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Abaddon:  (The Destroyer) Chief of the demons of the seventh hierarchy. Abaddon is the name given by St. John in the Apocalypse to the king of the grasshoppers. He is sometimes regarded as the destroying angel.

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Abominable Snowman: Also known as the Yeti, the Abominable Snowman is a supposed large primate-like creature reported to live in the Himalayas. Most mainstream scientists and experts consider current evidence of the creature's existence to be unpersuasive, and the result of hoaxes, legend, or misidentification of mundane creatures. Still, the Abominable remains one of the most famous creatures in cryptozoology.

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Abracadabra: A magical word said to be formed from the letters of the abraxas, and written thus:

Abracadabra
Abracadabr
Abracadab
Abracada
Abracad
Abrac
Abra
Abr
Ab
A

The pronunciation of this word, according to Julius Africanicus, was equally efficacious either way. By Serenus Sammonicus it was used as a spell to cure asthma. Abracalan or aracalan is another form of the word, and is said to have been regarded as the name of  god in Syria, and as a magical symbol by the Jews. But it seems doubtful whether the abracadabra, or its synonyms, was really the name of a deity or not.

[See Magic] 

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Abraham: a spiritual entity channeled by Esther Hicks. Similar to Seth, Abraham teaches about the law of attraction, emphasizing:

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Abraxas: Among the Gnostics, a divine name, embodying magic significance.

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Absolute (Theosophist):  Of the absolute, the Logos, the Word of God, Theosophists profess to know further than that exists. The universe with their solar systems are but the manifestations of this Being, which man is capable of perceiving, and all of them are instinct with him, but what man can perceive is not the loftier manifestations but the lower. Man himself is an emanation from the Absolute with which he will ultimately be re-united.

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Abundance: A term often used by new age teachers to describe a consciously created lifestyle that's abundant with good health, financial wealth, and loving relationships.

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A Course in Miracles: is a channeled book allegedly written in the voice of Jesus. It was first published in 1976 as a three volume set and has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide in 14 different languages. The Course is written in Christian terminology and its subject aims to teach how to attain the direct personal experience of God. On the level of spiritual or religious belief, its stated purpose is to aid the individual in "removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence." The primary means for this, according to ACIM's teaching, is via improving one's understanding and practice of the spiritual principle of forgiveness. The book goes into great detail to elucidate the exact nature and means for the comprehension and application of this spiritual principle.

[Read the Course Online.]

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Acupressure:  The application of pressure or localized massage to specific sites on the body to control symptoms such as pain or nausea. It is a type of complementary and alternative medicine.

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Acupuncture: ("AK-yoo-pungk-cher") is a method of healing developed in China at least 2,000 years ago. Today, acupuncture describes a family of procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques. American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation.

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Adepts: are men who after stern self-denial and by means of consistent self-development, have fitted themselves to assist in the ruling of the world. The means by which this position is attained is said to be long and arduous, but in the end the successful one has fulfilled the purpose for which he was created and transcends his fellows. The activities of Adepts are multifarious, being concerned with the direction and guidance of the activities of the rest of mankind. Their knowledge, like their powers, say Theosophists, far exceeds that of man, and they can control forces both in the spiritual and the physical realm, and are said to be able to prolong their lives for centuries. They are also known as the Great White Brotherhood, Rishis, Rahats, or Mahatmas. Those who earnestly desire to work for the betterment of the world may become appren­tices or chelas to Adepts, in which case the latter are known as " masters," but the apprentice must first have practiced self-denial and self-development in order to become suffi­ciently worthy. The master imparts teaching and wisdom otherwise unattainable, and helps the apprentice by com­munion and inspiration. Madame Blavatsky (q.v.) alleged that she was the apprentice of these masters, and claimed that they dwelt in the Tibetan Mountains. The term Adept was also employed by mediaeval magicians and alchemists to denote a master of their sciences.

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Aeromancy: Divination by means of atmospheric conditions.

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Africa (Occult in): (See Arabs, Egypt, Semites. The north of Africa is Mohammedan. This applies also to the Sudan and the Sahara. For Moorish Magic and Alchemy see Arabs. Instances of Arabic sorcery will also be found in the article " Semites." In West Africa Obeah is practiced, for which see West Indies.)
Magic in savage Africa is of the lower cultus, and chiefly of the kind known as " sympathetic." (See Magic.) But spiritualistic influence shows itself in fetishism, the cult of the dead, ju-ju or witchcraft, and the cult of the witch­doctor.
Baatu Tribis. Among the Zulu and other Bantu tribes the cult ol witchcraft was practiced, but in secret, fo.- the results of detection were terrible. For the tracking of the witch, a caste of witch-finders was instituted, called " witch­doctors," whose duty it was to " smell out " the offenders. These were nearly all women... 

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Agape: A state of unconditional love for everything. This is considered the ultimate goal of all sentient evolution. (Usually pronounced ah-guh-pay.)

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Age of Aquarius: One of the twelve astrological ages.

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Agnostic: A word first used by Professor Huxley, to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demonstrated by the senses.

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Agreement: From the Michael teachings, a plan made between two souls, usually before incarnating, to work together on the physical plane in a particular way. There are many kinds of agreements, including to help one another in a variety of ways or to have a particular kind of relationship, such as that of mate or parent/child.

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Agrippa, (Henry Cornelius) 1486-1535: A German soldier and physician, and an adept in alchemy, astrology and magic. He was born at Cologne on the 14th of September, 1486, and educated at the University of Cologne. While still a youth he served under Maximilian I. of Germany. In 1509 he lectured at the University of Dole, but a charge of heresy brought against him by a monk named Catilinet compelled him to leave Dole, and he re­sumed his former occupation of soldier. In the following year he was sent on a diplomatic mission to England, and on his return followed Maximilian to Italy, where he passed seven years, now serving one noble patron, now another. Thereafter he held a post at Metz, returned to Cologne, practiced medicine at Geneva, and was appointed physician to Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I.; but, on being given some task which he found irksome, he left the service of his patroness and denounced her bitterly. He then accepted a post offered him by Margaret, Duchess of Savoy, Regent of the Netherlands. On her death in 1830, he repaired to Cologne and Bonn, and thence to France, where he was arrested for some slighting mention of the Queen-Mother, Louise of Savoy. He was soon released, however, and died at Grenoble in 1535. Agrippa was a man of great talent and varied attainments. He was acquainted with eight languages, and was evidently a physician of no mean ability, as well as a soldier and a theologian. He had, moreover, many noble patrons. Yet, notwithstanding these advantages, he never seemed to be free from misfortune ; persecution and financial difficulties dogged his footsteps, and in Brussels he suffered imprisonment for debt. He himself was in a measure responsible for his troubles. He was, in fact, an adept in the gentle art of making enemies, and the persecution of the monks with whom he frequently came into conflict was bitter and increasing. His principal works were a defense of magic, entitled De occulta philosophia, which was not published until 1531. Though it was written some twenty years earlier, and a satirical attack on the scientific pretensions of his day. De incertitndine et Vanitate Scientianim et Artium atque Excellentia Verbi Dei Declamatio, also published at Antwerp in 1531, His other works included a treatise De Nobilitate et Praecellentia Feminu Sexus, dedicated to Margaret of Burgundy out of gratitude for her patronage. His interest in alchemy and magic dated from an early period of his life, and gave rise to many tales of his occult powers. It was said that he was always accompanied by a familiar in the shape of a large black dog. On his death he renounced his magical works and addressed his familiar thus: " Begone, wretched animal, the entire cause of my destruction ! " The animal fled from the room and straightway plunged into the Saom, where it perished. At the inns where he stayed, Agrippa paid his bills with money that appeared genuine enough at the time, but which after­wards turned to worthless horn or shell, like the fairy money which turned to earth after sunset. He is said to have summoned Tully to pronounce his oration for Roscius, in the presence of John George, elector of Saxony, the Earl of Surrey, Erasmus, and other eminent people. Tully duly appeared, delivered his famous oration, and left his audience deeply moved. Agrippa had a magic glass, wherein it was possible to see objects distant in time or place. On one occasion Surrey saw therein his mistress, the beautiful Geraldine, lamenting the absence of her noble lover.

