H. B. of L. See HERMETIC BROTHERHOOD OF LUXOR

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

I H S Well-known Christian monogram, taken as being the initials of Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Savior of Men); and the first three letters of the Greek Iesous ((Greek char), Jesus). It is also a monogram representative of Dionysos used in the Mysteries. As a Latin abbreviation, having mystic significance, it means acrostically, In hoc signo victor eris (in this sign thou shalt be victorious).

See also JESUS

(See also: I H S, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Blavatsky, H. P.

(See also: Blavatsky, H, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Hdu-Byed (hDu-bYed) 'du byed (du-je) (Tibetan) Equivalent of Sanskrit samskara; many meanings, including the fourth in the Buddhist list of five skandhas.

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

H - Letter H , - The eighth letter and aspirate of the English alphabet, and also the eighth in the Hebrew. As a Latin numeral it signifies 200, and with the addition of a dash 200,000; in the Hebrew alphabet Chath is equivalent to h, corresponds to eight, and is symbolised by a Fence and Venus according to Seyffarth, being in affinity and connected with He, and therefore with the opening or womb. It is pre-eminently a Yonic letter.

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

THEOSOPHY

Society founded in 1875 by H.P. Blavatsky and Col. H.S. Olcott. Immediate divine illumination. Spiritual insight is superior to empirical knowledge. Specifically, Theosophy is the revelation of HPB that incorporates Gnosticism, Zoroastrianism, Platonism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Theosophy proposes "four bodies": the physical, the astral, the esthetic and the Self.

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

Theosophy is a body of ideas which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain "the Divine," and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. Theosophy, as a coherent system of thought, developed from the writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (also Hélène). Together with Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others she founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. A more formal definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary describes Theosophy as "any of various philosophies professing to achieve a ...

Including:

• Theosophy - Basic Theosophical beliefs
• Theosophy - Consciousness is universal and individual
• Theosophy - Man is provisionally immortal
• Theosophy - Reincarnation is universal
• Theosophy - Karma
• Theosophy - Universal brotherhood
• Theosophy - Evolution
• Theosophy - The Septenary
• Theosophy - A brief history of Theosophy
• Theosophy - Music
• Theosophy - Early 20th-century literary references to Theosophy
• Theosophy - Notes

Read more here: » Theosophy: Encyclopedia - Theosophy

Bride. The tenth Sephira, Malkuth, is called by the Kabbalists the Bride of Microprosopus; she is the final Hé of the Tetragrammaton ; in a similar manner the Christian Church is called the Bride of Christ.

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

Malkuth (Hebrew, Jewish). The Kingdom, the tenth Sephira, corresponding to the final H (hé) of the Tetragrammaton or IHVH. It is the Inferior Mother, the Bride of the Microprosopus (q.v.); also called the "Queen" It is, in one sense, the Shekinah.

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

Kiyun (Hebrew, Jewish). Or the god Kivan which was worshipped by the Israelites in the wilderness and was probably identical with Saturn and even with the god Siva. Indeed, as the Zendic H is S in India (their "hapta" is "sapta", etc.), and as the letters K, H, and S, are interchangeable, Siva may have easily become Kiva and Kivan.

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

Binah (Hebrew, Jewish). Understanding. The third of the 10 Sephiroth, the third of the Supernal Triad; a female potency, corresponding to the letter hé of the Tetragrammaton IHVH. Binah is called AIMA, the Supernal Mother, and "the great Sea".

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

V

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

A Theosophical definition of Theosophy :

Theosophy

A compound Greek word: theos, a "divine being," a "god"; sophia, "wisdom"; hence divine wisdom. Theosophy is the majestic wisdom-religion of the archaic ages and is as old as thinking man. It was delivered to the first human protoplasts, the first thinking human beings on this earth, by highly intelligent spiritual entities from superior spheres. This ancient doctrine, this esoteric system, has been passed down from guardians to guardians to guardians through innumerable generations until our own time. Furthermore, portions of this original and majestic system have been given out at various periods of time to various races in various parts of the world by those guardians when humanity stood in need of such extension and elaboration of spiritual and intellectual thought.

