Advent (from Latin ad to, toward + venio to come)

Arrival; in Christianity a period of some four weeks preceding Christmas.

In pre-Christian Greece one of the great seats of initiation was Eleusis, a Greek word meaning coming or advent. All the Mystery schools of antiquity taught and dramatized doctrines dealing with that which is to come: the mysteries of death, rebirth, and initiation -- the birth or awakening of the inner Buddha or Christos in the neophyte. This was called the coming or advent of the god within.

Advent may also be used to signify the serial comings into the human sphere of a nirmanakaya who imbodies a dhyani-buddha -- a perfected human being from a preceding manvantara -- in order to enlighten the humanity of the current cycle. Such nirmanakayas work in the sphere of our earth as invisible or occasionally visible helpers of mankind.

The "second advent," referring to a second coming of Christ, was considered imminent by some early Christian sects, and is still expected by certain sects today. This echoes the archaic teaching concerning the advent of Maitreya-Buddha -- the next great Buddha to appear in the long line of Buddha-succession -- as well as the second coming of Elijah among the Jews, and the coming of the Kalki-avatara among the Hindus.

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Hesed (Hesedh) or Chesed (Hebrew) Love, kindness; the fourth Sephirah, Mercy, Love, or Compassion, also called Gedulah (greatness, magnificence), emanated from the three preceding Sephiroth or first triad. Hesed is regarded as an active masculine potency, the second in the right pillar of the Sephirothal Tree.

Its Divine Name is 'El (the mighty); in the Angelic Order it is represented as the Hashmaim (the scintillating flames), as of polished or burnished brass. In its application to the human body, regarded as the right arm, giving strength; while in its application to the seven globes of our planetary chain it corresponds to globe G. From this Sephiroth is emanated the fifth, Geburah.

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Fate (from Latin fatum that which is divinely decreed from fari to speak)

The regents of the kosmos, acting as karmic agents of past destiny, are said to be the establishers of fate or destiny for the world or universe then beginning its manvantaric evolution. They establish in the noumenal worlds the roots, and in the phenomenal worlds the fruits, of the essential laws of being.

Fatalism is the belief that human beings have no free will; however, in actual fact, though perhaps we cannot maintain our own personal will against the laws of the universe except in very moderate degree, yet we have considerable latitude to make experiments and learn from our mistakes.

The Latin fatum means the laws of nature or the will of the gods, personified as the Parcae or three Fates, the Greek Moirai. In the best sense therefore it means our lot, appointed by the destiny born of our own past thoughts, feelings, and acts.

See also KARMA; MOIRA

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Ardhanarisa or Ardhanarisvara (Sanskrit) (from ardha half + nari woman + isvara, isa lord)

Half-feminine lord; a form of Siva, also applied to the first cosmic androgyne, equivalent to the mystically androgynous Sephirah-'Adam Qadmon of the Qabbalah. Cosmic entities are not sexual or sexed in the human sense, for sex as known in the human and animal kingdoms is a transitory phase of evolution.

The application of terms such as androgyne, masculine, or feminine to cosmic divinities has reference to states of cosmic force or energy and substance which may be polarized or unpolarized. Human energies and substances in our present evolutionary stage -- and this applies likewise to the animal kingdom, and to a degree to the vegetable kingdom -- are divided into opposites which bring about sex conditions.

When the forces are partially polarized, the androgynous or hermaphroditic condition results. When the forces or substances are unpolarized during pralayas and at the beginnings and endings of manvantaras, then each entity contains within itself and manifests a state of undivided unity -- a complete and perfect individual.

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Airavata (Sanskrit) (from iravat moisture-possessing from ira drink, food)

Son of Iravati; a vast elephant produced at the churning of the ocean and appropriated by the god Indra. When seated upon Airavata, Indra blesses the earth with rain, i.e., with the water that is drawn up by Airavata from the underworld. According to the Matangalila, Airavata was born when Brahma sang over the halves of the shell from which Garuda hatched, followed by seven more male and eight female elephants.

