Theosophical Society,
H
P Blavatsky
The
Key to Theosophy Glossary
By
H
P Blavatsky
E - M
E.
Ecstasis (Gr.) A psycho-spiritual
state; a physical trance which induces clairvoyance, and a beatific state which
brings on visions.
Ego (Lat.) “I”; the consciousness in man of the “I am I,” or the
feeling of I-am-ship.
Esoteric philosophy teaches the existence of two Egos in man, the mortal or
personal, and the higher, the divine or impersonal, calling the former
“personality,” and the latter “individuality.” Egoity (from the word “Ego”).
Egoity means “individuality”—indifferent—never
“personality,” as it is the opposite of Egoism or “selfishness,” the
characteristic par excellence of the latter.
Eidolon (Gr.) The same as that which we term the human phantom, the Astral
form.
Elementals,
or Spirits of the Elements. The creatures evolved in the
Peris, Devs, Djins, Sylvans,
Satyrs, Fauns, Elves, Dwarfs, Trolls, Norns, Kobolds,
Brownies, Nixies, Goblins, Pinkies, Banshees, Moss People, White Ladies,
Spooks, Fairies, etc., etc.
Eleusinia
(Gr.) The Eleusinian Mysteries were the most famous and the most ancient of all
the Greek mysteries (save the Samothracian), and were
performed near the hamlet of
Exoteric (Gr.) Outward, public; the opposite of esoteric or hidden. Extra-Cosmic, i. e., outside of Kosmos or
Nature. A nonsensical word invented to assert the existence of a
personal god independent of or outside Nature per se; for as Nature, or the
Universe, is infinite and limitless there can be nothing outside it. The term
is coined in opposition to the Pantheistic idea that the whole Kosmos is
animated or informed with the Spirit of Deity, Nature being but the garment,
and matter the illusive shadows, of the real unseen Presence. Eurasians. An abbreviation of “European-Asians.” The
mixed coloured races; the children of the white
fathers, and the dark mothers of
F.
Ferho
(Gnostic). The highest and greatest creative power with the
Nazarene Gnostics (Codex Nazaraeus).
Fire-Philosophers. The name given to the Hermetists and
Alchemists of the Middle Ages, and also to the Rosicrucians. The latter, the successors
of Theurgists, regarded fire as the symbol of Deity. It was the source,
not only of material atoms, but the container of the Spiritual and Psychic
Forces energising them. Broadly analysed,
Fire is a triple principle; esoterically, a septenary,
as are all the rest of the elements. As man is composed of Spirit, Soul, and
Body, plus a four-fold aspect; so is Fire. As in the works of Robert Flood (de Fluctibus), one of the famous Rosicrucians,
fire contains—Firstly, a visible flame (body);
secondly, an invisible, astral fire (soul); and thirdly, spirit. The four
aspects are (a) heat (life), (b) light (mind), (c) electricity (Kamic or molecular powers, and (d) the synthetic essences,
beyond spirit, or the radical cause of its existence and manifestation. For the
Hermetist or Rosicrucian, when a flame is extinct on
the objective plane, it has only passed from the seen world into the unseen;
from the knowable into the unknowable.
G.
Gautama (Sans.) A name in
Gebirol. Salomon Ben Jehudah, called in
literature Avicebron. An Israelite
by birth, a philosopher, poet and kabalist; a
voluminous writer and a mystic. He was born in the eleventh century at
Great Age.
There were several “Great Ages” mentioned by the ancients. In India it embraced
the whole Maha-Manvantara, the “Age of Brahma,” each
“Day” of which represents the Life Cycle of a chain, i.
e., it embraces a period of Seven Rounds (vide “Esoteric Buddhism,” by A. P. Sinnett). Thus while a “Day” and a “Night” represent, as Manvantara and Pralaya, 8,640,000,000
years, an “age” lasts through a period of 311,040,000,000,000; after which the Pralaya or dissolution of the universe becomes universal.
With the Egyptian and Greeks the “Great Age” referred only to the Tropical, or
Sidereal year, the duration of which is 25,868 solar years. Of the complete
age—that of the Gods—they said nothing, as it was a matter to be discussed and
divulged only at the Mysteries, and during the Initiation Ceremonies. The
“Great Age” of the Chaldees was the same in figures
as that of the Hindus. Guhya Vidya (Sans.) The secret knowledge
of mystic-mantras. Gupta Vidya (Sans.) The same as Guhya Vidya.
