Face Used in the Qabbalah especially for the first emanations of the Sephirothal or Cosmic Tree, the cosmic structure. Two Faces are mentioned: 'Arik 'Anpin (Macroprosopus, Great or Long Face), applied to the first Sephirah; and Ze`eir 'Anpin (Microprosopus, Small or Short Face), applied to the lower nine Sephiroth.

A third Face or Head, corresponding to 'Arik 'Anpin or Kether, is also enumerated: Resha' Hiwwara' or Re'sh Hiwwar (generally rendered White Head), signifying the white or colorless spirituality of the cosmic originating source. From the moment of their emanation, says the Qabbalah, all the material for future forms was contained in the three Faces, Heads, or Beginnings.

It is when the Faces look toward each other that the Holy Ancients in three Heads are called 'Arikh 'Appayim (Long Faces) (Zohar iii, 292a): the union or conjunction thus signified by "looking towards each other" meaning the combined unity in a triad of an individual, whether the monad be human, cosmic, or intermediate.

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

Thrones An angelic group in the Christian celestial hierarchy, as outlined by the pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The Thrones rank third in the ninefold scheme, being preceded by the Seraphim and Cherubim; the second and intermediate triad is formed of Dominions, Virtues, and Powers; while the third triad is formed of Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.

This scheme was derived from Hebrew angelology, which comes from the Chaldean; although this Christian angelic scheme has been philosophically powerfully affected by Neoplatonic and neo-Pythagorean thought. "They who are called in Theology 'the Thrones,' and are the 'Seat of God,' must be the first incarnated men on Earth" (SD 2:80). The Zohar states that the Benei 'Elohim (sons of god) belong to the tenth subdivision of the Thrones. The ancient Syrians defined their world of Rulers similarly to the Chaldeans: the lowest world was the sublunary, our earth, ruled by Angels; then Mercury, Archangels; Venus, Principalities; Sun, Powers; Mars, Virtues; Jupiter, Dominions; and Saturn, Thrones.

The pseudo-Dionysius was a Christian writer of unknown date; the first authentic mention in extant early Christian literature of his writings is found in the records of the Council held at Constantinople, 532 AD, under Emperor Justinian.

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

Oeaohoo Also Oeaihu, Oeaihwu. A very ancient form of the sacred and mystical holy name as it occurs in the Stanzas of Dzyan. These seven letters stand for seven vowels, and according to the method of pronunciation the name may be given "as one, three, or even seven syllables by adding an e after the letter o" (SD 1:68). The pronunciation is somewhat similar to the Chinese tones (kungs): the spelling of a word is the same, but according to the tonal value or stress given, its meaning alters.

This word is a way of expressing the kosmic life in all its seven, ten, or twelvefold divisions, each letter of the seven referring to one of the kosmic principles or elements. Their union into a single term calls attention to kosmic unity. It is a representation for the six manifested and the one unmanifested, thus making the mystic seven principle-elements of our home universe. Oeaohoo the Younger is the reflection or mirroring on a lower plane of the universal unity; and therefore Oeaohoo the Younger is, strictly speaking, the Logos considered as a triad and thus really comprising the First or unmanifest, the Second or partially manifest, and the creative, manifest, or Third Logoi.

Corresponding to Kwan-shai-yin, Oeaohoo "contains in himself the Seven Creative Hosts (the Sephiroth), and is thus the essence of manifested Wisdom" (SD 1:72). In the human constitution, Oeaohoo the Younger is the higher triad of atma-buddhi-manas, with an emphatic pointing to the atman as the predominant life in this higher triad. Similarly so as regards the kosmos or universe. The meaning of one of its permutations, Oi-ha-hou, is "among the Eastern Occultists of the North, a circular wind, whirlwind; but in this instance, it is a term to denote the ceaseless and eternal Cosmic Motion; or rather the Force that moves it, which Force is tacitly accepted as the Deity but never named. It is the eternal Karana, the ever-acting Cause" (SD 1:93n).

The Gnostics used the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet AEHIOY-O on their gems; and in the Pistis Sophia the Rabbi Jesus in speaking to his disciples says: "Nothing therefore is more excellent than the mysteries which ye seek after, saving only the mystery of the seven vowels and their forty and nine powers, and their numbers thereof; and no name is more excellent than all these vowels" (SD 2:564).

