Shem Ham-mephorash (Hebrew) [from shem name + ham def article + mephorash from the verbal root parash to separate, declare, specify]

The separated or distinguished name; a Qabbalistic term for the Great Name, said by some to have been pronounced by the High Priest in the Holy of Holies. "The mirific name derived from the substance of deity and showing its self-existent essence. Jesus was accused by the Jews of having stolen this name from the Temple by magic arts, and of using it in the production of his miracles" (TG 297).

This name is a mystical term implying -- but without giving it -- that among all the various names that might be given to the universal spiritual hierarch there is always one which is the highest and closest in descriptive power to the divine essence. From this idea flowed the logical deduction that if one could understand the divine essence sufficiently to realize what this best name for it might be, such knowledge de facto signified that the knower thereafter could wield a mighty spiritual power -- because to understand the divine essence would signify that the understander already was an adept of the highest degree.

All countries and peoples have believed that if one could give the exact and proper name to spiritual things, one could control them -- a thought which has real occultism back of it, but which nevertheless has to be properly understood.

(See also: Shem Ham-mephorash , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Angha. See SIMORGH

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

Dido Also Elissa. Queen of Carthage in North Africa and traditionally its founder. According to Timaeus, her actual name was Theiosso, in Phoenician Helissa or Elissa; and Dido, the Phoenician equivalent of the Greek planes (wanderer), was given her because of her wanderings;

Dido is also said to be the name of a Phoenician goddess and can be translated "the beloved." After her husband was killed by her brother, Dido fled to Africa and founded a city which became Carthage. Rather than marry a local chieftain against her will, she killed herself; in the Aeneid she is said to have killed herself after being deserted by Aeneas.

Dido was "the patroness of the Phoenician mariners; and together with Venus and other lunar goddesses -- the moon having such a strong influence over the tides -- was the 'Virgin of the Sea.'. . . the Phoenicians, those bold explorers of the 'deep,' carried, fixed on the prow of their ships, the image of the goddess Astart�, who is Elissa, Venus Erycina of Sicily, and Dido, whose name is the feminine of David" (IU 2:446&n).

(See also: Dido, Elissa , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Hedonism (from Greek hedone, pleasure)

In ethics, the doctrine that the gratification of natural inclinations is the chief good, and that the moral law is thereby fulfilled. The value of this doctrine depends entirely on what we are to understand by pleasure or inclination. In the best sense, which was that of Epicurus and his followers, these words may be considered as one way of trying to express the summum bonum, the goal of human endeavor; and this school pointedly taught that neither happiness nor peace are ever attainable by the subjection of human thought, mind, and conscience to the instincts or inclinations of the body.

Some aspects of modern utilitarianism may be considered as a form of hedonism. But the doctrine as stated is easily degraded, and in its worst form becomes the pursuit of sensual gratification. In fact, hedonism as a word, and as understood now and by many even in ancient times, is the exact opposite of what these early philosophers believed and taught.

See also EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY

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

Grain. See WHEAT; CORN

(See also: Holy Grail , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Rinch-cha-tze Rin-chen-rtse (Tibetan) Seven precious gifts. {BCW 14:400&n}

(See also: Rinch-cha-tze, Rin-chen-rtse , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Aeshma-Daeva (Avestan) Eesham-Diev, Hesham-Diev (Pahlavi) (from aeshma wrath, ill wish, anger from the verbal root ish desire, passion + daevas evil spirits (originally gods); cf Sanskrit deva, Persian dievs)

The fiend of the wounding spear in the Avesta. The Aryan gods or daevas having become anthropomorphic, they were denounced by the Aryan initiates who had settled in Airya-Vaeja (Eran or Iran). Zarathustra in the Gathas refers to Kavis and Karpans, the leaders of the ancient Aryan faith, as daevas because they had polluted the abstraction of Mazdean philosophy with ritualistic ceremonies.

