Purpose Dictionary

SPELL:

1) A way of working some type of Magick; to make things happen by paranormal means.

2) a magical ritual or an act wherin a person actively bends & gives directive to natural energies for a needed purpose.

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

Iddhi (Pali) (from the verbal root sidh to succeed, attain an objective, reach accomplishment)

Equivalent to the Sanskrit siddhi, used to signify the powers or attributes of perfection: powers of various kinds, spiritual and intellectual as well as astral and physical, acquired through training, discipline, initiation, and individual holiness. In Buddhism it is generally rendered "occult power." There are two classes of iddhis, the higher of which, according to the Digha-Nikaya and other Buddhist works, are eight in number: 1) the power to project mind-made images of oneself; 2) to become invisible; 3) to pass through solid things, such as a wall; 4) to penetrate solid ground as if it were water; 5) to walk on water; 6) to fly through the air; 7) to touch sun and moon; and 8) to ascend into the highest heavens. The same work represents the Buddha as saying:

"It is because I see danger in the practice of these mystic wonders that I loathe and abhor and am ashamed thereof" (1:213) -- a true statement although iddhis are powers of the most desirable kind when pertaining to the higher nature, for they are of spiritual, intellectual, and higher psychical character. It is only when iddhis or siddhis are limited to the meaning of the gross astral psychic attributes that the Buddha properly condemns them as being dangerous always, and to the ambitious and selfish person extremely perilous. Further, it was an offense against the regulations of the Brotherhood (Samgha) for any member to display any powers before the laity.

The bases for the acquirement of the iddhis rested upon four completed steps in training (iddhipada): determination in respect of concentration on purpose, on will, on thoughts, and on investigation.

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

HEART

The heart was the center of instinct and the precious kernel of immortality and it was this which was weighed in the balance against the feather of truth, known as Maat. For the Ancient Egyptians the purpose of life was the perception of Truth which could only be gained by the cultivation of discernment and the guiding of the instincts. This was the whole meaning of initiation. Everything served that end. So the heart of enlightenment was the cultivation of discernment. To fail to develop this power of perception was the greatest sin and carried the automatic penalty of that heart's immediate and total annihilation. (Adapted from R. G. Torrens's The Golden Dawn, The Inner Teachings.

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

GOD

Anything from a psychic projection to a full macrocosmic individual. Einstein, shunning Judeo-Xtian pleadings, defined God as the ultimate natural order. Deus est homo. Man is God. Indeed all beings are Gods or immortal entities. The Gods, as such, however, inhabit various levels of substantiality and, as superior entities, exist independently in their own right. And this is not just because strong personalities (as well as human society in general) create and batten projections and archetypes, but because semi-being actually wills itself to be born into that state between Matter and the Void. the Gods are being itself, rather than any particular substance. That is, they are pure substance or the conscious potentiality behind substance. Every mortal, Theosophy has pointed out, has his divine counterpart, his celestial doppelganger or heavenly prototype. It is this personal archetype that we call The Father (or Guardian Angel). Theophany is the rare union (in adepts) of the heavenly counterpart with its earth shadow-self. The divine archetypes are not confined to ordinary human beings, moreover, but ascend to ever more infinite celestial monads themselves. When we speak of The Gods or the God beyond the Gods, such as Allfather Odin or Zeus, Father of the Gods we refer to just these higher monads.

It is difficult to remember that all seemingly separate things -- all individuals -- created themselves out of the Original Void and go on forever creating themselves. Thus, spirit manifests itself through matter; we never cease to embody and demonstrate divinity -- sometimes wisely, more often not. It is the gravest error to reproduce and propagate life indiscriminately. Such attempts to reincarnate oneself on the merely material plane, to maintain the same identity perptually through the generation of progeny -- this form of lust vitiates the Spirit and greedily confines matter disproportionately to a single, inferior and separationist aim. That in turn results in premature entropy and the abortion of Cosmic Purpose.

