Introduction and links to related topics Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Exorcism - The act of ritual expulsion of demons or evil spirits or negative forces from an individual or place . In the New Testament, exorcisms are a central part of the public ministry of Jesus.
Christianity has utilized exorcisms in a variety of ways: as an integral part of baptismal liturgies in which prayers and rites are used to symbolize the person''s departure from sin and entrance into the body of Christians; as blessings to separate material things from profane use in order to dedicate them to divine use (e. g. , the exorcism of water used in baptism); and as a rite to free persons from demonic possession. In the Roman Catholic Church this rite can only be done with episcopal authorization.
Fundamentalist and Pentecostal churches attempt to drive out the demonic with sessions of prayer, the laying on of hands, and the reading of scripture. In some forms of early Christianity there was a separate clerical office for the exorcist.
Wine - Wine Used as an emblem of life and spirit, as in the Mysteries, where at one stage of the initiatory rites wine and bread were offered to the candidate as symbols of spirit and body, the meaning being the same as that conveyed elsewhere by fire and water, or blood and flesh. It was necessary for the aspirant to be perfected in both ways.
The rite was very early adopted from the Dionysian Mysteries by the Christian churches in the sacrament of the Eucharist where wine represents the blood of Christ, and the bread his body. Wine is also connected in the same mystical manner with the Greek god Dionysos or Bacchus, for this divinity represented the Christos or initiator, teacher, and savior of mankind; and thus wine stands for inspiration and holy enthusiasm, varying from divine inspiration and spiritual quickening all down the scale to merely phrenetic exaltation, and even when grossly degenerate, orgiastic, and drunken excitement, such as marked the degraded forms of Bacchic worship.
In the New Testament the parable of the turning of water into wine is another way of stating that exoteric or mythologic teachings were explained and illustrated so that the inner wisdom became known, the wine standing for the inner aspect. Only an adept or initiate is able to do this.
See also BREAD AND WINE; SOMA; VINE
Communion - Communion In Christian Churches, the sacrament of the Eucharist, an ancient pagan rite early adopted by Christendom. It originally signified communion of the human self with its inner god, a state attained more or less perfectly during initiation, or by those who have attained the power thus to communicate, and symbolized in the Mysteries by ceremonial rites similar to those which the Church has borrowed.
See also BREAD AND WINE
Chai - (Chinese, "fast") In Taoism, rites of fasting, repentance, or purification. The term refers to rites on behalf of the living and the dead, including exorcism, protection from illness, securing houses, and recitations for salvation. Unlike related folk rites involving animal sacrifice and alcohol, the Taoist rite stresses the offering of petitions and confessing of sins.
Holy Water - Holy Water. This is one of the oldest rites practised in Egypt, and thence in Pagan Rome. It accompanied the rite of bread and wine. "Holy water was sprinkled by the Egyptian priest alike upon his gods’ images and the faithful. It was both poured and sprinkled.
A brush has been found, supposed to have been used for that purpose, as at this day." (Bonwick’s Egyptian Belief.) As to the bread, "the cakes of Isis were placed upon the altar. Gliddon writes that they were ‘identical in shape with the consecrated cake of the Roman and Eastern Churches’. Melville assures us ‘the Egyptians marked this holy bread with St. Andrew’s cross’.
The Presence bread was broken before being distributed by the priests to the people, and was supposed to become the flesh and blood of the Deity. The miracle was wrought by the hand of the officiating priest, who blessed the food. . . . Rouge tells us ‘the bread offerings bear the imprint of the fingers, the mark of consecration ‘."
(Ibid, page 458.) (See also " Bread and Wine".)
Baptism - Baptism (Ancient Greek). The rite of purification performed during the ceremony of initiation in the sacred tanks of India, and also the later identical rite established by John "the Baptist" and practised by his disciples and followers, who were not Christians. This rite was hoary with age when it was adopted by the Chrestians of the earliest centuries.
