Spiritual workshops dictionary

Stigmata (Latin) [plural of Latin, Greek stigma pricked mark, brand]

The mark produced on the skin of ecstatics, in the case of Christian ecstatics said to represent the wounds of Christ. Ecstatics could have produced any other kind of marks on their skin or body if they had been sufficiently strongly under the intense psychomental strain bringing about stigmata on the body by automatic reaction.

Any picture in the mind if it is sufficiently clear and definite in outline, and if held with sufficient intensity of feeling and thought, can be transferred to the model-body (linga-sarira) and thence reproduced in the physical body, where it is outlined in congested blood or pigmentation of the skin. It is not infrequent in these cases that extravasation of blood or serum occurs, producing the cases of bleeding wounds produced by emotion and thought power. Such instances of the body reacting thus to inner psychomental strain are common enough in all countries and ages, and have nothing to do with abstract religious or philosophical truth.

If the West possessed a genuine psychology, stigmata would not be looked upon with awe as miracles or quasi-miracles or considered to be inexplicable phenomena. They could be reproduced at will by the adept on his own body, but why should he do so useless a thing, involving not only an unnatural condition of his constitution, but possibly suffering of the body itself? The whole matter of stigmata in human subjects is but an intensification in very unusual circumstances of what biological science knows to occur commonly and automatically in the bodies of the lower creatures, which not merely change color, but undergo curious transformations under conditions of fright, anger, etc.

Furthermore, the curious birthmarks which occur are often traceable to some visual impression accompanied by emotion on the part of an expectant mother.

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

Will-less A condition of beings who have not yet evolved forth free will, hence without initiative or self-determination. A specific instance is the case where will-less may be applied to the gods in heaven against whom Satan rebelled (as narrated in Milton's Paradise Lost). In theosophical literature, used in reference to mankind in its early stages before manas (mind) became awakened, hence to the first and second root-races and early third root-race. Even among these early races the will was not absent, but it had not yet come into functional activity.

(See also: Will-less , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Vidya-dhara (Sanskrit). And Vidya-dhari, male and female deities. Lit., "possessors of knowledge".

They are also called Nabhas-chara, "moving in the air", flying, and Priyam-vada, "sweet-spoken ". They are the Sylphs of the Rosicrucians; inferior deities inhabiting the astral sphere between the earth and ether; believed in popular folk-lore to be beneficent, but in reality they are cunning and mischievous, and intelligent Elementals, or "Powers of the air ". They are represented in the East, and in the West, as having intercourse with men (" intermarrying ", as it is called in Rosicrucian parlance; see Count de Gabalis).

In India they are also called Kama-rupins, as they take shapes at will. It is among these creatures that the "spirit-wives" and " spirit-husbands" of certain modern spiritualistic mediums and hysteriacs are recruited. These boast with pride of having such pernicious connexions (e.g., the American "Lily ", the spirit-wife of a well-known head of a now scattered community of Spiritualists, of a great poet and well-known writer), and call them angel-guides, maintaining that they are the spirits of famous disembodied mortals.

These " spirit-husbands" and "wives" have not originated with the modern Spiritists and Spiritualists, but have been known in the East for thousands of years, in the Occult philosophy, under the names above given, and among the profane as - Pishathas.

(See also: Vidya-dhara , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Chréstos (Ancient Greek) The early Gnostic form of Christ. It was used in the fifth century B.C. by Eschylus, Herodotus, and others. The Manteumata pythochresta, or the "oracles delivered by a Pythian god" "through a pythoness, are mentioned by the former (Choeph.901). Chréstian is not only "the seat of an oracle", but an offering to, or for, the oracle.

Chréstés is one who explains oracles, "a prophet and soothsayer", and Chrésterios one who serves an oracle or a god. The earliest Christian writer, Justin Martyr, in his first Apology calls his co-religionists Chréstians. It is only through ignorance that men call themselves Christians instead of Chréstians," says Lactantius (lib. iv., cap. vii.). The terms Christ and Christians, spelt originally Chrést and Chréstians, were borrowed from the Temple vocabulary of the Pagans. Chréstos meant in that vocabulary a disciple on probation, a candidate for hierophantship.

