Allah

The Islamic name for the deity. Originally the goddess Allatu of the Babylonions, formerly worshipped at the Kaaba in Mecca. Allah still is associated with the crescent moon of the lunargoddess.

(See also: Allah , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Association for Research and Enlightenment

(A. R. E. ),Organization founded by famed psychic Edgar Cayce inVirginia Beach,VA.

(See also: Association for Research and Enlightenment , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Chandra

(Sanskrit) ¥ The Moon.

(See also: Chandra , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Shamanism

The religion of many of the ancient lessdeveloped civilizations of the world. Some societies today are shamanistic. Shamanism is characterised by the ability of the Shaman to communicate with the spirit world to provide healing, guidance or wisdom. The shaman's soul is sometimes believed to leave the body during a trance at which time the shaman will speak with beings from the other worlds or assume animal forms.

(See also: Shamanism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Power Centers, Power Spots, Power Places, Sacred Sites

Places on the planet that have extra special energy. Power Centers include places like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, Machu Picchu, Mt. Shasta, and the Vortexwa in Sedona. New Agers believe that Power Spots are directly connected with:

1)    Ancient civilizations

2)    Secret societies

3)    Flying saucers, and

4)    Planetary Chakras

New Agers like to visit Power Spots because they consider them places for

1)    Great Meditation and

2)    Great Sex

(See also: Power Centers , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Affirmation

A positive statement of being affirming or asserting something in order to help manifest it in the physical world

(See also: Affirmation , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Church

(from the Greek kyriokon -house of the lord) .

1)    A building set aside for worship, especially by Christians.

2)    An religious organization for believers, especially Christian.

By Christians, the word is used in two senses: the visible and the invisible church.

• The visible church consists of all the people that claim to be Christians and go to church.
• The invisible church is the actual body of Christians; those who are truly saved.

The Catholic churches claim to have been established by God, while the Protestants claim that the true church is not an organization on earth consisting of people and buildings, but is really a supernatural entity comprised of those who are saved by Jesus.

(See also: Church , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

This is the second of two two summaries of the speach about Womens Movement in a Spiritual context delievered by Tapasya Dasaji of the Golden Age Foundation at the Oneness Festival, 16-22 of February 2004.

Read more here: » Women's Spirituality: Womens Movement in a Spiritual Perspective

Shintoism

(Shen-Tao Òthe way of the gods. Ó) Ancient polytheistic religion of Japan that focuses more on Japanese Culture, traditions, attitudes and ideology rather than a system of doctrines or code of ethics.

The roots of the movement are obscure, but it eventually developed into the idea that Japan, unlike other countries, was uniquely fathered by the god Izanami, whose consort, the goddess Izanagi, gave birth to the Japanese islands. Consequently the concept evolved that Japanese people are divine and superior to other humans.

In one form of the religion, State Shintoism, the Japanese emperors were seen as infallible descendants of the gods. Today devotion centers around public shrines and home altars dedicated to ancestors and gods. The sun goddess Amaterasu is the chief deity worshipped, and a belief in kami, a form of spiritism, is also maintained.

(See also: Shintoism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Evolution

The teaching that life developed its complexity through the process of genetic change and natural selection. First propounded by Charles Darwin in the early 1800's, the theory has undergone a number of modifications since its inception.

The Bible does not speak against evolution but instead indicates that God created all things through the process .

(See also: Evolution , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Sikhism

A religion, based mostly in the Punjab province of India, that attempts to blend Hinduism and Islam. The movement is based on a vision and subsequent teachings of founder Guru Nanak in the 15th century AD. Disciples, called Sikhs, follow the one true God named Sat Nam (ÒTrue NameÓ). Their main scriptures are contained in the Granth Sahib (ÒThe Lord's BookÓ), compiled by the guru Arjan, and salvation is viewed as a merging with the universal force

(See also: Sikhism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Dowsing

The skill of divining for underground sources of water or other practical and spiritual matters by means of a divining rod or variety of other means, such as the pendulum, or even by deviceless techniques. Used to locate people, objects, or substances, and to diagnose illnesses. (See Dowsing)

(See also: Dowsing , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Great Rite

The ritual act, usually Wiccan, of sexual intercourse performed between the high-priestess and the high-priest, or between the high-priestess and a coven member.