We should distinguish between various divine synonyms. Daimon, for instance, did not, amongst the Greeks, have our sense of demon, but was rather a spirit or higher self. Socrates spoke often of his daimon who conversed with him. The Sanskrit deva, although translated god, amongst the Hindus means any God, but in the Zend Avesta it is always a malevolent spirit. In Buddhism deva refers to almost anything from a legendary hero to a hobgoblin, but pure Buddhism attaches no importance to Gods of any kind. It considers them to be illusions, like everything else.

Whether reflective of reality or not, it is easy enough to plot an origin for God in the singular, but whence the proliferation of multi-deities? In Egypt they were seen simply as the natures of things (neteru). Iamblichus asks of the Egyptians, however, what the cause of the distinction between them is and whether it is from their energies, or their passive motions, or from things that are consequent, or from their different arrangement with respect to bodies. By the latter, he goes on to say that he means, for example, that Gods inhabit the ethereal, that demons inhabit the air and that souls inhabit terrestrial bodies.

Of course, it is differentiation that being comes to be in the first place. Before differentiation there is nothing but tohu-bohu -- indeed between the Void and confusion (or chaos), there is little difference. With the utterance of the command Be! the zero is annihilated.

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

BELIEF

What KG calls a "primal obsession" and in Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, he says, "Every magician must discover the word that conceals his dominant obsession, must vibrate it until its energizing elemental is awakened." Myths are never intended to be believed. They are opportunities to restructure our values and lead us to new insights. Goblins need not be real in order to be real. No magician ever believes anything. That includes the current consensus. Gurdjieff went so far as to say, "Believe nothing, not even yourself." Feelings, unless one has trained intuitional talents, can never be trusted to reflect reality. The alternative to believing is simply experiencing or knowing.

It is not belief that acts as a placebo, it is the absence of doubt. This is the real meaning of Gnosticism which had no truck with belief, but was concerned solely with knowing (from Gk. gnostikos, good at knowing). You know something by direct experience of the body and mind, not through second-hand evidence or teaching or belief. Healing has nothing to do with struggling against disbelief, it is a relaxing into the experience itself and accepting, without giving way to despair, that whatever happens is all right. When patients say they believe, they really mean they have learned how to relax on the tightrope without falling off. If they had to keep forcing themselves to believe, theyd quickly wither and fall.

Meanwhile, 19th Century rationalism is paling to insignificance. Our Xtian children, reared in frustration and boredom, soon desert their native religions and run away to sex and drugs. Then, after burning themselves out, they return in the mantle of shame that we force them to wear, offering themselves to be brainwashed anew in our guilt-ridden, mind-murdering belief factories.

There is a deplorable tendency for our society to mention religion and magic in the same breath, as though they were synonyms. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Admittedly, it is an idiosyncrasy of some magi to bristle at religion, chiefly because it is authoritarian, rigid, ignorant and oppressive, and also because it belittles and persecutes creativity. However, a sharp line between magic and religion must be strongly drawn. We are told that magic goes beyond belief. It does nothing of the kind - it shuns belief like the pox! If religion is 100% belief, magic is based in equal parts upon knowledge, originality, perseverance and boldness. Where confusion arises in the popular mind is over sorcery, which uses the trappings of magic and religion indiscriminately, is based on belief and subordination, but at the same time brazenly seeks selfish material gain and ego enhancement. Sorcery is really a kind of credulous business transaction, whose motto might well be the ends glorify the means.