When he had attained to this through initiation, long trials, and suffering, and had been ‘‘anointed’’ (i.e., "rubbed with oil", as were Initiates and even idols of the gods, as the last touch of ritualistic observance), his name was changed into Christos, the "purified", in esoteric or mystery language. In mystic symbology, indeed, Christés, or Christos, meant that the "Way", the Path, was already trodden and the goal reached ; when the fruits of the arduous labour, uniting the personality of evanescent clay with the indestructible INDIVIDUALITY, transformed it thereby into the immortal EGO.

"At the end of the Way stands the Chréstes", the Purifier, and the union once accomplished, the Chrestos, the "man of sorrow", became Christos himself. Paul, the Initiate, knew this, and meant this precisely, when he is made to say, in bad translation: ‘‘I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. iv.19), the true rendering of which is . . . ‘‘until ye form the Christos within yourselves" But the profane who knew only that Chréstés was in some way connected with priest and prophet, and knew nothing about the hidden meaning of Christos, insisted, as did Lactantius and Justin Martyr, on being called Chréstians instead of Christians. Every good individual, therefore, may find Christ in his "inner man" as Paul expresses it (Ephes. iii. 16,17), whether he be Jew, Mussulman, Hindu, or Christian.

Kenneth Mackenzie seemed to think that the word Chréstos was a synonym of Soter, "an appellation assigned to deities, great kings and heroes," indicating ‘‘Saviour,’’ - and he was right. For, as he adds:"It has been applied redundantly to Jesus Christ, whose name Jesus or Joshua bears the same interpretation. The name Jesus, in fact, is rather a title of honour than a name - the true name of the Soter of Christianity being Emmanuel, or God with us (Matt.i, 23.).Great divinities among all nations, who are represented as expiatory or self-sacrificing, have been designated by the same title.’’ (R. M. Cyclop.) The Asklepios (or Esculapius) of the Greeks had the title of Soter.

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

Siphra' Di-tseni`utha' (Chaldean) "Their counting or telling of the concealed mysteries," the Book of Secrets or Mysteries; one of the principal books of the Zohar (Light); the secrets or mysteries dealt with are those relating to cosmogony and to the inhabitants of those worlds, thus forming the basis of the Hebrew Qabbalah. The work opens with the statement: "The book of the concealed mystery is the book of the equilibrium of balance," and proceeds to expound this thesis in Qabbalistic terminology.

Blavatsky calls it "the most ancient Hebrew document on occult learning" (SD 1:xlii), although the language used is largely Chaldean, and states that it was compiled from the very ancient Book of Dzyan through the archaic Chaldean Qabbalah.

(See also: Siphra' Di-tseni`utha' , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Phanes, Phanes-Protogonos (Greek) [from phaino to make visible, appear, shine forth + protogonos first-born]

In Orphic mythogony, Aether (the Father, spirit) and Chaos (the Mother, primordial matter) produce the world-egg, silvery and gleaming white, out of which Phanes, the Third Logos, is born. He is the Orphic counterpart of Eros, the divine love which sets the atoms of spirit in motion, and is both male and female, mythologically said to have golden wings which carry him everywhere and four eyes gazing in every direction.

As Phanes, he is the first of the five cosmic rulers successively to appear; parent of the gods, the demiurge and creator of the world. Being thus the primordial father of gods, of the world, and hence of men, every such derivative offspring from Phanes contains Phanes in itself. Thus man, as an individual, contains Phanes as the primordial essence or original force of this own being. From another point of view, Phanes is equivalent to cosmic mahat, which as the universal formative spiritual power of the universe is at once the parent as well as the primordial substance of whatever is -- as well as cosmic intelligence.

Nux (night) is associated with Phanes as both mother and wife. Zeus does not appear in the Orphic mythogony until later, as the fourth in the line of succession; but eventually, due to a loss in popular conception of the ancient verity, he absorbs his great prototype, who apparently did not figure largely in popular mythology.

Phanes was connected mystically and esoterically with four animal symbols of the zodiac -- Aries the ram, Taurus the bull, Leo the lion, and Draco the dragon or serpent.

(See also: Phanes, Phanes-Protogonos , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

ENZYME THERAPY: a form of therapy that employs supplements of plant and animal enzymes to improve digestive function and other conditions. During digestion, the bodyÕs own digestive enzymes are not the only ones at work; the enzymes present in raw fruits and vegetables also contribute to the breakdown of food in the stomach.