Originally performed in the midst of the circle, then later performed apart from the circle. Now usually performed symbollicly by placing the sword in the cup.

(See also: Great Rite , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Resurrection

In Christian theology, Being raised from the dead. It specifically refers to that future time when we shall all receive new bodies when Jesus returns at the end of time, when the last trumpet is blown New Age: teaching: The Greek word which is translated 'resurrection' in the King James translation of the Bible, means literally 'rising up'. In most usages, it would be better translated 'ascension'. It is not the raising of the body from the grave, but rather the raising of the consciousness to a higher, spiritual level. (see Ascension)

(See also: Resurrection , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Zionism

A plan or movement of the Jewish people to return from the Diaspora to Palestine. Zionism originated aimed at the re-establishment of a Jewish national homeland and state in Palestine. It is now concerned with the development and support of Israel.

(See also: Zionism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Jesus

1)    The leader of group of religious radicals in Jerusalem. (approximately 25 AD)

2)    An avatar who attained a high level of attunement which enabled him to become a bodily vehicle for the Christ for a period of three years.

3)    An aspect of God, according to the Jesus cults. The name ÒJesusÓ corresponds with the Hebrew ÒJoshuaÓ and means ÒJehovah is salvation. Ó

(See Jesus)

(See also: Jesus , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Agnosticism

The claim that no one has knowledge of God or the origin of the universe. Some agnostics make the claim on a personal level, while allowing that such knowledge may exist but has never been known by themselves.

Others assert that such knowledge cannot be had by anyone. Agnostics avoid the charge of dogmatic atheism by acknowledging the theoretical possibility of GodÕs existence. Yet virtually all live as if the non-existence of God was an established fact, and are thus practical atheists.

(See also: Agnosticism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Astral World

The astral realm or astral sphere which overlaps the physical world. It is also called the fourth dimension and "the beyond. " It is the unconscious. From the Astral world physical life is regulated.

(See also: Astral World , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Abyss

(Greek- bottomless)

1. The formless chaos from which matter and spirit were formed,
2. The bottomless pit (or deep) of the ancient cosmologies.
3. The final place of punishment of the wicked. mystic Christianity.
4. The abode of evil powers (Chrisitan) .

(See also: Abyss , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Ancestral Land

Taoist term for third eye.

(See also: Ancestral Land , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Shiva

The Òdestroyer,Ó third member of the primary triad of gods in Hinduism, the others being Brahma and Vishnu.

(See also: Shiva , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Day of Brahma

In Hindu esoteric teachings, one day of Brahma consists of a thousand cycles of four yugas, or ages: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali.

The cycle of Satya is characterized by virtue, wisdom and religion, there being practically no ignorance and vice, and the yuga lasts 1,728,000 years.

• In the Treta-yuga vice is introduced, and this yuga lasts 1,296,000 years.
• In the Dvapara-yuga there is an even greater decline in virtue and religion, vice increasing, and this yuga lasts 864,000 years.
• And finally in Kali-yuga (the yuga we have been experiencing over the past 5000 years) there is an abundance of strife, ignorance, irreligion and vice, true virtue being practically nonexistent, and this yuga lasts 432,000 years.

In Kali-yuga vice increases to such a point that at the termination of the yuga the Supreme Lord himself appears as the Kalki Avatara, vanquishes the demons, saves his devotees, and commences another Satya-yuga. Then the process is set rolling again.

These four yugas, rotating a thousand times, comprise one day of Brahma, and the same number comprise one night. Brahma lives one hundred of such years and then dies. These hundred years by earth calculations total to 311 trillion and 40 billion earth years. By these calculations the life of Brahma seems fantastic and interminable, but from the viewpoint of eternity it is as brief as a lightning flash. "

(See also: Day of Brahma , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)