Egkosmioi or Enkosmioi (Greek) In the world or universe; applied by Proclus to his second highest rank of gods or planetary spirits, the first rank being the twelve huperouranioi (supercelestial).

They are the inspiring and inspiriting agencies in the universe, the indwelling gods whose spiritual, intellectual, and psychic movements provide the universe in which they exist with the respective ranges of spiritual, intellectual, and psychic intelligence and forces.

The very lowest range of these indwelling divinities, however, are but slightly above the elemental beings of the cosmic astral plane.

(See also: Egkosmioi, Enkosmioi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Raja Yoga (Sanskrit) Royal union; more generally, the balance of all the faculties -- physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. Raja yoga is a true system of developing psychic, intellectual, and spiritual powers and union with one's higher self, the inner divine source of all our being.

This royal union with the self within must be attained by self-directed evolution. Union with this inner divinity is the source of all human genius and inspiration. Man increases his receptivity to the divine powers in his inmost being by cooperating with nature on its spiritual even more than its physical and astral planes, and by intellectual and spiritual aspiration combined with a fervent love for all beings.

(See also: Raja Yoga, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mazdeans. From (Ahura) Mazda. (See Spiegel’s Yasna, xl.) They were the ancient Persian nobles who worshipped Ormazd, and, rejecting images, inspired the Jews with the same horror for every concrete representation of the Deity. They seem in Herodotus’ time to have been superseded by the Magian religionists. The Parsis and Gebers, (geberim, mighty men, of Genesis vi. and x. 8) appear to be Magian religionists.

(See also: Mazdeans, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Psychism, from the Greek psyche. A term now used to denote very loosely every kind of mental phenomena, e.g., mediumship, and the higher sensitiveness, hypnotic receptivity, and inspired prophecy, simple clairvoyance in the astral light, and real divine seership; in short, the word covers every phase and manifestation of the powers and potencies of the human and the divine Souls.

(See also: Psychism, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Trilcohana (Sanskrit). Lit., "three-eyed ", an epithet of Shiva. It is narrated that while the god was engaged one day on a Himalayan summit in rigid austerities, his wife placed her hand lovingly on his third eye, which burst from Shiva’s forehead with a great flame. This is the eye which reduced Kama, the god of love (as Mara, the tempter), to ashes, for trying to inspire him during his devotional meditation with thoughts of his wife.

(See also: Trilcohana, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Vajradhara (Sanskrit) Diamond-holder; the First Logos, supreme buddha, or adi-buddha, equivalent to the Tibetan dorjechang. "As the Lord of all Mysteries he cannot manifest, but sends into the world of manifestation his heart -- the 'diamond heart,' Vajrasattva (Dorjesempa)" (SD 1:571). Vajra here expresses the indestructibility and spiritually adamantine quality of this "One unknown, without beginning or end" -- unknown to the average worldly person, but recognized by full initiates as the source of their divine inspiration and intuitions.

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

Anuraga -

(1) attachment in general.

(2) spiritual attachment.

(3) a specific stage in the development of prema which has been defined in Ujjvala-nilamani (14.146) as follows: "Despite regularly meeting and being already well-acquainted with the beloved, an everfresh sentiment of intense attachment causes the beloved to be newly experienced at every moment as if one had never before any experience of such a person. The attachment which inspires such a feeling is known as anuraga.”

(See also: Anuraga, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Feminist Witchcraft:

Several new monotheistic religions started since the early 1970s by women in the feminist community who belonged to the women’s spirituality movement and/or who had contact with Neopagan Witches. It is partially an outgrowth of Neopagan Witchcraft, with male deities booted unceremoniously(!) out of the religion entirely, and partially a conglomeration of independent and eclectic do-it-yourself covens of spiritually-inclined feminists. The religions usually involve worshiping only the syncretic Goddess and using Her as a source of inspiration, magical power and psychological growth. Their scholarship is generally abysmal and men are usually not allowed to join or participate.