Blavatsky gives several variants of the spelling of this word and the modern spelling is of minor importance; what is important is to get the mystic or metaphysical philosophical meaning behind the word.

See also AEIOV

(See also: Oeaohoo, Oeaihu, Oeaihwu , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Tretagni (Sanskrit) [from treta triad + agni fire]

A triad of fire; in Hindu religious ritual the three sacred fires taken collectively -- the sacrificial, the household, and southern fire. These three sacred fires are obtained by the attrition of sticks commonly made of the wood of the Asvattha tree, mystically called the Tree of Wisdom and Knowledge.

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

Sephiroth (Hebrew) plural of Sephirah. Emanations; applicable to the ten powers or potencies which compose the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, named Kether (the Crown); Hochmah (wisdom); Binah (understanding); Hesed (compassion); Geburah (strength); Tiph'ereth (beauty); Netsah (triumph); Hod (majesty); Yesod (foundation); and Malchuth (kingdom). The higher ones of this series of cosmic emanations imbody functions in cosmogony which exactly parallel the functions and attributes of the lipika in theosophical thought.

The Qabbalah states that when the Boundless ('eyn soph), driven by ineluctable destiny, wished to portray an aspect of itself, it caused a Point to appear in the bosom of space, and this primordial point expanded into the Sephirah Kether -- the mother of the remaining nine Sephiroth. This primal point or Kether was therefore the first emanation of the universe, and is often called Sephirah. Having thus come into manifestation, the first Sephirah unrolled or emanated from itself a second Sephirah, Hochmah, which in its turn unrolled the third Sephirah, Binah; then the third unrolled the fourth, and so forth, each newly appearing Sephirah -- though having its own individual characteristics -- containing within itself the potencies and characteristics of all the preceding Sephiroth; and this process continued until the nine Sephiroth which had been inrolled within Kether all came into manifestation. Together the ten Sephiroth represent the cosmic Archetypal Man ('Adam Qadmon), -- cosmic Purusha in Hindu thought. "The Sephirothal Tree is the Universe, and Adam Kadmon represents it in the West as Brahma represents it in India" (SD 1:352).

The ten Sephiroth are often referred to in the Qabbalah as the members or limbs of the manifested body of 'Adam Qadmon, and the parts were named as: 1) the head; 2) the right shoulder; 3) the left shoulder; 4) the right arm; 5) the left arm; 6) the heart; 7) the right thigh; 8) the left thigh; 9) the generative organs; and 10) the basis or feet.

The Sephiroth are often divided into three pillars, beginning as spiritual cosmic light and ending in matter by a process of increasing materiality. These three pillars represent three vertical streams of vitality or three currents of energy: the right pillar, considered to be the masculine stream and termed the Pillar of Mercy, consists of Hochmah, Hesed, and Netsah. The left stream or pillar is the feminine potency, called the Pillar of Judgment, and comprises Binah, Geburah, and Hod. The Middle Pillar is the stream of spiritual stability and consists of Kether, Tiph'ereth, Yesod, and Malchuth. Although the currents of the Middle Pillar run from the topmost to the lowest, nevertheless the potencies of the right and of the left pillars are interconnected so that the streams of vitality flow uninterruptedly through all of the ten Sphiroth.

Another way of viewing the Sephiroth is by a series of three triads, running from the uppermost downwards, known as three Faces or the three Qabbalistic Heads. The first Face, often termed the Supernal Triad or invisible triad, consists of the three highest Sephiroth Kether, Hochmah, and Binah; the second Face is emanated or produced from the first and comprises Hesed, Geburah, and Tiph'ereth; the third Face, the emanation of the first two triads, is formed of Netsah, Hod, and Yesod; and the three Faces find their base or fulfillment in Malchuth, the world as humans view it. The first Face or Head is called in the Qabbalah the spiritual or intellectual world; the second is the formative world or world of perception; and the third is known as the basic world, often called the material or physical world, but more accurately comprising the lower ranges of the anima mundi. The three Faces then conjointly emanate the truly physical world around us, which thus contains the productive essences of all, and hence is the carrier or vehicle of all, precisely as the physical body with its vitality is the carrier of the other six principles of the human constitution.