One other story concerning the magician is worthy of record. Once when about to leave home for a short time, he entrusted to his wife the key of his museum, warning her on no account to permit anyone to enter. But the curiosity of a boarder in their house prompted him to beg for the key, till at length the harassed hostess gave it to him. The first thing that caught the student's attention was a book of spells, from which he began to read. A knock sounded on the door. The student took no notice, but went on reading, and the knock was repeated. A moment later a demon entered, demanding to know why he had been summoned. The student was too terrified to make reply, and the angry demon seized him by the throat and strangled him. At the same moment Agrippa entered, having returned unexpectedly from his journey. Fearing that he would be charged with the murder of the youth, he persuaded the demon to restore him to life for a little while, and walk him up and down the market place. The demon consented ; the people saw the student apparently alive and in good health, and when the demon allowed the semblance of life to leave the body, they thought the young man had died a natural death. However, an examination clearly showed that he had been strangled. The true state of affairs leaked out, and Agrippa was forced to flee for his life.

These fabrications of the popular imagination were probably encouraged rather than suppressed by Agrippa, who loved to surround his comparatively harmless pursuits of alchemy and astrology with an air of mystery calculated to inspire awe and terror in the minds of the ignorant. It is known that he had correspondents in all parts of the world, and that from their letters, which he received in his retirement, he gleaned the knowledge which he was popularly believed to obtain from his familiars.

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Ain-Soph: (Heb.) The "Boundless" or "Limitless" Deity emanating and extending. Ain-Soph is also written En-Soph and Ain-Suph, for no one, not even the Rabbis, are quite sure of their vowels. In the religious metaphysics of the old Hebrew philosophers, the One Principle was an abstraction like Parabrahman, though modern Cabalists have succeeded by mere dint of sophistry and paradoxes in making a "Supreme God" of it, and nothing higher. But with the early Chaldean Cabalists Ain-Soph was "without form or being" with "no likeness with anything else." That Ain-Soph has never been considered as the "Creator" is proved conclusively by the fact that such an orthodox Jew as Philo calls "creator" the Logos, who stands next the "Limitless One," and is "the Second God." "The Second God is in its (Ain-Soph's) wisdom," says Philo in Quæst et Solut. Deity is no-thing; it is nameless, and therefore called Ain-Soph-the word Ain meaning nothing.

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Air Signs: The mental or intellectual signs: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. Considered collectively, sometimes termed the Air asterism.

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Akashic plane: The central, neutral plane of creation that interconnects the other six. The distilled knowledge of the universe is recorded there.

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Akashic Records: The records generated of everything that happens in the universe as it occurs. The appearance is that all matter and energy have a sort of built-in digital recording device, storing its entire history in a photographic code, but the records are actually windows into the past. The records show events exactly as they were experienced, so the information in them begins raw-it is not clarified, understood, and assimilated until a consciousness takes responsibility for doing so. Once it is fully assimilated, it is stored on the akashic plane.

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Alastor: A cruel demon, who, according to Wierius, filled the post of chief executioner to the monarch of Hades. The conception of him somewhat resembles that of Nemesis. Zoroaster is said to have called him "The Executioner." Others confound him with the destroying angel. Evil genies were formerly called Alaslors. Plutarch says that Cicero, who bore a grudge against Augustus, conceived the plan of committing suicide on the emperor's hearth, and thus becoming his Alastor.

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Albertus Magnus: No fewer than twenty-one folio volumes are attributed to this alchemist, and though it is highly improbable that all of them are really his, the ascription in several cases resting on but slender evidence, those others which are incontestably from his pen, are sufficiently numerous to constitute him a surprisingly voluminous writer. It is noteworthy, moreover, that according to tradition, he was the inventor of the pistol and the cannon ; but, while it is unlikely that the credit is due to him for this, the mere fact that he was thus acknowledged indicates that his scientific skill was recognized by a few, if only a few, of the men of his own time.

Albertus was born at Larvingen, on the Danube, in the year 1205, and the term Magnus, which is usually applied to him, is not the result of his reputation, but is the Latin equivalent of his family name, de Groot. Like many another man destined to become famous, he was distinctly stupid as a boy, but from the outset he showed a predilection for religion, and so it came about that one night the blessed Virgin appeared to him, whereupon his intellect suddenly became metamorphosed, acquiring extraordinary vitality. Albertus therefore decided that he must show his gratitude to the Madonna by espousing holy orders, and eventually he won eminence in the clerical profession, and was made Bishop of Ratisbon ; but he held this office for only a little while, resigning it that he might give his entire time to scientific researches. Thenceforth, until his death, the exact date whereof is uncertain, he lived chiefly at a pleasant retreat in Cologne ; and it is reported that here his mental vigor gradually forsook him, being, replaced by the dullness which characterized him as a youth.

Albertus was repeatedly charged by some of his unfriendly contemporaries with holding communications with the devil, and practicing the craft of magic; while apropos of his reputed leanings in this particular, a curious story is recounted in an early history of the University of Paris. The alchemist, it seems, had invited some friends to his house at Cologne, among them being William, Count of Holland, and when the guests arrived they were amazed to find that, though the season was mid-winter and the ground was covered with snow, they were expected to partake of a repast outside in the garden. Great chagrin was manifested by everybody, while some even declared themselves insulted ; but their host bade them be seated, assuring them that all would be well. They continued to be dubious withal, yet they took their places, and hardly had they began to eat and drink ere their annoyance vanished, for lo ! the snow around them melted away, the sun shone brightly, the birds sang, and summer appeared to be reigning indeed.

