Swedenborg, Emmanuel ( 1688-1772)

A Swedish scientist, theosophist, and mystic, a pioneer in both scientific, religious and spiritual thought.

For most of his life Swedenborg pursued a conventional, albeit brilliant, career. Educated at Uppsala University he first became a natural scientist and official with the Swedish Royal College of mines (1710-45), concentrating on research and theory. His foremost scientific writing is 'Opera Philosophica et Mineralia' (Philosophical and Mineralogical Works, three volumes, 1734), a unique combination of metaphysics, cosmology, and science.

A first-rate scientific theorist and inventor, Swedenborg, in some of his insights, anticipated scientific progress by more than a century. Visited by a mystic illumination in 1745, Swedenborg claimed a direct vision of a spiritual world underlying the natural sphere. He began having dreams, ecstatic visions, trances and mystical illusions in which he communicated with Jesus Christ and God and was granted a view of the order of the universe that was radically different from the teachings of the Christian church.

He resigned his job to concentrate full-time on his ecstatic visions and transcribing the knowledge imparted to him from the spiritual world. His voluminous works from this period are presented as divinely revealed biblical interpretations. In his system, best reflected in 'Divine Love and Wisdom' (1763), Swedenborg conceived of three spheres: divine mind, spiritual world, and natural world. Each corresponds to a degree of being in God and in humankind: love, wisdom, and use (end, cause, and effect). Through devotion to each degree, unification with it takes place and a person obtains his or her destiny, which is union with creator and creation.

Unlike many mystics, Swedenborg proposed an approach to spiritual reality and God through, rather than in rejection of, material nature. His 12-volume compendium 'The Heavenly Arcana' (1747-56) represents a unique synthesis between modern science and religion.

In response to a vision of the 'last judgment' and the 'return of Christ', Swedenborg proclaimed the advent of the New Church, an idea that found social expression in the Swedenborgian societies and in the foundation of the Church Of The New Jerusalem in England in 1778, and in the United States in 1792. Many of his views were adopted by 19th century spiritualism and many of his ideas were also disseminated in the works of writers and poets such as William Blake , Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Henry James .

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

Heaven

1)    The place where God dwells

2)    the spirit world

3)    erroneously, the afterlife, another name for Paradise. Judeo-Christian scripture speaks of three heavens. The first is to the atmospheric heavens of the birds and clouds. The second heaven is the area of the stars and planets. The third heaven is the abode of God.

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

Astrological Birth Control

A method developed in Czechoslovakia to determine a woman's fertile period according to birth data and sun and moon phases.

(See also: Astrological Birth Control , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Unitarian Universalist Association

A denomination formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association (the principal religious body teaching Unitarianism) and the Universalist Church in America (which emphasized universalism). While the two parent denominations were rooted in liberal Christianity, the UUA does not even profess to be a specifically Christian body. Its churches exhibit an eclectic blend of liberal Christianity and humanism,

(See also: Unitarian Universalist Association , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

High Magic

Ceremonial magick involving the actions of deities or spirits.

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

Charging

1. the act of empowering an herb, stone or other magickal object with oneÕs own energies directed toward a magical goal. Charging is synonymous with enchanting or empowerment. (CMM)
2. one of the basic processes of change in the universe (Walter Russell) (NAD)

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

Merkabah

(also Merkabah) Developed from Jewish mysticism:

(1)  the divine light vehicle used by the Masters to connect with and reach those in tune with the higher realms. The Mer-Ka-Ba is the vehicle of Light mentioned in the Bible by Ezekiel.

(2)  the soul / body surrounded by counter-rotating fields of Light, (wheels within wheels), spirals of energy as in DNA, which transports soul / body from one dimension to another.

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

The Word

(Greek- logos). Used in New Testament to refer to Christ as the comprehensible expression of God (Chaos). It means, order, logic, that which can be understood.

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

Fast, Fasting

Abstinence from food for a length of time. A common ascetic practice, it is also a widespread mode of purification with respect to ritual activities or the restoration of health.