In Pahlavi and Pazand writing Aeshma-Daeva changed form to Heshm-Diev, from which Asmodeus, the medieval evil spirit, is derived. Aeshma is known to be Sraush's opponent.

(See also: Aeshma-Daeva , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Abel hebel (Hebrew) (from the verbal root habal to breathe, blow, be vain, transitory)

Breath, mist, vapor; by extension, emptiness, fruitlessness, vanity. The second son of Adam and Eve, a "keeper of sheep," slain by his brother Cain (Genesis 4). According to Blavatsky, Cain and Abel represent the third root-races or the "Separating Hermaphrodite," who produce the fourth root-race, Seth-Enos. Abel (Hebel) is the female counterpart of the male Cain, and Adam is the collective name for man and woman. Abel is "the first natural woman, and sheds the Virgin blood," during the separation of the sexes (SD 2:388); the " 'murdering' is blood-shedding, but not taking life" (SD 2:273n; also 2:127, 134).

Abel thus is a generalizing term for womankind and Cain for mankind, when the sexes began separating in the third root-race but were not yet completely apart, before the androgynous humans became the present humanity with distinct sexes. A similar word, hebel (the pain of childbirth), is connected by some scholars with Abel.

See also HABEL

(See also: Abel, hebel , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chiliocosm (Greek) (from chilioi thousand + kosmos world)

In Northern Buddhism, a world made up of a thousand regions; spoken of as equivalent to Sahalo-Kadhatu (Saha-lokadhatu)

(ML 199), out of the many regions of which only three are named: kama-loka, rupa-loka, and arupa-loka. It is also stated that kama-loka has many subdivisions or subregions, so that the threefold enumeration is a rough summary of a manifold classification.

It might be said that the universe is infilled with chiliososms, each one corresponding more or less to a hierarchy with its own integral system of worlds, regions, or divisions, each division again being subdivided to form the vast complexity of universal nature we see around us. Further, each such hierarchy from another standpoint consists of divine, spiritual, intellectual, astral, or astral-physical divisions running from the higher downwards to the lowest; and the three lowest of each such chiliocosm bear the names kama-loka (or kama-dhatu), rupa-loka (or rupa-dhatu), and arupa-loka (or arupa-dhatu), these three commonly spoken of as the trailokya, the name applying to whatever universe, hierarchy, or chiliocosm they may be in or belong to.

With regard to the trailokya, the lowest or kama-dhatu is generally the various subordinate or lowest regions of desire; the second or rupa-dhatu, while worlds of form, are of such ethereal and subtle character that they may be defined as worlds or regions of a purely intellectual or mental character; whereas the highest or arupa-dhatu comprises regions of so purely spiritual -- not merely ethereal -- character that the words states or divisions can alone give some idea of their character.

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

Archetypal World or Universe (from Greek archetypos original pattern)

Either an abstract type in the divine mind, or a subtle form which is the model for a grosser form. In the processes of cosmic manifestation, forms are built by the builders working on a particular plane from abstract models already existing on a higher plane. In order for ideation to pass from the abstract into the concrete or visible form, the creative logoi see in the ideal world the archetypal forms of all and proceed to build upon these models forms both evanescent and transcendent (SD 1:380).

The Archetypal Man of the Qabbalah is the host of the higher dhyani-chohans collectively called 'Adam Qadmon or the upper triad of the ten Sephiroth, also svabhavat or the fourfold anima mundi, whence proceed the creative, formative, and material worlds. The archetypal world has three planes, corresponding to the First, Second, and Third Logoi, and to parabrahman with mulaprakriti or to Brahman with pradhana. In the human hierarchy, this is paramatman (the supreme self) from which fall the armies of rays which permeate every atom on every plane, constituting the unity in the divine selfhood which is the essence of all. In contrast with the septenary hierarchy below, this upper triad is called arupa (formless).

Archetypal world is also used to designate the fourth cosmic plane.

(See also: Archetypal World, Universe , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Madhavas (Sanskrit) In the plural, the descendants of Madhu, men of the race of Yadu, and hence often called Yadavas.