Although Judaism and Buddhism are special cases, in Xtianity and Islam, the purpose of religion is individual salvation in the Hereafter. These belief-based religions assure salvation through fixing one's faith on a God or a Paraclete which is other than the self and which, in fact, erases the self altogether. The purpose of magic, on the other hand, is frankly the transmogrification in whole or in part, with or without the invocation of Gods of the hell that our world really is. Since the magician always dwells at the chaotic, creative edge of the present, this transmogrification concerns itself with means as much as ends. He rings in the changes as he goes along, extemporaneously. Nor does the magician cringe and subordinate himself, but acts on equal footing with the pantheistic and holonomic principle that each part is equal to, if not greater than, the whole. Since, moreover, any part, in a sense, is equal to any other part, the magician himself is neither more nor less valuable than anyone or anything else. The individual self is merely unique in the meaning and interpretation of its contribution. Therefore, the magician is always willing to sacrifice himself in any manner that may prove necessary to his work.

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

Trees,:

Trees, (Krishna about) [vriksha]: (SB 10:22)

'O Stoka Krishna and Ams'u; o S'ridama, Subala and Arjuna; o Vis'ala, Vrishabha and Ojasvi; o Devaprastha and Varuthapa, just see these ones so fortunate whose life is only there for the higher purpose of keeping off the rain, the wind, the heat and the snow they bear for us.

(33) Oh how superior the birth of these trees that, like great souls do, give support to all living entities; for certain will no person in need ever go away disappointed by them

(34) By their leaves, flowers and fruits; shade and roots, bark and wood; by their fragrance, sap ashes, pulp and shoots they award all things desirable.

(35) It is to each living being to live up to this perfection of birth in this world: to be with ones life, wealth, intelligence and words towards the embodied always of the highest good in ones dutiful activities [see also the vaishnava pranama].'

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

A Christian theological definition of Predestination according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Predestine, Predestination

See also: Predestination , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

puja: (Sanskrit) "Worship, adoration."

An Agamic rite of worship performed in the home, temple or shrine, to the murti, sri paduka, or other consecrated object, or to a person, such as the satguru. Its inner purpose is to purify the atmosphere around the object worshiped, establish a connection with the inner worlds and invoke the presence of God, Gods or one's guru.

During puja, the officiant (pujari) recites various chants praising the Divine and beseeching divine blessings, while making offerings in accordance with established traditions. Puja, the worship of a murti through water, lights and flowers in temples and shrines, is the Agamic counterpart of the Vedic yajna rite, in which offerings are conveyed through the sacred homa fire. These are the two great streams of adoration and communion in Hinduism.

Central steps of puja include:

1)    achamana, water sipping for purification;

2)    Ganapati prarthana, prayers to Ganesha;

3)    sankalpa, declaration of intent;

4)    ghanta, ringing bell, inviting devas and dismissing asuras;

5)    avahana, inviting the Deity ;

6)    mantras and dhyana, meditating on the Deity;

7)    svagata, welcoming;

8)    namaskara, obeisance;

9)    arghyam, water offerings;

10) pradakshina, circumambulation;

11) abhisheka, bathing the murti;

12) dhupa, incense-offering;

13) dipa, offering lights;

14) 1naivedya, offering food;

15) archana, chanting holy names;

16) arati, final offering of lights;

17) prarthana, personal requests;

18) visarjana, dismissal-farewell.

Also central are pranayama (breath control), guru vandana (adoration of the preceptor), nyasa (empowerment through touching) and mudra (mystic gestures). Puja offerings also include pushpa (flowers), arghya (water), tambula (betel leaf) and chandana (sandalpaste).

-       atmartha puja: Karana Agama, v. 2, states: Atmartha cha parartha cha puja dvividhamuchyate, "Worship is two-fold: for the benefit of oneself and for the benefit of others." Atmartha puja is done for oneself and immediate family, usually at home in a private shrine.

-       parartha puja: "Puja for others." Parartha puja is public puja, performed by authorized or ordained priests in a public shrine or temple.

See: pujari, puja, yajna.

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

artha:

artha. Wealth, prosperity, material object, thing, aim, purpose, desire.

