Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
HINDUISM

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A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGICK SPELLS

thoughts- return to the sender with three times the intensity. because people are responsible for their own actions, everyone -witch and non-witch alike- can choose to do good or evil. many witches and wiccans believe that they are reincarnated in some form and also that the results of past deeds can follow a person from one life to the next. you can compare this to the concept of karma found in hinduism and buddhism, which says that the thoughts and deeds we accumulate in our lifetime may either progress us towards spiritual perfection- if good- or indicate, if bad, that we need to learn lessons in subsequent lives to right our mistakes or attitudes. other witches say there is an afterlife, spent on another plane of existence. known as summerland, avalon or valhalla, and akin to tir na n

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

silence* 2 f (3) ba past master 3 g (6) bd 4 (10) fa worshipful master 5 (15) hy senior warden 6 (21) hyha junion warden 7& i (28) jk senior deacon 8$ j (36) hla junior deacon 9 (45) hm inner guard 10 mercurius philosophorum medicina metallorum (55) hn tyler and candidate table iv 24 cxvi. egyptian attribution of parts of the soul. cxvii. the soul (hindu. cxviii. the chakkras or centres of prana (hinduism. cxix. the ten fetters (buddhism. 0 hammemit. 1 kha, or yekh atma sahasrara (above head) aruparga 2 khai, or ka buddhi ajna (pineal gland) vikkikika 3 ba, or baie higher manas visuddhi (larynx) rupraga 4 silabata paramesa 5 patigha 6 lower manas anahata (heart) udakkha 7 kama manipura (solar plexus) mano 8 aib prana svadistthana (navel) sakkya-ditti 9 hati linga sharira muladhara (lingam

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

: bottom point: 14: venus 7: copper: right lower point: 21: jupiter 4: tin: right upper point: 27: mars 5: iron: left upper point: 30: sun 6: gold: centre point: 31: saturn 3: lead: top point: 319 table iv :xcvii: cxvii: cxviii: cxxiv: cxxxiii :key scale:parts: the: the chakkras or: the: titles and: of: soul: centres of :heavenly: attributions of: the:(hindu: prana :hexagram: the wand suit: soul (hinduism (clubs: 0: 1 :ychydh:atma :sahasrara (above: jupiter :the root of the: head: powers of fire: 2 :chyh :buddhi :ajna (pineal: mercury :mars in aries: gland: dominion: 3 :nshmh :higher :visuddhi: moon :sun in aries esta: manas (larynx:[saturn: blished strength: daath: 4: venus :venus in aries: perfected work: 5 :lower-:anahata (heart: mars :saturn in leo: strife: manas: 6: sun :jupiter in le

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

10 in the former. it might be summarized as "doing that, and only that, which facilitates the task in hand" a line of conduct becomes a custom when experience has shown that to follow it makes for success "don't press "play with a straight magic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 235 bat "don't draw to five" do not involve abstract considerations 1 of right and wrong. orthodox hinduism has raped this pure system, and begotten a bastard code which reeks of religion. a political manoeuvre of the brahmin caste. suppose we relax a little, come down to earth, and look at what the far-famed morality of the holy man was, and is, in actual practice. you will find this useful to crush toshophist and antroposophagist1 cockroaches as well as the ordinary christian scolex when they

system, and begotten a bastard code which reeks of religion. a political manoeuvre of the brahmin caste. suppose we relax a little, come down to earth, and look at what the far-famed morality of the holy man was, and is, in actual practice. you will find this useful to crush toshophist and antroposophagist1 cockroaches as well as the ordinary christian scolex when they assail you. in the lands of hinduism and (to a less extent) of islam, the sultan, the dewan, the maharajah, the emir, or whatsoever they call "the grand pandjandrum himself, with the little round button on top" it is almost a 100 per cent rule that the button works loose and is lost! even in less exalted circles, any absolute ruler, on however petty a scale, is liable to go the whole hog in an unexceptionably hoggish fashion

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

themselves did not understand clearly what happened to them. the only one who explains his system thoroughly is buddha, and buddha is the only one that is not dogmatic. we may also suppose that the others thought it inadvisable to explain too clearly to their followers; st. paul evidently took this line. our best document will therefore be the system of buddha<hinduism, and of two chinese systems. but hinduism has no single founder. lao tze is one of our best examples of a man who went away and had a mysterious experience; perhaps the best of all examples, as his system is the best of all systems. we have full details of his method of training in the "kh"ang "k"ang "k"ing, and elsewhere. but it is so little known that we shall omit consideration of it i

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

disagree with the first-born necessity. 220 i come to tell you why i shun the sight of men, the life and fun you know i can enjoy so well, the nature that i love as none (i think) before me ever loved. 225 you know i scorn the fear of hell, by worship and all else unmoved pentecost 31 recapitulation of principal cosmic theories. bard checkmates himself. consciousness and christianity. dhyana and hinduism. sammasamadhi and buddhism. you know for me the soul is nought36 save a mere phantom in the thought, that thought itself impermanent, 230 save as a casual element with such another may combine to form now water and now wine; the element itself may be changeless to all eternity, 235 but compounds ever fluctuate with time or space or various state (ask chemists else) so i must claim spirit

arb o man, of a daring nature, thou subtle production! thou wilt not comprehend it, as when understanding some common thing. oracles of zoroaster. in presenting this theory of the universe to the world, i have but one hope of making any profound impression, viz. that my theory has the merit of explaining the divergences between the three great forms of religion now existing in the world buddhism, hinduism and christianity, and of adapting them to ontological science by conclusions not mystical but mathematical. of mohammedism i shall not now treat, as, in whatever light we may decide to regard it (and its esoteric schools are often orthodox, in any case it must fall under one of the three heads of nihilism, advaitism, and dvaitism. taking the ordinary hypothesis of the universe, that of it

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 1

don "c'est son m tier" i am not so foolish as to think that my doctrine can ever gain the ear of the world. i expect that ten centuries hence the "nominal crowleians" will be as pestilent and numerous a body as the "nominal christians" are to-day; for (at present) i have been able to devise no mechanism for excluding them. rather, perhaps, should i seek to find them a niche in the shrine, just as hinduism provides alike for those capable of the upanishads and those whose intelligence hardly reaches to the tantras. in short, one must abandon the reality of religion for a sham, so that the religion may be universal enough for those few who are capable of its reality to nestle to its breast, and nurse their nature on its starry milk. but we anticipate! my message is then twofold; to the greas

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism &c. by a glance at tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. the "occult review" says "despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice of the right people to be sure of a ready sale. in its author's words, it represents 'an attempt to systematise alike the data of

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism,&c. by a glance at tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. mr. john ouseley's new book. vain tales from "vanity fair"(crown 8vo, cloth, gilt lettered, with special cover design, 256 pp. 3/6. by louise heilgers with preface by frank harris. the great english society weekley,"vanity fair, is known throughout the wo

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2 3

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism &c. by a glance at the tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. the "occult review" says "despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice of the right people to be sure of a ready sale. in its author's words, it represents 'an attempt to systematise alike the dat

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 2

l this. the only solution appears to lie in a metaphysical identification of monotheism and pantheism. again, one is conscious of a double direction in the phenomena. not only is it true to say that the thoughts are analysed into glyphs and so on, back to the pure soul; but also that the pure soul sends forth the glyphs, which formulate the thought. here again we must identify the atman system of hinduism centred in ego with the anatta system of buddhism, in which the impressions are all. 43 further, there arises an exceedingly remarkable state of mind, described in the bhagavad-gita (i quote arnold "i, who am all, and made it all, abide its separate lord" the experience could not be better phrased. zoroaster, too "who first sprang from mind, clothing the one fire with the other fire, bind

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism &c. by a glance at the tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. the "occult review" says "despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice o sic the right people to be sure of a ready sale. in its author's words, it represents 'an attempt to systematise alike the

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 2

al magic, and had obtained very remarkable success. my gods were those of egypt, interpreted on lines closely akin to those of greece. in philosophy i was a realist of the qabalistic school. in 1900 i left england for mexico, and later the far east, ceylon, india, burma, baltistan, egypt and france. it is idle here to detail the corresponding progress of my thought; and passing through a stage of hinduism, i had discarded all deities as unimportant, and in philosophy was an uncompromising nominalist, arrived at what i may describe as an orthodox buddhist; but however with the following reservations (1) i cannot deny that certain phenomena "do" accompany the use of certain rituals; i only deny the usefulness of such methods to the white adept. 177 (2) that i consider hindu methods of medita

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism &c. by a glance at tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. the "occult review" says "despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice of the right people to be sure of a ready sale. in its author's words, it represents 'an attempt to systematise alike the data of

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

attributions of the taro, so long kept secret by the rosicrucians, are now for the first time published; also the complete secret magical correspondences of the g. d. and r. r. et a. c. it forms, in short, a complete magical and philosophical dictionary; a key to all religions and to all practical occult working. for the first time western and qabalistic symbols have been harmonized with those of hinduism, buddhism, mohammedanism, taoism, etc. by a glance at tables, anybody conversant with any one system can understand perfectly all others. the "occult review" says "despite its cumbrous sub-title and high price per page, this work has only to come under the notice of the right people to be sure of a ready sale. in its author's words, it represents 'an attempt to systematise alike the data

ALEX SANDERS THE KING OF THE WITCHES

l be coming to england in the near future' the. priest ofkali continued/and lshould very much like to make your acquaintance. would you do me the honour. of dining with me so that we luay discuss something which, i am sure, will be dear to the hearts of both of us' alex wrote back agreeing to meet him, but forgot all about it after he had looked up details of kali worship. one of the goddesses of hinduism, she represented destruction. her image was an. enormous black-skinned woman with a large blood-red tongue from under which projected fierce tusks. she was garlanded with a necklace of human skulls. modem hindus disapprove of the ancient rites of worship which, in some parts of india, are still performed and. in which live animals are sacrificed. the more alex read, the less he liked the

h their own. religion and had no wish to become witches 'but we do have need of you: he wellton 'let me explain; kali is the an.cientgoddess of destruction who lends us herpoweisto do our will solongasweworship her in theway she. prefers. during'oneof our .pilgrimages.to old shrines,we came upon a mined temple erected to the goddess .many generations ago andlater desecrated by modern adherents of hinduism who have taken much of the old ritual out of the religion and have chosen to ,neglect kali' alex nodded; this fitted. in with what he had read. but what has all this-to do with me' he asked. tbe.three men e changed glances. then mrg. continued 'for.several years, followers ofour sect have been donating fundsfortherestortemple. now it is .ready to be dedicated andwe havedecid

ALICE A BAILEY07 FROM INTELLECT TO INTUITION

ll "the man of the soul, transcending his angelic mode and guided by the intellect, pierces to the source whence flowed the soul. intellect itself is left outside with all named things. so the soul is merged into pure unity."16(128) thus, the great schools of intellectual meditation (devoid in the final stages of feeling and emotion) all lead to the same point. from the standpoint of buddhism, of hinduism, of sufism, and of christianity, there is the same basic goal: unification with deity; there is the same transcendence of the senses, the same focussing of the mind at its highest point, the same apparent futility of the mind beyond that point to carry the aspirant to his objective; there is the same entering into the state of contemplation of reality, the same assimilation into god, and

ALICE A BAILEY13 PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY

riptures and of god upon the mass of men. they have taken the bibles of the world and have attempted to explain them, passing the ideas they find through the filter of their own minds and brains and in the process inevitably stepping down the meaning. not content with this, their followers have forced these man-evolved interpretations upon the unthinking and the ignorant. every religion buddhism, hinduism in its many aspects, mohammedanism and christianity has produced a flock of outstanding minds who have sought (usually quite sincerely) to understand what god is supposed to have said, who have formulated doctrines and dogmas on this basis of what they thought god meant and their words and ideas have, therefore, become religious law and the irrefutable truths of countless millions. in the

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

keynotes of a great spiritual divine concealed power, of its emanations in manifestation, of its energising of human life, of the prolonged existence of human souls, and of the temporary state of corporeal existence, are fundamental doctrines there fully illustrated; and these are the points of contact between the kabalah of the jew and the so-called esotericism of the teachings of buddha and of hinduism. it may be that the catholic church, from which the protestant church seceded, was from its origin in the possession of the hebrew rabbinic secret of the intentional exoteric nature of the bible, and of a priestly mode of understanding the esoteric kabalah, as a key to the true explanations of the jewish books, which being apparently histories are really largely allegorical. if this were

BELL CHRISTOPHER PAUL TSIU MARPO THE CAREER OF A TIBETAN PROTECTOR DEITY

latter tibetan source discusses demons and their relation to illness and medicine. 12 1. violence demons (tib. gnod sbyin; skt. yak.a: these deities were initially malicious beings that caused disease epidemics. as a way to signify their later conversion to guardians of the buddhist teachings, they have come to be associated with the ancient indian spirits called yak.as, beings popularly found in hinduism, jainism, and indian buddhism. 2. obstacle demons (tib. bdud; skt. m.ra: obstacle demons are openly malevolent spirits endowed with the nature of their namesake. they create obstacles, usually to prevent the successful completion of rituals or to prevent success on the path to enlightenment. they were opposed to the buddhist teachings in their past lives, are said to be black in color, an

placed within intermediate spaces. such spaces signify the ubiquitous nature of these settings, as well as the potential for these sacred arenas to be recreated in the process of summoning the deity. the ma..ala the ma..ala, sanskrit for "circle" is one of the most powerful religious symbols in buddhism. it has its origins in early vedic rituals and is still recognized for its symbolic wealth in hinduism. in buddhism, particularly esoteric buddhism, the symbolism and significance of the ma..ala has flourished. because of this, a great deal of scholarship exists on the ma..ala and its multilayered significance. i discuss it here, however, to relate it further to the exploration of buddhist cosmology in tibet. furthermore, we will see how ma..alas relate to the iconographic analysis conduct

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

ing of cosmic evolution* up to the hindu year tarana (or 1887. 1,955,884,687 years. ii. the (astral) mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms up to man, have taken to evolve. 300,000,000 years. iii. time, from the first appearance of "humanity (on planetary chain..1,664,500,987 years[[footnote(s* the esoteric doctrine says that this "cosmic evolution" refers only to our solar system; while exoteric hinduism makes the figures refer, if we do not mistake, to the whole universal system* another point of disagreement. occultism says "the astral prototypes of the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms up to man have taken that time (300 million years) to evolve, re-forming out of the cast-off materials of the preceding round, which, though very dense and physical in their own cycle, are relativel

cent period. the overlapping of geological periods having been the rule from the beginning of time" the latter "rule" only results in the still more puzzling, even if strictly scientific and correct, information, that "even to-day man is contemporary with the ice-age in the alpine valleys and in the finmark* thus, had it not been for the lessons taught by the secret doctrine, and even by exoteric hinduism and its traditions, we should be left to this day to float in perplexed uncertainty between the indefinite ages of one school of science, the "tens of thousands" of years of the other, and the 6,000 years of the bible interpreters. this is one of the several reasons why, with all the respect due to the conclusions of the men of learning of our modern day, we are forced to ignore them in a

nts and the senses; or in cosmic terrestrial "man" or "spirit" and mortal physical man- 1. ether. hearing. sound. 2. air. touch. sound and touch. 3. fire, or light. sight. sound, touch and colour. 4. water. taste. sound, touch, colour and taste. 5. earth. smell. sound, touch, colour, taste and smell. as seen, each element adds to its own characteristics, those of its[[footnote(s* the opponents of hinduism may call the above pantheism, polytheism, or anything they may please. if science is not entirely blinded by prejudice, it will see in this account a profound knowledge of natural sciences and physics, as well as of metaphysics and psychology. but to find this out, one has to study the personifications, and then convert them into chemical atoms. it will then be found to satisfy both physi

udes (mark iv. 11[[vol. 2, page] 232 the secret doctrine. and religions have committed equal errors in their misinterpretation of this tenet, which is one of the most profoundly philosophical and ideal conceptions of ancient thought. for they have both disfigured and hinted at the correct meaning of it in their numerous allegories touching the subject. nor have the semi-esoteric dogmas of puranic hinduism failed to evolve very suggestive symbols and allegories concerning the rebellious and fallen gods. the puranas teem with them; and we find a direct hint at the truth in the frequent allusions of parasara (vishnu purana, to all those rudras, rishis, asuras, kumaras and munis, having to be born in every age, to reincarnate in every manvantara. this (esoterically) is equivalent to saying tha

om the lotus of the celestial nile- all these abstract pantheistic ideas are dwarfed and made terrestrially concrete in the bible: one is almost inclined to say that in the esoteric they are grosser and still more anthropomorphic, than in their exoteric rendering. take as an example the same symbol, even in its christian application; the lilies in the hand of the archangel gabriel (luke i. 28. in hinduism- the "holy of holies" is a universal abstraction, whose dramatis personae are infinite spirit and nature; in christian judaism, it is a personal god, outside of that nature, and the human womb- eve, sarah, etc, etc; hence, an anthropomorphic phallic god, and his image- man. thus it is maintained, that with regard to the of the bible, one of two hypotheses has to be admitted. either behind

is law "the birth, growth, maturity, vital functions. change, diseases, decay and death, of insects, reptiles, fishes, birds, mammals, and even of man, are more or less controlled by a law of completion in weeks" or seven days* dr. laycock (lancet, 1842- 3, writing on the periodicity of vital phenomena, records a "most remarkable illustration and confirmation of the law in insects[[footnote(s* in hinduism, as understood by the orientalists from the atharvaveda, the three rajamsi refer to the three strides of vishnu; his ascending higher step, being taken in the highest world (a. v, vii, 99, 1, cf. i 155, 5. it is the divo rajah, or the "sky" as they take it. but it is something besides this in occultism. the sentence pareshu, guhyeshu, vrateshu, cf. i, 155, 3, and ix, 75, 2; or again, vers