In the case of the solar system the ten Sephiroth correspond to the lokas and talas of Brahmanical philosophy. There is a direct correspondence between the twelve globes of a planetary chain and the ten Sephiroth plus Malchuth (the earth) and the highest globe of that chain.

(See also: Sephiroth , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

ARIDIAN - One of several traditions of Italian Witchcraft. Separated from the Triad Clans in 1981 & became the 1st independent Italian tradition in America. It is a rejoining of the Triad Traditions into one complete tradition. (WOTS)

(See also: ARIDIAN , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Salt Used in alchemy for a fundamental principle of nature, a member of the triad mercury, sulphur, and salt, corresponding to spirit, soul, and body; or to fire (or air), water, and earth. Paracelsus regarded these as the mystical elements of all compound bodies.

All forms of matter were reducible to one or other of them -- everything was either a sulphur, a mercury, a salt, or a compound. The philosopher's stone was said to be a compound of all three. Thus salt is the physical rudiment, as illustrated by the cubical crystals of common salt. Ancient thought regarded such elements as fundamental principles which manifest on various planes, nor did it make hard and fast distinctions between physical and nonphysical; but modern thought has given a fictitious reality to physical objects, and regards the ancient use of the terms as metaphorical.

The veneration shown for salt was not a mere deification of its physical virtues, but a recognition of the salt-principle in nature, of which ordinary salt is merely a physical emblem. The well-known stimulant, flavoring, and preservative qualities of salt prove it to be a physical manifestation of an important principle; such phrases as bread and salt, and salt of the earth are therefore theosophy, as concerns not merely figures of speech but a use of salt in its more radical sense. For the same reason it played an important part, along with other substances, in sacrificial ceremonies.

The word was also used to include other bodies besides sodium chloride or common salt, and is still used in chemistry in this generic sense. With some alchemists we find arsenic taking the place of salt in the fundamental triad, and this would be one of the salts of arsenic.

The Roman Catholic ritual of the exorcism of salt, promulgated in 1851 and 1852 under the sanction of Cardinal Engelbert, Archbishop of Malines, and of the Archbishop of Paris, runs: "The Priest blesses the salt and says: 'Creature of Salt, I exorcise thee in the name of the living God . . . become the health of the soul and of the body. Everywhere where thou art thrown may the unclean spirit be put to flight' " (IU 2:85). A Qabbalistic version is similar.

(See also: Salt , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Quaternary A group of four; the number four, fourfold. Many quaternary groupings may be made.

The septenate is divisible into three and four, usually as the higher triad and the lower quaternary; here the quaternary is terrestrial as opposed to celestial, mortal as opposed to immortal, material as opposed to spiritual. It is seen in the four lower human principles, the four lower cosmic elements, the fourfold shapes in physical bodies, etc. It is the square of the number 2; the first of the regular polyhedra is the tetrahedron or triangular pyramid, having four sides and four corners.

The septenate may otherwise be regarded as two triangles and a central point, as in Solomon's seal; and this gives two quaternaries, a higher and a lower, by adding the point to either of the triangles. These two quaternaries are also called the higher and lower -- or celestial and terrestrial -- tetraktys. The higher group is given in Platonism as: to agathon, nous, psyche, and hyle; and the lower group is the four cosmic elements of fire, earth, air, and water. The lower tetraktys is said to be the root of illusion or mahamaya, and this is what the Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name, becomes in materialized Judaism.

Deity is spoken of as fourfold, the four-faced Brahma, the creative Logos which is a three-in-one with its emanated light as a fourth; or in another system, the ineffable, silence, father, and truth; or again in still another system the three flames and four wicks. Of the seven groups of angels or higher dhyani-chohans, the rupa-dhyanis form a quaternary; often in exoteric writings only four of seven are mentioned, the higher three being esoteric.

The two principal meanings of the quaternary are summed up in the tetraktys; it has four planes, and the fourth plane is in itself a four. The higher triad with the material world added as a pendant unit makes a quaternary; and this material world unfolded makes a new quaternary. There is a celestial or spiritual quaternary, just as there is a material and physical quaternary; and the element-principles of the universe may be so divided that an intermediate quaternary springs into view.

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

Monad, Monas [from Greek monas a unit, individual, atom]

A unit, a one; something nondivisible and which is therefore conceived of as real, in contradistinction to compound things which (as compounds) are not real.