In Christianity fasting derives from the example of Jesus, who both fasted and recommended the practice. Partial or total abstinence from food and drink was institutionalized in early Christianity for certain days. Today in Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches there are seasons of fasting before Christmas and Easter and, in some traditions, a day of fasting before participating in the Eucharist.

Muslims in good health must observe a daytime fast (Arab. sawm) during the month of Ramadan by abstaining from food, drink, smoking, and sexual activity. In the evening, a meal is eaten and many attend the mosque for seasonal litanies. A light meal is eaten before daybreak.

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

Auras

The emanation of the astral body. The subtle energy field as seen by psychics. In humans, it tends to be ovoid, and extends from a few inches to several hundred feet or more from the body. The average extends about 18 inches.

The size, color, and content of the aura can vary with changes in mood, health and spiritual development. Dark spots or "blocks" in the aura are thought by many to be early warning signs of illness.

Various scientists have attempted to record the aura with cameras. Most successful were Valentina and Semyon Kirlian in the 1930s. In the 1980s a technique called aura imaging was developed in the U. S. It uses a computer to translate emenations from the hand or fingers into color images of the energy flow around the entire body. How accurate these images are is still open to question.

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

Communion

The Lord's Supper The central rite of Christian worship, called variously the Eucharist, Holy Communion, Divine Mysteries (Eastern Orthodox), and the Mass (Roman Catholic)

This ritual is said to have developed out of the Last Supper of Jesus and his Apostles just before the crucifixion. Some Christians believe that the wine and bread actually transmutate into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus (see transubstantiation), others do it in memory of Jesus' passion.

The practice is believed by Christians to have evolved from the Jewish Passover. Many scholars claim that communion, also with the word Mass, is derived from the practice of the Zoroastrians. New Agers celebrate a similar ritual which is called Communion with All Life.

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

Ancestress, The

The Goddess as old Grandmother or Wise Women

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

Wiccan Rede

The code by which most Wiccans live by: "And Harm It Done, Do As Ye Will. ", thought by some to have been originated by Aliester Crowley

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

High Priestess

A female witch within a coven who has been initiated into the 3rd degree. Abbreviated as HPS in written rituals. Often the head of the coven.

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

Holy Order of MANS

Monastic New Age group founded by Earl W. Blighton that practiced esoteric, mystical religion blending biblical themes with reincarnation and other concepts from Eastern religions and the occult.

Blighton, an ex-engineer who was once fined for practicing medicine without a license, began the order in 1968. "MANS" was an acronym for a phrase revealed only to initiates. After advancing through the order, men reached the status of Brown Brother of the Holy Light, while women might become an Immaculate Sister of Mary for Missionary Training.

After the death of Blighton, the group underwent radical changes. The majority of followers converted to Eastern Orthodoxy and the order eventually was transformed into Christ the Savior Brotherhood, a sect of Eastern Orthodoxy. Several competing groups later formed claiming to preserve Blighton's original purpose and message. They include the Gnostic Order of Christ, Science of Man, and the American Temple.

(See also: Holy Order of MANS , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Christ Consciousness

The spiritual and mystical experience of the unity of all the universe. To attain cosmic consciousness is to see the universe as God and God as the universe, and everything as part of this whole.

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

Eternal

A divine attribute; without beginning or end, unaffected by time, outside time. One of the names of God, i. e. The Eternal.

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

Channel, Channeler

A 'sensitive' who allows spiritual entities to use his/her body and mind as a link between this plane and other planes of consciousness for the purpose of receiving psychic information or healing energy. Formerly called mediums.

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

Sweat Lodge

Native American spiritual ritual associated with spiritual purification ceremonies and rites.

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

Witch

A member of the Wicca religion. A practitioner of witchcraft. There are many types and traditions of witches. A witch is not necessarily a Wiccan, though if a Wiccan practices witchcraft they can be called a witch.

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

Gopi

In Hinduism, one of the cowherding girls or women of Braj who epitomize intimate devotion to Krishna. There are some sixteen thousand gopis, all sharing in Krishna's dance, but he makes himself present to each as if she were trysting with him alone.

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

Alignment

Synchronization of mental and spiritual vibrations with a god, goddess, or astronomical body. Often the complete balance and centering of the chakras is called an alignment.

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