Baptism belonged to the earliest Chaldeo-Akkadian theurgy; was religiously practised in the nocturnal ceremonies in the Pyramids where we see to this day the font in the shape of the sarcophagus; was known to take place during the Eleusinian mysteries in the sacred temple lakes, and is practised even now by the descendants of the ancient Sabians. The Mendeans (the El Mogtasila of the Arabs) are, notwithstanding their deceptive name of "St. John Christians", less Christians than are the Orthodox Mussulman Arabs around them.
They are pure Sabians; and this is very naturally explained when one remembers that the great Semitic scholar Renan has shown in his Vie de Jesus that the Aramean verb seba, the origin of the name Sabian, is a synonym of the Greek baptizw.
The modern Sabians, the Mendeans whose vigils and religious rites, face to face with the silent stars, have been described by several travellers, have still preserved the theurgic, baptismal rites of their distant and nigh-for gotten forefathers, the Chaldean Initiates.
Their religion is one of multiplied baptisms, of seven purifications in the name of the seven planetary rulers, the "seven Angels of the Presence" of the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestant Baptists are but the pale imitators of the El Mogtasila or Nazareans who practise their Gnostic rites in the deserts of Asia Minor. (See "Boodhasp".)
Sraddha - Sraddha (Sanskrit). Devotion to the memory and care for the welfare of the manes of dead relatives.
A post-mortem rite for newly kindred. There are also monthly rites of Sraddha.
Martinists - Martinists Followers of French mystic Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803). After a brief career in the army, he devoted himself to study and become a theosophist and student of Boehme. He sought to restore Masonry to its primeval character and to reintroduce into it occultism and theurgy; his rectified rite has ten degrees, later reduced to seven. But his efforts met with failure and he was accused of introducing ideas and rites at variance with the supposed archaeological history of Masonry. His society was first established at Lyon; its members believed in the possibility of communicating with planetary spirits and minor gods and genii of the ultramundane spheres. It was the Martinists, according to some, who invented the name astral light.
Grounding - GROUNDING:
1) To disperse excess energy generated during a magickal rite by sending it into the earth. It can also mean the process of centering ones self in the physical world both before and after any ritual.
2) the act of dispelling negative emotions and energies from the physical body.
Eucharist - The principal act of worship of the Christian religion, otherwise known as the Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion, Lord''s Supper, or Mass.
This name has been used from at least the second century, and comes from the thanksgiving prayer that constitutes a principal element in the rite.
Christian myths tells the story of the last supper eaten by Jesus with his disciples on the night before he died, when he performed a Jewish grace-ritual before the meal (taking bread into his hands, saying a short blessing of God for it, breaking the bread, and sharing it with those present) and the customary festal thanksgiving prayer over a shared cup of wine at the end of the meal . The myth relates that these actions signified his imminent death, interpreting the bread as his body "given for you" and the wine as his blood, and as having instructed his disciples to perform them in future in remembrance of him.
The eucharistic observances of the earliest Christians were more than a memorial meal: in some traditions believers claimed to experience the living presence of the resurrected Christ in these communal gatherings. Historically, the rite of Mass (Mazd) was adopted by the Catholic Church from the religion of Sol Invictus in which is was a reinactment of a sacramental meal performed by Mithras.
Theurgy Theurgia - Theurgy theurgia (Greek) [from theos god + ergon work]
Mystery-term popularized by Iamblichus for a method of individual communion with the gods, or bringing the gods down to earth. It consisted in purifying the psycho-astral links between the mind and its divine counterpart, whereby the theurgist was not only brought into conscious communion with his own higher self, but also with other divine entities. The first school in the Christian period
"was founded by Iamblichus among certain Alexandrian Platonists. The priests, however, who were attached to the temples of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Greece, and whose business it was to evoke the gods during the celebration of the Mysteries, were known by this name, or its equivalent in other tongues, from the earliest archaic period. Spirits (but not those of the dead, the evocation of which was called Necromancy) were made visible to the eyes of mortals. Thus a theurgist had to be a hierophant and an expert in the esoteric learning of the Sanctuaries of all great countries. The Neo-platonists of the school of Iamblichus were called theurgists, for they performed the so-called ''ceremonial magic,'' and evoked the simulacra or the images of the ancient heroes, ''gods,'' and daimonia ( {Greek char} divine, spiritual entities). In the rare cases when the presence of a tangible and visible ''spirit'' was required, the theurgist had to furnish the weird apparition with a portion of his own flesh and blood -- he had to perform the theopaea, or the ''creation of gods,'' by a mysterious process well known to the old, and perhaps some of the modern, Tantrikas and initiated Brahmans of India" (TG 329-30).