In the Pythagorean system the Duad emanates from the higher and solitary Monas, which is thus the First Cause or First Logos, the Duad being the Second Cause or Logos; and from the second emanates the third stage of individuality, the Triad, Third Cause or Logos. In the human constitution the Monas signifies atman, the Duad buddhi, and the Triad signifies manas.

The term monad was adopted from Greek philosophy by Bruno, Leibniz, and others. According to Leibniz there can be but one ultimate cosmic reality or monad, the universe; but he recognizes an innumerable multiplicity of monads which pervade the universe, copies or reflections of the universal monad regarded as real except in their relation to the universal monad. He divides his derivative monads into three classes: rational souls; sentient but irrational monads; and material monads, or organic and inorganic bodies.

As regards the material monads, while recognizing that corporeal matter is compound, and the attributes by which we perceive it unreal, unlike Berkeley, he does not deny its existence but regards it essentially as monadic. Thus his universe is an aggregate of individuals. The relations of these individuals to each other and to the universal is a supreme harmony, implying both individuality and coordination, thus reconciling the antinomy of bonds of law and freedom. The interrelations of various groups of monads is as a series of hierarchies.

Theosophical usage is largely the same as that of Leibniz, as the focus or heart in any individual being, of all its divine, spiritual, and intellectual powers and attributes -- the immortal part of its being. In The Secret Doctrine we find a triadic union of gods-monads-atoms, related to each other as spirit-soul-body (or more accurately spirit, spirit-soul, and spirit-soul-body). Monads and atoms are related to each other as the energic and the material side of manifestation, the atoms being the reflections, veils, or projections of and from the monads themselves.

Monads are the ultimate elements of the universe, spiritual-substantial entities, self-motivated, self-impelled, self-conscious, in infinitely varying degrees. They engender other monads, which in turn engender others, and thus springs up the host of living entities forming the immense variety and unity of the manifested world. As any monad descends into matter, it secretes from itself various veils or vehicles adapted for its self-expression on the various cosmic planes. Thus in man there is the divine monad, the spiritual monad, the higher human or chain monad, the lower human or globe monad, the animal monad, and the astral-physical monad. The following diagram shows the relations between the cosmic principles; the monads, egos and souls in the human being; and the human principles

The monad, as its name implies, is ever-enduring as an individual, although at the end of each manvantara it rises into a still higher or divine stage of perfect union with the boundless divine, only to re-issue forth again in due course as the monad it was before, thus beginning a new, immensely long time period of active individualized life as a spiritual consciousness-center. Thus it is that even the monads evolve, each on its own plane, for the hierarchies of the monads are innumerable and exist in all-various degrees at stages of evolutionary progression on the endless ladder of cosmic life.

(See also: Monad, Monas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Bdelle (Gnostic) In the Pistis Sophia, one of a triad with Agrammachamareg and Barbelo {BCW 13:24}.

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

Higher Self. The Supreme Divine Spirit overshadowing man. The crown of the upper spiritual Triad in man - Atman.

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

Brahma (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root brih to expand, grow, fructify)

The first god of the Hindu Trimurti or triad, consisting of Brahma, the emanator, evolver, and creator; Vishnu, the sustainer or preserver; and Siva, the regenerator or destroyer. Brahma is the vivifying expansive force of nature in its eternally periodic manvantaras. He stands for the spiritual evolving or developing energy-consciousness of a solar system which is also called the Egg of Brahma (brahmanda). Brahma is called the creator or Logos, but in the theosophic philosophy creator is simply an abstract term or idea, like army. In Burnouf's words:

"Having evolved himself from the soul of the world, once separated from the first cause, he evaporates with, and emanates all nature out of himself. He does not stand above it, but is mixed up with it; Brahma and the universe form one Being, each particle of which is in its essence Brahma himself, who proceeded out of himself" (q SD 1:380n). The Vishnu-Purana explains that created beings "although they are destroyed (in their individual forms) at the periods of dissolution, yet being affected by the good or evil acts of former existences, are never exempted from their consequences. And when Brahma produces the world anew, they are the progeny of his will . . ." (q SD 1:456n).