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

bol of the womb. this is now proven beyond doubt and cavil, by the numerical reading of the bible in general, and of genesis especially. this idea must certainly have been borrowed by the jews from the egyptians and indians, whose holy of holies was, and with the latter is to this day, symbolised by the king's chamber in the great pyramid (see "source of measures) and the yoni symbols of exoteric hinduism. to make the whole clearer and to show at the same time the enormous difference in the spirit of interpretation and the original meaning of the same symbols between the ancient eastern occultists and the jewish kabalists we refer the reader to book ii "the holy of holies- stanza vii- continued. 6. from the first-born (primitive, or the first man) the thread between the silent watcher and

ondito[[vol. 1, page] 285 hermes christianized. the origin of the subtle elements and from these the organs of sense (book i, ii. thus it may be shown that all the fundamental truths of nature were universal in antiquity, and that the basic ideas upon spirit, matter, and the universe, or upon god, substance, and man, were identical. taking the two most ancient religious philosophies on the globe, hinduism and hermetism, from the scriptures of india and egypt, the identity of the two is easily recognisable. this becomes apparent to one who reads the latest translation and rendering of the "hermetic fragments" just mentioned, by our late lamented friend, dr. anna kingsford. disfigured and tortured as these have been in their passage through sectarian greek and christian hands, the translator

th race, is the ineffable and unutterable name- the symbol of the unknown deity, which was used only in the mysteries- used in connection with the "creation" of the universe. it is the "movers" the "runners" the theoi (from[[theein "to run, who do the work of formation, the "messengers" of the manvantaric law, who have now become in christianity the "messengers (malachim; and it seems the same in hinduism or early brahmanism. for it is not brahma who creates in the rig veda, but the prajapati, the "lords of being" who are the rishis; the word rishi (according to professor mahadeo kunte) being connected with the word to move, to lead on, applied to them in their terrestrial character, when, as patriarchs, they lead their hosts on the seven rivers. moreover, the very word "god" in the singul

henomenal creation it got mixed up with evil, chaos, with latent theos in it, and before kosmos was evolved. hence, one finds vishnu- standing here for eternal law- periodically calling forth kosmos into activity "churning out of the primitive ocean (boundless chaos) the amrita of eternity, reserved only for the gods and devas; and he has to employ in the task nagas and asuras- demons in exoteric hinduism. the whole allegory is highly philosophical, and we find it repeated in every philosophical system. plato, having fully embraced the ideas of pythagoras- who had brought them from india- compiled and published them in a form more intelligible than the mysterious numerals of the greek sage. thus the kosmos is "the son" with plato, having for his father and mother the divine thought and mat

lantis was the fourth- there came another disturbance by the axis resuming as rapidly its previous degree of inclination; when the earth was indeed raised once more out of the waters, and- as above so it is below; and vice versa. there were "gods" on earth in those days- gods, and not men, as we know them now, says the tradition. as will be shown in book ii, the computation of periods in exoteric hinduism refers to both the great cosmic and the small terrestrial events and cataclysms, and the same may be shown for names. for instance yudishthira- the first king of the sacea, who opens the kali yuga era, which has to last 432,000 years "an actual king and man who lived 3,102 years b.c" applies also, name and all, to the great deluge at the time of the first sinking of atlantis. he is the "y

e secondary stage of evolution, repeating the first three on the objective plane (iv) the mukhya, the primary as it begins the series of four. neither the word "inanimate" bodies nor yet immovable things, as translated by wilson, gives a correct idea of the sanskrit terms used. esoteric philosophy is not the only one to reject the idea of any atom being inorganic, for it is found also in orthodox hinduism. moreover, wilson himself says (in his collected works, vol. iii, p. 381 "all the hindu systems consider vegetable bodies as endowed with life" charachara, or the synonymous sthavara and jangama, is, therefore, inaccurately rendered by "animate and inanimate "sentient beings" and "unconscious" or "conscious and unconscious beings" etc, etc "locomotive and fixed" would be better, since tre

viz, that which is eternal, and which at once is, and is not, a mere process* that which in modern phraseology is respectively referred to as spirit and matter, is one in eternity as the perpetual cause, and it is neither spirit nor matter, but it- rendered in sanskrit tad("that- all that is, was, or will be, all that the imagination of man is capable of conceiving. even the exoteric pantheism of hinduism renders it as no monotheistic philosophy ever did, for in superb phraseology its cosmogony begins with the well-known words "there was neither day nor night, neither heaven nor earth, neither darkness nor light. and there was not ought else apprehensible by the senses or by the mental faculties. there was then one brahma, essentially prakriti (nature) and spirit. for the two aspects of vi

e gods of the hindu mythology were but names for the energies of the first triad in its successive avatars or manifestations unto man" whither can we turn to trace these theosophic ideas to their very root- better than to old indian wisdom? we say it again: archaic occultism would remain incomprehensible to all, if it were rendered otherwise than through the more familiar channels of buddhism and hinduism. for the former is the emanation of the latter; and both are children of one mother- ancient lemuro-atlantean wisdom- xviii. summary of the mutual position. the reader has had the whole case presented to him from both sides, and it remains with him to decide whether its summary stands in our favour or not. if there were such a thing as void, a vacuum in nature, one would find it produced

BLUE EQUINOX

he rocks surfbound, scent-laden breezes sing it to the vales, and stately pines mysteriously whisper .a master has arisen, a master of the day. the equinox 110 there is a further terrible confusion between the personal progress of the man, and his progress in relation to his incarnations. it cannot be too clearly understood that these things are altogether different. blavatsky.s attempt to mix up hinduism and buddhism is productive of constant friction. the first path in dhyana has nothing whatever to do with being a srot patti. it is perfectly clear that you could be master of the eight jhanas with no more hope of becoming a srotapatti than a pwe-dancer. however, this is an extremely poetical description of what happens on the seventh path. you must notice that there is a certain amount o

BUCKLAND RAYMOND COMPLETE BOOK OF WITCHCRAFT

joy of freya when hearhden placed brosingamene once more about her snow-white neck. great were the cries of joy from dreun and above. great were the thanks that freya, and all men, gave to the gods for the return of brosingamene" the tree: the complete book of saxon witchcraft raymond buckland, samuel weiser, ny 1974 reincarnation reincarnation is an ancient belief. it is part of many religions (hinduism and buddhism, for example) and was even one of the original christian tenets, until condemned by the second council of constantinople in 553. it is believed that the human spirit, or soul, is a fragment of the divine and eventually it will return to its divine source. but, for its own evolution, it is necessary that the soul experience all things in life. it seems the most sensible, most

CASSANDRA EASON A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

thoughts- return to the sender with three times the intensity. because people are responsible for their own actions, everyone -witch and non-witch alike- can choose to do good or evil. many witches and wiccans believe that they are reincarnated in some form and also that the results of past deeds can follow a person from one life to the next. you can compare this to the concept of karma found in hinduism and buddhism, which says that the thoughts and deeds we accumulate in our lifetime may either progress us towards spiritual perfection- if good- or indicate, if bad, that we need to learn lessons in subsequent lives to right our mistakes or attitudes. other witches say there is an afterlife, spent on another plane of existence. known as summerland, avalon or valhalla, and akin to tir na n

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

l clarity was lost in the repeated communication. the knowledge also became a vehicle for control, and it was accordingly changed to suit those in power at any given time. this is why you still find elements of this knowledge in all religions. the original core knowledge has been diluted and diverted in countless directions, to manifest as religions such as christianity, islam, judaism, paganism, hinduism, etc. all have retained the themes of the knowledge to some extent, while often destroying its true meaning with dogma, myth, and manipulated make-believe. ironically, paganism has retained far more of the original knowledge than those religions (such as christianity) which condemn it as 'evil. the fourth dimensional prison warders wish to prevent us from knowing who we are, how we have b

and women by striking out from the mental prison and shouting to everyone who can hear "i will not be imprisoned by the mind of another. i am what i am and what i am needs no excuses" i read an article by a jewish-born writer called jon ronson who wrote of the way his religion and culture have reacted to him. he could quite easily have been speaking of the extreme versions of christianity, islam, hinduism, or so many youwill- believe-this-because-i-say-so cultures and belief systems. jon ronson wrote an article in the london time out magazine about his attendance at the jewish funeral of his grandmother, in which he recalled: 438..and the truth shall set you free "i'm the only person in the room who doesn't understand what the hell's going on. i'm jealous of the warmth of their identity, e

on "justified" by an excuse which insulted the intelligence. ronson later wrote an article about me which, as witnesses will confirm, gave an outrageously inaccurate account of our short meeting. when you respect another's freedom, mr ronson, you will enjoy freedom yourself. but not until. you create your own reality, as we all do. if you are being imprisoned by judaism, roman catholicism, islam, hinduism, or one of the others, you have the opportunity to make a great contribution to the freedom of yourself and those in your position. the awakening of the human consciousness will turn the droves into a tidal wave of people walking away from this intergenerational thought and behaviour control. many volunteers have incarnated into these cultures and religions at this time to do just that. a

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

in the two world wars and that's provable (see..and the truth shall set you free. so let us summarise the scam (a) you need to first imprison the human mind with a rigid belief and a fundamentally limited sense of reality- the sheep pen. it doesn't much matter what these beliefs may be, so long as they are rigid and discourage free thought and open-minded questions. christianity, judaism, islam, hinduism, and all the rest, each make their contribution to human servitude while apparently claiming different "truths (b) you encourage those who follow these rigid beliefs to impose them on others and make life very difficult and unpleasant for anyone who does not conform (c) you bring these beliefs into conflict, so ensuring the divide and rule you so desperately need for control by the few. w

religions have emerged- the continuation of the knowledge and bloodlines of atlantis and lemuria. they may interpret this base information slightly differently and emphasise different strands, but the core from which they have come is the same: the atlantean, lemurian and sumer empires and their belief system, not least its focus on the worship of the sun. where did christianity, judaism, islam, hinduism, buddhism, and others like zoroasterism, etc, etc, all emerge from? the middle and near east, the vast region ruled from sumer at one time and still dominated by that knowledge base and belief system in the thousands of years that followed sumer's atlantis revisited 51 demise. the sumerian story of king sargon is a classic case. they said that his mother floated him in a basket of rushes

empire, although a wonder for its time, did not reach the heights of the golden age and eventually collapsed, breaking up into warring factions. many of these wars are described in the stories of the old testament when it seems everyone was fighting everyone else in that heart centre of the anunnaki, the middle and near east, from where the major religions have all emerged, including what is now hinduism. this could also be the reason for the theme in the old testament of "worship no other god than me" some researchers have even presented evidence that high-tech weaponry was used in the anunnaki conflicts, including nuclear warheads. the sumerian and indian accounts give support to this. it may be that the "mist" that poisoned the rivers and water supplies and left the sumer region an uni

nati to destroy or marginalize the cultures of the native americans, central and south americans, black africans, the australian aborigines, and the "pagan" religion in general. this is what they did, of course, as even conventional history records, but it never tells you the real reason why or who was really behind it. by replacing these native cultures with imposed christianity, judaism, islam, hinduism, and all the rest, they could either crush the true knowledge with rigid dogma, or imprison it in a gruesome hierarchical structure of genetic "superiority, as with the hindu caste system. the unholy alliance 107 columba(us) the interconnections of the illuminati web can be seen in the story of christopher columbus. he sailed to the americas in 1492 knowing basically where he was going be

the "place of bread" and jesus said he was "the bread of life. the priesthood took the ancient sumer sun religion, esoteric, astrological and astronomical knowledge, and the stories of their reptilian gods, and buried them in symbolic fables. this hid their real meaning, except to initiates, while introducing the rigid beliefs of the prison religions. every major religion, judaism, christianity, hinduism, islam, and buddhism all had the same basic origin: the knowledge and beliefs of sumer, which inherited the knowledge and beliefs of atlantis and lemuria. the major religions were all founded in the lands once occupied by the sumer empire. they may have emphasised different elements of the sumer beliefs, but that was the mould from which they all came. the priesthood's job was to withdraw

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

t was said, held the keys to the doors of heavenand he was the sole intermediary between god and humanity, therefore any belief notsupported by him was false and should be condemned. this was a wonderful tool forthe babylonian priesthood to impose their will on the populous and exactly the samescam has been played by their successors, the christian priests, the rabbis and thepriesthoods of islam, hinduism and all the rest. the roman catholic title of cardinalcomes from the word cardo meaning hinge and relates to nimrods role as guardian ofthe door to heaven.10 the babylonian priests even established a governing body theycalled the grand council of pontiffs, a name later transferred to the church of rome.11the babylonian high priest, who instructed the inner circle initiates, was known as

at is not to condemn all people who call themselves christian. there are many whoexpress a loving spirituality through their christian beliefs. i am talking of the institutionof christianity and its arrogant indoctrination and imposition of its desperately limitedvision of life which has created a mind-prison for literally billions of people over almost2,000 years. all the worlds major religions, hinduism, christianity, judaism and islam,came out of the very same region of the middle and near east from which the aryanrace and the reptile crossbreeds emerged after the cataclysm of perhaps 7,000 years ago.these religions were designed to imprison the mind and engulf the emotions with fearand guilt. they were usually based on some saviour-god figure like jesus ormohammed and only by believing

id, p 172.103cmapter fiveconquered by the crossthe christian church is a farce founded on a fantasy. if anyone requires confirmationof how easy it is for the few to control the masses, they need look no further than thebillions of people who have worshipped the fairy tales peddled these past 2,000 yearsby men in long frocks. and what goes for christianity goes for the rest of them,judaism, islam, hinduism and all the rest.these religions were created by the same force to achieve the same effect and,therefore, the saviour-god myths throughout the ancient world have an identical gameplan: 1 you are born with original sin and so you are an unworthy piece of shit from theday you arrive on the planet. 2 you can only be saved by believing in the saviour andthat means doing what the priesthood te

DEMONIC BIBLE

baha i faith, a religious group which believes baha ullah, a persian nobleman of the late 19th century, to be the most recent manifestation of god. he has spent the past three years studying the baha i writings and the religious texts of other major world religions. his experience in proclaiming deitus as the word of the new aeon had convinced him that the prophets of the world s great religions (hinduism, judaism, zoroastrianism, buddhism, etc) were influenced by the same dark god that dictated the book of the law and the book of coming forth by night. key to this belief in a commonality between satanism (and other religions of the lefthand- path) and the baha i faith (and other religions of the right-hand-path) are the words of anton lavey in the satanic bible who writes that in an age o