In the Mahabharata (Adi-parvan, ch 66) Airavata guards the eastern zone. Four such "elephants" (sometimes eight, each with its sakti or feminine potency) uphold the structure of the earth. The mighty four-tusked Airavata, therefore, represents one of the lokapalas (world protectors) -- called by Buddhists maharajas (great kings) -- which are the guardians and supporters of the universe. They are also mystically connected with the lipikas, the eternal karmic scribes. In the Bhagavad-Gita (10:2, 7) Krishna, in naming his divine manifestations, says that among elephants he is Airavata.

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

Lotus (from Greek lotos)

A lily belonging to the genus Nymphaea, an ancient and universal symbol; in India spoken of innumerable times under its Sanskrit name padma.

"It is the flower sacred to nature and her Gods, and represents the abstract and the Concrete Universes, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both spiritual and physical nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and the Buddhists after them; revered in China and Japan, and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger as the Christians do now, who replace it with the water lily. It had, and still has, its mystic meaning which is identical with every nation on the earth" (SD 1:379).

In relation to men, the lotus is the symbol of the self-producing soul which, during manifestation immersed in material life as the lotus seed is embedded in the mud of lake or pond, is wakened by the warm rays of the spiritual sun, and grows upward through the world of illusion (symbolized by water) to blossom in the free air and sunlight of truth.

Cosmically the lotus symbolizes the emanation of the objective from the subjective, the manifested effect or production of the eternal plan on which the invisible worlds are built by the formative logoi. This lies buried, until the time for its svabhava or production comes, in the bosom of eternal ideation -- as the lotus plant of visible nature exists in miniature in the seed.

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Manticism [from Greek mantis seer from mainomai to act ecstatically under a divine impulse]

A seer, one inspired with divine ecstasy; according to Plato, one who uttered oracles while under a divine impulse, which in its lowest forms was a kind of frenzy, while a prophetes (prophet) was one who interpreted the oracles. Frenzy, now used only to denote madness or anger, meant in classic times a state of exaltation both of mind and psychical nature which enabled inner faculties of perception to come into play, whereby seership and prophetic power were attained.

Certain exhalations from the earth would often act upon the body of the seer or seeress, inducing a state of physical receptivity, as occurred in the grotto of Delphi; and Cicero speaks highly of the better side of the power thus conferred. The condition produced by Bacchic rites was similar, but in later times degenerated into mere frenzy or ravings in the modern sense of the word; and as these rites became degraded into profligacy, the meaning of the word frenzy naturally altered pari passu.

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Agneyastra (Sanskrit) (from agneya fiery weapon from agni fire + astra missile weapon, arrow)

Fiery weapon; one of the magic weapons used by some of the gods and heroes of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The Vishnu-Purana (3:8) recounts that the agneyastra was given by the sage Aurva to his disciple King Sagara. A magic weapon said to have been "wielded by the adept-race (the fourth), the Atlanteans" (TG 9), and to have been built of "seven elements" (SD 2:629).

It can signify a weapon of fiery character used in physical warfare, or on a cosmic scale can denote the employment of a force of nature by an intelligent being either for offensive or defensive purposes. In archaic thought fire, in its abstract sense, is almost equivalent to spirit, and permeates the sevenfold nature of the universe.

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Diksha diksa (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root diksh to consecrate or dedicate oneself)

Preparation or consecration in exoteric matters for a religious ceremony; or the undertaking, equally in exoteric matters, of religious observances for a specific purpose, as well as the observances themselves; also initiation. As a proper noun, Diksha or initiation is personified as the wife of Soma (the Moon). Diksha again signifies preparatory training of the neophyte for initiation.

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'Adam Qadmon (Hebrew) (from 'adam mankind + qadam to be before, precede)

Primordial man, Adam Primus; in the Qabbalah macrocosmic man in contrast to the earthly Adam, the microcosm. Often called the Heavenly Man because symbolically he is the Sephirothal Tree of Life, each of the Sephiroth having its correspondence with a part of the body, the head being Kether (Crown), and the feet standing for Malchuth (Kingdom). 'Adam Qadmon corresponds mystically to the Hindu Purusha: both are generalizing terms used to represent the cosmic Logos or hierarch of their respective hierarchies.