Brahman is both masculine and neuter, and therefore has two meanings. In the masculine (Brahma) it is the evolving energy of the cosmic egg, as distinguished from the neuter (Brahman). Brahma is the vehicle or sheath of Brahman. The Vishnu-Purana says that Brahma in its totality has essentially the aspect of prakriti, both evolved and unevolved (mulaprakriti), and also the aspects of spirit and of time. "Brahma, as 'the germ of unknown Darkness,' is the material from which all evolves and develops 'as the web from the spider, as foam from the water,' etc. This is only graphic and true, if Brahma the 'Creator' is, as a term, derived from the root brih, to increase or expand. Brahma 'expands' and becomes the Universe woven out of his own substance" (SD 1:83). Again,

"Here we find, as in all genuine philosophical systems, even the 'Egg' or the Circle (or Zero), boundless Infinity, referred to as It, and Brahma, the first unit only, referred to as the male god, i.e., the fructifying Principle. It is  or 10 (ten) the Decade. On the plane of the Septenary or our World only, it is called Brahma. On that of the Unified Decade in the realm of Reality, this male Brahma is an illusion" (SD 1:333).

According to the Aitareya-Brahmana, Brahma as Prajapati (lord of beings) manifests himself first of all as twelve bodies or attributes, which are represented by the twelve gods, symbolizing 1) fire; 2) the sun; 3) soma, which gives omniscience; 4) all living beings; 5) vayu, or ether; 6) death, or breath of destruction -- Siva; 7) earth; 8) heaven; 9) Agni, the immaterial fire; 10) Aditya, the immaterial and invisible sun; 11) mind; and 12) the great infinite cycle, "which is not to be stopped." Brahma in one of his phases therefore is the visible universe, every atom of which is essentially himself.

Brahma "symbolizes personally the collective creators of the World and Men -- the universe with all its numberless productions of things movable and (seemingly) immovable. He is collectively the Prajapatis, the Lords of Being; and the four bodies typify the four classes of creative powers or Dhyan Chohans . . ." (SD 2:60), these four bodies being ratri (night) associated with the creation of the asuras; ahan (day) associated with the gods; sandhya (evening twilight) associated with the pitris; and jyotsna (dawn or light) associated with the creation of men.

In the beginning Brahma was Purusha (spirit) and also prakriti (matter). It is later that he separated himself into two halves -- Brahma-Vach (female) and Brahma-Viraj (male). The term Brahma is not found in the Vedas. Blavatsky correlates Adam-Qadmon, Brahma, and Mars as symbols for primitive or initial generative and creative powers typifying water and earth; also all three are associated with the color red (cf SD 2:43, 124-5).

See also BRAHMA'S DAY

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

Abba Amona (Hebrew) Father-mother; two of the higher Sephiroth, Hochmah and Binah. Together with Kether, they form a triad from which issues the lower septenary of the Sephirothal Tree (TG 2).

(See also: Abba Amona , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Prana (Sanskrit) [from pra before + the verbal root an to breathe, live]

In theosophy, the breath of life; the third principle in the ascending scale of the sevenfold human constitution. This life or prana works on, in, and around us, pulsating unceasingly during the term of physical existence. Prana is "the radiating force or Energy of Atma -- as the Universal Life and the One Self, -- Its lower or rather (in its effects) more physical, because manifesting, aspect. Prana or Life permeates the whole being of the objective Universe; and is called a 'principle' only because it is an indispensable factor and the deus ex machina of the living man" (Key 176).

In working upon the physical body, prana automatically uses the linga-sarira (model-body) as its vehicle of expression during earth-life. Prana may be said to be the psychoelectric veil or field manifesting in the individual as vitality. The life-atoms of prana fly instantly back, at the moment of physical dissolution, to the natural pranic reservoirs of the planet.

Further, occultism teaches that "(a) the life-atoms of our (Prana) life-principle are never entirely lost when a man dies. That the atoms best impregnated with the life-principle (an independent, eternal, conscious factor) are partially transmitted from father to son by heredity, and partially are drawn once more together and become the animating principle of the new body in every new incarnation of the Monads. Because (b), as the individual Soul is even the same, so are the atoms of the lower principles (body, its astral, or life double, etc.), drawn as they are by affinity and Karmic law always to the same individuality in a series of various bodies, etc. . . ." (SD 2:671-2).

