Philo Judeus. A Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, and a very famous historian and writer; born about 30 B.C, died about 45 A.D. He ought thus to have been well acquainted with the greatest event of the 1st century of our era, and the facts about Jesus, his life, and the drama of the Crucifixion.

And yet he is absolutely silent upon the subject, both in his careful enumeration of the then existing Sects and Brotherhoods in Palestine and in his accounts of the Jerusalem of his day. He was a great mystic and his works abound with metaphysics and noble ideas, while in esoteric knowledge he had no rival for several ages among the best writers.

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

Proclus (Ancient Greek). A Greek writer and mystic philosopher, known as a Commentator of Plato, and surnamed the Diadochus. He lived in the fifth century, and died, aged 75, at Athens A.D. 485. His last ardent disciple and follower and the translator of his works was Thomas Taylor of Norwich, who, says Brother Kenneth Mackenzie, "was a modern mystic who adopted the pagan faith as being the only veritable faith, and actually sacrificed doves to Venus, a goat to Bacchus and designed to immolate a bull to Jupiter" but was prevented by his landlady.

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

Philo-Judaeus. A Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, a famous historian and philosopher of the first century, born about the year 30 B. C., and died between the years 45 and 50 A. D. Philo's symbolism of the Bible is very remarkable. The animals, birds, reptiles, trees, and places mentioned in it are all, it is said, "allegories of conditions of the soul, of faculties, dispositions, or passions; the useful plants were allegories of virtues, the noxious of the affections of the unwise and so on through the mineral kingdom; through heaven, earth and stars; through fountains and rivers, fields and dwellings; through metals, substances, arms, clothes, ornaments, furniture, the body and its parts, the sexes, and our outward condition."

(Dict. Christ. Biog.) All of which would strongly corroborate the idea that Philo was acquainted with the ancient Kabbala.

(See also: Philo-Judaeus, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Rosicrucians (Mys.). The name was first given to the disciples of a learned Adept named Christian Rosenkreuz, who flourished in Germany, circa 1460.

He founded an Order of mystical students whose early history is to be found in the German work, Fama Fraternitatis (1614), which has been published in several languages.

The members of the Order maintained their secrecy, but traces of them have been found in various places every half century since these dates. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a Masonic Order, which has adopted membership in the "outer"; the Chabrath Zereh Aur Bokher, or Order of the G. D., which has a very complete scheme of initiation into the Kabbalah and the Higher Magic of the Western or Hermetic type, and admits both sexes, is a direct descendant from medieval sodalities of Rosicrucians, themselves descended from the Egyptian Mysteries.

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

Hay-yah (Hebrew, Jewish) One of the metaphysical human "Principles". Eastern Occultists divide men into seven such Principles; Western Kabbalists, we are told, into three only - namely, Nephesh Ruach and Neshamah.

But in truth, this division is as loose and as mere an abbreviation as our "Body, Soul, Spirit ". For, in the Qabbalah of Myer (Zohar ii.,141 b., Cremona Ed. ii., fol. 63 b., col. 251) it is stated that Neshamah or Spirit has three divisions, "the highest being Ye’hee-dah (Atma) the middle, Hay-yah (Buddhi), and the last and third, the Neshamah, properly speaking (Manas) ".

Then comes Mahshabah, Thought (the lower Manas, or conscious Personality), in which the higher then manifest themselves, thus making four; this is followed by Tzelem, Phantom of the Image (Kama-rupa in life the Kamic element); D’yooq-nah, Shadow of the image (Linga Sharira, the Double); and Zurath, Prototype, which is Life - seven in all, even without the D’mooth, Likeness or Similitude, which is called a lower manifestation, and is in reality the Guf, or Body.

Theosophists of the E. S. who know the transposition made of Atma and the part taken by the auric prototype, will easily find which are the real seven, and assure themselves that between the division of Principles of the Eastern Occultists and that of the real Eastern Kabbalists there is no difference. Do not let us forget that neither the one nor the other are prepared to give out the real and final classification in their public writings.

(See also: Hay-yah, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Ar-Abu Nasr-al-Farabi, called in Latin Alpharabius, a Persian, and the greatest Aristotelian philosopher of the age. He was born in 950 A.D., and is reported to have been murdered in 1047.

He was an Hermetic philosopher and possessed the power of hypnotizing through music, making those who heard him play the lute laugh, weep, dance and do what he liked. Some of his works on Hermetic philosophy may be found in the Library of Leyden.

(See also: Ar-Abu Nasr-al-Farabi, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Alexadrian School (of Philosophers). This famous school arose in Alexandria (Egypt) which was for several centuries the great seat of learning and philosophy.

