C. - The third letter of the English alphabet, which has no equivalent in Hebrew except Caph, which see under K.

(See also: C - Letter C, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

CúChullain: (koo-khullin) - The great epic hero of old Ulster stories such as the "Cattle Raid of Cooley." He was the incarnation or manifestation of the Celtic high god of Lugus (Lugh or Llew).

(See also: CúChullain, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

C. E.

Common Era, the non-Christian equivalent to A. D.

(See also: C. E., New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Christian hypnotherapy: One of the services offered by the Abunda Life Church, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Its other services include Christian meditation (C.M.) and spiritual healing (prayer and the laying on of hands).

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

C.E.: Common Era. Synonymous with A.D. but without religious bias.

(See also: C.E., Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

C.E.: Common Era, non-Christian version of A.D.

(See also: C.E., Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

Conscience The imperfectly received or recognized working of one's spiritual being, in itself a spiritual activity of the inner god, which as yet is able to send only some faint gleams of light, truth, and harmony into the heavy and obscure brain-mind in which most people live. The higher the stage of evolution, the more easily and abundantly is this spiritual energy transmitted to the lower self.

Conscience is the voice of innate and of garnered spiritual wisdom, emanating first from the spiritual monad (buddhi) and also from the stored-up higher experiences of previous incarnations, reaching us through the veils of the intermediate principles. The thinner these veils are made through the cultivation of the virtues involved in impersonal living, the more easily does the conscience rule us and work within us.

Notwithstanding its source, the conscience cannot be said to be an infallible guide until the divine powers of the god within flow freely and are thus fully manifested. The cause of its fallibility is the blindness and reluctance of the brain-mind to receive these radiations from the divinity within. Yet, fallible though conscience be, it should be trusted and followed because it is a more or less complete shining, in itself, of the inner light, and because by recognizing and using it, the radiation grows stronger and a person grows wiser.

Conscience is usually thought of as ethical and admonitory, and intuition, its alter ego, as instantaneous knowledge.

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

Celestial Order of Beings Hierarchies of creative powers of various orders; in The Secret Doctrine (1:213) seven orders of celestial beings or creative powers are described: 1) Divine Flames, Fiery Lions, or Lions of Life (symbolized by the sign Leo), the nucleole of the superior divine world; formless Fiery Breaths, identical in one aspect with the upper Sephirothal triad which is placed in the archetypal world; 2) those of fire and aether, corresponding to atma-buddhi, formless but somewhat less spiritual and more ethereal; 3) those which correspond to atma-buddhi-manas, the triads; 4) ethereal entities, the highest rupa group, the nursery of human conscious spiritual souls, the imperishable jivas; 5) connected with the microcosmic pentagon, the crocodile, Capricorn contains the dual attributes of both spiritual and physical aspects of the universe, and dual human nature; 6) and 7) partake of the lower qualities of the quaternary, conscious ethereal entities, invisible, giving rise to numerous orders of nature spirits and spirits of atoms.

See also HIERARCHIES; HIERARCHY OF COMPASSION

(See also: Celestial Order of Beings, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chid-akasa cidakasa (Sanskrit) (from chit consciousness + akasa ether, space)

Abstract cosmic consciousness as active in spiritual cosmic substance or akasa; the infinite field of universal consciousness, pure cosmic intelligence in its union with abstract cosmic substance, the spiritual side of svabhavat.

Because each universe in the Boundless is in itself a cosmic individual, having its own wide fields of spiritual egoity, the chit is the svabhava (intrinsic individuality) of said universe.

(See also: Chid-akasa, cidakasa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Capricorn (from Latin capr goat + cornus horn)

The goat, often mystically connected with the sea; the tenth sign of the zodiac. In astrology, an earthy, cardinal sign, one of the two houses of Saturn, and the exaltation of Mars; its bodily correspondence is the knees. The symbol is a hybrid monster, often with the fore part of a goat or antelope and the hind part of a fish or dolphin. In some systems it is a crocodile. This sign marks the extreme southern limit of the sun.

In the Hindu zodiac it is Makara. Subba Row (The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac) says that ma is equivalent to the number 5, and kara means hand; thus the word signifies a pentagram. It may be taken to represent objectively both the microcosm and the macrocosm. Makara is the most mysterious of the signs, connected with the fifth group of the hierarchy of creative powers, and with the microcosmic pentagram -- the five-pointed star representing man (SD 1:219). In Egypt this sign was called the crocodile; with the Peratae Gnostics, it was represented as a dolphin and identified with Chozzar, god of the waters; it is associated with the Leviathan of Job, and with a group of five kumaras in India (SD 2:577).

