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Xenoglossis: speaking in tongues unknown to the
psychic or medium. According to certain classifications the term should cover writing in
tongues and glossolalia should be employed for speaking them. [See
Xenoglossis]
X-Files: An American television series that ran
from 1993-2002. Popular themes often explored on the sci-fi hit were
extraterrestrials, conspiracy theories, and the
paranormal.
Xylomancy: Divination by means of wood, practiced particularly in Slavonia. It is the art
of reading omens from the position of small pieces of dry wood found in one's
path. No less certain presages of future events may be drawn from the
arrangement of logs in the fire place, from the manner in which they burn, etc.
It is perhaps the survival of this mode of divination which makes the good
people say, when a brand is disturbed, that, "they are going to have a visitor."
Yarbro, (Chelsea Quinn): Author
of over 70 novels and numerous short stories, Yarbro is
probably best known for her series of historical horror
novels about the vampire
Count Saint-Germain. But students of the
Michael teachings
know her as the author of Messages From Michael,
and three other channeled books in that groundbreaking
series. The Michael teachings is a channeled
philosophy of the mid-causal plane entity Michael (not the
Archangel Michael) that involves the study of soul age and
a unique personality system that helps people better
understand the lessons of the reincarnational cycle. [See
Michael teachings]
Yeats, (William Butler): Irish Author and Mystic.
William Butler Yeats was born at Dublin in 1866, his
father being John Yeats, a talented portrait-painter whose
works include a fine likeness of Synge ; and during his
boyhood the future author lived chiefly at his native
town, and occasionally with his grandparents in County
Sligo. At first he intended to make painting his life's
work, and, accordingly he entered the Dublin Art School;
but he soon left it, having realized that his true bent
was for Literature; and in 1887 he went to London, where
he became intimate with Mr. Arthur Symons, and
subsequently with Mr. George Moore. Prior to this Mr.
Yeats had issued a little play, Mosada ; and now his gifts
began to develop apace, the result being sundry volumes of
beautiful poetry, notably The Wanderings of Oisin and The
Wind among the Reeds. At this time, also, the author began
to show himself an eminently thoughtful critic of
literature; while in 1870 he published a collection of
Irish folk tales, and in the preface thereto he observed
in relation to his compatriots that " a true literary
consciousness—national to the centre—seems gradually to be
forming out of all this disguising and prettyfing this
penumbra of half-culture. We are preparing likely enough
for a new Irish literary movement. . . . ." Nor was the
prophecy unfulfilled, for, during the closing decade of
the 19th century, the intellectuals of Ireland began to
manifest a tense interest in their country's legendary
lore, while simultaneously it transpired that the rising
generation of writers in Ireland included many men of fine
promise. Most of these last regarded Mr. Yeats as their
leader, they rallied round him, he returned from London to
Ireland, and anon he achieved the founding of the Irish
Literary Theatre in Dublin, its raison d'etre being the
staging of plays by the new school of Hibernian authors.
This is not the place to detail the Irish artistic revival
of the nineties of last century, and the reader may be
referred to the monograph thereon by Mr. H. S. Krans, and
more especially to Mr. George Moores' Hail and Farewell.
Passing to speak of Mr. Yeats' contributions to the
literature of Mysticism, these are mostly contained in a
volume of collected essays, Ideas of Good and Evil; and
prominent among them are studies of the mystic element in
Blake and Shelley, while another notable paper is one
concerned with " The Body of the Father Christian
Rosencrux." But still more important than these, perhaps,
is a long study of " Magic," contained in the same volume,
and here the author begins by bravely stating his creed :
"I believe in the practice and philosophy of what we have
agreed to call magic, and what I must call the evocation
of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the
power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of
truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed.
....."
After this declaration he tells how once an acquaintance
of his, gathering together a small party in a darkened
room, held a mace over " a tablet of many colored squares,
at the same time repeating " a form of words " ; and
straightway Mr. Yeats found that his " imagination began
to move of itself, and to bring before me vivid images. .
. . ." He goes on to descant on these visions, while in
the remainder of his essay he offers some details about
superstitions in remote parts of Ireland; and also
furnishes sundry examples of thought-transmission and the
like, most of them fresh and interesting.
But the author's interest in the supernatural does not
transpire only in his prose, and, turning to his poems,
one finds them permeated by a curious kind of mysticism
which is perhaps essentially Celtic. For Mr. Yeats, it
would seem, is only incidentally interested in holding
communications with the dead, or with the spirit-world ;
yet, like old bards of his native Ireland, he seems to
find inanimate nature a living reality, he seems to have a
strange intimacy therewith. A dreamer of dreams and a
beholder of visions, he frequently crystallizes these in
his verse; but the mystic element in his output consists
pre-eminently in this, that he appears to hold actual
converse with all those things which to ordinary men are
no more than lifeless— with flowers and trees, with
rivers, lakes and mountains.