Blavatsky compares 'Adam Qadmon to the first manu, Svayambhuva, "the synthesis of the fourteen Manus" (TG 206); also to the Greek Prometheus and the divine Pymander of the Hermetica -- the power of the thought divine "in its most spiritual aspect" (IU 1:298).

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Agapae (Greek) (plural of agape brotherly love, loving kindness, charity)

Love feasts; not only the love for God, but the love of Christians for each other as being members of a divinely inspired communion. The agapae were meetings for prayer, song, reading, exhortation, exchange of news, and ended with the brotherly kiss. With the lapse into worldliness, abuses crept into these love-feasts, which in time became so notorious that they were finally abolished.

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Nidhi (Sanskrit) A treasure; the nine divine treasures or jewels of Kuvera, the Vedic Satan, each under the guardianship of some demon -- or rather a spirit more of the nature of the Greek daimon.

These nine nidhis are popularly given as

• padma (lotus),
• mahapadma (great lotus),
• sankha (conch shell),
• makara (marine animal or fish),
• kachchhapa (tortoise),
• mukunda (kettle drum),
• ananda (joy),
• nila (a dark color or blue), and
• kharva (dwarf).

They are sometimes personified as attendants of Kuvera or of Lakshmi.

All these nidhis are the objects of special worship by the Tantrikas. They differ from the nava-nidhi, or nine treasuries or jewels of wisdom referring to a consummation of spiritual development in occult training, occult life, or mysticism generally. In theosophy the "seven jewels of wisdom" are seven of the nine nava-nidhi.

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Akasic Magnetism In theosophy both electricity and magnetism are considered as the vital fluids or effluxes of living beings, which flow forth from them and, interblending and interworking, produce the multimyriad forms of electric and magnetic phenomenal activity common everywhere. This means that both magnetism and electricity are to be traced to their source in cosmic akasa, which is in the great what the magnetism of an individual is in the small.

 The changes occurring in the earth's magnetism "are due to akasic magnetism incessantly generating electric currents which tend to restore disturbed equilibrium" (ML 160). Hence all magnetic or electrical activity on earth is produced by astral magnetism and electricity incessantly generating electric and magnetic currents which reproduce themselves in the physical sphere.

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Amber Pale yellow, brown, or reddish fossilized resin, capable of a negative electric charge by friction. In Greek mythology amber was formed from the tears of Meleager's sisters, or alternately of Phaeton's sisters dropped into the Eridan after he was killed trying to drive the chariot of the sun.

While the Eridan is usually identified with the Po River in Italy, Blavatsky holds that it was a northern sea (SD 2:770n). In Scandinavian myths it was attributed to the tears of Freya. In China amber was said to be the soul of the tiger transformed into a mineral after its death. It has been used widely for medicinal, religious, and decorative purposes ().

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Anu (Sanskrit) As a noun, an atom of matter; as an adjective, atomic, fine, minute. A title of Brahma, conceived as both infinitesimal and universal, thus pointing to the pantheistic character of divinity. Hence, every anu is "a centre of potential vitality, with latent intelligence in it" (SD 1:567; cf FSO 273-5, 431). In the Bhagavad-Gita (8:9) Arjuna is enjoined to meditate on the "seer," i.e., the enlightened, omniscient One, who is "more atomic than the atom" (anor aniyamsam) and yet "the supporter of all" (cf VP 1:2, 5:1; ChU 3:14, 3-4, Katha 2:20, MU 3:1, 7).

In Jainism the soul is represented as being like an anu, atomic in size, and seated within the heart, while the jiva (life-monad) is the quickening element that pervades the whole.

Besides meaning a particle of substance, anu also means an atom of time, being equivalent to the 54,675,000th part of a muhurta (48 minutes).

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Annunciation Announcing; in Christianity, the foretelling to Mary of Jesus' birth by the angel Gabriel, celebrated on Lady Day, March 25. The fire and lamps used in this ceremony apparently point back to the marriage of Vulcan with Venus, to the Magi watching over the sacred fire in the East, to the Vestal Virgins in the West, and to the marriage of Father Sun with Mother Nature.