Famous for its library, which bears the name of "Alexandrian", founded by Ptolemy Soter, who died in 283 B.C., at the very beginning of his reign ; that library which once boasted of 700,000 rolls or volumes (Aulus Gellius); for its museum, the first real academy of sciences and arts ; for its world-famous scholars, such as Euclid (the father of scientific geometry), Apollonius of Perga (the author of the still extant work on conic sections), Nicomachus (the arithmetician); astronomers, natural philosophers, anatomists such as Herophilus and Erasistratus, physicians, musicians, artists, etc., etc. ; it became still more famous for its Eclectic, or the New Platonic school, founded in 193 A.D., by Ammonius Saccas, whose disciples were Origen, Plotinus, and many others now famous in history.

The most celebrated schools of Gnostics had their origin in Alexandria. Philo Judeus Josephus, lamblichus, Porphyry, Clement of Alexandria, Eratosthenes the astronomer, Hypatia the virgin philosopher, and numberless other stars of second magnitude, all belonged at various times to these great schools, and helped to make Alexandria one of the most justly renowned seats of learning that the world has ever produced.

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

Thothori Nyan Tsan (Tibet, Tibetan) A King of Tibet in the fourth century. It is narrated that during his reign he was visited by five mysterious strangers, who revealed to him how he might use for his country’s welfare four precious things which had fallen down from heaven, in 331 A.D., in a golden casket and "the use of which no one knew".

These were

(1) hands folded as the Buddhist ascetics fold them;

(2) a be-jewelled Shorten (a Stupa built over a receptacle for relics);

(3) a gem inscribed with the " Aum mani padme hum" ; and ( the Zamotog, a religious work on ethics, a part of the Kanjur.

A voice from heaven then told the King that after a certain number of generations everyone would learn how precious these four things were. The number of generations stated carried the world to the seventh century, when Buddhism became the accepted religion of Tibet. Making an allowance for legendary licence, the four things fallen from heaven, the voice, and the five mysterious strangers, may be easily seen to have been historical facts. They were without any doubt five Arhats or Bhikshus from India, on their proselytising tour. Many were the Indian. sages who, persecuted in India for their new faith, betook themselves to Tibet and China.

(See also: Thothori Nyan Tsan, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Tzool-mah (Kab.). Lit., "shadow". It is stated in the Zohar (I., 218 a, i. fol. 117 a, col. 466.), that during the last seven nights of a mans life, the Neshczmah, his spirit, leaves him and the shadow, tzool-mah, acts no longer, his body casting no shadow; and when the tzool-mah disappears entirely, then Ruach and Nephesh - the soul and life - go with it. It has been often urged that in Kabbalistic philosophy there were but three, and, with the Body, Guff, four "principles".

 It can be easily shown there are seven, and several subdivisions more, for there are the "upper" and the "lower " Neshamah (the dual Manas); Ruach, Spirit or Buddhi; Nephesh (Kama) which "has no light from her own substance", but is associated with the Guff, Body; Tzelem, "Phantom of the Image" and D’yooknah, Shadow of the Phantom Image, or Mayavi Rupa. Then come the Zurath, Prototypes, and Tab-nooth, Form; and finally, Tzurah, ‘ highest Principle (Atman) which remains above", etc., etc. (See Myer’s Qabbalah, pp. 400 et. seq.)

(See also: Tzool-mah, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Head of all Heads (Kab). Used of the "Ancient of the Ancients" Atteehah D’atteekeen, who is the "Hidden of the Hidden, the Concealed of the Concealed". In this cranium of the "White Head", Resha Hivrah, "dwell daily 13,000 myriads of worlds, which rest upon It, lean uponIt" (Zohar iii. Idrah Rabbah). . . "In that Atteehah nothing is revealed except the Head alone, because it is the Head of all Heads. . .

The Wisdom above, which is the Head, is hidden in it, the Brain which is tranquil and quiet, and none knows it but Itself. . . . And this Hidden Wisdom . . . the Concealed of the Concealed, the Head of all Heads, a Head which is not a Head, nor does any one know, nor is it ever known, what is in that Head which Wisdom and Reason cannot comprehend " (Zohar iii., fol. 288 a). This is said of the Deity of which the Head (i.e., Wisdom perceived by all) is alone manifested. Of that Principle which is still higher nothing is even predicated, except that its universal presence and actuality are a philosophical necessity.

(See also: Head of all Heads, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Bhadrakalpa (Sanskrit). Lit., "The Kalpa of the Sages". Our present period is a Bhadra Kalpa, and the exoteric teaching makes it last 236 million years. It is "so called because 1,000 Buddhas or sages appear in the course of it". (Sanshrit Chinese Dict.) "Four Buddhas have already appeared" it adds; but as out of the 236 millions, over 151 million years have already elapsed, it does seem a rather uneven distribution of Buddhas.