"Makara is connected with the birth of the spiritual 'microcosm,' and the death or dissolution of the physical Universe (its passage into the realm of the Spiritual) . . . 'When the Sun passes away behind the 30th degree of Makara and will reach no more the sign of the Meenam (pisces) then the night of Brahma has come' " (SD 2:579 & n).

Equating the 12 sons of Jacob in the Hebrew system to the signs of the zodiac, Naphthali is assigned to Capricornus: he is called a "hind let loose."

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

Colob Planet upon which Mormons believe their spiritual head lives (IU 2:2).

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

Clairaudience Clear-hearing; ways of hearing which, at our present stage of evolution, are abnormal, whether psychic or spiritual.

Psychic clairaudience is a reflection or distortion of spiritual clairaudience, which extends to the solar system or even beyond, enabling one to perceive as sound the movements of all nature, from the cycles of the spheres to the vibrations of atoms.

(See also: Clairaudience, Clear-hearing, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Concentration With meditation, an equivalent for certain parts of yoga, as found in samadhi, dharana; the removal or surmounting of distractions originating in the mind and centering the latter on the spiritual and intellectual objective to be attained, which in the best sense is union with the inner god, the divine monad -- a conscious identification of oneself with the universal through the individual's innate divinity.

The method of meditative concentration prescribed in the Bhagavad-Gita is to perform all the duties of life without either attachment or avoidance. The hindrances to concentration which are to be removed are those arising from anger, lust, vanity, fear, sloth, etc. Such obstacles are removed by lifting the mind above them or by deliberately ignoring them, since directly fighting with them serves to concentrate the mind on them, thus defeating the object aimed at; and by cultivating the spirit of impersonal love and the light of wisdom which it evokes. Thus the blending of the personal self with the impersonal self is achieved by an orderly process of self-directed evolution, first by unselfish work in the cause of humanity, continued in the various degrees of chelaship, culminating in initiation.

Concentration has often been perverted to mean a kind of personal self-culture, having for its aim the attainment of personal power or self-satisfaction. If unsuccessful, the attempt upsets the balance of the constitution, and if successful, it sows a bitter harvest of aroused personality for future reaping; for when yearning for sympathetic fellowship with our fellowmen we shall find our faculties counterworking us. True meditative concentration actually applies more to the heart than to the mind, and is not a forcible mental practice but a general although very positive and impersonal attitude towards life. It means the centering of our wishes, thoughts, and acts on the ideal of self-identification with the spiritual and universal.

See also DHYANA.

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

Catharsis (from Greek katharsis cleansing from katharos pure)

Cleansing, purgation; used by Aristotle for the cleansing of the emotions of the audience through experiencing a work of art, such as a drama. Also the preliminary discipline in the ancient Mysteries, where the lower nature of the aspirant is purified, fitting him or her for higher training, knowledge, and initiation.

The three lowest degrees "consisted of teachings alone, which formed the preparation, the discipline, mental and spiritual and psychic and physical; what the Greeks called the katharsis or 'cleansing'; and when the disciple was considered sufficiently cleansed, purified, disciplined, quiet mentally, tranquil spiritually, then he was taken into the fourth degree" (Fund 608).

See also INITIATION; MYSTERIES.

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

Chidagnikunda cidagnikunda (Sanskrit) (from chit thought, consciousness, spirit + agni fire + kunda receptacle for fire, hearth, a place in which fire may burn)

The interior fire of the spirit or the mystical site in the human constitution in which the fire of spiritual thought burns. The mahatma is said to completely transmute his ahamkara (merely ego-consciousness) and elevate it to spiritual egoic universality in chidagnikunda.

(See also: Chidagnikunda, cidagnikunda, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chiliocosm (Greek) (from chilioi thousand + kosmos world)

In Northern Buddhism, a world made up of a thousand regions; spoken of as equivalent to Sahalo-Kadhatu (Saha-lokadhatu)

(ML 199), out of the many regions of which only three are named: kama-loka, rupa-loka, and arupa-loka. It is also stated that kama-loka has many subdivisions or subregions, so that the threefold enumeration is a rough summary of a manifold classification.

