UMBANDA: A religion centering on the worship of the ancient African Gods who have been assimilated as Catholic saints. Similar in practice to Voudon, all worshippers of Santería could be called Santeros but the term Santeros usually refers to the priests or priestesses. The highest order of priest is a babalawo, who has the power to heal the sick, punish the unjust and to divine the future through the Table of Ifá. Also known as Santería.

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

Orcus (Latin) [from Greek horcos an oath, the object by which one swears, the witness of an oath]

Synonym for Hades, Dis, Pluto; Roman name for the presiding god of the Underworld, also for the Underworld itself. Horcos was the son of Eris (strife), who punishes the perjurer.

Also used in the Codex Nazaraeus for the bottomless pit: the more accurate meaning of the bottomless pit, however, is Tartarus.

(See also: Orcus, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Definition and meaning of Punitive Damages :

Punitive Damages: a court-awarded amount that exceeds the economic losses and general damages of a plaintiff and is intended solely to punish the defendant.

(Source: The Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary )

Also see these pages: Punitive Damages , Insurance Business, Insurance Business Sitemap,  Insurance, Insurance Sitemap, Insurance Dictionary - P

Definition and meaning of Hammurabi's Code

Hammurabi's Code - [World History]

Hammurabi's Code is the legal code of King Hammurabi (1792 B.C.-1750 B.C.) of Mesopotamia. The code was not the first enacted in the ancient civilization, but its influence is obvious in Hebrew and Islam laws today, and in the U.S. judiciary system. Hammurabi claimed that he had divine authority to establish law and justice in his land to promote the welfare of the people. His law was severe but just because Hammurabi believed he had the obligation to govern the Mesopotamians so they could live in harmony. The code specified crimes and punishments which fit the crimes to ensure uniformity and to help judges impose penalties. The saying "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was a part of Hammurabi's Code and of the Hebrew Mosaic. Yet the punishment depended upon class. Aristocrats were not treated as harshly as commoners, and commoners were treated less harshly than slaves. While an aristocrat might pay a fine for damages to a commoner, a commoner could ask for exact punishment to fit the crime committed on him by another commoner. A judicial system tried cases. People represented themselves and had to prove the crime using documentation and witnesses. If someone accused another of murder and failed to convince the justice system of the crime, the accuser was put to death. Government officials, merchants, and businessmen were all to keep the best interests of the citizens in mind. The ultimate aim of Hammurabi's Code was to punish the criminal. 

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Definition and meaning of Hammurabi's Code

Hammurabi's Code - [World History]

Hammurabi's Code is the legal code of King Hammurabi (1792 B.C.-1750 B.C.) of Mesopotamia. The code was not the first enacted in the ancient civilization, but its influence is obvious in Hebrew and Islam laws today, and in the U.S. judiciary system. Hammurabi claimed that he had divine authority to establish law and justice in his land to promote the welfare of the people. His law was severe but just because Hammurabi believed he had the obligation to govern the Mesopotamians so they could live in harmony. The code specified crimes and punishments which fit the crimes to ensure uniformity and to help judges impose penalties. The saying "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was a part of Hammurabi's Code and of the Hebrew Mosaic. Yet the punishment depended upon class. Aristocrats were not treated as harshly as commoners, and commoners were treated less harshly than slaves. While an aristocrat might pay a fine for damages to a commoner, a commoner could ask for exact punishment to fit the crime committed on him by another commoner. A judicial system tried cases. People represented themselves and had to prove the crime using documentation and witnesses. If someone accused another of murder and failed to convince the justice system of the crime, the accuser was put to death. Government officials, merchants, and businessmen were all to keep the best interests of the citizens in mind. The ultimate aim of Hammurabi's Code was to punish the criminal. 

(Source: The Social Studies Center at Texas University )

Also see these pages:  Social Studies, Social Studies Sitemap, History, History Sitemap

Prahlada or Prahrada (Sanskrit) The son of Hiranyakasipu, chief of the daityas and as such, from the standpoint of the writers of the Puranas, theologically the adversary in philosophical speculation and outlook of Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu therefore has been mistaken by Occidental writers as occupying somewhat the same place in Hindu thought that Satan has occupied in Christian theology.

Prahlada, his son, became an ardent devotee of Vishnu which, according to Puranic legend, enraged his father so much that Prahlada became subjected to a variety of punishments and tortures. To save his devotee from these Vishnu assumed the form of the Nara-simha avatara (the man-lion incarnation) and killed Hiranyakasipu.

(See also: Prahlada, Prahrada, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Preexistence Existence in a former state: the soul may preexist the body; Christ preexisted as divinity before incarnation.

The doctrine of the preexistence of the soul was once part of Christianity, being held as early as the 2nd century and including Justin Martyr, Origen, and many other then eminent Christians among its adherents; but it was formally condemned and anathematized by the Home-Synod held under Mennas at Constantinople around the year 540.