This is the way exoteric or popular religions confuse everything. Esoteric philosophy teaches us that every Root- race has its chief Buddha or Reformer, who appears also in the seven sub-races as a Bodhisattva (q.v.). Gautama Sakyamuni was the fourth, and also the fifth Buddha: the fifth, because we are the fifth root-race; the fourth, as the chief Buddha in this fourth Round. The Bhadra Kalpa, or the "period of stability", is the name of our present Round, esoterically - its duration applying, of course, only to our globe (d), the "1,000" Buddhas being thus in reality limited to but forty-nine in all.

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

Surplus of Life Used in theosophy to express the original processes building the globes of a planetary chain, as well as the living beings forming the hierarchies of the chain. Applying the Christian analogy of the unrolling of a scroll to the manifestation of the globes of a chain, when the first globe (globe A) has come into manifestation, only 1/7th of the scroll has been unrolled or opened out, leaving 6/7ths of the scroll intact or unopened. The surplus of life applies to the 6/7ths still not manifested -- which would be globes B, C, D, E, F, and G. After the appearance of globe A, the surplus of life moves down a plane in order to develop globe B, and thus the scroll is opened another seventh, leaving 5/7ths intact; and so the process continues until all the seven globes of the planetary chain have appeared.

The analogy may also be applied to the seven principles composing the human being. Atman is the first principle to be unrolled, the other six principles (buddhi, manas, kama, prana, linga-sarira, and sthula-sarira) remaining infolded or involved. The surplus of life of the human constitution then unrolls another principle to manifest buddhi, the other five still being infolded, and so the process continues until all seven principles are unrolled or emanated.

(See also: Surplus of Life, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Porphyry, or Porphyrius. A Neo-Platonist and a most distinguished writer, only second to Plotinus as a teacher and philosopher.

He was born before the middle of the third century A.D., at Tyre, since he called himself a Tyrian and is supposed to have belonged to a Jewish family. Though himself thoroughly Hellenized and a Pagan, his name Melek (a king) does seem to indicate that he had Semitic blood in his veins. Modern critics very justly consider him the most practically philosophical, and the soberest, of all the Neo-Platonists. A distinguished writer, he was specially famous for his controversy with Iamblichus regarding the evils attendant upon the practice of Theurgy. He was, however, finally converted to the views of his opponent.

A natural-born mystic, he followed, as did his master Plotinus, the pure Indian Raj-Yoga training, which leads to the union of the Soul with the Over-Soul or Higher Self (Buddhi-Manas). He complains, however, that, all his efforts notwithstanding, he did not reach this state of ecstacy before he was sixty, while Plotinus was a proficient in it. This was so, probably because while his teacher held physical life and body in the greatest contempt, limiting philosophical research to those regions where life and thought become eternal and divine, Porphyry devoted his whole time to considerations of the hearing of philosophy on practical life. "The end of philosophy is with him morality", says a biographer, "we might almost say, holiness - the healing of man’s infirmities, the imparting to him a purer and more vigorous life. Mere knowledge, however true, is not of itself sufficient ; knowledge has for its object life in accordance with Nous" - "reason", translates the biographer.

As we interpret Nous, however, not as Reason, but mind (Manas) or the divine eternal Ego in man, we would translate the idea esoterically, and make it read "the occult or secret knowledge has for its object terrestrial life in accordance with Nous, or our everlasting reincarnating Ego", which would be more consonant with Porphyry’s idea, as it is with esoteric philosophy. (See Porphyry’s De Abstinentia ., 29.) Of all the Neo-Platonists, Porphyry approached the nearest to real Theosophy as now taught by the Eastern secret school. This is shown by all our modern critics and writers on the Alexandrian school, for "he held that the Soul should be as far as possible freed from the bonds of matter, . . . be ready . . . to cut off the whole body". (Ad Marcellam, 34.) He recommends the practice of abstinence, saying that "we should be like the gods if we could abstain from vegetable as well as animal food". He accepts with reluctance theurgy and mystic incantation as those are "powerless to purify the noëtic (manasic) principle of the soul": theurgy can "but cleanse the lower or psychic portion, and make it capable of perceiving lower beings, such as spirits, angels and gods" (Aug. De Civ. Dei. X., 9), just as Theosophy teaches. "Do not defile the divinity", he adds, with the vain imaginings of men you will not injure that which is for ever blessed (Buddhi-Manas) but you will blind yourself to the perception of the greatest and most vital truths". (Ad Marcellam,18.)