Esoteric or secret science, knowledge.
Gyges. “The ring of Gyges”
has become a familiar metaphor in European literature. Gyges
was a Lydian, who, after murdering the King Candaules,
married his widow. Plato tells us that Gyges
descending once into a chasm of the earth, discovered
a brazen horse, within whose opened side was the skeleton of a man of gigantic
stature, who had a brazen ring on his finger. This ring when placed on his own
finger made him invisible.
H.
Hades (Gr.), or
Aides, the “invisible,” the land of shadows; one of whose regions was Tartarus, a place of complete darkness, as was also the region
of profound dreamless sleep in Amenti. Judging by the
allegorical description of the punishments inflicted therein, the place was
purely Karmic. Neither Hades nor Amenti were the Hell
still preached by some retrograde priests and clergymen; and whether
represented by the Elysian Fields or by Tartarus,
they could only be reached by crossing the river to the “other shore.” As well
expressed in the “Egyptian Belief,” the story of Charon,
the ferryman (of the
Hallucinations. A state produced sometimes by physiological disorders, sometimes
by mediumship, and at others by drunkenness. But the
cause that produces the visions has to be sought deeper than physiology. All
such, particularly when produced through mediumship,
are preceded by a relaxation of the nervous system, generating invariably an
abnormal magnetic condition which attracts to the sufferer waves of astral
light. It is these latter that furnish the various hallucinations, which,
however, are not always, as physicians would explain them, mere empty and
unreal dreams. No one can see that which does not exist—
i. e.,
which is not impressed—in or on the astral waves. But a seer may perceive objects and scenes
(whether past, present or future) which have no relation whatever to himself;
and perceive, moreover, several things entirely disconnected with each other at
one and the same time, so as to produce the most grotesque and absurd
combinations. But drunkard and seer, medium and adept see their respective
visions in the astral light; only while the drunkard, the madman, and the
untrained medium, or one in a brain fever, see, because they cannot help it,
and evoke jumbled visions unconsciously to themselves without being able to
control them, the adept and the trained Seer have the choice and the control of
such visions. They know where to fix their gaze, how to steady the scenes they
wish to observe, and how to see beyond the upper outward layers of the astral
light. With the former such glimpses into the waves are hallucinations; with
the latter they become the faithful reproduction of what actually has been, is,
or will be taking place. The glimpses at random, caught by the medium, and his
flickering visions in the deceptive light, are transformed under the guiding
will of the adept and seer into steady pictures, the truthful representation of
that which he wills to come within the focus of his perception.
Hell. A term
which the Anglo-Saxon race has evidently derived from the name of the
Scandinavian goddess, Hela, just as the word ad, in
Russian and other Slavonian tongues expressing the
same conception, is derived from the Greek Hades, the only difference between
the Scandinavian cold Hell, and the hot Hell of the Christians, being found in
their respective temperatures. But even the idea of these overheated regions is
not original with the Europeans, many people having entertained the conception
of an under-world climate; as well we may, if we localise
our Hell in the centre of the earth. All exoteric religions—the creeds of the
Brahmans, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Mahomedans, Jews,
and the rest, made their Hells hot and dark, though many were more attractive
than frightful. The idea of a hot Hell
is an afterthought, the distortion of an astronomical allegory. With the
Egyptians Hell became a place of punishment by fire not earlier than the 17th
or 18th Dynasty, when Typhon was
transformed from a God into a Devil. But at whatever time they implanted this
dread superstition in the minds of the poor ignorant masses, the scheme of a
burning Hell and souls tormented therein is purely Egyptian. Ra (the Sun)
became the Lord of the Furnace, in Karr, the Hell of the Pharaohs, and the
sinner was threatened with misery “in the heat of infernal fires.” “A lion was
there,” says Dr. Birch, “and was called the roaring monster.” Another describes
the place as “the bottomless pit and lake of fire, into which the victims are
thrown” (compare Revelation). The Hebrew
word gai-hinnom (gehena)
had never really the significance given to it in Christian orthodoxy.
Hermas, an
ancient Greek writer, of whose works only a few fragments now remain extant.