The early Christian doctrine was that God emanated all souls of men, but afterwards incarnated them repetitively on earth as a punishment and probation.

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

Cakra:

Cakra: (disc) term in bhakti used for the totality of the celestial sky, or the disc of stars that is our Milky Way, that as a wheel or disc apparently revolves around the polar star but in fact revolves about the center of the galaxy. (see Sisumara).

 - Also disc of Krishna or Sudarsana, the acute of His presence or supreme vision of Him; time as the weapon of Vishnu. A breach with the order of time or the cakra is a fall-down, a betrayal of niyama, or regulation. Consequence: a punishment of the fire of unbound energy released from the cakra-order, the broken order is the lust that leads to anger and ultimately madness: the head is cut off by the cakra when one remains in offense with Krishna.

(See also: Cakra, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Aristaeus (Greek) Beneficent Greek deity, son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, who aided with husbandry, flocks, and bees and gave protection from summer's extreme heat; raised by the Hours and Gaia, who made him immortal.

He brought destruction on Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, who was bitten by a snake while fleeing from him. Afterwards, his bees having been destroyed by angry nymphs as punishment, he sacrificed cattle and, returning nine days later, found a swarm of bees using one of the carcasses as a hive.

See also Orpheus. (BCW 13:237, elsewhere)

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

Adrishta (Sanskrit) (from a not + the verbal root dris to see, learn, perceive with the mind or intuition)

Unseen, unforeseen, invisible; an unforeseen danger. In philosophy, that which is beyond the reach or observation of the percipient consciousness. W. Q. Judge defines it as "the merit or demerit attaching to a man's conduct in a former incarnation, and the corresponding (apparently arbitrary) punishment or reward in the present or a future incarnation" (WG 2). This is clearly seen in the compound term adrishta-phala (unseen fruit), karma not yet come into force. Hence the connotation of fate, luck (sometimes bad luck) that is attached to adrishta. (BCW 5:580 connects with Kanada as "unseen force"; 4:61 with Nyayas as invisible principle)

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

Dream Interpretation Judge

Dreaming of a judge indicates that you need to speak with care and deliberation in the created situation. If you are the judge in your dream, you need to consider your decision carefully before you act. Dealing with a judge in an official matter means that you will be soon punished for bad conduct.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Judge, Meaning of Dreams about Judge, Dream Interpretation Judge)

Dream Interpretation Ashes

Ash is a symbol of death, grief and self-punishment. Dreaming about ashes is not a good omen. If you disturb ashes, it is a message that someone is going to die. Stepping or falling into ashes implies a loss of money, financial problems. Watching a lot of ashes signifies bitter disappointment and pain. But if you collect ashes, you will have an increase in material things.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Ashes, Meaning of Dreams about Ashes, Dream Interpretation Ashes)

Jail

Dreaming about jail may make you think that you have done something immoral, illegal, or an act that merits punishment. You may also have a fear of being trapped emotionally or physically. If you are the jailer, you may have an unconscious desire to exert control over others or in a particular situation. Either way, this dream suggests that you have obstacles in your life that may not be easy to overcome.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Jail, Meaning of Dreams about Jail, Dream Interpretation Jail)

Pasht (Egypt, Egyptian). The cat-headed goddess, the Moon, called also Sekhet. Her statues and representations are seen in great numbers at the British Museum. She is the wife or female aspect of Ptah (the son of Kneph), the creative principle, or the Egyptian Demiurgus. She is also called Beset or Bubastis, being then both the re-uniting and the separating principle. Her motto is: "punish the guilty and remove defilement", and one of her emblems is the cat. According to Viscount Rouge, her worship is extremely ancient (B.c. 3000), and she is the mother of the Asiatic race, the race that settled in Northern Egypt. As such she is called Ouato.

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

Prometheus (Ancient Greek). The Greek logos; he, who by bringing on earth divine fire (intelligence and consciousness) endowed men with reason and mind. Prometheus is the Hellenic type of our Kumaras or Egos, those who, by incarnating in men, made of them latent gods instead of animals.

The gods (or Elohim) were averse to men becoming "as one of us (Genesis iii., 22), and knowing "good and evil". Hence we see these gods in every religious legend punishing man for his desire to know. As the Greek myth has it, for stealing the fire he brought to men from Heaven, Prometheus was chained by the order of Zeus to a crag of the Caucasian Mountains.

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

SEPHIROTH

From the Sephiroth descend the four root races, each issuing from the one above it, the lower swallowing the higher: Atziluth -- the first and most spiritual race; Briah -- the second race composed of the servants of the first; Yetzirah, the third race (mankind being a fallen sub-race thereof) comprised of cherubim, seraphim, Lucifer, elohim and the sons of God. Finally, there is the fourth race, Assiah, containing the Atlanteans and the Qliphoth.

Incidentally, man, having sinned, is imprisoned in the material world with its eternal reincarnations as punishment until he manages to purify himself.