"If we would he free from the assaults of evil spirits, we must keep ourselves clear of those things over which evil spirits have power, for they attack not the pure soul which has no affinity with them". (De Abstin. ii., 43.) This is again our teaching. The Church Fathers held Porphyry as the bitterest enemy, the most irreconcilable to Christianity. Finally, and once more as in modern Theosophy, Porphyry - as all the Neo-Platonists, according to St. Augustine - "praised Christ while they disparaged Christianity"; Jesus, they contended, as we contend, "said nothing himself against the pagan deities, but wrought wonders by their help". "They could not call him as his disciples did, God, but they honoured him as one of the best and wisest of men". (De Civ. Dei., X1X., 23.) Yet, "even in the storm of controversy, scarcely a word seems to have been uttered against the private life of Porphyry. His system prescribed purity and . . . he practised it".

(See A Dict. of Christian Biography, Vol. IV., "Porphyry".)

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

Zohar, or Sohar. A compendium of Kabbalistic Theosophy, which shares with the Sepher Yetzirah the reputation of being the oldest extant treatise on the Hebrew esoteric religious doctrines.

 Tradition assigns its authorship to Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai, AD. 80, but modern criticism is inclined to believe that a very large portion of the volume is no older than 1280, when it was certainly edited and published by Rabbi Moses de Leon, of Guadalaxara in Spain. The reader should consult the references to these two names. In Lucifer (Vol. I., p. 141) will be found also notes on this subject: further discussion will be attainable in the works of Zunz, Graetz, Jost, Steinschneider, Frankel and Ginsburg. The work of Franck (in French) upon the Kabalah may be referred to with advantage.

The truth seems to lie in a middle path, viz., that while Moses de Leon was the first to produce the volume as a whole, yet a large part of some of its constituent tracts consists of traditional dogmas and illustrations, which have come down from the time of Simeon ben Jochai and the Second Temple. There are portions of the doctrines of the Zohar which bear the impress of Chaldee thought and civilization, to which the Jewish race had been exposed in the Babylonish captivity.

Yet on the other hand, to condemn the theory that it is ancient in its entirety, it is noticed that the Crusades are mentioned; that a quotation is made from a hymn by Ibn Gebirol, A,D. 1050; that the asserted author, Simeon ben Jochai, is spoken of as more eminent than Moses; that it mentions the vowel-points, which did not come into use until Rabbi Mocha (AD. 570) introduced them to fix the pronunciation of words as a help to his pupils, and lastly, that it mentions -a comet which can be proved by the evidence of the context to have appeared in 1264.

There is no English translation of the Zohar as a whole, nor even a Latin one. The Hebrew editions obtainable are those of Mantua, 1558; Cremona, 1560; and Lublin, 1623. The work of Knorr von Rosenroth called Kabbala Denudata includes several of the treatises of the Zohar, but not all of them, both in Hebrew and Latin. MacGregor Mathers has published an English translation of three of these treatises, the Book of Concealed Mystery, the Greater and the Lesser Holy Assembly, and his work includes an original introduction to the subject.

The principal tracts included in the Zohar are: - " The Hidden Midrash", "The Mysteries of the Pentateuch", "The Mansions and Abodes of Paradise and Gaihinnom", "The Faithful Shepherd", "The Secret of Secrets", "Discourse of the Aged in Mishpatim" (punishment of souls), "The Januka or Discourse of the Young Man", and "The Tosephta and Mathanithan", which are additional essays on Emanation and the Sephiroth, in addition to the three important treatises mentioned above. In this storehouse may be found the origin of all the later developments of Kabbalistic teaching.

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

Venus The second visible planet from the sun in our solar system, and the brightest orb in the heavens except the sun and moon: regarded by the ancients as one of the seven sacred planets. Astrologically its zodiacal houses are Taurus and Libra; its day of the week is Friday.

"Venus is the most occult, powerful, and mysterious of all the planets; the one whose influence upon, and relation to the Earth is most prominent. . . .

". . .According to the Occult Doctrine, this planet is our Earth's primary, and its spiritual prototype. . . .

"Every sin committed on Earth is felt by Usanas-Sukra [Venus]. The Guru of the Daityas is the Guardian Spirit of the Earth and Men. Every change on Sukra is felt on, and reflected by, the Earth" (SD 2:30-1).

In theosophy the regent or rector of Venus has a particular influence over globe C of the earth-chain, and likewise over the third root-race of the earth's globe D. The sign of Venus (the circle over the cross ) represents the fall of mankind and animal life into sexual generation at the end of the third root-race.