Hierogrammatists
(Gr.) The title given to those Egyptian priests who were entrusted with the
writing and reading of the sacred and secret records. The
“scribes of the secret records” literally. They were the instructors of
the neophytes preparing for initiation.
Hierophant.
From the Greek Hierophantes, literally “he who
explains sacred things”; a title belonging to the highest adepts in the temples
of antiquity, who were the teachers and expounders of the Mysteries, and the
Initiators into the final great Mysteries. The Hierophant stood for the
Demiurge, and explained to the postulants for Initiation the various phenomena
of creation that were produced for their tuition. “He was the sole expounder of
the exoteric secrets and doctrines. It was forbidden even to pronounce his name
before an uninitiated person. He sat in the East, and wore as symbol of
authority, a golden globe, suspended from the neck. He was also called Mystagogus.” (Kenneth R. H.
Mackenzie, IX., F. T. S., in The Royal Masonic Cyclopoedia.) Hillel. A great
Babylonian Rabbi of the century preceding the Christian Era.
He was the founder of the sect of the Pharisees, a learned and a saintly
man. Hinayana (Sans.) The
“Smaller Vehicle”; a Scripture and a School of the Buddhists, contrasted with
the Mahayana, “The Greater Vehicle.” Both schools are mystical. (See Mahayana.) Also in exoteric superstition, the lowest
form of transmigration.
Homogeneity.
From the Greek words homos, “the same”; and genos, “kind.” That which is of the same nature
throughout, undifferentiated, non-compound, as gold is supposed to be.
Hypnotism (Gr.)
A name given by Dr. Braid to the process by which one man of strong will-power
plunges another of weaker mind into a kind of trance; once in such a state the
latter will do anything suggested to him by the hypnotiser. Unless produced for beneficial purposes, the
Occultists would call it black magic or sorcery. It is the most dangerous of
practices, morally and physically, as it interferes with the nerve fluids.
I.
Iamblichus. A great Theosophist and
an Initiate of the third century. He wrote a great deal about the
various kinds of demons who appear through evocation, but spoke severely
against such phenomena. His austerities, purity of life and earnestness were
great. He is credited with having been levitated ten cubits high from the
ground, as are some modern Yogis, and mediums.
Illusion. In Occultism everything finite (such
as the Universe and all in it) is called Illusion or Maya.
Individuality. One of the names given in Theosophy and
Occultism to the human Higher Ego. We make a distinction between the
immortal and divine and the mortal human Ego which perishes. The latter or “Personality”
(personal Ego) survives the dead body but for a time in Kama
Loka: the Individuality prevails for ever.
Initiate. From the Latin Initiatus.
The designation of anyone who was received into and had
revealed to him the mysteries and secrets of either Masonry or Occultism.
In times of antiquity they were those who had been initiated into the arcane
knowledge taught by the Hierophants of the Mysteries; and in our modern days
those who have been initiated by the adepts of mystic lore into the mysterious
knowledge, which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, has yet a few real
votaries on earth.
Iswara (Sans.) The “Lord” or the
personal god, divine spirit in man. Literally
Sovereign (independent) existence. A title given to
Siva and other gods in
J.
Javidan Khirad (Pers.) A work on moral precepts.
Jhana (Sans.)
or Jnana, Knowledge: Occult Wisdom. Josephus Flavius. A
historian of the first century; a Hellenized Jew who lived in
K.