It might be said that the universe is infilled with chiliososms, each one corresponding more or less to a hierarchy with its own integral system of worlds, regions, or divisions, each division again being subdivided to form the vast complexity of universal nature we see around us. Further, each such hierarchy from another standpoint consists of divine, spiritual, intellectual, astral, or astral-physical divisions running from the higher downwards to the lowest; and the three lowest of each such chiliocosm bear the names kama-loka (or kama-dhatu), rupa-loka (or rupa-dhatu), and arupa-loka (or arupa-dhatu), these three commonly spoken of as the trailokya, the name applying to whatever universe, hierarchy, or chiliocosm they may be in or belong to.

With regard to the trailokya, the lowest or kama-dhatu is generally the various subordinate or lowest regions of desire; the second or rupa-dhatu, while worlds of form, are of such ethereal and subtle character that they may be defined as worlds or regions of a purely intellectual or mental character; whereas the highest or arupa-dhatu comprises regions of so purely spiritual -- not merely ethereal -- character that the words states or divisions can alone give some idea of their character.

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

Chemistry (from Greek chemeia)

An ancient art or science relating to the extraction of medicinal juices from plants, or of metals from their earths, or the transmutation of physical elements, as of base metals into gold, the preparation of elixirs, and other things usually connected with alchemy, from which modern chemistry is a derivative along specialized line.

In The Secret Doctrine chemistry is mentioned as being, together with biology, one of the magicians of the future, especially in its form of chemical physics, when it is no longer the mechanistic science into which it has degenerated.

"In Esoteric Philosophy, every physical particle corresponds to and depends on its higher noumenon -- the Being to whose essence it belongs; and above as below, the Spiritual evolves from the Divine, the psycho-mental from the Spiritual -- tainted from its lower plane by the astral -- the whole animate and (seemingly) inanimate Nature evolving on parallel lines, and drawing its attributes from above as well as from below" (SD 1:218).

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

Chen (Chinese) Taoist term for reality; according to Chuang: "Chen is the highest degree of vitality or spirituality; the man who does not possess such spirituality cannot possibly stir or propel others" (bk 10, ch 31). Again, "if one cultivates the Tao in himself, his virtue (teh) will become chen (reality)" (Tao teh ching, sec 54).

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

Chenresi spyan ras gzigs (chen-re-zi, or chen-re-si) (Tibetan) (short for spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug (chen-re-zi-wang-chung) from spyan ras penetrating vision (cf Sanskrit avalokita) + gzigs forms (cf Sanskrit rupa) + dbang phyug lord (cf Sanskrit isvara))

The Lord who sees forms with his penetrating vision; translation of Sanskrit Avalokitesvara. Exoterically Chenresi is the greatest protector of Asia in general and Tibet in particular, mystically considered to have eleven heads and a thousand arms, each with an eye in the palm of the hand, these arms radiating from his body like a forest of rays: the thousand eyes representing him as on the outlook to discover distress and to succor the troubled. In this form his name is Chantong (he of the thousand eyes) and Jigtengonpo (protector and savior against evil).

"Even the exoteric appearance of Dhyani Chenresi is suggestive of the esoteric teaching. He is evidently, like Daksha, the synthesis of all the preceding Races and the progenitor of all the human Races after the Third, the first complete one, and thus is represented as the culmination of the four primeval races in his eleven-faced form. It is a column built in four rows, each series having three faces or heads of different complexions: the three faces for each race being typical of its three fundamental physiological transformations. The first is white (moon-coloured); the second is yellow, the third, red-brown; the fourth, in which are only two faces -- the third face being left a blank -- (a reference to the untimely end of the Atlanteans) is brown-black. Padmapani (Daksha) is seated on the column, and forms the apex" (SD 2:178).

Exoterically the Dalai Lama is often regarded as an incarnation of Chenresi, as a popular legend says that whenever faith begins to die out in the world, Padmapani-Chenresi emits a brilliant ray of light, and forthwith incarnates himself in one of the two great Lamas -- the Dalai and Tashi Lamas. Esoterically he is called Bodhisattva Chenresi Vanchug (the powerful and all-seeing). Chenresi or Avalokitesvara "is the great Logos in its higher aspect and in the divine regions. But in the manifested planes, he is, like Daksha, the progenitor (in a spiritual sense) of men" (ibid.). In China, Chenresi becomes the great goddess of mercy, Kwan-yin, represented by a female figure bearing a child in her arms.

The true significance of Chenresi is the Third Logos of our solar system and the buddhi-manas of the individual human being, the active aspect of the human spiritual monad. The efflux or influence emanating from Chenresi and permeating the lower parts of the human constitution is Padmapani (the lotus-handed); Padmapani therefore is the bodhisattva of Avalokitesvara or Chenresi, and whether cosmically or psychologically the equivalent of the manifested potency of Brahma.

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