Some parallels from other religions are the luminous San-tusita (Bodhisat) appearing to Maya and announcing the coming birth of Gautama Buddha; the Hindu legend that there would be born the son of the Virgin (Krishna), the date of whose death marked the beginning of kali yuga; and in Egypt where scenes of an annunciation appear in the temple of Luxor.

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Climacteric A critical period; a year in which important changes are held to occur, as in one's 63rd year (grand climacteric). But climacteric year "has more than the usual significance, when used by Occultists and Mystics.

It is not only a critical period, during which some great change is periodically expected, whether in human or cosmic constitution, but it likewise pertains to spiritual universal changes" (SD 1:656n).

Each person has a climacteric point "when he must draw near to death; if he has squandered his life-powers, there is no escape for him; but if he has lived according to the law, he may pass through and so continue in the same body almost indefinitely" (BCW 8:400).

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Agnus Dei (Latin) (from agnus lamb + deus god)

Lamb of God; originating in the New Testament: "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). It is applied to various emblems, cakes, anthems, etc., used in the services of the orthodox Christian churches. As a lamb was sacrificed and partaken of in the Jewish feast of the Passover, John said in effect: behold the true divine Paschal Lamb. However, the original idea that impurity is burnt out by the divine fire from the radiant source within each person was perverted, both in the case of agni and the Lamb of God, into the idea of vicarious atonement (cf SD 2:383).

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Aher (Hebrew) To be after, behind, secondary, another; the plural 'aherim, especially when used in conjunction with 'elohim, means "other or strange gods," which were supposed to be merely idols. As the Hebrew scriptures themselves show, the ancient Hebrews never at any time denied the existence of the gods of other peoples, but being utterly and strongly tribalistic, their own god Jehovah was to them supreme. Their tribal god is the regent of the planet Saturn, who was their planetary hierarch, and consequently, to them, the supreme god -- the god over all other gods. Had the Jews been born as a people under the regent of some other planet, the hierarchical regent of this other planet would then have been in their opinion the supreme god.

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Aditi (Sanskrit) (from a not + diti bound from the verbal root da to bind)

Unbounded, free; as a noun, infinite and shoreless expanse. In the Vedas, Aditi is devamatri (mother of the gods) as from and in her cosmic matrix all the heavenly bodies were born. As the celestial virgin and mother of every existing form and being, the synthesis of all things, she is highest akasa. Aditi is identified in the Rig-Veda with Vach (mystic speech) and also with the mulaprakriti of the Vedanta. As the womb of space, she is a feminized form of Brahma. The line in the Rig-Veda: "Daksha sprang from Aditi and Aditi from Daksha" has reference to "the eternal cyclic re-birth of the same divine Essence" (SD 2:247n). In one of its most mystic aspects Aditi is divine wisdom.

Aditi has correspondences in many ancient religions: the highest Sephirah in the Zohar; the Gnostic Sophia-Achamoth; Rhea, mother of the Greek Olympians; Bythos or the great Deep; Amba; Surarani; Chaos; Waters of Space; Primordial Light; and the source of the Egyptian seven heavens. Sometimes she is linked with the Greek Gaia, goddess of earth, to denote dual nature or the mother of both the spiritual and physical: Aditi, cosmic expanse or space being the mother of all things; and Gaia, mother of earth and, on the larger scale, of all objective nature (cf SD 2:65, 269).

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Sutra (Sanskrit) [from siv to sew]

A string, thread; the sutras are strings of rules or aphorisms written in serve form, composed in terse and symbolic language with the obvious intention of their being committed to memory. This was a favorite form among the Hindus, as among all ancient peoples, of imbodying and transmitting rules of ancient religious and philosophic thought.

There are sutras written upon almost every subject, but the sutras commonly signify those connected with the Vedas, of which there are three kinds: the Kalpa-sutras (rules of ritual); the grihya-sutras (domestic rules) treating of ordinary family rites such as marriage, birth, name-giving, etc.; and the Samayacharika-sutras which treat of customs and temporal duties. The Kalpa-sutras belong to the class of writings called Srutis (heard or revealed); while the other two types of sutras belong to the Smritis (remembered), carried traditionally from generation to generation by word of mouth.

In Buddhist writings, the Sutras are the second division of sacred works, generally known under the equivalent Pali term Suttas.

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