Michael Maier, the author of Museum Chimicum and numerous other alchemistic works, declares that Albertus succeeded in evolving the philosopher's stone, and that ere his death he handed it over to his distinguished pupil, St. Thomas Aquinas, who subsequently destroyed the precious article, suspecting it to be a contrivance of the devil. The alleged discoverer himself says nothing on this subject, but, in his De Rebus Metallicis et Mineralibus. he tells how he had personally tested some gold which had been manufactured by an alchemist, and which resisted many searching fusions. And, be this story true or not, Albertus was certainly an able scientist, while it is clear that his learning ultimately gained wide recognition, for a collected edition of his vast writings was issued at Leyden so late as 1653.

[See Alchemy]

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Alchemy: The science by aid of which the chemical philosophers of mediaeval times attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold and silver. There is considerable divergence of opinion as to the etymology of the word, but it would seem to be derived from the Arabic al=the, and kimya=chemistry, which in turn derives from late Greek chemeia=chemistry, from chumeia a mingling, or cheein "to pour out," or "mix," Aryan root ghu, to pour, whence the word " gush." Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his Egyptian Magic, however, states that it is possible that it may be derived from the Egyptian word khemeia, that is to say "the preparation of the black ore," or "powder," which was regarded as the active principle in the transmutation of metals. To this name the Arabs affixed the article al, thus giving al-khemeia, or alchemy.

History of Alchemy—From an early period the Egyptians possessed the reputation of being skilful workers in metals, and, according to Greek writers, they were conversant with their transmutation, employing quicksilver in the process of separating gold and silver from the native matrix. The resulting oxide was supposed to possess marvelous powers, and it was thought that there resided within it the individualities of the various metals—that in it their various substances were incorporated. This black powder was mystically identified with the underworld form of the god Osiris, and consequently was credited with magical properties. Thus there grew up in Egypt the belief that magical powers existed in fluxes and alloys. Probably such a belief existed throughout Europe in con­nection with the bronze-working castes of its several races. (See Shells Thari.) It was probably in the Byzantium of the fourth century, however, that alchemical science received embryonic form. There is little doubt that Egyptian tradition, filtering through Alexandrian Hellenic sources was the foundation upon which the infant science was built, and this is borne out by the circumstance that the art was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (q.v.) and supposed to be contained in its entirety in his works. The Arabs, after their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, carried on the researches of the Alexandrian school, and through their instrumentality the art was brought to Morocco and thus in the eighth century to Spain, where it flourished exceedingly. Indeed, Spain from the ninth to the eleventh century became the reposi­tory of alchemical science, and the colleges of- Seville, Cordova, and Granada were the centers from which this science radiated throughout Europe. The first practical alchemist may be said to have been the Arabian Geber, who flourished 720-750. From his Summa Perfeclionis, we may be justified in assuming that alchemical science was already matured in his day, and that he drew his inspiration from a still older unbroken line of adepts. He was followed by Avicenna, Mesna and Rhasis {q.v.j, and in France by Alain of Lisle, Arnold de Villanova and Jean de Meung (q.v.) the troubadour; in England by Roger Bacon n and in Spain itself by Raymond Luliy. Later, in Preach alchemy the most illustrious names are those of Flamel (b. ca. 1330), and Bernard Trevisan (b. ca. 1406} after which the centre of interest changes to Germany and in some measure to England, in which countries Paracelsus, Khunrath (ca. 1560), Maier (ca. 1568), Bohme, Van Helmont, the Brabantcr (1553). Ripley, Norton, Dalton, Charnock, and Fludd kept the alchemical flame burning brightly. It is surprising how little altera­tion we find throughout the period between the seventh and the seventeenth centuries, the heyday of alchemy, in the theory and practice of the art. The same sentiments and processes art! found expressed in the later alchemical authorities as in the earliest, and a wonderful unanimity as regards the basic canons of the great art is evinced by the hermetic students of all time. On the introduction of chemistry as a practical art, alchemical science fell into desuetude and disrepute, owing chiefly to the number of charlatans practicing it, and by the beginning of the eighteenth century, as a school, it may be said to have become defunct. Here and there, however, a solitary Student of the art lingered, and the department of this article on "Modern Alchemy" will demonstrate that the science has to a great extent revived during modern times, although it has never been quite extinct...

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Alectrymancy: Divination by means of a cock that pecked grain placed on letters of the alphabet. There is a vivid description of this practice in The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder.

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Aleuromancy: Divination from flour. Messages enclosed in balls of dough and prophetic of the future.

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Aloe Vera: Popular with herbalists, they are succulent plants belonging to the Lily family, with perennial, strong and fibrous roots and numerous, persistent, fleshy leaves, proceeding from the upper part of the root, narrow, tapering, thick and fleshy, usually beset at the edges with spiney teeth. Many of the species are woody and branching. In the remote districts of S.W. Africa and in Natal, Aloes have been discovered 30 to 60 feet in height, with stems as much as 1O feet in circumference. The flowers are produced in erect, terminal spikes. There is no calyx, the corolla is tubular, divided into six narrow segments at the mouth and of a red, yellow or purplish color. The capsules contain numerous angular seeds.
 
[See Herbs]

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Alomancy: Divination by means of salt.

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Altered States: refers to a state that's beyond our five physical senses. A variety of these states are being seriously studied by scientists, including near-death or out-of-body experiences, lucid dreams, channeling, "alien" encounters, and so forth.

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Altruism: from Alter, other. A quality opposed to Egoism. Actions tending to do good to others, regardless of self.

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Amduscias: Grand Duke of Hades. He has, according to Wierius, the form of a unicorn, but when evoked, appears in human shape. He gives concerts, at the command of men, where one hears the sound of all the musical instruments but can see nothing. It is said that the trees themselves incline to his voice. He commands twenty-nine legions.