As Venus has no satellites, the ancients said that Venus adopted the Earth, the progeny of the Moon. "Every world has its parent star and sister planet. Thus Earth is the adopted child and younger brother of Venus, but its inhabitants are of their own kind" (SD 2:33). The inhabitants of Venus have bodies in one sense more gross than those of Earth-dwellers; yet despite this the former are far more intelligent than are the humans of Earth. Furthermore, Venus is said to be in its seventh round (cf SD 1:602; FSO 327-9).

For the Roman goddess,

See APHRODITE

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

Mendeans (Ancient Greek). Also called Sabians, and St. John Christians.

 The latter is absurd, since, according to all accounts, and even their own, they have nothing at all to do with Christianity, which they abominate. The modern sect of the Mendeans is widely scattered over Asia Minor and elsewhere, and is rightly believed by several Orientalists to be a direct surviving relic of the Gnostics.

For as explained in the Dictionnaire des Apocryphes by the Abbé Migrie (art. "Le Code Nazaréan" vulgaire-ment appele "Livre d’Adam"), the Mendeans (written in French Manda?tes, which name they pronounce as Mandai) "properly signifies science, knowledge or Gnosis. Thus it is the equivalent of Gnostics" (loc. cit. note p. 3). As the above cited work shows, although many travellers have spoken of a sect whose followers are variously named Sabians, St. John’s Christians and Mendeans, and who are scattered around Schat-Etarab at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates (principally at Bassorah, Hove?za, Korna, etc.), it was Norberg who was the first to point out a tribe belonging to the same sect established in Syria. And they are the most interesting of all. This tribe, some 14,000 or 15,000 in number, lives at a day’s march east of Mount Lebanon, principally at Elmerkah, (Lata-Kieh).

They call themselves indifferently Nazarenes and Galileans, as they originally come to Syria from Galilee. They claim that their religion is the same as that of St. John the Baptist, and that it has not changed one bit since his day. On festival days they clothe them selves in camel’s skins, sleep on camel’s skins, and eat locusts and honey as did their "Father, St. John the Baptist". Yet they call Jesus Christ an impostor, a false Messiah, and Nebso (or the planet Mercury in its evil side), and show him as a production of the Spirit of the "seven badly- disposed stellars" (or planets). See Codex Nazareus, which is their Scripture.

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

Jerusalem, Jerosalem (Septuag.) and Hierosolyma (Vulgate). In Hebrew it is written Yrshlim or "city of peace",but the ancient Greeks called it pertinently Hierosalem or "Secret Salem", since Jerusalem is a rebirth from Salem of which Melchizedek was the King-Hierophant, a declared Astrolator and worshipper of the Sun,’"the Most High" by-the-bye. There also Adoni-Zedek reigned in his turn, and was the last of its Amorite Sovereigns.

He allied himself with four others, and these five kings went to conquer back Gideon, but (according to Joshua X) came out of the affray second best. And no wonder, since these five kings were opposed, not only by Joshua but by the "Lord God", and by the Sun and the Moon also. On that day, we read, at the command of the successor of Moses, "the sun stood still and the moon stayed" (v. 13) for the whole day. No mortal man, king or yeoman, could withstand, of course, such a shower "of great stones from heaven" as was cast upon them by the Lord himself . . . . "from Beth-horon unto Azekah" "and they died" (v. ii). After having died they "fled and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah" (v. i6). It appears, however, that such undignified behaviour in a God received its Karmic punishment afterwards.

At different epochs of history, the Temple of the Jewish Lord was sacked, ruined and burnt (See"Mount Moriah") - holy ark of the covenant, cherubs, Shekinah and all, but that deity seemed as powerless to protect his property from desecration as though they were no more stones left in heaven. After Pompey had taken the Second Temple in 63, B.c., and the third one, built by Herod the Great, had been razed to the ground by the Romans, in 70 A.D., no new temple was allowed to be built in the capital of the "chosen people" of the Lord. In spite of the Crusades, since the XIIIth century Jerusalem has belonged to the Mahommedans, and almost every site holy and dear to the memory of the old Israelites, and also of the Christians, is now covered by minarets and mosques, Turkish barracks and other monuments of Islam.

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

Rabbis (Hebrew, Jewish). Originally teachers of the Secret Mysteries, the Qabbalah; later, every Levite of the priestly caste became a teacher and a Rabbin. (See the series of Kabbalistic Rabbis by w.w.w.)

1 Rabbi Abulafia of Saragossa born in 1240, formed a school of Kabbalah named after him; his chief works were The Seven Paths of the Law and The Epistle to Rabbi Solomon.