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

ond of the four kabalistic worlds in descending order. it means world of creation. brujeria: although based on voodoo (q.v, brujeria has a distinctly hispanic-american flavor, being the spiritual/magickal system of the barrio. buddhism: a religion and philosophy of life based on the teachings and example gautama siddhartha, the buddha. siddhartha was an indian prince who followed the teachings of hinduism, and lived during the sixth (6th) century before christ or before the common era. buddha is a title of accomplishment and of respect, and means "enlightened one" buddhism teaches freedom from attachment to worldly things by getting rid of suffering caused by one's desires- c- calls (keys, enochian: invocations (q.v) to the enochian (q.v) angels (q.v) dictated to john dee through his seer

q.v) level of twenty (20) percent and eighty-four (84) percent of accuracy and reliability. sephirah: hebrew for "sphere" pronounced "seh-fear-ah" it is a sphere or area or emanation on the tree of life (q.v. sephirohth: pronounced "seh-fear-oht" the plural of sephirah (q.v. serpent: in alchemy (q.v, the result of heating a substance in the athanor (q.v. in sex magick, it is the semen. shakta: in hinduism and eastern occultism, the male seed or spark of light that impregnates the womb of the universal goddess, shakti (q.v, and allows her to give birth to all things. it is viewed as a god in tantrik doctrine. shakta does not himself exist, but he enables existence. shakti: in hinduism and eastern occultism, the universal power of realization that creates and sustains the world from moment t

ure of the divine being is a blending of opposites. this word has been mis-pronounced as yahweh and mis-transliterated as jehovah by ill informed people. even to this day, the name is said to be so holy by the jews, the word, adonai, is said in yhvh's place while reading the scriptures. yoga: sanskrit for "union" especially refers to a union between a person and divinity. religious disciplines of hinduism (q.v. hatha yoga, which involves physical postures and breathing techniques designed to promote a unity of mind and body, and a unity between man and god, is only one of the many systems of yoga. raja yoga involves mental exercises, karma yoga relies on good works, and bhakti yoga uses religious devotion, mantra yoga involves chanting, laya yoga (q.v) seeks to awaken kundalini (q.v, and j

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

risks incidental to ceremonial magic if the problem of psychic self-defence is to be adequately dealt with, we must have an understanding of a subject upon which very little has been written- the nature of the forces of intelligent and organised evil. the great faiths of the ancient world all had their evil gods as well as their beneficent deities, and they did not call these evil gods devils. in hinduism we have shiva and kali; in the egyptian system we have set and besz and typhon; in the grecian pantheon there are pluto and hecate. all the other faiths, also, have their angelic choirs, their archons, or builders, and all the hierarchy of heaven. protestant christianity alone has forgotten its angiology, the creator has to be both architect of the universe and bricklayer, forming man fro

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

d as alchemical symbolism, since the athanor was also the furnace supplying heat for the alchemical process. the term athanor is also employed to denote moral and philosophical alchemy. atkinson, william walker (1862.1932) lawyer william walker atkinson was an important early exponent of new thought metaphysics and the occult, and, under the name of swami ramacharaka, he was a pioneer advocate of hinduism and yoga. atkinson was born december 5, 1862, in baltimore, maryland, and began his legal career after he was admitted to the pennsylvania bar in 1894. his promising future, however, began to dissolve as he found himself unable to cope with the pressures of the job. doctors were unable to heal him, but in his search for health, he discovered the mind cure movement and was soon healed. he

thought- force: in business and everyday life, appeared in 1900. it was followed by such prominent new thought titles as the law of new thought (1902, the inner consciousness (1908, how to know human nature: its inner states and outer forms (1913, and the new thought: its history and principles, or the message of new thought (1915. soon after moving to chicago, atkinson became deeply involved in hinduism and saw in yogic philosophy a parallel to his new thought teachings. in 1903, under the pseudonym swami ramacharaka, atkinson issued his first hindu text, fourteen lessons in yoga philosophy and oriental occultism. it was followed by the advanced course in yogi philosophy (1904, hindu yogi science of breath (1904, hatha yoga (1905, reincarnation and the law of karma (1908, and eight more

the kabala. august spirits, shelf of the in japan, it used to be customary for every house to have a room set apart, called the spirit chamber, in which there was a shelf or shrine with tablets bearing the names of the deceased members of the family, with the sole addition of the word mitama (spirit. this is a species of ancestor worship and is known as home worship. aum (or om) a sacred sound in hinduism, composed of three syllables. a-u-m.merging into each other. the sound is used to preface and end the reading of sacred scriptures and prayers and is used in most mantras. aum is also the subject of intricate mystical symbolism as a subject for meditation and is said to contain the origin of the alphabet and all sounds. in this respect it parallels the shemhamforasch of jewish mysticism a

is decline of dharma (righteous duty, and unrighteousness is dominant, then i am reborn. for the protection of the virtuous, the destruction of evil-doers, and to reestablish righteousness, i am reborn from age to age. belief in repeated divine reincarnations of the deities for the good of the world, as distinct from one unique messianic event, is one of the major theological differences between hinduism and western religions such as judaism and christianity. avebury avebury is possibly the most spectacular of the ancient megalithic monuments in the british isles, far surpassing in size the more well-known stonehenge. like stonehenge, it is located in wiltshire. enough of the monument has survived that a picture of what it looked like when it was completed can be reconstructed. the large

riences and generally promoted him in the society. besant paid dearly for this friendship, as leadbeater was homosexual and his attraction to young boys became a second major scandal for the society. besant led the society until her death on september 21, 1933. she wrote several hundred books (many are transcripts of her lectures) that cover the scope of theosophical philosophy. she also explored hinduism and gave the society its current focus on hindu thought, as opposed to the buddhism that had attracted many of the first generation leaders. sources: besant, annie. annie besant: an autobiography. london, 1893. autobiographical sketches. london: freethought publishing, 1885. my path to atheism. london, 1877. why i became a theosophist. london: theosphical publishing society, 1891. besterm

ting the variant understandings of the deity as personal or impersonal in hindu thought. in the western work, the vedanta societies offer an impersonalist interpretation of the deity while the international society of krishna consciousness is a major exponent of the personalist approach. sources: the bhagavad gita. translated by juan mascaro. new york: penguin classics, 1962. oragan, troy wilson. hinduism: its historical development. woodbury, conn: barons educational series, 1974. prabhupada, a. c. bhaktivedanta swami. bhagavad gita as it is. new york: bhaktivedanta book trust, 1972 (frequently reprinted. bhagavan sri ramana maharshi center american center devoted to the teachings of sri ramana maharshi (1879.1950, a highly esteemed hindu mystic. the center focuses on his method of self-r

e ancient hindu tradition of renunciation of everyday householder life when one s responsibilities were fully discharged. at the age of 58 prabhupada became a swami, and in 1965, shortly before the change in american immigration laws relative to india, he immigrated to america. he preached the worship of krishna in new york and soon attracted students and dropouts, offering his brand of vaishnava hinduism in place of radicalism or drug counterculture. large contributions were made to iskcon funds by ex-beatle george harrison and b. m. birla, a wealthy indian textile magnate. swami bhaktivedanta spent much of his time distributing his translation of the bhagavad-gita and completing his translation and commentary on srimad-bhagavatam and a variety of other writings. he kept up a voluminous c

n outstanding eleventh-century astrologer whose writings compiled the astrological teachings of several cultures. al- biruni was born in uzbek, a country until recently a part of the former soviet union, located just north of iran and afghanistan. he grew up under the multicultural influences of persia, india, and the greek empire of alexander. here zoroastrian and manichean teaching mingled with hinduism and emerging islam. in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, and astrology, this area of the world, making the transition to islam, was far ahead of europe, then only beginning to recover its classical tradition. as a young man, al-biruni began to travel through persia, afghanistan, and india and to gather the material for one of his important books, chronologies of ancient nations, detail

t message. their presence is a primary sign of the influence of theosophy and french spiritualism on the movement from its beginning. cao dai developed as a synthesis of religions, trying to take universal truths and insights common to christianity, buddhism, taoism, confucianism, and genism (all present in vietnam, as well as theosophy and spiritualism. it later included islam, zorastrianism and hinduism in its research. among the common beliefs that the cao dai have asserted is the belief in the one god, the ongoing connection of each religion to its source, and the principles of love and justice. it is the assertion of cai dao, that any believer following the esoteric practice of their present religion will lead them to the same ultimate goal. the cao dai also teach a set of esoteric pr

da, associated with the center and merged his organization, new life worldwide, with it. davis succeeded o neal as head of csa in 1977. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. center for spiritual awareness 261 under davis s leadership, the center for spiritual awareness expanded to become the church of the christian spiritual alliance (which in spite of its name teaches kriya yoga and hinduism as originally expounded by swami yogananda and the self-realization fellowship. the center is now the teaching department of the church of the christian spiritual alliance. meditation retreats and seminars are offered at the headquarters as well as in several north american cities. it publishes the truth journal. address: po box 7, lakemont, ga 30552- 0001. website: http//www.csa-davis.or

ely a personification of an individual s unconscious or higher self. in other cases, communications may emanate from an impersonal source of intelligence that establishes a channel by assuming a conventional personality. throughout history, popular religions have found it difficult to establish contact with a more austere impersonal deity, such as the concept of brahman, the infinite, in esoteric hinduism, and have found it convenient to postulate a host of anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, which become a familiar focus for worshipers in societies based on interpersonal relationships. religion requires the spiritualization of emotions, and it is difficult to attach emotions of love or veneration to an impersonal absolute. in christianity, the concepts of god the father and god the son ha

tnessed is but a reflection (practically perfect, however) of the original records. it requires a high degree of occult development in order to perceive even this reflection in the astral light. an ordinary clairvoyant, however, is often able to catch occasional glimpses of these astral pictures, and may thus describe fairly well happenings of the past. the concept of akashic records derives from hinduism as transmitted through the theosophical society and the teachings of madame helena petrovna blavatsky, who claimed that such records were accessible to a gifted percipient. sources: panchadasi, swami. the astral world: its scenes, dwellers, and phenomena. chicago: advanced thought publishing, 1915. cosmic voice (newsletter) monthly newsletter of the aetherius society, promulgating the tea

s from the root div (to shine) and may be related to the persian divs. indra was foremost among the ancient hindu gods and deva-loka was his heaven. in later mythology, indra became inferior to agni, vayu, and surya, but remained in power over other gods and spirits. the deva-loka of the gods included many nature spirits and angels. according to theosophical teachings (which partially derive from hinduism) devas constitute the ranks or orders of spirits who compose the hierarchy that rules the universe under the deity. their numbers are vast and their functions are not all known to mankind, though generally these functions may be said to be connected with the evolution of systems and of life. of devas there are three kinds.bodiless devas, form devas, and passion devas. bodiless devas belon

these and similar lines were invented by an eccentric bookseller named charles hindley, who had published them for a prank. he had already confessed to the hoax years earlier, but by then the prophecies had passed into folklore, and ordinary country people did not have access to the learned journals in which the hoax was discussed. the end of the world concept figures in eastern religions such as hinduism and buddhism, but eastern and western eschatology differ radically in their concepts of time. in esoteric hinduism, time is regarded as a limitation of human consciousness and as illusory as the material world itself, designated as maya. on a popular level, hindu mythology proposes vast cycles of time (yugas) in the ages of the world, during which there are great periods of creation, righ

kept the original teachings intact, and they were eventually passed in their purity to the masonic leadership. in the modern age, due to the evolution of the race, more people are now capable of receiving and safely handling that secret wisdom that is now being disseminated by the masonic lodges. that secret wisdom came from the ancient east and middle east, and both eastern religions (especially hinduism) and western mystical systems such as kabalism assist the process of describing it. the ancient wisdom myth of freemasonry found an origin in the bible, a significantly more acceptable source to a christian establishment than arabia and the muslim countries of rosicrucianism. in 1 kings 7:13.45, the masons found the story of hiram. hiram was employed by king solomon to work on the temple

osthumous test committee. she took special interest in work with mediums. from her research she wrote articles for the journal of the spr. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. gay, kathleen agnes robson 623 sources: pleasants, helene, ed. biographical dictionary of parapsychology. new york: helix press, 1964. gayatri mantra the most famous and powerful mantra( power sound prayer) of hinduism. it is said to have been revealed to the great sage vishwamitra, preceptor of prince rama of the ramayana religious epic. its origin, however, is believed to have been the supreme creative force brahma, before the vedic scriptures were revealed. thus the gayatri mantra has been named vedamata (mother of the vedas. every devout brahmin is required to perform the gayatri mantra each morning

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

copernic, paris, and was intended to propagate knowledge of spiritism. it became the secretariat of the federation spirite internationale (international spiritualists federation) and hosted the second international spiritualist congress in paris in 1925 (see also france) maithuna sanskrit term for sexual intercourse, one practice espoused in tantric yoga. tantra differs from more ascetic forms of hinduism in eschewing the way of denial. instead of refraining from such things as alcohol and sex in order to attain spiritual realization, tantra suggests using items commonly denied as a tool to enlightenment. sexuality is by far the most controversial of such tools. within tantric systems, the practice of maithuna may be either symbolic (the right-hand path) or actual (the left hand path. tant

ty is by far the most controversial of such tools. within tantric systems, the practice of maithuna may be either symbolic (the right-hand path) or actual (the left hand path. tantra seeks union with the goddess shakti and speaks of the male s union with the goddess. in left-hand rites, the woman is seen as the goddess present in flesh. tantra also developed the understanding of occult anatomy in hinduism focused in the seven chakras, or psychic centers, located horizontally in the body from the base of the spine to the top of the head, and kundalini, the mystical energy that is usually pictured as lying latent, like a coiled serpent, at the base of the spine. in tantric practice, kundalini is released to travel up the spine, opening the chakras, and eventually bringing enlightenment. in r

ity of hidden masters or mahatmas living in remote tibet. since the idea of the masters and their great white brotherhood has been popularized, numerous groups such as the several alice bailey groups, the i am movement, and the church universal and triumphant, now advocate a relationship to the masters. much of western occultism derives from romantic concepts of adepts with magical powers, but in hinduism, mystical awareness of god-realization is considered superior to paranormal feats, and to the hindu pupil, the master is his guru, or spiritual teacher. the term mahatma is used to indicate a special guru or great soul, and maharishi or maharshi denotes a great sage of transcendental wisdom. another sanskrit term paramahansa (literally greatest swan) is given to a very exalted mystic. the

nters. his theory was that a kind of collective consciousness produced the intellectual results. the book, the result of ten years of research, is a valuable contribution to psychical literature. sources: maxwell, joseph. la divination. paris: e. flammarion, 1927. la magie. paris: e. flammarion, 1922. les phenomenes psychiques (metapsychical phenomena. london: duckworth, 1905. maya a term used in hinduism to denote the illusory nature of the world or empirical reality. it is to be distinguished from delusion, since it implies that there is something present, although not what it seems to be. according to the vedas, the ancient scriptures of india, the divine infinity of brahman (impersonal absolute) or brahma (creative god) is real and is present in empirical reality but is veiled by the i

r which in turn appears to have been reflected upon the entire hebrew alphabet (see kabala. the alphabet was endowed with mystical meaning, each of the letters representing a vital and creative number. just as a language is formed from the letters of its alphabet, so from the secret powers that resided in the hebrew alphabet were magical variations evolved [comparable concepts existed in esoteric hinduism (see aum] there are many species of angels and powers. more exalted intelligences were conjured by rites to be found in the ancient book known as the key of solomon the king, and perhaps the most satisfactory collection of formulae for the invocation of the higher angels is that included in the anonymous theosophia pneumatica, published at frankfurt in 1686, which bears a strong family re

lso shut off from the outside world in total concentration upon a predetermined thought. roman catholics, for example, have a number of meditative practices built around contemplation of particular episodes in the life of jesus, the virgin mary, or the saints, while protestants have extolled the value of contemplating verses of scripture. eastern meditation traditions are numerous and complex. in hinduism, for example, meditation was usually taught by a guru only to a properly qualified pupil who had already followed a pathway of sadhana, or spiritual discipline that ensured purification at all levels. the various yoga systems describe such spiritual disciplines in detail, with special emphasis on moral restraints and ethical observances. meditation without such preliminary training was co

the first international conference on parapsychology. utrecht, 1953. telepathy as a form of archaic communication. psychiatric quarterly 23 (1949. unobtrusive communication. assen, the netherlands: van gorcum, 1964. meher baba (1894.1969) indian spiritual teacher and mystic, born merwin s. irani on february 25, 1894 in poona, india. his parents were parsees, but he was strongly influenced by both hinduism and sufi mysticism and was educated at a christian high school. at the age of 19, he contacted hazrat babajan, an elderly moslem female saint, who kissed his forehead and, as he later related, induced divine consciousness and a state of ecstatic bliss. after that, he devoted his life to religious teaching, usually expressed in a rather erratic fashion, involving journeys with disciples th