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America (Occult in the United States): The occult history of the European races which occupy the territory now known as the United States of America does not commence until some little time after their entrance into the North American continent. It is probable that the early English and Dutch settlers carried with them the germs of the practice of witchcraft, but it is certain that they brought with them an active belief in witchcraft and sorcery. It is significant, however, that no outbreak of fanaticism occurred in connection with this belief until nearly the end of the seventeenth century, in 1692, when an alarm of witchcraft was raised in the family of the Minister of Salem, and several black servants were charged with the supposed crime. It is quite likely that these negroes practiced voodoo or obeah, but, however this may be, the charges did not stop at them. The alarm spread rapidly, and in a brief space numerous persons fell under suspicion on the most frivolous pretexts. The new Governor of the Colony, Sir William Phipps, appears to have been carried away with the excitement, and authorized judicial prosecutions. The first person tried, a woman named Bridget Bishop, was hanged, and the Governor feeling himself embarrassed among the extraordinary number of charges made after this, called in the assistance of the clergy of Boston. As events proved, this was a fatal thing to do. Boston, at this time, possessed a distinguished family of puritanical ministers of the name of Mather. The original Mather had settled in Dorchester in 1636, and three years later had a son born to him, whom he called Increase Mather. He became a clergyman, as did his son, Cotton Mather, born in 1663. Increase was President of Harvard College, and his son occupied a distinguished position therein, and also preached at Boston. The fanaticism and diabolical cruelty of these two men has probably never been equaled in the history of human persecution. Relying implicitly upon the scriptural injunction: " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and blinded by their fanatic zeal, they cost the colony many precious lives. Indeed, beside their regime, the rigors of Sprenger (q.v.) and Bodin (q.v.), pale into insignificance. That ministers professing to preach a gospel of charity and love could have so far descended as to torture and condemn thousands of human beings to the gallows and the stake, can only be regarded as astounding. In 1688 an Irish washer woman, named Glover, was employed by a mason of Boston, one Goodwin, to look after his children, and these shortly afterwards displayed symptoms which Cotton Mather, on examination, stated were those of diabolical possession. The wretched washerwoman was brought to trial, found guilty, and hanged; and Cotton Mather launched into print upon the case under the title of Late Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possession which displayed an extraordinary amount of ingenuity and an equally great lack of anything like sound judgment. As was the case with the works of the European writers on witchcraft and sorcery, this book fanned the flame of credulity, and thousands of the ignorant throughout the colony began to cast about for similar examples of witchcraft. Five other persons were brought to trial and executed, and a similar number shortly met the same fate, among them a minister of the Gospel, by name George Borroughs, who disbelieved in witchcraft. This was sufficient, and he was executed forthwith. Popular sentiment was on his side, but the fiendish Cotton Mather appeared at the place of execution on horseback, denounced Borroughs as an impostor, and upheld the action of his judges. Another man, called Willard, who had been employed to arrest suspected witches, refused to continue in his office, and was himself arrested. He attempted to save himself by flight, but was pursued and overtaken, and duly executed. Even dogs accused of witchcraft were put to death...

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Ammonius Saccas: A great and good philosopher who lived in Alexandria between the second and third centuries of our Era, the founder of the Neo-Platonic School of the Philaletheians or "lovers of truth." He was of poor birth and born of Christian parents, but endowed with such prominent, almost divine goodness as to be called Theodidaktos, the "God-taught." He honored that which was good in Christianity, but broke with it and the Churches at an early age, being unable to find in Christianity any superiority over the old religions.

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Amulets: The charm, amulet, or mascot, is, of course, directly derived from the conception of the fetish, which was believed by people to contain a spirit. Amulets may be said to be of two classes: those which are worn as (i) fetishes, that is the dwelling-place of spiritual entities, who are active on behalf of the wearer; or (2), mascots to ward off bad luck or such influences as the evil eye.
That charms were worn by prehistoric man there is little room for doubt, as objects which in many cases partake of the appearance and general description of amulets are discovered in Neolithic tombs. The ancient Egyptians possessed a bewildering variety of amulets, which were worn both by the living and the dead. Indeed, among the latter, every part of the body had an amulet sacred to itself. These were, as a rule, evolved from various organs of the gods: as, for example, the eye of Isis, the backbone of Osiris, and so forth. Among the savage and semi-civilized peoples, the amulet usually takes the form of a necklace, bracelets, or anklets, and where belief in witchcraft and the evil eye is strong, the faith in these, and in charms, is always most intense. Among civilized races it has been observed that it is usually the ignorant classes who adopt the use of amulets: such as sailors, miners, beggars, Gypsies, and criminals. But amulets are also to be found in use among educated persons, although, of course, the superstitious part of the practice has in these cases often disappeared. Universally speaking, stones, teeth, claws, shells, coral and symbolic emblems, are favored amulets. The reason for the wearing of these is exceedingly difficult to arrive at, but a kind of doctrine of correspondences may be*at the root of the belief—the idea that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause, or that things which have once been in contact but have ceased to be so, continue to act on each other by magical means. For example, the desert goat is a sure* footed animal; accordingly, its tongue is carried as a powerful amulet against falling by certain Malay tribes. Beads resembling teeth are often hung round the necks of Kaffir children in-Africa to assist them in teething, and the incisor teeth of the beaver are frequently placed round the necks of little American-Indian girls to render them in­dustrious, like that animal. Again, certain plants and minerals indicate by their external character the diseases for which nature intended them as remedies. Thus the euphrasia, or eyebright, was supposed to be good for the eyes because it contains a black pupil-like spot; and the blood-stone was employed for stopping the flow of blood from a wound.

It is strange that wherever prehistoric implements, such as arrowheads and Celts, are discovered, they are thought by the peasantry of the locality in which they are found to be of great virtue as amulets. Some light is cast on this custom by the fact that stone arrowheads were certainly in use among mediaeval British witches. But in most countries they are thought to descend from the sky, and are therefore kept to preserve people and cattle from lightning. This does not, how­ever, explain away the reason why water poured over a prehistoric arrowhead is given to cure cows in Ire­land. Certain roots, which have the shape of snakes, are kept by the Malays to ensure them against snake-bite; and instances of this description of correspondence, known as the doctrine of signatures, could be multiplied ad infinitum. Among the Celts a great many kinds of amulets were used: such as the symbolic wheel of the sun god, found so numerously in France and Great Britain; pebbles, amulets of the teeth of the wild boar, and pieces of amber. The well-known serpent's egg of the Druids was also in all probability an amulet of the priestly class. Indian amulets are numerous, and in Buddhist countries their use is uni­versal, especially where that religion has become degraded, or has in any way degenerated. In Northern Buddhist countries almost everyone constantly wears an amulet round the neck. These generally represent the leaf of the sacred fig-tree, and are made in the form of a box which contains a scrap of sacred writing, prayer, or a little picture. Women of position in Tibet wear a chatelaine containing a charm or charms, and the universal amulet of the Buddhist priests in that country is the thunderbolt, supposed to have fallen direct from Indra's heaven. This is usually imitated in bronze or other metal, and is used for exorcising evil spirits. Amulet types are for the most part very ancient, and present much the same characteristics in all parts of the world.

[See Magic]

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Analogeticists: The disciples of Ammonius Saccas (see above) so called because of their practice of interpreting all sacred legends, myths, and mysteries by a principle of analogy and correspondence, which rule is now found in the Cabalistic system, and preeminently so in the schools of Esoteric philosophy in the East.

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Anaxagoras: A famous Ionian philosopher, who lived 500 BC, studied philosophy under Anaximenes of Miletus, and settled in the days of Pericles, at Athens. Socrates, Euripides, Archelaus, and other distinguished men and philosophers were among his disciples and pupils. He was a most learned astronomer, and was one of the first to explain openly that which was taught by Pythagoras secretly-viz., the movements of the planets, the eclipses of the sun and moon, etc. It was he who taught the theory of chaos, on the principle that "nothing comes from nothing," ex nihilo nihil fit-and of atoms, as the underlying essence and substance of all bodies, "of the same nature as the bodies which they formed." These atoms, he taught, were primarily put in motion by nous (universal intelligence, the Mahat of the Hindus), which nous is an immaterial, eternal, spiritual entity; by this combination the world was formed, the material gross bodies sinking down, and the ethereal atoms (or fiery ether) rising and spreading in the upper celestial regions. Antedating modern science by over 2,000 years, he taught that the stars were of the same material as our earth, and the sun a glowing mass; that the moon was a dark uninhabitable body, receiving its light from the sun; and beyond the aforesaid science he confessed himself thoroughly convinced that the real existence of things, perceived by our senses, could not be demonstrably proved. He died in exile at Lampsacus, at the age of seventy-two.