Kabbalah (Heb.), or Kabbala. “The hidden wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the middle ages
derived from the older secret doctrines concerning divine things and cosmogony,
which were combined into a theology after the time of the captivity of the Jews
in
Kamaloka (Sans.) The semi-material plane, to us subjective
and invisible, where the disembodied “personalities,” the astral forms called Kama Rupa, remain until they fade
out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental impulses
that created these eidolons of the lower animal passions and desires. (See Kama Rupa.) It is the Hades of the ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the Egyptians—the
Kama Rupa (Sans.) Metaphysically and in our esoteric
philosophy it is the subjective form created through the mental and physical
desires and thoughts in connection with things of matter, by all sentient
beings: a form which survives the death of its body. After that death, three of
the seven “principles”—or, let us say, planes of the senses and consciousness
on which the human instincts and ideation act in turn—viz., the body, its
astral prototype and physical vitality, being of no further use, remain on
earth; the three higher principles, grouped into one, merge into a state of
Devachan (q. v.), in which state the Higher Ego will remain until the hour for
a new reincarnation arrives, and the eidolon of the ex-personality is left
alone in its new abode. Here the pale copy of the man that was, vegetates for a
period of time, the duration of which is variable according to the element of
materiality which is left in it, and which is determined by the past life of
the defunct. Bereft as it is of its higher mind, spirit and physical senses, if
left alone to its own senseless devices, it will gradually fade out and
disintegrate. But if forcibly drawn back into the terrestrial sphere, whether
by the passionate desires and appeals of the surviving friends or by regular
necromantic practices—one of the most pernicious of which is mediumship—the “spook” may prevail for a period greatly
exceeding the span of the natural life of its body. Once the Kama Rupa has learnt the way back
to living human bodies, it becomes a vampire feeding on the vitality of those
who are so anxious for its company. In
Karma (Sans.) Physically, action; Metaphysically, the
LAW of RETRIBUTION; the Law of Cause and Effect or Ethical Causation. It is
Nemesis only in the sense of bad Karma. It is the eleventh Nidana
in the concatenation of causes and effects in orthodox Buddhism; yet it is the
power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action, the metaphysical
Samskara, or the moral effect of an act committed for
the attainment of something which gratifies a personal desire.
There is the Karma
of merit and the Karma of demerit. Karma neither punishes nor
rewards; it is simply the one Universal LAW which
guides unerringly and, so to
say, blindly, all other laws productive of
certain effects along the grooves of
their respective causations. When Buddhism
teaches that “Karma is that moral
Kernel (of any
being) which alone survives death and continues in
transmigration” or reincarnation, it simply means that
there remains nought
after each personality, but the causes produced
by it, causes which are undying,
i. e.,
which cannot be eliminated from the Universe until replaced by their legitimate
effects, and so to speak, wiped out by them. And such causes, unless
compensated during the life of the person who produced them with adequate
effects, will follow the reincarnated Ego and reach it in its subsequent
incarnations until a full harmony between effects and causes is fully
re-established. No “personality”—a mere bundle of material atoms and
instinctual
and mental characteristics—can, of course, continue as such in the world of
pure spirit. Only that which is immortal in its very nature and divine in its
essence, namely, the Ego, can exist for ever. And as it is that Ego which
chooses the personality it will inform after each Devachan, and which receives
through these personalities the effects of the Karmic causes produced, it is,
therefore, the Ego, that Self, which is the “moral
Kernel” referred to, and embodied Karma itself, that “which alone survives
death.” Kether (Heb.) “The Crown, the highest of the ten Sephiroth;
the first of the supernal Triad. It corresponds to the Macroprosopus, Vast Countenance, or Arikh
Anpin, which differentiates into Chokmah
and Binah.”
Kshetragna, or Kshetragneswara
(Sans.)Embodied Spirit in Occultism, the conscious Ego in its
highest manifestations; the reincarnating Principle, or the “Lord” in us.
Kumara (Sans.) A virgin boy or young celibate. The first
Kumaras are the seven sons of Brahma, born out of the
limbs of the god in the so-called Ninth Creation. It is stated that the name
was given to them owing to their formal refusal to “procreate” their species,
and thus they “remained Yogis” according to the legend.
L.
Labro,
Lao-Tze (Chin.) A great Sage, Saint, and
Philosopher, who preceded Confucius.
Law of Retribution
(vide Karma).
Linga Sharira (Sans.) “Astral body,” i. e., the aerial symbol of the body. This term
designates the doppelganger, or the “astral body” of man or animal. It is the
eidolon of the Greeks, the vital and prototypal body, the reflection of the man
of flesh. It is born before man and dies or fades out with the disappearance of
the last atom of the body.
Logos (Gr.) The
manifested deity with every nation and people; the outward expression or the
effect of the Cause which is ever concealed. Thus, speech is the logos of
thought; hence, in its metaphysical sense, it is aptly translated by the terms
“Verbum,” and the “Word.”
Long Face. A Kabalistic term, Areekh Anpeen in Hebrew; or “Long Face”; in Greek, Macroprosopos, as contrasted with “Short Face,” or Zeir Anpeen, the Microprosopos. One relates to Deity, the other to
man, the “little image of the great form.”