who saw him as the advocate of a new methodology for the study of tribal cultures. in spite of the revelations of his deceit, castaneda retains a loyal following. what began as an intellectual exercise to understand tribal cultures led in the 1960s to the development of a new subculture based on the consumption of drugs, and the emergence of prophets like richard alpert, who found a new vision in hinduism. sources: castaneda, carlos. the teachings of don juan. new york: ballentine books, 1969. de mille, richard. castaneda s journey: the power and the allegory. santa barbara, calif: capra press, 1976. the don juan papers. santa barbara, calif: ross- erikson, 1980. la barre, weston. the peyote cult. new york: schocken books, 1969. leary, timothy. flashbacks. los angeles: jeremy tarcher, 1983

t ragas (scale patterns) are regarded as specific for certain times of the day or seasons of the year, and their microtonal intervals and grace notes involve vibrations that are unknown to the well-tempered scale of western nations. ragas, properly performed, are said to evoke beautiful forms or have paranormal effects. encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. music (paranormal) 1075 in hinduism, the first manifestation of creation was said to be that of subtle sound vibration, giving rise to the forms of the material world. each sound produced a form, and combinations of sound created complicated shapes. this is also the basis of mantra yoga. the creative power of sound is also echoed in the christian scripture: in the beginning was the word, and the word was with god, and the w

a more natural affinity that with the non-mystic members of their own religious tradition. it is obvious that they are dealing with an element in human experience common to all of humankind. when meister eckhart stated, if i am to know god directly, i must become completely he, and he i: so that this he and this i become and are one i, he comes to the same point as the advaita vedanta doctrine of hinduism, where the jiva (individual soul) merges with brahma the creator before absorption in brahman, the non-personal divine ground. sufism, islamic mysticism, first arose in the ninth century among the persian moslems, probably as a protest against the severe monotheism of their religion, but in all likelihood more ancient springs contributed to its revival. in the persia of hafiz and saadi, p

n of love. it is certain that many of them exhibit the fervor of souls searching for communion with the highest. the apparent differences between hindu mysticism and christian mysticism are nominal. although christian theology postulates the divine in the form of god as father, son, and holy spirit, such distinctions become largely unimportant in the actual mystical experience. similarly, popular hinduism postulates hundreds of different gods and goddesses, but these are merely legal fictions to the indian mystic, melting away in the totality of higher consciousness. because mind and emotion are transcended in the higher reaches of mysticism, they are seen by mystics as merely ways of reaching a reality that lies beyond them, a totality of consciousness without object, beyond the normal hu

world. it is clear that the ideal mystic partakes fully of the duties and social responsibility of life after spiritual enlightenment, since mystical experience should give deeper meaning to the reality behind the everyday mundane world. for most individuals, however, a period of retreat from everyday life is helpful in disengaging oneself from the fears, desires, and egoism of mundane existence. hinduism places great stress on dharma, the duties and responsibilities of the individual, which take priority over any desire for transcendentalism. during this period one would observe the everyday religious rites and rituals related to the gods and goddesses of an individual s life. later, however, when one had fulfilled one s responsibilities, married, begat a family, and provided for them, th

974. waite, arthur edward. the unknown philosopher: louis claude de st. martin. blauvelt, n.y: rudolf steiner publications, 1970. order of napunsakas in the west the order of napunsakas in the west (on) was founded in 1996 as a special interest group (sig) associated with the thelemic magical order the servants of the star and the snake (sss. it was inspired by the writings of the late scholar of hinduism, alain danielou (author of such books as the gods of india: hindu polytheism; shiva and dionysus and while the gods play. the hindu word napunsaka designates some 16 categories of non-heterosexual, gender variant types mentioned in the sanskrit dictionary of v. s. apete. members of the order seek to reestablish the natural, divine order found in pre-aryan shaivism, but with an emphasis on

fellow human beings. the disciple has now reached the end of the journey and is no longer trammelled with sin or with anything that can hinder him or her from entering the state of supreme bliss, where he or she is reunited with the divine consciousness. this theosophical scheme of spiritual realization has similarities with other mystical paths both east and west, but has a special affinity with hinduism. sources: leadbeater, charles w. the masters and the path. chicago: theosophical press, 1925. pathetism term used to denote mesmerism or animal magnetism by la roy sunderland (1804.1885, a minister and prominent public advocate of the magnetist movement in america in the middle of the nineteenth century. sunderland is a contemporary of james braid, who is generally credited with seculariz

approved marian apparitions. sources: beaumont, barbara. pellvoisen: our lady reveals the devotion to the sacred heart scapular. chulmleugh, devon, uk: augustine publishing house, 1986. sharkey, don. the woman shall conquer. kenosha, wis: franciscan marytown press, 1976. pencovic, francis heindswater (1911.1958) founder of the wflk foundation of the world, a communal religious group with roots in hinduism. pencovic operated under his religious name, krishna venta. raised a mormon, pencovic became a public figure in his new identity in the 1930s and founded the group he led in the 1940s. he was killed by some dissident members in 1958 and the group finally disbanded in the early 1980s. sources: mathison, richard. faiths, cults, and sects of america. indianapolis: bibbs-merrill, 1960. ormont

are factors in prayer that are applicable to both religious and secular frames of thought, that faith and confidence enhance psychic factors at present not clearly identified. even such mundane attempts to influence events as the willing of the fall of dice in parapsychological research may hold clues to the mechanisms of prayer. again, it is interesting to note that in such ancient religions as hinduism, the gods are said to be unable to avoid granting requests when the petitioner has practiced intense austerities. this idea suggests that spiritual disciplines may bring about psychophysical changes in the petitioner that influence events. secondary aspects of traditional prayer that may also have relevance are the ritualistic forms of prayers and the need for constant repetition, which

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

nifest, and dissolve. in the qabalah, the lord hvhy is the immense i-ness that knows itself as pure being in the unmanifest supernal realm, and pervades everything from elohim down to the lowest creature in the lower worlds of manifestation. this supreme, unifying i-ness is worshipped in christianity as christos, in islam as allah, and in the tantras as the divine mother kali. it is worshipped in hinduism as ishvara, in tibetan buddhism as vajradhara or avalokiteshvara, in taoism as the divine mother kwan yin, and in the polynesian kahuna tradition as the goddess pele.9 an individual with this level of awareness directly perceives the innate identity of themselves and all beings with that one indwelling spirit. the perspective of unqualified non-dualism in the qabalah is that the ayn alone

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

form. consequently there is both grist and chaff in the qabalah, a medley of wisdom and nonsense which often defies separation. the outstanding advantage of this plagiarizing is that it offers something to everyone; consequently the qabalah has developed into a world-embracing philosophy well adapted to the ideals of a world-scattered race. in secret wisdom of the qabalah page 13 it will be found hinduism, taoism, buddhism, zoroastrianism, christianity, theism, deism, dualism, agnosticism, pantheism, satanism, spiritualism, and atheism; for every cult, except polytheism, has burnt offerings on the altar of the qabalistic mystery- magically depicted in the form of the pan-like baphomet. it is this extraordinary universality which it is important to remember, for it has been the binding forc

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

key-notes of a great spiritual divine concealed power, of its emanations in manifestation, of its energizing of human life, of the prolonged existence of human souls, and of the temporary state of corporeal existence, are fundamental doctrines there fully illustrated; and these are the points of contact between the kabalah of the jew and the so-called esotericism of the teachings of buddha and of hinduism. it might be well argued that the catholic church, from which the protestant church was derived, was from its origin in the possession of the hebrew secret of the intentional exotericism of the bible, and of a priestly mode of understanding it, the esotericism of the kabalah, as a key to the true explanations of the jewish books, which being apparently histories are really largely allegor

ver europe, so in earlier times we observe the same alterations to have occurred in the east; in persia with zoroaster, in india with the promulgation of the vedas, in egypt with the osirian myth, and with moses, david and solomonamong the jews, we have seen spiritual developments,butin each case the search for purity of conduct faded out after a few centuries. india, indeed, notwithstanding that hinduism degenerated into a faith which recognised devas and spirits of every type or debasement, seems alwaysto have produced a stream of learned rishis- men who handed down to their posterity some fragments of the primeval learning concerning the origin, structure and destiny of the world and of its inhabitants. india, too, had a second period of enlightenment by the life and doctrines of gautam

sophy was a leaven imported into english thought,butit was clearly nota recent spiritual development 291desirable that it should supplant the christianity of europe, and blavatsky's successor, annie besant, made a serious error in continuing theosophic development still further on hindoo lines, for there came on a tendency to drift into later hindoo retrograde notions and the lax morals of recent hinduism. blavatsky, in criticizing the churches of europe, failed to recognize that behind their failings lay the divine basis of the christ spirit, and besant has erred in the same way. i do not thinkitwise to overlook the fact that another tendency is arising in the minds and is shown in the teachings of more recent students: there is appearing a new presentation of christ and of his teaching:

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

t it is imperative to decode these perennial motifs are they solve once and for all the mystery of evil. the image of satan has three primary motifs within it, these can be found in the old testament, apocryphal sources (with some ot/nt references) and within the new testament. these are mirrored in other esoteric traditions, for example, the old testament view of satan as tester is also found in hinduism. these three motifs can be summarised as follows: 1. the satan-saturn complex the illusion of cosmological evil (perceptional dualism) 2. the watchers evil as ignorance (fallen astral forms (temporary dualism) 3. evil as ignorance (ethical dualism) these three models are found quite clearly in different forms of scripture. the satan as tester image is primarily old testament, the watchers

architect father, his family owned a vineyard which was passed to his younger brother as it was obvious rene had a flair for the academic but was not gifted in either the arts or winemaking. moving to paris in his youth he had contact with many occult organizations, becoming a student of papus for a period. by 1912 he had become an initiated sufi and became deeply immersed in the esoteric of both hinduism and islam. after the death of his wife in the 1930's he left to spend the rest of his life in isolation in cairo, rejected the modern world. he again married and live with his egyptian wife under the name abdel wahed yahi. he died on the 7th january 1951. guenon's earliest works are meant to clear the way for a real appraisal of esotericism and gnosis, they are bitter and incisive attacks

nd followed a similar path to that of the perfected ones, however perfection was not required of them. the cathari form a major link in the lineage of the modern mysteries and sustained the esoteric teachings while under persecution from the apostate church and transmitted them, via small sects and cults, to today's gnostics. the gnostic handbook page 109 wisdom from india to give an example from hinduism of the amoral path. we find in traditional hindu (tantric- vedic) tantra there are two distinct traditions, the right and left hand path. these have nothing to do with white and black magic as the ignorant suggest but are two distinct methodologies of redemption. the right hand path is symbolic and the images regarding sexuality are applied symbolically with strict moral codes enforced. t

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

es mankind has are artificial, they have evolved as the "powers that be" would like them to evolve. hence to really understand what we are talking about you need to put aside your pre-conceptions. now this will be difficult, so many words have connotations which have been deliberately programmed to have us react in certain ways. we have developed certain "understandings" of christianity, judaism, hinduism, democracy, politics etc. all of which may or may not be true, but nevertheless all of which probably originated from the system around us, rather than from within ourselves. it is always important to realise the extent to which language can be moulded to suit different worldviews and used to create specific reactions and impressions. in some ways we might agree with the discussion in ali

ou some idea of his system we have included a selection of same. following each level is given the directing intelligence, communication structure, science, religion and religious metaphor (fig 5) gnostic theurgy page 31 level. directing. communication science. religious intelligence. structure. metaphor. atomic. atomic. electron. physics. buddhism nucleus white light cellular. dna. rna. biology. hinduism reincarnation. somatic autonomic organs of the body.physiology. tantra. nerve plexes. kundalini. sensory. brain. sense organs. neurology. zen, sufism enlightenment mental-social. mind imprint. social behaviour. psychology. protestantism christ, messiah emotional. endocrines. emotional behaviour.psychiatry. fundamentalism the devil. void. body as flesh. body as flesh. anaesthesiology death

that the concept of reincarnation became unpopular. this disavowal was coupled with the development of new teachings regarding the trinity, eternal hellfire and purgatory that were imported into the church for political reasons by emperor constantine. it was only in ad 553 at the second council of constantinople that the church finally and formally condemned the doctrine of reincarnation. in both hinduism and buddhism reincarnation is a central doctrine. in the bhagavad gita, we find krishna expounding the theory of reincarnation to arjuna, a wise and powerful warrior. the fascinating thing about this dialogue is its emphasis on spiritual action. krishna tells does not tell arjuna to abandon the battle and retire to a monastery, but to return and fight and even die, if the need be, fightin

iritual darkness. there is always positive and negative, passive and active. while there is a balance logos and sophia, for example, there is the duality between good and evil, ascension and degradation, x and y factors. the importance of the sun/son can be found in most esoteric traditions, whether it be baal in the early el tradition of canaan, the messiah of the israelite mysteries, ganesha in hinduism or the mithra of the zoroastrians. it is the intermediary between the treasury of light and mankind. anti sophic forces sophia anti-logic forces logos fig 33 treasury of light world of the archons gnostic theurgy page 119 mithra is a fascinating case as there is a certain mythos which explains the nature of the solar sphere extremely well. while mithra is seen as a solar god, at times he

GRERALD SCHUELER AN ADVANCED GUIDE TO ENOCHIAN MAGICK

of light until it fills your entire body as it passes through you. complete success should feel like an orgasm throughout your entire body. it should not be concentrated in any specific area. the orgasmic bliss resulting from this meditation is exactly the same bliss that you will encounter in zip and is but a foretaste of what awaits you in arn. it is the amrita of the tantras and the ananda of hinduism and buddhism. it is caused by the so-called body of bliss, the spirit body that is behind/above the causal body. 162 a jnanamudra meditation blessed art thou, who hast seen, and yet hast not believed. for therefore is it given unto thee to taste, and smell, and feel, and hear, and know by the inner sense, and by the inmost sense, so that sevenfold is thy rapture. aleister crowley, the vis

ose and the cross. the rosy cross is a symbol for the union of the masculine and feminine currents. these currents rhythmically swirl through oxo. the feminine current is the strongest and is emphasized, but enough of the masculine current is here to provide the initiation. a successful initiation in oxo will furnish an understanding of the true purpose of life. it is a divine dance, the tila' of hinduism, a creative expression of the 230 music of the spheres. the ultimate purpose of life is to live. the purpose of being is to be. from the viewpoint of the serious and time-oriented ego, such an initiation is an abomination to be avoided. many who enter oxo leave in disgust, convinced that it is an evil region, although good and evil are always in the eyes of the beholder. these usually win

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

angels has been built. it is explained in vol. ii of the secret doctrine. all our "egos" are thinking and rational entities (manasaputas) who had lived, whether under human or other forms, in the precedent life cycle (manvantara, and whose karma it was to incarnate in the man of this one. it was taught in the mysteries that, having delayed to comply with this law (or having "refused to create" as hinduism says of the kumaras and christian legend of the archangel michael, i.e, having failed to incarnate in due time, the bodies predestined for them got defiled, hence the original sin of the senseless forms and the punishment of the egos. that which is meant by the rebellious angels being hurled down into hell is simply explained by these pure spirits or egos being imprisoned in bodies of unc

ISIS UNVEILED

o chai^ him with an intent to destroy christianity. if by qhrittianuy is meant the vernal religious forms of worship, then he certainly seeks to destroy it, for in his eyes, as well as in those of every truly religious man who has studied ancient exoteric faiths and their symbology, christianity is pure heathenism, and catholicism, with its fetish-worshiping, is far worse and more pernicious than hinduism in its most idolatrous aspect. but while denouncing the exoteric forms and unmasking the symbols, it is sot the reli^on of christ that the author attacks, but the artificial system fa theology. we will allow him to illustrate the position in his own language, and quote from his preface" when vampires were discovered by the acumen of any observer" he says "they were, we are told, ignominio