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Ancient Astronauts: a term used to describe the theories of ancient extraterrestrial contact being involved in some way with the origin or development of human culture. Most notably popularized by authors such as Erich von Däniken and Zecharia Sitchin, this theory is an expansion or elaboration of the more basic Paleocontact theory.

These theories often claim that human beings are either the descendants or creations of aliens who landed on Earth millennia ago — ideas that are commonly dismissed by the scientific community.

Ancient astronaut theories have been advanced by authors such as Charles Fort (1919), Peter Kolosimo (in his 1957 book, Il pianeta sconosciuto), Henri Lhote (1958) Matest M. Agrest (1959), Erich von Däniken (1968), Dr. S. Lunskaya (1970) Robert K. G. Temple (1976), Zecharia Sitchin (1978) and Richard Hoagland.
 

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Andrews, (Lynn): jjjjjjjj

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Angel:

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Angels : The word angel, "angelos" in Greek, " malak " in Hebrew, literally signifies a " person sent" or a " messenger." An angel is an ethereal being found in many religions, whose duties are to assist and serve God or the gods.

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Anima Mundi: (Lat.) The "Soul of the World," the same as Alaya of the Northern Buddhists; the divine Essence which pervades, permeates, animates, and informs all things, from the smallest atom of matter to man and god. It is in a sense "the seven-skinned Mother" of the stanzas in The Secret Doctrine; the essence of seven planes of sentience, consciousness, and differentiation, both moral and physical. In its highest aspect it is Nirvana; in its lowest, the Astral Light. It was feminine with the Gnostics, the early Christians, and the Nazarenes; bisexual with other sects, who considered it only in its four lower planes, of igneous and ethereal nature in the objective world of forms, and divine and spiritual in its three higher planes. When it is said that every human soul was born by detaching itself from the Anima Mundi, it is meant, esoterically, that our higher Egos are of an essence identical with It, and Mahat is a radiation of the ever unknown Universal Absolute.

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Animism: The doctrine of spiritual beings, or the concept that a great part, if not the whole, of inanimate nature, as well as of animate beings, are endowed with reason and volition identical with that of man. It is difficult to distinguish this conception from that of personalization, but the difference exists. The savage hears the wind whistle past him, and thinks that in it he can distinguish voices. He sees movement in streams, trees, and other objects, which he believes to be inhabited by spirits. The idea of a soul probably arose through dreams, apparitions, or clairvoyance, hallucinations and shadows, and perhaps through the return to life after periods of unconsciousness. Movement, therefore, argued life. The cult of fetishism well instances the belief in animism, for it posits the entrance into an inanimate body of a separate spiritual entity deliberately come to inhabit it. There is no necessity in this place to go into the question whether or not animism is at the basis of religious belief; but it is distinctly at the root of magical belief and practice.

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Anka, (Darryl): [See Bashar]

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Ankh: The Egyptian symbol of life, perhaps the life which remains to one after death. It is conjectured that it symbolizes the union of the male and female principles, the origins of life, and that like the American cross it typifies the four winds, the rain-bringers and fertilizers. It has been found manufactured in every description of material, and is sometimes encountered in combination with the dad or tat symbol (q.v.) It is usually carried in the right hand by divinities.

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Anthropomancy: Divination by means of consultation of the intestines of sacrificed children. This appaling method is said to have been used by the Emperor Julian the Apostate, who practiced necromancy.

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Anti-Christ: The universal enemy of mankind, who will in the latter days be sent to scourge the world for its wickedness. According to the Abbot Bergier, Antichrist is regarded as a tyrant, impious and excessively cruel, the arch enemy of Christ, and the last ruler of the earth.

It is claimed by some that the reign of Antichrist will last fifty years: the opinion of the majority is that his reign will last but three-and-a-half years, after which the angels will sound the trumpets of the day of judgment, and Christ will come and judge the world.

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Anunnaki: Zecharia Sitchin claims this extraterrestrial species came to earth around 450,000 years ago and genetically altered the primitive hominid species, creating the homo sapiens. He presents the ancient world as evidence of the Anunnaki's influence, citing the Sumerian culture, the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, Stonehenge, and others.

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Aphatomancy: Divination by observation of objects that appear haphazardly.

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Apollonius of Tyana: A Greek philosopher of the first century A.D. who traveled widely, as far as India, in search of esoteric knowledge. Born in Cappadocia about the beginning of the first century; an ardent Pythagorean, who studied the Phoenician sciences under Euthydemus, and Pythagorean philosophy and other subjects under Euxenus of Heraclea. According to the tenets of the Pythagorean school he remained a vegetarian the whole of his long life, ate only fruit and herbs, drank no wine, wore vestments made only of plant fibers, walked barefooted and let his hair grow to the full length, as all the Initiates have done before and after him. He was initiated by the priests of the temple of Aesculapius (Asclepios) at Aegae, and learnt many of the "miracles" for healing the sick wrought by the God of medicine. Having prepared himself for a higher initiation by a silence of five years, and by travel-visiting Antioch, Ephesus, and Pamphylia and other parts-he repaired via Babylon to India, alone, all his disciples having abandoned him as they feared to go to the "land of enchantments." A casual disciple, Damis, whom he met on his way, accompanied him, however, on his travels. At Babylon he got initiated by the Chaldeans and Magi, according to Damis, whose narrative was copied by one named Philostratus one hundred years later. After his return from India, he showed himself a true Initiate in that the pestilence, earthquakes, deaths of kings, and other events, which he prophesied, duly happened.

At Lesbos, the priests of Orpheus got jealous of him, and refused to initiate him into their peculiar mysteries, though they did so several years later. He preached to the people of Athens and other States the purest and noblest ethics, and the phenomena he produced were as wonderful as they were numerous, and well authenticated.

In the course of his wanderings, however, he lectured to his disciples, relating his experiences with goblins, spirits, vampires, and other occult phenomena. He thus acquired a formidable reputation as a thaumaturgist. In Asia Minor, in fact, temples were dedicated to him as to a deity. Brought to Rome, Apollonius was tried on a charge of practicing divination from the entrails of a boy sacrificed for the purpose. The latter years of his life are obscure.

In the Middle Ages the name of Apollonius was associated with endless legends and stories on magic themes, and Apollonius himself was considered the Archmagician.

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Apparitions: An apparition (from Latin apparert, to appear) is in its literal sense merely an appearance, that is, a sense-percept of any kind, but in every-day usage the word has a more restricted meaning and is used only to denote an abnormal or supernormal appearance or percept, which cannot be referred to any natural objective cause. Taken in this sense the word covers all visionary appearances, hallucinations, clairvoyance, and similar unusual perceptions. " Apparition " and " ghost" are frequently used as synonymous terms, though the former is, of course, of much wider significance. A ghost is a visual apparition of a deceased human being, and the term implies that it is the spirit of the person it represents Apparitions of animals and of inanimate objects are also sufficiently frequent. All apparitions do not take the form of visual images; auditory and tactile false perceptions, though less common, are not unknown, and there is record of a house that was " haunted " with the perpetual odor of violets.