Longinus,
Dionysius Cassius. A famous critic and philosopher, born in
the very beginning of the third century (about 213). He was a great traveller, and attended at Alexandria the lectures of Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neoplatonism, but was rather a critic than a follower.
Porphyry (the Jew Malek or Malchus)
was his pupil before he became the disciple of Plotinus.
It is said of him that he was a living library and a walking museum. Towards
the end of his life he became the instructor in Greek literature of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra.
She repaid his services by accusing him before the Emperor Aurelius of
having advised her to rebel against the latter, a crime for which Longinus, with several others, was put to death by the
Emperor in 273.
M.
Macrocosm (Gr.) The “Great Universe” or Kosmos, literally. Magic. The “great” Science. According to Deveria
and other Orientalists, “Magic was considered as a
sacred science inseparable from religion” by the oldest and most civilised and learned nations. The Egyptians, for instance,
were a most sincerely religious nation, as were, and are still, the Hindus.
“Magic consists of, and is acquired by, the worship of the gods,” says Plato.
Could, then, a nation which, owing to the irrefragable evidence of inscriptions
and papyri, is proved to have firmly believed in magic for thousands of years,
have been deceived for so long a time? And is it likely that generations upon
generations of a learned and pious hierarchy, many among whom led lives of
self-martyrdom, holiness and asceticism, would have gone on deceiving themselves
and the people (or even only the latter) for the pleasure of perpetuating
belief in “miracles”? Fanatics, we are
told, will do anything to enforce belief in their god or idols. To this we reply: -- In such cases Brahmans
and Egyptian Rekhget-amens or Hierophants, would not
have popularised the belief in the power of man by
magic practices, to command the services of the gods: which gods are in truth
but the occult powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned
priests themselves, who reverenced only in them the attributes of the one
unknown and nameless Principle. As Proclus, the
Platonist, ably puts it: “Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a
certain alliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things
manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all,
fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy and similarity. . . . and applied for occult purposes both celestial and terrene
natures, by means of which, through a certain similitude, they deduced divine
natures into this inferior abode.” Magic is the science of communicating with,
and directing supernal supramundane potencies, as
well as commanding those of lower spheres; a practical knowledge of the hidden
mysteries of nature which are known only to the few, because they are so
difficult to acquire without falling into sin against the law. Ancient and
mediaeval mystics divided magic into three classes—Theurgia,
Goetia and Natural Magic. “Theurgia has long
since been appropriated as the peculiar sphere of the Theosophists and
metaphysicians,” says Kenneth Mackenzie. “Goetia is
black magic, and ‘natural’ or white magic has risen with healing in its wings
to the proud position of an exact and progressive study.” The remarks added by our
late learned brother are remarkable: “The realistic desires of modern times
have contributed to bring magic into disrepute and ridicule. . . . Faith (in
one’s own self) is an essential element in magic, and existed long before other
ideas which presume its pre-existence. It is said that
it takes a wise man to make a fool; and a man’s idea must be exalted almost to
madness, i. e., his brain susceptibilities must be
increased far beyond the low miserable status of modern civilisation,
before he can become a true magician, for a pursuit of this science implies a
certain amount of isolation and an abnegation of self.” A very great isolation
certainly, the achievement of which constitutes a wonderful phenomenon, a
miracle in itself. Withal, magic is not something supernatural. As explained by
Iamblichus, “they, through the sacerdotal theurgy, announce that they are able to ascend to more
elevated and universal essences, and to those that are established above fate,
viz., to god and the demiurgos: neither employing
matter, nor assuming any other things besides, except the observation of a
sensible time.” Already some are beginning to recognise
the existence of subtle powers and influences in nature, in which they have
hitherto known nought. But, as Dr. Carter Blake truly
remarks, “the nineteenth century is not that which has observed the genesis of
new, nor the completion of old, methods of thought”; to which Mr. Bonwick adds, that “if the Ancients knew but little of our
mode of investigation into the secrets of Nature, we know still less of their
mode of research.”
Magic, Black
(vide supra). Sorcery, abuse of powers. Magic, Ceremonial.
Magic, according to Kabalistic rites worked out, as alleged by the Rosicrucians and other mystics, by invoking Powers higher
spiritually than Man, and commanding Elementals who are far lower than himself
on the scale of being.
