Huperouranioi (Greek) Hyperuranii (Latin) Above the heavens, or in highest heaven; the name given by Plato, Proclus, and other Greek philosophers to the highest orders of celestial beings, those above the enkosmioi (intercosmic gods).

(See also: Hun-desa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Agnoia or Anoia (Greek) (cf Sanskrit jna; Latin gnosco, nosco; English know, etc.)

Mindlessness, folly; the opposite of nous. In Plato the soul (psyche) attaches itself either to nous or to anoia, which is analogous to the theosophical teaching regarding buddhi-manas and kama-manas.

(See also: Agnoia, Anoia, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Archytas of Tarentum (flourished 400-365 BC) Greek Pythagorean philosopher, general, statesman, scientist, and mathematician, contemporary of Plato. He was the first to distinguish harmonic progression from arithmetical and geometric progression, is credited with inventing the pulley, and contributed to the study of acoustics, music, and mathematics.

(See also: Archytas of Tarentum, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Arithmomancy Interpretation by means of numbers, or divination by means of numbers. The Pythagoreans and Plato used the numerical key in theogony and cosmogony, based on the science of correspondences as prevailing among gods, men, and numbers or numerical quantities. Hence, the numerical key to nature can be used as the basis of various methods of divination for the discovery of truth or error.

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

Apeiros (Greek) The boundless, infinite; frontierless expansion. Used by Anaximander and Anaximenes, and by Plato in Philebus; the equivalent term apeiria was used by Anaxagors and Aristotle. Corresponds to 'eyn soph, and according to Porphyry to the Pythagorean monad (one), the "cause of all unity and measure of all things" (SD 1:353, 426; FSO 71).

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

Agathon, To (Greek) The good (principle), the highest or supreme good in a moral sense, summum bonum; Plato's name for that aspect of the divine otherwise called the unmanifest or First Logos. Although sometimes equated with atman, which corresponds to the Greek pneuma, paramatman is a better equivalent for to agathon. It is likewise equivalent to the Buddhist alaya (the indissoluble or everlasting).

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

Gnosis (Greek) (cf Sanskrit jnana knowledge)

Knowledge; used by Plato and the Neoplatonists to signify the divine knowledge (gupta-vidya) attained through initiation; and means for the student the active penetration into and going beyond the veils of mind, by which process a true vision of reality is to be obtained.

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

Dianoia (Greek) (from dianoia thought)

Used by Plato and Aristotle often in contrast with soma (body); synonymous with logos, it is divine ideation and the root of all thought.

See also ENNOINA

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

Decussated Crossed at an acute angle like the letter X; the decussated cross in a circle was used by Plato to symbolize "the Second God who impressed himself on the Universe in the form of the Cross," the cosmic Man "crucified" in space.

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

Agnoia (Ancient Greek). "Divested of reason", lit., "irrationality", when speaking of the animal Soul. According to Plutarch, Pythagoras and Plato divided the human soul into two parts (the higher and lower manas) - the rational or noëtic and the irrational, or agnoia, sometimes written "annoia".

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

Machagistia. Magic, as once taught in Persia and Chaldea, and raised in its occult practices into a religio-magianism. Plato, speaking of Machagistia, or Magianism, remarks that it is the purest form of the worship of things divine.

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

Timaeus (Greek) A dialogue of Plato in which the Pythagorean philosopher Timaeus gives an account of aspects of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis. Timaeus himself is stated to have written what was regarded by Pythagoras as a book of great worth entitled Peri Psyche Kosmou Kai Physeos (On the Soul of the World and of Nature).

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

THELEMIC MAGICK: A form of Ceremonial Magick developed by Aleister Crowley. Ceremonial Magick is Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits  and is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity.

(See also: THELEMIC MAGICK, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

ATLANTIS - sunken continent of myth and legend, generally located in the Atlantic Ocean, believed to have self-destructed through misuse of high technology ca - 10,000, 12,000; originally based on Plato's account in the Timeas and Crito, - contemporary accounts are based on psychic sources and visitors, as the search for material evidence continues (NAD)

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

THELEMIC MAGICK: A form of Ceremonial Magick developed by Aleister Crowley. Ceremonial Magick is Magick that calls upon the aid of beneficent spirits and is based upon a blend of doctrines of Plato and other Greek philosophers, Oriental mysticism, Judaism and Christianity.

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

CIRCLE - 1. the sacred space where in all magick is to be worked and all ritual contained. The circle both contained raised energy and provides protection for the witch and is created and banished with his/her energy. (CMM)

2. symbol of the cosmos and heaven (Plato)

3. witches’ coven

4. mediumistic or healing group. (NAD)

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

FICINO, MARSILIUS

15th Century philosopher best known for having translated Plato and the Neoplatonists, as well as Hermes Trismegistos. He thought that the world was an "emanation of God" and that one could draw heavenly influences by simply meditating on the planets.

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

HYPATIA

A teacher of Neoplatonism who was dismembered and brutally murdered by a congregation of Xtians in 415 A.D. at the instigation of Bishop Cyril. She taught the liberating philosophy of Plato and Plotinus to the detriment of Xtian progress. The bishops had borrowed freely what they needed from the Greeks to justify Xtian nonsense, while rejecting what was difficult or detrimental to their beliefs. Hypatia ran into trouble when she proceeded to complete the lessons the lessons of Plato in their entirety, thus revealing how Xtianity as then constructed was a flimsy hodge-podge of borrowed half-truths.

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

Machagistia The divine theologic magic of ancient Persia and Chaldea; Magianism in its purest and highest form. Ammianus Marcellinus (4th Century) remarks that "Plato, that most learned deliverer of wise opinions, teaches us that Magiae is by a mystic name Machagistia, that is to say, the purest worship of divine beings; of which knowledge in olden times the Bactrian Zoroaster derived much from the secret rites of the Chaldaeans; and after him Hystaspes, a very wise monarch, the father of Darius" (Roman History 23, 6, 32).

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

Konx-om-pax (Greek) Mystic words used in the Eleusinian Mysteries, said to be an imitation of Egyptian words used in the mystical Isiac rites, whose meaning is still unknown. Possibly an ancient Atlantean phrase brought over into Egypt from the Atlantic island which Plato calls Atlantis, when Atlantean emigrants left their island for the purpose of colonizing the Egyptian delta and brought their mysteries with them.

(See also: Konx-om-pax, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kurios (Greek) Also Koros. Master, lord; used in the Septuagint for Jehovah, and in the New Testament for God, of Jesus, and likewise of the master of a servant. Also a name of Bacchus and Mercury, standing for divine wisdom or the Holy Spirit. Equivalent in some uses to the Logos. Plato in the Cratylus says that "Koros signifies the pure and unmixed nature of intellect -- wisdom" (SD 1:353).

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