The varied uses by different writers shows the term''s applicability to a considerable range of practices.
"The popular prevailing idea is that the theurgists, as well as the magicians, worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the heroes and gods, and other thaumaturgic works, by supernatural powers. But this never was the fact. They did it simply by the liberation of their own astral body, which, taking the form of a god or hero, served as a medium or vehicle through which the special current preserving the ideas and knowledge of that hero or god could be reached and manifested" (TG 330).
Plotinus was opposed to theurgy, and Porphyry says that it can but cleanse the lower or psychic portion and make it capable of perceiving lower beings, such as spirits, angels, and gods; it is powerless to purify the noetic or manasic (intellectual) principle. But Porphyry was persuaded by his master Iamblichus to concede the value of theurgy under certain limitations. Porphyry''s views highlight the difference between raja yoga and hatha yoga. In the case of such a person as Iamblichus, practices might be quite safe which would be fraught with nothing but harm in the hands of another or without the help of such a teacher. For once the barriers are down a way is opened for communion with all kinds of undesirable entities, against which the experimenter will not know how to protect himself.
In the ancient Mysteries, theurgy was divided into different degrees. To illustrate, in one of the highest initiatory degrees the initiant was brought face to face with the divinity within himself, and in order to accomplish this the initiant had to give of his own spiritual and intellectual substance and vitality so that his inner god might imbody itself on inner and invisible planes, the rite thus providing a temporary and illusory divorce which was really an essential union of the divine in man with the spiritual-intellectual -- the latter recognizing for the time being its own divine origin and coalescing with it. In a less perfect form of such theurgical practice, and in a lower degree of the Mysteries, the initiant gave of his own astral and physical substance, the effluvia of his astral body and of his flesh and blood, to provide a vehicle through which a spiritual entity might have a tangible, although very temporary, imbodiment; and for the time being the initiant was thus enabled to see, touch, and converse with a being of the inner worlds who otherwise would have been utterly unable to enter our physical sphere except by those spiritual-akasic currents of forces which human beings recognize as inspiration.
Confession - A personal and/or communal statement of beliefs, as in the primitive Christian confession that "Jesus is Lord. " Later, the concept was elaborated into longer, more cognitively detailed statements of belief on the theological level.
A verbal avowal of personal misdeeds. In the Christian era, a ritualized group avowal of sin as part of Sunday worship. In the Roman Catholic Church confession is only one part of the entire sacrament of penance (also known as the rite of reconciliation) that leads up to the act of absolution (forgiveness). In Judaism the parallel phenomenon developed communally in the annual congregational confession of sins on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). In Eastern and Western Christianity there also developed the individual confession.
Among New Age churches, the semi-formal rite of relating one''s sins or trespasses to absolve oneself of guilt.
Hydranos - Hydranos (Greek) Baptizer:
"a name of the ancient Hierophant of the Mysteries who made the candidate pass through the ''trial by water,'' wherein he was plunged thrice. This was his baptism by the Holy Spirit which moves on the waters of Space. Paul refers to St. John as Hydranos, the Baptist. The Christian Church took this rite from the ritualism of the Eleusinian and other Mysteries" (TG 146).
Invocation - INVOCATION:
1) Calling down higher powers through ritual;
2) Call on a God or Goddess to come into and control the person invoking. The act of drawing the aspect of a deity into ones physical self. The rite of drawing down the moon is an example.
3) An appeal or petition to a higher power, s.
4) a prayer.
5) a request for a Diety''s appearance or attendance during ritual.
6) the practice that produces an awareness of Deity within.
Kasina - Kasina (Sanskrit). A mystic Yoga rite used to free the mind from all agitation and bring the Kamic element to a dead stand-still.