 Enzyme therapy advocates supplementation to reduce the work that the body has to do, and because plant enzymes are destroyed in cooking. Since enzymes canÕt be synthetically manufactured, supplements are derived from plants or from animal tissues. Some practitioners inject liquid enzymes to treat cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Enzyme supplements are available over the counter, singly or in combination, in capsule, tablet, powder, and liquid form.

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

Lower Principles, Lower Quaternary According to the septenary division of human nature, the septenate is divided into a triad above and a quaternary below four being a number in this case corresponding to matter, and three corresponding to spirit and intellect. Theosophical teachings enumerate the seven principles in several different ways which tends to keep the student's ideas fluid and thus prevent dogmatic orthodoxy.

At one time the lower quaternary was given as kama (desire), prana (vitality), linga-sarira (astral body) and sthula-sarira (physical body); later the physical body was excluded from the list of principles, and lower manas was added to make up the four. These principles, however, must not be regarded as separate things conjoined or strung together as they are several aspects or states of manifestation of the one life that circulates through the human constitution.

Another way of regarding the matter is to say that there are two triads, the higher triad of atma-buddhi with higher manas and the lower triad of our astral-vital nature, each of which becomes a complete quaternary when the element of self-conscious mind is added to it.

If we use the symbol of the Tetraktys, the two lower lines consisting of a three and a four, will stand for the human septenate, the three highest points representing cosmic principles.

It is also necessary to avoid looking on the lower quaternary as something evil, which must be destroyed or wrongly subjugated; it is in fact an essential part of the complete human being, and what it needs is regulation, inspiration from above, and consequent regeneration.

(See also: Lower Principles, Lower Quaternary , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Al Butain: Ashleen O'Gaea shares a cozy barrio row house in the Arizona desert with her husband Canyondancer, their 12-year-old son the Explorer and three cats. A background in education and English (including Anglo-Saxon) underlies O'Gaea's interest in family dynamics, religious education, history, natural science, art, music and adventure. She has won awards for pagan journalism, has appeared on local TV and radio and leads workshops and ritual.

(See also: Al Butain , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Nominalists, Nominalism [from Latin nomen name]

In the 11th century, Scholastic controversy arose between the Nominalists and Realists, as to whether substantive reality should be ascribed to particulars or to universals. The Nominalists held that nothing exists but individuals, and that universals are mere names invented to express the qualities of particular things. Thus the conception "man" is a mere abstract idea, a figment of the mind, devised to express certain qualities which we have abstracted from our experience of individual men, but having no existence except as a name. The Realists, on the contrary, maintained that universals alone have substantive reality, and that they exist independently of, and prior to, the individuals, which are derivative from them or expressive of them. The controversy dates back to Aristotle's question as to whether genera, species, and abstract nouns are real or only convenient abstractions and ways of speaking.

Intermediate between these doctrines is that of the Conceptualists, identified with the name of Abelard, who held that universals, while they exist only in the mind, yet correspond to real similarities in things, which previous to creation existed in the mind of God. These notions are well illustrated by the question as to the meaning of such words as motion, force, heat, or light. Are the things studied by science under those names generalizing terms, existing only in the mind and posterior to the objects which manifest them; or are they realities in themselves, prior to the objects, and of which the objects are manifestations? Science often unconsciously uses such words in both senses at once; force, for example, is treated as though it were at the same time a result of motion in matter and a cause of that motion.

Theosophy, because of the confusion arising in scholastic and modern disputes, points directly to all the phenomena of nature as expressed in beings, objects, entities, and things as arising in spiritual realms, or noumena. The hidden or invisible noumena of beings and things are both real and mere abstract names. Thus force -- electricity, for instance -- is both an existing emanation from cosmic entities, and yet also a "name" or abstraction because it is an aggregate of effects derivative from a hid cause which is the cosmic being or beings. All natural phenomena arise in and are therefore derivative from and emanations from causal and originating cosmic intelligences, which perdure in essence throughout eternity, but express themselves by means of phenomena or effects in comic manvantaras. Thus the phenomena which human intelligence cognizes are transitory but yet are real in their essence, because that essence lies in the perduring intelligence or intelligences from which they flow.