In Sanskrit it refers to the life currents or vital fluids, variously numbered as three, five, seven, twelve, and thirteen. The five life-winds mentioned are samana, vyana, prana, apana, and udana. In this classification prana represents the expirational breath.

Jiva is sometimes used similarly to prana, but strictly prana means outbreathing and jiva means life per se. There is a universal or cosmic jiva or life principle, just as there are innumerable hosts of individualized jivas, which are the atoms of the former, drops in the ocean of cosmic life. These individualized jivas are relatively eternal, and correspond exactly to the term monad. Jiva, without qualification, is of general application; when considered as individualized, these jivas are used in the sense of individual monads; contrariwise, prana is applied to the life-fluid or jivic aura when manifesting in the lower triad of the human constitution as prana-lingasarira-sthulasarira. Hence Blavatsky said that jiva becomes prana when the child is born and begins to breathe.

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

Pillars The straight line and circle combined will make a cylinder, or pillar, which may be either a column or a disc, according to which element predominates. Thus the pillar denotes the positive creative potency or spirit as contrasted with matter.

One principal use of the pillars in ancient temples, especially when four were used in the form of a square, was for the representation either of the four cardinal points, or of the four lower cosmic elements. This idea was likewise followed by the Jews in their erection of the Tabernacle. "It is the idea taken from the pyramids in Egypt and in Tyre, where the pyramids became pillars, the Genii, or Angels have their abodes in the four respective points" (SD 1:347).

To all intents and purposes the pillars set up by the Jews in front of their temples were similar to the lithoi placed before images of Siva in India. The two pillars, Jachin and Boaz, placed before the Temple of Solomon, however, referred to the dual forces in manifested nature, producing the pairs of opposites. The two pillars are to some extent interchangeable with the two serpents of the Greek caduceus, and appear in India in mystical references to the two nadis -- pingala and ida, on the left and right (or right and left) of the vertebral column.

This duality has its geometrical analog in the right and left handed spirals. By taking the central or balancing third, as in the sushumna-nadi or the central pole of the caduceus (sometimes represented as s third serpent), we have the triad. This triad of pillars is represented in the three columns of the Sephirothal Tree, called the Pillars of Severity, Mildness, and Mercy. In one description of the Sephirothal Tree, it was surrounded by seven pillars: the world pillars or rectores.

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

Nine Especially significant when regarded as a triad of triads, it is the number which reproduces itself in multiplication. "It is the sign of every circumference, since its value in degrees is equal to 9, i.e., to 3+6+0. It is a bad number under certain conditions, and very unlucky. If number 6 was the symbol of our globe ready to be animated by a divine spirit, 9 symbolized our earth informed by a bad or evil spirit" (SD 2:581).

As nine is one less than ten, in a denary hierarchy it is all the units except the first, the first being regarded as the origin or synthesis of the emanated nine. Thus one and nine may represent spirit and matter, or unmanifest and manifest, a logos and its rays. In the Stanzas of Dzyan svabhavat is the numbers one and nine, which make the perfect ten; and the same is seen in the ten Sephiroth of the Qabbalah, where Kether the Crown is often considered apart from the other nine. It was an especially favorite number in Norse mythology, appearing continuously throughout the Eddas.

In a denary system of hierarchies, in which the ending of one is the beginning of the subsequent hierarchy, we have actually a series or scale of nines. Many properties assigned to nine pertain to its position in the decimal scale. In many languages the word for nine is similar to that for new -- Sanskrit navan, nava; Greek ennea, neos; Latin novem, novus; German neun, neu -- which apprises us that nine has been considered from immemorial time the number of change or renovation, for it is followed by the complete number making 10, or springs from the monadic unit also making 10 -- in either case the reckoning enters upon a new decimal series.

(See also: Nine , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Chandra-vansa candra-vansa (Sanskrit) (from chandra moon + vansa lineage, race)

Also Chandravamsa. The lunar race; one of the two great royal dynasties of ancient India. As related in the Vishnu-Purana, Soma (the moon), the child of the rishi Atri, gave birth to Budha (Mercury) who married Ila, daughter of the other great royal dynasty, the Suryavansa (solar race). Her descendants, Yadu and Puru, founded the two great branches of the Chandravansa (named respectively Yadava and Paurava).

