but it must be remembered that although fohat is the energizing power working in and upon manifested daiviprakriti, or primordial substance, as the rider rides the steed, it is the kosmic intelligence, or kosmic monad as Pythagoras would say, working through both daiviprakriti and its differentiated energy called fohat, which is the guiding and controlling principle, not only in the kosmos but in every one of the subordinate elements and beings of the hosts of multitudes of them infilling the kosmos. The heart or essence of the sun is daiviprakriti working as itself, and also in its manifestation called fohat, but through the daiviprakriti and the fohatic aspect of it runs the all-permeant and directive intelligence of the solar divinity. The student should never make the mistake, however, of divorcing this guiding solar intelligence from its veils or vehicles, one of the highest of which is daiviprakriti-fohat.

See also: Daiviprakriti , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Occultism :

Occultism

This word meant originally only the science of things hid; even in the Middle Ages of Europe those philosophers who were the forerunners of the modern scientists, those who then studied physical nature, called their science occultism, and their studies occult, meaning the things that were hid or not known to the common run of mankind. Such a medieval philosopher was Albertus Magnus, a German; and so also was Roger Bacon, an Englishman  - both of the thirteenth century of the Christian era.

Occultism as theosophists use the term, and as it should be used, means the study of the hid things of Being, the science of life or universal nature. In one sense this word can be used to mean the study of unusual "phenomena," which meaning it usually has today among people who do not think of the vastly larger field of causes which occultism, properly speaking, investigates. Doubtless mere physical phenomena have their place in study, but they are on the frontier, on the outskirts  - the superficialities  - of occultism. The study of true occultism means penetrating deep into the causal mysteries of Being.

Occultism is a generalizing term for the entire body of the occult sciences  - the sciences of the secrets of universal nature; as H. P. Blavatsky phrases it, "physical and psychic, mental and spiritual; called Hermetic and Esoteric Sciences." Occultism may be considered also to be a word virtually interchangeable with the phrase esoteric philosophy, with, however, somewhat more emphasis laid on the occult or secret or hid portions of the esoteric philosophy. Genuine occultism embraces not merely the physical, physiological, psychological, and spiritual portions of man's being, but has an equal and indeed a perhaps wider range in the studies dealing with the structure and operations as well as the origin and destiny of the kosmos.

See also: Occultism , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Occultism

Belief in supernational forces and beings.

(See also: Occultism, New Age, Body mind and Soul)

Occult:

That which is hidden or known only to a few.

Occultism:

The study and or practice of that which is occult, especially (in this century) in reference to the powers of the mind.

(See also: Occult, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

OCCULT: to conceal and hide away knowledge from the uninitiated. Latin: occulere; The secret knowledge of the ancients is considered hidden from the profane.  You are very very very close now.

(See also: OCCULT, Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

occult: Hidden, or kept secret; revealed only after initiation.

See: mysticism, occultism.

(See also: Occult, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

OCCULT

The occult today is in ruins because it has been prematurely made public. It is a body of knowledge that is too fragile for those without wisdom. Because of power being placed in the hands of the ignorant, the word "occult" has, largely through the bullying of the Christians, falsely become a synonym for "evil." It is for that very reason that the term was originally chosen. The occult has always been a secret study that should never be made public. It deals with sacred truth and the public, being composed mostly of fools, can only pervert it.

At this point, however, we have no choice but to move forward with it, to try to undo the harm by providing more light on the subject.

In general, occultism has three basic tenets: 1) man is in the process of evolving to higher spiritual states of being; 2) the cosmos is energy; 3) there are hierarchies of intelligence above and below human intelligence, which control or influence the cosmos for good and evil, as human intelligence, of course, in its own right also does.

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

PAGAN, OCCULT, WITCHCRAFT SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP OF MENSA: A special interest group (SIG) of Mensa, the organization for persons scoring in the top two percentile on IQ testing. Only Mensa members can be full members of the SIG but non-Mensans may join as associate members. Their newsletter, Pagana, is considered to be one of the best Pagan journals.

(See also: PAGAN, OCCULT, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

OCCULT ("hidden, concealed"): Secret, esoteric; term used for magick and other esoteric arts and sciences, such as astrology or alchemy.

(See also: OCCULT, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

OCCULT - n. or adj. hidden, secret. (NAD)

(See also: OCCULT, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

OCCULTISM - science of secret knowledge. (NAD)

(See also: OCCULTISM, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

OCCULT: Literal meaning is "hidden" and is broadly applied to a wide range of metaphysical topics which lie outside the accepted realm of mainstream theologies.

(See also: OCCULT, Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

Occult Sciences. The science of the secrets of nature - physical and psychic, mental and spiritual; called Hermetic and Esoteric Sciences.

 In the West, the Kabbalah may be named; in the East, mysticism, magic, and Yoga philosophy, which latter is often referred to by the Chelas in India as the seventh "Darshana" (school of philosophy), there being only six Darshanas in India known to the world of the profane.