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

only work that is at all easily available is the translation by westcott. it includes a translation of the thirty-two paths, but those familiar with the original suggest that it is inferior to the other translations of the sefer yetsirah. the absence of any adequate edition of the sefer yetsirah in english is typical of the state of affairs of jewish mystical texts in general. while the texts of hinduism, buddhism, taoism, tantracism, shintoism and sufism are readily available in cheap paper editions, the major texts of jewish mysticism are mostly untranslated and unpublished (kabbalah, p. 284: additional notes to footnote 3, page 39* the stenring and rabbi a[kiva ben] joseph translations mentioned in ponce s note are, in fact, one and the same. further, stenring s tabulation of the 32 pa

LAITMAN M KABBALAH SCIENCE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

r e c e i v i n g f o r c e 55 higher elements, in the sense that they precede all religions and belief systems. kabbalah is about the two working forces of reality, the giving force, called creator, and the receiving force, called creature. kabbalah has nothing to do with any religion or any faith. i do not want to compare kabbalah to other teachings, nor do i wish to discuss any religion, be it hinduism, judaism, christianity, or islam. after all, why deal with religion when we can discuss the physics of the upper world? the challenge in explaining this material is that we cannot compare our emotions. we cannot say that the term, upper force that one person feels is identical to the term, upper force that another person feels. hence, trying to compare this or that teaching to the kabbala

LEFT HAND PATH AND RIGHT HAND PATH

all things. with his left hand he punishes. this hints at the obic nature of the lhp. it should be noted that the terms "left" and "right" as applied to politics, meaning "liberal" and "conservative" respectively, have an independent origin; they are derived from the seating in the french legislative assembly in 1791. usage in tantra tantra, a set of esoteric indian traditions with roots in both hinduism and buddhism, is often divided by its practicioners into two different paths: dakshinachara and vamachara, translated as right-hand path and left-hand path respectively. dakshinachara consists of traditional hindu practices such as asceticism and meditation, while vamachara also includes ritual practices that go against the grain of mainstream hinduism, including sexual rituals, consumpti

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

louisiana marshes in the quest for favorite. the detective finally discovers that he is johnny favorite, who had previously failed to honor his contract when he sold his soul to the devil. angel of death the notion of an angel or demon who extracts the soul from the body at death seems to have developed from earlier notions of divinities of death. such figures are widespread in world culture. in hinduism, for example, yama is the god of the dead. in the earliest vedic texts, yama ruled an afterlife realm not unlike the norse valhalla in which the deceased enjoyed carnal pleasures. as hinduism was transformed in the post-vedic period, yama became a rather grim demigod, who snared the souls of the departed and conducted them to the otherworld. the notion of an angel of death was most fully

angel of death is defeated, especially by human deception. in these tales he is portrayed as being rather stupid. and in the final group, the angel of death is moved by compassion to spare someone s life or otherwise to act benevolently. in many of these narratives, the confrontation with the angel of death occurs on a wedding night, during which one of the two betrothed is fated to die. see also hinduism; judaism; satan for further reading: encyclopaedia judaica. vol. 2. new york:macmillan, 1971. sykes, egerton. who s who: non-classical mythology. new york: oxford, 1993. wigoder, geoffrey. the encyclopedia of judaism. new york:macmillan, 1989. angel on my shoulder this 1946 film was first made as a comedy then remade for television in 1980. the central narrative is built around the timewo

ll as a serpent angel. the term appolion has also been used to mean hell itself as a place. see also demons; satan for further reading: godwin,malcolm. angels: an endangered species. new york: simon and schuster, 1990. ronner, john. know your angels. murfreesboro, tn: mamre, 1993. apsaras apsaras, a word derived from the sanskrit ap, which means water, refers to a form of spiritual being found in hinduism and buddhism. as the nymphs of south asia, they are best known for their inordinate interest in sex. they are said to reside alternately in the sky or in trees. the mistresses of the gandharvas, they are shapeshifters who are fond of bathing. the apsaras are also singers and dancing girls. alternately, in the vedas, the most ancient religious texts of hinduism, the apsaras performed the r

tract his attention. unmoved by passion, mara changed tack and tried frightening gautama with ferocious demons. still undisturbed, mara finally challenged buddha s right to liberation. in response, gautama is said to have called the earth as his witness, whose response was so powerful that it frightened away mara and his hordes. that very night, the buddha achieved enlightenment. see also demons; hinduism for further reading: conze, edward. buddhist thought in india. 1962. reprint, ann arbor: university of michigan press, 1967. garg, ganga ram, ed. encyclopaedia of the hindu world. vol. 2. new delhi: concept publishing, 1992. ronner, john. know your angels: the angel almanac with biographies of 100 prominent angels in legend and folklore, and much more. murfreesboro, tn:mamre, 1993. stutle

thought in india. 1962. reprint, ann arbor: university of michigan press, 1967. garg, ganga ram, ed. encyclopaedia of the hindu world. vol. 2. new delhi: concept publishing, 1992. ronner, john. know your angels: the angel almanac with biographies of 100 prominent angels in legend and folklore, and much more. murfreesboro, tn:mamre, 1993. stutley,margaret, and james stutley. harper s dictionary of hinduism: its mythology, folklore, philosophy, literature, and history. new york: harper& row, 1977. aquinas, thomas anyone assailed is exercised by fighting against opposition. it was fitting for this procuring of man s welfare to be brought about through the wicked angels, lest they should cease to be of service in the natural order after their fall. aquinas, summa theologica the catholic theolo

is right hand. according to voltaire, astaroth was an ancient god of syria, whereas j. a. s. collin de plancy argues that he was one of the 7 princes of hell who visited faust. see also demons; faust;magic and magical groups for further reading: davidson, gustav. a dictionary of angels including the fallen angels. new york: free press, 1967. asuras asuras are south asian demons, prominent in both hinduism and buddhism. hinduism is a complex, multilayered tradition that has changed across the several millennia of its existence. in the vedas, india s earliest recoverable religious texts, the term asura is used interchangeably with the word deva, both of which refer to the gods and goddesses of the vedic pantheon. by the time of the epics the ramayana and the mahabharata asura had come to mea

as changed across the several millennia of its existence. in the vedas, india s earliest recoverable religious texts, the term asura is used interchangeably with the word deva, both of which refer to the gods and goddesses of the vedic pantheon. by the time of the epics the ramayana and the mahabharata asura had come to mean demon and deva had come to mean divine. in the new pantheon of classical hinduism, the old vedic gods were demoted to the status of demigods (the devas. the parallel between south asian asuras and western demons is fairly good. in classical hindu mythology as it is embodied in the puranas, the devas and the asuras are locked in ongoing conflict.while the legions of the judeo-christian satan failed to take over heaven in their original rebellion and were cast into hell

s the assumption of the notion of reincarnation. as this notion was brought to bear on south asian mythology, devas became capable of ignoble actions, which could result in their punishment (their fall) by being reborn as asuras. asuras, on the other hand, unlike western demons, were capable of performing noble actions, which could result in their being rewarded by being reborn as devas. see also hinduism; indo-europeans for further reading: garg, ganga ram, ed. encyclopaedia of the hindu world. vol. 3. new delhi: concept publishing, 1992. stutley,margaret, and james stutley. harper s dictionary of hinduism: its mythology, folklore, philosophy, literature, and history. new york: harper& row, 1977. aurum solis aurum solis was founded in 1897 in england by charles kingold and george stanton

ower in the world. those who are not aware of this are the ones damned to hell a place to which one does not actually journey, because hell is located within oneself. evelyn oliver buddhism buddhism is a major world religion that was founded by siddhartha gautama in the indian subcontinent around 600 b.c.e. buddhism is clearly in the same religious family as buddhism s parent religious tradition, hinduism. however, to be considered within the hindu fold, one must nominally acknowledge the authority of the four vedas, hinduism s most ancient religious texts. buddha rejected the authority of the vedas, and hence, despite its close relationship with hinduism, buddhism is technically non-hindu. unlike almost all other religions, buddhism is not focused on deities. gods and goddesses are 34 bud

pite its close relationship with hinduism, buddhism is technically non-hindu. unlike almost all other religions, buddhism is not focused on deities. gods and goddesses are 34 buddhism acknowledged to exist, but they are not worshiped. the ultimate aim of buddhism is, rather, nirvana, meaning release from the ongoing cycle of death and rebirth (reincarnation, referred to as samsara in buddhism and hinduism. and this is a goal with which divinities are unable to be of aid. similarly, while buddhism contains an elaborate mythology about hells and demons, there is no figure with the stature of satan. the closest being in buddhism corresponding with the western devil is mara. mara s job in the cosmic scheme is to prevent individuals from achieving nirvana. the best-known story involving mara is

n, and taiwan, metaphysical speculation flowered in builders of the adytum 35 mahayana buddhism. various forms of devotional buddhism also developed within the mahayana fold. devotional buddhism focused on different bodhisattvas (enlightened souls who delayed the final stages of their nirvana so that they could stay around and help ordinary mortals) who, like the great gods and goddesses of later hinduism, could help their devotees. the notion of heaven-worlds was also developed in these forms of buddhism, heaven-worlds where the earnest devotee would find her- or himself after death, and where she or he could continue the quest for enlightenment, less hindered by the demands of this world. along with heaven realms, buddhism also developed notions of hell realms in which exceptionally sinf

with heaven realms, buddhism also developed notions of hell realms in which exceptionally sinful individuals were punished. in earlier stages of the buddhist tradition, the impersonal force of karma carried out punishments for evil deeds through the circumstance in which one was reborn, and through the unfortunate events one experienced while incarnated in a body. as with their emergence in later hinduism, the notion of punishment in hell worlds emerged to supplement rather than to supplant earlier notions of karmic punishment. unlike western hells, however, buddhist hell worlds are not final dwelling places. they are, rather, more like purgatories in which sinful souls experience suffering for a limited term.after their term is over, even the most evil person is turned out of hell to once

ntric buddhism. according to the bardo th dol, known in the west as the tibetan book of the dead, the dead encounter various fearsome demons after death though they are also counseled that these demons are insubstantial projections of the mind. if one can gaze upon these insubstantial beings with equanimity, then one will escape rebirth and achieve nirvana. see also bardo th dol; hell and heaven; hinduism;mara for further reading: benard, elisabeth. the tibetan tantric view of death and afterlife. in hiroshi obayashi, ed. death and afterlife: perspectives ofworld religions. westport, ct: greenwood press, 1992, 49 64. bromage, bernard. tibetan yoga. 1952. wellingborough, northamptonshire, uk: aquarian press, 1979. conze, edward. buddhist thought in india. 1962. reprint, ann arbor: universit

not all religious traditions, attention is given to the place in which worship and other religious activities occur. there is much information about circular forms in comparative religion and depth psychology. circles often, for example, represent the earth and the mother principle. in jungian psychology, they symbolize wholeness and unity. mandalas, which are meditation diagrams associated with hinduism and buddhism, are frequently drawn in the form of circles. according to the south asian tradition, meditating on mandalas allows meditators access to different realms of consciousness. in a roughly parallel manner, magic circles are viewed as functioning as doorways to alternate realities. in ceremonial magic, magicians cast (create) a circle around themselves as protection, as a way of k

such as the asuras, who are always adversaries to humankind. raksasas are demons who embody various hostile animals (snakes, vultures, etc, are identified with spirits of the night, kill people, and resemble vampires. other demons of the indian tradition that passed into buddhism are the bhutas, the pretas, and pisacas. buddhism, especially at the popular level, inherited the lore of mythological hinduism about the asuras and other demons. they belong to the category of sentient beings (like humans and gods, and as such are subject to the cycle of reincarnation. the buddhist archfiend is mara, who in vain tempted gautama shortly before his enlightenment. evil forces are encountered in the burmese buddhist figures of the nats and other ghosts who inflict pain on humans. in mahayana buddhism

st in satan as itself embodying demonic activity. as c. s. lewis wrote in the screwtape letters, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. one is to disbelieve in their existence. the other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. they themselves are equally pleased by both errors (lewis 1961, 3. see also buddhism; china; hinduism; islam; judaism; possession and exorcism for further reading: barn, george. the index of leading spiritual indicators. dallas, tx:word publishing, 1996 .what americans believe. ventura, ca: regal books, 1991. cognac, j. f. handbook about demon possession for human service workers. http//www.gelservices.com/hs.html. does satan really exist? our baptist heritage, march/april 1993. text publ

LIBER 777

er 3 g (6) bd 4 (10) fa worshipful master 5 (15) hy senior warden 6 (21) hyha junion warden 7& i (28) jk senior deacon 8$ j (36) hla junior deacon 9 (45) hm inner guard 1010 mercurius philosophorum medicina metallorum (55) hn tyler and candidate table of correspondences (continued)24 cxvi. egyptian attribution of parts of the soul. cxvii. the soul (hindu. cxviii. the chakkras or centres of prana (hinduism. cxix. the ten fetters (buddhism. 0 hammemit. 1 kha, or yekh atma sahasrara (above head) aruparga 2 khai, or ka buddhi ajna (pineal gland) vikkikika 3 ba, or baie higher manas visuddhi (larynx) rupraga 4 silabata paramesa 5 patigha 6 lower manas anahata (heart) udakkha 7 kama manipura (solar plexus) mano 8 aib prana svadistthana (navel) sakkya-ditti 9 hati linga sharira muladhara (lingam

LIBER CXLVIII SOLDIER AND THE HUNCHBACK

c fest son metier.1 i am not so foolish as to think that my doctrine can ever gain the ear of the world. i expect than ten centuries hence the gnominal crowleians h will be as pestilent and numerous a body as the gnominal christians h are to-day; for (at present) i have been able to devise no mechanism for excluding them. rather, perhaps, should i seek to find them a niche in the shrine, just as hinduism provides alike for those capable of the upanishads and those whose intelligences hardly reaches up to the tantras. in short, one must abandon the reality of religion for a sham, so that the religion may be universal enough for those few who are capable of its reality to nestle in its breast, and nurse their nature on its starry milk. but we anticipate! my message is then twofold; to the g

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

s perfectly absurd. my curse is no sooner in an iron word i formulate my thought than i perceive the same to be absurd (tannh user. so for this, sir, why! your metaphysics in your teeth! confer a. crowley .berashith. but hear! the christian is a dualist; 230 235 240 245 250 255 260 265 recapitulation of principal cosmic theories. bard checkmates himself. consciousness and christianity. dhyana and hinduism. sammasamadhi and buddhism. pentecost 29 such view our normal consciousness tells us. i.ll quote now if you list from tennyson. it isn.t much (skip this and .twill be even less) he say .i am not what i see,38 and other than the things i touch* how lucid is our alfred t! the hindu, an advaitist, crosses off maya from the list; believes in one.exactly so, dhyana-consciousness, you know! may

arb o man, of a daring nature, thou subtle production! thou wilt not comprehend it, as when understanding some common thing. oracles of zoroaster. in presenting this theory of the universe to the world, i have but one hope of making any profound impression, viz..that my theory has the merit of explaining the divergences between the three great forms of religion now existing in the world.buddhism, hinduism and christianity, and of adapting them to ontological science by conclusions not mystical but mathematical. of mohammedism i shall not now treat, as, in whatever light we may decide to regard it (and its esoteric schools are often orthodox, in any case it must fall under one of the three heads of nihilism, advaitism, and dvaitism. taking the ordinary hypothesis of the universe, that of it

LIBER O

he planets. lxxix. 77 spirits of the planets. lxxx [omitted] olympic planetary spirits. lxxxi. 74 metals. lxxxiii. 72 the attributions of the hexagram. xcvii, xcviii. 82, 84 parts of the soul and english translation thereof. xcix [omitted] archangels of assiah. c, ci [omitted] angels of assiah and english translation thereof. cxvii. 85 the soul (hindu. cxviii. 86 the chakkras or centres of prana (hinduism. cxxxvii. 90 signs of the zodiac. cxxxviii. 91 planets ruling signs. cxxxix. 92 planets exalted in signs. clxxv. 4, 41 hebrew letters. clxxvi. 6, 43 numerical value of hebrew letters. clxxvii. 11 yetziratic attributions of hebrew letters. clxxxii [omitted] the human body. still more of these were omitted in the first edition of mtp. 4 the equinox publication had .taphtatharath. which is n