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

Purushasukta purusasukta [from Purusha man, heavenly man + sukta vedic hymn]

The Purusha hymn, or hymn of the Rig-Veda (10:90) describing the cosmic soul or source of the universe. This hymn, harmonious and corroborative of the esoteric doctrines, relates to some of the earliest chapters of cosmogony, and also on the human scale to the earliest race or races of mankind.

(See also: Purushasukta, purusasukta , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Bundahish or Bundahis (Pahlavi) (from bun root, origin + dah to create)

Origin of creation; a Zoroastrian mythologico-theological work treating of cosmogony, the government of the world, and its end. Its present form is of later date than the Avesta, but the material contained in it is of distinctly archaic character and runs far back into the night of early Persian history.

(See also: Bundahish, Bundahis , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Thumoeides (Greek) [from thymos passional soul + eidos form]

The name given by Plato to a division of the psychomental nature, the animal or passional soul, kama-manas, in contrast with a still lower division of kama-manas which he called epithumetikon (appetitive, or that which has appetite for). Above both these, which together comprise what other Greek philosophers called the psyche, is the nous, the seat of inspiration, intuition, the highest intellection, and similar noble attributes or faculties, corresponding to the buddhi-manas or atma-buddhi-manas.

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

Ammon-Ra (Greek) Amen-Ra (Egyptian) When the princes of Thebes had conquered all rival claimants to the sovereignty of Egypt and established themselves as rulers of the dual Empires, they followed in religious, mystical, and occult matters the thought of the powerful priesthood of Thebes. Thus after the 12th dynasty a new manner of visioning the ancient god Ammon came into prominence, under the name Ammon-Ra, although the latter's preeminence as chief god of Egypt did not occur until the 17th dynasty.

The attributes of the hidden deity Ammon were combined with the solar god Ra, and this deity was acclaimed by the priests as the chief of the gods of Egypt. Ammon-Ra seems to be devoid of most, at least, of the mystical symbols that are present in representations of the older deities, although the hymns to the god that were carefully prepared by the priests incorporated all the attributes and phraseology prevalent in the other scriptures.

(See also: Ammon-Ra , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Atomists Certain ancient Greek philosophers, especially of the school of Leucippus and Deomcritus, who taught that all things arose from atoms (atomoi) and a vacuum (kenon). By atoms Democritus meant "indivisible particles of substance containing in themselves the potentialities of all possible future development, self-moved, self-driven . . . spiritual indivisible entities, the ultimates of being, self-conscious, spiritual monads.

"Nor by his word kenon, or void, did he mean an utter emptiness, as we misconstrue that word. He meant the vast expanses of the spatial deeps, Space, in fact, which this infinite host of monads filled" (MIE 34-5). The atomists became more materialistic as time passed. The equivalent Hindu atomist schools are the Nyaya and Vaiseshika.

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

Ariyasachcha ariyasacca (Pali) (from ariya noble, distinguished, of high birth + sachcha real, true)

Noble truth; in the plural, the Four Noble Truths (chattari ariyasachchani) set forth by Gautama Buddha in his first sermon: 1) pain (duhkha); 2) cause, origin of pain (samudaya) is desire (panha); 3) destruction of desire eliminates pain (nirodha); and 4) the road or footpath (magga), the noble eightfold way (ariya atthangika magga).

See also ARYASATYA (for Sanskrit equivalents)

(See also: Ariyasachcha ariyasacca , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ah-hi (Senzar) A group or class of celestial or spiritual beings known in different countries under various names: dhyani-chohans, angels or angelic hosts, 'elohim, the Greek minor logoi, etc. Vehicles for the manifestation of cosmic mind and will, they are "the collective hosts of spiritual beings" through which the universal mind comes into action.

"They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and enact in Nature her 'laws,' while themselves acting according to laws imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers; but they are not 'the personifications' of the power of Nature, as erroneously thought" (SD 1:38). During pralaya "Universal Mind was not, for there were no Ah-hi to contain it," no celestial beings to manifest mind (Stanzas of Dzyan 1:3).