Christos - Christos (Greek) Anointed; applied in the Greek Mysteries to a candidate who had passed the last degree and become a full initiate. Also the immanent individual god in a person, equivalent in some respects to Dionysos, Krishna, etc.
The Hebrew word for anointed (mashiah) is generally written in English as Messiah. What we know as Christianity is a syncretism of borrowings from Neoplatonism, neo-Pythogoreanism, Greek Gnosticism, and Hebrew religion. Christos was commonly used in the Greek translation of the Bible as a title of the Jewish Kings, those who had been anointed for reigning -- a symbolic rite taken originally from the Mysteries. St. Paul''s use of the word shows that he understood its true mystical meaning, but spoke with precaution in his public epistles or writings.
The first two letters of the Greek word, , superimposed in a monogram, were on the military standard of the later Christian emperors of Rome, probably dating from Constantine, and have a significance as geometrical symbols besides.
See also CHRESTOS
Exorcism - Exorcism (from Greek exorkizein to bind by an oath)
In the Christian Church, the casting out of evil spirits by adjuring and commanding them. Under other names the rite has been practiced in all lands and times, with a great variety of ceremonies, and by the power of a person who is versed in the procedure and especially efficaciously by one whose life is holy. Jesus of the Gospels exercises the power and delegates it to his disciples.
Agnihotra - (Sanskrit) "Fire sacrifice." Household rite traditionally performed daily, in which an oblation of milk is sprinkled on the fire.
See: yajna.
Ceremony - A formal rite established by custom or authority as proper to special occasions. From the Latin caerimonia, "awe; reverent rite."
Exorcism - A rite or process for delivering unenlightened spirits out of a presence or situation
Boodhasp - Boodhasp (Chald.) .An alleged Chaldean; but in esoteric teaching a Buddhist (a Bodhisattva), from the East, who was the founder of the esoteric school of Neo-Sabeism, and whose secret rite of baptism passed bodily into the Christian rite of the same name.
For almost three centuries before our era, Buddhist monks overran the whole country of Syria, made their way into the Mesopotamian valley and visited even Ireland. The name Ferho and Faho of the Codex Nazaraeus is but a corruption of Fho, Fo and Pho, the name which the Chinese, Tibetans and even Nepaulese often give to Buddha.
Holy Water - Holy Water As practiced in the Roman Catholic Church the rite is virtually identical with that of the ancient Egyptians: the water which has been blessed or consecrated is used to sprinkle the worshipers and objects used in the church service.
It was unquestionably adopted from the ancient Mysteries, and became a rite of external symbolic purification. In Egypt and pagan Rome, it "accompanied the rite of bread and wine. ''Holy water was sprinkled by the Egyptian priest alike upon his gods'' images and the faithful. It was both poured and sprinkled.
A brush has been found, supposed to have been used for that purpose, as at this day.'' (Bonwick''s Egyptian Belief (p. 418)) As to the bread, ''the cakes of Isis . . . were placed upon the altar. Gliddon writes that they were "identical in shape with the consecrated cake of the Roman and Eastern Churches." Melville assures us "the Egyptians marked this holy bread with St. Andrew''s cross." The Presence bread was broken before being distributed by the priests to the people, and was supposed to become the flesh and blood of the Deity. The miracle was wrought by the hand of the officiating priest, who blessed the food. . . . Rouge tells us "the bread offerings bear the imprint of the fingers, the mark of consecration".'' (Ibid, page 418)" (TG 144-5).
Great Rite - The rite which is the main feature of the third degree initiation, and which is also laid down for certain festivals. It is sexual in nature, but may be actual "and private to the couples concerned" or symbolic, as the participants wish.
Asherah - Asherah ''asherah (Hebrew) A Syrian goddess of fortune having close similarities with the Roman divinity Venus, and connected by analogy of attributes with Ashtoreth or Astarte, another Syrian divinity.
Also a sacred wooden pole or image standing close to the massebah and altar in early Shemitic sanctuaries, part of the equipment of the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem till the Deuteronomic reformation of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6). The plural, ''asherim, denotes statues, images, columns, or pillars; translated in the Bible by "groves." Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a lingham -- for centuries a religious rite in Judaea.