Yeti: Also known as the abominable snowman, the Yeti is a supposed large
primate-like creature reported to live in the Himalayas.
Most mainstream scientists and experts consider
current evidence of the yeti's existence to be
unpersuasive, and the result of hoaxes, legend, or
misidentification of mundane creatures. Still, the
yeti remains one of the most famous creatures in
cryptozoology.
Yoga: is a form of mysticism that developed on the Indian
subcontinent in the Hindu cultural context. Its origin is impossible to trace,
because it dates back to before recorded history.
The word Yoga originates from the
Sanskrit word "Yuj" ("to yoke") and is generally translated
as "union" or "integration". According to Yoga experts, the
union referred to by the name is that of the individual soul ("atma")
with the cosmos, or the Supreme ("Brahma").
Yoga has both a philosophical and a practical dimension. The
philosophy of yoga ("union") deals with the nature of the
individual soul and the cosmos, and how the two are related. The
practice of yoga, on the other hand, can be any activity that
leads or brings the practitioner closer to this mystical union -
a state called
self-realization. Over thousands of years, special practical
yoga techniques have been developed by experts in yoga, who are
referred to as Yogis (male) and Yoginis (female). These Yoga techniques cover a broad range, encompassing
physical, mental, and spiritual activities. Traditionally, they
have been classified into four categories or paths: the path of
meditation (Raja
Yoga), the path of devotion (Bhakti
Yoga), the path of selfless service to the Divine (Karma
Yoga), and the path of intellectual analysis or the
discrimination of truth and reality (Jnana
Yoga). The most conspicuous form of yoga in the West,
Hatha Yoga - consisting of various physical and breathing
exercises and purification techniques - is actually the third
and the fourth stages of
Ashtanga Yoga of
Yoga Sutras by
Patanjali. [See Yoga]
Yoga when used as a form of alternative medicine is a combination of
breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation, practiced for over 5,000
years.
Yogi or Yogin: (Sans.) A devotee, one who practices the Yoga system. There are various grades and kinds of Yogis, and the term has now become in India a generic name to designate every kind of ascetic.
Young soul:
From the Michael teachings, someone in the third of the five main physical-plane soul ages, which
emphasizes lessons about worldly success. Independence and the ability to get
what one wants out of life are the driving force of the Young Soul stage.
Yule: was the winter solstice celebration of
the Germanic pagans. In Neopaganism it is one of
the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, where Yule
is celebrated on the winter solstice: in the
northern hemisphere, circa December 21, and in the
southern hemisphere, circa June 21. "Yule" and
"Yuletide" are also archaic terms for Christmas,
sometimes invoked in songs to provide atmosphere.
Many of the symbols associated with the
modern holiday of Christmas such as the
burning of the Yule log, the eating of
ham, the hanging of boughs, holly,
mistletoe, etc. are apparently derived
from traditional northern European Yule
celebrations. Halloween and Easter
are theorized to have been likewise
assimilated from northern European pagan
festivals.
Today, Yule is a principle religious
festival in Wiccan, Asatru, and other Neopagan
practices.
Zen: a branch of Mahayana Buddhism. The
Zen schools teach the fundamental elements of Buddhist philosophy, including the
Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, pratitya samutpada, the five
precepts, the five skandhas, and the three dharma seals: non-self, impermanence,
and dukkha. It also reflects the influence of Chinese philosophy, including
Taoism and, to a lesser extent, Confucianism.
Zener Cards:
Designed by Karl Zener in 1930, the cards are used to test
for ESP. The twenty-five card deck includes five different
designs: a cross, a circle, three wavy lines, and a star.
Zetas: an
alleged race of alien beings from the binary star system,
Zeta Reticuli. Commonly referred to as greys, these beings
have large heads and thin bodies. They are frequently
associated with the alien abduction lore, and were first
described by Barney and Betty Hill, following an abduction
allegation.
Zodiac, Signs of: [See Astrology]
Zombie: A term associated with Haitian
voodoo. A zombie is a human being whose soul has been extracted by a magician.
The body is dug up after burial and given a semblance of life. After
resurrection, it has no will of its own, but remains under the control of the
person who performed the ritual. The zombie can participate in ordinary human
activities, but under certain conditions it is forced to return to its grave.
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