Commenting on this, Blavatsky describes the Ah-hi as entities who "being on the highest plane, reflect the universal mind collectively at the first flutter of Manvantara. After which they begin the work of evolution of all the lower forces throughout the seven planes, down to the lowest -- our own. The Ah-hi are the primordial seven rays, or Logoi, emanated from the first Logos, triple, yet one in its essence. . . .

"Like all other Hierarchies, on the highest plane they are arupa, i.e., formless, bodiless, without any substance, mere breaths. On the second plane, they first approach to Rupa, or form. On the third, they become Manasa-putras, those who became incarnated in men. With every plane they reach they are called by different names . . ." (TBL 17, 20-21).

(See also: Ah-hi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Omoroka (Greek) [from Chaldean, cf Hebrew `amaq to be deep, profound; Hebrew `amar to heap together, overwhelm; and Arabic `amar to overwhelm with water]

The deep, the ocean, whether physically or mystically; used in the Babylonian account of creation. One legend tells of Belus cutting Omoroka in two, from one part of which the heavens were formed, and from the other, the earth -- showing that Omoroka signifies space.

In Chaldean mythology, Omoroka was a woman personifying the spatial deeps, and therefore divine water or the productive Logos of all manifestation. It likewise became connected with the moon, being equivalent to Selene, and was often used as the manifested wisdom or spirit.

In The Secret Doctrine Omoroka (the moon) presides over the monstrous creation of nondescript beings slain by the dhyanis; and further, while the gods were generated in svabhavat (mother-space), the reflection of wisdom became on earth Omoroka -- the Chaldean Thalatth, the Greek Thalassa.

(See also: Omoroka , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Acupressure , Chih Ya, Shiatsu, Shiatzu, Zhi Ya ,  :

A type of massage in which finger pressure on specific body sites is used to promote healing, relieve fatigue, etc. Although the anatomical locations are the same as the ACUPUNCTURE POINTS used in ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY (hence acu-), no needle or other acupuncture technique is employed in acupressure. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed). Shiatsu is a modern outgrowth that focuses more on prevention than healing.

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

Ahan (Sanskrit) Day (ahan, ahas are base forms of some of the grammatical cases of ahan). In the Vishnu-Purana (1:5), one of the four bodies of Brahma: "Jyotsna (dawn), Ratri (night), Ahan (day), and Sandhya (evening)" which are "invested by the three qualities" (triguna). Esoterically this has "a direct bearing upon the seven principles of the manifested Brahma, or universe, in the same order as man. Exoterically, it is only four principles" (SD 2:58n). Hence only four bodies of Brahma are mentioned in the Puranas.

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

Reuel-Jethro re`u'el yithro (Hebrew) In the Bible a priest of Midian having seven daughters and giving one of them (Zipporah) in marriage to Moses (Ex 2:16).

"Jethro is called the 'father-in-law' of Moses; not because Moses was really married to one of his seven daughters. Moses was an Initiate, if he ever existed, and as such an ascetic, a nazar, and could never be married. It is an allegory like everything else. Zipporah (the shining) is one of the personified Occult Sciences given by Revel-Jethro, the Midian priest Initiator, to Moses, his Egyptian pupil. The 'well' by which Moses sat down in his flight from the Pharaoh symbolizes the 'well of Knowledge' " (SD 2:465n).

That an initiate could never be married is true of the highest class of adepts, but history shows that both men and women initiates, although very rarely of the highest rank, have been married. It is likewise to be remembered that one of the grandest initiates known to human history, Gautama Buddha, married and had a child.

Indeed, in ancient India, according to the laws of life then prevailing, all students, whether higher or lower, had to pass through the four stages of imbodied life on earth, and one of these was called grihastha -- a man who had his home, wife, and children, as it was then a religious duty for everyone to carry on his own family line.

(See also: Reuel-Jethro, re`u'el yithro , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)