Sometimes called the Assyrian Tree of Life, "the original Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a metaphysical symbol. ''Merciful One, who dead to life raises!'' was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. The ''Merciful One,'' was . . . the higher triad in man symbolized by the globular flower with its three rays" (TG 37).
See also ASTARTE.
Unction - Annointing one with oil as a religious-magical rite performed to endow the object or person with supernatural power, grace, or sacredness
Anugita - Anugita (Sanskrit) (from anu after, alongside + gita sung, chanted, song from the verbal root gai to sing, intone)
After-song; chapters 16-92 of the Asvamedhika-parvan, 14th book of the Mahabharata that deals with the asvamedha (horse sacrifice) conducted by Yudhishthira, a rite that stems from the Vedic period.
Like the Bhagavad-Gita, the Anugita is a discourse between Krishna and Arjuna, an "after-song" in which Krishna gives a fuller unfolding of teaching with many mystical allusions.
Worship - WORSHIP: in Paganism and Wicca, this means to become one with the gods during a group or personal rite and to endeavor to draw the essence of a goddess or god within, to see and understand from their viewpoint.
Goddess - Definitions differ but Generally the universal mother of all who created the universe with the god. Often associated with the Moon, ocean, earth, fertility, birth and death.### GREAT RITE
Mummy - Mummy. The name for human bodies embalmed and preserved according to the ancient Egyptian method. The process of mummification is a rite of extreme antiquity in the land of the Pharaohs, and was considered as one of the most sacred ceremonies. It was, moreover, a process showing considerable learning in chemistry and surgery. Mummies 5,000 years old and more, reappear among us a preserved and fresh as when they first came from the hands of the Parashistes.
Lekhaprartha Havana - (Sanskrit) "Written-prayer-burning rite."
A coined term for the ancient practice of sending written prayers to the Gods by burning them in a sanctified fire in a temple or shrine. Alternately this rite can be performed at other appropriate sites, with four persons sitting around a fire and chanting to create a temporary temple. Prayers can be written in any language, but should be clearly legible, in black ink on white paper. The devas have provided a special script, called Tyaf, especially for this purpose.
Mizraim - Mizraim (Egypt, Egyptian). The name of Egypt in very ancient times, This name is now connected with Freemasonry. See the rite of Mizraim and the rite of Memphis in Masonic Cyclopedias.
Assyrian Tree Of Life - Assyrian Tree of Life. "Asherah" (q.v.). It is translated in the Bible by "grove " and occurs 30 times. It is called an "idol"; and Maachah, the grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of having made for herself such an idol, which was a lingham. For centuries this was a religious rite in Judea.
But the original Asherah was a pillar with seven branches on each side surmounted by a globular flower with three projecting rays, and no phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a metaphysical symbol. "Merciful One, who dead to life raises! was the prayer uttered before the Asherah, on the banks of the Euphrates. The "Merciful One", was neither the personal god of the Jews who brought the "grove" from their captivity, nor any extra- cosmic god, but the higher triad in man symbolized by the globular flower with its three rays.
Christmas - Christmas Christmas Day and its festival are a curious blend of Christian, Jewish, Roman, Western pagan, and perhaps other institutions. It arose as a Christian festival as part of the adaptation of the early Christian Church to the world in which it grew up.
The accounts given of the birth of Christ present obvious difficulties against regarding this date as that of his actual birth, and it was looked upon rather as a commemorative festival. Before the 5th century there cannot be said to have been any general consensus as to the date, the choice wavering between that of Epiphany on January 6th, the 25th of March, and the 25th of December. According to Chrysostom, the choice of the first of these dates was due to Western influence; and it is true that the Romans held their Saturnalia at the same time.
The celebration of the winter solstice, often identified with that of the new year, is virtually universal and denotes among Christians the mystic birth of the Christ; the significance has, however, with the Christian Church, been divided between Christmas and Easter. Besides its application to the death and rebirth of the year, and to death and regeneration both cosmic and human, the symbol has special reference to the esoteric rite and exoteric drama performed in the Mysteries at this epoch, where the candidate for initiation was placed in a tomb or coffin, or on a cruciform couch, where his body remained entranced during the experiences of his liberated self, until rebirth or resurrection on the third day.