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

will

Essential function of being, experienced as purpose, choice, causality, ability to express or act; with three aspectsstrong, skillful, good

(See also: Will , Body Mind and Soul)

A Christian theological definition of Teleology according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Teleology

See also: Teleology , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

ELEMENTS

The four principles of reality. They derive their nature from the phases of the Moon (Waxing, Full, Waning, Disappearing) and can be associated with the four points of the compass (see TETRAMORPH), but we should be wary of trying to assign a logical progression to them. For instance, science tends to see them merely as matter, energy, space and time. But contemporary scientific rationalism does not apply to ancient intuitional philosophy.

The ancients were correct to advise us not to try to separate the elements from one another (the "unified field" theory, however, doesn't apply to this aspect either). They take their being from the context of one another acting in unison. Thus Earth is the materialized, magnetic form which seeks contraction (coagula) and Air is the medium of space, freedom and dispersion (solve). Water is the dual flow of involution and evolution, the End and the Beginning, quicksilver-like Creation and Dissolution, Surface and Depth. The waters are divided into the upper waters of the potential and the lower waters of the actual. Water is the element of transition between the other elements. Fire, the plasmic state of transmutation, is the energy behind all things.

Each element is unique in its relationship to the others and in fully exercising that uniqueness, disappears. Water confluences the elements into a duality, Earth contains them all and is their united totality. Air is the separation in which they individuate themselves and vanish, while Fire is the uniqueness itself that extracts anything from its context, particularly the separation of "something" from Nothing, or vice-versa.

The quartering of the elements takes innumerable forms. Eliphas Levi, for instance, even gives a tetramorphic quaternity to Alchemy (Salt, Sulphur, Mercury and Azoth) and to the Qabalah (Macroposopus, Microposopus and the 2 "Mothers").

In Facing the Sphinx, Marie Farrington gives the number of elements as seven: earth, water, fire, air, ether or vapor, blossom (the seminal principle) and the Wind of Purpose (or Ghost). Amongst the Hindus the sixth was Bala-Rama, "the representation of masculine virility, the semen virile. The 7th was the summit and soul of the rest." In Ancient China, we observe earth, water, fire, wind and space (wood is only a physical element). The seven Latin verbs are Velle, Audere, Scire, Tacere, Revelare, Resurgere, Renunciare.

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

exorcism: Any act or method whose purpose is to expel a spirit (particularly Satan, some other demon, or an offensive ghost) or multiple spirits from a person, place, or thing. The word exorcism also refers to any spell used in exorcism.

(See also: Exorcism , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Affirmation

Affirmations are positive statements that can be used to change the way you think about yourself and your health. Since the unconscious cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined idea, it responds to whatever suggestions you give it, eventually helping to create the reality that matches your most predominant beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts. By repeating positive affirmations each time a negative, self-defeating thought comes to mind, you can retrain your mind and learn to feel more confident, as well as improve your overall health. Over time, old, limited thoughts and mental patterns that contributed to anxiety, depression, or stress will lose their charge and eventually stop arising altogether.

 Using affirmations does not mean suppressing any thought that is not "good", however, Instead, affirmations are used a reshaping tool that you can call upon to rid yourself of thoughts that serve no positive purpose. For example, if your are prone to headaches and your thoughts keep informing you that you haven't had a headache in a while and are therefore due for one, instead of giving in and feeding such thoughts, you can overcome them by using an affirmation, such as "I am headache free and I deserve to stay that way." Initially, this may seem to be silly or an attempt to fool yourself, but if you pay attention and keep repeating the affirmation, before long you will stay it and mean it and the results you expect will follow.

 Affirmations can be used in any area of your life. To be most effective, choose one or two affirmations that feel most comfortable and memorize them, so that you can say them whenever a negative thought enters your mind. You might also consider mentally repeating your affirmation 10-20 times once or twice a day.