2 Rabbi Akiba. Author of a famous Kabbalistic work, the "Alphabet of R.A.", which treats every letter as a symbol of an idea and an emblem of some sentiment; the Book of Enoch was originally a portion of this work, which appeared at the close of the eighth century. It was not purely a Kabbalistic treatise.

3 Rabbi Azariel ben Menachem (A.D. 1160). The author of the Commentary on the Ten

Sephiroth, which is the oldest purely Kabbalistic work extant, setting aside the Sepher Yetzirah, which although older, is not concerned with the Kabbalistic Sephiroth. He was the pupil of Isaac the Blind, who is the reputed father of the European Kabbalah, and he was the teacher of the equally famous R. Moses Nachmanides.

4 Rabbi Moses Botarel (1480). Author of a famous commentary on the Sepher Yetzirah; he taught that by ascetic life and the use of invocations, a man’s dreams might be made prophetic.

5 Rabbi Chajim Vital (1600) ( The great exponent of the Kabbalah as taught R. Isaac Loria: author of one of the most famous works, Otz Chiim, or Tree of Life; from this Knorr von Rosenroth has taken the Book on the Rashith ha Gilgalim, revolutions of souls, or scheme of reincarnations.

6 Rabbi Ibn Gebirol. A famous Hebrew Rabbi, author of the hymn Kether Malchuth, or Royal Diadem, which appeared about 1050; it is a beautiful poem, embodying the cosmic doctrines of Aristotle, and it even now forms part of the Jewish special service for the evening preceding the great annual Day of Atonement (See Ginsburg and Sachs on the Religious Poetry of the Spanish Jews). This author is also known as Avicebron.

7 Rabbi Gikatilla. A distinguished Kabbalist who flourished about 1300: he wrote the famous books, The Garden of Nuts, The Gate to the Vowel Points, The mystery of the shining Metal, and The Gates of Righteousness. He laid especial stress on the use of Gematria, Notaricon and Temura.

8 Rabbi Isaac the Blind of Posquiero. The first who publicly taught in Europe, about A.D. 1200, the Theosophic doctrines of the Kabbalah.

9 Rabbi Loria (also written Luria, and also named Ari from his initials). Founded a school of the Kabbalah circa 1560. He did not write any works, but his disciples treasured up his teachings, and R. Chajim Vital published them.

10 Rabbi Moses Cordovero (A.D.1550). The author of several Kabbalistic works of a wide reputation, viz., A Sweet Light, The Book of Retirement, and The Garden of Pomegranates; this latter can be read in Latin in Knorr von Rosenroth’s Kabbalah Denudata, entitled Tractatus de Animo, ex libro Pardes Rimmonim. Cordovero is notable for an adherence to the strictly metaphysical part, ignoring the wonder-working branch which Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi practised, and almost perished in the pursuit of.

11 Rabbi Moses de Leon (circa 1290 A,D.). The editor and first publisher of the Zohar, or "Splendour", the most famous of all the Kabbalistic volumes, and almost the only one of which any large part has been translated into English. This Zohar is asserted to be in the main the production of the still more famous Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, who lived in the reign of the Emperor Titus.

12 Rabbi Moses Maimonides (died 1304). A famous Hebrew Rabbi and author, who condemned the use of charms and amulets, and objected to the Kabbalistic use of the divine names.

13 Rabbi Sabbatai Zevi (born 1641). A very famous Kabbalist, who passing beyond the dogma became of great reputation as a thaumaturgist, working wonders by the divine names. Later in life he claimed Messiahship and fell into the hands of the Sultan Mohammed IV. of Turkey, and would have been murdered, but saved his life by adopting the Mohammedan religion. (See Jost on Judaism and its Sects.)

14 Rabbi Simon ben Jochai (circa A.D. 70-80). It is round this name that cluster the mystery and poetry of the origin of the Kabbalah as a gift of the deity to mankind.

Tradition has it that the Kabbalah was a divine theosophy first taught by God to a company of angels, and that some glimpses of its perfection were conferred upon Adam; that the wisdom passed from him unto Noah; thence to Abraham, from whom the Egyptians of his era learned a portion of the doctrine. Moses derived a partial initiation from the land of his birth, and this was perfected by direct communications with the deity. From Moses it passed to the seventy elders of the Jewish nation, and from them the theosophic scheme was handed from generation to generation; David and Solomon especially became masters of this concealed doctrine. No attempt, the legends tell us, was made to commit the sacred knowledge to writing until the time of the destruction of the second Temple by Titus, when Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, escaping from the besieged Jerusalem, concealed himself in a cave, where he remained for twelve years. Here he, a Kabbalist already, was further instructed by the prophet Elias. Here Simon taught his disciples, and his chief pupils, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Abba, committed to writing those teachings which in later ages became known as the Zohar, and were certainly published afresh in Spain by Rabbi Moses de Leon, about 1280. A fierce contest has raged for centuries between the learned Rabbis of Europe around the origin of the legend, and it seems quite hopeless to expect ever to arrive at an accurate decision as to what portion of the Zohar, if any, is as old as Simon ben Jochai. (See "Zohar".)