(See also: Nominalists, Nominalism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Maya Moha (Sanskrit). An illusive form assumed by Vishnu in order to deceive ascetic Daityas who were becoming too holy through austerities and hence too dangerous in power, as says the Vishnu Purana.

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

George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff

(ca. 1877-1949)

Russian-born spiritual teacher and a major influence on twentieth-century alternative spirituality. He is best known for the community of disciples, which included well-known literary figures, that he established in Fontainebleau, France, in the 1920s.

His basic teaching was that human beings are asleep and need to be awakened, so that instead of acting merely out of mechanical habit they can truly control their lives.

Gurdjieff strove to awaken his pupils through seemingly erratic demands, rapid changes of activity or circumstance, sacred dance, and self-observation. Some groups in the Gurdjieff tradition still operate. His early life reads like a collection of tales from the Arabian Nights. Born in Alexandropol, Russia, followers began to organize around him in 1913. He is considered by some to have been the greatest mystical teacher of all times.

(See also: George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Three Fires (Occult). The name given to Atma-Buddhi-Manas, which when united become one.

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

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

"

Sacrament

See also: Sacrament , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

The Transition Method: Subject of an incredible correspondence course offered by The Transition Institute, in Conifer, Colorado. The institute's president, reputed former millionaire Bob Scheinfeld, assembled and christened the method, which spawns daily miracles. One of its principles is that a vast communications network interconnects all earthlings; , this (alleged) linkage exists in humans at the level of the unconscious.

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

A Theosophical definition of Mesmerism :

Mesmerism

An ill-understood branch of human knowledge, developed within fairly recent times, connected with the existence of the psychomagnetic fluid in man which can be employed by the will for purposes either good or evil.

Mesmerism has been called animal magnetism, but more often in former times than at present. The first European who rediscovered and openly proclaimed the existence of this subtle psychomagnetic fluid in man was Dr. Friedrich Anton Mesmer, born in Germany in 1733, who died in 1815. His honesty and his theories have been more or less vindicated in modern times by later students of the subject.

There are distinct differences as among mesmerism, hypnotism, psychologization, and suggestion, etc. (See also Hypnotism)

See also: Mesmerism , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Sadesati

Saturn's transit of the lunar 12th ,1st, and 2nd houses. It lasts about 7 1/2 years and is regarded as problematic for the Native by some Jyotishi. If the sarvaashhTakavarga of the signs in 12th, 1st and 2nd from the Moon have more than 30 points this relieves a lot of the above malefic side-effects. One should also judge the whole chart and see whether there is real malevolence to this transit

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

2005-04-23

Theurgist. The first school of practical theurgy (from qeod, god, and ergon work,) 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 (daimovia, 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 thepœa 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. Such is what is said in the Book of Evocations of the pagodas. It shows the perfect identity of rites and ceremonial between the oldest Brahmanic theurgy and that of the Alexandrian Platonists.

The following is from Isis Unveiled: "The Brahman Grihasta (the evocator) must be in a state of complete purity before he ventures to call forth the Pitris. After having prepared a lamp, some sandal-incense, etc., and having traced the magic circles taught him by the superior Guru, in order to keep away bad spirits, he ceases to breathe, and calls the fire (Kundalini) to his help to disperse his body."

He pronounces a certain number of times the sacred word, and " his soul (astral body) escapes from its prison, his body disappears, and the soul (image) of the evoked spirit descends into the double body and animates it". Then "his (the theurgist’s) soul (astral) re-enters its body, whose subtile particles have again been aggregating (to the objective sense), after having formed from themselves an aerial body for the deva (god or spirit) he evoked And then, the operator propounds to the latter questions "on the mysteries of Being and the transformation of the imperishable ".

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 super natural 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. (See "Iamblichus".)

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

FLOWER ESSENCES

are intended to alleviate negative emotional states that may contribute to illness or hinder personal growth. Drops of a solution infused with the captured essence of a flower are placed under the tongue or in a beverage. The appropriate essences are chosen, focusing on the clients emotional state rather than on a particular physical condition.

(See also: FLOWER ESSENCES , Alternative Health, Healing, Body Mind and Soul)

STANG: Ritual tool from Pagan Rome which resembles a two-pronged trident. Often used in place of the wand or circle.

(See also: STANG , Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)