[Read Complete Article]                                   [See Paranormal, Spiritualism]

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Apports: The name given to various objects, such as flowers, jewelry, and even live animals, materialized in the presence of a medium. The production of these apports have always been, and still are, one of the most prominent and effective features of spiritualistic stances. Sometimes they fly through the air and strike the faces of the sitters; some­times they appear on the table, or in the laps of those present. A favorite form is the scattering of perfume on the company. Recent systematic experiments con­ducted in a purely scientific spirit have exposed fraud in numerous instances where ordinary precautions would not have sufficed for its detection. Frequently it has been found that the medium had skillfully concealed the apports in the room or about her person. Nevertheless, though the result is often produced by obviously unscrupulous means, it does not follow that all materializations are per­formed with fraudulent intent. In cases where, so far as can be judged, the character of the medium is beyond reproach, as in the case of H&ene Smith, the idea has been advanced that any preparations made beforehand, such as the secreting of flowers, etc., must result from a process of activity of the subliminal consciousness. Other explanations are, that the apports are actually conveyed to the séance by spirits, or that they are drawn thither by magnetic power. Branches of trees, armfuls of fruit and flowers, money, jewels, and live lobsters are among the more extraordinary apports...

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Aquinas, (Thomas): who has been under the imputation of magic, was one of the profoundest scholars and subtlest logicians of his day. He was a youth of illustrious birth, and received the rudiments of his education under the monks of Monte Cassiono, and in the University of Naples. But, not contented with these advantages, he secretly entered himself in the Society of Preaching Friars, or Dominicans, at seventeen years of age. His mother, being indignant that he should thus take the vow of poverty, and sequester himself from the world for life, employed every means in her power to induce him to alter his purpose, but all in vain. The friars, to deliver him from her importunities, removed him from Naples to Terracina, from Terracina to Anagnia, and from Anagnia to Rome. His mother followed him in all these changes of residence, but was not permitted so much as to see him. At length she induced his two elder brothers to seize him by force. They waylaid him on his road to Paris, whether he was sent to complete his course of instruction, and carried him off to the castle of Aquino, where he had been born. Here he was confined for two years, but he found a way to correspond with the superiors of his order, and finally escaped from a window in the castle. St. Thomas Aquinas (for he was canonized after his death) exceeded perhaps all men that ever existed in the severity and strictness of his metaphysical disquisitions, and thus acquired the name of the Seraphic Doctor.

It was to be expected that a man, who thus immersed himself in the depths of thought, should be an enemy to noise and interruption. He dashed to pieces an artificial man of brass that Albertus Magnus, who was his tutor, had spent thirty years in bringing to perfection, being impelled to this violence by its perpetual and unceasing garrulity. It is further said, that his study being placed in a great thoroughfare, where the grooms were all day long exercising their horses, he found it necessary to apply a remedy to this nuisance. He made by the laws of magic a small horse of brass, which he buried two or three feet under ground in the midst of this highway, and, having done so, no horse would any longer pass along the road. It was in vain that the grooms with whip and spur sought to conquer the animals' repugnance. They were finally compelled to give up the attempt, and to choose another place for their daily exercises.

It has further been sought to fix the imputation of magic upon Thomas Aquinas by referring to him certain books written on that science; but these are now acknowledged to be spurious.

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Arabia (Occult in): The heyday of occultism among the Arab race was reached at the epoch when that division of them known as the Moors' established their empire in the Spanish peninsula.

We first emerge from cloud and shadow into a precise and definite region in the eighth century, when an Arabian mystic revived the dreams and speculations of the alchemists, and discovered some important secrets. Geber, who flourished about 720-750, is reputed to have written upwards of five hundred works upon the Philosophers' Stone and elixir vita. His researches after these desiderata proved fruitless, but if he did not bestow upon mankind immortal life and boundless wealth, he gave them nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate, red oxide of mercury, and nitric acid.

Among his tenets were a belief that a preparation of gold would heal all diseases in animals and plants, as well as in human beings; that the metals were affected with maladies, except the pure, supreme, and precious one of gold; and that the Philosophers' Stone had often been discovered, but that its fortunate discoverers would not reveal the secret to blind, incredulous, and unworthy man.

His Sumnxi Perfections—a manual for the alchemical student—has been frequently translated. A curious English version, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, was published by an English enthusiast, one Richard Russell, at " the Star, in New Market, in Wapping, near the Dock," in 1686. Geber's true name was Abou Moussah Djafar, to which was added Al Soft, or " The Wise," and he was a native of Houran, in Mesopotamia.

He was followed by Avicenna (q.v.), Averroes (q.v.) and others equally gifted and fortunate. According to Geber and his successors the metals were not only compound creatures, but they were also all composed of the same two substances. Both Prout and Davy lent their names to ideas not unlike this. " The improvements," says the latter, " taking place in the methods of examining bodies, are constantly changing the opinions of chemists with respect to their nature, and there is no reason to suppose that any real indestructible principle has yet been discovered. Matter may ultimately be found to be the same in essence, differing only in the arrangement of its particles ; or two or three simple substances may produce all the varieties of compound bodies." The ancient ideas, therefore, of Demetrius the Greek physicist, and of Geber, the Arabian polypharmist, are, still hovering about the horizon of chemistry.

The Arabians taught, in the third place, that the metals are composed of mercury and sulphur in different proportions. They toiled away at the art of making many medicines out of the various mixtures and reactions of the few chemicals at their command. They believed in transmutation, but they did not strive to effect it. It belonged to their creed rather than to their practice. They were a race of hard-working, scientific artisans, with their pestles and mortars, their crucibles and furnaces, their alembics and aludels, their vessels for infusion, for decoction, for cohobation, sublimation, fixation, lixiviation, filtration and coagulation. They believed in transmutation, in the first matter, and in the correspondence of the metals with the planets, to say nothing of potable gold.

Whence the Arabians derived the sublimer articles of their scientific faith, is not known to any European historian. Perhaps they were the conjectures of their ancestors according to the faith. Perhaps they had them from the Fatimites of Northern Africa, among whose local predecessors it has been seen that it is just possible the doctrine of the four elements and their mutual convertibility may have arisen. Perhaps they drew them from Greece, modifying and adapting them to their own specific forms of matter, mercury, sulphur and arsenic.