Christmas customs likewise are derived from various sources: the exchange of gifts or sweets is a common accompaniment of new year celebrations; the tree is a universal symbol of manifested nature, and this appears again as the cross, which however is appropriated to the Friday before Easter. At the winter solstice, the sun enters Capricorn, a house of Saturn -- who appears in such figures as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, and Old Father Christmas; and the spirit of license and good cheer are more appropriate to the genius of Saturn, especially in the form of Silenus or a satyr, than to the mystic birth of the neophyte.
Azazel - Azazel aza''zel (Hebrew) (from azaz to be firm, strong, powerful (or from ez goat) + ''el divinity, god)
Also Azaziel, Azazyel. God of victory; equivalent of Greek Prometheus, he was chief of the ''ishin (Chaldean) or ''ishim (Hebrew), men-spirits who, according to the Zohar, mixed themselves with mortal men, having come to earth to do so (Genesis 6:2-4). The ''ishin are chained on a mountain in the desert, which means that they undergo descent into material life and confinement in incarnation. Azazel and the six other ''ishin teach humankind to make weapons and utensils, and impart the knowledge of various other arts. These seven were the first instructors of the fourth root-race.
The story is a form of the universal myth which represents the descent of the manasaputras and, as usual, the god of might or victory has been turned into a god of evil, his benefits into seductions, and his chivalrous sacrifice into a rebellion. He was, like Baphomet, turned into a goat -- the scapegoat of the Old Testament, whose name in the Hebrew is Azazel. The goat in ancient animal symbology signified regeneration and reproductive power, hence strength, might.
Suggested additional material: Many experts in ancient Hebrew hold that the name of the old Syriac desert spirit/deity Azazel (Azazyel from the Ethiopian text) was confused with the Hebrew term "oz-oz-el" which literally meant "A goat that goes away." This confusion was fueled by the use of a sacrificial goat "for Azazel" (actually released, not killed) in the Jewish Old Testament rite of atonement. Later, in comparatively modern times, the term "azazel" became synonymous with the idea of the scapegoat.
While a firm connection has never been established, it seems likely that the 3,000-year-old Syriac Azazel is the same one mentioned about 200 BC in the apocryphal "Book of Enoch" (Henoch) as the eventual leader of the "Sons of God" or "Watchers" sent to earth to watch over mankind, but later punished for taking human wives and teaching hidden knowledge to mankind. Confined to a thousand years'' bondage in the "abyss," he was guarded by Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Phanuel.
Although modern Christians often equate Azazel with Satan (Lucifer/Heylel), there is little scholarly evidence to support this view. A more likely view holds that the ancient worshippers of Yahweh sought to incorporate a link to existing, older belief systems while demonizing competing deities.
Samskara - (Sanskrit) "Impression, activator; sanctification, preparation."
The imprints left on the subconscious mind by experience (from this or previous lives), which then color all of life, one''s nature, responses, states of mind, etc.
A sacrament or rite done to mark a significant transition of life.
These make deep and positive impressions on the mind of the recipient, inform the family and community of changes in the lives of its members and secure inner-world blessings. The numerous samskaras are outlined in the Grihya Shastras. Most are accompanied by specific mantras from the Vedas.
samskaras of birth
samskaras of childhood
samskaras of adulthood
samskaras of later life
See: mind (five states of mind), sacrament, samskaras.
Grounding - Dispersing excess energy generated during any magickal rite or working by sending it into the earth.
Garbhadhana - (Sanskrit) "Womb-placing." The rite of conception.
See: reincarnation, samskaras of birth.
Anthesteria - Anthesteria (Ancient Greek). The feast of Flowers (Floralia): during this festival the rite of Baptism or purification was performed in the Eleusinian Mysteries in the temple lakes, the Limnae, when the
Myste were made to pass through the "narrow gate" of Dionysus, to emerge therefrom as full Initiates.