These sciences are, and have been for ages, hidden from the vulgar for the very good reason that they would never be appreciated by the selfish educated classes, nor understood by the uneducated; whilst the former might misuse them for their own profit, and thus turn the divine science into black magic. It is often brought forward as an accusation against the Esoteric philosophy and the Kabbalah that their literature is full of "a barbarous and meaningless jargon" unintelligible to the ordinary mind.

But do not exact Sciences - medicine, physiology, chemistry, and the rest - do the same? Do not official Scientists equally veil their facts and discoveries with a newly coined and most barbarous Greco-Latin terminology? As justly remarked by our late brother, Kenneth Mackenzie - "To juggle thus with words, when the facts are so simple, is the art of the Scientists of the present time, in striking contrast to those of the XVIIth century, who called spades spades, and not ‘agricultural implements ‘."

Moreover, whilst their facts would be as simple and as comprehensible if rendered in ordinary language, the facts of Occult Science are of so abstruse a nature, that in most cases no words exist in European languages to express them; in addition to which our "jargon" is a double necessity -

(a) for the purpose of describing clearly these facts to him who is versed in the Occult terminology; and

(b) to conceal them from the profane.

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

Occultism [from Latin occultus hid]

The science of things behind the veils of nature both visible and invisible, things hidden from the multitudes. In theosophy frequently synonymous with the esoteric philosophy or secret doctrine. The study of genuine occultism signifies penetrating deep into the causal mysteries of universal being; the occult arts, by contrast, include psychism, black magic, hypnotism, psychologization, and similar uninstructed or malevolent uses of astral and mental forces.

The term occult has noble, but largely forgotten origins. It properly defines anything which is undisclosed, concealed, or not easily perceived. Early theologians, for example, spoke of "the occult judgment of God," while "occult philosopher" was a designation for the pre-Renaissance scientist who sought the unseen causes regulating nature's phenomena. In astronomy, the term is still used when one stellar body "occults" another by passing in front of it, temporarily hiding it from view. Writing a century ago, when the word had not acquired today's mixed connotations, H.P. Blavatsky defined occultism as "altruism pure and simple" -- the divine wisdom or hidden theosophy within all religions.

As the study or science of things which are hid and secret, occultism is a generalizing term because what is hid or secret in one age may readily be in a succeeding age more or less commonly known and open to public investigation. Many things that in medieval Europe were distinctly secret and therefore occult, are today the field of scientific investigation; and what is now considered to be occult, if science continues in its progress and research, may in the succeeding age in its turn become open and matter of common knowledge. Occultism then will simply have shifted its field of investigation and study to matters still more secret, still more recondite, still more deeply hid in fields of nature which are now scarcely suspected.

Theosophy or the wisdom-religion is the study of the ancient wisdom of the gods, and comprises in any one period that particular portion of knowledge which has been delivered to those who study it; whereas occultism in any age is that portion of the ancient wisdom dealing with matters which at such time are secret, hid, and unknown to the multitude.

Thus occultism is that portion of theosophy which has not yet been openly and publicly promulgated. Occultism is founded on the principle that Divinity is concealed -- transcendent yet immanent -- within every living being. As a spiritual discipline occultism is the renunciation of selfishness; it is the "still small path" which leads to wisdom, to the right discrimination between good and evil, and the practice of altruism.

(See also: Occultism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Occult Arts Blavatsky in "Occultism versus the Occult Arts" (Studies in Occultism), distinguishes between occultism (gupta-vidya, the path of wisdom) and occult arts (evil occultism, sorcery, black magic, spells, incantations, etc.).

While true occultism completely renounces self, the occult arts are practiced with selfish motives or from love of evil. Even where there is no sinister motive in one who ventures upon the occult arts, yet he enters a field where danger and destruction threaten unless he is protected by a training in true occultism. He will arouse in himself forces with which he cannot cope, open doors which later he seeks in vain to close, and put himself at the mercy of evil wills probably stronger than his own.

(See also: Occult Arts, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Occult Sciences The whole range of the sciences of the secrets of nature -- physical, psychic, mental, and spiritual; also

"called Hermetic and Esoteric Sciences. In the West, the Kabbalah may be named; in the East, mysticism, magic, and Yoga philosophy, which latter is often referred to by the Chelas in India as the seventh 'Darshana' (school of philosophy), there being only six Darshanas in India known to the world of the profane. These sciences are, and have been for ages, hidden from the vulgar for the very good reason that they would never be appreciated by the selfish educated classes, nor understood by the uneducated; whilst the former might misuse them for their own profit, and thus turn the divine science into black magic" (TG 237).

(See also: Occult Sciences, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

occult

Hidden, secret

(See also: Occult, Body Mind and Soul)

Occult

Study and science of things esoteric, secret, unseen and supernatural. From the Latin word, hidden.

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