Useful affirmations include:

1. I am healthy, relaxed, and free of pain and disease
2. I love myself, and I deserve to feel healthy and alive
3. I approve of myself, and I'm safe to be who I am
4. Every day in every way, I am getting better and better
5. I am in the flow of life, and I am grateful for the gift of being alive
6. My life is my own and I easily resolve my conflicts

(See also: Affirmation , Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

A Christian theological definition of Cities of refuge according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Cities of refuge

See also: Cities of refuge , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

MEMORY (spiritual memory) - recall of past lives or ancient civilizations (universal memory) recall of one’s eternal journey and purpose on the Earth (yin( vision of the future. (yang) vision of the past. (NAD)

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

SYMBOL

A symbol, whose meaning is unconscious or indirect, must not be confused with a sign, which is obviously a resemblance or conscious pointer. A symbol represents something that can't be defined or expressed. Otherwise it is an allegory or a sign. A phallic symbol, for instance, is not a symbol because we know what it stands for. Nor is a skull a "symbol" of death. Nor are the cross (standing for Christ), a heart (standing for love) or a bird (standing for freedom) anything more than signs, i.e., equivalents. Examples of true symbols might be the Holy Grail, the Philosopher's Stone, or even a personalized mandala, since we have no (conscious) idea what these things represent. Most certainly of all, Christ and Buddha are symbols of human perfection. A.B. says their purpose is pedagogical, preserving encapsulizations of truth and developing intuition. Moreover, every symbol can be read in many different ways. And there are four kinds of symbols (physical, astral, numerical, geometrical). There are also symbolic "books" of the "Masters," the words of which are interpreted by color, their position above or below the line, their connection to one another and by their "key," that is, right to left (greater cycles), left to right (lesser cycles), from above down (involution), from below up (evolution).

Postmodern man tends to believe that symbols generate meanings in infinite concentric waves from their centers. Indeed, symbols come to have different meanings in different times and places. For example, the triskelion, tripes, or "three-legs of man," originally meant the 3 ages riddled by the Sphinx or three faces of the Hindu Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva). But in Europe, according to Goblet d'Aviella (The Migration of Symbols) it eventually came to acquire purely political meanings, standing, amongst other things, for the "Land of the Three Capes," i.e., Sicily, for Norwegian royalty and for The Isle of Man. In our time many once very fertile and numinous symbols are all but dead.

Says Carlyle: "In a symbol lies concealment or revelation." And further, "It is in and through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works, and has his being."

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

Devas - celestial deities; beings situated in the celestial planets who are endowed with great piety, tremendous lifespans, and superior mental and physical prowess. They are entrusted with specific powers for the purpose of universal administration.

(See also: Devas , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Climbing

1. A challenge in the dreamer's life, or one coming up.

2. Climbing the ladder of success; attempting to reach the top.

3. Ascent towards higher consciousness, aiming for a higher purpose in life.

Astrological parallels: Saturn, Capricorn.

Tarot parallel: The Fool.

Source: Astrocenter, http://astrocenter.astrology.msn.com/msn/DreamDictionary.aspx

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

Cone of Power - Psychic energy raised and focused either by an individual or group Mind,to achieve a definite purpose.

(See also: Cone of Power , Pagan, Wicca Pagan Dictionary)

Channel, Channeler

A 'sensitive' who allows spiritual entities to use his/her body and mind as a link between this plane and other planes of consciousness for the purpose of receiving psychic information or healing energy. Formerly called mediums.

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

Walls

• To dream that you find a wall obstructing your progress, you will surely succumb to ill-favored influences and lose important victories in your affairs.
• To jump over it, you will overcome obstacles and win your desires. To force a breach in a wall, you will succeed in the attainment of your wishes by sheer tenacity of purpose.
• To demolish one, you will overthrow your enemies. To build one, foretells that you will carefully lay plans and will solidify your fortune to the exclusion of failure, or designing enemies.
• For a young woman to walk on top of a wall, shows that her future happiness will soon be made secure. For her to hide behind a wall, denotes that she will form connections that she will be ashamed to acknowledge. If she walks beside a base wall. she will soon have run the gamut of her attractions, and will likely be deserted at a precarious time.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

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