Astrology.—Astrology was also employed by the oracles of Spain. Albatgni was celebrated for his astronomical science, as were many others ; and in geometry, arithmetic, algebraical calculations and the theory of music, we have a long list, Asiatic and Spanish, but only known by their lives and principal writings. The works of Ptolemy also exercised the ingenuity of the Arabians; while Alchindi, as far as we may be allowed to judge from his multifarious volumes, traversed the whole circle of the sublimer sciences. But judicial astrology, or the art of foretelling future events from the position and influences of the stars, was with them a favorite pursuit; and many of their philosophers, incited by various motives, dedicated all their labors to this futile but lucrative inquiry. They often speak with high commendation of the astro-mathematical discipline, which could control the disorders to %which man was subject, and regulate the events of life.
The tenets of Islamism, which inculcate an unreserved submission to the over-ruling destinies of heaven, are evidently adverse to the lessons of astrology ; but this by no means hindered the practitioners of old Spain and Arabia from attaining a high standard of perfection in the art, which they perhaps first learned from the peoples of Chaldaa, the past masters of the ancient world in astronomical science, in divination, and the secrets of prophecy.

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Archangel: Highest, supreme angel. From the two Greek words, arch, "first," and angelos, "messenger."

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Archetypes: An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned or emulated.

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Area 51: a remote tract of land in southern Nevada, owned by the federal government of the United States, containing an airfield apparently used for the secret development and testing of new military aircraft. It is famed as the subject of many UFO conspiracy theories, spawning numerous films, books, computer games, and occasional media attention.

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Ariel: A spirit.

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Aries: The first sign of the zodiac. A cardinal fiery sign. Energetic, impulsive, enthusiastic, positive, enterprising.

[See Aries]  [Visit Astrology index]

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Armomancy: Divination by observation of the shoulders of a sacrificial animal.

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Aromatherapy: ("ah-roam-uh-THER-ah-py"): involves the use of essential oils (extracts or essences) from flowers, herbs, and trees to promote health and well-being.

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Arthur, King: The character of Arthur is strongly identified with the occult. Not only do we find his Court a veritable centre of happenings more or less supernatural, but his mysterious origin and the subsequent events of his career have in them matter of considerable interest from an occult standpoint. This is not the place to dispute re­garding his reality, but merely to deal with the romances which cluster around him, and their contents from the supernatural point of view. We find him first of all connected with one of the greatest magical names of early times—that of Merlin the Enchanter. The possibilities are that Merlin was originally a British deity, who in later times degenerated from his high position in the popular imagination. We possess many accounts concerning him, one of which states that he was the direct offspring of Satan himself, but that a zealous priest succeeded in baptizing him before his infernal parent could carry him off. From Merlin, Arthur received much good advice both magical and rational. He was present when the King was gifted with his magic sword Excalibur, which endowed him with practical invulnerability, and all through his career was deep in his counsels. His tragic imprisonment by the Lady Viviana, who shut him up eternally in a rock through the agency of one of his own spells, removed him from his sphere of activity at the Arthurian Court, and from that time the shadows may be seen to gather swiftly around Arthur's head. Innumerable are the tales con­cerning the Knights of his Court who met with magical adventures, and as the stories grew older in the popular mind, additions to these naturally became the rule. Notably is this the case in that off-shoot of the Arthurian epic, which is known as the Holy Grail (q.v.), in which we find the knights who go in quest of it constantly encountered by every description of sorcery for the purpose of retarding their progress.

Arthur's end is as strange as his origin, for we find him wafted away by fairy hands, or at least by invisible agency, to the Isle of Avalon, which probably is one and the same place with the Celtic other-world across the ocean. As a legend and a tradition, that of Arthur is undoubtedly the most powerful and persistent in the British imagination. It has employed the pens and enhanced the dreams of many of the giants in English literature from the time of Geoffrey of Monmouth, to the present day; and with the echoes of the poetry of Tennyson and Swinburne still ringing in their ears, the present generation is quite as justified in regarding the history of Arthur as a living reality as were the Britons of the twelfth century.

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Artisan: From the Michael teachings, one of the seven essence roles. Its positive pole is creation; its negative pole is artifice or self-deception. Artisans seek originality.

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Asiah:   According to the Kabbala, the first of the three classes or natural ranks among the spirits of men, who must advance from the lower to the higher.

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Asipidomancy:  A little known form of divination practiced in the Indies, as we are told by some travelers. The diviner or sorcerer creates a magic circle, takes up his position therein seated on a shield, and mutters certain conjurations. He becomes entranced and falls into an ecstacy, from which he only emerges to tell things that his client wishes to know, and which the devil has revealed to him.

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Astragalomancy: Divination by means of knucklebones.

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Astral Body:  is in Theosophy that body which functions in the Astral World. Like the rest of man's five bodies, it is composed of matter, relatively, however, much finer than that which composes the ordinary physical body. It is the instrument of passions, emotions, and desires, and, since it interpenetrates and extends beyond the physical body, it is the medium through which these are conveyed to the latter. When it separates from the denser body— as it does during sleep, or by the influence of drugs, or as the result of accidents—it takes with it the capacity for feeling, and only with its return can pain or any other such phenomena be felt. During these periods of separa­tion the astral body is/an exact replica of the physical, and as it is extremely sensitive to thought, the apparitions of dead and dying—of which so much is heard in the new science of the Borderland—resemble even to the smallest details the physical bodies which they have lately left. The Astral World is, of course, easily attainable to clair­voyants of even moderate powers, and the appropriate body is therefore clearly visible. In accordance with theosophic teaching on the subject of thought, the latter is not the abstraction it is commonly considered to be, but built up of definite forms the shape of which depends on the quality of the thought, and it also causes definite vibrations, which are seen as colors. Hence, clairvoyants are able to tell the state of a man s development from the appearance of his astral body. A nebulous appearance betokens imperfect development, while an ovoid appearance betokens a more perfect development. As the colors are indicative of the kind of thought, the variety of these in the astral body indicates the possessor's character.
Inferior thoughts beget loud colors, so that rage, for instance, will be recognized by the red appearance of the astral body, and on the contrary, higher thoughts will be recognizable by the presence of delicate colors, religious thought for instance, causing a blue color. This teaching holds true for the bodies higher than the astral, but, the coloration of the astral body is much more familiar to dwellers in the physical world than is the coloration of the higher bodies, with the feelings of which they are relatively unacquainted. There is a definite theory underlying the emotional and other functions of the astral body. The matter of which the latter is composed is not, of course, alive with an intelligent life, but it nevertheless possesses a kind of life sufficient to convey an understanding of its own existence and wants. The stage of evolution of this life is that of descent, the turning point not having yet, so far as it is concerned, been reached. He who possesses the body has, on the other hand, commenced to ascend, and there is, therefore, a continual opposition of forces between him and his astral body. Hence, his astral body accentuates in him such of grosser, retrograde thoughts as he may nourish since the direction of these thoughts coincides with its own direction. If, however, he resists the opposition of his astral body, the craving of the latter gradu­ally becomes weaker and weaker till at last it disappears al­together. And the constitution of the astral body is thereby altered, gross thoughts demanding for their medium gross astral matter, pure thoughts demanding fine astral matter. During physical life the various kinds of matter in the astral body are intermingled, but at physical death the ele­mentary life in the matter of the astral body seeks in­stinctively after self-preservation, and it therefore causes the matter to rearrange itself in a series of seven concen­tric sheaths, the densest being outside and the finest inside. Physical vision depends on the eyes, but astral vision depends on the various kinds of astral matter being in a condition of receptiveness to different undulations. To be aware of fine matter, fine matter in the astral body is necessary, and so with the other kinds. Hence, when the rearrangement takes place, vision only of the grossest kinds of matter is possible since only that kind is repre­sented in the thick outer sheath of the astral body. Under these circumstances, the new denizen of the astral sphere sees only the worst of it, and also only the worst of his fellow denizens, even though they are not in so low a state as himself. This state is not, of course eternal, and in accordance with the evolutionary process, the gross sheath of astral matter wears slowly away, and the man remains clothed with the six less gross sheaths. These also, with the passage of time, wear away, being resolved into their compound elements, and at last when the final disintegra­tion of the least gross sheath of all takes place, the in­dividual leaves the Astral World and passes into the Mental. This rearrangement of the astral body is not, however, in­evitable, and those, who have learned and know, are able at physical death to prevent it. In such cases the change appears a very small one, and the so-called dead continue to live their lives and do their work much as they did in the physical body.