LURQUIN STONE EVOLUTION AND RELIGIOUS CREATION MYTHS

question: aside from christianity, how do other major world religions view the issues of scientific evolution and divine creation? to what extent are 20 evolution and religious creation myths there conflicts between the two in these religions? and are creationist movements present within world religions outside christianity? in what follows, we discuss these matters in relation to islam, judaism, hinduism, and buddhism. islam islam is an arabic word meaning both submission and peace. at the core of the islamic faith is the idea that a muslim submits to allah (god, thus finding spiritual peace. islam emphasizes the oneness and unity of allah, that muhammad was his final prophet (in arabia in the seventh figure 1.2 representatives of some of the major non-christian denominations in the world

teach us. further, for hirschfield, both the positions of darwinian evolution and those of the intelligent design theorists can fit with classical jewish thought. 24 evolution and religious creation myths from the above, we can see that some leaders in the jewish community are divided regarding the intellectual value of id: some reject it outright, whereas others are willing to give it a chance. hinduism hinduism is a religion of diverse gods and goddesses, elaborate ritual, and a striking tolerance for diversity, or the possibility of different spiritual paths for different people and at different times in their lives. amidst all the diversity within hinduism are the unifying concepts of dharma and moksha. dharma refers to the religious duty to maintain and perfect the world and society

r the possibility of different spiritual paths for different people and at different times in their lives. amidst all the diversity within hinduism are the unifying concepts of dharma and moksha. dharma refers to the religious duty to maintain and perfect the world and society. moksha refers to spiritual release from this world, often by renouncing society. there are various ways and means within hinduism to both maintain the world and seek ultimate release from it. contrary to monotheistic judaism, islam, and christianity, polytheistic hinduism has a plurality of religious texts. such books as the rig-veda, the upanishads, and the bhagavad-gita come to mind. likewise, hinduism has more than one myth of creation. one version restricts itself to saying that some sort of substance, prakrit

, the oldest hindu sacred text, wonders whether the story of the primal ocean interacting with nothingness is just speculation and, if so, whether this speculation is valid. after all, even the gods appear after the cosmic principle emerges. therefore, the rig-veda does not present its version of the creation of the universe as fact. nonetheless, as with many religions, there is the potential for hinduism also to generate its own fundamentalism. hindu fundamentalism does in fact exist. it is probably best represented by the large bharatiya jananta party (bjp, which was recently voted out of power in india. the bjp is an ultra-nationalist movement whose aim is to show and teach the ascendancy of all thingshindu, fromhistory to science. in particular, creationism and intelligent design 25 th

f the indian public. also, the bjp does not advocate id or anything like it. the bjp has not singled out the theory of evolution as a threat to hindu values. hindu fundamentalism, then, is not interested in detracting science (including evolution) or proving it wrong but in integrating vedic and hindu traditions within the main body of science. this may reflect the enormous power of syncretism in hinduism. as david kinsley put it in his book hinduism: a cultural perspective (1982, hinduism historically has been an incurable collector, incorporating a great diversity of ideas and rarely discarding anything. the result has been hinduism s renowned tolerance for a diversity of religious ideas and practices. yet even in india, there is a small battle between science and creationism: western fu

in west bengal but coordinated by individuals in the united kingdom and in the united states, where donations should be sent. this creationist association is indistinguishable from its american counterparts. christianity has never made significant inroads in india, and it is likely that christian creationists will not be any more successful than were traditional missionaries. one can see that in hinduism there is little, if any, conflict between creation and evolution. for one thing, hinduism can easily reconcile the idea of creation (through brahma the creator) with that of change (evolution) as represented by the 10 incarnations (dash avatars) of vishnu, the protector. in addition, as a colleague from hindu india pointed out, the idea of humans descending from a long line of animal ance

, conflict between creation and evolution. for one thing, hinduism can easily reconcile the idea of creation (through brahma the creator) with that of change (evolution) as represented by the 10 incarnations (dash avatars) of vishnu, the protector. in addition, as a colleague from hindu india pointed out, the idea of humans descending from a long line of animal ancestors would not be a problem in hinduism, where there is such a high value on animal life and some animals (cows, for example) are considered sacred. one great god, hanuman, is a monkey. hindu mythology is also replete with animals taking human forms and vice versa. in addition, the hindu idea of reincarnation includes humans 26 evolution and religious creation myths reincarnating into animals and animals reincarnating as humans

for example) are considered sacred. one great god, hanuman, is a monkey. hindu mythology is also replete with animals taking human forms and vice versa. in addition, the hindu idea of reincarnation includes humans 26 evolution and religious creation myths reincarnating into animals and animals reincarnating as humans in endless cycles. buddhism buddhism is an offshoot of vedism (the precursor of hinduism) that appeared between 600 and 500 b.c.e. it is traditionally associated with nepalese prince sakyamuni gautama siddharta, the historical buddha, who was himself preceded by many other buddhas, at least in the major mahayana (the greater vehicle) religious tradition. like hindus, buddhists believe in the concepts of samsara (cyclical rebirth, reincarnation, moksha (spiritual release or sa

in the major mahayana (the greater vehicle) religious tradition. like hindus, buddhists believe in the concepts of samsara (cyclical rebirth, reincarnation, moksha (spiritual release or salvation, karma (the accumulated effect on the soul of morally important deeds, and the one. however, they reject the hindu pantheon, and buddhism is in fact a religion without a defined deity or deities. as with hinduism, change and transformation of the universe are familiar concepts in buddhism. buddhism is probably best known in the west for advocating an end to human suffering through several cycles of reincarnation and ultimate enlightenment. the teachings of buddhism are collectively known as dharma, which includes the four noble truths that buddha realized upon his own enlightenment (1) life is ful

ire (transcending egoistical attachment (4) desire can be stopped by following the eightfold path, which is basically following a moral, compassionate, and selfless style of life. after this very brief introduction to buddhist philosophy, let us see whether it is compatible or not with evolutionary science. first, we should point out that, contrary to what is happening with judaism, christianity, hinduism, and islam, there is no such thing as buddhist fundamentalism, nor are there political parties based on buddhism. in addition, buddhism does not recognize any particular myth of creation, making it impossible for evolutionary science to conflict with buddhist texts. in other words, buddhism does not have the equivalent of genesis and its counterpart in the quran, or the equivalent of hind

torical fact two clans, one worshipping a bear totem and the other having a tiger totem, may have fought in ancient times, with the bear clan winning. we saw that a literal interpretation of the bible and the quran must preclude any kind of evolutionary continuum between all life-forms: humans have a god-given soul whereas animals, plants and others do not. this belief is not held in buddhism (or hinduism, which, through the doctrine of reincarnation, posits that a mind (or soul) can occupy many types of physical bodies. further, for buddhism, in contrast to christianity, there is no idea of a supreme divine force influencing events in the world or impinging upon the lives and destinies of humans. on the contrary, what happens in the world and what happens to us all follows from within us:

anity (mostly protestantism but more rarely catholicism, islam, and judaism. all three are monotheistic religions with the idea of one god as creator. further, these are revealed religions. possibly, then, a powerful single creator god with a strong message about the origin of life sets a frame for some within these faiths to see evolution as a threat to religious conviction. by contrast, neither hinduism nor buddhism is monotheistic or revealed, and neither sees evolution as a threat. no supernatural force within polytheistic hinduism reveals one divine truth. buddha s teachings are not revelations of a higher supernatural power; they are the result of buddha s own enlightenment, and they do not address the origin of earth, life, or humans. in addition, hinduism and buddhism contain stron

orld of religious faith. why is it that some people want to merge the two, in spite of countless unsuccessful attempts in the past centuries? 6. monotheistic religious fundamentalism seems to be at the root of both creationism and id. thus, these movements do not represent the majority view of the great world religions. 7. of the five major world religions examined in this book, only buddhism and hinduism seem united in their acceptance of evolution. why is this so? 30 evolution and religious creation myths 2 what is evolutionary biology and where is it coming from? evolution is a tinkerer. franc ois jacob, 1965 nobel laureate the notion that living species of animals and plants are immutable is probably as old as humankind. a casual observation of the natural world does not readily sugges

es, august 21, 2005. in spite of claims that id endorsers come from a variety of religious backgrounds, in reality members of the discovery institute are christian fundamentalists. amusingly, some id defenders have gone so far as to claim that an intelligent designer should not necessarily be construed as a monotheistic divinity: a polytheistic god would also do. but as we described in chapter 1, hinduism, a polytheistic religion par excellence, has so far shown no interest in id. be that as it may, it will be interesting to continue to follow the money trail that connects big donors and id-based institutions. to our knowledge, no billionaire has yet announced that he or she intends to support the teaching of evolution in this country. the strange conflation of postmodernism and creationis

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

ts of post-diluvian religionhave their roots in the lexicons of those bent on mind control and the enslavement of human-kind. the utter perversity of their natures could not be better revealed than by the philosoph-ical perusal of these so-called religious credos.a study of christian history discloses the portentous fact that the concept of the malig-nancy of matter, coming into the movement from hinduism through zoroastrianism,became an influence overwhelmingly dominating the theology and the ethic. it bred the mon-strous cult of asceticism, whose driving motivation was the idea that the instincts of the fleshmust be crushed down in the interests of the spirit. the tragic consequence of this stagger-ing default of insight are incalculable, but in all conscience overwhelming to any intelli

MICHAEL WYNN THE SOUL TRAVELERS

f for an egyptian god to be depicted without a serpent. even the pharaohs (kings) of egypt wore a ureaus on their headpiece. the ureaus was a serpent which symbolized the immortals. gods of greek mythology are likewise associated, and often depicted, with snakes. meanwhile, here in the new world, the mythologies of the mayans, aztecs, incas, and native americans is replete with serpent symbolism. hinduism, the prevailing religion of india, is yet another religion whose gods are consistently associated with snakes. in china, and the whole of the orient, the immortal gods are connected to, or described as, dragons and serpents. in islam, the serpent is associated with satan, and demons. in voodoo the gods are again associated with serpents. reptile gods are seen as far east as the pacific is

ame injuries. and finally, he would use iron objects, like swords and long knives, to stab disruptive spirits. satanists, on the other hand, may hesitate to bring iron anywhere near the spirit during a ritual as it may offend the gods. another thing that impressed me about magicians, both good and bad, was the overall knowledge they possessed regarding the bible, islam, apocryphal texts, judaism, hinduism, and almost all the mythologies. they could quote the bible with the best of them. this overall spiritual knowledge is most likely due to their understanding regarding the singular root story, rather than intense memorization on their part. the fact that they so liberally use the names and storylines from multiple beliefs so interchangeably is proof of this. what else i found interesting

oman, wearing red; she even has titles like the scarlet lady. in rome, lilith was known as diana. diana is a goddess of the hunt, the moon, and childbirth. she was also known as the virgin goddess. artemis, the greek equivalent of diana, is also a goddess of the hunt, childbirth, the moon and also known as the virgin goddess. artemis is also closely related to selene, yet another moon goddess. in hinduism, lilith goes by the name kali. kali is a goddess identified with death, carnage, and the feminine principle. she often called mother kali and the mother goddess who is the consort of the god shiva, the destroyer. kali is depicted as a naked woman with black skin, who wear a necklace of skulls and holds a bloody sword. similar to the babylonian account of tiamat, kali s body parts constitu

PHILIP NEIL MYTHS LEGENDS EXPLAINED

ing a white horse and wielding a flaming sword to destroy the wicked and renew the world. krishna krishna, the eighth avatar, is preeminently vishnu in his role as lover. he loved radha and the story of their love is a favorite theme in indian art and literature. however, krishna did go to war and the philosophical conversation he had with arjuna, his charioteer, became the bhagadvad gita, one of hinduism s holy books. vishnu s discus, symbol of the mind and the sun vishnu s mace, associated with the power of the mind the avatars of vishnu this 18th-century picture from rajasthan in northern india, shows the ten official avatars of vishnu. in the center vishnu is shown as krishna, accompanied by his lover radha and two cowgirls. the other nine incarnations five human, four animal, and one

RUBY TABLET OF SET

m. church of satan. ordo templi orientis. temple of set. demonology. witchcraft. occult. paganism. santeria. voodoo. rosicrucians. freemasonry. knights templar. stoner gangs. heavy metal music. rock music. kkk. nazis. skinheads. scientology. unification church. the way. hare krishna. rajneesh. religious cults. new age. astrology. channeling. transcendental meditation. holistic medicine. buddhism. hinduism. mormonism. islam. orthodox church. roman catholicism at law enforcement training conferences, it is witchcraft, santeria, paganism, and the occult that are most often referred to as forms of satanism. it may be a matter of definition, but these things are not necessarily the same as traditional satanism. the worship of lunar goddesses and nature and the practice of fertility rituals are

st culture invariably results. 11. these are fools that men adore; both their gods& their men are fools. this is a sharp and succinct statement concerning the inauthenticity of the prior religious systems of the world. crowley proceeded to disregard this admonition, needlessly encumbering his speculations and calculations concerning the book of the law with irrelevant myth-material from buddhism, hinduism, and cabalism. if the results were so often confusing and inconclusive, the beast had no one to blame but himself. 12. come forth, o children, under the stars& take your fill of love! crowley interprets this straightforwardly as a statement that sexual or artistic love should be indulged openly and innocently, and that an empathy with nuit will be one of the consequences. it may also be t

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

on stories of religions, such as those relayed in islam s qur an, and foundational myths, such as the one told in black elk speaks, that provide a unifying cultural basis for many people. the second chapter, characteristics of the divine, explores the aspects and personalities of god or the gods as revealed through religious documents such as the epic of gilgamesh and swami vivekananda s paper on hinduism. the final chapter examines how religion provides guidelines that people can use in their everyday lives. these include selections from the christian bible; the avesta, the sacred scripture of zoroastrianism; and emma goldman s essay the philosophy of atheism. acknowledgments u x l would like to thank several individuals for their assistance with world religions: almanac. at schlager grou

e 800-877- 4253; send faxes to 248-699-8097; or send e-mail via http//www.gale.com. world religions: almanac ix reader s guide this page intentionally left blank timeline of events 10,000 400 bce the span of the jomon period in japan, during which shinto first emerged. 3500 2000 bce duration of religion in ancient sumer. 3110 bce 550 ce duration of religion in ancient egypt. 3102 bce emergence of hinduism. 1700 bce the babylonians devise a new creation myth, the enuma elish. c. 1353 34 bce the pharaoh akhenaten rules egypt and enforces the worship of a single god, aten. all evidence of his reign is wiped out after his death. tenth century bce the jewish temple of solomon is constructed in jerusalem. seventh century bce beginning of the milesian school of philosophy in ancient greece. 600 b

eation myth, the enuma elish. c. 1353 34 bce the pharaoh akhenaten rules egypt and enforces the worship of a single god, aten. all evidence of his reign is wiped out after his death. tenth century bce the jewish temple of solomon is constructed in jerusalem. seventh century bce beginning of the milesian school of philosophy in ancient greece. 600 bce official formalization of the rig veda, one of hinduism s most sacred texts. 586 bce the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar destroys the jewish temple in jerusalem and drives the jews into exile (the babylonian exile. 563 bce siddhartha gautama, who will become the buddha, is born in present-day nepal. c. 551 479 bce life span of the scholar kongzi, who is known in the west by his latinized name, confucius. xi c. 540 c. 470 bce life span of mahavi

f the baha faith. 1844 the german philosopher karl marx makes his famous statement that religion is the opium of the people. 1867 beginning of the meiji restoration in japan, during which shinto is made the official state religion. 1870 the british scientist thomas henry huxley coins the term agnosticism to describe his own skepticism (doubt) regarding the existence of god. 1893 the paper what is hinduism? by swami vivekananda, presented at the world parliament of religions in chicago, exposes many westerners to hinduism for the first time. 1933 45 some six million european jews are killed during the holocaust. 1948 the jewish nation of israel is established in palestine. 1972 the neo-pagan norse religion of asatru is officially recognized as a religion by the government of iceland. 1974 a

tranquility, or peace of mind. atheism: a disbelief in the existence of god or a belief that there is no god. atomism: the belief that matter is composed of simple, indivisible, physical particles that are too tiny to be observed by human beings. atonement: in christianity, the sacrifice and death of jesus to redeem humankind from its sins. aum: often spelled om, the sacred syllable and symbol of hinduism; a symbol of the unknowable nature of brahma. avesta: the chief sacred scripture of zoroastrianism. xvi world religions: almanac words to know baptism: a religious ceremony in which a person is dipped in or sprinkled with water as a sign of being cleansed of sin. bar mitzvah: the jewish coming-of-age ceremony for boys. bat mitzvah: the jewish coming-of-age ceremony for girls. belief: a co