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

BROWNIE: The most famous of the house sprites. A Brownie will stick around & finish extra cleaning as long as he gets food for his labor. The food must never be directly offered to the Brownie & one must never try to see him. The breaking of either of these taboos will cause the Brownie to become angry & leave. A well treated Brownie can be incredibly helpful, & faithful to no end. He will often punish the servants, call for a midwife or doctor when one is needed, & some have loved their human companion so much that they are said to have immigrated to America with them. The best place to leave food for a Brownie is on a warm hearth.

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

Nemesis (Greek) [from nemo distribute, allot]

Originally a goddess of due proportion, who restores the proper order of things, but later used for the operation of divine wrath, for people who get their deserts tend to impute the wrath they feel to the divine law which allots. Nemesis has been called the retributive aspect of karma, yet in the earlier Greek writers she is the goddess who distributes both happiness and misery.

It was only among the later writers that she became specially the punisher of crimes and the corrector of overweening exultation in good fortune. One of her names was Adrasteia, she whom no man can escape. But the idea of reward is, equally with that of punishment, man-made; for "Karma-Nemesis is the creator of nations and mortals, but once created, it is they who make of her either a fury or a rewarding Angel: (SD 1:642).

Nemesis is the automatic reestablishing of equilibrium brought about by the action of the human being -- a reestablishing as impersonal and impassive as the kosmic laws operating around us.

Themis is the instinct for order and harmony which, when it is able to express itself in human life through man's active will, frees one from karmic necessity; for such harmony working in the human ego and faithfully followed is becoming at one with nature and following its inherent Law -- which the word Themis means -- of equilibrium. Human free will grows ever greater as it becomes the free will of the universe of which mankind is a integral and inseparable part. Thus, it is man who creates causes, and karma which adjusts the effects.

See also KARMA-NEMESIS; MOIRA

(See also: Nemesis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Purgatory [from Latin purgare to purify]

The place whither, according to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches, the souls of those who have died in grace, but with sins yet unexpiated, pass for purificatory suffering before entering heavenly bliss. They are supposed, somewhat superstitiously, to be helped by the prayers of the living and especially by religious ceremonials such as the celebration of the Mass.

The doctrine of purgatory is one of the immemorial beliefs of the human race found the world over, although expressed in different fashions; it is frequently referred to in various passages in the Greek and Latin literatures.

In theosophical teachings the defunct entity must pass through the various spheres of kama-loka, in the norm rising steadily upwards, in order to be purified from its gross and earth-bound attributes and elements, before entering into the state of devachan. These post-mortem purgatorial or cleansing processes are not of the nature of punishment, but are natural processes of purification escapable by none.

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

Sushruta:

Sushruta: Author of Sushruta Samhita (600 BC), an ayurvedic treatise: Sushruta performed cosmetic surgery. In fact, his samhita describes over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures, and classifies human surgery in 8 categories. The oldest Plastic Surgery operations probably relate to nasal reconstruction. In India, Sushruta performed operations using forehead skin to reconstruct noses which had been amputated as punishment for criminals. The earliest written reference to cataract surgery is found in Sanskrit manuscripts dating from the 5th century BC. They are thought to have been written by the Hindu surgeon Sushruta. He practiced a type of cataract surgery known as couching or reclination, in which the cataractous lens was displaced away from the pupil to lie in the vitreous cavity in the back of the eye. This displacement of the lens enabled the patient to see better. Vision, however, was still blurred because of the unavailability of corrective lenses. As recently as the middle of this century, couching was still practiced in Egypt, India, and Tibet. [see link]

(See also: Sushruta, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Pandora (Greek) All-gifted; in Greek mythology, after Prometheus enlightened man by bringing him the celestial fire, the enraged Zeus revenges himself by seducing man, for which purpose he has Hephaestos create a woman,

Pandora, endowed with gifts from the great gods. She is brought to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus ("after-thought," the brother of "fore-thought"), bringing with her a locked box containing all human ills, which she opens from curiosity, and the ills spread over the earth. Hesiod calls her the first woman, sent as a punishment to man for his theft of the divine fire.

It evidently means that as soon as he quits his passive irresponsible state and acquires active will and intellect, man subjects himself to temptations from the lower world. Pandora is an earthly aspect of all-bounteous nature; a later interpretation of the story of the box makes it the container of blessings, which however fly away when it is opened, leaving behind only hope.

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

Dream Interpretation Gallows

This dream might be connected with the feelings of guilt and self-punishment. The main understanding of this dream can come from feelings you had about it. To dream of yourself or someone else being on the gallows or the guillotine does not mean that anybody is going to die. More likely that you condemn some action, deed or thought of yours in waking life. Dreaming of gallows could also be a sign that you are surrounded by false people. Seeing someone hanging on the gallows: your enemies will give up. If you are hanging on the gallows, it indicates a change in your life and even good fortune. Building a gallows: expect positive changes.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Gallows, Meaning of Dreams about Gallows, Dream Interpretation Gallows)