(See also: Feminist Witchcraft, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Parmahansa Yogananda:

Born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893, in Gorakhpur, India, he is considered as a pioneer of bringing the Yoga system to the West. His life and teachings continue to be a source of light and inspiration to people of all races, cultures and creeds. Sri Parmahansa Yogananda emphasized the underlying unity of the world's great religions, and taught universally applicable methods for attaining direct personal experience of God. To serious students of his teachings he introduced the soul-awakening techniques of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India, which had been lost in the Dark Ages and revived in modern times by his lineage of enlightened masters.

(See also: Parmahansa Yogananda, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Bragi (Icelandic) (from bragr best)

One of the twelve aesir, gods of the Norse Eddas. Representing poetic inspiration of the highest order, he is called the divine singer. It is said he lay sleeping on the ship of the dwarfs (kingdoms of the elements -- earth, water, air, fire, aether), and when the vessel crossed the threshold of death, he awoke and sang the worlds into life. The sound of his joyfilled song and golden harp reverberates through the nine worlds awakening the music of all the spheres.

Bragi is synonymous with spiritual intuition which, united with the mind (Loki), is the means of human liberation. His consort, the goddess Idun, daily gives the gods the apples of immortality.

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

Dionysia Festivals sacred to Dionysos, especially those held in Attica and Attic-Ionic settlements. The inferior Dionysia were celebrated in December in country places where the vine was grown; the greater, in Athens for six days at the spring equinox.

At this festival the new plays were performed for three consecutive days before immense number of citizens and strangers. The Lenaea (festival of vats) in February-March, the Oschophoria in October-November, and the Anthesteria for three days in February-March were also part of the Athenian cycle of Dionysia. The Dionysiac or Bacchic Mysteries became peculiarly liable to corruption in later times, owing to literal interpretation of the symbolism and the substitution of psychospiritual excitement for pure spiritual inspiration.

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

Silent Watcher, In theosophy, highly advanced spiritual entities, each the summit of a spiritual-psychological hierarchy composed of beings working under their direct inspiration and guidance. Every hierarchy, high or low, has a Silent Watcher as its own supreme head.

"There are human 'Silent Watchers,' an there is a 'Silent Watcher' for every globe of our Planetary Chain. There is likewise a Silent Watcher of the solar system of vastly loftier state or stage . . ." He is "one who through evolution having practically gained omniscience or perfect knowledge of all that he can learn in any one sphere of the kosmos, instead of pursuing his evolutionary path forwards to still higher realms, remains in order to help the multitudes and hosts of less progressed entities trailing behind him. There he remains at his self-imposed task, waiting and watching and helping and inspiring, and so far as we humans are concerned, in the utter silences of spiritual compassion. . . . He can learn nothing more from the particular sphere of life through which he has now passed, and the secrets of which he knows by heart. For the time being and for ages he has renounced all individual evolution for himself out of pure pity and high compassion for those beneath him" (OG 156).

See also WATCHER

(See also: Silent Watcher, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Odr (Icelandic) Mind, wit, soul, sense; in Norse mythology, cosmic mind, corresponding to the Sanskrit mahat. The name Odin is derived from it when Odin represents the Allfather. In one legend reminiscent of the Egyptian tale of Isis, Odr is the husband of Frigga, who weeps golden tears as she searches the worlds for him.

Here he may stand for one of the divine ancestors of the human race, and his long journeys are the peregrinations made by the monad, Odr's spiritual aspect, through the worlds of form and matter. Odr is used for song or poetry in many compound words such as odar-smidr (song smith), odar-ar (speech oar, the tongue), odraerir (inspirer of wisdom, the vessel containing the blood of Kvasir: inspiration brought to the gods from higher gods).

(See also: Odr, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Trinity. Everyone knows the Christian dogma of the "three in one" and "one in three "; therefore it is useless to repeat that which may he found in every catechism. Athanasius, the Church Father who defined the Trinity as a dogma, had little necessity of drawing upon inspiration or his own brain power; he had but to turn to one of the innumerable trinities of the heathen creeds, or to the Egyptian priests, in whose country he had lived all his life. He modified slightly only one of the three " persons ". All the triads of the Gentiles were composed of the Father, Mother, and the Son. By making it "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ", he changed the dogma only outwardly, as the Holy Ghost had always been feminine, and Jesus is made to address the Holy Ghost as his "mother" in every Gnostic Gospel.