Magic, White, or
“Beneficent Magic,” so called, is divine magic, devoid of selfishness, love of
power, of ambition or lucre, and bent only on doing good to the world in
general and one’s neighbour in particular. The
smallest attempt to use one’s abnormal powers for the gratification of self
makes of these powers sorcery or Black Magic.
Mahamanvantara (Sans.) Lit., the great interludes
between the Manus—the period of universal activity. Manvantara
here implies simply a period of activity as opposed to Pralaya
or rest—without reference to the length of the cycle.
Mahat (Sans.) Lit. “The Great One.” The first principle of
Universal Intelligence and consciousness. In the Puranic philosophy, the first product of root-nature or Pradhana (the same as Mulaprakriti);
the producer of Manas the thinking principle, and of Ahankara,
Egotism or the feeling of “I am I” in the lower Manas.
Mahatma (Sans.) Lit., “Great Soul.” An
adept of the highest order. An exalted being, who
having attained to the mastery over his lower principles, is therefore living
unimpeded by the “man of flesh.” Mahatmas are in possession of knowledge
and power commensurate with the stage they have reached in their spiritual
evolution. Called in Pali Rahats
and Arthas.
Mahayana (Sans.) A
Manas (Sans.) Lit., the “Mind.” The
mental faculty which makes of a man an intelligent and moral being, and
distinguishes him from the mere animal; a synonym of Mahat.
Esoterically, however, it means, when unqualified, the Higher Ego or the
sentient reincarnating Principle in man. When qualified it is called by
Theosophists Buddhi-Manas, or the spiritual soul, in contradistinction to its
human reflection—Kama-Manas.
Manasaputra (Sans.) Lit., the “Sons of Mind”
or mind-born Sons; a name given to our Higher Egos before they incarnated in
mankind. In the exoteric though allegorical and symbolical Puranas (the sacred and ancient writings of Hindus), it is
the title given to the mind-born Sons of Brahma, the Kumara. Manas Sutratma
(Sans.) Two words meaning “mind” (Manas) and “Thread Soul” (Sutratma). It is, as said, the synonym of our Ego, or that
which reincarnates. It is a technical
term of Vedantic philosophy. Manas Taijasi(Sans.) Lit., the “radiant” Manas; a state
of the Higher Ego which only high metaphysicians are able to realize and
comprehend. The same as “Buddhi Taijasi,”
which see.
Mantras (Sans.) Verses from the Vedic works, used as
incantations and charms. By Mantras are meant all those portions of the
Vedas which are distinct from the Brahmanas, or their
interpretation.
Manu (Sans.)
The great Indian legislator. The name comes from the
Sanskrit root man to think, MAN really standing only for Swayambhuva,
the first of the Manus, who started from Swayambhu,
the Self-Existent, who is hence the Logos and the progenitor of mankind. Manu
is the first legislator—almost a divine being.
Manvantara (Sans.) A period of manifestation, as opposed to Pralaya (dissolution or rest); the term is applied to
various cycles, especially to a Day of Brahma -- 4,320,000,000 Solar years—and
to the reign of one Manu -- 308,448,000.
Lit., Manuantara—“between
Manus.” (See Secret Doctrine, Vol. 11, p. 68, et seq.)
Master. A
translation from the Sanskrit Guru, “Spiritual teacher,” and adopted by the
Theosophists to designate the Adepts, from whom they hold their teachings.
Materialisations. In Spiritualism the word signifies the
objective appearance of the so-called “spirits of the dead,” who re-clothe
themselves occasionally in matter; i. e., they form
for themselves out of the materials at hand found in the atmosphere and the
emanations of those present, a temporary body bearing the human likeness of the
defunct, as he appeared when alive. Theosophists accept the phenomenon of “materialisation,” but they reject the theory that it is
produced by “Spirits,” i. e., the immortal principles
of disembodied persons. Theosophists
hold that when the phenomena are genuine—which is a fact of rarer occurrence
than is generally believed—they are produced by the larvae, the eidolons, or Kamalokic “ghosts” of the dead personalities. (See “Kamaloka” and “Kamarupa.”)