lightenment. bon: an indigenous religion of tibet. brahma: the creator-god. the buddha: the title of siddhartha gautama after he attained enlightenment. caliph: one of muhammad s successors as leader of the faith. candomble: a south american religion with many similarities to santer a, often used synonymously with santer a. canon: the official, sacred texts of a religion. caste: social classes in hinduism, the dominant religion in india. celtic: a term referring to an ethnic group that spread throughout europe, particularly the british isles, and is the source of many modern neo-pagan movements. world religions: almanac xvii words to know church: from the greek, this word refers to the community of all christians. it is also the place where christians go to worship. consciousness: the cond

o withdraw from the world to lead a life of renunciation and contemplation. norito: prayers to the kami. xxiv world religions: almanac words to know offering of eightfold puja: an important jain temple ritual in which the worshipper makes eight offerings to the tirthankara. olo du` mare: the name of the supreme god in santer a. om: often spelled aum; the sacred syllable and symbol of jainism (and hinduism, used for purposes of meditation. oral torah: interpretations of the torah and ways to apply their laws. orders: religious communities. original sin: the sin that fell upon humankind when adam and eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the garden of eden; this act, in turn, led to the separation of humans from god. orishas: name given to the lesser gods of santer a. orthodox: the name of one o

the world. world religions: almanac xxv words to know polytheism: a religion worshiping many gods. pravritti: people who choose to live in the world rather than withdraw from it. prophecy: prediction of future events. prophet: a person chosen to serve as god s messenger. pu: uncarved or unformed; the state of simplicity to which daoists try to return. puja: worship. purusharthas: the four aims of hinduism or the doctrine of the fourfold end of life. purva: the original jain sacred texts, now lost. pyramid: a stone tomb constructed to house a deceased pharaoh of egypt. qi: the breath of life or vital energy that flows through the body and the earth. qur an: the sacred scriptures of islam; contains the revelations given to the prophet muhammad revealed to him beginning in 610. ra kah: a unit

f ethical conduct. religious daoism: a form of daoism that recognizes gods, ancestor spirits, and life after death. ren: empathy, the ability to feel for and sympathize with others; the highest confucian ideal. resurrection: the rising of jesus christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion, or death on a cross. xxvi world religions: almanac words to know rig veda: the central scripture of hinduism, a collection of inspired hymns and songs. rosh hoshanah: the jewish new year. sabbat: holidays practiced by wiccans throughout the year, including the summer and winter solstices, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and four additional holidays between these four. sacrament: a sacred rite, or ceremony. sadhana: ascetic person. saint: a deceased person who has been recognized for living a

ber 31. samsara: the ongoing cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. samyak charitra: right conduct; one of the three jewels of jain ethical conduct. samyak darshana: right faith, or right perception; one of the three jewels of jain ethical conduct. samyak jnana: right knowledge; one of the three jewels of jain ethical conduct. sanskrit: an ancient indo-european language that is the language of hinduism, as well as of much classical indian literature. santer a: the way of the saints; an african-based religion practiced primarily in cuba and other central and south american countries. santero: a practitioner of santer a. saum: fasting. sect: a small religious group that has branched off from a larger established religion. sect (kyoha) shinto: shinto as it is practiced by a number of sects

ite: one of the main sects of islam; from the phrase shi at ali, or the party of ali. shinbutsu bunri: the separation of shinto and buddhism when shinto was declared the official state religion. shinbutsu shugo: the combination of shinto and buddhism. shinto: literally, the way of the gods or the way of the kami. shiva: the destroyer god, embodying the erotic and sexual. shivaism: a major sect of hinduism, which sees shiva( the destroyer) as the central god. shrine (jinja) shinto: the traditional, mainstream practice of shinto, with emphasis on the local shrine. skepticism: doubt or disbelief toward a particular proposition or object. skepticism: a philosophical system that doubted the possibility of ever discovering real truth through the senses. socratic: having to do with the philosophe

ee divine persons in one god. tsukiyomi: the shinto moon-god and the ruler of night. ujiko: a named child whose name is entered at birth at the local shinto shrine. upanishads: the core of hindu philosophy; collections of texts, originally part of the vedas, that explain such core hindu beliefs as karma, reincarnation, nirvana, the soul, and brahman. urvan: the soul. vaishnavaism: a major sect of hinduism, which sees vishnu( the preserver) as the central god. vedas: the chief sacred scriptures of hinduism; knowledge, wisdom, or vision. xxx world religions: almanac words to know virgin birth: the christian belief that jesus christ was the son of god and born of a virgin mother. vishnu: also called krishna; the preserver-god. vodou: an african-based religion practiced primarily in haiti and

ty, and islam. the map should include the western wall (also called the wailing wall, important to jews; the church of the holy sepulchre, important to christians; and the al-aqsa mosque, important to muslims. be prepared to explain to your classmates the importance of each site and the date on which it was constructed. maps: india is the birthplace of several major religions, including buddhism, hinduism, sikhism, and jainism. also, islam and christianity, while they did not originate in india, have substantial followings in the country today. draw a map of india that traces the origins of the four religions native to india and shows how they developed. in addition, note the number of followers of each religion in india today. depictions in art: most of the major figures in religious hist

ll practiced in daily rituals and holidays. choose a country and research how religion in that country has influenced politics during the country s history. write a report that explains how the relationship between politics and religion in the country has changed over time. book report: nearly every major religion has key texts associated with it. christianity has the bible, islam has the qur an, hinduism has the vedas, and so on. go to the library and check out a copy of a sacred text from a religion other than your own. write a report that you can share with your classmates. what did you learn about the religion from the sacred text? was the text difficult to read or understand? religions on the world wide web: the internet contains many sites devoted to various religions. conduct intern

ms. myths, or stories about the creation of the world and tales of individual gods and goddesses, became a fundamental part of religion, as did certain rituals and rules of behavior, or things to do and things to avoid doing. the earliest historical religions, ones for which a written record exists, arose along the nile river in egypt and in the fertile crescent of mesopotamia. an ancient form of hinduism also emerged about the same time in what is now known as india. egyptian and mesopotamian religions were polytheistic, meaning they recognized more than one god (hinduism has many deities as well, but they are all understood as different aspects of one supreme being) both egyptian and mesopotamian religions influenced judaism, which was one of the first monotheistic( having one god) relig

ost recent major organized religions. it began in the seventh century ce. it has spread rapidly and widely from its arabian base to include 1.3 billion believers around the globe, making it the world s second-largest religion in the early twenty-first century. some scholars list ten to fifteen major religions. these include the five largest religions of christianity, judaism, islam, buddhism, and hinduism, as well as smaller but well-established organized religions such as baha, confucianism, daoism, jainism, shinto, sikhism, and zoroastrianism. sometimes the indigenous (native) religions of the the venus of willendorf statue was discovered in 1908, but was created between c. 28,000 25,000 bce, most likely as a representation of an early fertility goddess. archivo iconografico, s.a./corbis

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

ich presented s12,600 to hammarskjold on april 24, 1957, as first payment on $25,000 needed to remodel and enlarge the room.8 the movement has issued "u.n. meditation room identification cards [to] 300 men and women who go periodically to this room for prayer (see un room, by this group. i it once issued prayer cards to visitors containing prayers from the "world's great living religions" namely, hinduism, buddhism. judaism, islamism, sikhism, christianity and st. francis of assisi. the friends held vigils of prayer in the room in 1953 and 1954. back in 1946 the movement had sent dr. frank laubach, union theological seminary graduate and author of "letters of a modern mystic" to the paris peace conference to lobby for the establishment of the meditation room- 1 1- speakers for the movement

tep is to break down loyalty to a single religious faith. in june 1959 the women's international religious fellowship (wirf) was founded by representatives from 11 nations. this group composed of mothers of different faiths meet at bazaars and picnics so their children may share national dishes and learn the dances of foreign lands. their meetings feature talks on jainism, taoism, zoroastrianism, hinduism, sikhism and the five other major world faiths, according to literature distributed by wirf headquarters, 1601 webster st, n.w, washington, d.c. participants in wirf programs have included representatives from the embassies as well as mrs. marietta free, american delegate to the united nation's human rights commission. plans are being made to set up regional world universities whose objec

where fabian socialism was hatched under the wing of theosophy. implementing britain's 1944 education act for teaching "comparative religion" a pilot project has been set up to take nine and ten-year-old children in a state school to hear informal talks by various ministers of different faiths -48- the children were required to write essays on these interfaith experiences. the native exponents of hinduism, islam and buddhism visited the school to further the cause of "east-west understanding' they lectured the students to "take their education in tolerance a step farther" reports london educator bernard cousin in the june, july, aug, 1062 issue of the voice universal, chief organ for "theocratic union (published at 8 watling rd, southwick, brighton, sussex, england) the dec. 1961, jan, feb

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

osophic press, 1986; also from jesus to christ (1911, rudolf steiner press, london, 1991; building stones for an understanding of the mystery of golgotha (1917, rudolf steiner press, 1985. see also the bibliographical suggestions at the end of this book. x christianity as mystical fact of christianity which resulted from researches in comparative religion, the rediscovery in the west of buddhism, hinduism, and so on. it is a great book, perhaps because it combines the personal authenticity of that moment when its author, as he put it in the course of my life, stood before the mystery of golgotha in a solemn festival of knowledge, and the awareness of those larger questions that are still dealt with, on the whole, so inadequately today, and to which rudolf steiner proposed some exciting and

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

you" but the couples' grim conduct indicated otherwise. also shown: manuela's head, shaved to reveal an inverted christian cross. manuela also had a rough-edged, blood red circle tatooed on her scalp. the two were trained to be satan worshippers while visiting scotland (from news report and article in strange times magazine, great britian) 130 codex magica an american member of the aghora sect of hinduism drinks from the top of a human skull. some members of the sect practice cannibalism to gain magical powers (the tampa tribune, june 2, 2003, p. 1. the illustration from the book witches, by una woodruff and colin wilson (crescent books, new york, 1988, shows a satanic witch signaling the "el diablo "el diablo" shows his horns-the devil rides out 131 high priest of the church of satan, ant

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their diversity of beliefs, the major religions of today are in accord in one essential teaching: human beings are immortal and their spirit comes from a divine world and may eventually return there. the part of the human being that survives death is known in judaism, christianity, and islam as the soul the very essence of the individual person that must answer for its earthly deeds, good or bad. hinduism perceives this spiritual essence as the divine self, the atman, and buddhism believes it to be the summation of conditions and causes. of the major world religions, only buddhism does not perceive an eternal metaphysical aspect of the human personality in the same way that the others do. however, all the major faiths believe that after the spirit has left the body, it moves on to another

th the greatest question of all: do humans survive physical death? and if so, are they born again? the mystery of what lies on the other side of death has given birth to humankind s magic, mysticisms, religions, and all the diverse creatures of light and darkness that populate the mysterious regions in between. 1 chapter exploration how the major religions view the afterlife buddhism christianity hinduism islam judaism ancient egypt and the afterlife egyptian book of the dead osiris: death and resurrection pyramid texts individual human experience with death and the afterlife deathbed visions near-death experiences the mystery schools dionysian mysteries eleusinian mysteries hermetic mysteries orphic mysteries pythagorus tribal religions burial mounds land of the grandparents how the major

fe egyptian book of the dead osiris: death and resurrection pyramid texts individual human experience with death and the afterlife deathbed visions near-death experiences the mystery schools dionysian mysteries eleusinian mysteries hermetic mysteries orphic mysteries pythagorus tribal religions burial mounds land of the grandparents how the major religions view reincarnation buddhism christianity hinduism islam judaism contemporary mystery schools and reincarnation akashic records anthroposophy association for research and enlightenment theosophy experiential quests into past lives hypnotic regression into past lives bridey murphy past-life therapy ian stevenson introduction children take the continuity of life for granted. it is the fact of death that has to be taught. self-preservation i

neanderthals may have even been regarded as a kind of sleep, perhaps like a rest before a rebirth, as corpses were carefully positioned in the fetal state. sources: burial, ritual, religion, and cannibalism. http//thunder.indstate. edu/ ramanank/ritual.html. 10 july 2001. oldest discovered burial site while many people consider the belief in reincarnation to be held primarily by the adherents of hinduism and some buddhist sects, the concept of past lives is by no means confined to these eastern religions. this chapter will examine many western philosophers, clerics, medical doctors, and scholars who have expressed an individual acceptance of a prior and continued existence in an earthly body, in addition to certain christian, islamic, and jewish sects that have also suggested that reincar

mong the living still required nourishment, clothing, and protection to journey safely in another kind of existence beyond the grave. somehow, there was some part of the person that survived death. that part of the human being that survives death is known in christianity, islam, and judaism as the soul, the very essence of the individual person that must answer for its earthly deeds, good or bad. hinduism perceives this spiritual essence as the divine part of a living being, the atman, which is eternal and seeks to be united with the universal soul, or the brahman. buddhism teaches that an individual is but a transient combination of t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 4 afterlife mysteries the five aggregates (skandhas) matter, sensati

eant to indicate a transformed state of human consciousness which achieves a reality independent of the material world. once the desire to continue existence in a material flesh form has been extinguished, and when a son of the buddha fulfills his course, in the world to come, he comes buddha. to achieve one s buddhahood in buddhism is comparable to realizing brahma, the absolute and ultimate, in hinduism. once those levels have been attained, it is believed that one is freed forever from material reality and becomes one with eternal reality. there are many schools of historical buddhism hinayana, mahayana, tantric, and pure land and it is difficult to find consensus among them concerning the afterlife. tibetan buddhism s book of the dead provides an important source for an understanding o

ate after death. if there is to be no rebirth for the soul, it appears before yama, the god of the dead, to be judged. in tibetan buddhism, there is a direct link between one s earthly lifetimes and intermediate stages of existence in the various spheres of paradise, extending to the appearance of the soul remaining the same as the one it assumed when living as a human on earth. both buddhism and hinduism place yama, god of the dead, in the position of judge in the afterlife, and these passages from the rig-veda depict the special reverence with which he was held: yama was the first to find us our abode, a place that can never be taken away, a place where our ancient fathers have departed; all who are born go there by that path, treading their own. meet the fathers, meet yama, meet t h e g

resies and heretics. new york: barnes& noble, 1992. crim, keith, ed. the perennial dictionary of world religions. san francisco: harper collins, 1989. pelikan, jaroslav, ed. christianity: the apocrypha and the new testament. new york: oxford university press and cambridge university press for the book of the month club, 1992. rosten, leo, ed. religions of america. new york: simon& schuster, 1975. hinduism in india s religious classic work, the bhagavad gita( song of the lord, the nature of the soul is defined: it is born not, nor does it ever die, nor shall it, after having been brought into being, come not to be hereafter. the unborn, the permanent, the eternal, the ancient, it is slain not when the body is slain. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x

join, is lighted by the light of the self, and by that light he departs either through the eye, or through the gate of the skull, or through some other aperture of the body. the self remains conscious, and, conscious, the dying man goes to his abode. the deeds of this life, and the t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d afterlife mysteries 11 in hinduism, vishnu is considered one of the main gods of worship (st. louis art museum) impressions they leave behind, follow him. as a caterpillar, having reached the end of a blade of grass, takes hold of another blade and draws itself to it, so the self, having left behind it [a body] unconscious, takes hold of another body and draws himself to it. by the third century b.c.e. hinduism had largely

vedanata, the eventual goal of the soul s odyssey was moksa, a complete liberation from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, which would lead to nirvana, the ultimate union of atman with the divine brahma. in the eleventh century, ramanjua and the school of visitadvaita saw the bliss of nirvana as a complete oneness of the soul with god. in the last centuries before the common era, a form of hinduism known as bhakti spread rapidly across india. bhakti envisions a loving relationship between god and the devout believer that is based upon grace. those devotees who have prepared themselves by a loving attitude, a study of the scriptures, and devotion to lord krishna may free themselves from an endless cycle of death and rebirth. eternal life is granted to the devotees who, at the time of