[See Astral World, Avichi, Theosophy.]

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Astral plane: The second plane of creation. Its medium is concrete emotional energy. It is where our consciousness is focused between lifetimes and when we're finished with the physical plane.

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Astral Projection: Using techniques like lucid dreaming or deep meditation, astral projection is an intentional out-of-body experience achieved consciously. It typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, seeing one's physical body from outside oneself. Approximately one in ten people claim to have had an out-of-body experience at some time in their lives. For some, the phenomenon occurs spontaneously, while for others it is linked to a near-death experience, a dream-like state, or use of psychedelic drugs.

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Astral World: (Plane or Sphere) : Kama World is, in Theosophy, the second lowest of the seven worlds, the world of emotions, desires, and passions. Into it man passes at physical death, and there he functions for periods which vary with the state of his development, the primitive savage spending a relatively short time in the Astral World, the civilized man spending relatively longer. The appropriate body is the astral (q.v.), which though com­posed of matter as is the physical body, is nevertheless of a texture vastly finer than the latter. Though it is in its aspect of the after-death abode that this world is of most importance and most interest, it may be said in passing, that even during physical life, man—not only clairvoyants who attain it easily, but also ordinary men—may and do temporarily inhabit it. This happens during sleep, or by reason of the action of anaesthetics or drugs, or accidents, and the interpenetrating astral body then leaves its denser physical neighbor, and taking with it the sense of pleasure and pain, lives for a short time in its own world. Here again the state of the savage differs from that of his more advanced fellows, for the former does not travel far from his immediate surroundings, while the latter may perform useful, helpful work for the benefit of humanity. Further, it may in passing be noted that disembodied mankind are not the only inhabitants of the Astral World, for very many of its inhabitants are of an altogether non-human nature— lower orders of the devas or angels, and nature-spirits or elementals, both good and bad, such including fairies which are just beyond the powers of human vision, and the demons present to the vision of delirium tremens. It will however be sufficient now to turn attention to the Astral World as the state immediately following physical death and containing both heaven and hell as these are popularly conceived.

There are seven divisions which correspond to the seven divisions of matter, the solid, liquid, gaseous, etheric, super-etheric, subatomic and atomic, and, as mentioned in the article on the Astral Body, this plays a most im­portant part in the immediate destiny of man in it. If through ignorance, he has permitted the rearrangement of the matter of his astral body into sheaths, he is cognizant only of part of his surroundings at a time, and it is not till after experience, much of which may be extremely painful, that he is able to enjoy the bliss which the higher divisions of the Astral World contain. The lowest of these divisions, the seventh, is the environment of those of gross and unrestrained passions, since it and most of the matter of their astral bodies is of the same type, and it constitutes a very hell, and the only hell which exists. This is Vichy, the place of desires which cannot be satisfied because of the absence of the physical body, which was the means of their satisfaction. The tortures of these desires are the analogue of the torments of hell-fire in the older Christian orthodoxy. Unlike that orthodoxy, how­ever, theosophy teaches that the state of torment is not eternal, but passes away in time when the desires through long gnawing without fulfillment, have died at last, and it is therefore more correct to look on Vichy as a purgatorial state. The ordinary man, however, does not experience this seventh division of the Astral World, but according to his character finds himself in one or other of the three next higher divisions. The sixth division is very little different from his physical existence, and he continues in his old surroundings among his old friends, who are, of course, unaware of his presence, and indeed, often does not realize that he is dead so far as the physical world is concerned. The fifth and fourth divisions are in most respects quite similar to this, but their inhabitants become less and less immersed in the activities and interests which have hitherto engrossed them, and each sheath of their astral bodies decays in turn as did the gross outer sheath of the sensualist's body. The three higher divisions are still more removed from the ordinary material world, and their inhabitants enjoy a state of bliss of which we can have no conception; worries and cares of earth are altogether absent, the insistence of lower desires has worn out in the lower divisions, and it is now possible to live continually in an environment of the loftiest thoughts and aspirations. The third division is said to correspond to the spiritual­istic " summerland," where the inhabitants live in a world of their own creation—of the creation of their thoughts.

Its cities and all their contents, scenery of life, are all formed by the influence of thought. The second division is what is properly looked on as heaven, and the inhabi­tants of different races, creeds, and beliefs, find it each according to his belief. Hence, instead of its being the place taught of by any particular religion, it is the region where each and every religion finds its own ideal. Christ­ians, Mohammedans, Hindus, and so on, find it to be just as they conceived it would be. Here, and in the first and highest division, the inhabitants pursue noble aims freed from what of selfishness was mingled with these aims on earth. The literary man, his thoughts of fame ; the artist, the scholar, the preacher, all work without incentive of personal interest, and where their work is pursued long enough, and they are fitted for the change, they leave the Astral World and enter one vastly higher—the Mental. It was, however, mentioned that the rearrangement of the matter of the astral body at physical death, was the result of ignorance, and those who are sufficiently instructed do not permit this rearrangement to take. They are not, therefore, confined to any one division, and have not to progress from division to division, but are able to move through any part of the Astral World, laboring always in their various lines of action to assist the great evolutionary scheme.

[See Astral Body, Worlds, Planes or Spheres, Theosophy, Vichy, Summerland.]

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Astrolabe:  A mechanical device, predecessor to the sextant, whereby mariners determined the time of day by the Sun, of the night by the stars, and the height and depth of mountains and valleys. The astrolabe of Christopher Columbus was on display at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial. The oldest known example, called "The Mathematical Jewel," is of Persian origin. It was made by Ahmad and Mahud, sons of Ibraham (q.v.) the Astrologer of Isfahan, and is in the Lewis Evans collection in the Old Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, England. The invention is attributed by some to Hipparchus (q.v.) but others credit it to the Arabs, some 400 years prior.

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