(See also: Trinity, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Theopathy [from Greek theos god + pathos experience, feeling]

The seventh stage of initiation in the Mysteries, where the candidate becomes a selfless channel for communion with his inner god; the third and last stage of spiritual development -- the first being theophany, the second theopneusty. The sense of theopathy, originally used in the Greek Mysteries, was that the adept "suffered" the full influence of the god within him, becoming a selfless, consenting channel for the divine power pouring through him, in utter disregard of the personal self. Because of the immense personal renunciation involved, such an adept was said to suffer -- meaning to bear or carry the divinity within.

The second of these three initiatory grades, theopneusty, was the same as the third, but in less full degree, and signified that the initiate received the inspiration from above-within and, as it were, was breathed into from above, but did not carry the full load of the spiritual fire or inspirational flow. The first stage, theophany, was by comparison a temporary occurrence and signified the appearance of one's divinity to the initiant's self-conscious perception; the neophyte met his own inner god face to face, and the appearance or theophany lasted for a greater or less time depending upon various circumstances.

Such terms were held secret in the ancient Mysteries, although the words themselves, as time passed, slowly filtered outwards and often became misunderstood, as by Christian theologians.

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

Aureole (dim of Latin aureus golden)

Either a special spiritual radiance adorning the heads of saints and martyrs, or a golden halo surrounding the head or whole body of a holy man. The matter is clearly explained in The Mahatma Letters as: "a counterpart of what the astronomers call the red flames in the 'corona' may be seen in Reichenbach's crystals or in any other strongly magnetic body. The head of a man -- in a strong ecstatic condition, when all the electricity of his system is centered around the brain, will represent -- especially in darkness -- a perfect simile of the Sun during such periods (eclipses)

. The first artist who drew the aureoles about the heads of his Gods and Saints, was not inspired, but represented it on the authority of temple pictures and traditions of the sanctuary and the chambers of initiation where such phenomena took place" (p. 162).

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

Wine Used as an emblem of life and spirit, as in the Mysteries, where at one stage of the initiatory rites wine and bread were offered to the candidate as symbols of spirit and body, the meaning being the same as that conveyed elsewhere by fire and water, or blood and flesh. It was necessary for the aspirant to be perfected in both ways.

The rite was very early adopted from the Dionysian Mysteries by the Christian churches in the sacrament of the Eucharist where wine represents the blood of Christ, and the bread his body. Wine is also connected in the same mystical manner with the Greek god Dionysos or Bacchus, for this divinity represented the Christos or initiator, teacher, and savior of mankind; and thus wine stands for inspiration and holy enthusiasm, varying from divine inspiration and spiritual quickening all down the scale to merely phrenetic exaltation, and even when grossly degenerate, orgiastic, and drunken excitement, such as marked the degraded forms of Bacchic worship.

In the New Testament the parable of the turning of water into wine is another way of stating that exoteric or mythologic teachings were explained and illustrated so that the inner wisdom became known, the wine standing for the inner aspect. Only an adept or initiate is able to do this.

See also BREAD AND WINE; SOMA; VINE

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

Religion [from Latin religare to bind back, implying obligation; or from relegere to select, distinguish among various elements for the choosing of the best; ponder]

In theosophy individual religion of conduct means faith in his own essential divinity as a source of wisdom and an unerring and infallible guide in conduct; an ever-growing realization of that truth, an ever-growing consciousness of one's spiritual identity with the divine in nature; and constant devotion to the ideals thus inspired. Religion means a self-sacrificing devotion to truth, a resolve to live in harmony with all other lives, a sacrificing of the personal self to the greater self.

In theosophy there is no divorce between the devotional and speculative functions of the mind; science and philosophy do not conflict with the innate sense of rectitude. Ethics are not based on expediency, a social compact, or a special revelation, but are inherent in the laws of the universe.