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

Yeheedah (Hebrew, Jewish). Lit., "Individuality "; esoterically, the highest individuality or Atma-Buddhi-Manas, when united in one.

This doctrine is in the Chaldean Book of Numbers, which teaches a septenary division of human "principles", so-called, as does the Kabalah in the Zohar, according to the Book of Solomon (iii.,Io4a so as translated in I. Myer’s Qabbalah). At the time of the conception, the Holy "sends a d’yook-nah, or the phantom of a shadow image" like the face of a man. it is designed and sculptured in the divine tzelem, i.e., the shadow image of the Elohim. " Elohim created man in his (their) tzelem " or image, says Genesis (i. 27). It is the tzelem that awaits the child and receives it at the moment of its conception, and this tzelem is our linga sharira. "

The Rua’h forms with the Nephesh the actual personality of the man ", and also his individuality, or, as expressed by the Kabbalist, the combination of the two is called, if he (man) deserves it, Yeheedah. This combination is that which the Theosophist calls the dual Manas, the Higher and the Lower Ego, united to Atma-Buddhi and become one. For as explained in the Zohar (i., 205b, 206a, Brody Ed.): "Neshamah, soul (Buddhi), comprises three degrees, and therefore she has three names, like the mystery above: that is, Nephesh, Rua’h, Neshamah ", or the Lower Manas, the Higher Ego, and Buddhi, the Divine Soul. "It is also to be noted that the Neshamah has three divisions;" says Myer’s Qabbalah, "the highest is the Ye-hee-dah " - or Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the latter once more as a unit; "the middle principle is Hay-yak " - or Buddhi and the dual Manas; "and the last and third, the Neshamah, properly speaking " - or Soul in general. "They manifest themselves in Ma’hshabah, thought, Tzelem, phantom of the image, Zurath, prototypes (mayavic forms, or rupas), and the D'yooknah, shadow of the phantom image.

The D’mooth, likeness or similitude (physical body), is a lower manifestation" (p. 392). Here then, we find the faithful echo of Esoteric science in the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works, a perfect Esoteric septenary division. Every Theosophist who has studied the doctrine sketched out first in Mr. Sinnett’s Occult World and Esoteric Buddhism, and later in the Theosophist, Lucifer, and other writings, will recognise them in the Zohar. Compare for instance what is taught in Theosophical works about the pre- and post-mortem states of the three higher and the four lower human principles, with the following from the Zohar: " Because all these three are one knot like the above, in the mystery of Nephesh, Rua’h, Neshamah, they are all one, and bound in one. Nephesh (Kama-Manas) has no light from her own substance; and it is for this reason that she is associated with the mystery of guff, the body, to procure enjoyment and food and everything which it needs.

Rua’h (the Spirit) is that which rides on that Nephesh (the lower soul) and rules over her and lights (supplies) her with everything she needs [ with the light of reason], and the Nephesh is the throne [ of that Ru’ah. Neshamah (Divine Soul) goes over to that Rua’h, and she rules over that Rua’h and lights to him with that Light of Life, and that Rua’h depends on the Neshamah and receives light from her, which illuminates him. . . When the ‘upper’ Neshamah ascends (after the death of the body), she goes to . . . the Ancient of the Ancient, the Hidden of all the Hidden, to receive Eternity. The Rua’h does not

[ go to Gan Eden [ because he is [ up with] Nephesh the Rua’h goes up to Eden, but not so high as the soul, and Nephesh [ animal principle, lower soul] remains in the grave below [ Kamaloka]

(Zohar, ii., 142a, Cremona Ed., ii., fol. 63b col. 252). It would be difficult not to recognise in the above our Atma (or the "upper" Neshamah), Buddhi (Neshamah),. Manas (Rua’h), and Kama-Manas (Nephesh) or the lower animal soul; the first of which goes after the death of man to join its integral whole, the second and the third proceeding to Devachan, and the last, or the Kamarupa, "remaining in its grave", called other wise the Kamaloka or Hades.

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

Aryasangha (Sanskrit) The Founder of the first Yogacharya School. This Arhat, a direct disciple of Gautama, the Buddha, is most unaccountably mixed up and confounded with a personage of the same name, who is said to have lived in Ayodhya (Oude) about the fifth or sixth century of our era, and taught Tantrika worship in addition to the Yogacharya system.