Invocation - the act of drawing the aspect of a particular deity into one’s physical self, the rite of Drawing Down the Moon is an example. (CMM)
Coffin-rite - Coffin-Rite, or Pastos. This was the final rite of Initiation in the Mysteries in Egypt, Greece and elsewhere. The last and supreme secrets of Occultism could not be revealed to the Disciple until he had passed through this allegorical ceremony of Death and Resurrection into new light. "The Greek verb teleutaó," says Vronsky, "signifies in the active voice ‘I die’, and in the middle voice ‘I am initiated". Stobeus quotes an ancient author, who says, "The mind is affected in death, just as it is in the initiation into the Mysteries ; and word answers to word, as well as thing to thing ; for teleutan is ‘ to die ‘, and teleisthai ‘to be initiated’". And thus, as Mackenzie corroborates, when the Aspirant was placed in the Pastos, Bed, or Coffin (in India on the lathe, as explained in the Secret Doctrine), "he was symbolically said to die."
Samskaras Of Birth - From the rite of conception to the blessings of the new-born child.
garbhadhana: "Wombplacing." Rite of conception, where physical union is consecrated with the intent of bringing into physical birth an advanced soul.
punsavana: (Sanskrit) "Male rite; bringing forth a male." A rite performed during the third month of pregnancy consisting of prayers for a son and for the well-being of mother and child. A custom, found in all societies, based on the need for men to defend the country, run the family business and support the parents in old age. The need for male children in such societies is also based on the fact that women outlive men and leave the family to join their husband''s family. -
simantonnayana: "Hair-parting." A ceremony held between the fourth and seventh months in which the husband combs his wife''s hair and expresses his love and support.
jatakarma: "Rite of birth." The father welcomes and blesses the new-born child and feeds it a taste of ghee and honey.
See: samskara, samskaras.
Crucifixion - Crucifixion The Christian doctrine of the crucifixion contains at least three elements:
the ancient method of execution, in use among the Romans, of fastening the victim to a tree, post, or cross;
the rite used in initiation; and
the emblem of the god in man becoming incarnate.
In the initiation ceremony, which not only represented but in ancient times was the culminating event in a person''s regeneration, the candidate was laid bound upon a cruciform couch, which symbolized the matter to which his consciousness is bound, while the ego-soul was liberated to experience other realms of being.
A symbolic crucifixion takes place in every incarnating divinity when it takes up terrestrial life. The myth of crucifixion symbolically has therefore become by custom significant of world saviors in general, as signifying those who lay down the personal life in order to arise a regenerated and impersonal savior.
While the crucifixion mythos has become the central emblem of Christianity, the general idea of crucifixion as a symbol of regeneration is connected with many religious systems. Certainly Paul uses the word in the mystic and symbolic sense, as taking place interiorly in the individual, rather than referring to the story of Jesus'' crucifixion.
See also CROSS.
Exorcism - A religious or quasi-religious rite to drive out evil spirits.
See also Possession .
Handfasting - HANDFASTING:
1) the Wiccan, Pagan, & Gypsy wedding.
2) can also refer to a solemn betrothal. In some traditions, it is a permanent joining while in others it is only for as long as both partners agree to be joined.
3) This is the Rite of Pagan marriage, traditionally contracted for a specific period of time depending on ones tradition. It is renewed only if both parties agree. In Old Irish the word for handfasting is lanamnas.
4) Within the Druidic traditions this was usually an eternal vow taken with a soul mate.
5) There are 3 basic marriage handfasting: For a year & a day; For a lifetime; and For time & eternity. Unlike a marriage until ''death do you part'', a handfasting will stop, if the love stops (usually).
Gnostic Mass - The primary religious rite of the Thelemic religion.
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:
achamana, water sipping for purification;
Ganapati prarthana, prayers to Ganesha;
sankalpa, declaration of intent;
ghanta, ringing bell, inviting devas and dismissing asuras;
avahana, inviting the Deity ;
mantras and dhyana, meditating on the Deity;
svagata, welcoming;
namaskara, obeisance;
arghyam, water offerings;
pradakshina, circumambulation;
abhisheka, bathing the murti;
dhupa, incense-offering;
dipa, offering lights;
1naivedya, offering food;
archana, chanting holy names;
arati, final offering of lights;
prarthana, personal requests;
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.
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