Theosophy is not a syncretistic philosophy-religion-science, a system of thought or belief which has been put together piecemeal and consisting of parts or portions taken by some great mind from other various religions or philosophies. This idea is false. On the contrary, theosophy is that single system or systematic formulation of the facts of visible and invisible nature which, as expressed through the illuminated human mind, takes the apparently separate forms of science and of philosophy and of religion. We may likewise describe theosophy to be the formulation in human language of the nature, structure, origin, destiny, and operations of the kosmical universe and of the multitudes of beings which infill it.

It might be added that theosophy, in the language of H. P. Blavatsky (Theosophical Glossary, p. 328), is "the sub-stratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practiced by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance." (See also Universal Brotherhood)

See also: Theosophy, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Nephesh (Hebrew, Jewish). Breath of life. Anima, Mens, Vita, Appetites. This term is used very loosely in the Bible. It generally means prana "life"; in the Kabbalah it is the animal passions and the animal Soul.

 Therefore, as maintained in theosophical teachings, Nephesh is the synonym of the Prana-Kamic Principle, or the vital animal Soul in man. [H. P. B.]

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

Brothers of Light. This is what the great authority on secret societies, Brother Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie IX., says of this Brotherhood. "A mystic order, Fratres Lucis, established in Florence in 1498.

Among the members of this order were Pasqualis, Cagliostro, Swedenborg, St. Martin, Eliphaz Lévi, and many other eminent mystics. Its members were very much persecuted by the Inquisition. It is a small but compact body, the members being spread all over the world."

(See also: Brothers of Light, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Birs Nimrud (Chald.). Believed by the Orientalists to be the site of the Tower of Babel. The great pile of Birs Nimrud is near Babylon. Sir H. Rawlinson and several Assyriologists examined the excavated ruins and found that the tower consisted of seven stages of brick-work, each stage of a different colour, which shows that the temple was devoted to the seven planets. Even with its three higher stages or floors in ruins, it still rises now 154 feet above the level of the plain. ("See Borsippa".)

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

Brotherhood of Luxor. A certain Brotherhood of mystics. Its name had far better never have been divulged, as it led a great number of well-meaning people into being deceived, and relieved of their money by a certain bogus Mystic Society speculators, born in Europe, only to be exposed and fly to America.

The name is derived from the ancient Lookshur in Beloochistan, lying between Bela and Kedjee. The order is very ancient and the most secret of all. It is useless to repeat that its members disclaim all connection with the "H.B. of L.", and the tutti quanti of commercial mystics, whether from Glasgow or Boston.

(See also: Brotherhood of Luxor, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Theosophical Society, or "Universal Brotherhood". Founded in 1875 at New York, by Colonel H. S. Olcott and H. P. Blavatsky, helped by W. Q. Judge and several others. Its avowed object was at first the scientific investigation of psychic or so-called "spiritualistic" phenomena, after which its three chief objects were declared, namely

(1) Brotherhood of man, without distinction of race, colour, religion, or social position;

(2) the serious study of the ancient world-religions for purposes of comparison and the selection therefrom of universal ethics;

(3) the study and development of the latent divine powers in man. At the present moment it has over 250 Branches scattered all over the world, most of which are in India, where also its chief Headquarters are established. It is composed of several large Sections - the Indian, the American, the Australian, and the European Sections.

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

I.H.S. This triad of initials stands for the in hoc signo of the alleged vision of Constantine, of which, save Eusebius, its author, no one ever knew. I.H.S. is interpreted Jesus Hominum Salvator, and In hoc signo. It is, however, well known that the Greek IHS was one of the most ancient names of Bacchus. As Jesus was never identical with Jehovah, but with his own "Father" (as all of us are), and had come rather to destroy the worship of Jehovah than to enforce it, as the Rosicrucians well maintained, the scheme of Eusebius is very transparent. In hoc signo Victor ens, or the Labarum T (the tau and the resh) is a very old signum, placed on the foreheads of those who were just initiated. Kenealy translates it as meaning "he who is initiated into the Naronic Secret, or the 600, shall be Victor" but it is simply "through this sign hast thou conquered"; i.e., through the light of Initiation - Lux. (See "Neophyte and "Naros".)

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