ycle of death and rebirth. eternal life is granted to the devotees who, at the time of death, give up their physical body with only thoughts of lord krishna on their minds. m delving deeper brandon, s. g. f. religion in ancient history. new york: charles scribner s sons, 1969. crim, keith, ed. the perennial dictionary of world religions. san francisco: harper collins, 1989. pelikan, jaroslav, ed. hinduism: the rig veda. trans. by ralph t. h. griffith. new york: motilal banarsidass publishers for the book of the month club, 1992. sullivan, lawrence e, ed. death, afterlife, and the soul. new york, macmillan, 1989. wilson, andrew, ed. world scripture: a comparative anthology of sacred texts. new york: paragon house, 1995. zaehner, r. c, ed. encyclopedia of the world s religions. new york: bar

ncarnation. m delving deeper eerdman s handbook to the world s religions. grand rapids, mich: william b. eerdman s publishing, 1994. fox, robin lane. pagans and christians. new york: alfred a. knopf, 1989. head, joseph, and s. l. cranston. reincarnation: an east-west anthology. wheaton, ill: quest books, 1968. mcdannell, colleen, and bernard lang. heaven: a history. new york: vintage books, 1990. hinduism the bhagavad-gita, the holy text of the hindus, observes that as the dweller in the body experiences childhood, youth, old age, so passes he on to another body. in 2:19 25, the holy book declares that a man who regards himself as a slayer, or another who thinks he is the slain, are both ignorant: t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 46

tinuously pray and meditate, you go into the land of superconsciousness, where no troubles can reach you. m delving deeper brunton, paul. a search in secret india. new york: samuel weiser, 1972. crim, keith, ed. the perennial dictionary of world religions. san francisco: harper collins, 1989. head, joseph, and s. l. cranston. reincarnation: an east-west anthology. wheaton, ill: quest books, 1968. hinduism today. http//www.hinduism-today.com. 28 september 2001. understanding hinduism. http//www.hinduism.co.za. 28 september 2001. islam the qur an (or koran, the holy book of islam, has no direct reference to reincarnation, and there are only a few passages that may suggest a concept of rebirth, such as the following: god generates beings and sends them back over and over again, til they retur

ver, the islamic mystical sect of persia, the sufis, carries on the ancient teachings of rebirth as espoused by moorish and saracenic philosophers in the schools of baghdad and cordova. the sufis claim to keep alive the islamic esoteric philosophies and t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d afterlife mysteries 47 krishna, one of the main gods in hinduism, represented in a thirteenth-century relief (corbis corporation) thequr an, the holy book of islam, has no direct reference to reincarnation. maintain that reincarnation is an important doctrine. the sufi poet jalalu d-din rumi (1207 1273) wrote these lines that are often quoted as containing the essence of transmigration: i died as mineral and became a plant; i died as plant and rose to

the teachings of christianity and what they consider to be its restrictive religious doctrines concerning the afterlife and rebirth. each of the contemporary mystery schools examined in this section anthroposophy, the association for research and enlightenment, and theosophy accept the concept of reincarnation and blend many of the beliefs of christianity and judaism with traditional teachings of hinduism and buddhism. in his classic work, the varieties of religious experience, william james (1842 1910) has this to say regarding the oneness and unity of the mystical traditions: this overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the absolute is the great mystic achievement. in mystic states we both become one with the absolute and we become aware of our oneness. this is th

1910) has this to say regarding the oneness and unity of the mystical traditions: this overcoming of all the usual barriers between the individual and the absolute is the great mystic achievement. in mystic states we both become one with the absolute and we become aware of our oneness. this is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of climate or creed. in hinduism, in neoplatonism, in sufism, in christian mysticism we find the same recurring note, so that there is about mystical utterances an eternal unanimity perpetually telling of the unity of man with god. many scholars of the early christian church believed strongly that the various church councils had erred in removing reincarnation from official doctrine. the gnostics, who strongly influenced

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their diversity of beliefs, the major religions of today are in accord in one essential teaching: human beings are immortal and their spirit comes from a divine world and may eventually return there. the part of the human being that survives death is known in judaism, christianity, and islam as the soul the very essence of the individual person that must answer for its earthly deeds, good or bad. hinduism perceives this spiritual essence as the divine self, the atman, and buddhism believes it to be the summation of conditions and causes. of the major world religions, only buddhism does not perceive an eternal metaphysical aspect of the human personality in the same way that the others do. however, all the major faiths believe that after the spirit has left the body, it moves on to another

practice was commonly employed by the cultic prophets and the kings of the ancient cities of lagash in sumer and ugarit in syria. plato (c. 428 348 or 347 b.c.e) saw dreams as a release for passionate inner forces. in the second century, another greek, artemidorous of ephesus, produced the oneirocritica, the encyclopedia that was the forerunner to thousands of dream books throughout the ages. in hinduism, it is believed that the immortal soul within the physical body is able to leave the house of flesh during sleep and to travel wherever it desires. it is also thought that the passing to the next life after death may be compared to a sleeper awakening from a dream. the brihadaranyaka upanishad states that the soul, the self-luminous being, may assume many forms, high and low, in the world

n family structures, but they were too vitally concerned with the daily task of survival to develop the art of hospitality. however, as the major world religions developed into powerful forces that shaped human society, hospitality and charity became virtues. in order to establish a more complete relationship with the divine, according to the prophets and teachers of judaism, christianity, islam, hinduism, taoism, and other faiths, it is important to recognize all people as brothers and sisters and to minister to their needs when the opportunity to do so presents itself. the forty hadith of an-nawawi 15 (islam) admonishes those who believe in allah and in the last day to be generous to their neighbors and to their guests. in the apastamba dharma sutra 8.2 (hinduism) it is written that the

ical jewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings contained in the hebrew scriptures. kabbalah is hebrew for that which is received, and also refers to a secret oral tradition handed down from teacher to pupil. the term kabbalah is generally used now to apply to all jewish mystical practice. karmic law karma is the sanskrit word for deed. in the eastern religions of buddhism and hinduism all deeds of a person in this life dictate an equal punishment or reward to be met in the next life or series t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 308 glossary of lives. in this philosophy, it is a natural moral law rather than a divine judgment which provides the process of development, enabling the soul into higher or lower states, ac

eaning to rest. a t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d glossary 311 g l o s s a r y day of rest from work and for religious worship. in christianity, sunday is the observed day of worship while saturday is observed in judaism and some christian denominations. sanskrit sanskrit is an ancient indo-european language and the language of traditional hinduism in india. spoken between the fourteenth and fifth centuries b.c.e, it has been considered and maintained as a priestly and literary language of the sacred veda scriptures and other classical texts. santeria from spanish santeria meaning holiness. a religion which originated in cuba by enslaved west african laborers that combines the west african yoruba religion with roman catholicism and

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their diversity of beliefs, the major religions of today are in accord in one essential teaching: human beings are immortal and their spirit comes from a divine world and may eventually return there. the part of the human being that survives death is known in judaism, christianity, and islam as the soul.the very essence of the individual person that must answer for its earthly deeds, good or bad. hinduism perceives this spiritual essence as the divine self, the atman, and buddhism believes it to be the summation of conditions and causes. of the major world religions, only buddhism does not perceive an eternal metaphysical aspect of the human personality in the same way that the others do. however, all the major faiths believe that after the spirit has left the body, it moves on to another

ewish teachings based on an interpretation of hidden meanings contained in the hebrew scriptures. kabbalah is hebrew for gthat which is received, h and also refers to a secret oral tradition handed down from teacher to pupil. the term kabbalah is generally used now to apply to all jewish mystical practice. karmic law karma is the sanskrit word for gdeed. h in the eastern religions of buddhism and hinduism all deeds of a person in this life dictate an equal punishment or reward to be met in the next life or series t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 286 glossary of lives. in this philosophy, it is a natural moral law rather than a divine judgment which provides the process of development, enabling the soul into higher or lower states, ac

ing gto rest. h a t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d glossary 289 g l o s s a r y day of rest from work and for religious worship. in christianity, sunday is the observed day of worship while saturday is observed in judaism and some christian denominations. sanskrit sanskrit is an ancient indo-european language and the language of traditional hinduism in india. spoken between the fourteenth and fifth centuries b.c.e, it has been considered and maintained as a priestly and literary language of the sacred veda scriptures and other classical texts. santeria from spanish santeria meaning gholiness. h a religion which originated in cuba by enslaved west african laborers that combines the west african yoruba religion with roman catholicism a

THE GOD OF THE WITCHES

ssionaries felt themselves strengthened by the powers of heaven; and the belief that the devil hadbeen defeated by the archangel michael backed by the whole power of the almighty gave them courage inthe contest.the study of anthropology has changed much of this childish method of regarding the forms of religiousbelief which belong to another race or another country. to consider islam, buddhism or hinduism as theinvention of the evil one would be thought ridiculous at the present day, even the fetishes and the images ofthe more savage races are treated with respect as being sacred to their worshippers.but though there is no difficulty in realising the fact that "heathen" religions exist outside europe, there isstill a strong feeling among christians that christianity is so essentially europ

THE MARTINIST OPERATIVE GENERAL RITUAL

y: god announces to you his word. his name shall be jesus, the messiah, son of mary, great in this world as well as in the other, and a confidant of god (koran iv.40) 6. and god said to jesus: i shall send death unto thee and shall raise thee to me. thou shalt be separated from the infidels and those who follow thee shall be raised above the infidels, until the day of the judgement (iv.48. modern hinduism, in its order of ramakrishna, knows a meditation on the 'lord jesus' on the same level as those on krishna and shiva6. the buddhists can find in him one of the bodhisattvas, very likely that of avalokitecvara, ie- of mercy. the theosophists on the other hand see there the logos of our solar system, and finally, the kabbalists see there one of the names of the messiah. it is not without re

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

and it is this; a man or woman to become an adept need neither possess great intellect, great genius, nor great knowledge, in fact, in many cases the more ignorant and crass have been the aspirants, the more speedy has been their illumination (christ the carpenter; for the less have they had to conquer, and the lower, and therefore less rational, have been their symbols. gmost others, especially hinduism and buddhism, lose themselves in metaphysical speculation only proper to those who are already adepts. h*1. ignorance or knowledge have nothing to do with illumination any more than pig has to do with chicago pork; yet as there are standards of knowledge, so are there degrees of illumination; for there is not the slightest doubt that booth and robert evans stand on a much lower footing th

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

very different points of view, and must choose one or the other alternative. a necessary evolution of the basic concept of choice was the varieties of possi- bility inherent in any decision. every question can yield three possible answers: yes; no; and yesino. this triplicity is expressed in all the holy trinities of gods the world has known. in christianity it is father, holy ghost, and son. in hinduism it is brahma, shiva, and vishnu. tn the faith of the ancient egyptians it was osiris, isis, and horus. symbolically it is embodied in the triskelion, a design of three appendages radiating from a center point, which occurs in such diverse cultures as the celtic, greek, and native american. 7: affirmation the seventh point is the essential yes, a rushing forth with purpose, an assertion th

knows in his heart which pose he should adopt at a given moment. jesus shared this uncertainty. at times he lashed out at his tormentors, as when he drove the moneylenders from the temple. at times he doubted his passive role, as when he questioned his fate on the cross. cultures that keep their trinity balanced are more stable in the long term than those that exalt one point over the other two. hinduism is a religion in which no single aspect of the trinity is allowed to dominate heavily. a culture with many gods, like hinduism with its thousands of deities, may be more rational, if it expresses a balanced trinity of principles, than a monotheistic culture where one face of the godhead has eaten the other two. the drawback of a completely balanced trinity of forces is that it tends to ma

UNLEASHING THE BEAST

so of profound importance for the understanding of modern western spirituality and culture as a whole. this importance is at least threefold. first, with his radical rejection of victorian morality and his central emphasis on sex as the supreme magical power, crowley is a remarkable reflection of his era and of the sexual attitudes of late and post-victorian england.viii second, with his study of hinduism and buddhism, he was also a key figure in the transmission of indian religious traditions to the west, including the controversial traditions of indian tantra. but as i hope to show, although crowley did know a fair amount about hatha yoga, raja yoga and other indian religious practices, he does not appear to have known much about tantra. what he did know seems to have come through second

secret rites of the golden dawn in his journal, equinox.xvii revealing secrets and sparking controversy, we will see, was something of an obsession throughout crowley's life. beginning in 1899, crowley also began to explore a variety of eastern spiritual traditions. after studying yoga in mexico, he traveled to ceylon and india in 1901-2, during which time he studied various forms of buddhism and hinduism. as we will see below, it seems possible that he also learned something of the esoteric techniques of indian tantra- though perhaps not as much as most contemporary adepts generally suppose -142- however, it was in 1904 that crowley would receive his first great revelation and the knowledge that he was to be the herald of a new era in human history. according to his own account, crowley's

vast and extremely diverse body of texts, practices and traditions hat spread throughout the hindu, buddhist and even jain communities since at list the 3rd or 4th century ce. there is in fact intense disagreement, not only as to how it is best defined, but even as to whether tantra really "exists" at all. is it really an indigenous asian category, or is it instead- like the generic category of "hinduism" itself- the product of western orientalist scholars imposing their own fantasies and obsessions onto the exotic mirror of the oriental other?lxiv although it has been defined in many different ways, tantra centers in large part around the concept of shakti- power or energy, in all its many forms. shakti is the power that creates, sustains and destroys the entire universe, but it is also

ery by european orientalist scholars and christian missionaries in the 18th century, tantra has held a place of profound ambivalence in the western imagination. to most european scholars of the colonial era, tantra was identified as the very worst and most depraved aspect of the indian mind, the source of all the polytheism, idolatry and licentiousness that had led to the apparent degeneration of hinduism in modern times. above all, tantra was attacked because of its use of sensual pleasure and even sexual union as a means of spiritual experience. ironically, although physical intercourse plays a very limited role in most indian tantric traditions, the sexual aspect was quickly singled out as the most infamous and most shocking aspect of this terrible perversion of true religion. as the gr

because of its use of sensual pleasure and even sexual union as a means of spiritual experience. ironically, although physical intercourse plays a very limited role in most indian tantric traditions, the sexual aspect was quickly singled out as the most infamous and most shocking aspect of this terrible perversion of true religion. as the great sanskritist, sir monier williams, put it, tantra is "hinduism arrived in last and worst age of medieval development" in which the noble philosophy of the vedas had been replaced by the obscene sexual perversions and black magic of the left-hand (vamacara) tantras "the rites, or rather, orgies, of the left hand worshippers presuppose the meeting of men and woman of all castes in the most unrestrained manner."lxviii -152- this identification of tantra

and the germs create an abscess. lxxiv -153- it also seems that crowley eventually came to have a certain respect for indian tantric traditions. unlike most of the orientalist scholars of his day, who denounced tantra as a horrible perversion, crowley described tantra not only a valid form of religion, but in fact the "most advanced" of all forms of indian spirituality. for unlike other forms of hinduism and buddhism, tantra does not deny the physical body or the natural world, but affirms and makes use of the flesh and the senses: the essence of the tantric cults is that by performance of certain rites of magick, one does not only escape disaster, but obtains positive benediction. the tantric is not obsessed by the will-to-die. it is a difficult business, no doubt, to get any fun out of

, see hugh b. urban "the conservative character of tantra: secrecy, sacrifice and this-worldly power in bengali sakta tantra" the international journal of tantric studies 6, no.1 (2002, on line at: http//www.asiatica.org/ijts; and douglas brooks, the secret of the three cities: an introduction to hindu sakta tantra (chicago: university of chicago press, 1990, 70. lxviiisir monier monier-williams, hinduism (london: society for promoting christian knowledge, 1894, 116, 130. on orientalist views of tantra, see also urban "the extreme orient" 123-46. lxix sellon, the new epicurean or the delights of sex facetiously and philosophically considered in graphic letters addressed to young ladies of quality (london: j.c. houten, 1870 -183- lxxisee burton, trans. kama sutra of vatsyayana (london: kama

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

it reverts to what it was. and had the worlds and all that is in them not have been created, it would not have been possible to see the truth of the manifestation of his eternal being, blessed be he, in the past, present, and future, and he would not have been called by the name yhwh at all.119 it seems to me plausible to apply to ein sof the description of durga-kali, the mother goddess in sakta hinduism, as the ultimate trans-theistic symbol of timelessness the not-time, on account of which she merits the name adyakala.120 leaving aside the important divergence between the jewish and indian materials with respect to the gender construction of the formless form of ultimate reality,121 the characterization of the latter as a trans-theistic symbol of timelessness, the not-time, 122 well sui

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