Those who sought to make it popular, claimed that he was the same Aryasangha, that had been a follower of Sakyamuni, and that he was 1,000 years old. Internal evidence alone is sufficient to show that the works written by him and translated about the year 600 of our era, works full of Tantra worship, ritualism, and tenets followed now considerably by the "red-cap" sects in Sikhim, Bhutan, and Little Tibet, cannot be the same as the lofty system of the early Yogacharya school of pure Buddhism, which is neither northern nor southern, but absolutely esoteric.

Though none of the genunine Yogacharya books (the Narjol chodpa) have ever been made public or marketable, yet one finds in the Yogacharya Bhumi Shastra of the pseudo-Aryasangha a great deal from the older system, into the tenets of which he may have been initiated. It is, however, so mixed up with Sivaism and Tantrika magic and superstitions, that the work defeats its own end, notwithstanding its remarkable dialectical subtilty. How unreliable are the conclusions at which our Orientalists arrive, and how contradictory the dates assigned by them, may be seen in the case in hand.

While Csoma de Koros (who, by-the-bye, never became acquainted with the Gelukpa (yellow-caps), but got all his information from "red-cap" lamas of the Borderland), places the pseudo-Aryasangha in the seventh century of our era; Wassiljew, who passed most of his life in China, proves him to have lived much earlier; and Wilson (see Roy. As. Soc., Vol. VI., p. 240), speaking of the period when Aryasangha’s works, which are still extant in Sanskrit, were written, believes it now "established, that they have been written at the latest, from a century and a half before, to as much after, the era of Christianity".

At all events since it is beyond dispute that the Mahayana religious works were all written far before Aryasangha’s time - whether he lived in the "second century B.C.", or the "seventh .A.D." - and that these contain all and far more of the fundamental tenets of the Yogacharya system, so disfigured by the Ayodhyan imitator - the inference is that there must exist somewhere a genuine rendering free from popular Sivaism and left-hand magic.

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

Astrology (Ancient Greek) The Science which defines the action of celestial bodies upon mundane affairs, and claims to foretell future events from the position of the stars. Its antiquity is such as to place it among the very earliest records of human learning.

It remained for long ages a secret science in the East, and its final expression remains so to this day, its exoteric application having been brought to any degree of perfection in the West only during the period of time since Varaha Muhira wrote his book on Astrology some 1400 years ago. Claudius Ptolemy, the famous geographer and mathematician, wrote his treatise Tetrabiblos about 135 A.D., which is still the basis of modern astrology.

The science of Horoscopy is studied now chiefly under four heads: viz.,

(1) Mundane, in its application to meteorology, seismology, husbandry, etc.

(2) State or civic, in regard to the fate of nations, kings and rulers.

(3) Horary, in reference to the solving of doubts arising in the mind upon any subject.

(4) Genethliacal, in its application to the fate of individuals from the moment of their birth to their death.

The Egyptians and the Chaldees were among the most ancient votaries of Astrology, though their modes of reading the stars and the modern practices differ considerably. The former claimed that Belus, the Bel or Elu of the Chaldees, a scion of the divine Dynasty, or the Dynasty of the king-gods, had belonged to the land of Chemi, and had left it, to found a colony from Egypt on the banks of the Euphrates, where a temple ministered by priests in the service of the "lords of the stars" was built, the said priests adopting the name of Chaldees.

Two things are known:

(a) that Thebes (in Egypt) claimed the honour of the invention of Astrology; and

(b) that it was the Chaldees who taught that science to the other nations.

Now Thebes antedated considerably not only "Ur of the Chaldees", but also Nipur, where Bel was first worshipped - Sin, his son (the moon), being the presiding deity of Ur, the land of the nativity of Terah, the Sabean and Astrolatrer, and of Abram, his son, the great Astrologer of biblical tradition. All tends, therefore, to corroborate the Egyptian claim.

If later on the name of Astrologer fell into disrepute in Rome and elsewhere, it was owing to the fraud of those who wanted to make money by means of that which was part and parcel of the sacred Science of the Mysteries, and, ignorant of the latter, evolved a system based entirely upon mathematics, instead of on transcendental metaphysics and having the physical celestial bodies as its upadhi or material basis. Yet, all persecutions notwithstanding, the number of the adherents of Astrology among the most intellectual and scientific minds was always very great.

If Cardan and Kepler were among its ardent supporters, then its later votaries have nothing to blush for, even in its now imperfect and distorted form. As said in Isis Unveiled (1. 259): "Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the visible world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit." (See " Astronomos.")

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