As Kamaloka is on the earth-plane and differs from
its degree of materiality only in the degree of its plane of consciousness, for
which reason it is concealed from our normal sight, the occasional apparition
of such shells is as natural as that of electric balls and other atmospheric
phenomena. Electricity as a fluid, or
atomic matter (for Occultists hold with Maxwell that it is atomic), is ever,
though invisibly, present in the air and manifests under various shapes, but
only when certain conditions are present to “materialise”
the fluid, when it passes from its own on to our plane and makes itself
objective. Similarly with the eidolons of the dead.
They are present around us, but being on another plane do
not see us any more than we see them. But whenever the strong desires of living
men and the conditions furnished by the abnormal constitutions of mediums are
combined together, these eidolons are drawn—nay pulled down from their plane on
to ours and made objective. This is necromancy; it does no good to the dead, and great harm to the living, in addition to the fact
that it interferes with a law of nature. The occasional materialisation
of the “astral bodies” or doubles of living persons is quite another matter.
These “astrals” are often mistaken for the apparitions of the dead, since,
chameleon-like, our own “elementaries” along with
those of the disembodied and cosmic Elementals, will often assume the appearance
of those images which are strongest in our thoughts. In short, at the so-called
“materialisation seances,”
it is those present and the medium who create the peculiar apparition. Independent “apparitions” belong to another
kind of psychic phenomena. Materialist. Not necessarily only one who believes in
neither God nor soul, nor the survival of the latter, but also any person who
materializes the purely spiritual; such as believe in an anthropomorphic deity,
in a soul capable of burning in hell fire, and a hell and paradise as
localities instead of states of consciousness. American “Substantialists,”
a Christian sect, are materialists, as also the so-called Spiritualists.
Maya (Sans.)
Illusion; the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence
and the perceptions thereof possible. In Hindu philosophy that alone
which is changeless and eternal is called reality: all that which is subject to
change through decay and differentiation, and which has, therefore, a beginning
and an end, is regarded as MAYA—illusion.
Mediumship. A word now accepted to indicate that
abnormal psycho-physiological state which leads a person to take the fancies of
his imagination, his hallucinations, real or artificial, for realities. No
entirely healthy person on the physiological and psychic planes can ever be a
medium. That which mediums see, hear, and sense, is “real” but untrue; it is
either gathered from the astral plane, so deceptive in its vibrations and
suggestions, or from pure hallucinations, which have no actual existence, but
for him who perceives them. “Mediumship” is a kind of vulgarised
mediatorship in which one afflicted with this faculty
is supposed to become an agent of communication between a living man and a
departed “Spirit.” There exist regular methods of training for the development
of this undesirable acquirement.
Mercavah, or Mercabah
(Heb.) “A chariot. The Kabbalists say that the
Supreme, after he had established the ten Sephiroth—which,
in their totality, are Adam Kadmon, the Archetypal
Man, used them as a chariot or throne of glory in which to descend upon the
souls of men.”
Mesmerism.
The term comes from Mesmer, who rediscovered this
magnetic force and its practical application toward the year 1775, at
Monad. It
is the Unity, the ONE; but in occultism it often means the unified duad, Atma-Buddhi, -- or that immortal part of man which
incarnating in the lower kingdoms and gradually progressing through them to
Man, finds thence way to the final goal—Nirvana.
Monas (Gr.)
The same as the Latin Monad; “the only,” a Unit. In
the Pythagorean system the Duad emanates from the
higher and solitary Monas, which is thus the First
Cause.
Monogenes
(Gr.) Literally, the “only-begotten”; a name of
Proserpine and other gods and goddesses, as also of Jesus.
Mundakya Upanishad (Sans.) Lit., the “Mundaka esoteric doctrine.” A work of high
antiquity; it has been translated by Raja Ram Mohun
Roy. Mysteries
(Sacred). They were enacted in the ancient temples by the initiated
Hierophants for the benefit and instruction of candidates. The most solemn and
occult were certainly those which were performed in
Mystery Language. The sacerdotal secret “jargon” used by the initiated priests, and
employed only when discussing sacred things. Every nation had its own “mystery”
tongue, unknown to all save those admitted to the Mysteries. Mystic, from the Greek word
mysticos. In antiquity, one belonging to those
admitted to the ancient mysteries; in our own times, one who practises mysticism, holds mystic,
transcendental views, etc. Mysticism. Any doctrine involved in
mystery and metaphysics, and dealing more with the ideal worlds than with our
matter-of-fact, actual universe.
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