The last important scion of the race of Yadu was the avatara Krishna. In the race of Puru were born Pandu and Dhritarashtra -- parents respectively of the Pandavas and Kurus, the heroes of the Mahabharata enumerated in the Bhagavad-Gita (ch 1).

"In Occultism, man is called a solar-lunar being, solar in his higher triad, and lunar in his quaternary. Moreover, it is the Sun who imparts his light to the Moon, in the same way as the human triad sheds its divine light on the mortal shell of sinful man. Life celestial quickens life terrestrial" (TG 76).

Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is born in the Suryavansa, while Gautama Buddha belonged to the Chandravansa (TG 314).

(See also: Chandra-vansa, candra-vansa , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chandra-vansa (Sanskrit) The "Lunar Race", in contradistinction to Suryavansa, the "Solar Race". Some Orientalists think it an inconsistency that Krishna, a Chandravansa (of the Yadu branch) should have been declared an Avatar of Vishnu, who is a manifestation of the solar energy in Rig -Veda, a work of unsurpassed authority with the Brahmans.

This shows, however, the deep occult meaning of the Avatar ; a meaning which only esoteric philosophy can explain. A glossary is no fit place for such explanations; but it may be useful to remind those who know, and teach those who do not, that in Occultism, man is called a solar-lunar being, solar in his higher triad, and lunar in his quaternary. Moreover, it is the Sun who imparts his light to the Moon, in the same way as the human triad sheds its divine light on the mortal shell of sinful man.

Life celestial quickens life terrestrial. Krishna stands metaphysically for the Ego made one with Atma-Buddhi, and performs mystically the same function as the Christos of the Gnostics, both being "the inner god in the temple" - man. Lucifer is "the bright morning star", a well known symbol in Revelations, and, as a planet, corresponds to the EGO. Now Lucifer (or the planet Venus) is the Sukra-Usanas of the Hindus ; and Usanas is the Daitya-guru, i.e., the spiritual guide and instructor of the Danavas and the Daityas. The latter are the giant-demons in the Puranas, and in the esoteric interpretations, the antetypal symbol of the man of flesh, physical mankind. The Daityas can raise themselves, it is said, through knowledge "austerities and devotion" to "the rank of the gods and of the ABSOLUTE".

All this is very suggestive in the legend of Krishna ; and what is more suggestive still is that just as Krishna, the Avatar of a great God in India, is of time race of Yadu, so is another incarnation, "God incarnate himself" - or the "God-man Christ", also of the race Iadoo - the name for the Jews all over Asia. Moreover, as his mother, who is represented as Queen of Heaven standing on the crescent, is identified in Gnostic philosophy, and also in the esoteric system, with the Moon herself, like all the other lunar goddesses such as Isis, Diana, Astarte and others - mothers of the Logoi, so Christ is called repeatedly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Sun-Christ, the Christ-Soleil and so on. If the later is a metaphor so also is the earlier.

(See also: Chandra-vansa , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Philosophy The Greek philosophia meant love of wisdom, but with equal power of significance, although perhaps not etymologically as correct, the meaning was wisdom of love; also, the systematic investigation and instruction of facts and theories regarded as important in the study of truth.

In common usage it denotes the mental and moral sciences, in some respects being nearly equivalent to metaphysics, and including a number of divisions.

Theosophists speak of a triad of philosophy, religion, and science as being merged by theosophy into a unity; but science was itself at one time called natural philosophy, so that the chief distinction is that between faith and reason.

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

Three Degrees (of Initiation). Every nation had its exoteric and esoteric religion, the one for the masses, the other for the learned and elect. For example, the Hindus had three degrees with several sub- degrees.

The Egyptians had also three preliminary degrees, personified under the "three guardians of the fire " in the Mysteries.

The Chinese had their most ancient Triad Society: and the Tibetans have to this day their "triple step " ; which was symbolized in the Vedas by the three strides of Vishnu. Everywhere antiquity shows an unbounded reverence for the Triad and Triangle - the first geometrical figure.

The old Babylonians had their three stages of initiation into the priesthood (which was then esoteric knowledge); the Jews, the Kabbalists and mystics borrowed them from the Chaldees, and the Christian Church from the Jews. " There are Two", says Rabbi Simon ben Jochai, "in conjunction with One; hence they are Three, and if they are Three, then they are One."

(See also: Three Degrees , 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,)