The ancient wisdom is the quintessence of all religions, the universal parent-source of all faiths; and in proportion as each great world religion rises to the height of its own possibilities, so will the external divergences among the different faiths of mankind blend into the original fundamental unity.

(See also: Religion, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Nabi' (Hebrew) [from naba' to deliver an oracle]

A prophet, one inspired to foretell future events; the name given to prophecy in the Bible. One of the "spiritual powers, such as divination, clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while enchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in the Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nobia appear as the special gifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai, the Greek word for seers, clairvoyants; after which they were designated as Nebim [nebi'im] 'the plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom.' The kabalist distinguishes between the seer and the magician; one is passive, the other active; Nebirah [nabi'] is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant; Nebi-poel [nebi'-po`el], he who possesses magic powers" (IU 1:xxxvii).

Sons or disciples of prophets were called Benei Nebi'im.

(See also: Nabi', Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Agnishvatta agnisvatta (Sanskrit) (from agni fire + the verbal root svad to sweeten, taste)

Tasted or sweetened by fire; one of the higher of the seven classes of pitris or progenitors spoken of in the Puranas as those "devoid of fire." They are thus popularly represented as grihasthas or householders who in previous births failed to keep up their domestic fires and to offer burnt sacrifices, etc. In contrast, the pitris "possessed" of fire are the barhishads, those who kept up their household fires (cf VP 1:10).

Mystically the agnishvattas are far higher beings than are the barhishads because they are devoid of the fire of creative passion. Being too divine and pure for this, they are devoid (i.e., freed) of the grosser creative fire, and thus unable to form physical man. They are, on the other hand, possessed of spiritual-intellectual fire and are the endowers of the human conscious, spiritually immortal ego or selfhood. Hence the agnishvatta-pitris are those who are "purified by fire" -- which may be interpreted as either 1) the fire of suffering and pain in material existence producing great fiber and strength of character or spirituality; or 2) from the esoteric standpoint as signifying those entities who have through evolution become one in essence with the aethery fire of spirit.

The agnishvattas signify our ancestral solar selves in contradistinction to the barhishads, our lunar ancestors. The agnishvattas are variously spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the fashioners of the inner man, manasa-dhyanis (lords of mind), solar devas, sons of the flame of wisdom, givers of human intelligence and consciousness, and fire-dhyanis. In ancient Greece they were collectively personified by the epic figure of Prometheus, and in China by the Fiery Dragons of Wisdom.

The agnishvattas, our solar spiritual-intellectual parts, are those who in preceding manvantaras completed their evolution in the realms of matter; and when evolution had brought the nascent human stock to the state where they had only the physical creative fire, the agnishvattas came to their rescue by inspiring and enlightening these lower lunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or fires (OG 14-15; SD 2:91-2).

In the Puranas, the agnishvattas are identified with the seasons, and are spoken of as one of the classes of deities presiding over the cyclic divisions of the year.

(See also: Agnishvatta, agnisvatta, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Manticism, or Mantic Frenzy. During this state was developed the gift of prophecy. The two words are nearly synonymous. One was as honoured as the other. Pythagoras and Plato held it in high esteem, and Socrates advised his disciples to study Manticism. The Church Fathers, who condemned so severely the mantic frenzy in Pagan priests and Pythie, were not above applying it to their own uses.

The Montanists, who took their name from Montanus, a bishop of Phrygia, who was considered divinely inspired, contended with the mavnteiz (manteis) or prophets. "Tertullian, Augustine, and the martyrs of Carthage, were of the number", says the author of Prophecy, Ancient and Modern. "The Montanists seem to have resembled the Bacchantes in the wild enthusiasm that characterized their orgies," he adds. There is a diversity of opinion as to the origin of the word Manticism.

There was the famous Mantis the Seer, in the days of Melampus and Prœtus King of Argos; and there was Manto, the daughter of the prophet of Thebes, herself a prophetess. Cicero describes prophecy and mantic frenzy, by saying, that "in the inner recesses of the mind is divine prophecy hidden and confined, a divine impulse, which when it burns more vividly is called furor", frenzy. (Isis Unveiled.)

(See also: Manticism, Mantic Frenzy, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )